Applying for PhD Economics

[accessnash]

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)

 

Edited October 8, 2017 by accessnash
clarification

[fuzzylogician]

First off, I nearly laughed out loud at your "I only got a 169, I don't know what happened" bit. You do realize that's a good score, right? Obviously not worth re-taking for this one. I'll leave it to others to chime in about your verbal, but my guess is that it's less important and not something worth worrying about. 

Second, your GPA is also great, and again not something to worry about. Making decisions about where to apply based on deadlines and wanting a higher GPA doesn't sound like the wisest way to choose, given that you're in the diminishing returns portion of the scale. 

Third, you should choose schools that fit with your research interests, which you did not mention here. If those lead you to top schools, apply there. You are the most likely to have positive outcomes if you apply to schools that are maximally equipped to support your research. A corollary: you need to be able to articulate your interests. If you don't have any research experience, you'll need to work extra hard to explain how you know that a PhD is right for you and why you're applying. 

Finally, some professors might indeed look down on someone who doesn't want an academic career. More generally, I think you might as well keep your options open. Frankly, you have no idea what might happen in the next 5-6 years and what you'll want on the other side of a PhD. I think it's fine to talk about preferences, but just refrain from absolutes. Talk about exploring areas where you have less experience (teaching), and seeing potential in both remaining in academia and returning to industry. 

[accessnash]

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.