YangmaL

Speaking from my experience and personal observations, the strategy that would most likely end up with you being admitted into a top-20 program in Economics would be to first go for a Master's degree in the top institutions. Chicago(not so sure they had one, but I saw a colleague of mine enter their 2-year Master's program), Duke (Pure Econ, or Economics and Computation), LSE, Cambridge are some options that you might want to look into. The caveat being that you must consistently rank among the top students in the program throughout the one or two years you will spend there. That being said, it would probably help if you first accurately assess your current state of preparedness, which does seem to require some hefty supplements if you are to meet your proposed goals.

A few days ago, I got a reply from the Krannert Ph.D. Admissions saying that they "are also waiting to hear from the Economics Admissions Committee," and that they are "expecting to hear something from them in the next week or two." So, I guess that we should be hearing from them within this week (hopefully). I wonder what's taking them so long...

Well, I guess it's about now when the congestion on the Admissions market starts to dissipate (albeit, slowly). I am pretty sure that Davis ARE and Cornell AEM held their visit days by now, not so sure about Berkeley and Maryland though. Any ideas on where you will be headed for this Fall? Personally, I am still waiting on some of the results to come out, as I am waitlisted for some programs (ARE and Pure Econ). Also thinking about going for a Master's degree first (Statistics / Econ).

Same situation here. I guess it isn't a totally bad sign, but not an encouraging one...

Thank you for your confirmation. Also, sorry to hear that. Hope you get better results soon!

Just noticed on GC that a bunch of rejections from Rice has been issued. Can anyone confirm please?

In an unrelated topic, Maryland AREC is seemingly confirming rejections now?

During a department event, one professor gave some broad advice to the grad students. The lessons may be applicable to your situation. 1. Don't excessively narrow down your options : More often than expected, people deviate from their initial field of interest to something that they couldn't have envisioned majoring in. Someone with an intent to conduct research in Econometric Theory can end up writing a dissertation on the conditions of Public Health, or an aspiring Monetary Economist can shift over to Regional Economics. According to multiple faculty members who do have experience in the adcoms in US Econ departments, many schools do value flexible candidates over an applicant extremely focused on one specific subject matter. Even in your SOP, mentioning that "I am currently invested in the study of ___, but my general interest lies in the broader scope of ____." could be a good idea. 2. If you expect a strong recommendation, come and talk to faculty : Faculty members, while some students make them out to be, are not omniscient. Usually, they (excluding your academic advisor) have no idea what each students are interested in, what kind of research experience they have, or their motivations for pursuing academia. If a student who took (and aced) two of their own courses show up and ask for recommendations, the only thing that a professor can draft is that "This guy took my course twice, and perfomed to a high level. The end." That's not even close to what you want. So, to propose a solution for your questions... Generally, I would say that choosing an advisor that has connections in the States would be much more important. You generally ask for a recommendation from your advisor, and he can directly comment on your applications strategy, (maybe) make some phone calls on your behalf, or invite you in on joint research projects with the big guys. I totally agree with this plan, but in case you are about to take only one course from any specific professor, try to make a good impression. Visit them on office hours with questions, after you exhaust your set of questions (and given that the professor has some time to spare) ask for advice on your applications. I don't think that this is a huge problem. The credits you need to graduate is, I believe, 24. That is eight courses. Take out the three mandatory courses of Micro 1, Macro 1, and Econometrics 1. Then you have 5. Let's assume that you aren't taking the second sequences of Micro and Macro, since you seem to be more interested in Empirical Analysis than Theoretical work. Then you should take some advanced sequences in Econometrics. If you are interested in Applied Microeconomics, then you should probably take Panel Data Econometrics, Mirco-Econometrics, Treatment Effects Analysis, and Nonparametrics. Let's suppose you take two out of the four econometrics courses mentioned above. Then you have three left. Since you would have an advisor, you most likely would take his course(s), and since most professors have two graduate level courses.. you have one choice left. I would say, "Feel free to take whatever interests you."

Hello fellow Korean, I suspect that we may be students in the same institution? (Pretty sure that "Y" University does not have a Financial Engineering major linked to their business school on the undergrad level / If you were from "S," then you would have simply said "Top" instead of "top 3?") 1) As of now, I believe that you have a decent chance to land a position in a top 30 econ program in the US, given that your GRE / TOEFL scores do not betray your other preparation. LORs are indeed a crucial component of your application, and may as well be the most important factor, but it is currently out of your control. I suggest that to boost your chances to being accepted into more prestigious programs, you should try out applying to external financial support. 2) I must return to the LOR argument. One advice one of my seniors gave me at my first day as an M.A. candidate was "If you are aiming to study abroad, even your choice of courses must be meticulously planned out." Her advice was that with the exception of Micro Theory 1, Macro Theory 1, and Econometrics 1, you must plan out your courses so that you can maximize your chance to get a strong recommendation. "It does seem a bit opportunistic," she told me, "but you really don't have another choice." So I would like to pass on this advice. 3) I apologize that I do not have any insight on this issue. However, generally speaking, having RA experiences won't hurt your chances. 4) This is where I would like to disagree. I agree that the independent study of useful topics may be more efficient, but the admission committees do not see your private efforts on the same level as an A+ printed on your transcript. You can mention that you did learn the necessary topics by heart, but a good grade often sends a stronger message. Moreover, the top schools in the US often list Real Analysis as "Highly Recommended," which I learned to interpret as "You Should have taken this course." 5) In my institution, it is somewhat a convention among many professors not to directly hire anyone as an RA straight out of the undergraduate level. My colleagues reported that some faculty members told them to "come back after you finish your first semester," implicitly adding "if you are still interested, then we can talk." In case you are in the same school as I am, this may be the case (especially in your field of interest, as one professor who turned down a student for a one semester term was researching political economy) I'm not sure if this helped (hope it did). I'd be happy to update you with my personal experience after this admission cycle passes by.

I think it is safe to assume that you are on the implicit waitlist. I was sent a rejection letter yesterday. Judging by the level of effort they invested in drafting the emails and attached pdfs (which was "minimal"), I think you would have been sent the email too if you were completely eliminated from the process.

I guess that there are some mentions on GC hinting that Duke may be evaluating applicants on a rolling basis. There have been multiple "waves" of acceptances, scattered across a few days. This can't be concrete proof though...

One question: "How would you rank the ARE programs among one another?" I was never sure how to rank the ARE programs. Although it seems that everyone agrees that UC Berkeley's ARE program is perhaps the most highly regarded of all ARE programs, I was not sure how the other programs stack against one another. Seems that the next contenders are U of Maryland AREC and UC Davis ARE? I can see that this can be quite difficult, as there are various subfields that are dealt in the ARE programs, but my main scope of interest is in Development!

Well, I would like to think that working as a Research Assistant for some institutions/professors would be a plus. Especially if you can produce a paper to present to the admissions committee for the next term. But as of now, I would like to encourage you to remain hopeful for the remainders of this term's applications!

To be honest, I'm not really sure as of now. Especially since I don't have my full set of offers yet. I'm guessing that I'll have a better idea after(and if) I get invited to the open house events. I rememer stumbling onto a post that said that Berkeley can be ranked along the top 10 Econ programs, the next top three (or two) can be matched with the top 20 Econ programs, and so on. Not so sure about the comment yet.

Oh, I intended to share results and bounce ideas off each other for making final decisions. But I guess it's a bit early to discuss final decisions for enrollment, as the admissions process is still very much ongoing. Trying to figure out whether I should go for a pure Econ program for Development.