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*Looking for Advice* Hi there! I am new (just joined yesterday), so apologies if I am not doing this right, but I am wondering if anyone might be willing to provide their insight/advice on approaching this situation. Relatively short version~~~ -I am currently an RA at the Fed (have been remote my entire time there), and I have applied to both PhD Econ programs and Pre-Docs. -PhD application was not well prepared (GRE = bad, SOP meh, letters of rec are B to B+ grade-ish overall I’d guess), didn't even apply to a couple of my dream schools -Got in to a ~top 20 and ~top 25 school for econ PhD (but I am not terribly passionate about either) -Got in to a pre-doc at a top business school with a great Econ department (top ~2 Econ department, would be working with a full prof with an Econ degree and an AP with a management degree focused on econ-related issues) --> Unsure of what to do I don't want to take the existing PhD offer and then always wonder "what if" I had truly put together the best application I could and applied to all of my target schools On the flip side, I don't want to take another pre-doc only to do worse in the next cycle I apply to. (As an aside, I am not terribly concerned about the age and money issue at this time, except in the ways that they might affect my career outcomes) Any thoughts, comments, roasting, recommendations, etc. are all very much appreciated. 😓

Hello everyone. I want to apply for fed RA Positions. Is it a good or bad idea to apply to all 12 banks plus the board? Should I be more selective than that? Here is my profile: Big State School (Satellite Campus) Major: Econ Minor: Math GPA: 3.96 Major GPA: 4.00 Classes: Calc I-III (B+/A/taking this fall), Linear Algebra (A), Numerical Analysis (A), Grad Course Called Math for Econ (taking this fall), Probability and Stats (A), Econometrics (A), Grad Econometrics (taking this spring), Proof writing course (this fall), Intermediate Micro/Macro (A/A), Topics in Micro-Game Theory (A), Graduate Monetary Economics (this fall), elementary differential eq (this fall) Research Experiences: 2019 Undergraduate Research Fellow at a Top 10 Econ Department Research with Professor at My Own Institution Independent Research for a federal program I am in Will Write a Senior Thesis Software: R, Stata, Python, Latex Extra: Intern in Wealth Management at Bulge Bracket Fed Challenge Participant

Hey there amigos. I'm an Indian graduate in Economics deep into development and political economy, a hence considering an RA position with J-PAL for next year (completing the application by Jan 2011). I can't help but notice that no BA student of an Indian university has been selected so far, even if the evaluations are in India. At best there are Indian RAs accepted but only after they complete a Masters Degree in the US or UK. Strange, because the BA degrees from a lot of US/Uk institutions seems to suffice for RA positions- I know this from the J-PAL website. Nevertheless, I'll do whatever it takes to be deserving and ready in the next 5 months. I'd be really grateful if you could have a look at my background and evaluate my chances of being taken in::) Academics:grad: Degree: BA Economics (3 years, not 4 like in the States) Institution: St. Xavier's College, Mumbai University. The college is among the top 3 for arts in the country but the University itself doesn't have much to boast about in its current state. GPA: About 3.8. Don't know how this corresponds exactly to the Indian system. Did about 16 projects, most of them As GRE: Exam in December, aiming at 1580+, 6 in AWA Undergrad Minors- Political Science and Eng Lit (and hence limited Quantitative content- a year-long paper each in Maths for Economics and Econometrics) Graduate Coursework 2 Distance Diplomas, both concluding by June next year: 1) Mathematics & Statistics (LSE) 2) Population studies (IIPS- this institution conducts most of India's official demographic surveys) Also, short courses on Design of Experiments and ANOVA; Survey Design and Analysis of Data of Complex Samples; upcoming courses on Generalized Linear Models, Bayesian Statistics and Multivariate Analysis (http://www.statistics.com)- all with the necessary computing skills. Skills Programming skills Currently studying Stata(not part of curriculum in India, Advanced Netcourse certificate by Mid Jan) Research Experience: a) 2 months with the Reserve Bank of India (India's Central bank) after clearing a national level exam where only 50 students were selected b) Planning to evaluate BRAC's Targeting the Ultra-Poor programme in January Other Strengths: Linguistic: I speak 8 languages, including French and Spanish which feature in RA job requirements Extensive experience in partnering NGOs- AIESEC, Rang De (Microfinance group in India) I don't want to unload the entire La Vida Loca on you- so let's stop here. If anyone could appraise my chances or inform me on possible reasons why non-US/UK universities have not been preferred so far, I think I'd be indebted to you for life!:p Looking forward to meeting some of you Cheers Abhishek