美本(LAC) 申请2015 Fall PhD in Econ 求大家帮忙定位!!

chtliu

美本 LAC 前40

GPA 3.9+, Math & Econ Double Major

LSE 大三交换一年，课程全A+

working paper *2 : one on development economics; the other one on commodity price (with GARCH model)

推荐信：LSE Statistics Chair,不是很熟，只是上了一年课，她不知道我的研究能力; Economics Prof at Emory(he used to teach at my LAC) 做过他的RA,他能强推; LAC Econ Prof. PhD from Berkeley

GRE: 330+ (AW: 5)

目标：美国Econ . 另外申请 Cambridge/Oxford/LSE MPhil in Econ/Finance  & Msc in Econ/ Financial Econ 作为以后申请PhD的跳板。

请教大家：

1.申请美国的Econ PhD有多大希望，知道前20的项目基本靠论文和推荐信，这两项我不是很强，而且本科的学校LAC也没什么名气。

2. 去Cambridge/Oxford/LSE 读一到两年 MPhil / Msc是更好的跳板，请问大家对这三个学校的申请难度有什么看法，另外，拿到奖学金的概率如何，（LSE貌似比较抠）？

3. 比如我和LSE Statistics Chair不算很熟，只是课上有交流，但是没有任何研究探讨，是否她的推荐信有用？ 是否可以趁暑假和她发发邮件，探讨一下我的研究规划和申请计划？

欢迎大家留言讨论，有一起申请的希望能留联系方式保持联系度过申请季。

chtliu

iiyaya_sun 发表于 2014-8-17 21:56
估计econ的top20确实可以试试吧，finance的话不好讲，top非常注重推荐人了，不过你的背景应该至少能够进入 ...

谢谢你的回复。

我现在的申请已经定下来是econ 10-25的学校。我觉得硬件条件都能过关，现在的问题是找到好的推荐人。

chtliu

Hayao 发表于 2014-8-17 02:33
我觉得条件挺好的，LAC普遍申PhD还不错的，top40 lac挺好的。Finance不清楚，申econ非top5的话，美本直申的 ...

谢谢你的回复。

我现在已经确定是读Econ, 方向是development econ 和financial econ.

LAC申econ phd的中国人不多，本身读LAC的中国人也不多。我看前20的美国项目里面大部分是国内名校本+硕或海外硕，LAC背景的人基本看不到，所以我还是比较担心自己的背景的。

嗯嗯，我现在的申请大概的范围是10-25.英国硕士也申请。

请问，RA的申请大概是什么个情况，Fed是有，但是我觉得主要靠校友关系和得是美国citizenship.

iiyaya_sun

估计econ的top20确实可以试试吧，finance的话不好讲，top非常注重推荐人了，不过你的背景应该至少能够进入一些不错的金融programs（20-50区间吧）的short list。

Hayao

我觉得条件挺好的，LAC普遍申PhD还不错的，top40 lac挺好的。Finance不清楚，申econ非top5的话，美本直申的研究经历多少有一点能说的，就肯定可以试试了，SOP好好写。推荐人不在圈内也没有“那么”critical，每年LAC申到top PhD的那么多，可是LAC里很多哪怕同专业的教授都不见得在“圈内”，关键是推荐信内容。其实所以可以申一些top20的phd试试，再申俩硕士申俩RA保底就行了。

chtliu

wuguofu 发表于 2014-8-16 14:52
Not yet.

I may not have the ability to judge your working papers, but I am sure that empirical wor ...

Thanks for your reply.

I really need to find out how much my research experience and working papers are gonna contribute to my application.

To be frank, what I have done in these working papers involves only literature review, data processing, translation from Chinese to English, etc. Mainly minor hard work.

wuguofu

Not yet.

I may not have the ability to judge your working papers, but I am sure that empirical work does require innovations, quite a lot. Innovations don't have to be revolutionary.

chtliu

wuguofu 发表于 2014-8-14 22:24
I just saw your post on urch, it would be better if you post it here. I think  your results greatly  ...

Thanks for your comments.

I am also concerned about my courses( since I am from an unknown liberal arts college, but my grades at LSE may possibly make up a bit for that).

Also, I am not sure how my working papers will be evaluated by schools. They are all empirical econometric work which does not require any innovative ideas. If you have time, I would like to discuss with u on how helpful my papers will be evaluated in the application process.

For letters, I posted different comments because I am still debating who I should ask for a letter and it is not settled yet. Well, I should say that if everything goes well, letters will like those posted on urch.

Are you currently attending an Econ PhD program in the U.S.?

Thanks for your time.

wuguofu

I just saw your post on urch, it would be better if you post it here. I think  your results greatly depend on how your courses, papers are evaluated by schools. Being Productive is a good thing, but it's not always a substitute for carrying on tough projects.

btw, why you have different comments on your letters. The ones on urch are quite strong so everyone said you will be in top20, but here it's not that optimistic.

chtliu

zzmypster 发表于 2014-8-13 14:37
我觉得还是圈内人的推荐比较管用。
你那个paper应该最多也就靠applied econometrics的边，更别说theoreti ...

对，圈内人的推荐有用，我现在的问题就是能推荐的人都不算圈内，没什么名气。

paper的确是applied econometrics.

我上urch看了，上面有很多很好的资源和一堆大牛，谢谢版主推荐。