QuanJuDe

A lot of RAships in the US actually sponsor J-1 visa right now. Be sure to search and apply to increase your probability of getting into schools. As for current circumstances that may deter you from going to US, I see where it comes from. Good luck.

I do not have any useful 2 cents about your school choice, but definitely find more research work other than your thesis? Some RA work and having someone who can discuss about your research ability(individual and as collaborator) as your letter writer is pretty crucial from what I've experienced. Also I'm just curious why you would apply to BC as the only school in the US? Good luck in Fall 2022!

Hey, I saw you mentioned GRE Math here(i think you mean the GRE Math Subject) and just want you to know that I don't think econ adcom cares that much of GRE Math Sub, and to be honest GRE Math Sub has little to do with your actual math knowledge that helps with econ work, but just how fast you can calculate stuff based on Cal 1-3. If you are seriously down this path and want to use GRE Math as a signal of math prep, make sure you prepare well. It is not an easy test. Good luck!

Hey, sorry I just saw this. 1) When I say too late, I meant that if you transfer to there, I think you'd need to start as a junior/3rd year student, in which you should already taken enough courses at Purdue but you may need to start over your intermediate courses and metrics. This will put you in disadvantage when you ask to do research work with faculty, since your peer at the new school has 2 more years to build the connection, show off their intellectuals. I am not saying that it is impossible to do, and if you have good connections at Purdue, it is not hard to ask Purdue faculty to endorse you, but it is generally harder, and you are paying more. 2) Since you are considering transfer, I believe that you have good grades, since transfer cares a lot about gpa and believe or not, SAT. I am not saying that it would be better off getting straight As at Purdue instead of Brown or Cornell. What I'm saying is that you want to continue to get straight As at Purdue, and straight As at Purdue may worth more than straight As at Brown/Cornell, given GPA inflations at private schools and class size. 3) As a predoc myself I'm def biased, but seeing my coworkers' application results this and previous years, I'd say pre-doc still has a significant advantage against other applicants. This edge may be gone in a few years, but we will see. It's not too hard to find pre-doc work. You just need to know you need to apply to predocs at the right time(late Sept/early October, then throughout the year). Also I'm international as well. Some pre-doc programs will allow you to use OPT, or give you J-1 or even H1B. Not sure how much a MS in Stats will help, so I can't comment on that. And for MAE stuff, I have friends who did it and goes to Duke now, and friends who are RAs at other places now. Performing really well in a good school's MA program will def help you get in that school, but the downside is the competition and potential bombing your GPA given almost everyone in the cohort will want to fight the spots. Also everything above I believe is only valid if you are certain that you want to do Econ PhD. If you are not too sure, transfer may actually be a better choice, but that's out of my league to give you advice on that. Good luck with whatever you choose!

It might be too late to get into Brown or Cornell. You would not have the same connection as to find RA work or strong letter. Do your best at Purdue, and get all the As, RA work and strong letters you can get. Try to do pre-doc if you can and want. If not, let's just say that a high GPA at Purdue would play a lot better than the same GPA in other schools you mentioned. Good luck.

First of all, your profile would fit for most pre-doc, if not, the top pre-doc programs. Ive done 2 rounds of recruiting for my pre-doc institute, and your profile should guarantee you for a data task or even interviews given you perform well in the task. We want to see why one wants to do econ research, instead of how much of econ research one has fully done. It would be a plus if one has done a lot, but to be honest it wouldn't matter that much. When I applied for my predoc 2 years ago, I had only 1 semi-finished thesis and one-year math RA. So if you question your qualification and strength in predoc application, please don't. Second I cannot say for how you would perform in LSE's EME, but just notice since it's a masters program, everybody cares about the grades & getting RAship, so it will be a very competitive environment. Personally I know quite a few graduated from that program, and they are very strong. So good luck if you decide to apply and go there. Third, as an international asian male myself, I see your point, but if you are as strong as you say, there is no need to worry about that, even in the US. Dude you are from a top5 with good grades in stats/cs, done first year sequence with A. There is no need to sell yourself short.

Question is why you want to apply for econ masters? I don't think terminal MAE will help either way in your case? You already have a strong profile for industry jobs, and for econ phd it seems you may have a shot even at this moment with all the phd level courses, but you do lack research exp and strong letter writers that adcom cares more. If you are certain that you want to do an Econ PhD, which is the most important thing, applying for predoc is going to help you get in top. As for predoc and work authorization, at least in the US, a handful of programs are actually sponsoring J-1 research scholar or H1B(I'm currently on). One thing tho, the pay at predoc is going to be half or even less of what you may get for a good trading job.

PROFILE: Chinese national with US undergrad with Math and Econ, Top 5 Econ RA Type of Undergrad: top 30-40 US News Private with a relatively weak(ranked below 60/70, relatively weak publication-wise but teaching is very good) Econ Dept Undergrad GPA: 3.81, Econ 3.91, Math 3.96 Type of Grad: None Grad GPA: None GRE: 158+170+4.5 Math Courses: linear algebra, calculus I II III, abstract algebra, probability and stats, undergrad real analysis I II, undergrad topology, complex analysis, stochastic processes, PhD real analysis, PhD Topology I, all A/A+ except phd analysis Econ Courses: normal stuff, with PhD Micro I at Undergrad, all A/A+ except A- in intro micro(never went to class in freshman year) and Chinese Economy Other Courses: python in business analytics Letters of Recommendation: 1 joint letter from current PIs(both working on energy IO, 1 is top5% repec), 1 math PI from undergrad, 1 teaching/metrics class reference from undergrad Research Experience: 1 year part time RA at undergrad with math PI(game theory), 2 year full time RA at top econ dept(energy IO); 1 senior thesis in game theory Teaching Experience: 2 year econ TA(intro micro, undergrad metrics); 3 year math grader/TA/tutor(stats, calculus, linear algebra) Research Interests: IO, currently working on Energy IO SOP: boring stuff about previous exp, a somewhat doable research proposal, and not exactly tailored to each program(no pointing names in SOP), but has worked on it with my PIs since August Other: applied 2 years ago to top 20 as undergrad, got all rejected; was somewhat confident seeing previous placements at my RA job, so had a relatively high expectation on mine as well; submit everything the weekend before thanksgiving RESULTS: Acceptances: UT Austin, Maryland, BC, UBC Waitlists: Northwestern, UCSD, Wisconsin, UC Davis, (BC, UBC) Rejections: US News top 20 Dept except for Penn, UMN and Brown, BU, LSE, Toronto Pending: None Attending: Maryland Comments: I was def a bit frustrated that I cannot go to top-ranked programs like my former and current colleagues, but it is what it is and I'm happy for them since they deserve it! And more importantly I'm happy now that I get to a good place with awesome faculty that fits my research focus. From what Ive learnt from rejection letter or contact with depts, Wisconsin sent out around 90 offers to get a class size of 25-30; BC is targeting 12; UCSD is aiming for around 20? What would you have done differently? I wish I had a better GPA, somehow gave programs some more tailored info on SOP, probably not taking a gap year before college so I would be in last year's market lol

It actually surprises me that some of the public schools like Wisconsin or UCSD are actually targeting a similar class size(25-30 for Wisc, 20+ for SD?), and some of the top private schools are cutting spots.

Just accept my offer and my season is done. Thanks guys, and good luck on our individual journeys! Hopefully see y'all in 5/6 years on the market.

Can definitely feel you there. I was also contacted by one of a better ranking, but less fit school yesterday saying that my chances are still high with them... really not sure what to do. I am already in a dilemma in the offers I have now(will decline one by the end of today), and with top choice WL and another higher ranking wl, I'm anxious af.

At least in my early correspondence with the coordinator, they were not extending invitation of visit day to wl ppl.

I emailed on the 6th, right after i saw ppl posting similar stuff on GC.

Thanks and good luck to you as well! I've told my current no1 choice as well so we shall see. The sooner they can let me know, the sooner I can make my decisions with my current offers.

I'm kinda relieved actually when Northwestern's coordinator told me that I'm not gonna be accepted. Good luck to everyone else on the waitlist!