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Your letters of rec might be the biggest confining factor in terms of applying to top departments. With that in mind, for the choice between RA and masters I would strongly recommend RA, especially at a Fed/top school (NBER, JPAL, SIEPR, etc.). That should be a great springboard for you to get at least one letter from a well published economist and boost your application. Masters might help, but since you have a reasonably good econ and math background, I think the value added from an additional degree won't be too much. Also, while I'm sure you'll be busy with all sorts of apps next year, I'd encourage you to apply to some PhD programs too, possibly matching your research experience and interests. I personally know someone from a university less well known academically without an econ phd program who got into a Top 5 program straight after undergrad. Sure, other than that school he only got into a few ranged in T20 - T30, but it was amazing to see that his undergrad background didn't overshadow his passion, drive and talents. So if you find the time, why not give it a try?

I wouldn't say you've blown your chances. But what's probably more important is to find out whether econ grad school is really for you. It's surely possible for you to get good grades if you reallocate time from playing PS4 to studying, but succeeding in grad school admissions and ultimately in the phd/masters program requires more. The great news is many things help with both (apps and life). In that regard, here are my two cents as to what you should do next: (1) Take math and econ courses and do well in them - it helps you with grad school apps, and if you decide otherwise it helps you find a job too. (2) Work with an econ professor to get a sense of what research is like; even better if it leads to a close relationship and a quality recommendation. (3) Don't rush to make your career choice! Always ask yourself whether you enjoy the process of research, and whether your strengths are well-aligned. If it still isn't clear by the end of senior fall, you can even take on a full-time RA position to make sure. Two more minor things: I think the masters program at UCLA is slightly different from the other phd programs you mentioned. It either leads to a phd or a private sector job, but if you want to do serious economic research as a career, masters can't be your terminating degree. You might know this already but just in case. Also, while I love the sun in California too, there are great programs at non-CA places rarely touched by snow. One that comes to mind is Duke in Durham, NC. On an unrelated note, UCSD has a great econ program too.

To present my point in a more mechanical way, let's say that taking grad courses has four possible benefits: 1. Boosting your application by sending a good signal to adcom; 2. Testing your own abilities/natural type to see if econ is the right path for you; 3. Helping your human capital grow; 4. Helping you do research better. Then my opinion is that 1 and 2 are very valid, 3 is kind of true but not essential because you can take it in grad school, and 4 is not that applicable given your interests. Sorry if I was unclear.

I might be a little over-optimistic, but based on the profiies of T5/T10 students I've got to know, I think OP has a pretty good shot at T10 schools. A grad-level course would certainly help with your application, though, if you do reasonably well - it is a good signal to send. To echo chateauheart, if academic econ is the right path for you, you should be able to handle the course with some efforts, given your current background; that is, your ability to do well in, say, grad-level micro will likely not change much over the next 1 or 3 years. However, to play devil's advocate, I don't think in terms of human capital growth it is essential to take the course now. You will have the opportunity to take grad-level micro in grad school anyway, or you might place out which gets you a little ahead of others, but just a little. In terms of research, I'm not sure if the theory courses will have a huge impact on your ability to do research, especially in applied micro and most of IO (maybe econometrics will be more useful?). Aside from boosting your apps, the most important benefit of taking the course for me is to test your ability and see if grad-level econ is the right thing for you.

I can offer an informed opinion: they sent out a batch of offers, but are probably waiting to see how many will decline right away or soon, to decide how many to admit from the remaining pool. So I guess that is an unofficial wait list in some sense; NYU is doing something similar.

Hi everyone, Given that visit days at some schools have already happened, I thought it'd be nice to have a separate thread that gathers people's experience at visit days/open houses, impression of programs and advice on what questions to ask. It should facilitate exchange of information among current admitted students, and would be a great source of information for future applicants. I'm thinking of a format like this (suggestions welcome!): Program: Date(s) of Visit Day: Details: Questions to ask/things to look out for:

Take placements of OSU (which has been brought up a few times in this forum) as an example: https://economics.osu.edu/phd-placement-history From eyeballing, on average at least half of the placements are in academia. Sure, most of these are not T15 or T30 institutions, but they are decent places to go. And speaking of career prospects, I'd say PhD doesn't strictly dominate any other option if you're just talking about income. But if one is genuinely interested in academia/serious policy work/certain kinds of industry positions, PhD is a reasonable path. To answer your latest question about professors at lower-ranked departments, impact of research might not be that high, but that applies to many faculty at top-ranked departments too - influential research is rare. Salaries are decent and should guarantee a reasonable life style. As far as I know, workload is very acceptable and much better than most industry positions, even more so if you value flexibility in your schedule and freedom of choosing what to do. At smaller and more teaching-oriented schools like LACs, lifestyle should be even better.

Written by UC Davis students from a while ago: https://law.vanderbilt.edu/phd/How_to_Survive_1st_Year.pdf From two UMN students, guide for first-years starts halfway: http://www.econ.umn.edu/graduate/so_you_want_to_be_a_phd.pdf Mankiw lists a bunch of sources: Greg Mankiw's Blog: Advice for Grad Students Specifically about Math Camp: https://owenzidar.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/a-guide-to-survive-math-camp/

I agree with others that peer effects are very important. As is probably obvious, phd students spend much more time with peers than with their advisors. Another great characterization I've heard recently is this: "some of your peers will be your intellectual companions for the rest of your life". So putting brand effects and connections aside, phd at a T10 does offer some distinct benefits. As for getting into T10, good math and econ grades are necessary, but there are many, many people with perfect grades, as you can imagine. So to further distinguish between people, adcoms would have to look at recommendation letters and research experience. Some say that letters are the most important part in the application - I don't know, but detailed, enthusiastic letters (or the opposite) make an impact for sure. You most likely won't continue your undergrad research in grad school, but it's always a good signal, and given the increasing competitiveness of admissions, having an interesting and at-least-half-completed project would be great, as far as I can tell. It's perfectly understandable that you want to stay close to your family. But applying doesn't mean you need to commit. It's good to keep a door open before you make the decision, because you never know how your thoughts and situation might change. And since you have a chance at T10 based on your professors' opinions, take a shot at it - no regrets.

Just an update on Berkeley for those still waiting to hear: according to staff, all offers have been sent out and the rest will likely be rejections. Don't know if there will be a wait list, though.

Would you mind sharing a little about your experience at visit day for us who will be going later, Barista? I, for one, am very excited about the opportunities, though anxiety is definitely there too.

Me too! I submitted the application hours before the deadline, which may or may not have to do with the current situation.

NYU's visit day is on April 1. I would love to know about Berkeley too.

I'd join the crowd and say that Northwestern would be the best choice for micro theory among your options. It seems that Northwestern's placement in the field has been pretty good over the last decade. This is just one data point, but it came to my mind that Laura Doval, a micro theory super star on the job market this year and a restud tour participant, is from Northwestern.

I agree with Temporary1 that you should focus more on the younger and more active faculty. I am not familiar with micro theory at Columbia either, but my general impression is that it is not among the strongest fields there. What other choices do you have, OP?