BigAl0

FYI: The Duke program is 1.5-2 years, 3-4 semesters. Or were you referring to the fact that I would only have a year of the program complete by the time I apply for Ph.D.s again? Also, the Duke program tries to give you RA positions with professors that are researching your interests. Does this change your opinion?

Sorry for my ignorance, but could you explain a bit more? EDIT: I am assuming you mean that Ph.D. industry placements pay more than the MAE. Which I understand. I was more referring to the fact that both programs have "reliable" industry placement.

By industry placements, I am assuming you mean non-academic. If that is the case, the industry placements for the Ph.D. program(s) and the Duke MAE are comparable. One of the Ph.D. programs has multiple placements at Amazon, FedEx, other "well-known" companies, and some finance/banking positions. The Duke program has a lot of bank placements (not my preference). To me, the most risk adverse decision is going to one of the Ph.D. programs I have been admitted to. Though, there could be something I am over/underestimating.

Hi, I'll try to keep this as short as possible. I am an American student coming from a not so well know undergraduate institution (full profile below). I applied to a handful of Ph.D. programs and also a few non-terminal MAs. I currently have a few fully funded Ph.D. offers, two in the 50-60 range of US rankings. Just today I learned I got accepted to Duke's MAE program. As of right now, there is no word on scholarship or funding from the Duke MAE program, however, I do know they try to offer some and that email will come from the department. Looking at Duke's MAE placements into Ph.D. programs (link https://econ.duke.edu/masters-programs/prospective-students/placements), they are objectively good, but not consistently incredible (median 25-40 range, top 20s being more common than 40+, if that makes sense). However, two of my Ph.D. offers are on the lower end of Duke's MAE placements (for reference, one of my offers is very comparable to George Washington in ranking and prestige, if not a bit better). At the end of the day, I am just not sure if the marginal benefit of going to the Duke program is worth the marginal cost for my situation. I was wondering if y'all could provide me with any input/feedback/comments. I am willing to tell you where my offers are if you private message me. Below is my mental pros and cons list. I know my main weakness this admissions season was my GRE quant score. It was rather low for Econ Ph.D. (164, 87th percentile). I thought that this might hurt me, not completely disqualify me; obviously I was wrong. During one of my interviews, the professor bluntly said that if I had a 170 on quant I'd be going to MIT (this professor attended a top 10 program). While this might be hyperbole/flattery, it definitely makes me wonder. Duke MAE pros: Gives me a chance at a top 20/30 program. Will prove that I can handle a rigorous, mathematical masters program and support my grades from my undergraduate institution (assuming I do well). Gives me an opportunity for LORs from more "well known" economists. Gives me another chance to take the GRE for a better quant score. Gives me time to mature and grow as an economist/researcher. I have very little experience in theoretical research (only applied), so I would like the opportunity to get accustomed before jumping straight into a Ph.D. Due MAE cons: Doesn't "guarantee" a top 20 placement. A further note, many of the "prestigious" placements are from international students. Increases cost of earning my Ph.D. (both explicit and implicit) There is a risk of preforming poorly and ruining my shot at a Ph.D. I don't see this as likely, but it is possible. 50-60 Ph.D. pros: Allows me to go straight into Ph.D. with all the benefits. The research interests are a great match for my top offer. I feel as if I could actually do research on my exact interests if I attend this school. I really like the department of my top offer. 50-60 Ph.D. cons: All the cons of attending a 50-60 ranked school: significantly lowers my chances of a tenure track position, probably limits the journals I could publish in etc. PROFILE:Nationality: American (white male) Type of Undergrad: US small, private, "teaching" university Undergrad GPA: 3.96 Type of Grad: N/A Grad GPA: N/A GRE: 158V/164Q/5.0W Math Courses: Calculus I, II, & III (As), Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (A-), Discrete Math (A), Elementary Stats (A), Data Analysis Lab (A), Introduction to Analysis (A, Set Theory & Topology of the Reals up to Continuity), Introduction to Analysis 2 (A, from Continuity/Uniform Continuity, Derivatives and Integrals, and Series with pointwise convergence). Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro & Macro (As), Labor (A), International (A), Forecasting (A), Public Finance (A), Mathematical Economics (A), Managerial Economics (A), and a 1 hour research independent study (A with the paper under review at a journal). Letters of Recommendation: Two from "research economists" at my undergraduate university, one from the analysis professor at my undergraduate university. Research Experience: No explicit RA experience. I do have a lot considering where I went to undergrad. A few presentations at undergraduate research conferences. One paper under review at a journal. Two or three working papers that I do think could be published with more work. Pulled some data for one of my LOR writers. Some referee experience. Teaching Experience: None. Research Interests: Micro. Specifically the economics of networks, technology adoption, and automation Last note: I am still waiting to hear back from a few schools.Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Thanks for your reply! I am actually wanting to go straight into a PhD program if possible. I brought up the masters and RA possibilities because other users had mentioned them as possibilities to boost my application. However, I mainly wanted to know what range PhD programs I should be applying to since I will have limited time and money and do not want to be wasting my time applying to programs that are essentially impossible for me to get accepted to.

Thanks for the response. One quick question. Which do you think would be more beneficial: an RA position or a technical, non-terminal masters (like Duke's MS in Economic and Statistical Modeling or a masters in theoretical/mathematical stats)? If any of y'all could reply, it would be much appreciated. I know my profile is a big hard to evaluate mainly because of my undergrad, however, I would really like to know what is realistic and what is not. Also, one more data point. A girl from my school did get accepted in an LSE program. I am not sure which program or what level as I am not familiar with the LSE system. However, I do know she got accepted into some Econ grad program at LSE. However, she chose to go work for Google because she wanted to jump into the labor force.

Thanks for your reply. Which do you think would be more beneficial: a RA position or a technical, non-terminal masters (one like Duke's MS in Economic and Statistical Modeling or even a masters in theoretical/mathematical stats)?

Hey y'all Can y'all give me advice on what range of schools I should be shooting for? This is my first posting here. I'll keep the intro short and sweet. I am an undergrad student graduating in December with a BS in Economics and a minor in Math. I go to a small private "teaching" university that has some recognition in certain circles, though Economics is not one. In high school, I always did well but had no idea what I wanted to do. I choose my university based off my interest at the time: music. Fortunately, I wised up and fell in love with econ and math. Because not many of our graduates go on to grad school, I really have no idea where I should be shooting, hence this post. I do have two data points though. One of my friends just got accepted in FSU's Ph.D. program. He had a perfect econ GPA and some math classes (calc 1-3, discrete, and diff equ). Also, one graduate just got accepted to Vandy's Ph.D. program after he got a masters from UT Austin. He did not have much math background from my understanding. With that outta the way, my profile. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: US small, private, "teaching" university Undergrad GPA: 3.96 Type of Grad: N/A Grad GPA: N/A GRE: Not yet, getting ready to take it now. Scoring perfects on math practice tests. Math Courses: Calculus I, II, & III (As), Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (A-), Discrete Math (A), Elementary Stats (A), Data Analysis Lab (A), Introduction to Analysis (A, essentially Set Theory & Topology of the Reals up to Continuity), Introduction to Analysis 2 (A, independent study, from Continuity/Uniform Continuity, Derivatives and Integrals, and Series with pointwise convergence). Econ Courses: Micro & Macro, Principles and Intermediate (As), Labor (A), International (A), Forecasting (A), Public Economics (A), Mathematical Economics (A), Managerial Economics (A), and a 1 hour research independent study this fall (almost certain will be A. Other Courses: Nothing that really matters I think. Letters of Recommendation: I do not think my professors are really that well know, however, I have VERY good relationships with all of them. My first will be from a professor that I have the best relationship with. He got his PhD from LSU and is essentially a mentor. I have had him for 3 courses and he is also the professor I am doing my research independent study with. We plan on trying to get it publish via some sort of channel. He will be mentioned a few more times in this post so I will refer to him as Doc from now on. I will probably have my second one by the chair of our department who is also my academic adviser. I have pulled data for one of her papers and will be a co-author when it is published. I had her for Forecasting. Lastly, I am thinking about having my 3rd letter be from my analysis professor who I did the independent study with. She got her PhD from Purdue and is the "analysis expert" in our math department. Research Experience: I have presented a paper at NCUR (the national undergrad research conference) along with two presentations at the Federal Reserve of Dallas's ESP undergrad research conference. I also served on the peer review board for the ESP conference last year. As mentioned above, I have pulled data for one professor and will be a co-author on her paper. As well, I am doing that research independent study with Doc and we hope to present it at a conference and get it published. I have had two research oriented internships: one with the Nashville Mayor's Office (guess that kinda gives away my location, oh well) where I built a model that helped estimate the ROI of various business incentives the city offers and one with a market research firm where I am doing a bunch of stats (both "standard" hypothesis testing of samples and regression analysis) and report writing this summer and in the fall as well. Doc also had me review and evaluate a paper for a journal he peer reviews. Obviously he guided me very carefully along the way and had to approve everything, however, I did a lot of the evaluation by myself. Was not a technical paper or anything outside of my current abilities. Teaching Experience: N/A Research Interests: Definitely micro, I do not like macro that much. However, I have not solidified the exact areas yet. Will be fleshing this out sometime soon. SOP: Not exactly sure what to say here. It will be the best SOP they've ever read? :) Software: Proficient in R, familiar with SAS and SPSS. Obviously Excel haha I am a little worried that since there is no formal Econometrics course on my transcript, they will think I have had no exposure to it. However, I have self taught myself everything that is taught in a standard undergrad Econometrics course, plus a little more. Econometrics hasn't been offered in awhile at my university... I know, strange. I am hoping that since I am have done a lot of activities that require me to know Econometrics, it will signal that I do know Econometrics. Similarly, I do have Forecasting on my transcript, so I guess that helps. That's it. Tell me what you think. Obviously, I'd like to shoot as high as possible. Thanks for any feedback! (Sorry for any typos or bad grammar, kind of tired but want to get this out there)