dkro23

Thanks everyone for the input, it all helps a lot! I am really shooting for a top 10 in either polisci or economics, so I've just been bugging a lot of people over what I should shoot for on the application. Just some comments and clarifications: 1) When I mentioned 'research interest' in the original post, I mainly meant how specific I should be in the SOP. I mean, I assume they aren't expecting me to lay out a research proposal for a dissertation, (are they?). And, does having a research interest in a 'hot' field do anything? 2) For the economists: I'll have calculus, linear algebra, ODE and PDE, Probability theory, an intro proof writing course, 1 semester of real analysis, and maybe 1 of abstract algebra (and a math for econ phd course sequence). Will not having that second semester of analysis and algebra hurt my chances? Are there any other specific courses that could help? 3) I forgot another part that might warrant some discussion: does job experience do help? I mainly ask because I have been told that working for a year or two between undergrad and phd is a good experience to have before fully committing to the phd.

As the topic suggests, what is the makeup of a typical student that gets accepted to a top 10 institution (i.e. GRE score, GPA, publications?, math/stats background, undergraduate thesis?, interesting fields of research, and so on)? I've looked through many university websites and they all have very low acceptance rates, so what makes 20 out of 1000 applicants stand out? Related, most of the top universities give a minimum math requirement, but how much is actually needed to stand out and be accepted? Would research experience in the math department help at all? (I have posted the exact question in the political science section as well, since I am interested in both)

As the topic suggests, what is the makeup of a typical student that gets accepted to a top 10 institution (i.e. GRE score, GPA, publications?, math/stats background, undergraduate thesis?, interesting fields of research, and so on)? I've looked through many university websites and they all have very low acceptance rates, so what makes 20 out of 1000 applicants stand out? (I have posted the exact question in the economics section as well, since I am interested in both)