<p>I’m not sure what type of work/research experience MIT will be impressed by. I will graduate in three years, hopefully with a good GPA (I’m on the right track), great LOR (I’m getting to know people) and research experience on campus. </p>
<p>However, I’m also thinking of taking two to three years off after my bachelor’s degree before applying to grad school. I want to gain good work/research experience in my field of economics to improve my chances of getting into a great Econ program like the one being offered at MIT. </p>
<p>To achieve this, I have two options:</p>
<p>-- Return to my island nation and work at its central bank for two-three years. (I’m not sure whether MIT will even care about work experience on a small island in the middle of nowhere…but I was thinking that since I’m specializing in development economics, gaining experience in a developing country will be advantageous??)</p>
<p>-- Staying in the US (I have dual citizenship) and looking for work at a place like BEA or some econ/international relations think tank. </p>
<p>What do you guys think? Sorry for the long post ;)</p>
<p>Why do you specifically want to attend MIT? Is there a special offering in economics that is particularly interesting to you? MIT receives about 800 applications and admits 40 people to its PhD program each year, which is a 5% acceptance rate. You might be an excellent applicant, but you’ll be competing with other very well qualified applicants. I only say this because while it’s good to identify specific programs, concentrating on only one program isn’t necessarily a good idea. (I’m also assuming that you want a PhD program, because MIT only offers a PhD in economics, not an MA/MS).</p>
<p>Most social science programs require, or strongly prefer, research experience. A PhD is a research degree. So whatever work experience you choose to pursue after college should have a strong research component to it - even if it’s applied research. Working at an econ think tank sounds more like applied research than working at the central bank, unless you’d be doing research-related work at the central bank.</p>
<p>@juillet - Thanks for the reply! I will be applying to other schools, of course. But MIT, in my opinion, had the best Development Economics program (my prospective specialization). And I think that by trying to be ‘MIT worthy’, I’m setting myself up for success in admittance to schools with higher acceptance rates. </p>