TriEcon

I wouldn't say that. Maryland has an experimental lab in the department and several faculty member use the lab for auction experiments (Cramton, Ausubel) or behavioral tests (Ozbay, Feliz). There is a student on the job market this year with a paper based on lab results of a behavioral experiment.

I'm a grad student at Maryland now. I have to disagree with everything you say above. I find the professors across all disciplines are very willing to talk with students. Hardly anyone stays past a 5th year. If they do, it's not the fault of the program. Finally, there are only about 35 people in the class from last year. The entering class will probably be smaller. Be careful reading placement records too (not just at Maryland, at every school). I think you will find many people are taking non-academic placements by choice. It's not the result of failure on the academic market.

There are a number of students in my class at Maryland that went to 3rd tier undergrad schools, but are otherwise very good students. So it's not out of the question at all. The rest of your profile looks very solid.

If you have had multivariate calculus, you should be able to handle Nicholson. In terms of difficulty, it's about half way between Varian's Intermediate Micro book for undergrads and Varian's Micro Analysis for grads. I used Nicholson in my undergrad intermediate micro course (with math emphasis). It's a good book and he is a very clear author with lots of worked examples. I am guessing the Bob Frank book is going to be a lot more about behavioral economics. So you'll learn what happens when the consumers in Nicholson's models aren't perfectly optimizing everything. Which should be interesting.

I agree with Antichron that you should probably mention it, but don't dwell on in your SOP. You don't want protest too much, if you know what I mean. You should try to spin it as "originally I got into business thinking I could do X & Y. But it did not take long to realize that I could have the greatest impact on these issues by learning economics." Something like that. I just made that up right now, so put some more thought into if you go with it. Also, a british 2:1 is not exactly bad. It doesn't sound like much of a blemish to me.

it seems a bit strange that you would do well in matrix theory but not linear algebra (although linear algebra is probably harder). But I don't think this is a deal killer for your applications as long as its a blip and not part of a pattern.

Yes, I think you should definitely fill in as much of the form for them as possible.

here's a few.. http://www.economizethis.com This is mine http://econoclasm.blogspot.com LSE http://envecon.wordpress.com/ - LSE

I think this piece is a bit too focused on academia. There is another group of economists that are doing research and making loads of money in the private sector. Many of them probably had crap GRE scores and went to schools outside the "top 10" too. No reason to be so fatalistic if you ask me.

I applaud your ambition, but I don't think this will be allowed. It's hard enough to get permission to take the advanced courses instead of MSc level courses. LSE does have an open lecture policy. You are welcome to sit in on courses you are not registered for. I just don't think you will have time to really study and sit exams for a 5th course. Your schedule will be pretty packed as it is and you might not even be able to work the courses you want into your schedule. My personal opinion, having just finished the MSc Econ myself, is that you shouldn't try to squeeze in any extra courses. The standard sequence is difficult enough. Even taking one advanced course is like adding an extra half unit per term. I don't think my friends that took advanced courses regret their decision, but it certainly put their chances of getting distinction in jeopardy. As for cost, you'll have to check with LSE.

To answer one of your remaining questions, I think it is okay if one of your references is from a math professor. In fact, this may be a very good for your app. The important point is that this math professor can write about your research potential and share his experiences working with you. The adcom may not know who the professor is, but if his LOR is good, it can really add to your credentials. As a sidenote, I had a math professor (unknown in econ circles) write a letter for me this past year and I think it helped my application. We had worked together on a research project for the Summer and I knew him very well.

I think you have a shot at the US top 20. It's hard to say for sure though. A very large number (I think at least 50%) of the top admits of europeans into the top US programs come after completing a 1 or 2 year euro master's program. That just seems to be the way it is. It is very important that your referees know you well and can write about your research potential. Someone who has known you for 10 yrs may not be the best. Your letters writers need to say much more than just "XXXX was a good student, got good grades, asked good questions, etc..." Make sure they understand this or that they are familiar with the US system. If you don't have some research experience, you might want to spend the summer working as a research assistant for one of your profs (who will later write you a very nice letter). I second that you should apply to some UK master's programs. Look at Warwick, UCL and LSE for sure, plus Oxbridge (2 yr MPhil). LSE should be your top choice, plus you continue in their fine PhD program if you finish with distinction (I'm doing the MSc now, but going to Univ of Maryland next year). Hope this helps. P.S. Are your final examinations going to be set and marked? This industrial action is just ridiculous, eh?

See you around class!

I have a friend that applied to both Cam and Ox this year. to applied MSc math programs (I don't recall the exact names). He has an interview (including a short exam for one them, Oxford??) next week. I imagine you are a little late on the deadlines, but perhaps not for some of the other programs around the UK. BTW-what you are up to reactor? Can't you stay at your present school for PhD? Are you going to take another year to boost the profile? Just wondering.

I disagree, but not completely, on this point. Ag econ is certainly relevant to developing nations, but not necessarily "more" relevant. It leaves out important areas of research (pure econ???) like trade policy, institutions, cap market liberalization, human capital, social networks, political economics and more. Ag Econ, however you define that, represents one particular approach to development. If your friend is more interested in the microeconomic, case study approach to development, then this seems the way to go. Otherwise, much of the cutting edge research in development could be absent from her curriculum. Perhaps a good approach would be to apply to 2 sets of schools: the top 5 ag econ depts and 5 other econ depts that have good faculty in development economics. These sets should intersect at a few points (eg Berkeley, Maryland) and those should be her top choices. See how the admits work out and make a choice. hope this helps.

Your home country might want a piece of the action. I can't remember where you are from. I didn't get funding at LSE this year, but I know that the US government would count some types of funding as income earned abroad and I would have to pay some US taxes. Is your funding tied to any reponsibilities or is it purely a scholarship? This can make a difference too.

On reputation and academic quality, I think Cornell is the winner. I don't really know that much about Iowa though.

Wasn't me. I didn't go to the visit day.

Perhaps you are talking about me, but I'm not sure. My main reasons for applying to hopkins were the group of researchers doing computational econ and dynamics across both macro and micro. By which I have in mind professors young, carroll and harrington.

Okay, I've made up my mind. I'm going to Maryland this fall for Econ. For the JHU group above, I turned down my T Rowe Price fellowship with JHU last week. Hopefully some more money will trickle down to some of you guys. all the best.

That would be cool. If David Griffeath in the Math Dept is teaching Intro to Stochastic Processes, I highly recommend it. He's great and will have you doing all sorts of really interesting problems. Wicked hard take home final exam though. Overall, Wisconsin's math dept is really good.

they require you to take 2 semester of Mathematical Economics as part of the 1st year sequence. That is as good or better than any 3 week math refresher. It does mean you will have to learn and apply some math techniques simultaneously.

I think you profile looks pretty good. It's always hard to guess how foreign schools will be evaluated. ARe there other students from your econ dept that have gone to US PhD programs? The US schools you are interested in seem like reasonable targets. It would be wise to aim a litter higher and throw some of the top 10 programs in as well. If you get some funding at oxford or cam you should go there. It will improve your profile and give a you a sample of what the phd might be like. Best of luck

I had a math professor write a letter for me this year. I think it was quite helpful to my application and I know the letter was very good. If a math prof is going to write a great letter for you, I would use that. Don't have an economist that doesn't know you well do it instead. I had done research with this math professor in computational neuroscience. It was not economics, but it was really eye-opening and helpful to me. A good reference from a math professor is always a good thing. But the bottom line is that your reference writers need to know you and research and quant abilities very well. Beyond that, math vs econ is not critical. Your profile seems pretty good. If the adcoms will look past your freshman GPA, I think you will get some good admits. Do everything you can to make a good impression on folks over the coming months.

There is a heterodox, or more accurately institutional economist, in the Ag & Applied Econ dept named Daniel Bromley. He has a new book out called Sufficient Reason see this link http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691124191/qid=1142185482/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-3665270-8846423?s=books&v=glance&n=283155 But I'm not sure how much interaction you are going to get with Ag Econ dept. Although he does teach a grad level 700 course called Institutional Economics. It is supposed to be a good one and is not focused on maths.