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。

antheafann

你都有2篇wp研究能力还弱啊。。。。。

zzmypster

不知道你为啥用这么多math、stats的推荐信？想主要申请theory或者econometrics方向吗？这和你paper又不consistent。
我觉得读master跳板不是很有必要，倒是可以考虑做一两年全职RA。

chtliu

zzmypster 发表于 2014-8-13 04:24
不知道你为啥用这么多math、stats的推荐信？想主要申请theory或者econometrics方向吗？这和你paper又不cons ...

谢谢版主大人回复。

我和学校其他econ的professor不是很熟，你是觉得怎么着也得两个Econ的prof写如果申请econ phd的话，是吗？

我的paper 两篇其实都是econometrics的实证研究，所以申请的时候会提到数理这块的东西。

请教版主，RA是各大名校都有是吗？具体如何申请，我以前都不知道可以本科毕业了申请RA。

谢谢

chtliu

antheafann 发表于 2014-8-13 03:25
你都有2篇wp研究能力还弱啊。。。。。

我的paper 都是实证，没啥创新性

zzmypster

chtliu 发表于 2014-8-13 12:20
谢谢版主大人回复。

我和学校其他econ的professor不是很熟，你是觉得怎么着也得两个Econ的prof写如果申 ...

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theoretical econometrics了。
RA的话很多地方都有，可以去urch上看看，印象中有NBER、JPAL之类的。能去top school做自然好了。这个恐怕倒是coding技能比较有用。

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。

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

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

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.