Profile Evaluation for PhD Econ 2014: need help!!!

Graduate School
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I am planning to apply for PhD Econ in 2014.
Could you please evaluate my profile and give me any suggestions to improve my chance for admission? I really appreciate your help.</p>

<p>Profile:
Type of Undergrad: state public university in NC, rank 199 overall, top 100 undergrad programs
Degree: Economics (4.0),Construction Management (3.9) - both 12/2013; BA Math (4.0)- 5/2014
Overall GPA: 3.933 - will graduate with 190 credit hours
Type of Grad: N/A
Econ courses: principles of macro & micro, intermediate macro & micro, intro to econometrics, managerial econ, international econ, busn/econ forecasting, IO/public policy, mathematical econ- All As
Math courses: Cal I,II & III, linear algebra, adv cal of one variable, intro to stat, prob & stat I- All As. planning to take take diff equation, cal IV, adv Cal of several variables, prob & stat II, intro to modern algebra.
GRE: will take mid- August
Letters of Recommendations: 2 PhD Illinois- Urbana Champaign, 1 PhD Iowa - Econ Profs 20+ yrs experience (development econ, international trade, macro )- 1 excellent & 2good
1 PhD Havard, Math Prof - math senior project advisor (next spring) - excellent
1 PhD Michigan, Math dept associate chair- good
Research experience: 1 yr RA for projects granted by North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT)- focus on cost benefit analysis (CBA). engineering capstone- infrastructure(green construction). math senior project - stimulating random variables with an infinite series representation
Teaching experience: none
Honors: outstanding research assistant award, scholarships from college of business and college of engineering
Research Interest: development econ, math econ, international trade & macro
Applying: UNC, UVA, UT-Austin, UWashington, Georgetown, Notre Dame, USC, Clemson
Concerns: low rank school, no teach experience, no grad course</p>

<p>I wonder if all schools rejected my application, should I go for MA Econ or MS applied math with 3-4 econ grad courses?
I am really looking for your comments.
Thank all of you.</p>

2

<p>If you want to be an economics PhD, in the event that you get rejected everywhere you should get an MA in economics, not applied math. You can always take the math classes that you need while you are enrolled. But while math is very important to economics, the core of economics is - well, economics.</p>

<p>Don’t worry about the low-ranked school. What you do there is far more important than where you go, and you are a very strong applicant.</p>

<p>Don’t worry about the lack of teaching experience; most undergraduates lack teaching experience when they go to PhD programs. They don’t expect that.</p>

<p>Will you not have the chance to take a graduate economics class, or are they not offered by your school at all? If you can take one, I would try my best to arrange to take one as they are a great way to show that you can do grad-level work in the field. However, many many PhD students never took a grad class before grad school because many of us (most?) attended places without grad programs.</p>

3

<p>The huge problem with your profile is that you haven’t taken real analysis. Without it, you will be at a big disadvantage compared to other applicants.</p>

4

<p>Too many letters. Cut it down to 3 unless more is required.</p>

5

<p>@juillet: Thank you for very beneficial reply. I can’t take any graduate econ course until next spring and by that time I need to submit transcript already. My school only offers master econ level courses, and I go for BA math instead of BS-MS 5 year option. That why I will spend one more year to pursue master degree if no school accepts my application. Do you think I should take grad macro & micro this spring- no grade available for admission or spend more time for my research assistant position? Regard the school I am planning to apply with my current profile, do you have any comment about these universities? Do I aim too high? Should I increase number of schools? Thank you once again.</p>

<p>@Syoung2: My school doesn’t offer undergrad real analysis course, it only has PhD-math real analysis courses. I read some posts in this forum state that schools dont offer advanced calculus & real analysis at the same time, so I assume these two courses are equivalent. I am not sure about that. </p>

<p>@Ace6904: I cant figure out the best combination of the recommendation letters, so I will rotate these letters. I dont have any experience about it, so I am really glad if you have any comment for me.</p>