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dogbones

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Everything posted by dogbones

  1. dogbones
    As for including that story/explanation in your SOP, you have to weigh the pros and cons of writing it in. Pros would be that at best the adcoms would think you’re a great researcher and may scale that grade up to match the rest of your grades. Cons are that at worst they may think you aren’t convincing or personable (even though you probably are) and that you like to focus of negatives and talk about yourself at the expense of others. So I think the cons outweigh the pros, but there’s a way to include statements in your SOP that communicate what you want them to know in a more offhand tone that would interest them and most importantly, impress them. Sorry my comment is kind of abstract but that’s as specific as I can get right now!
  2. dogbones
    This looks good, I think you definitely have a more than reasonable shot at top 10.
  3. dogbones
    Thank you for your feedback!
  4. dogbones
    Ph.D. Opportunities | Yale School of the Environment MPhil/PhD Environmental Economics https://web.stanford.edu/~ckolstad/HmPg/InfoPhD.htm Agricultural & Resource Economics | Berkeley Graduate Division ...And other similar programs depending on your taste/preferences...
  5. dogbones
    I've heard a confession of a top school adcom member saying that admissions is rather boring because they just do some filtering by coursework and the rest is up to the letters (from other top schools, pretty much exclusively).
  6. dogbones
    You could consider Environment & Resource Economics specific programs too, if that's something you would see as better fitting than a more traditional economics program?
  7. dogbones
    What are your research interests though? That might help narrow down the list a little!
  8. dogbones
    I would go with the well-published associate professor, since top schools tend to focus on an element of prestige and your other two letters probably will speak to what the lecturer would speak of and there may be some overlaps. Also the associate professor can write more convincingly of where you stand in the greater scheme of the economics world, ie research-readiness.
  9. dogbones
    This is a very strong profile! Is more than 60/100 seen as a good grade? Not sure how it commutes to gpa. You are strong in coursework and research, so I think you can be aiming definitely for top 15, maybe even a top 10, but maybe include some top 30-40 for good measure as we don’t know how things will turn out with the Covid-related admissions intake this cycle.
  10. dogbones
    I think if the lower grades are all from the first year it won’t count too much against you since there are mostly As in later relevant courses. I don’t think the linear algebra timing will be that bad either because you aced more challenging math classes beforehand.
  11. dogbones
    What schools are you targeting, broadly speaking? I would say you’d have a strong chance at several top 20 schools, maybe even top 15, but a lot depends on how glowing and helpful the letters are since letters play a huge role at the top schools.
  12. dogbones
    Well I’m observing that your profile has great strengths/highs (work & research experience in neighboring fields) and unfortunate weaknesses/lows (coursework grades, and also lack of foundational pure Econ courses), and the best way to improve your odds at top 50 schools may be to take phd level Econ courses, if only micro and/or macro, and get a better grade in metrics. It’d be nice if others could also weigh in.
  13. dogbones
    Hi! This looks like more a Finance profile considering the coursework and work experience, and I think you would also get better (higher-ranked) offers in Finance than Econ for these reasons.
  14. dogbones
    Hi, thanks for posting! I think the lack of sufficient pure math courses may make you an unorthodox applicant for the top 10-20 schools and put you at a disadvantage in those terms, along with the occasional B+ grades, but there will be schools where your overall experience and success as a budding economist will shine through and you will surely see good results if you apply widely!
  15. dogbones
    Sorry, I missed that the OP is from a top 20 school!
  16. dogbones
    Since the GRE is optional and your score was well below the mean of what many schools look for, I would suggest you don't waste your money and time retaking it, and rather spend your efforts finding programs online that have faculty in the #20-25 rank and below schools with whom you would like to do research with, and possibly send them an email asking more about their research (and that you would like to apply). Some schools actually invite people to contact their faculty prior to admissions, but that's the exception rather than the rule. I think what would really help your profile is if you can find some very specific research topics you'd like to pursue and write about that in depth to show that you are going to be a capable economics researcher, and I would tailor this into your SOP for each department you apply to.
  17. dogbones
    166Q shouldn't be too bad, particularly if other parts of your profile are strong!
  18. dogbones
    Are you sure you can't give someone from your grad program your transcript and SOP and ask them to write a strong letter for you? If you talk with someone from the grad program at reasonable length you should be able to perhaps get at least one letter from that institution? It might look a little strange otherwise. It's never too late to reconnect, particularly with your generally strong grades.
  19. dogbones
    Top 30 definitely seems possible, but Top 20 might be stretching it a bit without some graduate coursework and/or a pre-doctoral RA stint with a strong letter coming from that experience. You might try for 1 or 2 Top 20 shots, I wouldn't rule it out completely, but those are much more competitive and many applicants have letters from faculty teaching at Top 10-20 schools.
  20. dogbones
    Well, I don't know if you'd want to take moon shots at Top 10 schools without more math coursework, but you do seem rather competitive for most of the schools on your shortlist! My research interests are different from yours so I'm not familiar with other schools that would be a good match, but others may have some ideas.
  21. dogbones
    Ah, no I’m not a sport climber — I do enjoy tennis though! And the PhD “mountain” has fantastic views along the way!
  22. dogbones
    What do you mean by “climber”? I’m certainly not a mountain climber or hiker!
  23. dogbones
    You can also Google for predoc programs that may not be on NBER, but along the lines of what startz says, even if you get replies from professors they will need to see all of your credentials and compare them with the rest of the applicant pool, so you won't be hired on the spot at the very least, and depending on how canned your email is you might end up diminishing your chances by appearing rogue without some kind of alluring credential to provide reason for the need to reply.
  24. dogbones
    Thanks for posting your profile! I'm not quite sure how schools from India commute to the PhD programs, but it might be helpful if you had some idea of where your school has sent applicants before. I would guess that you would be competitive for quite a few top 30 schools, but aside from that I'm hoping someone with more experience can comment.
  25. dogbones
    This may be a good place to look for similarities: Faculty | Columbia | Economics "Finance" came up pretty frequently as a subfield for Columbia University's economics professors.
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