Search the Community

Hi there. As I understood, the cheapest option (1.5k) of Harvard Extension is non credit and you’ll get "pass" or "not pass" grade, not A,B.. So, is the juice worth the squeeze? Or better to take credit-degree one to get a grade?

Hi I am a postgraduate student from the UK planning to apply to phd programs for 2021 entry. I am interested in time series, forecasting and empirical macroeconomics/macro-finance. Could you guys suggest which departments in US and EU top 50 (except the ones mentioned below) have good researchers in these fields? I think the following are quite good (I have excluded Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, UPenn as they are beyond my league). Not ranked in any order: - Minnesota - Northwestern - LSE - Bocconi - UCL - UCSD - UPF Thank you

So I'm about to take a class called "Linear Algebra and Real Analysis" through Harvard Summer School to meet both the multivariable calculus and linear algebra prerequisites for most of the econ masters programs I want to apply to + to show that I've gone a little beyond that with the real analysis portion. The class is the equivalent of Math 23A in Harvard College and it's the class the Harvard undergrads take after calculus II if they have an advanced (for their level) math background. I've seen good reviews of the course here (apparently it's very hard and very intensive) and the professor claims that AdComs like seeing the course in people's transcripts. My worry is that if I take this course I won't have a class called "multivariable calculus" or "calculus 3" in my transcript. Will that be an issue?

There is one truth about top 10 admissions that I hope everyone here knows in order to adjust their expectations. By top 10, I refer to MIT, Harvard, Stanford (and GSB), Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Berkeley, Chicago, Northwestern, and NYU. Economic admissions is elitist. Which means that if you come from an "unknown state school," or from a "top Southeast Asian university," you're not going to get admitted. Forget it. It's the cold hard truth of economics admissions that you have a near-zero chance of being admitted to a top program if you do not come from a top undergraduate. To set this a little bit straighter, this has nothing to do with your ability. I'm sure most of the self-selected applicants who apply to top 10 programs will pass their quals just fine. It is just the way things are. If you want to know why, read on. According to the many more "prominent" advisors on this website, as long as you take a lot of mathematics and statistics courses, get As in all of them, ace your GRE, do a lot of RA work, you have a greater chance at being admitted. This is true, but it is not helpful. Because while you can improve your chances of being admitted as a whitebread economics-mathematics major with a 4.0 GPA, your chances will still be near-zero, unless you have letters of recommendation from prominent economists who has connections to economists on the adcom on the other side. If you're from an "unranked state school," or from an "unknown" school in some remote country, the chances that there exist prominent economists on the faculty of your school is measly. Make no mistake, your letters of recommendation and connections to the department you wish to be admitted at are the most important aspects of your application, to the point that your GPA, math courses, and GRE will play a small secondary role. Make no mistake, your chances at being admitted to a top economics department has already been determined the minute you choose which undergraduate school to attend. I've heard many on this forum make the argument that they are giving advice to the "regular" applicants, not to the applicants who have had the luxury of being in a top 10 undergraduate. My response to that is these people over-estimate the number of spaces that are reserved for "regular" applicants. In most years, classes can be filled by people whose recommenders who have connections to the adcom entirely. This means that apart from the handful (less than a handful) of students that a typical department will admit from Japan, China, Russia, France, Britain, Argentina, Chile, Mexico etc, there are years when ALL the "American" admits are "backdoor" admits. These are full-time RAs of economists on the adcom, students of Nobel Laureates, or students of economists who are friends of economists on the adcom. The community of economists is very tight-knit and elitist. Economists in the top 10 often mingle only within the same group. If your professor was a classmate of an MIT professor in graduate school at Harvard, and now your professor teaches at some unranked state school, don't expect that to be a good connection. But if you go to Yale, and one of your letter writers is William Nordhaus, you will get in anywhere you go because adcoms are usually made up of professors who might know him personally, and would not want to risk the embarrassment of answering the question "why didn't you admit my student that year?" So what should someone from a weak undergrad program do? 1. Do an MA/MS. Certain top universities offer terminal MA/MS programs in economics, or in statistics. What you learn in the program does not matter. The goal of joining a terminal MA/MS programs is to get better letters. Always have that in mind. The goal is the letters, not the additional math/stats courses that you can take which adcom doesn't care about anyway. The Stanford MS in Statistics, the Harvard AM in Statistics, the Columbia MA in Quantitative Methods, Economics, or Statistics, are good ways for someone from a low-ranked undergraduate to get the "elite" exposure that is so crucial. Of course, this is the route for the wealthy. These programs are extremely expensive. Unless you have a scholarship, take the full-time RA route. Be willing to travel to places like Indonesia or Kenya for a couple of years to get letters from Olken, Banerjee, or Duflo. 2. Switch fields. Economics is one of the most competitive fields in which to do a PhD. But certain other fields, such as sociology, have very low barriers to entry because they are not that popular (or useful) in the first place. It is far more likely to get into an elite sociology program. 3. Figure out if doing a PhD in Economics is what you truly want to do. A lot of people interested in economics are not particularly interested in economic research. For a 5-year time investment, this should be the sole consideration—do you want to be an academic economist? Otherwise, there are MPP/MPA programs, MBA programs, MA programs, or British MS programs which give you exposure to economics without the bureaucracy of economics PhD admissions. 4. Do a PhD in Economics in Britain. Many MPhil programs in Britain allow students to carry on to complete a PhD without making another application. But I shall warn you that the training of a researcher is very mediocre in Britain and academic placements are the same. You get to slap on a DPhil in Economics from Oxford at the back of your name but this will only impress people outside of the world of economics. We all know British PhD economists are trained more adequately for professional placements, not academic ones. Ultimately, I personally do not think it is worth it do commit 5 years to any economics PhD program for the sake of getting a PhD in Economics. If you did not get into a program that you truly like, and I mean truly like, there are better ways to spend your time. The world of economics is full of elitism. You are not going to be a very successful or famous economist if you're at a top program because journals are also elitist. You are also not going to be placed at a top department if you did not graduate from a top program. You will not be placed in a top graduate school if you did not graduate from a top undergraduate. Your whole career in economics is defined the minute you start college, and if you do not come from a wealthy family, there is no way to salvage the situation by spending hundreds of thousands for an MA/MS at a top department to get letters. There are certainly other ways to spend your life which will give you much better utility. Background: I have an S.B in Economics and Political Science from MIT. I audited Linear Algebra (which means I have no grade in it), I took Multivariable Calculus P/NP, my Differential Equations was a B, and my Real Analysis was a B. This was it for my mathematics preparation. I did two years of JPAL, and was admitted to MIT, Harvard, and all of the top 10 except Princeton. I became an tenure-track AP at a top 5 (where I was on the adcom for a while), but left for the private sector, where people earning the same amount as I do, doing the same job, are much much younger and a lot less qualified. My boss, earning 7 figures, only has a BA in English from Oxford. There's more to life than getting a PhD in Economics. Feel free to ask for any advice or profile evaluation on this thread.

Hi: Just wanted to see if we could get a thread going where people could compile a collective list of characterizing features of the various PhD programs out there today? For example, MIT is probably more in depth than most schools but not as broad ranging as Harvard, in a sense? If we could get a discussion going about this I think it would be very helpful for everyone. Aloha from Hawaii!

Would it be beneficial or detrimental to my overall application to have online extension courses from say Harvard Extension School in addition to the master's degree and RA experience? I've heard that online courses are a waste of time and money, but I think doing well in an actual Harvard course (albeit online extension) can be seen as a positive indicator?

I am working on strengthening weak math grades. I recently took Real Analysis and Linear Algebra I via Harvard Extension school, and next on my mind is probably retaking multivariable calculus. Harvard Extension doesn't offer it this semester, and so I am exploring other options. There is a multivariable course at UT-Austin extension (Sequences, Series, and Multivariable Calculus | University Extension | The University of Texas at Austin) is there any benefit of waiting until Harvard offers it again, or can I take it at UT-Austin, or some other school for that matter, and not risk any eyebrow raises for the sake of reputation ad bouncing around different schools? This course is also self-paced which is a pro for me, I'm not sure if ad coms would be aware of that distinction. Any other courses you know of that you'd recommend? As an aside, there is also a more advanced analysis course at the Harvard extension school this semester called "Real Analysis, Convexity, and Optimization" that seems relevant but I'm not sure if I need to do that as a form of going a bit above and beyond, or if I can stick with the basics of fixing my previous bad grades.

Did anybody get an email from Harvard Business School after taking the GRE?

Which is better for someone picking between the two?

What is the perfect PhD candidate? What are the mathematical, programming habilities, publication record and etc?

Hello, I have offers from Chicago's PhD program in economics and Harvard's public policy PhD at HKS. My interests are mainly in development and applied micro broadly (including health, labor, environmental, empirical IO). Chicago attracts me because of its prestige in academia and its training and strength in economics. However, I heard the program is brutal and mentoring by faculty is lackluster. Recently its faculty seem to be macro/finance/theory focused, which is not my area of interest. Harvard attracts because of its strengths in development, connections to Harvard/MIT econ faculty, and a smaller cohort with more flexibility in coursework. There's also a certain prestige of Harvard broadly, and for any non-academic jobs. However, it is not as prestigious in the economics job market, making it tough to market a Public Policy PhD as opposed to economics. Is there anything (other than quality of life and financials) that I am not considering? Is there a clear (or weakly dominant) winner here? Any thoughts are much appreciated!

Hello Urch Community! This is my first time posting here, so bear with me if I flout some rules. Following is my profile and I am currently in the process of applying to PhD programs in economics. I have applied to a few universities already but I need tips on where else I can apply (and soon!) PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Applied mathematics and economics at top 5 U.S. University Undergrad GPA: 3.563 overall, 3.63 in applied math Type of Grad: London School of Economics M.Sc. Econometrics and Mathematical Economics Grad GPA: Not available yet GRE: 168Q 167V 5.0A Math Courses: All the basic stuff: real analysis, linear algebra, probability theory, discrete topology, advanced complex algebra, differential equations Econ Courses: intermediate micro and macro, political economics, advanced game theory, public economics, macroeconomic finance Letters of Recommendation: One Nobel Laureate I did research for (he thanked me in his book), three other professors of economics (all MIT or Harvard PhDs, well established, one most cited in his field), and one math lecturer with whom I took real analysis and discrete topology Research Experience: UG thesis (received a bad grade), several short research projects with professors, two research-focused classes Teaching Experience: taught introductory calculus to freshmen/ sophomores Research Interests: labor, urban, political economy SOP: standard, some description of past research experience and future plans Weaknesses: Horrible undergraduate grades, though As in all math courses I am currently applying to the following: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Stanford GSB, Chicago, Northwestern, UCLA, Berkeley, UPenn Where else should I apply considering my bad grades? Do I even stand a chance at these/ should I be looking at universities ranked much lower? I really, really need a response by tomorrow so I can send recommendation requests to professors. Thank you so much, you guys!

Hi everyone! This message should be of interest to any of the PhD applicants interested in health economics and development economics and interested in economics-related doctoral programs at Harvard. Harvard's Department of Global Health and Population is accepting applications for its doctoral program in Health Economics for next fall. The application deadline is December 15, 2013. The program is chaired by David Canning, a leading Harvard economist in the areas of development economics, HIV/AIDS, aging, retirement and population economics. The program is also affiliated with the Harvard Program on the Global Demography of Aging. Other Harvard faculty members affiliated with the program are David Bloom, William Hsiao, David Cutler, Jessica Cohen, Winnie Yip, Margaret McConnell, Gunther Fink, Peter Berman and Gita Sen. The program is arguably among the top degree-granting program in terms of research paper productivity in the area of both development economics and health economics (Field Rankings at IDEAS: Health Economics) The coursework in the first year will include the standard PhD coursework in microeconomics, probability theory and econometrics through Harvard's Department of Economics in addition to required doctoral courses HSPH. In the second years, students are required to take PhD courses in development economics, labor economics and health economics through the Department of Economics. . The adcom is looking for applicants with strong preparation in mathematics and economics and with interest in conducting doctoral research on developing countries. The application is on the Harvard School of Public Health admission application homepage. Choose the Economics Track in the Department of Global Health, when applying. The program admits on average 2 students to the Economics track (Harvard School of Public Health » HSPH Admissions » 2012 HSPH Statistics)

Hey there! Today I received my TOEFL score, and it's 92/120. Reading: 25/30 Listening: 14/30 Speaking: 26/30 Writing: 27/30 Total: 92/120 Is it good? Good enough? I'm currently applying for Harvard and Stanford, so :) I know I scored really high in everything except Listening, but... What do you guys think?? My Listening section is pretty mediocre because while I was listening, many people were in the Speaking part (I got rather late to the center). We were around 20 people taking the iBT... I couldn't hear very well. Would that count as a way to redo the exam without any cost? Should I write to the TOEFL people? (My GPA is of 3.59, if that changes any of your answers?) Thanks in advance! :D

Hi everyone! This message should be of interest to any of the PhD applicants interested in health economics and development economics and interested in economics-related doctoral programs at Harvard. Harvard's Department of Global Health and Population is accepting applications for its doctoral program in Health Economics for next fall. The application deadline is December 15, 2012. The program is chaired by David Bloom and David Canning, both are leading Harvard economists in the areas of HIV/AIDS, aging, retirement and development economics. The program is also affiliated with the Harvard Program on the Global Demography of Aging. Other Harvard faculty members affiliated with the program at William Hsiao, David Cutler, Jessica Cohen, Margaret McConnell, Ajay Mahal, Winnie Yip, Joseph Newhouse, Gunther Fink, Peter Berman and Gita Sen. The coursework in the first year will include the standard PhD coursework in microeconomics, probability theory and econometrics through Harvard's Department of Economics in addition to 3 courses in demography, health measurement and global health through HSPH. The second year will involve 4 field courses at the Economics Department in a choice of the following areas: labor economics, development economics, public economics or labor economics. The adcom is looking for applicants with strong preparation in mathematics and economics and with interest in conducting doctoral research on developing countries. The application is on the Harvard School of Public Health admission application homepage. Choose the Economics Concentration in the Department of Global Health, when applying.

Hello Everyone, I have completed my bachelors from IIT Roorkee, India. But now I am planning for getting a PhD in Econ as I love math. I am planning to pursue a University of London International Programme (BSc Economics - Led by LSE) for gaining a considerable experience in Econ. Will a UoL IP degree be well reviewed by top Econ departments in US (eg Econ at Harvard, MIT or UChicago)? Or should I get a Masters before applying to PhD? Please help...Also please advise me on letter of recommendation for such programs (as I wont be having an econ prof. in a UoL international program)... Thank You.

Hello Everyone, I have completed my bachelors from IIT Roorkee, India. But now I am planning for getting a PhD in Econ as I love math. I am planning to pursue a University of London International Programme (BSc Economics - Led by LSE) for gaining a considerable experience in Econ. Will a UoL IP degree be well reviewed by top Econ departments in US (eg Econ at Harvard, MIT or UChicago)? Please help...Also please advise me on LoR for such programs (as I wont be having an econ prof. in such a program)... Thank You.

Hi there, I sat the GRE about 2 weeks ago and received the initial score report with Verbal 162 and Quantitative 154 (316/340). I'm almost 19 and am just starting my undergraduate degree this year. I am hoping to apply to Harvard Business School for an MBA in a few years time. How do you think these scores are for that? I'm most definitely going to re-sit, mainly because Quantitative is quite low. Maths isn't my strength, so I'm needing to work on it a lot. If I didn't re-sit, and I just used these scores (I'm thinking I'll get a 5+ for writing), do you think Harvard Business would even consider me? Obviously it's impossible to evaluate my chances of an acceptance based purely on my scores, but I'm wanting to know whether or not you think Harvard (or a similar institution) would give much consideration to a candidate with my scores. Thanks, Matt

Hi there, I sat the GRE about 2 weeks ago and received the initial score report with Verbal 162 and Quantitative 154 (316/340). I'm almost 19 and am just starting my undergraduate degree this year. I am hoping to apply to Harvard Business School for an MBA in a few years time. How do you think these scores are for that? I'm most definitely going to re-sit, mainly because Quantitative is quite low. Maths isn't my strength, so I'm needing to work on it a lot. If I didn't re-sit, and I just used these scores (I'm thinking I'll get a 5+ for writing), do you think Harvard Business would even consider me? Obviously it's impossible to evaluate my chances of an acceptance based purely on my scores, but I'm wanting to know whether or not you think Harvard (or a similar institution) would give much consideration to a candidate with my scores. Thanks, Matt

Choose the Economics Track in the Department of Global Health, when applying.Hi everyone! This message should be of interest to any of the PhD applicants interested in health economics and development economics and interested in economics-related doctoral programs at Harvard. Harvard's Department of Global Health and Population is accepting applications for its doctoral program in Health Economics for next fall. The application deadline is December 15, 2011. The program is chaired by David Bloom and David Canning, both are leading Harvard economists in the areas of HIV/AIDS, aging, retirement and development economics. The program is also affiliated with the Harvard Program on the Global Demography of Aging. Other Harvard faculty members affiliated with the program at William Hsiao, David Cutler, Jessica Cohen, Rodrigo Soares, Ajay Mahal, Winnie Yip, Margaret McConnell, Joseph Newhouse, Gunther Fink, Peter Berman and Gita Sen. The coursework in the first year will include the standard PhD coursework in microeconomics, probability theory and econometrics through Harvard's Department of Economics in addition to 2 courses in health measurement and global health through HSPH. The second year will involve 4 field courses at the Economics Department in a choice of the following areas: labor economics, development economics, public economics or labor economics. The adcom is looking for applicants with strong preparation in mathematics and economics and with interest in conducting doctoral research on developing countries. The application is on the Harvard School of Public Health admission application homepage. Choose the Economics Track in the Department of Global Health, when applying.

All, Hello! I am currently applying to roughly 20 schools (listed below) in hopes of starting a program in Fall of 2012. I am hoping that someone here could look at my profile and give me a general idea as to whether I am looking at the right tiered schools and also to let me know if I could possibly reach for any top tier schools (Harvard, MIT, etc..). Thank you for your time! Undergrad: West Point, 3.2 gpa - Engineering Psychology (extensive math background, and total of 144 credits) Graduate: American Military University (online), 3.95 - MA Humanities GRE: 1310 (630V, 680Q) LORS: strong, generally 2 from academics (full professors) and 1 professional (although I would like your advice on maybe using 2 professional) Work Experience: 7 years in the military as a commissioned officer. Specifically: All leadership experience - ie: as a platoon leader or company level commander (in charge of 90+ individuals) Unique Experience: Over 2 years leadership in combat and experience working directly with the Iraqi Air Force Research Focus: leadership, team dynamics, ethical decision making Thank you very much for your time and help! I want to make sure I am going about this the right way. List of schools: U. of Utah; U. of Texas - Austin; Arizona St; U. of Arizona; Florida St; U of Florida; Duke; UNC Chapel Hill; UNC; U. of Maryland; George Washington; Emory; GA Tech; LSU; UMass; Boston University; ..... Harvard? MIT? Thanks!

Hi everyone! This message should be of interest to any of the PhD applicants interested in health economics and development economics and interested in economics-related doctoral programs at Harvard. Harvard's Department of Global Health and Population is accepting applications for a third year for a new doctoral program in Health Economics for next fall. The application deadline is December 15, 2010. The program is chaired by David Bloom and David Canning, both are leading Harvard economists in the areas of HIV/AIDS, aging, retirement and development economics. The program is also affiliated with the Harvard Program on the Global Demography of Aging. Other Harvard faculty members affiliated with the program at William Hsiao, David Cutler, Jessica Cohen, Rodrigo Soares, Ajay Mahal, Winnie Yip, Joseph Newhouse, Gunther Fink, Peter Berman and Gita Sen. The coursework in the first year will include the standard PhD coursework in microeconomics, probability theory and econometrics through Harvard's Department of Economics in addition to 3 courses in demography, health measurement and global health through HSPH. The second year will involve 4 field courses at the Economics Department in a choice of the following areas: labor economics, development economics, public economics or labor economics. The adcom is looking for applicants with strong preparation in mathematics and economics and with interest in conducting doctoral research on developing countries. The application is on the Harvard School of Public Health admission application homepage. Choose the Economics Track in the Department of Global Health, when applying.