seunghun

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: University located in Northeast Asia, well-known within my home country Undergrad GPA: 4.07/4.30 (3.92/4.00) Type of Grad: Same as my undergraduate institution, did take courses at the MA-level without intending to finish with a MA degree Grad GPA: 4.30/4.30 (4.00/4.00) (6 courses, 18 credits) GRE: V 163 / Q 170 / W 5.0 Math Courses: Math for Economics(A-), Introduction to Statistics(A+), Statistical Methods(A+), Calculus(A-), Linear Algebra(Statistics department, A+), Linear Algera 1 and 2 (Mathematics department, A+ and A0), Mathematical Statistics(A0) Stochastic Process(A+), Analysis (1) (A0), Convex Analysis(Graduate level, A+) Econ Courses: 1) Undergrad: Introduction to Micro and Macro (both A+), Intermediate Micro and Macro(A+ and A0), Development Economics (A0), Money and Banking(A+), International Finance(A+), International Trade (A+), Industrial Organization(A0), Game Theory(A0), Econometrics (1) and (2) (Both A0), Dynamic Economics(A0), Dynamic Macroeconomics(B+), Honors Program in Economics(A0). Public Finance(A+), Graduate Microeconomics and Macroeconomics(Both A+), Topics in Macroeconomics(Graduate, A+), Graduate Public Finance(A+), Graduate Econometrics 1(A+) Other Courses: Various courses ranging from Politics, French, Law and etc. Grades ranging from A+ to B+ Letters of Recommendation: (For the institution I am attending) One from my advisor, One from a professor also affiliated with a US University, One from the advisor of the honor’s club I was a member of. Research Experience: Honor’s thesis at the undergraduate level, Won prizes at two paper competitions, RA in a joint project between my university and the central bank of my home country Teaching Experience: Teaching assistant for two professors for total of four semesters. TA for junior/senior level course (Public Finance) and sophomore-level course(Macroeconomics) Research Interests: Public Finance, Labor Economics, and Applied Microeconomics SOP: Started with a very general question that I was interested in for a long time. Then mentioned that my motivation to study further stems from that question. Went on to mention what my research experiences are and how they relate to the question that I seek to answer. Afterwards, I mentioned some of my academic achievements and skills. I customized the last paragraph differently among schools, mentioning certain faculty members that I am interested in working with in particular. RESULTS: Acceptances: Columbia($$$) Waitlists: Northwestern(Eventually rejected at 4/20) Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, U of Chicago, UPenn, NYU, U of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Everywhere but the two schools above) Attending: Columbia Comments: Very happy with the outcome and relieved at the same time. I felt that Columbia would be a perfect fit for pursing graduate studies. Also, had it not been for the only acceptance I got from Columbia, I would be thinking about applying for the next application cycle. What would you have done differently? - Perhaps I should have mixed in some Business schools as well. After application I have found out that some Business schools provide courses and research areas that I am interested in. - Apply to a few more schools. One thing that I did terribly I this application cycle is dispersing risk in terms of number of schools. Probably would have tried about 4-5more schools. - I took most of the advanced mathematics courses starting my junior year. Maybe I should have taken more courses starting from earlier years.

Institution: Columbia University Program: Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Full Tuition + Health Care + Stipend($$$) Date: 02/27/2018 Notified through: E-mail Comments: First acceptance after streak of rejections. Very excited and relieved!