PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Econ/Math BA + Accelerated Masters. Top 100 US Research University. Flagship State Uni.
Undergrad GPA: 3.66
Type of Grad: Top 5 US Masters
Grad GPA: 3.6
GRE: 170 Q / 164 V / 5.5 AW
Math Courses: (A unless stated otherwise; see note below for more detail) Undergrad: Calc I&II (AP), Calc III, Linear Algebra (B+), Discrete Math, Numerical Analysis, Diff Eq (C), Intro to Stats, Math Stats I&II, Probability Theory (B+) Grad: Real Analysis I&II (B), Topology (C+), Complex Analysis I, Numerical Analysis, Graph-Matrix Theory
Econ Courses: (A unless stated otherwise; see note below for more detail) Standard undergrad courses. Graduate Micro/Macro/Metrics and Economic Forecasting. PhD Metrics I-III at 2 different Unis (A/A/B & B+/B+/A), same with PhD Macro I (B & A-), with the second uni being much higher ranked. Also PhD Macro II at first university.
Other Courses: Econ research, data mining, Probability theory of ML, classes in R and Java
Letters of Recommendation: 1. Older research mentor/co-author who speaks very highly of me. 2. Recently tenured Ass Prof pretty well known in field. 3. Older. established in field, doesn't know me personally super well.
Research Experience: Several years. Dissertation-level RAship. At the stage now I'm trying to publish.
Teaching Experience: Lots of TAing (3-4 years)
SOP: Well-written, could have stood to narrow down research into sub-fields.
Other: I retook graduate Real Analysis II (D) and PhD Macro I (B-), but these grades did show up on my transcript. More details below. For LORs I'd recommend a similar breakdown as I had, with the exception that you should ideally have 2 young profs and all of them know you well.
RESULTS:
Offers: BC, WUSTL, USC, Vandy, Emory, UCI, Indiana, Notre Dame
Rejections: LSE, Texas, Duke, Maryland, JHU, Rochester
Comments/What would you do differently: Vibes are great at Indiana and USC both from current students and faculty. This is my third time applying to programs so I have a lot to say. I hope this reaches at least one person is in my old shoes
First briefly, when applying Start applications early and apply to as many programs as your letter writers are comfortable writing letters for. I applied to a healthy number of schools but unless financial burden from fees is too big, apply to even more than me (as many as possible). This process is noisy as hell and you never know how your thinking will change in 6 months. We've seen lots of people get "randomly lucky" (i.e. just had good fit but poor credentials) over the years (search UCSD grad cafe and scroll through acceptances for a heartwarming story). The downside of this is more apps take away from your most preferred schools apps, so again start early.
Ok more important stuff.
1. For Classes- Quality over Quantity!!!!
This is the biggest thing I would have done differently. When I settled on this as a career path and looked at EMJR/this forum I got scared by my schools lack of prestige. So I decided I was going to take 7 graduate classes a semester, well more than I needed to graduate *early to simultaneously earn a double-major bachelors and a accelerated masters* all while being in a time intensive extracurricular to pay for my school, and manage to get a 4.0 so I could write my ticket to a big shot program. Obviously in retrospect, a horrible idea that had no chance of succeeding. I had several professors who didn't know my full academic history surprised at my results given my PhD course and and research experience. But ultimately I had too many red flags in math classes to be as successful as I should have been. Bottom line: get As. Don't overload yourself; put yourself in a position to succeed. Just taking the class isn't worth it if you don't do exceedingly well. Bs won't kill you, as other profiles show, but really it doesn't mean much (at least, it doesn't help you at all really but might hurt you) to AdComs that you just took a class if you don't do that well. This is the advice I've gotten after talking to lots of people. When you take too many classes the damn will break at some point. When you have so many finals, things don't go well. My graduating semester I bombed a topology final I hadn't studied enough for, bringing my grade down to a C+, then rushed in late to my PhD Macro final, bringing all that residual stress with me, and bombed that final too, bringing me from the top student (5 person class) to a B. I managed to pull out an A on graduate complex analysis and PhD time series metrics but I could've had an A in Macro too had I just not taken topology.
2. For program selection -- focus on hypotheticals, faculty, and how it feels to interact with schools
Being my third time applying, I was not prepared for the experience of actually getting into schools. I had hoped I'd get into one top choice and this would be easy. But I got into by Middle-Safety schools. And even though I had a ranking of preference, this all went out the window and I was left with a list of programs that were stronger in some areas relative to others, and in the end no clearly dominating offer. Don't just stand idly by waiting for emails. Here is what I wish i had done before I got results: imagine you get into a subset of your non-top choices. How would you feel? For instance just randomly imagine you get into your 5th, 7th, and 10th choice. What are the pros and cons of each? Which school has the faculty you want to work with the most? Which school has the place you'd be happiest waking up every day? Which school has the best culture? For the latter two questions, what's really important is having lots of contact with schools, go to visit days virtual or otherwise. Get a sense of the vibe and the culture. Ask your advisors and alumni (or grad students at your current school if they know anyone). When you talk to students at the prospective school, remember that most all grad students are going to be miserable to some extent, but look at their body language when you ask current students about departmental support and quality of life and see what happens. Ask them about the people you are considering for your advisors; do the "star faculty" actually care/help? Email/talk to the profs you want to be your advisor *after you get accepted*. Size up your potential cohort even if they're on a zoom with you; would you like doing a problem set with them? If you're on the waitlist, tell your current advisors/mentors in case they have any leverage and email the points of contact at these schools and tell them you really wanna go (if that's true). When it comes down to making the final selection for a school, here's the most important factor/thing to remember: prestige is nice but the most important is your advisor relationships. If you aren't super confident about your field, go to the place with the most well-rounded program. If you've got a good idea, really look at the professors who are working in the same domain, whose papers you really like reading. Advisors are a lot better when they like what you're working on. Also try to avoid cut-throat, toxic places unless that kind of thing drives you (e.g. Chicago -- if the idea of your office space being contingent on your first year grades scares you don't go). In the end, it's better to be a star at a lower ranked place than to be below the median at a top 10 (they won't push for you as earnestly on the market). Of course, you don't want that pressure to have to be a star ideally, but you really have to break down what programs will give you want you want research wise. Most of the top 20 won't, in terms of interests aligning pretty perfectly. So when it's time to make a decision when you have your results make a list of the schools where a) you'd be happy from a location/culture perspective b) who has faculty "at the frontier" of your specific paper writing aspirations ahead of what you've gotten into. Once I did this I found there were pretty much 2 schools clearly dominating (didn't include Stanford because grad school is hard enough without having to compete with that cohort) , and they both are very hard to get into, so I'm happy with how things turned out.
3. For admission season, get rid of unnecessary stress!
There are two types of people -- ones that should be on GradCafe and those who shouldn't. Know yourself! For some people looking at results come out is reassuring because there's not an unknown, which is worse. But a lot of people on there are making their anxiety worse. Most of the comments on there are asking questions that aren't going to help them at all. If you haven't received an email, you haven't received an email. Just take a deep breath and if it comes it comes. Asking things like "when did you receive this", "when did you apply", "has anyone been accepted off the waitlist" are highly irrelevant questions in 99% of cases. Eventually (unless the school is a bunch of dicks like UT Austin who keep applicants in the dark) the results will come. Do not punish yourself any more than the inevitability of the mental burden of admission season will. Stay off this forum and grad cafe if you find yourself in worse shape after looking. However, please do post when you turn down offers. That's something very constructive and helpful for people. Also don't make more than one "please reject offers" posts. At some point there is diminishing returns. One final related note: be careful about asking anonymous forums for advice. People on the waitlist at certain schools (if we ignore morality) should be telling you not to go there; people will lie. Just be careful with that. I wish there was a better forum than EMJR to get advice for this stuff. In the end just keep thinking and working through it and eventually you'll come to an answer you are happy with.
4. General advice implicit from my profile
Research research research. That's the name of the game. These places are getting lots of applicants that are good students. That is not the ultimate aim of the PhD. The biggest fear from admin side is you won't be able to make the transition. Become an RA as soon as possible. Keep a list of research ideas. Attend seminars and read papers on your own. Do a thesis. My biggest problem on this end is I was interested in too much. In the process of narrowing down schools, I got a better sense of the "flavor" of what I wanted to do. I wish I had this on my SOP. Don't be like me and try to put yourself in the mindset of getting there beforehand. As far as classes, Real Analysis is not only a good signal but it's great prep. Even though it gave me a black eye in the form of a D, that class is one of my favorites I've ever taken. For PhD classes, don't overload yourself but if possible take what you're interested in filed wise or Micro. The sooner you start taking hella math the better. Again if financial cost is not prohibitive, take the GRE until you get perfect quant. It's worth having another box to check off. Also for letters, you want them to be able to compare you favorably to past students. So try to get one big name but the other two should be people who really like you and can cheerlead for you.
