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yabu00

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  1. Type of Undergrad: Top 10 LAC, but with little econ research activity. Undergrad GPA: 3.63 Type of Grad: n/a Grad GPA:​ n/a GRE: 165V / 167Q / 5.5 AW Math Courses: Calc III ©, Linear Algebra (A), Real Analysis I (A), Real Analysis II (A), Real Analysis III (A), ODEs (A-), Prob (A), Math Stats (A) Econ Courses: Way too many at the undergrad level. All As Letters of Recommendation: No one remotely famous, but 2 from highly productive researchers who publish well at my predoc. The other from a LAC professor who knows me very well/went to a prestigious university. Research Experience: Two senior theses (one being an applied micro paper for a poverty studies minor, no idea if anyone took this seriously). Two year predoc. One coauthored pub at a niche journal, another coauthored paper currently waiting on someone's desk at AER. Teaching Experience: Nada. Research Interests: Public, labor, tax-related items, and macro-labor. Will inevitably draw upon some I/O and more structural concepts. SOP: Standard stuff. One IP tailored to each school. Feel good about my current research agenda. Other: Upward trend in grades. Hoped that schools would ignore my first year grades. Results: Acceptances: UVA ($$), WUSTL ($$$), UMD Waitlists: Northwestern Rejections: UC-Berkeley, UCSD, Michigan, Wisconsin, Cornell, Duke, Minnesota, CMU, JHU, BC, UT-Austin, UC-Davis, UW, Vandy, UCSB, Rice, UC-Irvine, Georgetown, Georgia Pending: UNC Attending: UVA Comments: Very difficult choice. Super excited to to continue to be a math nerd. All of my safeties rejecting me relatively early on (admittedly) frightened me, but I feel happy with my outcome. What would you have done differently? There were pretty reasonable holes in my profile. There's no way to go back and tell my 18 year old self to perform better or to go to a school with an econ PhD program for my undergrad (this can hurt you). For future applicants, I'd strongly recommend starting applications *very* early. Try to have your SOP and letter writers together over the summer. Fill in most/all of the applications for each school in the first weeks that applictions are open, then iteratively edit everything. Doing this forces you to think about and be very aware of what schools are looking for. By the time application deadlines roll around and you have to submit, your applications should be drum tight and your final list of schools should be nailed down. I mostly filled out applications in the 2-3 weeks leading up to deadlines and noticed a significant improvement in my applications and their outcomes for those that I submitted later. I simply got better at writing these things as time went on. You want to put your best foot forward on *all* of your applications. Otherwise, I'm happy that I applied to a ton of schools and wish that I stayed off grad cafe a little more.
  2. Was in the same situation and they let me know the same today. A little relieved as it allowed me tell another university that I would attend if accepted, get in off the waitlist there, and be done with this process. Best of look with your decision!
  3. I’ll say too, to add to others’ points, that I had a materially worse profile than yours coming out of undergrad. I had no grad coursework, a little less math, went to a small (but competitive) LAC, and a GPA a full tenth of a point worse than yours, but I did a predoc (not even a prestigious one), and I’m stuck in waitlist purgatory at a couple top 10s and have a top 20 acceptance. I’m certain that the predoc helped my outcomes substantially, and I have a much more clear research agenda before hitting grad school.
  4. I want to say too that an extra year in an RAship can cut the time/effort required to complete your dissertation, especially if you can leverage data acquired through and used in your RAship (mostly relevant for applied people). It's not 1:1, but the research experience is still highly valuable with the right supervisor. Also the extra money earned as an RA can make your PhD more bearable (and therefore more successful). This was all advice given to me several years ago.
  5. I’m currently going through the application process and not on an adcom, so I’ll draw from the advice that I’ve gotten. Your math background seems plenty sufficient for a top 20 school. Honestly, it seems like admissions committees want students to excel in at least one or two rigorous math classes but don’t necessarily need them to excel in many. Getting a letter from a math professor is fine as long as it’s glowing. A letter from an economist is generally preferred though. Many students ask an economics professor to also discuss their math background some in a letter (they can usually do this with your transcript). I would apply to both predocs and PhD programs if I were you. A predoc can often cut a year off from the PhD program if you develop a strong research agenda during it (need a good supervisor for this), so the opportunity cost of the predoc isn’t as steep as it may seem initially. Apply to a wide range of schools. If you’re not pretty excited about the PhD program that you get into but get hired at a good predoc that does interesting research, take the predoc, save some money before grad school, and have fun as a young person. Getting into a top 10 school can be difficult and opaque, but your application seems qualified. You will still need to stand out among a large pool of qualified applicants. Many of the students who get in stand out through famous recommenders writing glowing letters for them (I don’t know if this is true in your case). Otherwise, the best you can do is to present your credentials honestly and be extremely clear about a potential research agenda in your SOP and the rest of your application (the SOP isn’t a big deal typically but is used as a tie breaker, that’s important for ultra competitive admissions). Your #1 job is to convince the adcom that you can produce high quality research with only a moderate amount of training. Discussing department fit and your research agenda will also help you understand which departments work for you. Hope this helps. Good luck!
  6. Another waitlist related question. Should I let the department at school A (my 1a choice) know that I would accept their offer conditional on me not getting off the waitlist at school B (my 1b choice), or should I not mention school B? Would it be better for me to tell school A that I would prefer their offer to any school at which I have been accepted? I am trying to maximize my chances of getting off the waitlist at school A in this case. Some important notes are that school B typically has better standing on rankings (like US news); school B is ranked between 5-10 and school A is ranked between 15-20. Would it help me seem like a more desirable candidate to let school A know that I am on the waitlist at school B? Also, I am truly unclear which department I would prefer if given offers from each. Thanks in advance for any advice on this. I really want give myself the best shot in this season.
  7. I was told by two schools which waitlisted me something along the lines of "it is highly likely that you will gain acceptance before the end of March". That implies that schools are expecting at least some movement in the next two weeks.
  8. Just reading through grad cafe; I have no special knowledge. A poster on 2/25 stated that they were waitlisted and received a message stating that UC-Davis had a "conservative first round" and the following sentence: "I want to stress again that I am using the word 'waitlist' for lack of a better word". I interpret this information by thinking that the applicants to which the program has actively reached out and waitlisted likely have a leg up relative to us who haven't heard anything. I'd be very happy to be wrong though.
  9. Have not heard from UC-Davis or UT-Austin as well. UT Austin especially has released a lot rejections and no WLs; would assume that you're on some version of a waitlist there, although you may never hear so. UC-Davis waitlisted some people in their first round; sounded like an encouraging email based on GC. Those people are probably ahead of us in the pecking order. They have also released some rejections, so wouldn't assume IR. There will be a second round here and at UT-Austin. I would likely assume IR at UMD though. They've released acceptances along with a two tier waitlist (I'm on this). They haven't released rejections. No idea on UCLA.
  10. Ah, I read that as them not knowing how their admits would behave, and more (or less) admits than expected could select different schools. Looking now, I think that your reading is more accurate.
  11. Also waitlisted by Northwestern. May I ask what in the email signals that the waitlist will be especially difficult to gain admission from?
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