econ34

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Economics major at a top 50 US News national university Undergrad GPA: 3.95/4.0 GRE: 170Q/167V/4.0W Math Courses: Calc I-III, Discrete Math, Intro to Higher Math, Linear Algebra, Probabilty, Real Analysis (all A's save one A-) Econ Courses: Introductory and Intermediate Micro and Macro, Public Economics, Development Economics, International Economics, Econometrics (all A's) Other Courses: Intro to Statistics, Computer Science I and II, Finance (all A's) Letters of Recommendation: Two from college professors (neither very well-known; one not an economist) and one from work (pretty well-known economist) Research Experience: Senior thesis and 3 years as an RA at a government agency Teaching Experience: None SOP: I had a standard SOP that I customized for each school by naming a couple professors whose research interests me Other: I presented some economics-related work at a non-economics academic conference and at an undergraduate conference at my school RESULTS: PhD Acceptances: Michigan, Wisconsin-Madison, Maryland, UVA, UNC-Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt (all with $) Master's Acceptances: BGSE, CEMFI (neither with $) PhD Waitlists: Boston University PhD Rejections: Stanford, UC Berkeley, Princeton, Yale, U Chicago, Columbia, Duke, Cornell, Brown ADVICE: -My best advice is to be proactive and do things early. Take the GRE early in case you decide to take it again; ask for letters of recommendation early so that your writers have time; and begin working on an NSF application early so that you don't run up against the deadline. -Get feedback on your application materials. Ask friends and letter writers to edit your writing. -Admissions are very idiosyncratic, so apply to a wide range of schools. In addition to your target schools make sure to have some "safety" and "reach" schools. Talk to your letter writers to get an idea of what your target schools should be, but don't be afraid to aim higher than they suggest.

They're real. I was fortunate enough to get an acceptance email earlier today.

Has the regular Cornell economics department released any decisions yet, or just Dyson?

Does anyone know if we can expect to hear something (good or bad) back from every school we applied to? Do some schools make you infer from their silence that you got denied admissions?

Weird, indeed. Thanks, startz!

Follow up to the original post: If you do well in the fall term you'd clearly want to send in your grades. But if you don't do well, whether in college or in a master's programs, you might not want to. Does not sending in late grades after applications are due look bad to adcoms? Thanks!

Hello, It seems that with most master's programs (LSE and BGSE for example) first semester grades aren't final until after U.S. PhD admissions deadlines. So, students have to either apply to PhD programs without grades from their master's programs or wait until the next year to apply. Does anyone know if, conditional on being in a master's program, applying without master's grades hurts PhD admissions chances? Obviously being able to show good grades in a strong master's program would help, but does it hurt to apply in the first year before grades are final? Would they simply treat your enrollment in the master's program as no information? Thanks!