Unraveling the Mystery of Economics PhD Admission

Link to Drafts of Recommendation letter for graduate students

2011-11-19T18:31:00.000-08:00

Many applicants have difficulty in finding recommendation letter drafts. So here is the link where an applicant may download drafts of the recommendation letters. Of course, these aren't the best drafts, some modifications may be required.

Recommendation letter drafts for PhD applicants

These drafts are best suited to economics PhD applicants. However, this can be used as the reference for other disciplines as well.

Latex: A very useful tool for graduate students

2011-10-20T22:02:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to discuss about Latex. This is a surprisingly strong tool for graduate students. A graduate student needs a better editor than Microsoft word to write papers, third year paper and the dissertation. It's very difficult to write cumbersome equations in word which is sometime impossible or at least very painful to write in word. The formatting is also a painful in word. Latex is a very good document writing tool which produces high quality document in PDF format. It can write nice looking equations for you, automatically put equation numbers and so much more!

All you need is to install some latex writing package such as MIKTEX and a text editor such as TEXNIC center. And then you can find some free e-books about latex and learn yourself. It's very easy and doesn't take more than a few hours in order to gain dexterity in writing the codes which will finally produce the nice looking document.

And not only that- you can also produce slides, the power point presentations for paper and seminar presentations. More information about it can be found out wikipedia at this link. Questions are welcome!!!

An useful article for PhD aspirants

2011-08-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

It has been a while since I have been away however I made every attempt to answer any questions and queries that have been posted on the blog.
Recently I came across a very useful article which answers some very important and frequently asked questions. It also mentions the useful resources and blogs that gives you information regarding admission and scholarships. The article's title is

'25 Q&A Sites for PhD Program Information and Requirements'

Check it out

http://phdonlinedegree.com/25-qa-sites-for-phd-program-information-and-requirements/

Most of the students have already joined their programs this year. They can share your experience which may help other students. They would also have some questions related to their stay, or courses or grades... don't hesitate to post your question.

Books to Read 4- Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics

2011-03-11T19:05:00.003-08:00

The forth book which a prospective graduate student in economics is expected to have read is

Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics by A C Chiang

As mathematics is being increasingly used in economics it’s quite necessary for the students to be familiar with basic and advanced mathematical techniques in Linear Algebra, Calculus, Probability and other important mathematical areas.

This book serves the purpose very well. It’s better to be able to solve the problems at the end of the each chapter such that you know that you understand the concept. The books may take quite some time to finish but it’s worth spending time to understand the book completely.

With this book, readers can use another book

Schaum’s series of mathematical Economics

The beauty of Schaum series book is that it’s written very lucidly with several examples from economics which makes you understand the application of mathematical techniques in economics. In fact… if you don’t have enough time and you want to understand the necessary basic mathematical techniques for economics, probably this is the book.

Admission Results Out

2011-03-04T09:21:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Most of you have been waiting for admission results for last couple of days now. The admission results of universities are being declared so watch your mails and check your admission status online. A few universities which have declared admission results are

SUNY Buffalo
Kansas State University
Georgetown University
Emory University
Northwestern University
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
University of Maryland
Washington University
Boston College
New York University

Though best of my knowledge these universities have declared admission decisions, applicants must verify them. This post is simply to inform that results are being declared. Some of you might have accepted, some rejected and some may be on wait-list. If you are on wait-list, don't hesitate to write email to graduate director of your program about your status and if you are really interested in the program let them know. You can try to increase your chances of admission and assistantship by contacting them now.

All the best!!!

BTR 3 - Basic Econometrics by D. N. Gujarati

2011-02-19T21:55:00.000-08:00

The third book in the series is

Basic Econometrics by D. N. Gujarati

This book is also very easy to understand book. Before reading this book all you need to know is simple statistics. Any basic level of statistics would be good in order to comprehend this book. Some advanced statistical techniques that a reader may not have had in his basic course on statistics but are needed to comprehend the book thoroughly; has been provided in the Appendix of the book.

The book contains all the basic necessary econometrics concepts in order to prepare its readers for graduate level econometrics courses. As the name suggests it’s a basic econometrics book but it certainly does not leave out any important concepts. However more rigorous proofs may have been omitted sometimes.

The book begins with the introduction to econometrics and linear regression and proceeds to non-linear regression, time-series and econometric models. The book has several examples related to theories of economics. It also has a number of problems at the end of each chapter.

In all this is a nicely written book on basic econometrics and recommended for beginners.

Decision of saying “I love you”: An economic interpretation

2011-02-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

Valentine day special

Did you ever think that there can be an economic analysis of saying ‘I love you’ to a girl/guy? Well… here I’m trying to build up a model which determines the cases under which a girl/guy will say these magic words to a guy/girl.

Suppose that person ‘A' is going to say these magic words to person ‘B’ then ‘A’ can expect one of the two replies; either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. Essentially the probabilities of any of these replies lie in the range of 0 to 1. The probability of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ depend upon the specific circumstances and are endogenous to the model following the fact that A can perform certain acts and put efforts in order to increase the probability of ‘yes’ and reduce the probability of ‘no’. Putting any effort on the part of ‘A’ is a cost to ‘A’. To simplify the calculation assume this cost to be zero. The probabilities of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ are known to ‘A’ and are ‘p’ and ‘1-p’ respectively.

Now assume that the payoff that A receives from a ‘yes’ is ‘H’ and the payoff from a ‘no’ is ‘-T-N’. The negative payoff from a ‘no’ can be separated into two different components. The payoff from not having B as his/her partner is (-T) and (-N) is negative payoff from a ‘no’ because, say his ego gets hurt.

Indeed we can expect H to be non-negative and T and N to be non-positive. A non-negative H implies that A is happy and gets some positive utility if he gets a ‘yes’ and certainly doesn’t get negative utility. Similarly, a non-positive T and N imply that ‘A’ gets negative utility if ‘no’ and in certain cases where ‘A’ is not at all affected by a ‘no’; T and N both are equal to zero.

‘A’ will then decide to say these magic words to ‘B’ if and only the expected payoff from saying these magic words is greater than or equal to from that of not saying these words. So we compute the expected payoff from saying these magic words

E (say) = pH + (1-p) (-T-N)

On the other hand, the expected payoff from not telling these words to B will be

E (don’t say) = (-T)

The right hand side of the above expression is simple to derive. If ‘A’ is not going to say these words to B; with probability 1 he gets no response and receives a payoff of (-T). Therefore, A will say these magic words to B if and only if

pH + (1-p) (-T-N) ≥ (-T)

or, pH –T –N + pT + pN ≥ (-T)

or, p (H+T+N) ≥ N

or, P ≥ {(N)}/(H+T+N)

Thus A will decide to say these magic words to B if the probability of a ‘yes’ is greater than or equal to the expression in the right hand side above. The equation suggests that value of ‘N’ is crucial.

Some interesting cases:

Case 1. When (-N) = 0;

Did you ever wonder there are guys who will say these words to each and every girl just at every possible opportunity? These are the guys who don’t worry at all about the negative response from the girl. In other words, for them (-N) as well as (-T) both are zero but since H is still positive, for them expected payoff from saying these words is always more than the expected payoff from otherwise.

Notice that even those who get negative payoff from not having the person as partner will say these words to their desired ones as long as a ‘no’ does not add to their negative payoff from not having the person as their partner, in equation form it’s just because the numerator (-N) is zero. So even if probability of a ‘yes’ is slightly positive or even zero that is, p=0; they will take the chance.

Case 2. There are people who can’t digest a ‘no’. For them to say these magic words, ‘p’ has to be very close to 1. In equation terms

N = H+T+N

Equivalently H is equal to (-T). Recall T has a negative sign.

Important points

Here we allow ‘p’ to be negative as well which is practically not possible however a negative ‘p’ should imply that A is going to say these magic words to B with certainty.

Examples,

A. The ‘p’ can only be negative when H is greater than the sum of T and N. Since the numerator is always negative. This implies that positive payoff from a ‘yes’ is very large and hence A must convey these words to B. This is a result which one would arrive at intuitively.

B. The second case pertains to the situation when absolute value of T is very large. What does intuition say in this particular case? Of course A should go ahead and tell this to B since the negative payoff from a ‘no’ is very large. The equation tells the same thing, if T is large enough compared to H in absolute sense, a smaller ‘p’ is needed to say these magic words.

In fact the difficulty in saying these magic words arises only when absolute value of N is very large compared to absolute values of H and T. This is also intuitive since those who are too egoistic or give much more value to social sanctions will go ahead only when they are almost sure about a ‘yes’. In this case ‘p’ will be near equal to 1 since we also expect H and T to be correlated. The more pleasure you get from getting the company of person, you also miss him/her badly.

So if you are mulling over whether or not you should tell these magic words to the person you love, calculate the probability with which you should tell her and compare it with the probability that you think he/she is going to give a positive response.

I would like to have your comments on this post.If you find some computational error please let me know. Thanks.

BTR 2 - Macroeconomics by Dornbusch, Fischer and Startz

2011-02-09T10:52:00.001-08:00

The second book in the series is,

Macroeconomics by Rudiger Dornbusch, Stanley Fischer and Richard Startz

This is a very well written and nice book on introductory microeconomics. There are though some books which are easier to read compared to this one, most famous among them are probably

Principles of Macroeconomics by N. Gregory Mankiw; and

Macroeconomic Analysis by Edward Shapiro

However, I found Macroeconomics by Dornbusch, Fischer and Startz the best introductory book which is easy to read as well as covers almost all the materials required for undergraduates and provides good foundation for graduate courses.

The book contains national income accounting, introduction to growth, aggregate demand and supply models and IS-LM models, introduction to business cycles and much more. The problems at the end of the chapter should be attempted and solved in order to have good understanding. Again the diagrams play very important role in understanding the topics presented in the topic. The knowledge of algebraic illustrations would be very helpful to solving the problems. Mathematics required to read the book is very elementary.

This book can be accompanied with

Schaum’s Outlines of Macroeconomics; which has lots of solved and unsolved problems. This outline contains a brief and very lucid introduction about each topic and then proceeds with solved problems. The problems are solved using both diagrammatic and mathematical techniques.

Those who didn’t have economics at undergraduate level should read both of them together. This will enable them comprehend the topics presented in the book themselves with little help required from outside.

Once you have read these two books completely and you are able to solve the problems at the end of the chapter; you are ready for graduate level courses in Macroeconomics.

BTR 1 - Intermediate Microeconomics by Hal R. Varian

2011-02-08T21:57:00.001-08:00

This is the time when everyone has already submitted the application or is almost done. Some of the applicants are waiting for the results from now only but since universities gets hundreds of applications every year, applicants would have to wait another a month to know their admission status. In the meantime probably the best use of time (assuming one is not busy in other things) will be to refresh your economics and mathematics. Those who have their undergraduate or graduate degree in economics already they must have read the books those are prerequisites to economics graduate courses. However some of the applicants will be coming to economics from other backgrounds and they might not be aware which books to read. This series Books to Read (BTR) will introduce some wonderful economics and related textbooks which make you ready for the graduate courses.

The first book that I am going to discuss is
Intermediate Microeconomics by Hal R. Varian

This textbook is probably the most widely used textbook for microeconomics today. This is a nicely written book which is very comprehensive and lucid to read. As name suggests it’s an intermediate level book and you don’t need any background in economics to read this. However you must be familiar with some high school mathematical techniques in order to better understand the book and be ready for graduate school. The diagrams are the assets of the books. In fact, for an economics student understanding the context in diagrammatical representation can be very helpful and intuitive.

One is supposed to read the entire book before the graduate courses begin. The book contains consumer theory, production theory, and behavior of firms, markets (perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, monopsony and so on) and welfare, externalities etc. In short it has everything that you need in order to prepare yourself for graduate school.

The exercises at the end of each chapter must be solved. A student wishing for an advanced degree in economics must not refrain from the appendices and make sure that he completely understands the mathematical derivations too. There is a work out book by Varian based on this textbook. Solving the workbook will make sure that you have understood the topic completely and you know how to use the applications in solving the problems. You also do lot of practice which is helpful.

Therefore it it’s a one book in microeconomics that I would recommend somebody to read at undergraduate level it will be Intermediate Microeconomics by Hal R. Varian.

Impact of fake documents and lies on visa approval

2011-01-28T20:56:00.000-08:00

There are many visa applicants who lie during the visa interview and present fake documents. Remember the interviewer is trained for his work so any lies about anything may lead to a rejection of the visa. If you present any fake documents regarding financial situation or academic grades not only your visa can be rejected but you might also be barred for visa for a certain period of time or even worse forever. Hence never present any fake documents. In some cases the visa has been revoked even after a visa was granted. The decision was taken after it was found that some of the documents were ‘fake’ and hence visa revoked. Such cases have been found normally in those cases where a student was not awarded funding and hence in order to show the sufficient amount of money in his account, the student took the help of some private agency. Such agencies put the required amount of money in your bank account until your visa interview is done and charge some price for it.

Not always however the fake documents are identified but refraining from any unlawful act is certainly an advisable idea. Sometimes visa applicants lied about their relatives and siblings being in USA. They think that if their siblings are already in USA their visa might get rejected as visa officer might think they are planning to settle down in USA itself. However this is a misconception. In fact, every visa application is viewed as completely separate to other visa application and it doesn’t matter if two siblings are applying for a visa same year. There are several such cases when two siblings have been approved visa at the same time. Hence one should not lie about anything. If you have any close relative or siblings in USA, reply honestly. More often than not this is not going to affect your chances of getting visa approved. However if you are found out lying it’s almost certain that your visa will be denied.

Once you have a successful visa interview the interviewer will keep your passport. The passport with the visa on it will then be sent to your address through courier. You will need some valid document in order to collect it like driver’s license, taxpayer's ID or some other valid photo identity card depending on the country you live in. Once you get your visa, you can start packing. The next step will be preparing for your long awaited journey to United States of America.

Student Visa: How to Show ‘Ties to Home Country”?

2011-01-26T17:08:00.000-08:00

One of the most crucial things as is often projected is showing sufficient ties to your home country. The ties to your country may be either financial or emotional or both. Of course, financial ties can be shown easily but the emotional ties are very difficult to show. Visa officers want to make sure that you are going to come back to your home country after you have finished your education in US. As a matter of policy all the non-immigrant visa applicants are assumed to be a prospective immigrant and hence are treated accordingly. The question however, is how to show the sufficient ties to home country?

Normally if you have a large family in your country it’s a sort of emotional tie to your country. They expect you to come back to live with your family. The family business and the property in your country are an evidence of financial ties to your country which makes the probability of returning back to the country higher. For this purpose, many visa applicants produce the ‘title’ of their properties to the visa officers which shows that their parents or family owns the property of such and such amount of value in domestic currency and then also show the value in the dollars by using the ongoing exchange rate. I am not however sure if this is absolutely required. However this should help in getting visa approved. But I don’t think you need to worry much about this if you have other proper documents. After all there are many poor students who come to USA for higher education funded by the university and they don’t have much to show as property or family business. Most importantly it’s your approach to the questions being asked that matter most in visa getting approved.

A visa officer may ask questions like given below in order to judge ties to your country

“What are your plans after you finish your degree?”

You can always answer that you may work in USA for a couple of years and then come back to your country and use your work experience there. Or you may simply answer that once you have your degree you will come back to your country and use the learning in your country for whatsoever reason you deem fit. It’s not a good idea to tell them that you won’t come back to your country and rather you will work in USA only and live there forever. If you answer like this your visa is almost denied.

The interviewer is also concerned about the financial situation of your family. If a visa officer believes that you are the bread earner of your family and that your family depends on your income, your visa might get rejected. So answer carefully.

As a matter of fact, more than the papers presented to the visa officer the approach towards the question related to ties to home country matter. One should be aware of the context and most probably he/she will be approved a student visa. You don’t need to know the specific questions that are going to be asked but you need to know the sort of answers that can be asked and if you know the context you can figure out the probable questions and would be able to find out an appropriate answer. If you read the visa questions related posts on this blog, you know the context and you can certainly devise your own answers depending on your unique situation and you are likely to get your visa approved.

Please do follow the blog if you like it and show your presence by feedback, questions and comments.

GMAT: Information and Preparation

2011-01-23T09:46:00.000-08:00

Dear Readers, one of the followers of this blog, Carcass is writing the following post for GMAT test takers looking for admission into Management PhD programs and MBA programs. Since many students from the related fields are using the blog for useful information, I find such attempts to include information regarding GMAT and other related exams an extension of the blog which would be helpful to a larger set of audience. Since most part of the application is almost same for every discipline the applicant of other streams can use them without any loss of generality and I would like to thank Carcass for this post and would welcome other readers to post some quality information related to their respective fields.

Hi to everyone, I'm Carcass and I'm proud to write this debrief on GMAT for this blog, a real “gold mine” for the applicants to PhD and its complicated process. Thanks for your work Econ Grad.

So, when an applicant decides to apply for a PhD in business administration or management or for an MBA in a business school (top or not) the GMAT is probably the most important factor to consider.

However, I want to emphasize that each part of the application process is important and has its specific role (letters of recommendation, SOP, GPA, and so on) BUT in my opinion the GMAT and its score covers at least a good 40-50%. The reason why? Because an applicant can do a PhD even at 50 years for instance or an MBA after several years of work and hence there could be differences in the level of study at different times and may not be comparable. The GMAT is the best yardstick to test different skills in “real time” by a Business School (logic, grammar skills, how to approach to a problem), in fact: your GPA can be low because you worked during the university or your letters can be inflated and so on. GMAT tells at what point you are.

I wrote this article to describe what the GMAT is, but at the same time trying to give you a different point of view based on my experience.

GMAT is a CAT test (Computer Adaptive Test) which means that if you answer more questions correctly then you have to answer tough questions. The maximum score is 800 that you can achieve. Don't be afraid anyway, a high score can be achieved but consider this: if you want to apply in a top BS you need a high score; please refer to this for 2011. Getting a score of 700+ is indeed a good score for top programs.

For all the information you need go to the official GMAT website. You can also follow this link for more useful information and get a free guide titled "The GMAT Uncovered".
So, now let's take a look closer to the GMAT.

First step for the test is to write the AWA (Analytical Writing Assessment) where you have to write about two arguments: analysis of an issue AND an argument; you have 30 minutes for each of them.

The best tips that I can give you about, are: at least 750-800 words, an inherent coherence of these essays, and the most important thing: even though this part of the exam (the first to face) DOES NOT count for the total score, a low score (max is 6.0) may create problems. For admission in a Business School, a low score involves that essay or SOP must be the best possible, in particular for non-native speakers, it should be at least 5.0. Maybe the best template for this, you can find at this link (the structure is not so different from the format that someone has to write for TOEFL, only a bit longer).

Second step is the Quantitative section, during which you will be asked to answer 37 questions in 75 minutes, and it is presented in two different formats: Problem Solving and Data sufficiency.
The first requires you to set up and complete any calculations to find the exact results (numerical or algebraic); the second requires you to read a problem and thereafter consider TWO statements, by which you don't have to necessarily find an exact number or value BUT if the two statements, alone or combined or neither, are SUFFICIENT to solve the stem.

The best tips are: a really good math fundamentals, an holistic approach, tons of practice; ultimately, it is a kind of math that all of us studied at high school or in the first year of college, nothing to do with for instance tensor calculus or other stuffs, but number properties, geometry, fractions and so on. Here, the real difficult is to combine different skills at the same time and have a sort of “strategy” as to how to attack the problem.

The third step is comparatively more difficult, especially for non-native speakers (even for native, however): the Verbal Section format where you have to answer 41 questions in 75 minutes. There are three different formats: Sentence Correction, Critical reasoning and Reading Comprehension. The first tests your grammatical skills (GMAT tests only a finite range of rules, for instance: modifier, pronouns and so on). The critical reasoning section tests your reasoning after reading a short statement or paragraph, read a stimulus and select one of five different choices that best fits with the statement. In the reading comprehension, you have to read a short or a long passage and then answer to questions about the main purpose of the passage, what you infer about on a particular portion of the passage and so on.

What can we say about the GMAT: it is a really complex test, that tests the combination of different kind of skills at the same time, this is the real difficulty of this type of a CAT test under time pressure (a factor to be considered carefully); of course to do all this, you have to study hard and must have a STRATEGY, finding your weak and strength points to beat it; find yours.

Final thoughts: I would like to say what I read some time ago when I started to study for this test: The GMAT doesn't test what you KNOW, but what you THINK, and HOW you think. Finally, some useful links where you can find advices, free test and most important thing, a community that can help you anytime.

http://gmatclub.com/

http://www.beatthegmat.com/

http://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-books-77703.html

Lectures free by one of the best teacher on the GMAT: Ron Purewal. Thursday with Ron

http://www.manhattangmat.com/thursdays-with-ron.cfm

Please don't hesitate to raise any doubts and any suggestions are welcome. Please do follow the blog if you find it useful. Good Luck :)

Explaining low GRE score in Statement of Purpose (SOP)

2011-01-21T19:08:00.000-08:00

I have been seeing this search item for quite some time now “how to explain low gre score in sop”. Finally I decided to write a post about it. I did some research over internet to find something which should be useful rather than just randomly writing something. I came at the conclusion that only situation the low GRE score can be explained is if the candidate has been asked to do so by the department or if there is some place provided in online application for any such reasons. Only a few universities usually provide any such columns though, where the candidate can explain GRE score or poor GPA or something similar.

Another situation arises when the admission committee asks you to explain the reason behind the low GRE score. This indicates that the admission committee found your application competitive except the GRE score part. In such a case you may be asked to explain the low GRE score. If you have a genuine and convincing reason for the low GRE score you can try to explain it to them. Some students become nervous when they are writing GRE for the first time, others may not have prepared for the same well in advance or someone might have spent too much time on a single question which might have proved costly. As a metter of fact, lots of student write GRE without adequate preparation and later they realize they could have scored much more if they had invested some more time into it. But unfortunately this becomes too late and fearing the loss of a year they might decide to go to some low rank school with the very same score.

Though above listed reasons are genuine, nonetheless more often than not, these are not well taken by the admission committee. The lack of preparation is essentially a fault of the student and nervousness is also not well received as an excuse for the aspirants who are going to do PhD. But if the admission committee has specifically asked you to explain this tell them the truth.

Further, which section score is bad that also matters which depends upon the program you are applying to. If your score is less than 3.0 in analytical writing then probably you don’t have much scope for explaining this as you don’t really need to prepare much for the writing section. This tests your ability to write in English, some simple grammar and spelling mistakes are not going to be well received for a PhD candidate especially those who are going to have their PhD in humanities or history or similar disciplines. For economics most important is quant section. The questions that appear in GRE quant section are indeed easy ones. That’s high school mathematics. But that needs some practice and if you didn’t practice and scored badly, none other than you is to be blamed. The verbal is not that much important for economics PhD aspirants but for good universities, a score of about 500 is still expected.

Remember the statement of purpose is place to showcase your strengths. So to the extent possible use it to showcase your strengths and don’t provide any excuses for bad performance unless it’s ultimately needed and has very genuine reason behind this with no shortcoming of yours. Hope this helps.

You can click here to have an idea about how to write a good SOP and click here to judge yourself how your SOP is after you have finshed writing it.

Please follow the blog and raise doubts and provide feedbacks.

Student Visa Interview Questions and Answers

2011-01-19T00:03:00.000-08:00

In a student visa interview the interviewer is primarily concerned about following issues:

                     1. The student has sufficient funds to finance his studies while in USA

                     2. The student is competitive enough to complete the course he has been accepted for

                     3. The student has minimum level of speaking English capability in order to survive academically as well as in daily life

                     4. The applicant has sufficient ties to his country or not that is, if he’s likely to be back to his country or not

In an attempt to find the situation of the students on above listed points the interviewer is going to form his questions. The visa interviewer does not have much time and normally the interview does not last more than 2-3 minutes. Hence it’s advised to be better prepared for the interview that is, keep your documents organized in a folder, and be concise and organized in your answers to the questions. Being better organized and prepared will increase your chances of getting visa.

As far as economics PhD applicants are concerned I would assume that not significant proportion of students would accept admission offers without assistantship. Those who are going without assistantship are required to submit a large amount of money at their disposal and they should provide authentic bank letter, passbook and other assets for financial availability.

I am surprised why a visa officer would try to determine if the student is competitive enough to complete the program he has been selected for. After all this is something which has to be determined by the admission committee and it’s not a mistake to assume that they can take better decision about the ability of the student to complete the program than the visa officers. Normally this is not a big issue. But this could create problems if you have any backlogs. In such cases you must be prepared to provide a proper reason if you are asked why you have any backlogs.

Normally the third issue is not a problem for those who have TOEFL or IELTS or some English test score. For that the score should be good normally better than what is being asked by the departments. But usually no one gets a visa denied on this basis unless you have real bad score especially in speaking section.

The fourth and final question needs good amount of space hence this will be discussed in next post. If you have any doubts regarding admission or visa process feel free to ask. I would welcome someone who can contribute by writing some guest posts regarding the specific visa process of the country you belong to. In general you are welcome to contribute to the whole admission process.

Complete F-1 Visa Process in Easiest Steps

2011-01-17T15:39:00.000-08:00

Once you are confirmed which university you are going to join, the next step is to apply for a student visa. By now you are pretty excited and want to get a visa as soon as possible. But getting a visa can be a lengthy process. In fact it’s a cumbersome process if not dealt with in a proper way. To summarize, the complete visa process can be defined as below:

A. Issuance of I-20 form

Complete the Financial Affidavit form; send it along with Bank letter to the International services office or address provided by the mail from the department

B. SEVIS Fee (SEVIS I-901): Documents needed

                  1. Form I-20

                  2. Credit card to pay the fee (Master Card, Visa)

C. DS-160 Form and Visa Fee

                 1. Scan and upload your application photo

                 2. Complete your DS-160 application online

                 3. Print barcode at the end of the application on a laser printer

                4. Pay the visa application fee (at the current exchange rate) at one of the designated branches of the specified bank, the bank depends upon the country from you are applying

                5. Make your appointment through VFS. You will use your barcode and fee receipt number to schedule an appointment

                6. Carry the Following Documents with You:

                               • A passport

                               • Your confirmation page (printed on a laser printer).

                               • Visa Appointment letter

                               • Visa fee receipt (Bank fee receipt)

                               • SEVIS receipts

• In addition, if you are applying for a petition-based visa (H, L, F, J, M, R visas) should also bring petition-related documents.

                              • One recent (within the past six months) passport size photograph 50mm X 50mm (2" x 2") with a white or off-white background.

7. Additional required documents:

                              a. I-20 form

                              b. Admission letter from the university

                              c. Proof of funding:

                                             i. Department Assistantship offer letter

                                             ii. Bank Letter showing the financial availability and/or financial affidavit

                             d. Detailed Resume

                             e. Supporting educational documents

                                             i. Mark sheets of bachelors and Masters (any degree after bachelor’s)

                                            ii. Academic transcripts of bachelors and Masters (any degree after bachelor’s)

                                           iii. GRE and TOEFL score cards

                                           iv. Diploma of Bachelors and Masters (any degree after bachelor’s)

You should then be prepared for some likely to be asked questions in a visa interview which constitute the subject matter of the next post.

Visa Interview Appointment and Required Documents

2011-01-14T16:12:00.000-08:00

This post answers mainly two questions: 1. How to get appoint for visa and 2. What are the required documents to be carried for visa interview?

Once you have completed the first three steps: got the I-20 letter, paid the SEVIS fee, completed the DS-160 form and paid the visa fee you can now apply to for a visa interview through VFS. You will use the barcode and fee receipt number to schedule an appointment. You need to determine the visa consulate where you are supposed to apply to for a visa interview.

While going for a visa interview you will need following documents to carry with you:

• Passport

• Your confirmation page of DS-160 form (printed on a laser printer).

• Appointment letter from the department you have been offered assistantship

• Visa fee receipt

• SEVIS fee receipt

• In addition, if you are applying for a petition-based visa (H, L, F, J, M, R visas) should also bring petition-related documents.

• One recent (within the past six months) passport size photograph 50mm X 50mm (2" x 2") with a white or off-white background.

• Proof of financial availability: financial affidavit, bank letter and passbooks, fixed deposit documents etc.

• Admission related documents

In addition of the above listed documents, you must also carry following documents:

i. Mark sheets of bachelors and Masters (any degree after bachelor’s)

ii. Academic transcripts of bachelors and Masters (any degree after bachelor’s)

iii. GRE and TOEFL score cards

iv. Diploma of Bachelors and Masters degree (any degree after bachelor’s)

v. Masters (All post-bachelor degree)

You should also be prepared to answer some important questions that are likely to be asked in an interview. Those will be discussed in the next post.

Universities with Low GRE Score Requirement

2011-01-10T22:49:00.000-08:00

Recently lots of applicants have been searching for the key term: low gre universities. Though it’s tough to list universities which have low GRE requirement, I have tried to enlist some universities where a GRE score of around 1100 can be good for admission. Remember that other credentials also count for admission and hence simply having a GRE score of 1100 by no means, guarantees admission. Most of these universities also have extended deadlines so these are good for those who have written GRE very late, say by the end of January or even middle of February.

The list of the universities:

Texas Tech University

Oklahoma State University

University of South Florida

Northern Illinois University

Georgia Institute of Technology

University of Nevada - Las Vegas

Northeastern University

University of Central Florida

Please note that GRE requirement vary from year to year. Hence applicants are advised to contact the present students at the university to enquire about the recent GRE requirements especially of the previous year. Most of the universities have their PhD students email address on their website.

I hope this is useful for those who for some reason could not score well in GRE. Please follow the blog if you find it useful and ask questions that you think should be addressed.

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Instructions on Filling up online DS-160 Form

2011-01-09T23:02:00.000-08:00

As already discussed in the post DS-160 application is very lengthy and can be confusing. On You Tube I found this video which gives instructions on how to fill up online DS-160 form. It gives the detailed step by step guidance about the application.

Hope this is useful.

DS-160 Form and Visa Fee

2011-01-09T11:23:00.000-08:00

The way I have been listing the visa process, completing the form DS-160 is the third and probably the lengthiest steps among all the steps during the visa process. The first two steps being I-20 form and SEVIS fee. The DS-160 form can also be filled up online, click here to fill it up online. However, before filling it up online don’t forget to read the instructions given on the page.

Also this is going to take some time, the best thing however, is that you don’t need to complete the form in a single attempt rather you can save your work in halfway and retrieve the application. You can save and exit and return back to your form as many times as you want. In order to fill up DS-160 form, you will need following documents so keep them ready with you.

1. Passport

2. Application photo: you will need an application photo to be uploaded at the website. This photo has to meet certain requirements listed here. You can get this photo from your mobile or laptop and check in the system if it is accepted. If it’s accepted you can proceed with the application. You may also want to contact professional photographers for the photo.

3. Receipt of the SEVIS fee

Again, make sure that there is a printer ready such that you can get the print of the confirmation page. This confirmation page would be required when you go for visa interview. If you want you can print the compete form for your records but that is not necessary. At the end of the application don’t forget to print the barcode. The print out should be taken from a laser printer which is not a problem since now a days almost all the printers are laser printers.

Once you have completed the DS-160 form online, you can proceed with the next step of paying the visa fee. The visa fee can be paid normally only to the designated branches of a particular bank in your home country. Hence in different countries, visa fees have to be paid to different banks. You need to find it yourself on the website of the Embassy of the United States in your country. To make the payment of visa fee you will need your passport and a copy of it. Validating the visa fee payment may also take 2-3 business days. Only after that you can get appointment for visa interview.

Please do follow the blog if you find the content useful. Any comments and suggestions are most welcome.

What is SEVIS I-901 fee and How to Pay?

2011-01-06T08:43:00.000-08:00

SEVIS I-901 fee, in short, SEVIS fee can be said to be the second important step in in the process of getting a student visa or exchange visitor visa. Every international student (with some exceptions) is required to pay SEVIS fee before he/she can apply for a student visa. For students requesting for F-1, F-3, M-1 or M-3 visa SEVIS fee is $200. If you are coming for a full time PhD you are requesting an F-1 visa aka student visa. Remember if you are required to pay the SEVIS I-901 fee and do not pay it, your visa application will be denied by Department of Security. SEVIS fee is used to maintain the track record of school and programs, students, exchange visitors and their dependents who are legally enrolled in US education system.

Knowing what is SEVIS fee, the next question is how to pay for it? In order to pay for a SEIVIS fee you will need I-20 document. On your I-20 document, SEVIS code starting with ‘N’ is located at the top right of page one above the barcode. You will need this code while paying for SEVIS fee. It’s also a good idea to have your Passport with you such that there is no mistake while entering the information about yourself in SEVIS form online. The most convenient way to pay SEVIS fee is through credit card. You can use your credit card (visa card or master card) to pay the SEVIS fee. The fee can be paid online following this link .

When you are paying the fee online makes sure you have a printer ready as you would need to take the print out when the form is completed. You cannot return to the page and print the coupon or payment receipt at a later time. If you have made a mistake in entering any information do not pay again, contact them and inform which information needs to be changed.

Once you have paid the fee it may take 2-3 business days for this payment to be verified and available in the system. You can check the status of your payment here. To check the status of your payment all you need is your SEVIS code, date of birth and your last name. Once this is done, you can proceed to the next step of visa application which is filling up the DS-160 form online.

Please do follow the blog if you find the content useful. Any comments and suggestions are most welcome.

What is I-20 and what to do if it Contains Errors?

2011-01-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

The first step towards getting the student visa is to get an I-20 form. I-20 form is an official document from the international services office of a university which explains all the issues related with your course. It contains information in following way:

First Page

1. Information regarding the candidate, the name, address and date of birth of the candidate, country and citizenship status of the candidate

2. Information regarding the university, the school name, school official to be notified of student’s arrival, school address and school code

3. Information regarding why this certificate has been issued

4. Level of education (masters or doctorate whatever applicable)

5. Nature and duration of the course

6. English proficiency: if any English test is required and if you have any

7. Estimated expenditure

8. Estimated income (assistantship amount)

9. Some remarks

10. School certification: bears the date, signature and designation of the school official issuing the document

11. Student certification: this is where your name is printed and you have to put your signature. This means your acceptance of the terms and conditions which are printed on page 2.

This is your responsibility to recheck if all the information is correct and up-to- date. What if some information is incorrect or there is some printing mistake, say in your name? Immediately inform the ISO about the error and request them to send a new updated I-20 correcting those errors. Do not go for a visa with an I-20 containing errors or even minor printing mistakes.

Only after you get the new error-free I-20 proceed to next step towards the visa process. Your ‘I-20’ contains a very important code starting with ‘N’ which is located in the top right of page one above the barcode. This code is know as 'SEVIS' code.

Page 2

This is also a good idea to read all the terms and conditions on page 2. Some of the students have misconception that they can work outside the university to support their expenses while this is not allowed in normal circumstances.

Also check the third page for any errors. Once you are convinced that everything is correct proceed to the next step. The next step is paying SEVIS I-901 fee.

There are new contents forthcoming which will be targeted to make visa process easier. Please do follow the blog to boost my interest in writing new useful posts. Thanks in advance.

Is it too Difficult to Survive in an Economics PhD Program?

2011-01-01T22:36:00.000-08:00

Difficulty of Survival in an Economics PhD program: this is a question which hovers in the mind of most of the applicant especially the ones who have not a very strong hold over mathematics. One of the reasons behind that I guess is the preconceived notion that economics PhD program is highly mathematical and is suitable for those who are very good at mathematics. Though this could be partially true, but it’s not an absolutely perfect reason in any means. Having a solid mathematical background may be an advantage though. In some courses, mathematics is required which needs fair knowledge of linear algebra and calculus.

The survival in a PhD program can be separated into two different parts, a successful completion of master’s program, clearing the qualifier exam and thereafter successful submission of Thesis which will ultimately get you a Doctorate degree. The master’s program consists of a number of compulsory courses including Mathematical Economics, Econometrics, Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. Needless to mention, all of these courses need a fair knowledge of mathematics. Notice that I have been using ‘Fair’ and not the exceptional knowledge of mathematics and that’s what the truth is. All that is needed then is to work hard and one would be able to complete all the courses without much difficulty. Again by working hard I don’t mean that one has to go away from social life and study 12 hours a day and something. But yes… one may have to devote significant hours of the day studying. I am not here talking about top 20 programs, unfortunately I don’t have any experience about them. As far as optional courses are concerned one may choose ones which don’t need very complex and abstract mathematics.

Once the master’s is over, working on a thesis again depends primarily upon the patience and not upon the mathematical ability. One learns the required mathematics in the course of working on his thesis. It’s the patience and the hard work that is needed when one has to find the desired result of the thesis. When a lot of papers are needed to be read and a large volume of data has to be played and manipulated with. I think I would have much to say about this once I start working on this but I can say this much from the experience of other PhD candidates who did well.

Normally the first semester would be easier and it would get more difficult in next semester and that makes perfect sense. In the first semester one is in a transition phase from being an undergrad student to a graduate student. As time goes one, one gets accustomed to the course pressure and working hard. The conclusion is surviving in a PhD program in Economics is not too difficult if one is sincere and motivated. If you are interested in going in detail click here but I think that’s not of much relevance as of now and you may want to check it out later once you are done with you applications and waiting for the results.

Good luck with your applications. Please let me know if I should address any particular topic. If you find the blog useful please follow the blog and make comments.

So You Want to Get a PhD in Economics?

2010-12-29T15:32:00.000-08:00

This is a nice conversation between a graduate student and an undergraduate student who is asking the advice of graduate student on Economics PhD. Enjoy it on You Tube when you need to relax from hectic process of application.

How to Get Bank Letter Showing the Financial Availability

2010-12-27T17:18:00.000-08:00

Before you get admission letters and I-20 you may be asked to provide the proof of financial availability. Since US education is costly therefore you may be asked to send the financial affidavit before the university issues the I-20 form. Remember even if you have got the assistantship you might be asked to send the proof of financial availability if the estimated expenditure for the year exceeds the assistantship amount. Only after the proof of financial availability is received by the university the university will issue the I-20 form and it may take 7-10 days to reach via regular mail depending upon your location. . Once you get I-20 form you can apply for visa. Yes, you can’t apply for a student visa unless you get I-20 form.

The proof of financial availability can be in two forms first, bank letter and second, financial affidavit. So, what is a bank letter? A Bank Letter is a statement that you have ‘stated’ amount of money in your account with a particular branch of a bank. This is a statement printed on the Bank letterhead and normally is not valid if not on a bank letterhead. So make sure you get the statement on the bank letterhead with the seal of the bank and original signature of the branch manager.

And how do you get the bank letter? It’s as simple as that. Normally if you have got assistantship you would be asked to show not ‘huge’ amount in your or your sponsor’s bank account. You may be asked to show some 2-3 thousand dollars in your account. However, it’s advised to show a little more amount than what has been asked, may be 2000 dollars more.

All you need to get a bank letter is, to contact your branch where you have a bank account and ask them issue a certificate showing that you have such and such amount in your bank account. The amount must be stated in US dollars equivalent by using the latest exchange rate. There may be a fee for issuing the certificate but it would not take long time.

You can also show money in your parents account or some close relative’s account. In that case you would need a financial affidavit.

How to Choose the Best University from among the Acceptances

2010-12-24T22:52:00.000-08:00

When to expect admission results to be out can be found here. Once the admission results are out, the selected candidates would normally be notified by email. Sometimes the applicants are notified about the admission and assistantship decisions simultaneously however sometimes you may be notified of admission decision while the assistantship decision might be on hold and has not been taken yet. In such a case it could probably be a good idea to write to graduate director of your department asking about the assistantship decision.

Once you get an assistantship decision in your favor, you may proceed to next step. And that is applying for a student visa. However, you may probably want to wait for the admission and assistantship decision of other universities you have applied to. If the acceptance that you have got from is from the most favorite university of yours, then you can proceed for the student visa otherwise wait. Once you have got the admission decisions from all the relevant universities you have applied to, it’s time to choose the best university for you; by best I mean the most suitable university for you.

How to choose the best university you have got acceptances from? There could be two important criteria, inter alia, to choose the best university among the various acceptances; one, the perceived quality of the program as indicated by the faculty and your area of interest and the second, the financial status. If you haven’t already done this, go and check the profiles of the professors working in your area of interest of all the universities you are considering getting in. Some university may have a better ranking but there are not very good professors in your area of interest so it would be better to finally get admitted to one which has probably a little lower ranking but professors working in your particular area of interest are better renowned. Remember though ranking matters, ranking isn’t everything!

The second important criterion obviously is the financial aid status. Say, you have got admission into your first choice but not the assistantship then probably it’s a better decision to enroll into one that has low rank but you have secured assistantship in. For international students this is particularly a very crucial decision as for them US education might be prohibitively costly and they are not allowed to work outside campus. If you are working inside campus, your earning wouldn’t be sufficient to pay for your fees, let alone the living expenditure. Though some students work illegally outside the campus but that is very risky and if caught you might be deported back to your country and hence not advised.

Once you are decided about the university you are going to join request them to have send admission letter and I-20 form to your address if they haven’t already sent them. But before they send the I-20 form you might be asked for financial affidavit which is to be discussed in next post.

If you find the blog useful, please follow the blog.

Getting a B in PhD Course

2010-12-21T20:37:00.000-08:00

Well… this post is a little deviation from PhD admission rather it’s related to those who are already pursuing their PhD. The motivation of writing this post is again a search item in Google with post name.

So what is the implication of getting a B in PhD courses? Okay… a B isn’t bad and if you have only B’s and no A’s and no C’s then it’s still okay but if you have only B’s with no A’s and even a single C that is probably bad. In most of the universities your assistantship is contingent upon maintaining good academic standing which means your GPA should be no less than 3.0 otherwise it may lead to assistantship withdrawn.

How is the GPA determined? Well… normally a student can get an A or a B or a C or an F in each course. If you get an A that means you have failed the course. Let’s not talk about this as you will have to retake the course if it’s compulsory. If a student gets an A he is given 4 points, a B means 3 points and a C means 2 points. The GPA is the sum of the total points divided by the number of courses. So if you get 2 B’s and an A in three courses you have a GPA of (3+3+4)/3 that is, 3.33. With a GPA of more than 3 your assistantship is safe. SO if you get B’s in all the three papers your assistantship is still safe and you don’t need to worry. Nevertheless, it’s better if you have slightly more than 3.0 such that you have room to make some mistakes in future. The main idea is not to let your GPA go below 3.0 if you care of assistantship.

Now, what is its implication academically rather than from assistantship point of view? Well… in my view in PhD grades should not matter much and this is your research often indicated by published journals or job market paper. But the grades do matter in real world. However, if you maintain most A’s and a few B’s this is certainly a good thing as better GPA is certainly going to give your transcript more value than otherwise. Anyways, at PhD level one should avoid getting C’s. C’s don’t look good on the transcript.

I would emphasize that research work is the most important thing. However, A’s on transcript looks better but you don’t need to worry if you have B’s in courses with some A’s.

What If You Have Missed the Deadline?

2010-12-17T22:18:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it happens. Even after your best efforts you may miss the last date of application. Though you should try to avoid any such situation however if you have missed the deadline of some university, just don’t sit idle. Here are some steps that you can take in order to have your application being considered even though it reached after the deadline.

First and foremost thing that one should do is, open the online application account at the university website well before the deadline and start filling up the necessary information. Even if you are running late and are still preparing for the required tests you can do it simultaneously. When you are in the process of preparing for GRE or TOEFL tests you need a break in between your studies to refresh your mind. In those periods of rest you can have a cup of coffee and start completing the application. This way you can utilize your time optimally. So by the time you have written your GRE you have almost completed the online application form to the selected universities while not compromising with the time which could be devoted to test preparation. So once your scores are ready you can simply input the test scores in the online application form and submit it. The idea is, to submit at least, online application form at the right time.

Once you have submitted the online application you can contact the universities about the documents which have been sent by regular mail. Simply tell them the situation that you have sent the necessary documents and it may take a few days to reach them to the university. If you are using some fast and reliable courier services the documents are normally delivered within a week, no matter where you are sending them from. The universities do consider such cases however it should not be too late. Normally a delay of 3-4 days can be considered as universities also expect some delay and hence, probably start reviewing application after 3-4 days of the last date of applying. Anyways it may take them a few days to sort the applications in an easy-to-review manner.

In cases where you have even missed the deadline of the online application submission before submitting the application contact the department authorities and make sure that they are going to review your application. If they are not, there is no point in wasting your money. In fact, some universities may accept online application for as late as 2 or 3 weeks. You must have a valid and strong reason however, in order to request this.

When is PhD Admission Decision Available?

2010-12-14T19:29:00.000-08:00

Again the credit goes to an applicant with the search item “when do admissions decisions come out for economics phd”. The deadline of application to the universities varies greatly from as early as 31^st of December to as late as 15^th of March. However, normally it’s a good idea to apply before 15^th of February to the universities where the deadline is 15^th of March. This increases your chances of getting admission with assistantship. Do not wait for the last date to apply.

After the application deadline, the admission committee sorts the application and start the admission process. Though I don’t really have much information on how an admission committee works but probably they sort the application first, according to GRE scores. Since a university gets much more applications than they can actually opt for and they don’t have enough time to go through all the applications, sorting the applications or the basis of GRE scores makes sense. They normally have a minimum score of GRE and they are not going to look upon the application with a GRE score less than that. This makes evaluation of applications a lot easier. One might ask why GRE score? The answer is simple: no other method of sorting is going to as easier as sorting according to GRE score.

Once they have sorted out the application on the basis of GRE scores, it’s very difficult to say what the most important factor considered for admission is. One of the admission committee members says ‘after we sort out the application on the basis of GRE scores, we look at all other factors very carefully’. That means they give equal weightage to all other factors. Depending upon the size of the program, it may take anywhere from 3 weeks to 8 weeks to be admission decisions to be taken and the successful students to be notified. They would also notify the rejected applicants and sometimes they are going to notify the applicants who are on the waiting list as well. Some universities display the admission decision of a particular applicant on his application account, however, almost every university will notify the applicant about their admission status by email or at least, notifying them that the result is available online.

The admission decisions begin to be notified to students by the second week of February. It would be probably a reasonable estimate to expect the admission decisions to be out after one month of deadline though. The waiting time for admission decision is indeed, anxious. However, to keep busy oneself if he isn’t already, can start preparing himself for the graduate school.

Please raise your questions such that I know what topic to deal with. Please subscribe to the blog if you find it useful and also get draft of the recommendation letter if you subscribe by email.

Applying online to graduate school

2010-12-10T21:37:00.000-08:00

Chris has asked to provide some suggestion over how to apply: online or via regular mail? Certainly applying online is preferred by most of the schools and applying online is easier too.

The best thing about applying online is that you can complete your application in a couple of days or weeks. So you are not in a hurry of completing you application at once. It’s better to open your account on the university website before a month of application deadline or so. You can start filling up the basic information even if GRE and TOEFL scores are not yet available.

Filling up an online application is quite lengthy and requires patience. You might get bored and hence it’s better to complete the application in several sittings. You need to input all the information related to your undergraduate degree, your place of residence and even your passport details if you are an international student. Keep your documents handy when completing the application form. You may have to fill up the percentage of marks obtained; name of specific courses taken, the year you graduated or you are expecting to graduate. You also may have to provide the name of your recommenders, the organization your recommender is associated with and his address. You may have to upload your Statement of Purpose and Resume. However, remember that even if you are applying online, you need to send transcripts via regular mail on the university address, normally to the graduate school or the department in which you are applying.

Some universities will accept only online recommendation letter which has to be submitted by the recommenders online through the university website or via email. Some universities however accept hard copy of recommendation letter in a sealed envelope, so when asking your recommender for a reference letter; try to get sufficient number of copies such that you don’t have to ask him for one again and again.

Once you have completed the online application and you are ready to submit it. Go through all the sections of the application and recheck them. Make sure there are no mistakes and errors. Once you are done with it, you can finally submit the application. However your application is not submitted or even if submitted it won’t be considered for admission unless the fee has been paid. The application fee can be paid through credit and major debit cards and is non-refundable. In certain scenario, some of the applicants may be eligible for application fee waiver. See if you qualify for this.

Once the fee is paid and the application is submitted your part is done. You can’t make any changes after you have submitted the application. So in case after submitting the application, you found out you have done some blunder, immediately contact you department to modify it. I think… that’s it. If you have any questions feel free to comment.

Draft of Recommendation Letter

2010-12-08T17:52:00.000-08:00

On the demand of many readers I have prepared two recommendation letter drafts. These recommendation letter drafts would be available to the followers and email subscribers of the blog. Once you subscribe to the blog via email, these drafts would be sent to your email address within 24 hours. The subscription form is in the right sidebar at the top. All you need is to enter your email address and verify it. You can unsubscribe anytime if you find this no longer useful.

Most of the schools ask for 3 recommendation letters. However applicants can prepare third draft by selecting suitable and appropriate sentences from these two drafts. Try to avoid too many same sentences in more than one recommendation letter. It is also the responsibility of the applicant to use the sentences which best fits him because not every sentence fits to every applicant. Remember something which seems to be ‘white lie’ may jeopardize your chances of securing admission. So make sure you don’t lie. Even though recommendation is supposed to be written not by you but the Professors, however the admission committee knows that in most parts of the world an applicant prepares the draft for the same. So it’s you responsibility to include only relevant and appropriate stuffs which shows you a suitable candidate for PhD. Focus on your strengths and get it substantiated by your recommenders.

Any comments and feedbacks are also welcome. If someone wants to add some specific information to his recommendation letter but he is not sure about it, feel free to get feedback on it.

All the best,

Thanks for subscribing to the blog.

Exam time

2010-12-05T12:41:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys,

As all of you know this is time of final fall exams and I am also busy in that. That's the reason that I have been away from blogging for a couple of days now and will be away for a few more days. I will be back soon with new post related to Economics PhD Admissions. However, you are always welcome to give your feedbacks and raise you doubts. Those will be answered at the earliest.

All the best!

Thanks for visiting the blog.

How to Judge SOP yourself

2010-11-25T23:06:00.000-08:00

This is always a good idea to get your statement of purpose viewed by some experienced person, may be a professor or some of your seniors who have already got through PhD program. They can read and make some valuable comments. However before sending them you need to read your SOP carefully several times to make sure that there are no grammatical and spelling mistakes and that SOP is cogent and nice to read and is likely to make a good impression on readers.

Spelling mistakes and grammatical mistakes are fine but how are you going to judge if it’s impressive and cogent? There is a nice way which came into my mind randomly when one of my friends asked my comment on his SOP. I was not very much convinced on his writing style but could not find the right words to explain what the problem was with his SOP. And then suddenly an idea came into my mind and it worked. I am going to share this idea here.

Well, you don’t have to do anything much. All you need to do is to find someone who is very close to you. May be your parents or siblings or some close friend however I think the best person for this which I am going to explain immediately; could be you if you can forget for some time that it’s your SOP. You have to be unbiased.

Here it is: start reading your SOP from first sentence and finish it in one go. Yes… you have to finish it in one go. After you finish it, ask yourself: did you or naturally finish it in one go or you had to force yourself to finish it in one go? Did you feel like quit reading it in the midway? If you did that means there is something wrong with your SOP which makes it non-cogent. And when you have read it you probably have got some idea that what is wrong. Where the lack of cogency is and what can be changed or modified. What is needed to be deleted or what else can be added. If someone else has read it, don’t tell them beforehand to finish it in one go. Rather simply ask them to read it and try to observe their facial expression. Do they look bored? After they finish it ask them the same questions which have been mentioned above.

After making perceived necessary changes, read it again. Duplicate the process until you are satisfied. Once you are satisfied with your SOP read it completely at least three times. If even after third time you read it and you didn't feel like making any modifications, probably your SOP is done and you can send it to some other person whose comment you think will be good.

I hope it works for you too. Please leave a comment if it worked and if you were able to make some improvements after using this technique. Before this read “How to Write Strong Statement of Purpose”.

Which Score of GRE will be considered for Admission?

2010-11-20T11:01:00.000-08:00

Many of the applicants have to write GRE twice because somehow they could not perform well first time and their scores are very low and therefore they decide to write again. Sometimes they score pretty much higher than the first attempt and sometimes not. One of the reasons of performing better second time are that second time they are somewhat familiar with the examination pattern and the environment and hence they are more confident and cool compared to the first time. When writing exam for the first time many of the students feel a little uneasiness which is very normal but at the same time may have affected scores badly. So if one is thinking he could not perform well or could not get the score that he deserved and his GRE score is low, it’s indeed a good idea to retake GRE.

However, many of the students have this question in mind: if they write GRE again which of the scores will be reported to the universities. If you have written GRE twice or more within a span of two year time, both of these scores are going to be sent by the ETS to the universities you have requested your score to be sent. The more important question thus is ‘which of the scores will be considered by the admission committee?’ Here is where the complexity arises since not every university has the same rule regarding which GRE score to be taken. So it would be probably a good idea to write to the program head of the department and ask what the policy of the particular department is.

In some universities, the weighted average of the GRE scores will be considered for the admission. To illustrate, suppose you have scored 1300 in the first attempt and 1500 in the subsequent attempt, then your score will be considered 1400 which is the sum of the two scores divided by two. Sometimes, the latest score will be taken for the admission and hence, it is very important to score better second time than the first time.

However, the best thing for an applicant is that the best score be used for admission and many universities do this. So if you have specific universities in mind where you are considering applying, check their websites what their policy is for more than one GRE scores. If you are unable to find this information on their website write to them. This is going to help you a lot in deciding whether to retake GRE or not.

However, all this is relevant only if you have enough time to write GRE again. For example, if you write your GRE late December you have little possibility of retaking GRE as you would miss the deadlines of most universities. So it’s preferable to take GRE well in advance, preferably somewhere in October such that you can write it again (if you have messed it up), god forbid, before the deadlines of your targeted universities are gone.

These may also be interesting:

What One Must Know Before Taking GRE

Worst Possible GRE for Economics PhD admission

Comments are welcome!

Why a PhD in Economics?

2010-11-17T19:23:00.000-08:00

Well… so far we have been talking about how to secure admission into an economics PhD program but we have not discussed why we shall consider a PhD in economics. Okay, so of course, the best answer should be because you want to a PhD in economics because you are so interested in economics. In other words you are passionate about economics.

But there are a lot more reasons which make economics PhD very attractive. Probably you know that unemployment rate for economics PhD is the least and it is close to zero percent. Yes, that means after the successful completion of you are certainly going to get a job. The small rate of unemployment which is found for economics PhD’s are frictional unemployment, that is, it is the period of unemployment when a person is switching between jobs. The job opportunities available for an economics graduate are lectureship in economics department, management colleges and agricultural departments, consulting to private firms and government agencies, position with governments, state and federal, position with research organizations and the international organizations like World Bank, international monetary fund and so on. So there is a vast range of jobs for an economics graduate to choose from.

Now, being sure of getting a job after the completion of your PhD, the next question that hovers around one’s mind is what will be the salary that one is going to earn. Again, economics PhD rank amongst the top in terms of average salary. Though not enough data is available, however economics PhD certainly figure out in top 5 of highest paid PhDs. A research study also shows that economics graduates are one of most satisfied professionals from their job. I guess that should be enough for a person to go for economics PhD even if he is moderately interested in economics since there are jobs available in which he would not have to do research if he is not very much interested in carrying out research after graduation.

However there is an advice too, before going for economics PhD, don’t forget to check these out:

Self-assessment: Are you a suitable candidate for PhD?

Evaluate yourself: Are you a suitable candidate for PhD?

Please do subscribe, follow and comment if you like the content of the blog. This keeps me motivated to gather information and convert them in a post.

Self-assessment: Are you a suitable candidate for PhD?

2010-11-15T15:05:00.000-08:00

Ask yourself a question:

Why do you want to do a PhD?

There can be several reasons that you wanted to go for a PhD. May be you were unable to find a good job commensurate to your present educational qualification. You either didn’t get a good profile or the salary was too low. So you decided to do PhD. Was it your family who wanted you to get a doctorate or some other pressure? The best thing however, is you decided to do a PhD because you were genuinely interested in research. And how would you know if you were genuinely interested in research? Observe yourself. Are you curious about the things happening around you and have you tried to find an explanation behind those things? If you did probably you like research and you decision of doing a PhD is right.

However, sometimes people enroll for PhD because they were unable to find a good job or some other pressure. But eventually they really develop an interest in research. And even after their PhD they stay in academia and research. And of course, sometimes even though they don’t find themselves interested in research still they successfully complete their PhD and thereafter choose some other job which does not require them to do research.

For being successful in a PhD program you don’t have to be one amongst the top in your class. I have heard from many professors, it’s more important to have patience than intelligence for a successful completion of PhD. However that doesn’t mean that intelligent people are not for PhD. Of course, a more intelligent student can get better results by dedicating the same amount of time in studies than a less intelligent student. However a student who has basic knowledge of mathematics and has a critical thinking can be successful in PhD.

As I have been pointing out in more than one of the posts in this blog, motivation is the key thing. A PhD student has to be self-motivated. His supervisor is not going to motivate him every day to do his research work. The student himself has to work and put in the required time to finish the work and get the desired or set goal. If you have done any research work before and then decided that you want to research or PhD then probably you are making a right decision because you already know what research is and what it takes to do research. Research needs time commitment, motivation, hard work, and independent and critical thinking.

You may also be interested in this post, especially to evaluate yourself for being suitable for Economics PhD.

Evaluate yourself: Are you a suitable candidate for PhD?

2010-11-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

The attrition rate for PhD programs is about 40 percent which indicates that there is a lot of wastage of resources in terms of money and time. As there is a large cost involved in teaching a graduate student and often PhD students are provided assistantships, millions of dollars could be saved if the universities were able to choose only those candidates who are going to finish the doctorate degrees. However, this is not an easy task due to the lack of well defined parameters which could perfectly assess the probability of a candidate going to complete the degree.

A research study finds that those who drop out were almost as good as those who completed the degree at least in terms of the Graduate Record Examination and the undergraduate degrees. The attrition rates are higher for social sciences than sciences. The dropping out is also bad for the students because many of those students who leave the program never had experienced failure in life before and they may take a long time to get over with it.

Then the important question is, what makes a student to leave before the completion of the program? Obviously this is not a straightforward question as there are lots of factors behind this. First of all, PhD is a long time commitment. Normally it takes more than 5 years to complete a PhD degree and sometimes 7-8 years or even more. Hence, before joining a PhD program one must ask himself this question: Am I dedicated enough to give 5-6 years of my life for PhD? Money is a factor too. Even though most of the PhD candidates are provided with assistantship, the stipend is significantly less than the salary they could have earned if they were in a job. Not only that stipend is sometimes limited for a given number of years usually 5 or 6 years.

As far as Economics PhD is concerned, the average completion year for economics PhD is also 5-6 years. Given one is ready for the time commitment, the next issue for an economics PhD is the amount of math work he thinks he would be able to do. An economics PhD student must have adequate knowledge of mathematics in order to successfully complete the program. Not that one has to be very good in mathematics but has to be open to learn mathematics and must have a mathematical aptitude.

Economics PhD is probably the most difficult PhD in social sciences and one of the toughest among PhD’s in all streams. Hence before applying to PhD program in economics, make sure to evaluate yourself for the time commitment and hard work requirement in order to complete the degree. Because if you drop out in the midway you have wasted some of important years of life and this also drives your morale down. Remember most of the times students leave not because they are not capable enough to complete the degree but there are other reasons which are not academic or very less academic than personal reasons.

Check out "Self-assessment: Are you a suitable candidate for PhD?" for further analysis.

Please do comment, follow and leave your concerns to drive my morale high.

Are Mathematics Courses Absolutely Necessary for Economics PhD?

2010-11-10T21:30:00.000-08:00

Let’s first rephrase this question into two different questions. First, are mathematics courses necessary for economics PhD admission? Second, are mathematics courses necessary for success into an economics PhD program?

The answers to these two different questions are different too. For the former question the answer is no. It’s certainly good to have a number of mathematics courses for admission into economics PhD program. If you are pursuing PhD in economics you are going to use the applications of mathematics extensively in your thesis and coursework. However, for admission into economics PhD program you don’t absolutely need to have all those courses in mathematics. A few courses which actually show that you have necessary knowledge of mathematics such that you can apply them to your studies further; are sufficient for admission. Having these courses on your transcript show that you are having the knowledge of basic and essential mathematics concept which can be used to develop and learn advance mathematical techniques which would be taught during the program.

The answer to the latter question is, yes. For success to economics PhD program, one must have a mathematical aptitude. Courses like multivariate calculus, linear algebra, probability, vector spaces and topology are going to be proved very helpful and if you are not familiar with them you are going to learn it or having a tough time. There is no way that you an economics PhD student can skip mathematics.

The bottom line is it’s more important to be having a mathematical aptitude rather than having a number of mathematics courses in undergraduate for economics PhD. But you are of course, going to get an advantage in the admission process if you have a number of mathematics courses on your transcript since this makes the admission committee confident that you know mathematics. This is the reason that economics PhD requires on of the highest scores in the quantitative section of the GRE. Hence even if you don’t have many mathematics courses to show on your transcript, you can apply for Economics PhD.

P.S.- I came across a question of this type on a forum and I decide to tackle it here. So please do comment your concerns and questions such that I can make the information as relevant as possible.

Very Low GRE Score: Next What?

2010-11-08T22:04:00.000-08:00

You are coming out of the GRE test center with a sad face because your score in GRE didn’t come out to be what you expected. This is not very uncommon. This can happen with anybody. So if you wrote GRE well before December, you have one option that you can write GRE again but if you wrote it very late and you fear that by the time you write GRE again the deadlines of the universities will be over and you don’t want to miss the year. What are the options?

Well considering you don’t want to miss the year, you can probably apply to low ranking universities which are achievable with your score. But what if your score is too low… say 1100 or even lower. Though you can get admission to some universities with a GRE score of 1100 too if other credentials are good yet it’s a little risky. One option to you may be to consider your PhD in agricultural economics which is very similar to economics PhD but not exactly the same. However you can do almost same research which you could have done as an economics graduate student. And with a GRE score of 1100 and more you can get admission to a decent ranking university in agricultural economics department.

One more option could be talking to the program head of the school you are applying to. Sometimes you can write them a mail describing your situation that somehow you could not score very well in GRE because of some reason but you want to apply to that university. You are planning to write GRE again but you are going to miss the deadline. In some cases, though very rarely, they may allow you to apply with the current score however they require you to submit the new score as soon as possible. In that case if you could improve your score next time you may get admission.

Nonetheless, the best strategy is to write GRE a little early such that you can write it again if you mess up your test and you can rewrite it at right time such that you can apply to your target universities. You may also want to discuss the reason of scoring bad in your SOP.

A Unique idea to get into a Top University

2010-11-06T18:42:00.000-07:00

Another post related to the ranking of university. Undoubtedly everyone wants to get into the top universities but of course, everyone can’t as there are limited positions available for a large pool of candidates around the globe. So, if you want to get into a top university but you don’t really have such excellent credentials which are necessary to make into economics PhD program in such universities here is what you can do. Okay, so there is a unique way to secure admission into a top university but of course this is not costless. Just like everything else there is a trade-off which I am going to reveal right away.

So let’s say your credentials are good but not really excellent to make into a top economics PhD program but for you the ranking of the university matters the most. Let’s put it in a simple way: you are having say, 740 in quantitative section of the GRE which is not sufficient to secure admission with funding to a particular university which is say in top 30 or 40. But you want the same university or the same ranking university to attend to. Well, here is the idea. Instead of applying to the economics department at the same university, you can apply to the Agricultural economics department of the same university and you have better chances of securing admission with funding into agricultural economics department. Better still, you can apply to both the departments and see if your luck holds for the economics department.

As a matter of fact, the GRE quant requirement for agricultural economics PhD is much less than economics PhD and the competition is also less compared to economics PhD program. The trade-off is that you are not an economics PhD student however, in most of the cases; you can work towards almost the same area of research as you could have done as an economics PhD student. For example, as a PhD student in agricultural economics you can still work in the field of development, labor economics, regional economics, urban economics, resource economics, consumer theory, some specific areas in macro theory and so on. You can just browse through the website and the faculty profile and can find out if there is research going in your area of interest. Usually in a top university the department has a larger number of faculty members with different areas of research interest so it’s easier to find a particular area in which the research is being carried on. In fact, in many of the universities agricultural economics students and economics students attend a number of courses together by the same professor. Sometimes you may also be able to transfer your enrollment to economics department if you have good grades.

Ultimately, the choice depends upon the intensity of preference for graduating in Economics or graduating from a top university. If you are more concerned about the name of the university and want a top brand name to carry with you for your whole life, go ahead and apply to some of the top agricultural economics department in top ranking universities.

I hope I am providing the relevant information in this blog. Please do comment, follow and give suggestions if you find the blog useful.

Does the Ranking of a University matter: Decision of Application year

2010-11-02T22:55:00.000-07:00

Once again of course, it does. If you are a Harvard graduate employers are ready to welcome you their arms wide open when you approach them. A Harvard graduate certainly has advantage over the graduates from a university which is not in top 10. And yes, spending 5 years in top university with top intellectuals and a highly intellectual environment indeed inspires you to give your best and after 5 years you come out as a real intellectual.

Having said that, we can divide universities in four categories: top 10, ranked between 11-50, ranked between 51-150 and below 150. Essentially the ranking is US university ranking and not the world ranking. Also this is not a very scientific method to divide the universities in different categories and there is not hard and fast rule about deciding the exact number in each category. The sole purpose of the discussion here is to make the decision easier for those who are in a fix if they shall apply immediately or shall wait for a few years so that they can get into a higher ranked university.

Therefore, if you are not from top 10 but from top 50 and when you go to job market you have revealed advantage over those who are not from top 50. What I essentially mean here is say you are from a university ranked 15 then you don’t have revealed advantage over a candidate who is from a university ranked 45. The decision is going to be taken depending on other factors. I am not saying that if you go to a top 15 university it’s not worth. It is but I don’t personally think that it’s such a worth that you decide to wait for 2-3 years to make yourself get accepted by that university. Ultimately in PhD, it’s your work that counts. But yes…. If you can’t even make to a top 50 university then probably I would say that it’s worth to wait for a few years.

Same logic applies to an applicant who is in a state of fix where he can get admission to a university ranked 100 but can’t make to a university ranked around 50. In fact it’s very difficult to decide on the basis of ranking after top 50. Can you really make a clear difference between two universities one figuring in early 50’s and another in late 50’s. So ranking must not be the most important criteria while seeking admission according to me. And of course, some faces matter too. If a professor is well known for his research productivity in a certain area then for an applicant who is also interested in same area, the particular university could be a better option than some other university which is ranked higher than this university but not so well known professors in the same area. However, normally you find top professors in almost every field are in top university.

The choosing a university ranked below 150 is indeed a tough decision. You might not get a very intellectual company in such university. However I must say ‘something is better than nothing” applies here too. Get your PhD from such university, work hard, produce good results and publications and if not immediately you would be able to carve a niche for yourself with the course of time.

I am sure that there are so many holes in the post to argue about and raise your finger on. But at the same time I hope that it helps at least a few applicants who are in a transfix to apply this year or next year or may be dropping the idea of doing PhD altogether. Leave your comments.

What One Must Know Before Taking GRE

2010-10-31T17:24:00.000-07:00

To score well in GRE one must know certain secrets of GRE exam. In GRE test the time management is the most important thing. Make sure you answer all the questions. The GRE test is a computer adaptive test (CAT) which means that computer adapts itself according to your performance. Therefore, if you answer a question correctly the next question on the screen is relatively more difficult and if you answered it incorrectly the next problem is probably an easier one. So if you see that the difficulty of the problem is increasing, you are doing well.

The first few questions in a GRE test is worth more point so you can spend comparatively more time on a first few questions. Try not to get first few questions incorrect otherwise it may have devastating impact on your score. To emphasize, answering wrong to the questions appearing first has more negative impact on your score than answering the questions appearing at the end. However, that does not mean that you should struggle with a question which appeared earlier in the exam. DON’T spend too much time on a question, move ahead. Answering a question wrong does not devastate your score. In GRE you can answer 2-3 questions wrong and still can score perfect that means even after getting 2-3 problems wrong you can score 800. However that depends on the difficulty level of the questions. In any case, spending too much time on a question is not advisable.

When you are approaching the end of the test, you may sometimes find that you don’t have sufficient time to answer the remaining questions. Don’t leave any question unanswered. A question unanswered has much more negative impact on the score than a question not done right. Since you cannot skip a question in a GRE test hence if you are running out of time just make educated guess and you should be fine. This is my personal experience, I didn’t practice much for the quant section because I thought it was too easy and hence in the test I was not able to manage my time properly in quantitative section. I realized at the end of the test that I had 8 questions to answer in less than 3 minutes. So I just started choosing the options blindly but completed all the problems by the time. I was in the mood of canceling my test because I thought I had messed up my quant but since I wrote the test already too late if I canceled the test I lost my year. SO finally I decided to see what my score was. And much to my surprise I had scored 760 in quantitative section. The central point of the discussion is, don’t lose your cool during the test and answer all the questions. You would be able to score well.

Got questions and comments? Feel free to write down your concerns.

Fall Semester versus Spring Semester

2010-10-31T16:59:00.000-07:00

Many applicants have a question which semester they should apply to. Unambiguously the fall semester is the best choice for applying to a university for better admission and assistantship opportunities. In US universities there are primarily two semesters: Fall semester beginning in August and Spring semester beginning from January. However most of the universities don’t accept admission in spring semester hence, it’s highly advisable to apply in fall semester.

The arguments of the students willing to apply to spring semester goes somewhat like discussed below. In the spring semester there are not many applicants applying for admission and hence there is not much competition for admission as well as assistantship. But this argument is only partially correct at the best. It’s true that there are significantly less number of applicants in the spring semester but the number of admission and assistantship to be offered is even less and hence, it’s more difficult to get admission. So, be ready to write your GRE and TOEFL at the right time such that you don’t have to wait till the spring semester. But if you have to in certain circumstances then you can give it a try in the spring semester or probably you would want to work for that year which adds value to your application.

Worst Possible GRE for Economics PhD admission

2010-10-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

‘Interesting title’ – isn’t it? Well, the credit goes to an applicant who searched this keyword in Google search which returned this Blog address. I found this very relevant and interesting and now penning down what I think about this. Hope this helps this guy.

As everyone is aware that GRE is one of the important criteria for not only admission but also for the assistantships. GRE requirement for admission is lower than GRE requirement for assistantship. For an international student, to get admission into a good university; a GRE score of 1200 plus or on the safe side 1250 plus should be fine. Of course the division of scores is important, a quant score should be minimum 720 (740 plus preferred). The assumption here is that the applicant has a decent SOP, GPA and recommendations. For an American student on an average, 1200 plus should do.

What about the assistantship? To secure an assistantship opportunity, an international applicant should have ideally a minimum of 740+ in quantitative section of GRE with a total of 1250. But that does not mean that a student with 1200 GRE score can’t get assistantship. Of course he can as other criteria are also important for admission and assistantship.

However, there are universities where one can expect assistantship with GRE score as low as 1150 or may be even less. One should choose the universities to apply for very carefully as it needs resources in terms of money and time to apply for every single university. You need to make according changes in your SOP for every university you are applying to. Make sure you browse the university webpage to gain all the necessary information. Also determine your chances of getting funding from a particular university. You should be able to find all the information on the website. Many of the students go to Consulting agencies for the same which may be time consuming, costly and do not add any value to your knowledge about the university.

How about top 50 universities? To get into a top 50 university almost everything should be excellent. A GRE score of around 1400, a very good SOP, a good GPA and good recommendation letters may be required.

You don’t need to go to consultants if you use this blog in a proper way to find information on… how to write SOP, whom to request recommendation letters from, and how to choose best universities depending on your scores and GPA. Leave your doubts as comments and I will be able to address them.

All the best!!!

Writing a Professor for Assistantship

2010-10-19T21:03:00.000-07:00

Many of the applicants have this question in their mind: should they write to the Professors of the department they have applied to for assistantship? The answer to this question is not straightforward as it can be beneficial but also can backfire sometime. This is sometimes viewed as against the academic spirit.

The best idea thus, is to have zeroed in on the particular universities you want to apply according to your area of interest well before the application season may be six months before or so. After having done this you need to identify some professors who are working in the similar field. You can then write them about your area of interest and the work you have done so far in that particular area as research assistant or in some project or even in school assignments. You need to substantiate why do you like that particular area and why do you think that working with that professor will be good for you and what you can contribute to it. You may then ask him the question like… will it be a good idea to get a PhD from that university and like that. If you look serious enough about the topic and the professor is working in the same field he might offer you research assistantship directly under him. But that of course, requires solid background in that particular topic.

Considering the fact, it’s too late and nobody has time left for that now let’s move on to what an applicant shall write if he wants to do that now. That is a tricky question as noted earlier because some of the professors may take it as a negative thing. However, you can write to a professor but be professional in your mail. Tell him you want to work with him… you read such and such papers of him and this is something you liked and this is something you disagree to. Validate whatever you write to. Stress on your strengths and your ability to contribute. Be concise in your mail. If you write a long mail the professor may not even go through this as he obviously doesn’t have free time like you when you are waiting for the reply from the universities.

What if he doesn’t reply? Don’t shoot another mail. A professor gets tens of such mails every day and unless he sees some substance in the mail he is not going to reply you back. Sending another mail may irritate him and this may have a negative impact on your application.

But yes… surely write mails to the professors and the department chair if you have got admission but not the assistantship. Describe your situation to him that it would be difficult for you to continue your studies without funding and that you are really interested in the department because of such and such reasons. Again don’t bluff… browse through the website of the university and find out the information about the university so that you have something substantial to say about.

Documents Needed for Applying to Universities

2010-10-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is early November and you have got your scores, GRE and TOEFL, you have your transcripts and recommendation letters ready. This is time to apply to the universities you have selected. As discussed in Introduction, one should apply to 7-8 universities which can be divided in 3 categories: ambitious, realistic and safe. One should apply to some universities which fall in safe list for him in the sense that given his credentials it’s almost certain that those universities will grant him admission with assistantship because you don’t want to waste one year in case you are unable to get admission to your dream universities.

Now that you are decided about the universities you are ready to apply to; recheck the admission documents especially the SOP and CV if there are some spelling mistakes or grammatical errors or some important information is missing. Find the deadlines of the universities which range from 1^st of November to 1^st of March or even later but be advised that only a few universities have deadline left after 1^st of February so your choice set gets smaller day after day 1^st of January. Most of the top universities have deadlines no later than 15^th if January. You need to check the website of the university to find their deadlines.

In most of the universities the application can be submitted online. For online application one needs to open an account on the university website. However, some universities may require to apply via mail. Some of the universities may accept online application but may require a recommendation letter to be physically sent to the department address. Remember almost all of the universities will require you to send your transcript to them via post before the deadline in order to view your application complete. So send these documents well before the deadline of application otherwise your application would not be considered complete and may not be reviewed by the admission committee.A list of documents that university needs:

SOP: Most of the universities accept online SOP.

CV or Resume: For most of the universities it can be submitted online.

Recommendation letters: Most of the universities accept them online however, some universities still require them to be sent physically. Most of the universities require 3 recommendation letters.

Transcripts: Most of the universities require one transcript. However, some universities may ask for 2 transcripts one for the department and one for the graduate school. So when you are requesting your school for the transcripts, carefully determined how many of them you will need.

GRE score: You need to order ETS to send your score directly to the university. You can find the school code on the university website or can find its code by its name on ETS website.

TOEFL Score: Again only official TOEFL score reported directly by the ETS will be accepted by the university. Normally ETS takes about a week to send the score to the universities so make sure you order them a week or preferably 2 weeks before the last date of submission of application.

Well… that’s it. Seal them all in a big and strong envelope and mail them a week before the deadline if you are sending them from within USA or send them at least, 2 weeks before the deadline if you are sending them from outside USA. Use a fast and reliable postal service.

Post-recession PhD funding scenario in USA

2010-10-14T02:18:00.000-07:00

The recession that began in December 2007 and hit the US economy badly has finally reached an end and the recovery has begun. The ‘National Bureau of Economic Research’ has declared that 18 month long recession finally hit a trough in June 2009 and the economy is recovering. What is it’s implication on PhD funding?

Well, because of the recession many universities are facing financial crisis. Many of the state universities are facing budget cuts and hence, they have reduced the number of PhD students significantly. The private universities are also facing financial crisis because of less projects available. So in 2009 and 2010, it was relatively harder to secure funding even for them who thought they might easily secure a funding. The situation has become worse for International students. Hopefully in the recovery phase the funding situation will improve but it may take another 2-3 years to return back to initial level.

The recession has not only decreased the funds available for the PhD students but also increased the competition for it. As many of the undergrads who are unable to find a job continue their education to graduate level. However, this does not mean that funding is not available at all. The universities are still offering TA/RA ship to its students.

So presently it’s recommended to have a better GRE score and other credentials in order to secure funding. Even US students are recommended to score at least 1200 GRE with 740+ in quants in order to secure admission with assistantship in a good university.

Length of SOP

2010-10-11T08:16:00.000-07:00

What is the proper length of a ‘Statement of Purpose’ for an economics doctoral applicant? Well, this depends how much you have to write about your academics and research prior to applying. However, you cannot just keep on writing and writing. There is a limit on the length of the SOP. Even if there is no limit; an ideal SOP should not be too long as it might distract the readers and they may miss out the important information. At the same time, it should not be too short such that it looks too abstract and difficult to understand. This happens because of the use of multiple complex sentences and due to the lack of cogency.

An ideal SOP should be of around 1200-1500 words. Not more than that. The committee has a large number of applications to evaluate and choose the right candidate from a large pool of applicants. So they want to extract the relevant information in as little time as they can. 1500 words is more than enough to write relevant information for you where you can easily show them your strengths and prove why you are a suitable candidate for PhD and of course, also for the assistantship.

Some of the universities require that SOP must not be more than 500 words. Reducing 1500 words 500 words is not an easy task and some important information may not be incorporated. It's better to limit your SOP in 500 words in those cases, however, there can be a few more words but not too many. One good idea when you are not able to fit all important information in the limit provided, is to conatct the department. In certain case they may increase the limit. That’s a pain. In any case, it’s advisable to keep the 2 drafts of your SOP ready, one with 1500 words and one with 500 words such that you are not under pressure when you find out that a certain university requires 500 word SOP. As mentioned under ‘Writing your Statement of Purpose and Resume’ this is a very important part of your application which shows your personality and creativity. Include only the correct information about yourself and don’t lie! Look convincing whatever you write about yourself.

“Does the ranking of a university matter?”

2010-10-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the most asked questions from a graduate applicant

“Does the ranking of a university matter?”

Of course, it does. The question should be ‘how much’?

Should one sacrifice one’s a year or two in the hope that he can get into a better university later? Is it worth to study in a university which has a ranking more than 100?

Indeed this is an interesting as well as a complicate question which needs to take into account many possible factors and depends on the circumstances one is applying in, like the current applicant has to take into account the going recession impact too.

I would like to see your views on this and also raise your questions as this is very important to choose your university and the deadlines for the applications are approaching. After your comments I will try to summarize and discuss the pros and cons of the issue while building up the idea based on your questions and comments.

Transcripts

2010-10-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

You have nothing much to do for transcripts. You just need to contact your university or college whichever applicable in order to issue the transcripts. However, in some part of the world people are still unfamiliar about transcript and so when you contact a schhol official in those part of the world they might as well ask you a question: what is transcript? Don't panick!
You just need to convince them that transcript is nothing but a statement of marks or grades which is signed and sealed by the school official with the official seal. Remember that transcript just like the recommendation letters must be sealed in an envelope preferably one with university logo.
Sometimes it may take a while so it's better to contact your school well before in time such that you get it on time. An application is not considered to be complete until your official transcripts are received by the department you are applying to. So the US students are also advised to apply for their transcripts as early as possible once they are finished with the required tests.
One more piece of advice to international students relates to picking the service provider to send the admission documents. Choose one which is reliable even though it's a little costly as otherwise you may have to feel lots of stress when you see that your documents are not delivered on time by a cheaper courier service. So in the long rum you are worse off.

P.S.- I see from the stat that many students are probably visiting the blog but they refrain from making comments and so I am not sure which information I should stress on. As I can't remember exactly the questions I had when I was applying, I would encourage you to post your questions and comments and I will try to answer them as perfectly as possible. This I also feel that my time is used in a productive way. Thanks.

Recommendation Letters

2010-10-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the most important parts of your admission application. The recommendation letters are given high priority in the admission process. Before I got into the PhD program I wondered why it is so. And above all, when they already have so many parameters regarding your academic ability such as your GRE and TOEFL scores, your undergraduate GPA and statement of purpose.

Well, success into a PhD program does not only require academic ability but it also requires a lot of patience and dedication. Let me reiterate, you need to be very patient and dedicated to be successful in PhD program which on average takes 5 important years of your life. Sometimes it can be frustrating and sometimes… I must say it will give you a feeling of pride.

Academic ability doesn’t necessarily show your research capability though they might be closely interlinked with each other. So, here is where the importance of the recommendation comes into the picture. A recommender has to comment on your research capability. He is normally the person who has taught you or guided you in some reach project and thus, he is able to make comments on your research capability. He is comments on your dedication towards research and the probability of your being successful into the PhD program because when a university accepts you as a grad student it wants you to complete the degree and not drop it in the midway.

Knowing that what is expected from a recommender, now you need to know who can be the best recommender for you. Of course, most of the universities need three recommendations out of which two must be from the persons who have taught you. Now, here is the thing, you have got to get recommendation from a Person who holds a PhD degree. Reason: A person who has himself done a PhD is in a better position to comment about the other person’s ability and dedication for the same. Second, the person who is going to recommend you must know you very well. You can’t take recommendation from a person who hardly knows you. This essentially means that you should not get recommendation from your relative or your acquaintances who have not taught you no matter how renowned he is in research and academia and how important his recommendation can be.

Try to get at least one recommendation from a person who is familiar to US education system in any capability. He might have been associated with any US university as a grad student, or he can be a visiting faculty or something like that. A person familiar with US education will have more weightage in his recommendation than his counterpart who is ignorant about US education system and this is very obvious.

Proceeding further, many students have a question: whom should they take recommendation from? From a person who is well known and who will write moderate recommendation opposes to one who is not well known but is going to write really good recommendation? There is not a clear-cut answer to this question because that may depend upon the circumstances. So in order to minimize the risk, the best idea I guess will be to get mix recommendations. To make it more clear, one shall try to get two recommendations from the persons who are going to write good about you and you can use one which has written moderate about you. However, make sure that none of the recommendations should make negative comment on your abilities because that may jeopardize your dream of making into the program. Wherever possible, you can ask the faculty if he can write good things about you. Those are in general, going to write positive about you in whose courses you have done well. You shall ask them to write recommendation letter for you well in advance and also ask them if they need your help in writing one. Sometimes they may ask you to come up with a draft. Search on google and you will find many drafts for recommendation letter. If needed, I can also provide some link on it.

Hope this helps, please leave your comments such that I know there are people who are interested otherwise I feel I am wasting my time.

How to Write Strong Statement of Purpose and Resume

2010-04-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

Now... this is a very important part of your application. Your statement of purpose (or motivation letter) defines your personality and tells the admission committee who you are. This is the space where you have to explain yourself and prove why you are a suitable candidate for the program you are applying to. Remember they have your scores and the transcripts which show your academic ability. So in your SOP you need to show them why you are interested in the program and why you think you would be able to do justice with your commitment to complete your PhD.

In your SOP you should discus all your strengths and defend your weaknesses if any for example if your marks in a certain semester are bad, you can clarify it in your SOP. It’s better to start with your schooling and then gradually coming up to the point when you decided to apply for graduate program. You should explain your motivation to pursue a PhD and why did you choose to pursue a PhD in the chosen specialisation and why you think that the particular school you have applied to is a good choice. Your SOP should be convincing. While writing your SOP, make sure that the grammatical and spelling errors are negligible and you clearly state what you want them to know. The SOP should be cogent and there must be a link from a sentence to the next sentence and a paragraph to the next one. Your decision of making any choice about papers and any other career choice should not look random but it should look a conscious decision.

A SOP can be both; a very general one or mentioning your particular area of interest. Normally it suffices to write a SOP mentioning your area of specialisation however; one can choose to write a SOP which clearly shows your interest towards a particular topic within the specialisation. This is recommended only when you have very good idea about what you really want to do and if it is at all feasible. It also requires you to make carful study about the faculty members of the department if any of them are working in the same or related topic.

In many of the universities the two decisions regarding admission and the assistantship are made separately. Anyways while writing your SOP it’s a good idea to support your case of both admission and the assistantship. The university is not going to give you an assistantship unless you prove yourself worthy of it. While your GPA and test scores support your case of admission. Your research and/or teaching experience support your case assistantship. Your academic excellence may help you in both i.e. in securing admission as well as securing an assistantship opportunity. Hence you should make sure that you discuss your academic achievements in an appropriate manner such that it does not look boastful but you should never hesitate in mentioning it. In case you need some good SOP you can follow these links and find out how to write a good SOP. We’ll also discuss about writing a good SOP in detail later once all the steps in the admission process pointed down in the ‘Introduction’ post is discussed in brief.

Writing a resume is also an important part of the application. It enlists your academic achievements, projects you have been associated with and the jobs you have done. If you are an international student and you have worked in an institute outside USA or the country where you are applying for PhD it’s likely that the admission committee doesn’t know about the organisation you have worked for. In such cases it’s your responsibility to make them aware of the importance and the excellence of the institution and it should be supported by the adequate evidences. Usually this has to be done in SOP because there you can provide the details and don’t forget the mention your contribution towards the organisation as well as how working at the organisation has contributed to your knowledge and furthered your way towards making you better suited to PhD or made you a better candidate for research and /or teaching assistantship. For example, if you were working as a teaching assistant at a reputed university or institution for some papers related to economics it means you have some experience as teaching assistant and hence, you have an edge over other applicants without any such experience. Prior research is valued heavily in the admission process however if you are directly coming to graduate school after the completion of your under-graduation you might not need having any publication but any thesis on the under grad level may be helpful.

In all your resume and SOP must reveal your academic ability and your motivation towards PhD. Remember merely stating anything does not help you but you need to substantiate it. Sometimes it’s a better idea to get your statements substantiated in the recommendation letters. For example, if you claim that you have been great in researching in a particular field and have helped some professor as a research student in the topic you must get it written in your recommendation letter from that very professor. You should not hesitate to take the help of your friends and teachers in writing your SOP and resume. That makes sure that the errors are least and the SOP is convincing. Some suggestions over how to write a good SOP can be found here.

In the next post we’ll discuss about recommendation letter. What constitutes a good recommendation letter and who should be your recommenders etc. Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions to make the information on this blog more useful.

Choosing the right program and the right school

2010-04-12T13:19:00.000-07:00

Economics is a vast discipline and there are a number of specialisations within the discipline. Normally an US university will have many specialisations however the reputation of the University for Different Specialisations will be different. A university may have very good labour economics faculties but not that good financial economics department. Hence it’s very important that you are decided about the right program for you before you zero in on the universities you want to apply for.

Choosing a right program depending upon your area of interest is very important. Always remember that PhD a big commitment in which you have to dedicate 4-5 important years of your life. Hence it’s really important that you choose the program which is interesting to you so that you can complete it successfully. Once you are decided about the program the time is to choose the right universities. So you should choose a university which has good faculties with excellent publication records in your area of interest. If you are credentials are excellent and you can enter into top 10 or say 20 departments of the world then the data is easily available but if it’s not that strong you need to do a lot of research for choosing the right university.

Here are links to a few websites which provides rankings for economics program.

http://student.ulb.ac.be/~tcoupe/rank200.html

https://econtop.uvt.nl/rankingsandbox.php

http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/economics

http://econphd.econwiki.com/rank/rallec.htm
Now when you have seen the rankings you have to decide the university according to your credentials i.e. your test scores, GPA and your letters of recommendations. You should choose top 10 or 20 universities if your scores are near perfect. The quant score should be ideally 800 and definitely not less than 780, the verbal score should be more than 600. Your recommenders must be well known and your GPA should be high enough with a number of maths courses. Normally your undergraduate degree should ideally be from a reputed university or you must have some research experience in a reputed research or academic institution. Still you should keep some safety schools may be from top 50 list of universities.

If the GRE quant score is less than 780 but your other credentials are very good you can choose from the universities in top 100 list. However you should always keep some safety options. Normally you should apply to 7-8 universities. The list of universities one should choose to apply to can be classifies into 3 categories, ambitious universities, achievable universities and safe universities. The ambitious universities count should be 2-3 where you can get admission by luck because your credentials are not that good to get into those universities. However there is always some amount of randomness in the application process and hence sometimes you can get admission into one of those universities. You should apply to 3-4 achievable universities because it’s not necessary that you get into all of those because your admission does not only depend on your credentials but also of your competitors. And finally apply to 1-2 safe universities where you are almost sure to get admitted given your profile. This way you make sure that you don’t waste your year.

Now when you decide about the universities you are applying to determine your financial status. Can you fund your education or you need university assistantship or fellowship? If you need financial help from the university do some research about the universities. Go to their websites and check the status of financial aid availability in the university. If needed contact the current graduate students or the faculty or graduate co-ordinator and ask them what are the chances of financial aid availability at the university. See the profiles of the faculty and how many faculty are having financial grants. What are the research projects which are carried by the university and its faculty members? Because the money from grants and projects can fund you education by providing you research assistantship.

So this is how you have to choose the right school. In case you have any queries, feel free to ask and don’t hesitate to make comments.

Writing your TOEFL

2010-04-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

Though you can write some other alternate exams, TOEFL is the most widely accepted score by the universities. TOEFL is required for international students who are not from a English speaking country. TOEFL may be waived for those students who have their last two years of education from a country where native language is English. However, it’s advisable for a foreign student to have TOEFL score.

TOEFL has four sections: reading, listening, speaking and writing. Each section carries a maximum of 30 marks and the’ total marks’ is 120. Most of the universities have a requirement listed as 79 or 80 however in practice, it’s recommended that you score 90 or above. The speaking section is the most important part for the students seeking assistantship from the university. A minimum score of 24 is recommended and 26+ is preferred in order to get an assistantship. Scoring 24 is not a big deal. You need to practice a little though. You may take the help of Barron’s, Princeton’s and Kaplan’s guide. The Barron’s CD is the most effective way to prepare for the TOEFL test.

TOEFL is not very much important in the admission decision however it certainly plays a role in assistantship decision. A score of less than 90 may hamper your chances of getting an assistantship. Hence you should be well prepared for the exam before you appear for it. It’s a good idea to write TOEFL shortly after you write your GRE. More information over TOEFL test may be found at http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/.

Again you can find lots of free materials available over internet for TOEFL preparation with the help of GOOGLE.

Writing your GRE

2010-04-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

Well so the first step towards the admission to a graduate program in economics starts with the preparation of Graduate Record Examination. For most of the universities GRE is an essential requirement. If you don’t have a GRE score you can’t apply for graduate program in economics. Though some universities may accept application without a GRE score however, it’s strongly recommended to have your GRE scores before November of the year previous to which you are seeking admission.

There are two major academic sessions in US universities ‘Fall’ which starts in July – August and ‘Spring’ which starts in January. However, many of the universities don’t accept admission in Spring hence it’s advisable to apply for the Fall session. The online application process for the fall starts almost one year before the start of the academic year i.e. from previous September only. You can start your online application for most of the universities in September or early October of the previous year.

For most of the universities, there are two deadlines of submission of applications. First, admission with funding consideration and the second, admission without funding consideration. The deadline of admission with funding consideration is much earlier than the one without funding consideration and varies from university to university. This deadline is 1st of November at the earliest and may go up to 31st of March. Nonetheless the deadlines of most of the top universities with funding are no later than 15th January with a few exceptions which may have a deadline till 1st of February or 15th of February. Hence it’s strongly recommended to write your GRE by 1st of November.

Having said that, now important question is ‘what is an ideal score in GRE’. Okay, so those of you who are familiar with GRE know that GRE has three parts

Quantitative reasoning: scores- 200-800 in 10 point increments

Verbal Reasoning: scores- 200-800 in 10 point increments

Analytical writing assessment: 0-6 in half point increments

More information about the GRE exam pattern can be found at http://www.ets.org/gre/index.html. You can register for GRE exam over internet while registering for GRE exam one should keep in mind that it takes almost 2 weeks for GRE result to be out.

Now, in the quantitative section of GRE an economics graduate aspirant is supposed to score a near perfect score i.e. 800 out of 800. The score should not be less than 760 or in the worst case not less than 740 if you want to get admitted in a decent college. For top universities the scores should be a minimum of 780. The verbal score is not very important however, since other students might have good score in verbal section also a score of 600+ is a decent score for top universities. A minimum score of 400 is necessary for a decent college and ideally it should not be less than 450. The AWA section does not play very important role in the admission decision however a very low score may hamper your chances of getting admission, Hence, a minimum score of 4.0 is recommended.

What is the importance of GRE scores in admission? Well... it’s important. The higher the score the better the chances you have to make it to your dream college. However, merely a good GRE score does not guarantee you the admission even if you have a 1600 score. But it definitely gives you an edge. So, GRE is important and you should really prepare for it sincerely and try to get a good score around 1400.

For getting a 1400 score in GRE you need to put in almost 2-3 months for GRE preparation. Quant is very easy but needs lots of practice. If you take it easy you may not be able to manage your time efficiently and might end up with a lower score than you really deserve. Verbal preparation is dependent upon the consistent revision of the wordlist from Barron’s GRE guide or Kaplan wordlist and other sources. I would not discuss much about GRE here because the main purpose of this blog is to help you in getting admission to economics graduate program. However I am noting down the addresses of a few websites which are good for GRE preparation. In case you need more information about GRE or you have any query, write it in the comment box and I shall try to explain your query.

http://gre-verbal.blogspot.com/

http://www.drrajusgre.com/forum/

Apart from that GRE Big Book is a must have In GRE big book you find questions which come into real GRE exams so do a lot of practice. The practice materials are available free on the internet. Just GOOGLE it.

INTRODUCTION: Steps to Economics PhD admission

2010-04-12T00:35:00.000-07:00

>Well... let’s start with the question: why is admission process to graduate program in Economics a mystery? I would not give a straight answer of this question for the truth is I don’t have one. The admission process involves a number of steps, every single step is crucial and if you want to achieve your dream university a minor mistake in any of these may cost you rejection from the very same university and from other universities as well. Though it’s difficult to point down the steps to the admission process in the right order yet more or less it would be in the order given below:

1. Write Graduate Record Examination (GRE)

2. Write Test of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL), you can also opt for other test which can be replaced instead of TOEFL such as IELTS (you don’t need to have TOEFL score if you are from US or the countries where English is the native language, there are some more exceptions which will be discussed later in the post exclusively dedicated for TOEFL section)

3. Determine the right program for you within the discipline such as agricultural economics, labour economics, macroeconomics and so on

4. Choose the right school depending upon your area of interest, your GPA and test scores, your financial aid priority and the college profile

5. Write your statement of purpose and Resume

6. Get the recommendation letters

7. Get your transcripts

8. Apply to the targeted universities well before the deadline

9. Sending your application materials to the university

10. Submitting your application

11. Be in touch with the program heads of the departments you have applied to

12. Choose the best university for you from the universities you have got acceptances

13. Sending the financial affidavit

14. Apply for student visa

15. Congrats! pack your bags

The first step however is of course, that you should be aware well in advance (probably when you are in your undergraduate school) that you are interested in graduating in economics and would be applying for the same. So opt for lots of maths and economics courses and try to maintain good GPA’s preferably more than 3.5 and definitely not less than 3.

Some thesis work may help you a great deal in securing admission to a good university for PhD. The thesis work can be done as course work or working on some research project as a research assistant with some professor. If you are applying after a gap of 1-2 years after your undergrad it’s advisable to work as a research or teaching assistant at some good institution. These are the precursors to admission process which are going to be of great help in securing admission.

The order of the steps only indicates the timing of event and not the importance. All the criteria are extremely important and it’s really difficult to say which one is the most important. The importance may also depend upon individual applications, universities and for the candidates from the different countries. Hence, it’s best to have everything near to perfect to get admission to your dream university.

The next post will discuss the importance of GRE and will provide the information regarding GRE. The comments and questions are welcome so that more and more information can be provided and the mystery can be unraveled.