<p>Hey guys,
I know this may seem a bit early (I'm a sophomore atm) but I wanted to get a few questions answered:</p>
<p>1) Does taking the minimum number of courses to attain a math major look bad when applying for a Ph.D.?
2) How necessary is research when applying to top 20 schools?
3) What's a reasonable range for the GRE (both sections) for top 20 schools?</p>
<p>The same applies for econ.</p>
<p>I'm at a top 20 school right now and may go into either field (still deciding) and was wondering how competitive it is...are some v. good places accepting over 15%? Do I need at least a 3.5?</p>
<p>I am considering going to Economics Grad School and can answer those (not so much about the Math). I am an undergraduate majoring in Math and Economics, and it seems like you are also taking a lot of math and economics courses. To get into Economics graduate schools, there are a bunch of things that are absolutely necessary to get into a good school. The first and foremost is to get an 800 on the Math section of the GRE. Even though most graduate schools do not say it is a required, it is almost taken as a GIVEN to get into the top 20 schools. Above that, for Economics, taking Real Analysis, Mathematical Statistics and Linear Algebra are almost necessities to get into a solid program. Included with this is a necessity to have a great teacher recommendation from someone who carries a little weight in the Economics field. These are the most important, and success in these classes are also very important (other classes GPAs and grades don't mean as much). Not sure about the other sections of the GRE, but from what I have heard there is not much a necessity for a high grade, but a really low grade (sub-600) on either could be a reason for concern to many of the adcoms. Hope this helps!</p>
<p>If you love math so much that you want to devote several years of your life to the study of the subject, one might expect that going beyond the minimum requirements for the major would be a pleasure as opposed to a burden...</p>
<p>1) If you want to get into top math programs, yes, it looks very bad. You have to realize that you are competing against incredible students from all around the world. Some of them have masters degrees, some follow a British-like system in which all they study in college is their major, and most have taken at least one graduate course. Top schools like Princeton and MIT, as I understand it, receive hundreds of applications for a class of 10 or so students. Besides, the assignments you do in high-level math are comparable to math research, so classes are a good indicator of who is more capable of producing publishable papers.</p>
<p>2) I heard actual research isn't that necessary for math PhD, as compared to the humanities and more experimental fields like physics. But I'm not exactly sure about this.</p>
<p>3) 800Q. That's almost a must. I cannot imagine why they would accept a lower score. Maybe a 790 is tolerable.</p>
<p>And participation in math competitions like the Putnam help too.</p>
<p>It's somewhat questionable to say they simply will not accept you simply because you do not have an 800 GRE Q score. Having the highest possible score does not hurt, but it is not an absolute requirement.<br> econphd.net</a> Admission Guide.
As far as GPA it is most important that your GPA is high in advanced mathematics courses. The better you do in proof-based mathematics the better your chances. Your mathematical ability is for both grad schools (obviously this is the case for mathematics) is the most important factor for admission. They will not care if you fulfilled the requirements for your major as much as they'll care that you took a good number of advanced mathematics courses.</p>
<p>It is true that an 800 isn't necessary, most of the top econ programs do accept many under 800 on their Q section of the GRE, but below 720 would start to raise some eyebrows. However, to not weed yourself out I would suggest shooting for that 800 as much as possible. Many of those acceptances who were under an 800 have significant research, as well as possible Master's degrees and possibly have been published before. Unless you have some other significant catch (being published would be one of them), getting below an 800 may be a ticket out of many of the top institutions.</p>