Re: Graduate School & Me...

On 7 Nov 2005 21:40:56 -0800, "Wana-Be Grad Student"
<jzarwel@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Hey Dick,
>
>Thanks for the reply. I actually want to pursue an MA in Social Thought
>which is a mix of Cultural Studies, Sociology and Econ and after that
>I'd like to go abroad to teach English for a couple of years. After
>that, I'd like to come back to the US and apply for PhD programs. I've
>taken some practice GRE exams and aced the math section on the practice
>exams both times. I also scored very high on the verbal section, so I
>feel my GRE score should be up to par.
>
>So, I'm not really worried about losing a year because of the MA,
>because I def want to do an MA first, both to prep me better to get
>into a better PhD program and because I do want to teach abroad before
>pursuing a 4-6 year PhD. I've noticed that here at my current
>institution as well as other top private research universities most
>graduate students in PhD programs are Europeans which already hold
>Master's degrees. I feel that getting an MA before applying to PhD
>programs will give me an edge. Any thoughts?
>
>Also, remember that my grades are actually very high. Almost all As and
>A-'s and a few B+'s and B's my GPA here is about a 3.65 in a university
>where the average GPA is a 3.35. The only thing I'm worried about is
>all the Ws I had on my CC transcript and then the bad semester I had my
>first semester here at my current institution, due to family health
>situations.
>
>Regards,

Economics graduates programs are both more homogeneous and more
hierarchical than many other disciplines. My advice applies to the top
40 or 50 programs, somewhat less so to other programs. I mention this
because you have somewhat unconventional goals, so the "standard
advice," which is what I'm going to give, may not be a perfect fit.

Having said that...

The first thing that grad econ programs care about is that you can
survive the graduate program, and that means in particular that you're
comfortable with math. A good math gre is 750+. A really good math gre
is 790 or 800.

You're probably okay on your grades, so long as they include A's in
linear algebra, stat, and maybe one higher level math course.

A master's degree in social thought will not give you an edge. And
econ grad schools do not expect Americans to have masters. They also
are pretty indifferent to life experience, personal statements, etc.

Serious suggestion: talk your way into at least one first year
graduate course at your current institution, preferably
microeconomics. Acing this course will strongly bolster your case
elsewhere. There is also a strong possibility that you will hate it,
and decide that what academic economics is about isn't what you're
interested in.

-Dick
----------------------
Richard Startz RichardStartz@xxxxxxxxxxx
Lundberg Startz Associates
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Question about PhD math programs reworded
    ... >> in math at US colleges are ill prepared for PhD programs? ... > By a strong student I mean a student who has the ability to do very well and ... strong governmental support for math education ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: Question about PhD math programs reworded
    ... > in math at US colleges are ill prepared for PhD programs? ... By a strong student I mean a student who has the ability to do very well and ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: Why Bowman turned down the hokies
    ... >>> Engineers who came into our econ classes expecting easy arts majors ... or the math program for engineers is seriously lacking... ... engineering take a 400 level econ course as a freshman) or the math program ...
    (rec.sport.football.college)
  • Re: Question about PhD math programs reworded
    ... >> in math at US colleges are ill prepared for PhD programs? ... >these courses are not offered in most undergraduate math programs. ... Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: Truth Tables!
    ... some are money hungry and lean towards the finance side of econ. ... on the other hand, am very much on the social science side (econ, math, ... I'd like to teach econ or math at the college ...
    (sci.logic)