dandeliondream Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 Thanks for the input guys. I really hope that it won't hurt my application too much just because I'm not too diverse. A couple of questions more on application: I noticed that a lot of schools ask for Skype ID in their application, do they typically conduct skype interviews? Also MIT asks for the URL to your website. How important is this? Should I be starting my website now, I have 10 more days? :dejected: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Econhead Posted December 5, 2014 Author Share Posted December 5, 2014 I think that kind of thing won't help you that much in the application process, or might at most be used as some sort of tie-breaker (this is my guess). What I have heard of is that it might harm you if you don't answer things like this, since it would kind of show that you are not putting your best effort into the application process. Plus, I think Stanford has a word limit to it, so you are only allowed to write a paragraph or so anyways. I think it is less important for the Econ committee and more important for the Graduate School. They might be more interested in offering university-wide fellowships to individuals that can offer more to diversity. I don't know this for sure, but it makes sense since, in general, economists don't care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Econhead Posted December 5, 2014 Author Share Posted December 5, 2014 I think it is less important for the Econ committee and more important for the Graduate School. They might be more interested in offering university-wide fellowships to individuals that can offer more to diversity. I don't know this for sure, but it makes sense since, in general, economists don't care. I can't believe I am quoting myself, but...Supposedly several of the 'oddball questions' on application forms are for the Graduate School rather than the Econ Program. -Including the "what other schools have you applied to in the past" question. Since I expect someone to now ask how to respond to this question, now that I have mentioned it, I will go ahead and say that the consensus on this site is to include similarly ranked institutions. This tends to not just be the "what the community thinks" answer, but what several posters have mentioned that their advisers suggested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undecidedman Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 I did not complete that form, I actually found it quite insulting. If they really are going to reject me because of that, so be it, I want to be judged based on my academic abilities, not the color of my skin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undecidedman Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 anyway what is happening this year to TM? much less activity than usual at this stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathew952 Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 I already got my first acceptance, with funding (Clemson University, 24k a year "suggested") ! Perspiration declining substantially! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakeo Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 That's amazing. Congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandeliondream Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Another question: when schools ask for an unofficial GRE score report, what should I submit? I was going to save the score report page on ETS and submit it, but I realized that it has all the schools I'm sending my score to. Is that a little weird or is it fine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xjxji Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 That's really interesting.. I saved the score report page as a pdf before sending my official scores so that didn't turn out to be a problem for me... But I guess that means it doesn't matter whether the report has all the schools you are applying to. So maybe take a screen shot that contains everything but the schools you are applying to? I don't think that would be a problem since it is an "unofficial" record anyways.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michalz Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Why would it be a problem thatthe report has names of different schools? I don't think it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandeliondream Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Because I sent my scores to a few programs that I end up not applying to, and I don't want the school to think that I'm not reporting all of the schools that I'm applying to. Hmm am I thinking too much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColonelForbin Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Just send the bit that has the score report or send the whole thing. Where else you applied and sent scores is not going to affect your admission outcomes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nguyenminhhieuh Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Is it just me or are the "Profiles and Results," "Old Roll Calls," and "Admissions and Rejections" threads currently inaccessible? This has happened only recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicaffairsny Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Is it just me or are the "Profiles and Results," "Old Roll Calls," and "Admissions and Rejections" threads currently inaccessible? This has happened only recently. There have been some issues with the site this week. It was offline for a few days and you can tell by the number of viewers that some folks don't have access. Check back over the next few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Econhead Posted December 12, 2014 Author Share Posted December 12, 2014 There have been some issues with the site this week. It was offline for a few days and you can tell by the number of viewers that some folks don't have access. Check back over the next few days. Is it just me or are the "Profiles and Results," "Old Roll Calls," and "Admissions and Rejections" threads currently inaccessible? This has happened only recently. I didn't even realize the server was up until I finally decided to stop trying to refresh my bookmark and instead googled. The old addresses don't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicaffairsny Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 I didn't even realize the server was up until I finally decided to stop trying to refresh my bookmark and instead googled. The old addresses don't work. I've been typing in www.urch.com and then manually clicking through to the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fantinity Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 I'm so annoyed with those applications... It's almost crazy how they require international transcripts to be less than 1Mb in size. I have a transcript from undergrad with 10 pages, and at this point I cannot reduce it below 1.1 Mb. Also, F the application in UNC. WHY would you make internationals submit all the financial info now? You will reject most of us anyway, why do we have to bother? Sorry, I am very frustrated with this BS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melkisedek Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 I'm so annoyed with those applications... It's almost crazy how they require international transcripts to be less than 1Mb in size. I have a transcript from undergrad with 10 pages, and at this point I cannot reduce it below 1.1 Mb. Also, F the application in UNC. WHY would you make internationals submit all the financial info now? You will reject most of us anyway, why do we have to bother? Sorry, I am very frustrated with this BS. Try scaning black and white. Colour scan or grayscale scan will result at least 1 mb for a ten page document. But if you scan b&w with say 300 dpi, document size will be greatly reduced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melkisedek Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 And by tha way, Stanford GSB sent an email about unrecieved references and urge me to make them send asap. I am trying to do that, but as an international applicant i can say that our profs tend do care less about deadlines. I will try to push them more but this is really getting out of hand.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhDPlease Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 Do you have an option on your computer to "compress" the file which reduces the size? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandeliondream Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 I had that problem with pdf files being too large too. What I did was using online programs to compress them, worked wonders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandeliondream Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 By the way what's the best way to deal with writing samples when you have not published any paper? I'm currently a senior, and my thesis is not ready yet, so I guess I don't have anything that can be classified as "original research" to submit. I have written research proposals for a couple of economics classes and for my thesis though, are they acceptable as writing samples? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xjxji Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 From my own point of view, I would suggest against sending in research proposals as writing samples, since the level of originality simply might not be enough. Also, it might be useful for you to know that many (including my professors) believe that the ad com rarely looks at the samples carefully. Anyways, I think the authority for making this call is your professors, since they know your work best and know what people are looking for. You can ask them if they think your piece is good enough for a writing sample, if you still have time to do so (I know a lot of applications close tomorrow). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyandcredit Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 I'm so annoyed with those applications... It's almost crazy how they require international transcripts to be less than 1Mb in size. I have a transcript from undergrad with 10 pages, and at this point I cannot reduce it below 1.1 Mb. Also, F the application in UNC. WHY would you make internationals submit all the financial info now? You will reject most of us anyway, why do we have to bother? Sorry, I am very frustrated with this BS.I had a similar problem regarding transcript sizes when I applied to UNC-CH last year. Just contact the assistant to the DGS and let her know your transcript is too big. She invited me to email her a PDF copy of my transcript without worrying about the size. Relax, this will all pass. You will soon be able to move on to panicking about admissions and rejections. Not that there's much purpose in worrying about that either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandeliondream Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 From my own point of view, I would suggest against sending in research proposals as writing samples, since the level of originality simply might not be enough. Also, it might be useful for you to know that many (including my professors) believe that the ad com rarely looks at the samples carefully. Anyways, I think the authority for making this call is your professors, since they know your work best and know what people are looking for. You can ask them if they think your piece is good enough for a writing sample, if you still have time to do so (I know a lot of applications close tomorrow). I actually asked my professors before about writing samples, and one of them did say that adcoms only look at them to make sure that you can write well, and it's not that important. I guess I was a little worried about the whole "Is optional really optional?" but I think I'm going to take it by face value and not going to submit any writing sample just if it's optional. Fingers crossed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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