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Hi all, I am RA at a top university in the U.S. and have the chance to enroll in graduate courses in the coming fall. I am split between taking the graduate real analysis course (measure and integration) in the math department or taking Micro I (consumer and producer theory, choice under uncertainty MWG chap 1-6). As a prospective economics Ph.D student, the obvious choice would appear to be Micro, given that it is a direct signal for performance in the first year coursework. However, given the pervasiveness of measure theory in various fields -- from statistics and econometrics to the economics of information and Bayesian learning -- it seems like a solid real analysis course may be good for my own edification. For context, I have been studying from Papa Rudin (RCA) for the past couple weeks, albeit progress is slow since I am doing all the problems by myself and have not really put all that much time into it given my other commitments as an RA. I suspect peer effects are important with respect to outcomes while engaging with material like this. I have no experience with MWG (only baby Varian). People here tell me that getting the highest grade is crucial in Micro but to do so you need to be in the top 5% of the class. That does not seem realistic for me given I will be competing with a host of international students who have seen the material before. I do not know how the grading works in the Math department. Does anyone have any advice for me? Did you take both the courses? If so, which one was more challenging and/or edifying? Appreciate the help

Hey all, I am an RA at a top university and have the chance to take graduate coursework this coming fall. As a prospective economics graduate student, I am torn between taking the first semester Real Analysis course (measure and integration) with the Math Ph.D students vis-a-vis taking Micro 1 (Chapters 1-6 MWG). On one hand, the micro course is probably a direct signal of ability to perform well in graduate coursework, and for most people it would be an obvious choice. However, I feel measure theory- pervasive as it is in so many areas of thought including mathematics, statistics, econometrics and the economics of information- feels fundamentally more important to know and understand. Have any of you taken both courses? Which one felt more challenging and demanding? Which one did you personally feel like you learnt more from? I am currently working through Rudin's book Real and Complex Analysis. My progress is very slow, since I do problems by myself (hardly an advisable strategy if you want to make rapid progress in learning the material; I suspect peer effects are very prominent in courses like these) and I do not spend much time on it given my other commitments as an RA. I have virtually no experience with MWG and have only done baby Varian many years ago. People also tell me that I need to be in the top 5% of my class to get the highest grade in Micro which seems unfeasible as many graduate students (almost all international students) have seen the material before in masters programs, so then I would come in with a disadvantage relative to them. I do not know how the grading works in the Math department. Given all of this, do you have any advice?