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accessnash

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  1. Well, best of luck to you too! Though I left work and now in a full-time MS program since this Fall.....
  2. Hey, thanks for your advice. I'll probably include my manager at my last job. My PhD plans are in the same line (I was working in FX/Rates business line and my interests are in Financial econometrics), although I wasn't doing research work exactly. He should be able to write a good one, though he is a very busy guy now, with a lot of people having left the team. A few programs mention that if one is currently studying, then at least 2 LoRs should be from professors at the current university. Another issue is that I'd also be applying to continue at my current school. So I hope they don't feel bad that I'm more keen on other places (not that I'm guaranteed a place at my current program)
  3. Thanks for your response, Fuzzy. You have been really helpful. Well as for this online course, I had submitted a paper (not in any journal but a term paper) for the course which involved a lot of analytical work. May be he could mention something about it. My concern is that having worked for so many years before going to a MS program now, I don't have many professors to ask a LOR for. The other options I'm counting on are to include two professors whose class I'm currently taking and both classes are highly mathematical. I was thinking of asking them after completing the mid-term exam in Nov 1st week so that they have a better assessment of how well I do. I have done quite well in all assignment submissions and have had constant interaction with both of them. I hope they don't deny and expect me to ask after completing the semester. The issue is one of the programs that I really want to go to has a deadline of Dec 12th. My final exams would be over by Dec 11th. I have to tell them by mid-November at least. Do you think that it is likely they will deny too? A 3rd class that I take currently isn't along my interest areas. I just do enough to get good grades but I have never asked a question in his class. The prof knows me by name, but I'm not sure on what basis I could ask him for a LOR. His notes are very self-sufficient and I never really had a problem in working out the assignments on my own. I have never been to his office hours. These 3 academic LoRs are the only reason why I had delayed going for a PhD for so many years and had been working.....till I decided I had enough of mind-numbing work. I'm not used to asking for LoRs ever and do feel shy going up to someone and asking for a reference.
  4. Could someone please advise on this - I have a professor whose class I had taken online in one semester. We had interactions through emails and on discussion forums. I have met him only once. And I had an A in his subject. Would it be ok to ask a letter of recommendation from him ?
  5. I'm starting to gather my LoRs and already feeling nervous about it. Have a few questions about the etiquette. I emailed a professor in whose subject I got an A to see if I could set up a meeting for a LoR. He hasn't responded yet. I understand that some people say one should always ask directly in person. I'm willing to do that, but turning up at their office without an appointment might seem bothersome. Hence I emailed first. Now what do I do? Follow up by email again? Do Profs really miss some emails or is this a convenient way of saying No? I'm currently in another class in which I've been doing fine. Would it be ok to ask the professor right after class or is it better to set up a meeting by email first? I was wondering if this prof also doesn't want to write a LoR but might feel uncomfortable in saying so directly. I had given up a decent paying job to pursue a PhD and I don't have any plan B. I hadn't factored in the fact that I might not be able to apply due to lack of 3 LoRs.....I'm starting to feel a little depressed as the deadlines are coming closer. Just graduating with a MS would do me no good. Are there other options to get into a decent school without LoR?
  6. Hi Fuzzy, Thanks a lot for your response. A few things- "I only got a 169, I don't know what happened" bit. You do realize that's a good score, right? Duke says almost all their Econ students get 170. And they're ranked 18th or so. So 169 might just be the average score at these schools. Not every school posts these stats. Second, your GPA is also great, and again not something to worry about. Yeah, I know my current GPA is good. However, at my previous degree, I had a horrible GPA (don't even ask). I will still have to explain that in my essay I guess, even though I'm managing As currently. I have directly applied to PhD programs earlier and just got rejected (which I think was for my poor grades). Hence I enrolled in the MS to make it better. And like I said earlier, considering the negatives of my profile, I may never make it to Chicago or Northwestern, even though they may be pretty good at Econometrics. USC, on the other hand, has a deadline of Dec 5th. Currently I have 2 PhD level courses which might help my profile, but my grades won't be out till Dec end probably. As for my more specific interests, it'd be in the area of applied time series, empirical options pricing, etc.I haven't decided on the exact research area, but these interests are related to what I was working on while I was in the industry. And thanks for the advice on the academia vs industry option. From your response it seems like it's ok to say I'm keeping my options open instead of saying that I'm only interested in academia....that's fine by me too.
  7. Hi, I'm currently a MS student and I'd like to apply to the PhD in Economics program at either my current school (ranked around 30) or 4-5 schools such as Cornell, Virginia, Rochester, etc. I'm interested in Econometrics or related areas in Computational Economics, etc. I'd be among the older candidates in the pool (almost mid-30s) and I have worked in banking/finance industry till now. I just took my GRE and scored low in the Verbal section (Q-169, V-157). Although I was scoring 170 in Quant in my mock tests, not sure what went wrong that day. My mock scores in verbal were around 157-160. Given that most schools talk only about the quantitative section, I'm guessing I shouldn't think of retaking the exam. Or do you think it's worth a shot for the schools I'm applying to? I'd actually prefer concentrating on my grades for this semester as previous grades (at another school) before this were quite poor. Till now in my current program, I have maintained a 3.9 GPA. Because of my previous grades (and also my age) I don't want to apply to top 10-15 schools. However, given that I had been in the industry for long and not too sure how Adcoms think, do you think I should try for better? Or am I not even being realistic with these schools and should aim lower? My choice of schools are mostly those that have deadlines in January instead of December (I want to get more A grades to support my application and recommendations from my current program). Which is why I can't apply to USC, even though they may be pretty good at econometrics. I have one more important question - Is it really bad to mention that I'm interested in working in the industry or in research (only research and not teaching) while writing my SOP? I have heard a lot of times that one would get rejected if one mentions moving to the industry. How true is that, specially at the schools I'm thinking of applying to? I can't think of a career in teaching and I just wouldn't be good at it. I understand I'm asking a lot of different questions and you would be getting it a lot.....however, any help would be really appreciated. (please don't ask why I'm leaving the industry in the first place to get a PhD)
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