barista1234

I wrote them each a card and a $20 Starbucks gift card. They were very grateful! I went to a seminar lunch with some professors and a bunch of them were joking about how students rarely give a token of gratitude - of course, not required but very very much appreciated.

@eustaciavye SEE YOU SOON!

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: medium sized Catholic institution with an MS program Undergrad GPA: : 3.7 Type of Grad: MS Applied Econ completed (same place - 5 year BA/MS program) Grad GPA: 3.8 GRE: Q161 V 158 AW 5.0 Math Courses: calc 1-3, diff eq, elementary stats, currently a non degree seeking student taking linear algebra Econ Courses (grad-level): econometrics I & II, micro, macro, handful of electives in Econ - public, urban, monetary policy, financial econometrics, etc Econ Courses (undergrad-level): intermediates, mathematics of economics, handful of electives - development, ethics of economics, etc. Other Courses: Poli Sci as second major Letters of Recommendation: stellar, well loved at my former institution, my school has faculty from most schools I'm applying to and they will flex their connections, LORS from department chair, dean/urban prof/thesis advisor, & public prof/thesis committee member. Research Experience: masters thesis, former economic researcher in private sector for large business Teaching Experience: GA in masters program Research Interests: public, urban, and labor SOP: decent. Brief mention of low scores relative to how much I've prepped. Tailed to each school re: field, faculty I like Concerns: low GPA and scores relative to other posters on here but I'm OK with it and am very realistic with my choices/options. Plus maybe my non stellar stats will give someone hope! Math barely meets the minimum. Was initially afraid of a shut out but that's no longer the case! Other: nervous about $$ too. Applying to: Small handful of dreaming big might as well try schools but the rest are lower ranked. SU Econ, SU public admin, UND, UO, Boulder, UConn, UKY, UT Knoxville, GWU, Brown, UCD, MSU, UIUC, Boston College Results acceptances: SU Econ, UO, GWU, UT Knoxville, UKY, UConn rejections: SU public admin, UND, U Colorado Boulder, Brown, UCD, MSU, UIUC, BC Attending: SYRACUSE !!!!!!!!! what would you have done differently? I let myself apply to reaches and I was absolutely not surprised by the results between the acceptances and the rejections. I probably wouldn't have applied to BC since they didn't have faculty I loved relative to other. I could've saved myself some $$ but meh oh well. I would've retaken my GRE but I'm a historically poor test taker and I wouldn't have expected my results to change drastically (perhaps maybe I would've gotten into programs peer to SU like Boulder or UND). I did not have time to retake it nor did I have time to prep more as I was leaving my job, moving, etc. Beyond that, I think my program selection were great matches given my interests. I'm a few years out of school and I don't regret not going straight from my MS to my PhD. I am glad I enrolled in a community college to take Linear Algebra to be able to say I can do it and get the muscle memory of being in a classroom. I'm THRILLED to be going to SU and it was my front runner all along (my advisor and my best friend from undergrad are both products of SU's Econ PhD). It was between UT Knoxville and SU as UTK provided me with a very attractive financial aid package and I had an amazing visit day. But, I think SU is what I really wanted all along. I really would not have done much differently and am pleased/not shocked at the results.

@linz yessss. I need all the pen pal cheer leaders I can get! We all do!

AMEN. then job market sweat. Tenure sweat. Life sweat. So much sweat.

I didn't take linear algebra while doing BA or MS courses but I took it at a community college as a one off non-degree student just to get it done cheaply. I feel like the wisdom on here wouldn't agree with doing that at such a school but I personally felt like it didn't matter as long as I did it

This is so exciting! Congrats everyone on accepting offers!!

I've made my decision! Just have to put pen to paper and start turning down the other offers. I don't look bad in Orange anyway. :) good luck everyone!

Congrats! Re: jesuit schools - i went to one, never had a problem being a west coast liberal at my school! Culture of Jesuit universities in general lend to "cura personalis" or care for the whole person. My LGBTQ friends have always felt well supported and well welcomed - very much in the Jesuit tradition.

Flip a coin and notice how you feel with the result! That will be very telling!

@kobe I only know of Davis as a town (im from that part of California) and I love it there so much!

I think this is exactly what I needed to hear today. Thank you!

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_03.htm -Draw a grid with the number of columns representing your options and write those options as column headers -In the rows, write out your values - things like field strength, field diversity, # of faculty you -In each square, allocate points. Since I had 3 options I broke down points as 5, 3, 1. 5 being the highest. You are allowed to have ties and 0s. So say for ranking your two programs are tied for 33, then they both get x points. -Then, you need to rank your values. In my example, 6 was highest 1 was lowest. Multiple the value rank to the point for each school/value rank. For example, School A was strongest in the field and that was my top value so, 5x6 = 30 points. School B was second, 3x6... Second value was xyz so for School A it was second so 3x5 = 15, school be was first so 5x5 = 25.... and so on -Add all points for each school and tada! Most important part - what is your gut reaction after looking at these point allocations? Were you hoping for school B to be the winner but school A got the most points by a huge margin? Did school C have consistently the lowest points? Did school A win and are you relieved/sad/more stressed?

i just did a decision matrix exercise this morning. it was really helpful!

You wouldn't have gotten in with money (or at all, really) if they didn't believe you could do it!