Hey. I am an NYU sophomore in CAS doing math and economics joint major. I am an international student from China. I don’t like NYU because the economics department sucked. Teachers are getting worse when the level of courses getting higher. And it doesn’t provide much research or any academic resources other than courses. Like they apparently don’t hire undergrad for research nor do them support independent research. However, I do love the math department better. Courant gives a lot of resources like math contests, summer research fund. But my major interest is economics!!! I do math only because it will help me apply for econo related grad school. I want to find some places with better economics major and math majors, too. Also, I hate the small campus cuz it doesn’t all most outdoor sports and people don’t have a community sense, though I do have a bunch of good friends. I hate to have to leave them, too. Anyway, here is my academics:
My cumulative GPA is 3.714, major GPA is 3.75. Took 28 credits of AP courses including 5 in microeconomics and macro. The courses the lowers my gpa is Math for Econ one(A-) and Linear algebra (B+). I am currently taking Microeconomics Analysis, Money and Banking, Math for Econ three and writing course. High school gpa is 4.12 for a weighted 4.5 scale.
ECs including: the staff editor and treasurer in an economics publication on campus. Floor representative and a committee member of residence hall student gov… Worked part-time in a Chinese real estate broker company last summer. Also, I am planning to do an independent research and want to apply for Dean’s fund. May also co-found a community service club. Looking for internships too. In high school I was the editor in chief of school English newspaper, founder of an English reading club, and VP of Public Relation in Student government. Participated in a volunteer club doing English online teaching.
I know my grade is a little bit low but I do want to transfer to better universities with good math and most importantly good econ. My dream school would be U Chicago, tho may be too high for me. Can you guys give me some recommendations of possible schools I can try to apply for? and How can I better prepare for the application? (Like get high GPA or do independent research?) Would transfer be more difficult since I am an international student?
Thank you so much! That website is really useful. Despite Hamilton, would you recommend other colleges or universities? I know that colleges usually focus more on undergrad, but are there universities would value undergrad too?
Try this resource: https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.usecondept.html. Harvard, MIT, Princeton, UChicago, URochester and Rice would be a few suggestions for your interests, but you could peruse the ranking for other universities that might appeal to you.
I would also look at Cornell CAS, UPenn CAS, and Northwestern in addition to UChicago. UChicago is a very high reach as you may have well realized, and you will want to take very high level courses to show you can handle the rigor there. Keep going up in math courses if you like math – literally take 1-2 math courses per semester: statistics, programming, linear algebra, discrete maths, multivariate calculus & differential equations, partial differential equations, math modeling etc. – all schools and especially UChicago where academics are hardcore will appreciate that.
If you have good test scores e.g. 1500++ SAT or 33+ ACT, no reason not to send them along although test scores are weighted less for sophomore & junior transfers, but schools like UPenn still requires it.
Being an international transfer student is always a gamble – it could make things a lot easier, or harder. You will be paying full tuition, which is good. You’re from China, which may be harder, BUT, you’re applying as a transfer student hence because the transfer data doesn’t really get reported to anywhere notable so it MIGHT be a lot better than applying as an international student from China for freshmen admissions.
Also please don’t start a club for the sake of founding clubs. Start figuring out what it is you want to do exactly because you’re interested in doing them, as opposed to doing them for the sake of college admissions. Also it’d be rather churlish to start a community service club and then abandon it after less than a year? The independent research is good – stick to that. The more time you divest away from it means the less results you can actually get. Also try not to talk that much about high school activities – only discuss whichever activity was the most meaningful to you. Your list of HS activities shows a lot of interest and enthusiasm in the same field so just pick whichever one was most meaningful.
Overall I do feel you’re competitive, but just keep in mind there are tons of other people applying so also prepare yourself for the worst. Its going to be very different in terms of atmosphere and feel but you could even consider transferring to UMichigan, which would be very attainable for you.
@TomSrOfBoston – the thread doesn’t seem to be about NYU professors “sucking” it seems to be about whether they are available to help undergraduates with research. Small LACs seem to be more focused on undergraduate teaching and that seems to be the general direction of this thread, although some research Us are also included in the discussion.
First you are doing the right thing to double major in math, that will open a lot of great PhD programs in economics to you. You have the right idea.
If you want to become an economist and work on campus with a research project that has some beef, In that case, its better to join a department with a strong PhD program in economics, where undergrads can work with grad students. Since this OP likes Courant, she/he seems to understand that strong grad programs will trickle down
IF the student can work in a research group, and believes they open opportunities for him as an undergrad. He may be very disappointed in an LAC. Its could be too isolating for him, although he may want a school with more green space.
Do NOT focus on U of Chicago, they take too few transfer students. I know students who got in from 12th grade, and tried to transfer after trying an LAC for one year, and U of Chicago said no the second time. Its a small school where almost no one drops out, but yes, the Econ is strong, and maybe more undergrad focused than NYU.
Don’t overlook the large public schools! Size brings options, for good students.
I like the economics programs at Michigan, UW Madison and Minnesota,
which all have above average math departments, which is very very important for your PhD applications, later.
You may want to try to get an REU in economics or work at the Federal Reserve Bank, or another internship,
and STAY at NYU. But weight your options. A few REUs are open to international students. You can try any bank
to get more exposure to aspects of economics.
New York City has very very good summer job options, is one reason to stay put.
fwiw: NYU is ranked highly in both econ (top 15) and math (top 5), so there are few “better universities” and those that are, are highly selective and/or accept few transfers.
In contrast, while Chicago maybe top 5 in Econ, it’s middling (~40’s) for Math.
Agree with ColoradoMom. Stay at NYU and seek out research opportunities. In exactly one one-second search, I found a Lab that does ‘hire’ undergrads:
As far as I know, there are few published evaluations of mathematics departments that are oriented toward undergraduate programs. The Princeton Review, however, offers a sampling, “Great Schools for Mathematics Majors,” intended for this general purpose. Colleges listed that are as or more selective than NYU include the following (NYU itself does not appear):
Harvey Mudd
MIT
UChicago
Caltech
Haverford
Harvard
Hamilton
Bowdoin
Reed
Rice
URochester
Carleton
Grinnell
Macalester