<p>I just finished up my junior year in electrical engineering at University of Pittsburgh. I have a scholarship that requires me to work for the Department of Defense for two years after I graduate. Anyway, my overall goal is to get a PhD in economics. Is this transition possible. I'm going to graduate with a minor in economics (all A or A+s). I'm thinking of doing an independent thesis next semester for the final class.</p>
<p>Would grad schools (I'm shooting for top tier) consider my app? I did engineering research after freshman year, had an internship last summer and now I have a DOD internship. My GPA is pretty good (3.9...4.0 in major/minor). Haven't taken GREs.</p>
<p>My main concern is that I don't have enough 'economics' on my resume (hence the thesis).</p>
<p>Vernon Smith got his BSEE from Caltech, then earned a PhD in Economics at Harvard. He won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002 for his work in experimental economics.</p>
<p>As graduate admissions have become increasingly competitive, most candidates who apply to top-tier programs will have some degree of research experience in the area, leaving those who majored in another discipline at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>If you know of a way around this, then what is it? A while ago, I made a topic on this board about how to get in to a respectable grad program in a different field of study from one’s undergrad major, and not many people cared to respond (or knew the answer.) Please enlighten me if you do.</p>
<p>Well, obviously anybody who wins a Nobel Prize is atypical. Furthermore, anybody who wants to attend a PhD program in a discipline that differs from his undergrad is atypical. After all, most PhD students actually majored in their field as undergrads. </p>
<p>As far as the best way to transition from one field to another, one way is to get into a lower-ranked grad program, do well, and then transfer to a better program. That’s precisely what Vernon Smith did, earning a MA in Economics from the University of Kansas before transferring to Harvard. </p>
<p>Another, arguably even more effective way, is to attend a highly flexible and interdisciplinary PhD program that allows you to shape your program as you wish. The MIT Engineering Systems Division PhD program may be an example that is relevant to the OP - an engineering undergrad can definitely be admitted to that program and then choose to a course of study that blends engineering techniques with engineering research. Similarly, many business school PhD programs are also interdisciplinary. For example, I would argue that Lynn Wu - former engineer and current PhD student at the MIT Sloan School - is basically an economist. She studies the impact of information technology on human capital and organizational productivity, so that’s basically labor and firm microeconomics. </p>
<p>Now, granted, you wouldn’t be getting a PhD in economics per se. But that hardly matters - what’s important is that you have the opportunity to study economic phenomena, publish in economics journals, and have economists serve on your committee such that you can be a credible candidate on the economics academic job market, if that is indeed your career goal. That leads to a question for the OP: why exactly do you want an economics PhD anyway?</p>