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Hi guys, I'd like your opinion on the whole debate regarding the use of an MPP/MPA or even a Phd for advancing a career in Economic Policy. Currently, I already have a masters in applied econ and am working as a research assistant in a World Bank country office. The job is great and the deep involvement in policy making is making me realize this is the kind of work I would like to do. However, I don't want to be a research assistant forever and I'm looking for opportunities to advance my career. Would an MPP/MPA be a good idea? or would years of work experience as an RA be an okay substitute for it? Would some years of work experience as an RA be enough to be a policy specialist somewhere? Cheers.

Hey Guys, I have graduated from "Industrial Engineering" department from Turkey with 3.65/4.00 GPA, 3rd rank in 120 people class, in 2009. I had a thesis about "Supply Chain Performance Measurement and Management" which is pure research paper. Then I have just got an MBA degree again in Turkey with 4.00/4.00. This program was part-time MBA and it does not have thesis requirement. However, I wrote four three research paper for different classes (organizational behavior, corporate governance, foreign policy...), as well as prepared various projects (strategy management, valuation, merge and acquisition...). I have been working since 2009 in purchasing department in multinational FMCG company. My main goal is to make an commercial agreements with suppliers to gain savings. However, I have been dreaming to attend PHD in Business since I have graduated from undergrad. And I decided to pursue my ambition which is to get an acceptance from one of the top 100 schools in the U.S. I have just started to work on GRE. (I found GMAT too tricky and my qualitative background is much better than verbal) All in all, I have two main questions to you. 1- Since I don't have academic research experience,(which is definetly my improvement area) how can I get this experience while working full time? What is you recommendation? 2- I got two economics classes during mba and I have discovered my deep interest in economics. However, I haven't worked as an economist. I cannot decide which area is much more suitable for me. "Business Economics" which I found very much interesting and impressed by the quantitative analysis behind this, OR "Operational Management or Supply Chain" which is more relevant to my background and to my current fulltime job. (also I am not so 100% happy with this area due to economics topis are more attractive for me) What is your recommendation? Do you know any other study area that I can combine – may be - both of them? Thank you so much! by the way I am 29, and I am planning to apply programs in 2016 =) I hope I am not that much old ;)

Hi guys, I'd like your opinion on the whole debate regarding the use of an MPP/MPA or even a Phd for advancing a career in Economic Policy. Currently, I already have a masters in applied econ and am working as a research assistant in a World Bank country office. The job is great and the deep involvement in policy making is making me realize this is the kind of work I would like to do. However, I don't want to be a research assistant forever and I'm looking for opportunities to advance my career. Would an MPP/MPA be a good idea? or would years of work experience as an RA be an okay substitute for it? Would some years of work experience as an RA be enough to be a policy specialist somewhere? Cheers.

Dear all, Chris Blattman writes that his experience in admission committees at Columbia suggests that work (especially research) experiece strengthen PhD application, especially in applied fields (cf. Frequently asked questions on PhD applications - Chris Blattman). Other than this advice, I have found little on this point on the internet, except that graduate profiles show that most graduates have such experience prior to their PhD in Political Science and Political Economy. Any thoughts/insights as to how important work experience might be? Many thanks in advance!

Started this thread at the suggestion of rsaylors. Situation: Planning to apply for PhD in financial economics or quantitative finance in the US for 2014 session. I have a 3.5 Indian GPA in my business management classes (68%). Specialization in marketing but with business statistics as a subject. Have 4 years of corporate experience with business research and financial market research. Planning to take GMAT in November-December. Mock test scores come in the 730-760 range. Query: 1. Am I eligible for PhD, since I have a break post studies. 2. Are corporate references valid if I apply for a PhD.? 3. Do corporate experience count? 4. What are my chances of getting into a top 20-30 college? (I know it is highly speculative, so any suggestion on getting there will be gladly welcome :-) ) Problem: 1. Have poor GPA in undergraduate engineering (3.0 or 55%) 2. Studies marketing in masters but worked in the finance sector. Studies marketing because, I was interested in market research (mostly the statistics). 3. The work life was kind of a resurrection for me as I excelled and got out of a practically 7-8 year long depression. But these things do not show up in an academic transcript. Additional information: By business research and market research, I mean writing policy papers (such as what could be the impact of Basel III on the UK banking industry and so on and so forth), business strategy packs, competitive intelligence reports, industry reports, investment fund performance analysis and literature report search (this one does not involve writing). The CV is attached here. So you people can probably glance through and provide some important suggestions. Moderator please let me know whether should I keep or remove the resume.

Hi, I have a masters degree from a highly rated university in my (developing) country- however its not globally well recognized. After graduating from there in 2011, I worked as a financial journalist for ten months and then later got a job with World Bank as a research analyst. The latter is a two year contract and will end in 2014. So I shall apply for the PhD next year for the fall of 2014 and it would have been three years since I completed my masters. Do you feel this three year gap could seriously hurt my application (as I wouldn't gain much research expertise during this period)? Also, I plan on taking the LORs from my professors- Could the three year gap affect my letters? Would it beneficial to take letters from my employer, as well? Could someone please suggest ways in which I can improve my application, whilst working with world bank to undo any damage caused by the gap? I have tried to fit in most of the other information in the roll call format below. Please help. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: BA Economics Undergrad GPA: first division, top 5% of the class Type of Grad: MA Economics Grad GPA: first division, top 10 % of class GRE:Q 790, V 720, AW 4.5 (took in 2008 and need to re-take) Math Courses: Introductory mathematics (grad level- including dynamic optimization/linear algebra- decent grades), math econ (real analysis/topology, text used- munkres. decent grades), advanced course in dynamic stochastic programming. Econ Courses (grad-level): dynamic macroeconomics, open economy macroeconomics, advanced macroeconomics(heijdra and van der ploeg), microeconomics (mwg + gibbons and osborne for some game theory), econometrics (discrete choice models- text used- Kenneth train), introductory econometrics (text used- basic econometrics-gujrati). Good grades in all. Letters of Recommendation: not too sure right now- nothing too outstanding but should be okay. Research Experience: Working as a research analyst with world bank- but it mostly involves data management and some forecasting using their pre-set models. Teaching Experience: none Research Interests: macroeconomics, international trade, international economics Concerns: How would the three year gap affect my application? Applying to: I understand that top 10/20 would probably be out of my league, could someone please suggest the range of schools I should be considering?

Request: I seem to have a reasonably different 'profile' compared to most applicants, and therefore, I would like to seek feedback from fellow forum members. Your advice is solicited and any suggestion is welcome. Thank you! The 'Usual' Stuff: Indian, Male, BE - EE ( One of Top UG Engineering schools in India, Merit scholarships, Top 10% of Class approx. Overall GPA 3.8), MBA (One of the Top MBA schools -top rank IIM - Graduated top 10-15% of Class, 10 odd marketing related courses, all grades A or A+ . Overall GPA 3.6+ Marketing/ Strategy GPA - near perfect score. Please note, this school does not have grade inflation) The somewhat 'Unusual' Stuff: 15 Years of work experience, including 10 years in management consulting ( brand name consulting firm, but not the usual 2-3 strategy boutiques). Mostly focus on strategy problems. Would have worked on 75+ projects for several clients. Worked with teams across the globe. Lots of dedicated work in US since 2000. Senior level person now, handling several projects in parallel. Age is close to 40. Test Scores (recent, GMAT 730 (V 40, Q 49), AWA 5.5 TOEFL iBT R: 30 L: 30 S: 30 W: 29 Total 119 GMAT could have been better had I had some free time to prepare properly for the test. Applying: PhD programs of roughly Top 15 US B-schools. Considering Strategy, Policy or Marketing areas. Not pursuing: Statistics, Decision Sciences, Economics, Finance, OM, OB Area: Have a specific area identified, and will only focus on that (ie while applying I will not change research area to suit a specific school or department) Aid: Need limited aid - tuition waiver is all that I am looking for. Is there a different category for students requiring limited aid? Also, I can teach some MBA classes, so I can, in effect, pay for tuition as well, part in kind and part in money. Future Plans: Research and teach Dilemma: Not sure whether I stand a chance. The PhD admission appears to be extremely selective, across all schools

Hey Guys, I am Madhu from Bangalore. I took the GRE on 27th October this year. Here's my score - Verbal - 157 Quant - 159 AWA - 4 Is it any good? I am writing TOEFL on Nov 20th. Can a good score in TOEFL balance the 4 in AWA? Also, I have 2 years (and counting) work experience in Microsoft GTSC as a SQL Server Developer Support engineer. Will that work to my advantage? I want to apply for Fall 2012. Thanks a bunch! Madhu

Hey everyone! I've been combing through these threads for a couple of weeks, but I would still like a little bit of guidance. I'll keep this short, hopefully. I'm a junior Economic and Mathematics double major at a fairly large private university in a big US city, with a decent reputation of its grad business and law schools, but not much beyond that, and there is a lack of substantial research in most areas. My economics advisor has expressed some concern over the reputation (or lack thereof) of my school making admission to a good PhD program difficult. So, I'm wondering if my course choices are alright considering my school. Relevant Courses taken: Honors "States, Markets and Society" (political economy course), Principles and Intermediate Micro, Principles Macro, Calc I-III with Scientific Applications, Mathematical Reasoning and Proofs Somewhat relevant?: Year of bio, two trimesters chemistry, two trimesters physics This term, I'll be taking: Real Analysis I, Multivariable Calculus I, Advanced Microeconomics (grad level) and an Honors Program Junior Requirement course. The rest of Junior Year: Real Analysis II, Multivariable Calculus II, Linear Algebra, [Grad] Research Methods for Policy Analysis I (closest thing to econometrics), Intro to Econometrics... and then Differential Equations or Game Theory or some other math course? I considered Mathematical Economics but apparently it's too low-level in terms of math. Senior year: Full year of 300-level Prob and Statistics, intermediate macro, hopefully [grad] Advanced Macro, and a bunch of other econ and math courses (suggestions, anyone?). Some of the courses that I mentioned as possibilities can definitely be taken senior year, but the question is whether it is better to take them junior year so they're on my apps to PhD programs? Also (what happened to keeping this short?), what else do I need? I'm going to RA for a young, top 5 PhD professor later this year. What kind of stuff should I aim for during the summer between junior and senior year? What about senior year? And I suppose I'll ask this now: Should I apply during my senior year to PhD programs, or wait a year or two while working at the Fed or in economic consulting, etc? I'm dead-set on an Econ PhD, so it's not an issue of 'getting a feel for the "real" world'. It's an issue of building my resume to compensate for the fact that I'm not coming from a well-ranked university (though I love it here), and a not-perfect GPA (darn pre-med sequences!). And I gotta say, though I've only been a creepy lurker, you guys and gals have impressed me with your intelligence, ambition and friendliness. I look forward to being more active here in the future. Thanks in advance for your help!

So I wouldn't say I have had a lot of experience in Finance. I have been working at an investment fund for the last 3 years after college as an analyst and now it's about time for me to think of grad school. Even though nothing is wrong with the job, I think I need to pull the trigger now, trying to aim for the intellectual satisfaction of grad school or it will be too late (even harder to leave the job later, not as sharp anymore, etc). I'm wondering if my professional experience, even though not extensive, will help at all? Or at least it shouldn't hurt? Here's my brief stats: School: Small, reasonably good liberal arts GPA: 3.8 (Math + Econ) GMAT: 750 I haven't taken the GRE but some programs do seem to want GRE instead? I'm working towards finishing the CFA level 3 and might get my designation next year. I haven't done lots of research, and only an honor thesis my last year at school. What do you think?