<p>What are the requirements to get a realistic chance of being accepted into the MIT PhD program. I find that the website also states that even literature majors can get in, how's that I thought an eligible candidate would have to have an extensive background in Math or something similar. I hope I receive some insight on this and thank you in advance.</p>
<p>Can anyone please reply…</p>
<p>One hour and two minutes and no reply? Shameful.</p>
<p>I have heard that patience and perseverance are required for ANY PhD program. Um.</p>
<p>Seriously. Rude.</p>
<p>A strong background in math is obviously helpful and more or less required for some fields in economics (theory and econometrics) but less relevant for more applied fields like development. Some basic knowledge of multivariable calculus, linear algebra, probability, and statistics are probably essential though. What is more important is the capacity to do good research. Letters of recommendation attesting to this are very important in this regard. By looking at the CVs of current job market candidates from MIT <a href=“http://economics.mit.edu/files/9256[/url]”>http://economics.mit.edu/files/9256</a> you can seen their undergraduate backgrounds were (excluding those who went to foreign institutions)</p>
<p>Yale, econ and math
Brown, econ and Latin American studies
Amherst, econ and math
Mills college, econ and math
MIT, physics and math
Stanford, econ and math
BYU, econ and math
Yale, econ, math, and German studies
Penn, econ
Columbia, econ
Virginia Tech, econ and math</p>
<p>The list for current Harvard job market candidates complied from this is <a href=“http://economics.harvard.edu/files/economics/files/cv_packet_3.pdf[/url]”>http://economics.harvard.edu/files/economics/files/cv_packet_3.pdf</a>
Northwestern, communication studies, econ, and math
UC Berkeley, applied math, econ
University of Washington, physics
MIT, math
St. Lawrence, econ and math
Harvard, econ
Stanford, econ and math
Harvard, applied math
Harvard, math
Williams, econ and math
Harvard, econ
UC Berkeley, applied math, econ
NYU, econ and international business
Harvard, applied math
Harvard, econ
Swarthmore, econ and math
Columbia, econ
Dartmouth, econ</p>
<p>You can see that most had math double majors but it’s not required. Similarly most but not all went to top 10 schools for undergrad.</p>
<p>UMTYMP Thank you very much. All those documents are very impressive and discouraging at the same time. How about people who want to apply but they don’t have much research they have a masters degree and are not from the US?</p>
<p>I don’t really know anything about international admissions although I think getting a masters is pretty common for international students. The odds of an undergrad or even master’s student in econ doing serious research are pretty small so admissions committees seem to be looking more for potential to do research in the future than for already done research.</p>
<p>UMTYMP thanks a lot I really appreciate your help. So I take it one doesn’t necessarily have to have an extensive background in research?, Also could you please give me any tips on how I can increase my chances getting in? What steps should I take? Where do I start? Sorry if I’m burdening you with all these questions.</p>
<p>An extensive background in research is definitely not needed. You can find advice from Susan Athey, who is a very prominent economist here [Graduate</a> School Advice: Susan Athey: Faculty: Stanford GSB](<a href=“http://faculty-gsb.stanford.edu/athey/gradadvising.html]Graduate”>http://faculty-gsb.stanford.edu/athey/gradadvising.html). I would also recommend talking with faculty at your college as they will have a better idea about the admissions results from students for your school.</p>
<p>Sorry for bumping this thread again. There’s one more thing I need some insight on. The thing is my college is literally unknown and there’s zero chance that anyone who’s graduated from there would ever be accepted into MIT by just their bachelor’s degree alone. I can’t really discuss anything with the faculty members because they’re not really interested in those kinds of matters. I already have a strong background in math through self-study and my deep interest and I am fluent in two languages besides my native one. Is there anyway I can improve my chances of getting into this program. Please keep in mind that my country is listed in the top ten most corrupt countries which is not something I proud of but you can imagine how difficult it is in such a condition to have access to any kind of competent educational facilities let alone research ones. So, please if it’s worth anything any kind of guideline or instructions would be extremely helpful in showing me the steps I should take to reach my goal. Again I apologize if this sound cheesy, desperate, or anything of that sort but I am incredibly keen on doing something significant academically and I feel a Phd from MIT would be very intellectually and mentally fulfilling.</p>
<p>I am sure that things could have changed in the interim, but several decades ago I was a grad student in econ at Chicago, and many of the foreign students already had MA’s. So you might consider attending to the highest ranked grad school you can get into (in the US or elsewhere), get an MA there, and then apply to MIT, etc.</p>
<p>I would second the recommendation to get a masters. If you look through the packets of CVs I posted earlier in this thread they seem pretty common for students who attended undergrad in different countries and given the lack of resources at schools in your home country it would probably help your background quite a bit.</p>
<p>So, there is some hope after all. Thanks both of you, I guess I should first try doing and masters degree and then see whee things go from there.</p>
<p>Another thing: I took another look at the link you provided and I noticed that most of the candidates have two bachelors degrees, most of them in math and physics or math and economics, is that also a requirement too? Or were they joint majors?.</p>
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<p>I am pretty sure they are joint majors. No one in the US gets two bachelors degrees.</p>
<p>^ What are you calling “two bachelors degrees”? At MIT, joint majors, double majors, and dual degrees all mean different things - the first two are offered at MIT, the last was offered at MIT for a long time (with the last being the incoming students in fall 2007).</p>