Graduate School

[Icey]

Well, I finished this quarter's final exams yesterday, so what am I doing today? Working on graduate school apps! I'm applying for my PhD in economics to the following programs:

Harvard
Stanford
University of Chicago
Boston U
U Maryland
U Texas

The damn application fees are making me broke, but I'm pretty sure I can get into a majority of those schools. Harvard, Stanford, U Chicago are all questionable because they're really top notch though. I have a 3.91 GPA and an advanced math background, so hopefully that helps.

Anyone here applied to grad school before? Currently or previously a grad student? Any advice for applications or grad life in general?

Anyway, wish me luck.

PS: When I joined these forums, I was in 7th grade. Now I'm on my way to graduate school. Crazy, huh?

[Mercy]

Congratulations!

I have to ask, are you really set on having "Harvard" on your resume? Granted, it is a top-notch school. But it is expensive to attend and expensive to live near and hard to stand out in without a pedigree.

Whatever school you ultimately choose, good luck and do not forget about us little people.

-m.

[Aliem]

Good luck, man. Glad to see you're aiming high! With a GPA like that, I'm sure you'll be fine.

[DarkDragon]

I'm a current grad student at Columbia.

Every department is different so I don't know how much of this applies to Economics, but here's what I've observed from helping professors screen applicants.

Targeting a specific professor: Undergrad admissions are handled entirely by an admissions office who look at all of the applicants and make a final decision to accept or deny. Grad school admissions are much different: the professors themselves play a large role in the process and have final control of who gets accepted. If a professor knows about a specific applicant and really wants to fund him as a student, that student is pretty much guaranteed to be admitted. If a student has a great application but doesn't target a specific professor, the admissions office will essentially send an email asking, "is anybody interested in this student"? If the answer is no, the student won't be accepted, no matter how brilliant.

As a consequence, instead of targeting specific schools, target professors. Figure out what kind of economics research you think you want to do and look up the top researchers in that field. Make it extremely clear on your application that you want to work for Mr. Whosit at Harvard, instead of that you want to work at Harvard. Even better, email the professor directly, introduce yourself as one of his prospective students, and tell him about how much you're interested in working with him to extend the brilliant ideas in his Paper X (being genuinely interested in Paper X, obviously). This will set you apart from other applicants. Of course, professors get tons of mail from underqualified applicants, so you will need to have the goods to back yourself up, specifically

GPA: The first thing they look at is your GPA, and the college where it was earned. Professors get hundreds of applicants a year and sorting the spreadsheet by GPA is the easiest way for them to narrow down likely good candidates. You didn't say where you went for undergrad, but assuming it's a decent US college your 3.91 is very helpful.

Letters of Recommendation: Obviously the ideal is for your letter writes to gush about how you're the most brilliant student they've taught in years, etc etc but the most important thing about letters is that the writers are recognizable as prestigious researchers in their field. A canned letter from senior faculty is much better than a glowing letter from a junior lecturer nobody has heard of; due to "letter of recommendation inflation" the actual contents of the letter are rarely taken seriously. Important exception: if you've done actual research for a professor, *definitely* ask him to write you a letter.

Evidence of research potential: It's too late to do much about this one if you're a senior in college, but if you've done extracurricular research work for a professor, published some papers, did a summer research internship, etc. you want to pimp that as much as possible on your application.

Everything else (GREs, essays, etc) is barely glanced at.

[Icey]

Thanks guys, especially DarkDragon. Mercy, I'm not terribly worried about cost, as most universities will find a way to fund their graduate students at least by the second year and on. As for not being able to stand out, I think that would apply more to undergraduate studies than graduate.

I'm in the process of writing my senior thesis (original research) and so I'm talking a bit about that, I also have my advisor (who was also a professor of mine for one class) writing me a letter of rec. So, we'll see how it goes. Submitted the first application (U Maryland) today!

Edit: So, I decided Stanford and Harvard are too much of a long shot, so I edited my list of schools to the following:

University of Chicago
Northwestern University
University of Texas
Johns Hopkins
Boston University
University of Rochester
University of Maryland

[gdorf]

I am currently transitioning into the MSEE program at Portland State University. Although I would almost certainly get into a better university I decided to stay here and continue my current research. I have a good working relationship with a few professors here and I am also getting paid well to get my degree. Oh, and I love living in Portland.

I agree with DarkDragon's entire post -- his advice is solid and in line with the way things work in my department. It is very important to appeal to the research interests of specific professors in your applications. Its a good idea to talk about your senior thesis because professors like to see that you've already done research as an undergraduate.

Good luck with your applications!

[Dechipher]

Theres a possibility you and I will be going to graduate school together.
I am planning to apply to UT at Austin (which I'm assuming is the University of Texas you're talking about), Northwestern, and Eastman School of Music (in Rochester), as well as a few others (Yale, University of Arizona, etc.). I have one more year before I graduate, but....you never know!

I'm doing music though, so I'm not sure how much advice I have to give in your situation. For us, it's about visiting the campus, and playing the shit out of your audition (for performance), knowing your score solid and being able to rock the orchestra (for conducting), or having a well-rounded portfolio that demonstrates your ability to write well for all instruments, work with large forms, write in a diverse style, etc. (for composition).

[Icey]

Cool, man, I'll let you know where I end up. Let me know if you end up joining me! (And yes, I mean UT at Austin).

[erm2003]

Good luck guys. If you end up in Rochester you will have to let me know. I have been here about 4 1/2 years now and I could show you around. It's not a bad area and the schools have great programs.

[Icey]

Well I just submitted my application to University of Chicago! One down, 6 to go!

[Toolie]

I would have to second DarkDragon's advice earlier. Grad admissions is a totally different animal than undergrad admissions. Get a hold of specific people and start schmoozing about their research as soon as possible. It's fruitless to apply to University of X for String Theory if there is no one there working on it to sponsor you. Similarly, even if there are people that are working on your intended field, they may have too many graduate students already or not enough funding to support any more students. The more professors and existing graduate students you talk to at a school, the better you can feel out easier openings at the school, from a funding standpoint, that you could occupy.

This is coming from my experience in physics, where PhD programs are typically fully funded with a stipend on top. I'm not sure how applicable this is to programs without the student funding structure.