<p>Hi, I'm currently a freshman at UC Davis, and I was hoping to transfer to Berkeley as a junior level transfer. I did not pick Stanford because I think it's a little bit too unrealistic for me to compete with the other thousands of students for around 50 spots. If I don't make it to Berkeley, I'll most definitely be graduating from UC Davis. Here's what I want to know, do undergraduates from Berkeley hold better chances to enter the PhD Economics program at Stanford? Or are they generally the same?</p>
<p>Well, I think a better question is whether an economics major at UC-Davis can get you into the PhD program at Stanford, which is yes, certainly. Do I think that you, personally, will have a better chance of getting into the PhD program at Stanford if you transfer to Berkeley than if you stay at Davis? Not necessarily.</p>
<p>It kind of depends. If you’re miserable at Davis and would do terribly there if you stayed, but you go to Berkeley, come alive, take a class with a famous economist, get him to supervise your thesis and get a fantastic glowing recommendation letter or something like that - then yes, but that’s true regardless of where you transferred to. If Berkeley has better resources in the part of your major you want to study, then possibly. But if you are reasonably happy at Davis, and have the kind of support and coursework you need to get a solid foundation (which you very likely do), then I doubt that transferring to Berkeley as a junior will change much for you. Graduate admissions committees don’t just look at the name of your school and say “Oh, wow, Berkeley!” What matters is what you do in undergrad, and not so much where you went.</p>
<p>Also as an additional tip…it’s probably not the best idea to be laser-focused on one particular PhD program. First of all, if you are a freshman chances are good that you’re not yet sure which part of economics you really want to focus on in your grad studies. Chances are also good that that will change throughout the next two years. Stanford may not be the best place to study what you really want to make your career in. Secondly, Stanford’s PhD program is extremely competitive. They get 700 applications and admit 50 students - that’s about 7%. It’s almost as difficult to get into Stanford’s economics PhD program as it is to get into their undergraduate college. It’s best to apply to multiple schools - unless, of course, you would rather go to NO PhD program at all than go anywhere besides Stanford, which is a completely valid choice.</p>