DGrayson

Does anyone know if the second field on Brown's application is taken into consideration? I wanted to put African but there were only a couple faculty in the field.

I also contacted two professors at Michigan who never responded. I did manage to get into contact with one of them, just not the one I wanted to work with directly. I would still apply. The Personal Statement is what's killing me though.

I'm a little worried about the math background. Did you take the standard calc sequence? I see you listed Linear Algebra and Calculus but i'm not sure if that is one class or two. Mathematics for Economics is usually not the same as getting through the standard calc sequence. I'll wait for your comment before I add more though. Not a lot of Econ graduate programs look at the Statement of Purpose. One of the members of the admissions committee at UT Austin admitted that he never read an applicant's statement. That sucks! Nevertheless, I would highlight your time at the Economist and how that influenced you to pursue graduate study. By far one of the most important aspects of your application is your Letters of Recommendation. Make sure they highlight your potential to do quality research. My Ph.D coordinator told me that a great letter tells of your ability to be a "producer rather than a consumer of knowledge." I'm a current masters student at UT Austin's program and I would recommend it highly (though I'm a little biased ). It's a one year program with a excellent group of advisors. I can answer any specific questions about the program if you want. I do want to take a second to note the different between masters and Ph.D program. I thought that you wanted to do a Ph.D, but if you are instead doing a masters degree, your options for schools narrows pretty considerably. There are a smallish number of respected masters programs and none of them are going to be heavily focused on International. On the brighter side, however, the background requirements are a lot lighter! Finally, International can be broken down to international finance or international trade (finance is more macro and trade is more micro). I've attached the links to IDEAS's ranking based on fields for both. This should give you a good reference point though most of the schools probably don't have masters programs. https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.int.html https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.ifn.html

I've done that in my statement of purpose. I just wasn't sure if my interests had to match exactly. I feel like I should hear this! :)

So I've kinda hit a roadblock. I've decided that I wanted to focus on the Church as an economic institution in Early Modern Europe. Directly I'm interested in how the Church responded to exogenous shocks like the plague, and indirectly i'm interested in the market for saints body parts. My big problem is that there are not many scholars who focus on what I want to do (Safley at UPenn is the only one I am aware of though he is my top choice). I contacted a POI at Wisconsin and she suggested not applying there because she does not do exactly what I'm interested in. I was planning on listing a few professors on my statement (one from Church history, one economic historian, etc.) but now I'm not sure. If I only have a chance at institutions that exactly match my interest, I'll only end up applying to about two schools. That doesn't give me a lot of room for error. I'm a little worried! What do you guys think?

It depends on the school. Some schools only want one page while others will look at longer letters. I would contact the department directly if you are not sure. Also keep in mind that the Professor will likely receive information about the letter requirements when they receive the email to upload one.

Msingh, Usually, your best bet is to apply to a couple of top 30 programs and then some below the top 30. A general rule of thumb is that top 30 schools are pretty much good at everything. It is only for schools below the top 30 that really specialize in certain fields. USC for example is very good at Development. In terms of rankings based on Energy, check out the link below: https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.ene.html

I can only really speak from a Masters program perspective. Two of my fellow students and I were accepted into UT's program. I don't really think that schools limit the number of students they accept from each undergrad institution. If you have similar letter writers though, they may rank you in the letter and that may effect who gets in.

After first glance your record looks really good, but you have left out quite a lot of information in the form of math classes and grades received in them. I am assuming that you have completed Calc 1-3 and at least one linear algebra class. You also really need at least one proof based class if you want to make it into a top tier program. Have you completed any research projects? How about those providing you a letter of recommendation? Your GRE scores are good enough, and that will likely get you past the first round, but you have to differentiate yourself from all the others who have similar GRE scores. As for field rankings, US News and World Report has a pretty good list as well as AEA who has rankings based on speciality.

I think that what really matters is the quality of the letter itself. If the professor can really speak to your potential as a researcher (a producer rather than a consumer of knowledge) then go for it. I don't know how important having a letter from a professor in your speciality is though.

You want to choose a program based on your chosen field or speciality rather than name. For example, if you are into Macro, Minnesota is the school to be at. I'm not sure about rankings for international schools though.

If you can tie the subjects into your research goals then maybe, but they won't make much of an impression on getting you into a school.

I agree with what was said above. What matters to admissions committees in the "momentum". Have poor grades and then getting better ones is a lot better than having good grades and then getting poorer ones. I wouldn't mention the undergrad GPA at all. They have your transcripts so they can see what happened. There is no need to reinforce negative aspects of your application.

I don't think that sending the first scores is that big of a deal if you do much better on the next one. If you only do marginally better, then it may work against you.

A faculty member at UT Austin had recommended that I look into the Atlantic History field offered by the graduate department there. I'm somewhat interested as it covers some of what I am interested in (Early Modern Europe) while giving me exposure to some early American that I feel like will help on the job market. Does anyone have experience in this field that can give their impressions of it?

A friend of mine got into Bocconi with a 165 but he was of the opinion that it was at the low end. I got your Quant the first time I took it and I would seriously consider retaking it. In most grad programs, the GRE serves as the "first hurdle". If you pass their threshold level then they look at the other stuff on your application. It is also important to note that if you are planning to apply to U.S. schools, Bocconi's decision deadline is way before the average response time for U.S. universities.

I'm assuming that you have had the necessary Calc 1-3 classes if you have taken Analysis. How did you do in those classes? What about your LORs? Your GPA is a little low, but not outside the range of top tier (especially for your major). I would honestly aim for top 20, but would spread out a little just for safety.

Good to know! Thanks!

I was looking at UK schools, but I know how hard it is for an international student to get funding there; at least it's that way for Economics. I know that there are a few Economic Historians at Chicago who specialize in Ancient Rome/Antiquity. Might be able to pull that off. Not 100% sure though.

That's good to know! I'll send him an email in the next couple of days. It's been pretty hard finding people who share similar interests. I was thinking in terms of a potential committee for Yale. Maybe combined with Francesca Trivellato? I'm not sure. I was also thinking about Katie Harris at UC Davis but I didn't see a lot of people specializing in the Middle Ages so I'm not sure yet.

I really like Mike McCormick, but when I emailed him he listed his current research projects and non of them are really of any interest to me. I'm still in contact with him though. I like both Paul Freedman and Andrew Winroth at Yale. I still need to email Jonathan Conant to see what he thinks of my research interests, but his CV is open on one of my many browser windows. Thanks for the quick response!!

Hi guys! I've already introduced myself in another topic but I figured I would do so here as well! I'm applying this cycle and plan to focus on the Economic History of the Early Catholic Church with particular focus on the "Cult of the Saints". I'm also interested in working on the interaction between Early Christianity and Pagan beliefs during this time period. It's been particularly hard to find people who specialize in the Economic History portion of the Early Middle Ages, but right now I'm planning on applying to U Penn, Columbia, Yale, UCLA, UNC Chapel Hill, Northwestern, Berkeley, U Michigan and Princeton. If there are any programs I have missed please let me know! I've decided to switch fields (currently getting my MA in Economics at UT) later in the game than I would have liked to so I'm scrambling to put all my application materials together!

Thanks for the response! I've liked Davis for a while now, but I was worried because of the diminishing number of Assistant Professor placements since 2012.

Hello all! I was wondering if anyone has any opinions on UC Davis's program. I am interested in the work of A. Kate Harris and Daniel Stolzenberg, but the placement there seems to be going down hill. Any advice?

There are a couple of reasons to consider getting a masters degree, though many of them involve boosting your prep for Ph.D placements. I'm currently attending UT and a little more than half of our cohort are planning on getting jobs after the program. UT has a really good program in terms of networking and finding jobs after. I recommend it highly!