2022 Sweat Thread

[CornellEnglishMajor]

36 minutes ago, Eustruria said:

What is the best plan of action if you do get rejected at all your desired programs? Working at the FED? Applying for predoc positions? Doing a masters? I've been getting straight rejections so far aside from my safety program and one waitlist, so I'm assuming IR for the rest of this cycle. It's quite disappointing but I'm not going to lose hope. I'm undergrad, so I'm praying Chicago and maybe Columbia will offer a masters after I got/will get rejected. But I also heard online that those programs can be quite cash-cow, so maybe a predoc is better? Then again, I'm not sure how easy it is to get into a strong predoc program at this stage. At the same time, you aren't getting a degree out of a predoc and it might limit your future options.

I've done surprisingly well this cycle and I think it comes down to taking Grad level Micro and majoring in Pure Math (dont have to major in this but take Analysis and get an A and just as a signal of math maturity maybe take Abstract Algebra and Number Theory)

If you really want to break into the Top 10 then conventionally I think you need a really good pre-doc/RA position and a letter from whoever it's with. Good luck to you though!! There's a lot of noise in applications and it's impossible for them to pick the perfect applicants just based off of our applications so I wouldnt take it personally

[yxx]

One Interview from Columbia on gc.

May I ask whether interview is a necessary procedure for being admited by Columbia?

[BoredGames]

13 minutes ago, CornellEnglishMajor said:

I've done surprisingly well this cycle and I think it comes down to taking Grad level Micro and majoring in Pure Math (dont have to major in this but take Analysis and get an A and just as a signal of math maturity maybe take Abstract Algebra and Number Theory)

If you really want to break into the Top 10 then conventionally I think you need a really good pre-doc/RA position and a letter from whoever it's with. Good luck to you though!! There's a lot of noise in applications and it's impossible for them to pick the perfect applicants just based off of our applications so I wouldnt take it personally

Another data point: I have a senior thesis and RA experience w/ great letters, majored in Pure Math and took Adv. Micro. I had no T20 offers this cycle -- maybe something else helped you @CornellEnglishMajor?

[Eustruria]

12 minutes ago, CornellEnglishMajor said:

I've done surprisingly well this cycle and I think it comes down to taking Grad level Micro and majoring in Pure Math (dont have to major in this but take Analysis and get an A and just as a signal of math maturity maybe take Abstract Algebra and Number Theory)

If you really want to break into the Top 10 then conventionally I think you need a really good pre-doc/RA position and a letter from whoever it's with. Good luck to you though!! There's a lot of noise in applications and it's impossible for them to pick the perfect applicants just based off of our applications so I wouldnt take it personally

Hi, thanks for your reply! I was wondering if I could get your opinion on where I should improve for future cycles?

I come from a public university (60-ish ranking in US).  I'm majoring in both Economics and Mathematics (BS) in addition to a statistics minor. I've actually taken grad level micro/macro along with a  PhD level math econ course that deals with real analysis. I've worked as a research assistant throughout my undergrad in economics, environmental engineering, and geography with 4 publications (2 first author). None of these publications are in economic journals, although they have economic related content. I did, however, recently publish my honors thesis. I don't want to come off as insecure or pompous over all my rejections, I'm just curious as to where I went wrong or where I'm lacking so I can have a better cycle myself in the future. Some negatives that I can think of aside from my differing research experiences are that I only obtained a B in undergrad real analysis my fall freshman semester and a B+ in spring freshman year when I retook it.

I had positive impacts on all my research advisors, and they were the ones who gave me confidence to apply to so many top programs, so I'll definitely try again next cycle. Two are in economics and one is in environmental engineering. As with BoredGames, I got no offers from top 20 aside from one waitlist. Do you think doing an RA or masters would be better given my circumstances?

[klaziki]

2 minutes ago, Eustruria said:

Hi, thanks for your reply! I was wondering if I could get your opinion on where I should improve for future cycles?

I come from a public university (60-ish ranking in US).  I'm majoring in both Economics and Mathematics (BS) in addition to a statistics minor. I've actually taken grad level micro/macro along with a  PhD level math econ course that deals with real analysis. I've worked as a research assistant throughout my undergrad in economics, environmental engineering, and geography with 4 publications (2 first author). None of these publications are in economic journals, although they have economic related content. I did, however, recently publish my honors thesis. I don't want to come off as insecure or pompous over all my rejections, I'm just curious as to where I went wrong or where I'm lacking so I can have a better cycle myself in the future. Some negatives that I can think of aside from my differing research experiences are that I only obtained a B in undergrad real analysis my fall freshman semester and a B+ in spring freshman year when I retook it.

I had positive impacts on all my research advisors, and they were the ones who gave me confidence to apply to so many top programs, so I'll definitely try again next cycle. Two are in economics and one is in environmental engineering. As with BoredGames, I got no offers from top 20 aside from one waitlist. Do you think doing an RA or masters would be better given my circumstances?

For admissions purposes only, in your case I would strongly recommend a pre-doc (includes RA, e.g. Fed RA positions) over a masters. In general, it seems to me that it is extremely difficult to secure admissions to top programs if you're coming straight from an undergrad institution outside the T50 (or even T20/T10 for that matter), regardless of your academic record or grades. If you're looking for a pre-doc/RA position, you should look for one with economists who have a record of placing past RAs at top programs.

[CornellEnglishMajor]

20 minutes ago, BoredGames said:

Another data point: I have a senior thesis and RA experience w/ great letters, majored in Pure Math and took Adv. Micro. I had no T20 offers this cycle -- maybe something else helped you @CornellEnglishMajor?

Yeah it's definitely possible my LORs made a difference or just the randomness of applications went in my favor. There's definitely a lot of luck at play and multiple different routes to the same destination

[CornellEnglishMajor]

17 minutes ago, Eustruria said:

Hi, thanks for your reply! I was wondering if I could get your opinion on where I should improve for future cycles?

I come from a public university (60-ish ranking in US).  I'm majoring in both Economics and Mathematics (BS) in addition to a statistics minor. I've actually taken grad level micro/macro along with a  PhD level math econ course that deals with real analysis. I've worked as a research assistant throughout my undergrad in economics, environmental engineering, and geography with 4 publications (2 first author). None of these publications are in economic journals, although they have economic related content. I did, however, recently publish my honors thesis. I don't want to come off as insecure or pompous over all my rejections, I'm just curious as to where I went wrong or where I'm lacking so I can have a better cycle myself in the future. Some negatives that I can think of aside from my differing research experiences are that I only obtained a B in undergrad real analysis my fall freshman semester and a B+ in spring freshman year when I retook it.

I had positive impacts on all my research advisors, and they were the ones who gave me confidence to apply to so many top programs, so I'll definitely try again next cycle. Two are in economics and one is in environmental engineering. As with BoredGames, I got no offers from top 20 aside from one waitlist. Do you think doing an RA or masters would be better given my circumstances?

Your profile looks great to me to be honest -- i think getting an A in analysis is always helpful since the top programs care a lot about that and pretty much any reason to reject someone is taken when they're getting 500+ applications for 20-25 spots.

Apart from that, I'm not sure about a masters since I didn't personally do one but I've heard this helps mitigate lack of coursework in econ or math and maybe let's you get different letters but nothing beyond that. RAships are hard to get but that seems like the barrier to entry these days the higher you go in the rankings

[mnbvbnm]

1 hour ago, yxx said:

One Interview from Columbia on gc.

May I ask whether interview is a necessary procedure for being admited by Columbia?

I am that post. They said that the interview was optional but I couldn't risk it.  

[proletariat]

2 hours ago, CornellEnglishMajor said:

To all the people asking about UPitt:

They just sent me an acceptance and want to Zoom with me to talk about my plans/other acceptances. Not sure I'll accept but at this point I'd wager they'll have sent out all acceptances by the end of today.

Congrats dude. I am expecting a rejection from Pitt. This cycle has been brutal for me, though I kinda anticipated it as I come out straight from undergrad. But still, I and my undergrad advisors did everything possible within our capacity to polish my profile so I had some hope. At the end everything ended up to be like shit, mentally collapsed. 🥺

[adjfbcken]

Can anyone confirm the Cornell acceptance on GC

[LoPohBia]

34 minutes ago, adjfbcken said:

Can anyone confirm the Cornell acceptance on GC

Can confirm

[8thfloorr]

1 hour ago, mnbvbnm said:

I am that post. They said that the interview was optional but I couldn't risk it.  

Thanks for sharing and good luck. Do you have any idea from the email on when the acceptances will be out? I'm presuming that the interview is almost necessary to get an acceptance.. 

[adjfbcken]

4 minutes ago, LoPohBia said:

Can confirm

I didn’t get an email…IR at this point?

[Marty McRy]

@Fred52@Vivvv Did y'all receive a formal offer from UC Davis yet?

[mnbvbnm]

11 minutes ago, 8thfloorr said:

Thanks for sharing and good luck. Do you have any idea from the email on when the acceptances will be out? I'm presuming that the interview is almost necessary to get an acceptance.. 

I don't think that was mentioned in the email. But they did say it's typical to chat for a few minutes before they make their final decisions.

[8thfloorr]

4 minutes ago, mnbvbnm said:

I don't think that was mentioned in the email. But they did say it's typical to chat for a few minutes before they make their final decisions.

I see, are the interview schedules towards the end of March like @HHHEcon mentioned?

[mnbvbnm]

4 minutes ago, 8thfloorr said:

I see, are the interview schedules towards the end of March like @HHHEcon mentioned?

For me it's the next couple of days to choose from.

[8thfloorr]

1 minute ago, mnbvbnm said:

For me it's the next couple of days to choose from.

Thanks, that's really helpful! Good luck!

[mnbvbnm]

14 minutes ago, 8thfloorr said:

Thanks, that's really helpful! Good luck!

Thanks!

[dgsexogenous]

Anyone here who applied to Harvard BusEcon and has not heard back? I am certain it's a rejection but find it strange that has not been communicated to me. It's been a while and any idea what could be going on?

[Vivvv]

1 hour ago, Marty McRy said:

@Fred52@Vivvv Did y'all receive a formal offer from UC Davis yet?

No. Isn't it true that they've completed the evaluations? I have no idea why administrations take so long..

[Marty McRy]

22 minutes ago, Vivvv said:

No. Isn't it true that they've completed the evaluations? I have no idea why administrations take so long..

That’s what I’m saying! 

[seabrother123]

Some people have got Cornell? Are they rolling out decisions or it is done by now?

[MathEcon007]

1 hour ago, seabrother123 said:

Some people have got Cornell? Are they rolling out decisions or it is done by now?

I think they released first series of acceptance. 

[MathEcon007]

4 hours ago, proletariat said:

Congrats dude. I am expecting a rejection from Pitt. This cycle has been brutal for me, though I kinda anticipated it as I come out straight from undergrad. But still, I and my undergrad advisors did everything possible within our capacity to polish my profile so I had some hope. At the end everything ended up to be like shit, mentally collapsed. 🥺

I am also waiting for Pitt. The graduate program coordinator told me all the acceptance and waitlists are going out this week. So, I am just holding for one more day. After tomorrow, I think it's just gonna be IR.