<p>I have applied for the Ph.D program in Economics at MIT and I am curious about my chances.</p>
<ul>
<li>white male from Hungary</li>
<li>last year in MA program in Economics at a university in Budapest</li>
<li>TOEFL: pending, hopefully above 100/120 (<100 means auto-reject)</li>
<li>GRE: math: 800/800, verbal: 660/800 (my primary language is not English), analytical: pending (I made both GRE and TOEFL in Nov 2007)</li>
<li>GPA: 3.91 on a scale of 4.00</li>
<li>best grades for all math classes at university except for one (I had the second best grade for that one); best grades for all economics classes; best grades for the vast majority of all other classes</li>
<li>worked as a Credit Risk Analyst for 3 months (quasi summer work) at the largest bank in Central Europe (OTP)</li>
<li>in my major (40 studenst), there is no official ranking, but I am sure to be one of the best ones (1st to 3rd)</li>
<li>have been a tutor for 4 years and was a Teaching Assistant in math at the university for one year.</li>
<li>won an essay competition organized by the Hungarian Ministry of Finance and rewarded 3rd prize at another organized by the National Bank of Hungary</li>
<li>very small amount of savings, but good chances at several funds if I get admitted</li>
</ul>
<p>Well, I know I have small chances, but I am curious whether they are "virtually zero" or "small but not impossble".</p>
<p>GPA: Fine.<br>
GRE: Fine.
Summer work: Irrelevant (since it is not economic/econometric research).
Extracurriculars: Irrelevant (this isn't undergrad).
Cash on hand: Irrelevant (if they want you, they will pay you).</p>
<p>Math: ??? (what specific courses did you take?)
Letters of recommendation: ??? (who wrote them, what do they say?)
RESEARCH: ??? (do you have any proper research experience or publications whatsoever?)</p>
<p>Math, recs and research are the three most important components of your application to a top econ ph.d program and you have omitted information on all of them. Have you actually done any research on this or are you just putting your profile out there to see what happens?</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply.
As for maths, I took Calculus (grade: 5 out of 5), Linear Algebra and Programming (4), Probability Theory (5), Statistics I-II (both 5), Econometrics (5), Time Series Analysis (5), Multivariate Data Analysis (5), Operations Research (5), Applied MATLAB (5) and Simulation (5).
I have got 3 recs. Unfortunately, there are not many famous economists in Hungary, but I tried to collect the three best ones. I am sure they wrote in praise of me.
Unfortunately, not much research exprience. I do have several own proofs and algorithms (for course assignments and projects), but never published.
However, as for the summer job, even though it was not "research" in academic meaning, it did consist of using complicated econometric tools.</p>
<p>Hey, no i'm not finnish. Nauru is the name of a small island nation in the pacific, that's where I got it from.</p>
<p>Basically, you are missing Real Analysis, Topology, as well as other high level math. No published research or forthcoming publications, no fantastic recommendations, and I'm assuming no national/international econ/math awards. The people you are competing with will have all these.</p>
<p>You need to understand that MIT is basically looking for future Nobel laureates. Your profile does not show that your abilities are 4 standard deviations away from the mean within the field of economics and therefore I would recommend that you aim for some less competitive universities. Everyone applying will have perfect or near perfect GPA, and 800Q GRE; those are just checkmarks. The actual admissions decision is made based on the other pieces of the application I mentioned. Go ahead and apply if you want, but from the information you've given, I'd say the chance is 0. There are loads of excellent programs though where you would have a decent chance, but I'm not sure if you're just thinking "MIT or bust" because of the importance of prestige in Hungary (not a good reason to do a ph.d btw).</p>
<p>Have you considered a ph.d in finance? It seems like that might be more up your alley, seeing how you decided to do summer work at a bank, rather than economic research at a university or government research centre, and also time series/MATLAB courses rather than pure math.</p>
<p>Thanks for the evaluation and being sincere. I knew that my chances were abysmal, but in Probablity Theory, there is a distinction between "impossible" and "0 chance". :-) If I even didn't make a try applying, I wouldn't get in anyway. Plus, I have a lifeboat, since I also applied for Central European University (CEU) in Budapest. I would be surprised if I wasn't admitted there.</p>
<p>Well, I'm not really interested in Finance and I don't really have strong Finance education. I'm serious about Economics, even though the lack of pure math.</p>
<p>Anyway, thank you for the information, it was really precious. :-)
Best,
triple_sec</p>
<p>I agree with nauru that you would be a much stronger candidate if you had a stronger math background. </p>
<p>But let me also add the following:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Have you considered a ph.d in finance? It seems like that might be more up your alley, seeing how you decided to do summer work at a bank, rather than economic research at a university or government research centre, and also time series/MATLAB courses rather than pure math
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I agree that a more 'applied' PhD may be more appropriate given your background. Have you considered the PhD program at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where you could specialize in financial economics or operations management? You would still be at MIT, heck, you would even be in the same building (building E-52) at MIT as is the economics department, you would just be on a different floor of that building. </p>
<p>You might also consider 'applied economics' doctoral programs at other business schools, i.e. the PhD program in business economics at Harvard Business School, the PhD program in Economic Analysis at Stanford GSB, or the Applied Economics PhD program at Wharton. To be sure, all of these programs are difficult to get into, but at least they aren't as math-focused as are the pure Econ PhD programs.</p>
<p>Nauru, this is a bit off topic, but is topology considered absolutely necessary for graduate school? I am under the impression that real analysis is required at most programs, but wouldn't topology be more of a bit of icing on the cake? (Out of curiosity, I wouldn't doubt that I could be wrong on this).</p>
<p>Real Analysis is absolutely important, it will be impossible to make it past the first year if you don't have this course. Topology and measure theory are important for people going into theory. If you are not interested in theory or econometrics you will be fine with just real analysis. You can always read Topology and understand it if you know real analysis.</p>
<p>OP, it depends on what area of Economics you are interested in. If you are thinking about theory you will need more maths than what you currently have. If you are interested in more applied stuff you will be fine.</p>
<p>Can you take real analysis before you apply?</p>
<p>Sorry for the late reply and thank you all for the suggestions and comments.
In fact, I did took Real Analysis (aka Calculus), which consisted not only of the application but of the theory, too. In the Statement of Objectives I wrote for the MIT application I also mentioned that I conducted some complicated proofs in the area of Econometrics, though unpublished, which relies heavily on analysis and theoretical econometrics.
However, I do know that I am supposed to be more acquainted with Topology and other more advanced maths. :-\ But I think I'm not so mathematically illiterate that I might seem. :-)</p>