Application evaluation (non-econ background for low-ranked schools)

[chateauheart]

Sure, you're right. I was referring to Econ dept, 'cause OP explicitly asked about Econ. I said Idk much about finance programs so I didn't wanna comment on that

 

I don't think your comment holds true for econ departments either.

[Rohanps]

I don't think your comment holds true for econ departments either.

 

Disagree strongly on that, at least based on my own experience.

[tm_member]

I don't think your comment holds true for econ departments either.

 

I think the underlying claim is that someone who has experience at EY, Deloitte, PWC, and so on is likely to be unprepared for Econ PhD programs. This empirical statement then gets turned into a causal claim: working for a top consulting/auditing/finance/accounting firm hurts you in Econ admissions.

 

Instead, I think the reality is that some work experience, conditional on being a good candidate in all other respects, is very unlikely to hurt for Econ admissions. It's just really unusual for someone who is a good candidate for an Econ program to have that experience.

[laborsabre]

I think the underlying claim is that someone who has experience at EY, Deloitte, PWC, and so on is likely to be unprepared for Econ PhD programs. This empirical statement then gets turned into a causal claim: working for a top consulting/auditing/finance/accounting firm hurts you in Econ admissions.

 

Instead, I think the reality is that some work experience, conditional on being a good candidate in all other respects, is very unlikely to hurt for Econ admissions. It's just really unusual for someone who is a good candidate for an Econ program to have that experience.

 

I think this is one of the best comments in this thread. It's further confounded by the fact that having work experience often means you don't have strong academic letter writer options simply because you've been out of school. But it's not the work experience that's negative - it's the things associated with it. If you worked at Deloitte, have three great academic letters, published and have a great math background this is at least as good if not superior to all of those things minus the work experience even for pure econ programs. It's just that time is finite, so having all of those things while building work experience is less likely.

[chateauheart]

I'll add that, regardless of whether it's negative, neutral, or positive on admissions outcomes, having work experience at a top consulting firm will significantly reduce your risk of attending a PhD econ program. You can get a master's or early PhD and continue in the same industry. Many straight-to-PhD candidates will struggle to find the same opportunities.