Getting Started - An Overview and One Student's Experience

by Robi Ragan (Boston University Econ. Dept.)

This is a summary of several e-mails I wrote to friends at The University of Georgia who are applying to Graduate School this fall. I found Christian's web site and thought I would aid him in this project in any way I could. I was very frustrated with the resources available on the web when I first started looking, and there were many sites that I didn't find until it was too late. Hopefully Christian's site will make life easier for people considering Graduate School in Economics.

First, a little about me to frame the information below. I went to a top 20 public university and did not have stellar grades in my math classes. I had good grades in my economics classes and a 710-Q GRE score. So the set of schools I was looking at was different from the set Christian was looking at. Hopefully, though, this will be general enough for those who are bound for the heights of the top 10 as well as those looking at second and third tier schools.


Here is how I went about picking schools to apply to:

The first thing to do is decide if a Ph.D. in economics is what you are really looking for. Generally, either you work as a professor/researcher, for a government agency, or for a private firm. There is a really good book that gives you an idea of what grad school for economics is all about called "The Making of an Economist" by Arjo Klamer and David C. Colander. Most college libraries have this book, and I highly recommend it. It is about a decade old, but still applies. And don't worry with reading the whole thing (unless you want to). Just get the general feel. Once you decide that a Ph.D. in economics is what you are after, then you should begin choosing schools.


Making a big list

Peterson's web site and this list will give you a great way to look at all of the schools relatively quickly. Try to pick around 30-40 schools to start with (no, I am not kidding). Then do further research on them by going to the departments' actual web sites. Every applicant has her own criteria for what she wants in a grad school program. Factors could include location, department specialties, placement history, cost, etc. You should try to decide what your preferences are, and use those to pick your initial 30 programs. There are other factors besides your preferences that might affect your choices, mainly the admissions requirements of the department. A department's web site will often contain information about this as will Peterson's. You probably want your 30 schools to span your range of potential. You would not want to apply to the top 20 schools only, unless you are risk-loving, or you have very good scores (See Christian's article for more on scores).

That brings me to what schools base their admissions on. Although schools do vary, by and large, I have found that these are the factors they weigh (in order of importance):

GRE Math Score
GPA in Math and Econ Classes
Letters of Recommendation
GPA in Other Classes
All Other Factors.

In fact, the bottom 3 shift around a lot from school to school. But the GRE math score is the "big deal" here. 700 is good for a low to mid level school, maybe low second to high third tier (depending on how competitive the year is, this process-- like all others-- is subject to our friends, supply and demand). To get into a top program, you need to be as close to 800 as you can be. And, yes, 800 is a perfect score. Just to let you know what you are up against, the distribution in 2000, for all the people who were about to enter Ph.D. programs in Economics, had a mean of 698. That means half the people you are competing against score between 700 and 800. This is why you have to pick so many schools. There are a lot of smart people competing for a few seats. This is a VERY competitive process.

OK, so now take your 30 schools and go to a couple of professors you like and trust. Ask them what they think. They will probably tell you it depends on your GRE score, but ask them to help you choose a range of 20 schools that you can pick 10 or 15 from, once you know your GRE score. Now, once you have your GRE score, pick 10-15 of the schools. Spread your risk. Include 1 or 2 safety schools that you would not mind going to. A safety school really depends on what your GRE is. If you scored an 800 then a school like Virginia may be a safety school for you. But if you barely made 700 then maybe its USC (that's South Carolina). I personally applied to 15 schools. Some people apply to more, and some apply to less. As with everything I have written here, you may have to modify this to fit your situation, but this is the process I used to make my decisions. And don't forget that different departments have different specialties (again see Christian's list of departmental research concentrations).


Preparation

The preparation you will need is as follows, and almost every school will want the following:

Macro and Micro Econ through Intermediate Level
Differential Calculus
Integral Calculus
Some Statistics Class
Matrix (Linear) Algebra

Many also look for:

Econometrics
Multivariable Calculus
Real Analysis
More Statistics

As with everything, the best schools want the best grades in the best classes.

Career Choice and School Selection

When choosing a school, it is also important to think about what you want to do with your Ph.D.. If you want to go into business or consulting, then the academic reputation of the school may not be as important as if you want to go into academia. If you want to go into government work, then you may wish to choose one of the DC area schools, which plug you right into that (American University, George Washington, Georgetown).

For academia, the general rule is that your initial appointment is usually a school that is a level (or 2) below where you receive your Ph.D.. So if for example I want to teach at a school of the size and reputation (both of which are often correlated with pay) of UGA, then I would need to get my degree from a school like a Duke, Virginia, or even better a Chicago or Harvard.

National Research Council uses an array of variables to get the results. Good but dated. See Christian's article for more on this one. (NOTE: To see this one better go under VIEW in the toolbar and change the text size)

US News and World Report is more or less a popularity contest, but informative. Most of the rankings have been taken off-line.

These last two are based on faculty output. The well known Dusansky and Vernon. And one done by Tom Coupe.

More Reading

Article for students who are considering graduate study in Economics.

Chronicle of Higher Education; Job market for economists.

Labor Department; Occupational Outlook Handbook - Economist.



Message Boards

These two message boards frequently have good threads on Graduate School in Economics:

US News

Princeton Review


Looking Back

As for me, I am attending Boston University in the fall of 2002. Looking back on the process, I can offer a couple of comments. The first is to apply for financial aid outside the departments. This means school-wide fellowships as well as national awards, and contests through special interest organizations. I did not do this and am looking at a pretty big bill for my first year of grad school (borrowing against future income, if you will). The second is diversify when selecting schools. I was rejected from many schools that are generally considered far below BU. So pick a wide range of schools in terms of rank and size of program.

Good Luck,
Robi Ragan