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Hi all! I'm applying to econ phd this cycle and here's a question I have regarding sop: Should I mention faculty members that I want to work with in sop? It seems people do this all the time but My professor told me this usually wouldn't do much good as anyone can just google for 5 min and drop down some names GS Lab RA manual also recommend against this (PhD Application * gslab-econ/ra-manual Wiki * GitHub)

I hope no one minds me creating a new thread for these questions without an informative title. I preface my post in this way because the questions are based on my own personal problems. I am creating a thread about them because they are probably relevant to others. (1) is obviously of interest to everyone, (2)-(4) are based on me either being stupid or lazy or both but maybe you are like me! 1. COVID-19 means that the GRE is not required at many (most?) programs. My GRE is strong but not perfect - should I light some money on fire and report or leave it be? A corollary question: could this mess up the screening process? 2. Some programs require writing samples of significant length. I have a writing sample from undergrad, the writing is passable. The content is "cringe" - I reviewed the literature like an arrogant little pissant and I use a weenie hut jr methodology in the paper, my tone is not warranted! Insofar as anyone decides to read the writing sample (why do programs create work for poor admissions committee people by making them read this drivel?), do you think they'll be aware that an undergrad thesis should be evaluated different from a MA thesis? Corollary question: when writing samples are optional, is the ideal something like a NSF research proposal? 3. Statement of Purpose - I assume that no one actually wants to read this and they want to look at LORs, transcripts and so on instead. How do I play to the desire of an admissions evaluator to daydream about literally anything else without turning in a blank piece of paper? This question is as open-ended as possible - basically everything that makes me a strong candidate is in my transcripts, should be in my letters (probably true of almost all applicants!). 4. resume/cv - is this actually examined closely? if so, is it "safe" to keep it toned down if any extra additions are obvious fluff and let letter writers do the lifting?

Hello all, I just read the other, older thread about how to find a dissertation topic, but just thought of starting a new one with my specific question. I have often read that the best way to go about a research project is by thinking about a research question first, and then finding the relevant datasets to empirically answer the question. However, I guess this is pretty difficult in development economics/international agricultural development that I am aiming to specialize in. Furthermore, I reckon that being assigned to work on a particular project as an RA, it would be much easier to think about a research question within the contours of the project's survey data set. Do you think this reverse approach is the more feasible and efficient one during PhD although it will be limiting in terms of the area of the research question itself - in general for Econ PhD, and specifically for development economics? If you think of a particular research question for which you want to conduct a small experiment, which might possibly cost a lot, are external funds easily available? Is writing external grants even encouraged during a doctoral program? Look forward to hearing your responses. I am starting PhD in Ag/Applied Econ this Fall. Thanks!

Hello, everyone! So I came across this rather difficult practice combinations question on magoosh.com, and while the answer was given, the explanation for it was not. Here is the question (and the answer hidden by a spoiler tag): An artist is planning on mixing together any number of different colors from her palette. A mixture results as long as the artist combines at least two colors. If the number of possible mixtures is less than 500, what is the greatest number of colors the artist could have in her palette? (A) 8 (B) 9 © 11 (D) 12 (E) 13 Would anyone happen to know exactly how to approach this question?

i am attaching an question. please help me solve the below questions. Thanks [ATTACH=CONFIG]7183[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]7184[/ATTACH]

Recently in the automobile industry, multinational companies have developed to the point where such few cars can be described as having been made entirely in one country. anyone knows, why the incorrect answer in this kind of question is "such few' I would really appreciate it

Hello everybody In the application bulletin I have read that the passing score is 75 points ..My question here is .. is it 75/100.. or is it 75/150 ?? And another question ..I remember reading somewhere on the internet that , if allowed in the test room , there is a special type of calculator to use in calculations and solving the many problems in the FPGEE that is only allowed by the FPGEC and that test takers need to practice as to how to use such calculator ...I hope someone who has recently sat the FPGEE will have the time to answer this last question ...

I am applying to PhD programs admissions in Fall 2020. I have been talking with someone who just finished a PhD at a Top 50 program and he recommended visiting the school and meeting with some faculty members (to discuss the program and their research). Is this a good idea? To what extent could it hurt or help my application? (Is this different from the question regarding fly outs?)

In Q9 at the bottom of the picture. Frankenstein is still punished by his excesses, as all overreachers in Faust stories are, as is emphasized in the passage, but his excesses are different. So I think option C should work but B is the provided solution. Why so? I did try searching the forums for this question but found nothing. [ATTACH=CONFIG]7237[/ATTACH]

Ok, so I finished my TOEFL some time ago now, but I just discovered this forum today. I prepared for about a week or two, with "cracking the TOEFL" which I did not find helpful at all - the tasks in there are much more difficult than what the TOEFL asks. You don't need to understand any texts, or interpret them, or rewrite sentences, or invent new paragraphs. Nothing like that. You don't need to tell engaging stories, at no point in the test. You also don't need to entertain your tester, nor sound overly natural and believable. What helped me most was using the practise exams online, and watching some videos / reading about other people's experiences. So what I really needed to practise was speaking quickly without thinking. SOmewhere I found a template that was something like 1) summary of question/problem 2) state your opinion/solution 3) give three reasons/arguments 4) summarize your suggestions and how they relate to the problem/question Not sure if that is actually required, but it helped me to feel confident. There was one question where my mind turned blank after half the time, so I didn't speak for like 15 seconds, and then just said a grammatically not very correct summary about the very few things I mentioned earlier Still got 30/30. What also helped to feel less nervous about talking to a computer in a room full of people was, as I saw someone say on youtube, trying to be the last one in the cue so that others start before you. Also, in general, if you always wait until the time for each task is up (you can skip it if you want to just continue), some people are going to be speaking before you have to anyway. Listen, so you can guess the topic. I just catched one answer for the first question but it made all the difference to my stress level. I was able to think of a sound structure before even knowing the question, and with that successful experience, the following questions were much easier to handle. I feel like the comprehension questions are very tricky, more than once I thought that there might be several correct answers. One listening excersice was particularly difficult, about some particles or bugs I don't remember, I didn't understand it too well, but I did not get that throughout the lecture they were talking about 2 different types - they sounded extremly similar and I did not notice. So when there were questions about (made up words, I don't remember the names) "miops" and "myops", I did not know which one was which so... I guessed. I'm pretty certain that was the testing question, because I got the number of questions expected in all other parts and one more in listening, and it's just extremly unlikely that I guessed everything correctly. I got 30/30 so it must have been that question that didn't count. I got 29/30 in writing and I think I know why. As again I did not want to finish early, I kept staring at my essay improving a word/sentence here and there. Unfortunately, do avoid stress, I had accostumed myself to not look at the clock. So I didn't know I didn't have time for another adjustment, but I started moving sentences around anyway. This lead to my final essay having a half sentence somewhere, as I cut the first part of it, intending to move it elsewhere and then adapt everything - stupid mistake, but well. I might have made some spelling mistakes as well, I'm used to autocorrect. Overall I have no clue why they give people so much time. I had 45 min left in reading, and over 30 min in each of the other parts except speaking because there you can't do anything after finishing the timed recordings so you don't have extra time. So what I can recommend: get there early. Don't worry about the other people, you'll never ever see them again. Also, their stress or (over) confidence do not help you. Just focus on yourself. You can go to the bathroom and take snack breaks whenever you feel like it. I think they tell you how to do it in the instructions, but since I had so much time left and did not want to skip forward, I walked around quite a lot and nobody cared (to be fair, I was the only one doing this, everyone else was very busy). Do the freely available online quizzes to get a feel for the questions and the time you need to answer them. If you know you don't have to worry about the time, don't. Just don't commit my mistake either - before changing anything, do check the time! Read the available "good" text examples. Practise writing a few essays about similar topics. A specific structure can be helpful as a guide for your writing, but again I doubt that it's necessary. Learn everything about the the test (e.g. the test questions that are evaluated, but do not affect your result). Know its duration and have your strategy to deal with the (extra) time. Know that it may take some more time to start the test than they tell you (I started about an hour late, not my fault but obviously only happened because I was last in line. Everyone else started about half an hour late). Have your drinks and (non-noisy) snacks if you think you might need them. Wear comfy clothes, but choose a colour and shirt that look decent enough for applications - the result document contains a photo they take there! Get more paper for notes if you need it, before you need it. Make sure you have enough paper for the speaking and oral comprehension questions, before you start those parts. Have an extra pen as well. Focus on your grammar and easy sentences. Nobody is trying to evaluate your intelligence, it's not like an exam at school, the content doesn't really matter as long as it's not wrong. Know your strategy for the oral comprehension part with respect to taking notes. For speaking, as mentioned above, a certain structure can help to make it easier to think of complete sentences. Before the test actually starts, there's some time which I used to write down the structures (which I had memorized) so that later, when my memory was filled with funny topics of the reading part, I could just refer to my own notes. I made a template for each question, so it was easier to take notes and the notes already formed the structure. And as you will have noted throughout this text (which obviously does not meet TOEFL criteria!), my English is far from perfect. I also have an accent. Before taking the test I had never been to an English speaking country (except for some stop overs) nor did I study in English. I feel it's really all about understanding how the test works, and using that knowledge.

Hello everyone, I have to ask a question which may be somewhat weird. From the placement history of my master program I know I would have good chances of being admitted in some top 10 US PhD program. However, for personal reasons, I need to remain in Europe. My question is the following: is it worthwile to apply anyway to US top programs and - in case of admission - use those offers as leverage to gain some better funding from european programs? Thank you

[TABLE=width: 100%] [TR] [TD=width: 100%][TABLE=width: 100%] [TR] [TD=width: 100%]A rectangular public park has an area of 3,600 square feet. It is surrounded on three sides by a chain link fence. If the entire length of the fence measures 180 feet, how many feet long could the unfenced side of the rectangular park be? Indicate all such lengths. A. 30 B. 40 C. 60 D. 90 E. 120 After the solving the question, the check will fail for 60, if we consider 60 then it will become square... please tell how ETS provide the right solution for this question. Thanks [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

couldn't delete this post. I'm sorry. please delete it.

I have a very minor question regarding on TSE. I am keen on studying at TSE but I do not speak French. :( Does TSE run its Master 2 Economic Theory and Econometrics, and the following years for Doctoral course in English? It does seems to run its Doctoral Course in English by looking at there website, but I just want to double check if it is correct. Has anyone had experience studying at TSE for M2 (or PHD) without much of French? If so, was it manageable living there?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]7166[/ATTACH] looked easy but i am stuck,

Guys, as finishing up my sop, I find this "why school" question a tough one. I read the post "Mentioning professors in SOP good/bad/neutral?" by TaxGal, and seems like it's a neutral for this question. I used to think the strongest reason for why school is the specific faculty you wanna work with. However, if it's just neutral to put specific faculty research here, what would be some good answers for "why school"?

The passage is: While the best sixteenth-century Renaissance scholars mastered the classics of ancient Roman literature in the original Latin and understood them in their original historical context, most of the scholars’ educated contemporaries knew the classics only from school lessons on selected Latin texts. These were chosen by Renaissance teachers after much deliberation, for works written by and for the sophisticated adults of pagan Rome were not always considered suitable for the Renaissance young: the central Roman classics refused (as classics often do) to teach appropriate morality and frequently suggested the opposite. Teachers accordingly made students’ needs, not textual and historical accuracy, their supreme interest, chopping dangerous texts into short phrases, and using these to impart lessons extemporaneously on a variety of subjects, from syntax to science. Thus, I believe that a modern reader cannot know the associations that a line of ancient Roman poetry or prose had for any particular educated sixteenth-century reader. And the question is: The information in the passage suggests that which of the following would most likely result from a student’s having studied the Roman classics under a typical sixteenth-century teacher? A) The student recalls a line of Roman poetry in conjunction with a point learned about grammar. B) The student argues that a Roman poem about gluttony is not morally offensive when it is understood in its historical context. C) The student is easily able to express thoughts in Latin. D) The student has mastered large portions of the Roman classics. E) The student has a sophisticated knowledge of Roman poetry but little knowledge of Roman prose. The answer is given as A, but I have serious doubts over this. If the student would learn from a 16th-century teacher, wouldn't he learn the appropriate context instead of the grammar; doesn't the passage state that the contemporary teachers taught grammar instead of the context? As such modern-day readers do not know about the associations between the Roman poetry or prose and the appropriate historical context in which it was written because it refuses to provide concepts of morality?

Using the numbers 1 through 44, how many sets of 4 different numbers are possible? No number can be repeated and the number 0 cannot be used. Is there a formula for figuring this out? I can find the number of all possible numbers with no repetitions, but I can figure out how many SETS of 4 numbers are possible. All help is greatly appreciated.

So, I just took the GRE and received a 167Q/158V. I think the AW went very well but I won't know for a few weeks. I plan on applying to schools this fall and will be entering my senior year of undergrad and am hoping for a top 10. School: US Top 25 Liberal Arts Country of Origin: US GRE: 167Q/158V Econ grades: Micro (A) - Macro (A) - Metrics (A) - Advanced Metrics (A) - Health Economics (A) - Sports Econ (A-) - Principles of Econ (A-) - Gender Econ (B+) Math grades: Analysis (Taking in the fall) - Computational Linear Algebra (A) - Differential Equations (A) - Multivariable Calculus (A) - Linear Algebra (A) - Probability (A-) - Intro to Stat (A-) Overall GPA: 3.75 Research Experience: Federal Reserve Research Intern RA to World Bank economist (co-authored paper) Advanced Metrics Term Paper Metrics Term Paper (Won 3rd best term paper in state in contest sponsored by the Fed) Econometric Consultant to the offensive coordinator of a professional football team (play call/decision optimization analysis) I expect to have good LOR. Thoughts?

I'm having trouble with the question below. I would like to know the right answer and why it's correct. I'm not too confident with any question that has a "had" in it nor past perfect tense. Thanks a lot of the help. http://www.www.urch.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=7017&stc=1

Can somebody please provide some easy to remember mnemonic, such as PEMDAS, for GRE math counting questions. I can never get straight which formula to use depending on where order matters or order doesn't matter. I've recently started using mygretutor at www.mygretutor.com and here's the question that I am stumped on. I understand the solution after I see the answer, but I didn't even know where to start If an unbiased coin is tossed five times, then what is the probability of throwing three heads and two tails in any order? How does "in any order" change this question if order was important? The solution on mygretutor suggests to enumerate all possibilities, but is that feasible if there are many options?

I don't expect my grades this fall to look good at all but I'm a Finance major and the courses I took this semester happen to be all finance courses. I am really worried because I am afraid I might get rejected if the adcom see too big a difference between my grades this semester and before. Thank you!

Hey guys, I'm an undergrad and this week I just finished up my Calc III final. It was brutal, mostly due to the fact that I really overloaded myself this semester. My question is, is everything in Calc III absolutely necessary for grad school? I understand where gradients and langrange multipliers can be extremely useful, and partial derivs are the absolute basics, but where do linear integrals, Stoke's theorem, and the Divergence theorem come into play? Thanks

Hi all, I'm a math major thinking of doing a PhD in Economics. I have taken few courses in economics and don't have a lot of experience in the subject as a whole. I have only studied or done research in certain subfields of economics: game theory, network, social choice. I like these subjects a lot, they are quite 'pure mathematical/computer sciencey' and I would like to study such subjects for a career. However, my worry is that in doing a PhD I will have no choice but to study the other parts of economics: macro, econometrics. I have looked at graduate texts on these and to be honest, though I think I could learn them, I have no interest in them and I would like to avoid them as much as possible. If it's a matter of simply gritting my teeth and bearing it for two years, then I think it's worth it, but still the simple fact that I don't like these topics worries me. So my questions are: 1. Do you know non-econ majors who did a PhD in economics? How did they do? 2. Do you think it's a good idea to get a PhD in a subject that I do not enjoy as a whole? 3. Provided I pass the prelims, to what extent do you think I could avoid macro and econometrics in the future? That is, is it a matter of just spending two years slaving away at something you don't like in order to do research in what you do like later on? Is that actually feasible or would I not be able to escape the things I don't like (teaching and so on)? 4. Will I be looked down on by other economists for such an attitude? Thanks all!

Can you help me correct these three sentences? Thank you！ Earning more money also can bring public recognition. Think about Bill Gates, Warren Buffett，why they are widely well-known? It's money make them famous.