rustytrix

For some reason I seem to think you were around during last year's cycle as well and got into Chicago. Please correct me if I am mistaken. Are you transferring?

Fiorina McGillivray passed away in 2008.And yes, Rosendorff is at NYU. Also, see Shanker Satyanath.

Did you try switching browsers? If you have not, you might want to try that (especially if you use Google Chrome), because I remember having different issues with different browsers when I was applying.

Desperate tangents aside, I truly and sincerely hope all the math paranoia here is not borne out of some people's own apprehensions (conscious or otherwise) about having to compete with new generations of mathematically/statistically well trained students. For me, this thread has outlived its utility but I hope it will be of help to all current and future applicants.

As long as we can convey to prospective applicants that taking math courses over "getting drunk" or "watching youtube" is a better idea, I don't care what you regurgitate every Sunday.

Please allow me to re-emphasize the difference between what is "necessary" and what is "recommended". Maybe not everyone in the world is as super-smart as coachcrj or expatbayern, thus building a solid foundation on 2-3 semesters worth of caluclus, linear algebra, real analysis, and differential equations might prove to be to quite challenging for us mere mortals in one or two "formal" course sequence. I have a question: Can you tell prospective applicants that you do not recommend taking Real Analysis (or calculus, or LA,or..) if they have the opportunity of doing so as undergrads? I hope I have made my point clear, if not then enjoy bashing the strawman. PS: I think John Duggan forgot to tell you about his M.A. in Economics.

In one sentence: If you decide not to take Real Analysis and you end up at a rigorous quantitative department, you will regret not having done so.

I never said it was "necessary" i just said that it would help a lot. Nobody expects prospective applicants to have taken those, a claim which I did not make. And it is true you can learn it in graduate school, but they usually tend to cram a lot of things into "Math for Social Science" type of courses (that will include things from basic algebra to real analysis in one or two semesters), so my point was if an undergraduate were to take those courses, like a proper real anlysis class, they would have more time working with the material and possibly have a better foundation for later work. And not to mention the distinct advantage a new student will have if s/he has already taken these courese; they will not have to sit through a semester or two of one of those all in one math courses and instead focus on other core areas and take seminars. So yeah, you don't "need" to be math major but somebody who tells you that it doesn't help is lying.

i would add quant. comparative to tidefan's list (not to mention methodology, obviously). in other words, if u are not doing political theory just do the math (pun unintended).

Turns out, if you want to get published in APSR or the likes (or even prosper in quant-heavy grad schools(read:most schools)) you better be doing a lot of quant work. So why not have some mathematical pre-requisites (or at least recommendations) for non-theory applicants like the econ departments? P.S. If you are a new applicant and have time to take math courses at your undergrad inst., get these over with before u start grad school (if u plan to do quant work, of course): -3 Semesters of Calculus (including multi variate) -Probability -Mathematical Statistics (using calculus) -Real Analysis (def do this one to save yourself some misery later in life) -Linear Algebra -Topology ...in other words, just do a double major including math.

Seriously? I think you just answered your own question.

Hi, I am almost certain that I will be going there (phd in IR) so had a few questions about the city and the NYU area(Greenwich Village section of Manhattan. they are offering me 23k a year for five years, so i was wondering if that sum will be enough for rent+utilities+groceries(dont have a "fancy" grocery list, for whatever thats worth)in a "decent" neighborhood that is not too far from campus (by decent i mean a place where i wont be robbed say more than once a year or two:)). lol i realize i risk sounding neurotic but ive heard that the city can eat newbies alive. If anybody is headed there and has questions, please feel free to share em here.

nein! nein! nein! i guess this is goodbye Columbia ... anyway, congratulations to all of you who go in.

good luck to everybody waitin for Columbia's decision today

I have no disagreements with your comment per se but it just made me want to share something. A buddy of mine who did his undergrad at an unranked, "no-name" state institution in the middle of nowhere recently got accepted by a US News top-20 (overall) institution and furthermore the same institution was ranked top-10 in both of his subfields of interest. I'm not saying that this one example proves that anybody can make it to a top grad school from any undergrad institution but it is certainly not an impossible feat.