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Hello, I’ve just finished my first year of a BSc Economics degree at Warwick University. I’ve been dead set on a PhD in Economics in the US for a while, and I’m aiming for the top 5. However, I don’t feel like my undergraduate degree is helping me. Although I can take a limited number of modules from the maths department, I don’t feel like I’m getting enough maths to be competitive at the top programs. I have the option to switch to BSc MMORSE (essentially maths, stats and economics), which allows for far more mathematical/statistical/econometric modules to be taken while not sacrificing much economic theory, although it would take me two years longer. I’m struggling to come to a decision on whether to switch. I’ve performed well in my first year (estimated top 0.5-1%), but worry that even if hypothetically every other part of my application was exceptional, it would be undermined by my lack of maths. I realise how hard it is to get into a top 5 program especially with a non-top 10 undergrad, but I’m serious in my ambitions. Do you think the value placed by the top PhD programs on mathematical preparation justifies the obvious financial/social costs of switching? Thank you!

Hi all, I'm trying to apply to top Econ PhD programs, and I lacked a math background so I decided to take summer classes at Harvard this summer and I'm at Columbia right now for Quantitative Studies for Finance. Graduated Top 20-30 U.S. Undegrad (Summa Cum Laude) Double Major: Economics/Marketing and concentration in Finance Major GPA:3.90 (Cumulative:3.81) (Econ All A's except 1 B+) Honors: Beta Gamma Sigma (top 10% of business students) Math background: Linear Algebra, Calc III (both A-'s at Harvard), current classes at Columbia: Analysis & Optimization (A/A-), ODE (A/A-), Modern Analysis (A- to B; pretty wide range). GRE: Q160 V158 AW N/A (just took it this past week after midterms; in retrospect, I should've taken it earlier). LOR: I had my professor for three classes and I got two A's and 1B+ and he corresponds with professors at Harvard and the top schools. One particular professor at Harvard said a good recommendation from him would mean a lot. I'm also intending on asking one of the math professors at Columbia to write me one. I'm not sure I'll be able to get into the top programs so I'm thinking about MA programs. Can someone please list some PhD programs/MA programs that are within my grasp? And perhaps a few that are out of my reach so I can see where I stand in my current situation. Should I apply to MAFN at Columbia or Masters of Finance at Princeton as stepping-stones to my PhD? I understand there are numerous threads like this but I haven't been able to find one that is quite similar to mine. I'm hoping that AdCom will see that I'm motivated to do Economics with my post-bacc studies. Thanks in advance.

Hello all, So i am seriously considering an MFE degree, but i have a lot of doubts about my chances of getting in top 10 /15 programs, this program being so focused it would be a waste of time and money if i don't get into a program that has good placement stats (if i'm wrong please correct me). My profile is extremely different from what these grad schools look for and i am really not sure if it is in my advantage or not. I graduated from a french public high school (public being the most reputable in france) with a major in Physics and Chemistry, Math was pretty advanced as well i then went to Drexel University where i graduated in Bus Admin with a Major in finance (pretty relaxed) i did very well in all my finance course and pretty much all the basic scientific courses that were required (A's in almost all of them, Math 101 and 102, Stat 201 and 202 etc...) in fact the level of math, stat and prob was way below what i studied in my junior year in high school. that's pretty much my academic background. I then went on to work for 5 years at BlackRock doing data integrity work where i was a senior associate it involved a lot of SQL and exposure to FI structured and deriv plus the heavy use to their in-house analytics and risk reporting tools (no programming experience) i also managed teams there and remotely (india) and worked in some very interesting projects while i was there (BlackRock was considered as the go to firm during the fin crisis, so we had a lot of risk reporting assignments to worked on), after 5 years i left BlackRock and went back home, while in Morocco i co-founded a startup and we launched North africa's first mobile coupon website, we raised capital, had a good amount of paying clients, employed 8 to 10 people and were well known locally and had multiple press articles written about us (Morocco's ecommerce world is very weak so new ventures are not as common as in the usa) later on we decided to sell our stakes to a fund who offered us a decent amount (less than 500k which is huge for us). I now want to go back into finance in the US (i am a citizen, dual) but i want to get into front office gigs in IB / S&T or even consulting, therefore i need to get the degree. I am not sure if my profile is something that a top 20 MFE program would be interested in. I looked at their class profiles and most are from a recent math UG program and are already skilled programers and foreigners with prob no work visa, which is not my case (so maybe that would help in the admission process??) Help, advice veryyyyyyy welcome. What should i do guys?