PROFILE
Type of Undergrad: Top 50 LAC
Undergrad GPA: 3.74
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: N/A. I have a strong hostility toward standardized tests and its nonsense since I applied for undergrad, so I decided not to take it at all.
Math Courses: Linear Algebra, Matrix Analysis, Calc Sequence, ODE, Probability, Math Stat, Abstract Algebra, Real Analysis (All A)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro & Macro, Econometrics I, Optimization, Advanced Macro, Behavioral, Theory of Firms, some other electives (Mostly A, some A-)
Other Courses: N/A
Letters of Recommendation: All from undergrad profs (2 econ + 1 math). I am sure they are stellar as I am one of the best of my college in the past few years. Also they told me that the letters directly compared me with other graduates of my college who entered most programs that I applied to, so it is a huge plus.
Research Experience: RA for my undergrad profs. No predoc. Write one solo paper that eventually was presented at some economic conferences.
Teaching Experience: N/A
Research Interests: Experimental, Micro, Political Economy
SOP: I think I tried my best in SoP, since I really spent time to tailor different statements to different schools. I think my interest was really clear as I targeted specific faculty members and kept my eyes on their research pretty closely.
Other:
RESULTS
Acceptances: UCSB (off the waitlist), IUB, GMU, MSU (MA), BGSE (MA)
Waitlists: UCSB (eventually accepted)
Rejections: Booth, Maryland, Pitt
Pending: None
Attending: UCSB
Comments: Happy with the ending. Here are what I have taken from this cycle (of course, some of them might not be objectively true):
- Don't underrate SoP. I know that this is controversial. But one of my profs told me that he talked to the DGS of two Ag Econ programs, and they rank SoP just below LoR in terms of importance. Of course, this for sure differ from school to school, as a lot of them practically do not care about SoP. But it really does not hurt you to craft your SoP well. A good SoP does not guarantee you an offer, but a bad SoP, especially a generic one plugging faculty members' names to show artificial interest, will definitely throw you out of the pile.
- For people who come from lower-ranked LAC or state schools like me: apply to programs where your professors have a solid network, or programs where alums of your current school have gone to (and succeeded). This allows the prof to directly compare you with names that are familiar with the adcoms. I was unlucky since my profs' network is mostly with Ag Econ, which is not my cup of tea, but at least I was able to get good letters.
- Talk to alums of your schools who ended up doing PhD. They are extremely helpful during the whole application process, especially with preparing for interviews.
What would you have done differently?
- I realized too lately that the lack of GRE really limited my school list. There are some other schools that might be a reasonable gamble with research fit for me, like UC Irvine, but I couldn't apply without the GRE. Also, I should gamble with some more schools that didn't require the GRE like Stanford, UMich, UWash, or Cornell. I decided not to do so because of either loose research fit or low change of getting admission, but now I think I should have done otherwise.
- I also should have tried to push harder for one of my papers for publication, but well the online time really degenerated my productivity.
- Prepare my application materials earlier. I was a little bit rushed near the deadlines, though everything ended up to be fine. But if I finalized most of my materials during the summer I would be in a way better state.