Profiles and Results 2011

[qwerty123456789]

Just to provide another data point.

 

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: B.Bus with first class Hons with majors in Fin and Econ – (mid range) Australian Uni

Undergrad GPA: 5.5/7 in Bachelor, 6.9/7 in Honours year

Type of Grad: M.App Econometrics – (one of the better) Aust Uni

Grad GPA: 6.8/7 – Ranked 1st in graduating class

Type of Grad: M.Sc Econ (decent) German Uni

Grad GPA: approx 1.5 for first year on 5 point scale (1 best, 5 worst). Ranked highly in most classes.

GRE: 800Q 580V 5W

Math Courses: Non-US student and don’t have much here. Graduate Math for Econ (A), Stats (B) and a bunch of econometrics.

Econ Courses (grad-level): PhD Macro II (A), PhD Econometrics I (A), Macro (A), Micro (A), Econometrics (A), Game Theory (A), Labour Macro (A), Financial Econ (A). Will take Micro I, Micro II, Macro II, Metrics II at a PhD level before finishing Masters. Have taken a bunch of theoretical and applied econometrics courses at a Masters level (all A’s).

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro Econ (B,B), Intermediate Micro and Macro (A,A), Econometrics (A), and a couple of others (A’s).

Other Courses: A bunch of finance courses at undergrad and grad level

Letters of Recommendation: All publish well, one Harvard PhD who has some name recognition. Should all be strong (one can talk about a thesis I have done).

Research Experience: Honours thesis on empirical asset pricing. Masters thesis on estimation with weak instruments (paper in progress but not submitted). Currently working on another paper with a Post-doc based on an idea I came up with on volatility forecasting. Don’t have anything published but there is a bit for my LORs and I to talk about.

Teaching Experience: 2nd year Finance tutorials.

Research Interests: Econometrics and macroeconometrics.

SOP: Usual stuff, try and highlight the good stuff and defend the bad.

Concerns: Don’t have any stellar maths classes to establish technical skills. There are some weaker grades in there. While the Aust A’s are mostly High Dist’s a couple of the German A’s sound a little less impressive (eg – do the 2.0’s actually look like A’s).

Other: Worked for a few years in finance but realise that has no value beyond me simply making a well informed decision.

Applied to: PhD Programs

Accepted

Cambridge (??), UCL($)

 

Rejected

Oxford, LSE, Queen Mary

 

Attending

Cambridge

 

Notes:

- Delayed in being allocated a supervisor at Cambridge which meant that I wasn't considered for funding (I was only eligible for the various overseas trusts), so I dont know how I could have gone here.

- UCL offered some funding first year with teaching afterwards but not enough to cover international student fees + living expenses

- I was also considered for both the Oxford and LSE master programs after being rejected for the PhDs but was also turned down from those.

- All in all a mixed bag that resulted in me getting my first choice but no funding. I will find a way to make it work though.

[RonSwanson]

Kinda late to do this buuuut this was my profile when I applied to masters programs

 

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Top rated Regional in the Northeast

Undergrad GPA: 3.26 overal/3.3 in Major (Poli-Sci/ Philosophy Double Major/Minor in Economics) Also took classes after graduation at other schools

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 790Q/700V/4.5A

Math Courses: Calc I-II (A, at local community college) Calc III (A at local large research university)

Econ Courses: Principles of Micro (B+) Principles of Macro (A-) Natural Resource Economics (B) International Economics (A-) Intermediate Micro (A-) Intermediate Macro (A)

Other Courses: Applied Logic (B+)

Letters of Recommendation: One from the guy who ran the Econ department at my school, one from the guy who ran the poli-sci department at my school, and one from a supervisor at work

Research Experience: Minimal academic, although I did have some "minor" research experience while working for FEMA

Teaching Experience: Nothing other than instructing some courses on social media for FEMA

Research Interests: Macro, Labor, Natural Resources/Environmental, Regional Growth

SOP:

Other: Applied to only Masters programs in state because I wanted to boost my profile

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Bowling Green MA (with Funding); University of Cincinnati MA (with Funding), and Wright State University MS (with funding/that's where I went)

Waitlists:

Rejections: Miami University (mostly because I hadn't completed Intermediate Macro at the time applications were due)

Pending:

 

I choose WSU because it was an MS and because the funding was 100% while UC and BG only offered partial funding.

[mar412]

delete Edited April 16, 2012 by mar412

[Pho]

Deleted Edited April 16, 2012 by Pho
Deleted - the format is messed up, and I will post later

[LUDuckling]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Top 30 LAC

Undergrad GPA: 4.0 Economics/Maths/International Relations

GRE: Q 800 V 730 AW 4.0

Math Courses: Calculus, Linear Algebra, ODE, Probability, Math Stat, Real Analysis

Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro, Macro, Econometrics, IO, Economic Thought, Development, Money Banking

Letters of Recommendation:professor of grad micro class; econ prof; math thesis advisor - all mentioned my originality & ability to abstract from real world happenings. One talked about I am "one of the most impressive students during his 40+ years of teaching at Harvard & xx university."

Research Experience: RIPS student industrial math research@IPAM; RA; math thesis in game theory

Teaching Experience: TA math & econ for 2 years

Research Interests: micro, behavioral, not really set

Other Experience: Co-founded a company and initiated an int'l summer school; various volunteering experiences, mainly has to do with (re)building houses for poor people(write about in diversity statement)

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Yale:loveheart:, Columbia, NYU, UCB, Chicago, etc.

Waitlists: MIT, UCLA, CMU

Rejections: Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Brown, Caltech, etc.

What would you have done differently?

Applying straight from a non-top LAC and with no significant grad course work/ research job, I am very content with my result. I think I really put everything I could reach together. I have no regrets.:eager:

 

Edited April 17, 2012 by LUDuckling