A Few Questions

Graduate School
1

<p>In reading about graduate programs, I came up with several more questions that I hope someone can address.</p>

<p>1) I have come to realize the importance of Math to Graduate Econ programs, and have viewed several advised course suggestions. The problem, though, is a number of those courses are not available at my university - and it's impossible by university policy to take on a second major (and it would be difficult with my schedule anyway). The best option I could opt for, to my understanding, is to take on a dual Math minor (Math and Actuarial Sciences), and get about 6 more math courses (in addition to Calcs I, II, and III)- including Linear Algebra, another Statistics class, Differential Equations, Discrete Probability, etc - but I can't even come close to meeting a number of suggested lists, and there is no way for me to take "Real Analysis," which evidently is quite critical, from what I hear. Obviously taking more Math is needed, but do you think I'm at a significant disadvantage?</p>

<p>Also, I've been taking classes on Udacity, EdX, etc - a lot of which are in math-related subjects - for certificate validation. Could any of these compensate for the lack of Math on my transcript? </p>

<p>2) How important are computer skills going to be? I'm trying to learn programming, as I know certain variations of it are used in Grad school, but should I go so far as to earn a Microsoft Certification?</p>

<p>3) How would you advise I pursue research projects? I have one upcoming for my honors thesis, but other than that, there isn't any way that I know of to work as an RA. Should I just contact PhD Econ Professors and ask if they are in need of help? Or should I try to find a private firm conducting research? At least in my experience, firms are either looking for trained economists with at least a B.A./M.A., or are offering 20-40 hr per week, unpaid internship opportunities - which is, well, ridiculous. </p>

<p>I apologize if these questions sound elementary. Thanks for reading.</p>

2

<p>79 views (counting myself) and 0 responses. That is a bit depressing. Could anyone offer any advice, even on one of the questions I have laid out? I’d really appreciate it.</p>

3

<p>

You do not need a math minor or major to go into a graduate Econ program!! Yes, you do need some more math classes (I suspect - most mathematically-based major get much MORE so in grad school!), but if you are an Econ undergrad then you should just need a couple of extra courses. And realize that you can generally take a “remedial” course or two at most schools, and “my school doesn’t offer it” is certainly a valid reason.</p>

<p>I would not think that online classes would hurt you, but I would not expect them to help your application either.</p>

<p>

Not unless you are aiming for Financial Engineering or some such. Seriously, you are not going to be a programmer. You need the math, you need to understand certain financial programs, that is it - you are not going to be messing around in C++.</p>

<p>

Talk to professors at your school, and offer to work for them. As an undergrad, you are not an RA (which refers to a specific arrangement) but you can still do work for them, paid or (more likely) as a volunteer, that contributes towards publishable research and gets you the experience you need. Talk to them, say “I would like to work with your research group, do you have anything which I can help?” and see what happens.</p>

<p>Don’t work for a private firm. Ignoring for the moment the absurdity of those internships, grad programs are looking for professor-supervised, university-appropriate, original, publishable research, and the farther you get from that the less value it has.</p>

4

<p>You can be assured that page views are meaningless for your purposes. All you know is that people read it and didn’t have answers for you. People read posts for specific information themselves, as well as general entertainment.</p>

<p>Those online classes don’t count for anything except for universities that accept them. Few to none at this time. And microsoft certifications seem really in left field.</p>

<p>I also don’t know what actuarial science has to do with anything. If you need math classes, take math classes. Whatever ones are offered that seem to fit. You don’t need to minor formally.</p>

<p>Find out which profs are doing research at your college. Then approach them when you have some idea of what it is about. You can tell them you are positioning yourself for grad school. If you can’t join existing research, you might be able to get someone to agree to supervise you in your own study, but then you have to have some proposal to take to them. Your senior project will help.</p>

5

<p>Relax. Sometimes people look at a page and they don’t have an answer for you. Personally I looked at the page yesterday and didn’t have time to answer.</p>

<p>1) You don’t need real analysis to get into an economics program. You’ll be fine with the other 6 math classes you are planning to take. Real analysis is helpful but not required.</p>

<p>The online classes will not substitute for credit-bearing classes.</p>

<p>2) Somewhat. You don’t need to learn how to program, but it would be extremely helpful especially in certain kinds of economics. Or learning how to program in R would just be helpful all around. I don’t think you should pursue a Microsoft certification. The only one I think that might be remotely helpful would be SQL, but only if you pursue a highly technical subfield of econ do I think you’ll need that.</p>

<p>3) Find professors in your department, or in departments of nearby universities that you can reach 2-3 times a week at minimum, and ask if they need an RA. (Undergrads are indeed known as RAs, or “research assistants,” at many places.)</p>

6

<p>The above posts might be a bit misleading. You need real analysis for top 50-75 Econ phd programs. Unfortunately, MOOCs will not be a substitute. Is there any way for you to change your major to math?</p>

7

<p>Syoung2: Just to be clear that I understand your post, are you saying that without Real Analysis no program top 75 and above would be willing to admit me? I find that argument highly questionable.</p>

<p>Changing my major to math wouldn’t help. My university doesn’t offer the course at all, so it would be moot.</p>

8

<p>Have you considered contacting some of the prospective schools and asking them what they expect?</p>

9

<p>It will not completely rule you out, but it will make it much more difficult. The rest of your application will need to be much better to make up for it.</p>

10

<p>Also, top 75 was probably an exaggeration on my part. Probably closer to the top 40-50.</p>

11

<p>I haven’t considered it since I have read that most grad schools aren’t too fond of being contacted by students who have yet to be accepted. I could be completely wrong. Contacting them makes perfect sense, and I may do it.</p>

<p>But it does appear that the course in particular is especially useful. Thankfully, there do appear a few practical alternatives, since I could take a course in real analysis at a nearby university - hopefully for credit, though I’m not sure how exactly it would transfer over if my school doesn’t offer it, and doesn’t have a course to match it. </p>

<p>I was strongly considering reading up on the subject by myself, but it would almost appear to be hearsay to graduate admissions departments - as in, how exactly could I prove that I know and have studied it? Which gets back to research projects, which I am still looking for, but I feel that it would cause more obstacles than it would doors open.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the advice. I really appreciate it.</p>

12

<p>

Contacting them for information necessary to your application decision is common and generally encouraged - just bear in mind that some departments are okay with you contacting individual professors, others want to limit pre-application contact to the department staff.</p>

<p>

If you are taking it for the purpose of grad applications, it does not need to transfer - just submit that transcript in addition to that of your current school, they will see that you have studied it. You only to transfer the credit if you want to use those credits to graduate.</p>