[学术讨论] Economics PhD 的选择与经验分享（转） [复制链接]

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电梯直达

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发表于 2013-8-11 00:07:26 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

在人人上看到的，是几个hku今年的毕业生申请经济学phd的经验，觉得写得不错，就转过来大家一起看看。有什么错漏还请各位指出。
原文地址：http://3g.renren.com/blog/wgeten ... D0%2323330118575-n-新鲜事-n-0-u-share%2Fshareentry.do%3Fid%3D16250842584%26amp%3Bsuid%3D278467018%26amp%3Bsfs%3Dfd_23330118575_newsfeed%26amp%3Bfp%3D15%26amp%3Bhtf%3D803-n-该分享-n-0&sid=029YLT2Vs4SW8lltu8WbZv

Coauthored by Kai Ding, Chenyi Huang, Yanjun Liao, Fanqi Shi and Chen Zhao

Remarks:
0. 由于我和一位coauthor communication 失误，导致部分信息inaccurate, 在这个版本中会用红字标出。另外感谢裴迪(@裴迪), 董骁扬(@董骁扬)的建议. 一并用红字标出.
尤其感谢Minnesota Year 2的丁凯学长和Princeton Year 1的赵晨学长，他们亲身的经验分享极大的补充了我们相对 restricted perspectives.
希望这篇分享是我们港大毕业生给学弟学妹们珍贵的礼物，也希望其它有兴趣的同学有所启发。
我们最终决定全文尽量anonymous, 会用1,2,3 或A, B, C来代替人名。
Though we did your best to provide accurate and well-rounded information, inaccuracies and errors are unavoidable. Comments are highly welcome.

Introduction:
套用Robert Barro在Macroeconomics: A Modern Approach中的语句: Our dissatisfaction with the scattered and limited information available to prospective Economics PhD Candidates motivated us to write the journal. 所以我们主要目的是给对Economics有兴趣的同学提供相对全面的关于Economics PhD的信息。
具体而言，这篇日志会涉及一下方面：
我们几个人的申请情况或所在programs.
选择Economics PhD的motivation和什么样的人适合Economics PhD.
Economics PhD各方面的preparation (mental, courses, exchange, research experience, papers and writing samples).
学校的选择与主要programs的特点.
申请.

为了让大家有更加informed decisions, 4会是我们讨论的绝对重点。2是我们认为最重要的部分。关于3, 我们会尽量specific and tailor-made.

Main Body:
1. Our Background
两位学长在remarks中已经介绍过了，丁凯在Minnesota Economics, 赵晨在Princeton Economics.
下面是我们3个的所有offers & admissions (f=fully-funded, n=non first-year funding, 第一个是我们最后的choice)
UCLA (f), Boston U (f), Columbia MA (n), LSE MA (n)
Stanford (f), Yale (f), Columbia (f), UCLA (n), Cornell (n)
UCSD (f), Cornell (f), Pittsburg (f), UBC MA (f), Duke MA, Toronto MA

2. Motivation
我们总体观点是Economics PhD适合真心热爱Economics，inquisitive, 喜欢modeling & research, 并且comfortable with mathematical argument的人 (examples请见今年港大申到了PhD的所有人)。如果你仅仅喜欢读书，或是成绩优异, there are very decent job offers on the market, 毕竟条件允许的话还是做自己喜欢的事情比较有效率和开心。
A认为学术需要passion。因为不是五年十年的事情，而是终身的职业。钱，或者peer pressure，或者名校诱惑，只能支撑短期，长期的努力还要自发的兴趣才能维持。
B关注trade-offs (e.g. alternative offers (such as job offers), the choice of your partner). 他/她认为PhD students should not be easily swayed, 并且表示最近才意识到面临权衡取舍时，自己没有想象的那么坚定。
C表示在交换的时候发现自己喜欢学术，而且他/她观察到Econ PhD的出路还PhD算不错。

3. Preparation
我们认为最重要的是mental preparation, 在上面motivation的部分已经讨论过了，在此就不过分赘述。有一点要特别注意，PhD programs are usually 5-6 years, which is a very long commitment.
当我们决定要pursue PhD studies in Economics, 就要有些具体的preparation，我们认为相对重要的是relevant courses, oversees exchange and research experience.
1)    Relevant Courses
For better or for worse, 最重要的coursework是proof-based mathematics, especially for us international students. 经济学课程固然重要，但undergraduate (甚至graduate)  level不同地方难度差异非常大 (E.g. Harvard ECON1011, 对应港大的中微课，实际课业和难度绝对不在港大first-year PhD Micro Core之下). 所以Stanford Admission Chair才会说It’s very difficult to interpret economics courses, especially for international students, but mathematics are useful everywhere. 基于这个原因，我们在此就列出我们认为重要的mathematics and statistics courses (所有的课程名和课程代码对应现在港大3年制，但各个学校差异不大):

Essential:
a)    Linear Algebra (MATH1111; matrices & vector space);
b)    Multivariable Calculus (MATH1211);
c)    Probability and Statistics I & II (STAT1301, 1302)
d)    Introduction to Analysis (MATH2201; the real number system, limits, differentiation and integration);
e)    Analysis I (MATH2401; metric space, connectedness, Banach’s Fixed Point Theorem)
f)    Introduction to Optimization (MATH2904; Lagrange Multiplier’s Rule, Kuhn-Tucker Condition, Dynamic Programming)

Highly Useful:
a)    Probability Theory (MATH2603), Advanced Probability (STAT3316) (useful in modeling uncertainty, random shocks and mixed strategies);
b)    Differential Equations (MATH2405) (esp. useful in macroeconomics, sometimes used in microeconomics and game theory);
c)    Functional Analysis (MATH3404);
d)    Real Analysis (MATH6505) (The two courses are particularly useful for those interested in theory);

Useful:
a)    Matrix Theory and its Applications (MATH2301; Jordan Form, inner products);
b)    Operations Research I (MATH2901; useful in macroeconomics);
c)    Discrete Mathematics (MATH2601; useful in matching and network economics);
d)    Statistical Inference (STAT2302; useful in econometrics)
e)    Analysis II (MATH2402)

Notes:
港大Introduction to Optimization, Discrete Mathematics and in particular Analysis II的老师讲得不是很好，所以如果打算上这3门课尽量在exchange上。
很多同学(包括我们当时)都困惑数学 (esp. proof-based mathematics) 在经济学中如何应用. 在此举几个我们接触过的例子:
先说几个显而易见的。Intro的时候我们都是画indifference curves & budget constraints, 但如果我们要用数学式子表达并刻画tangency condition, 就要用到基本的Multivariable Calculus. 我们还画过short-run money supply and demand, 但如果用数学语言刻画，并考虑其它因素的影响，就会涉及Implicit Function Theorem. Econometrics和概率统计的联系更是不言而喻。
稍高一个level, 如果我们要用简略的形式描述Econometrics中的regression, 就会涉及matrices; panel data更是避不开linear algebra. 另外, micro & macro的很多求解(基本凡是涉及多元或system)都会用到Lagrange Multiplier’s Rule, Kuhn Tucker Condition and Dynamic Programming.
再高一个level, 我们还会关注preferences什么时候可以用utility function表示, general equilibrium什么时候存在, Nash Equilibrium什么时候存在, 怎么设计拍卖能使利益最大化，如何的录取方式能‘公平’+‘有效率’,这类存在或特征性问题会大量依赖proof-based mathematics. 统计系除上述课程外不大推荐 (e.g. linear regression/time series)。

2)    Overseas exchange
Exchange不仅可以expand our life scope, get more exposure to research, 从最功力的角度greatly improve the quality of reference letters.
从稍微不功利的角度，我们要意识到in terms of academic achievements, HKU is still not widely acknowledged. 所以to overcome the problems of asymmetric information, we need to perform well where we can be widely recognized.
如果official exchange申请不到自己满意的program，也可以申请Visiting Scholar, 反正Columbia的这个program还是挺好申请的。还有就是建议春季学期去，最好去之前已经完成港大的3门second-year core courses (Intermediate Micro, Macro & Econometrics).
交换期间，学术上的一些活动有：
a)    Advanced Economics Courses (e.g. seminars & graduate courses) (Top 10的economics courses还是interesting and widely acknowledged, 所以exchange可以多选些economics courses)
b)    Attend Department Seminars, ideally twice or three times a month (It is useful to develop the habit early on. It’s a platform where you can share thoughts with professors and interested students).
c)    Research (either develop your own topic (W4998 at Columbia) under the guidance of a supervisor or serve as a research assistant (W4996 at Columbia)).

3)    Research
正如2)中解释的, overseas research is widely recognized. 另一方面, U.S. professors are typically more accessible than HKU Professors, 所以有兴趣research的同学可以大胆开口。如果有好的idea, 能够在还不错的journal有submitted working papers当然是极好的(可能性极小，港大这2届的applicants都没有，但是可以作writing sample).
下面简单说下我们几个的research experience:
A在港大跟随教授指导写过Paper，主要还是接触一下literature，了解研究的流程，发掘对哪个方向感兴趣。
B从交换开始跟一个game theory professor做research，主要是修改证明, 看看之前的research, 找些新的application. 每周会和导师讨论至少1-2小时；导师人非常好，有时也聊些其它有趣的话题. B同时seminar的时候写了个涉及Econometrics的金融危机有关的paper. 在港大也帮一个professor做助研，少量接触literature, 涉及些programming. B感觉research最难的是建立合理的假设. 很显然的假设一般都会mathematically involved, 但如果assumptions过于naïve又不免牵强。
C交换时做一个商科教授的RA一学期，暑假在一个智库写了一个水report，在剑桥暑假项目写了一个水paper。申请时在写dissertation，第一次自己建正儿八经模型。跟导师，每周讨论一个小时左右，中间也出现了一些蛮有趣的结果。C感觉做Research最重要的是要展示出自己独立思考和解决问题的能力（比如说解一个复杂的模型，自己去学会用统计和数学软件等等）。

4.    Program Choices
虽然由于fields不同，programs ranking略有差异，但有个总的定位还是有意义的. 基于这个原则，我们将programs划分为Tier 0-5，tier之间无明显区分 (我们主要基于faculty placement划分programs，并参考U.S. News, IDEAS排名).
Tier 0: Harvard, MIT, Stanford GSB;
Tier 1: Harvard Business, Stanford, Princeton, Chicago Business;
Tier 2: Chicago, Yale, Kellog Business (Northwestern), Berkeley, Northwestern
Tier 3: Stern Business (NYU), LSE, Upenn, Columbia, NYU, Minnesota, Oxford
Tier 4: UCLA, UCSD, Michigan, Wisconsin-Madison, Caltech (以micro theory为主)
Tier 5: Cambridge, Cornell, Brown, Duke, Penn State, Rochester, Boston U, Johns Hopkins, Virginia,  Washington U-St. Louis

下面我们就据我们比较了解的program做个简单介绍:
Notes:
All funding indicated is subject to a 14% federal tax (Fellowship会退税，TA, RA这要交)
基本所有Economics PhD从second year (有些是third year, e.g. Yale) 开始有TA、RA的funding，所以我们在补充说明中只会给出full funding的情况

Harvard: 总体实力非常强劲，略有不足是Alvin Roth, Susan Athey被Stanford挖走后micro稍有下滑，另外supervisor总体比较忙. Supervisor对好学生关注度strickly大于mediocre学生.

MIT: 总体实力同样非常强劲，Macro, development, environmental尤其出众，而且2000年以后placement甚至超越Harvard. 近十年基本囊括所有John Bates Clark Prize.
（Note: Most admitted students receive full funding, $32,000 in 2013, teaching requirement starting from year 3)

Stanford GSB: 以Micro Theory见长的非常小的program (GSB一年一共发34个offers左右，Economic Policy and Analysis也就6-7个). 在Alvin Roth (Stanford Economics), Susan Athey (GSB) 加入之后，micro theory超越Harvard and MIT, 而且非常注重research (starting at the end of the first year), 与faculty有close interaction. 难点是这个program非常注重数学，被录的学生不少是IMO medalists. 略有不足是基本没有Micro Theory, IO以外的领域.
(Note: Every admitted student receives full funding, $36,000 in 2013, no teaching required).

Harvard Business: 比较偏重business, 原来theory也不错, 在Alvin Roth离开之后不是很清楚情况. 经常近亲繁殖，自己聘用自己的PhD.
(Note: Every admitted student receives full funding, $39,800 in 2013)

Stanford: 和Stanford GSB有些类似，同样以Micro Theory见长. 另外由于Stanford Statistics的优势，Econometrics还不错。Placement方面，Stanford一直不错，在Top 5中都不差，但今年没有job market上的superstar，虽然总体还OK。录取方面，今年Mathematics is the solely most important criteria.
(Note: Every admitted student receives full funding, $35,000 in 2013; research requirement in year 2, teaching requirement starts from year 3).

Princeton: Strong in pure theory (micro & macro), finance, trade and labor. 这个program中国人比较多,每届都有2-4个,有时更多, 美中不足是近些年placement在Top 5中并不出众，相比Top 10 placement较好的Yale、Kellog (School of Business) 也无明显优势.
(Note: Every admitted student receives full funding, $31,000 in 2013)

Chicago Business: finance不错，具体不是特别了解.

Chicago: 在历史上始终非常强劲的program, strong in macro, finance and price theory. Chicago School颇具风格，对这个program也是褒贬不一。此外，这个program很大、淘汰率也较高(35-40 per year, with completion rate around 65%) 原本这个program对中国人不大友好，今年稍有改善。Placement之前也在Top 10中不佳，但今年非常好(和Harvard, MIT相当)
(Note: About 60% of newly admits receive full funding, $23,000 in 2013)

Yale: Very strong in econometrics, strong in industrial organization, development and finance. 另外Yale有个Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, 不但funding不少，而且经常有visiting scholars. Yale Placement在6-10中也很impressive. 略显不足是Yale虽然有很多不错的faculty, 但internationally renowned相对少。录取方面似乎倾向于有masters background的.
(Note: Every admitted student receives full funding, $34,000 in 2013, teaching requirement starts from year 3)

Kellog Business: 以game theory, industrial organization为主.

ARE@UCB (不是Berkeley Economics): 这个department挺综合的，跟一般的农经不一样，environmental和development很好。

Upenn: Upenn Economics官网介绍挺清楚的，就不赘述.
(Note: Only 10 newly admits receive full funding, $23,700 in 2013, teaching/research requirement starts from year 2)

Northwestern: 以micro为主，对中国人不大友好，尤其在没有direct connection的情况下(主要原因大概时Northwestern 非常偏重theory，而推荐人大多又是applied). 在NW theory的学生的好处是，永远不缺人讨论。Kellogg+Econ很多很多做theory的。（Pavan, Wolinsky, Ely, Olzewski, Dekel, Baliga, Austen-Smith,...）这几年做theory的学生placement也不错。感觉NW的Top可以match MIT和Harvard的Top，但中下游学生显然不如Harvard MIT.
(Note: Most admitted students receive full funding, MINIMUM $22,000 in 2013, teaching requirement starting from year 3. Moreover, Northwestern can match your best alternative funding offer.)

Stern Business: Strong in Finance. 2011年之前placement不错，近2年有所下滑。

Columbia: Strong in trade. Macro总体也不错(Sala-i-Martin, Riccardo Reis), Econometrics 也还可以. Micro相对薄弱 (matching, game theory还可以). 这个program一个劣势是middle-age的faculty相对少, research supervision因此不大有利. Placement方面, Columbia在6-10中很中庸（应该和上面因素有关），今年开始有所改善。
(Note: About 80% of newly admits receive full funding, $27, 335 in 2013)

NYU: NYU has good theory (Rubinstein, Pearce, Spence), good macro (Gertler, Sargent), good finance via Stern. 作为新星, NYU有不少前沿的seminar & talks, 例如我们中的一位就在exchange的时候比如我当年听过的Spence的一个talk. 略显不足是这几个renowned的faculty一般都很忙，像Rubinstein还有dual appointment, 所以supervision可能有所欠缺.
(Note: About 80% of newly admits receive full funding, $32,000 in 2013)

Minnesota: (Pros)
Minnesota is good at macro theory. Many topics in macro, like public finance, labor, and trade are applied fields in other schools. But they are quite theoretical at Minnesota. Minnesota emphasizes micro and game theoretical foundation for macro theory.
Minnesota has the Fed-Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, which is strong in economics research (other feds have different focus. E.g. St. Louis fed is strong in data, and others strong in policy making). There are visiting scholars to the Fed. Some of them also come down to the University to give lectures for a semester or two. Ed Prescott, Randy Wright, Andy Atkeson spend quite a bit of time every year at the fed. Students can listen to them asking questions and making comments during seminars. They may also talk to them about research. Every year, some of the students at the University have research analyst positions at the fed.
The placement is better than schools of similar ranking.
(This may be con for some people) Faculty members are very aggressive in asking questions during seminars. Some students like this because it helps them to see clearly the shortcomings of each research project, which they can avoid in the future.

(Cons)
Minnesota is not that strong in micro or econometrics.
Not many people do empirical work.
There are few junior faculties.
There are long winters. It snowed in May this year.

(Note: Every admitted student receives full funding, $20,000 in 2013. 但由于Minnesota是state university, teaching and research requirement starts from year 1)

UCSD: 计量有名，但现在好像junior faculty居多。Program对计量的训练比较严格。Micro theory很好，近年来Applied Micro各领域和Macro都发展比较快。environmental也有一个研究中心。Placement在同级别中不错。
(Note: Approximately 50-60% of newly admits receive full funding, $21,000 in 2013)

UCLA: 感觉非常偏重macro, placement也以government & industry为主.
(Note: Only about 30% of newly admits receive full funding, $21,900 in 2013).

Cambridge: 偏重于empirical work，另外对economic history的training比较solid.

Cornell：这个program其实有七个department的faculty，尤其是AEM那个方向在应用经济\农经这一块很好的。Development、Environmental和Applied Micro很不错。但是placement一直不是很好。
(Note: Around 15 newly admits receive full funding, $28,000 in 2013)

Brown: 这个program只招9个人，另加3个第一年不给钱。Urban很好，Applied Micro不错。

Duke: Financial Econometrics特别好，Applied Micro很不错。学科交叉比较多，貌似风格比较innovative。

Penn-State: 在经济学界还是比较知名的，Placement在同级项目里不错。系里每年都会尽全力推一两个学生.  Trade不错.

Maryland：environmental不错，这个学校的农经（AREC）也不错。貌似近年走了一些faculty。

Pittsburgh：排名不前，但是applied micro不错，尤其是experimental\behavioral很好。environmental和urban都有人，可以去CMU商院选课。别的方向不推荐去。
(Note: Approximately 80% of newly admits receive full funding, $23,000 in 2013)

UCSB：排名不前，但是environmental不错。有个诺奖得主，忘了做什么的。

Virginia: Applied Micro不错。

Washington University-St. Louis: 做macro很推荐，近年来这个方向发展得很快。

5.    Application
由于这个受众群体不大，而且类似资料也相对齐全，我们只讨论些重点。先说下申请材料的相对重要性：Submitted Papers/widely recognized mathematics awards > connection > reference letter > grades > writing samples> GRE mathematics, 从这里就看出来了，很多人看重的GRE & TOEFL其实对于Economics PhD (或者说基本所有PhD Programs)作用甚小. 原因很简单，matching之前要获取information, relative importance也是由于不同materials传递information的质量不同.

Submitted Paper/widely recognized mathematics awards:
拥有这两项的applicants非常少，有其一基本就可以进Top 2/3. (widely recognized mathematics awards包括IMO gold/silver medalist, Putnam Fellow)

Connection:
这个的作用也非常大(毕竟我们对熟悉的人更加信任)，例如你exchange的学校，recommender所在或有很强connection的departments. (除非你recommender非常出众，否则他graduation department不属于connection范畴).

Reference Letter:
不少人认为recommender的名气非常重要，其实不完全如此. 原因也可以从information角度去考虑, 有名的recommender确实本身reputation很好，但如果他/她写的推荐信很平庸，department不但很难获取information，还会考虑为什么recommender会写出如此平庸的letter.
但有一点是肯定的，美国推荐信(尤其是Top 30)比亚洲的推荐信作用大很多。港大Economics其实在亚洲已经很不错了，但如果申请Top 15，港大推荐信作用甚微。
另外就是推荐信真的很重要，尤其对成绩不完美上的课也不难的同学。Top 10 关注推荐人的connection+ 推荐信的质量，10-20则更看重推荐信的内容。所以应该想办法让推荐人多了解你，这样他们才能有好话可说。
最后就是美国推荐信最好找economics faculty.

Grades:
之前也说过了，mathematics grades最重要，economics中graduate level + undergraduate中的3门 core courses也有一定作用. 如果目标是top 10, 上面这些课(尤其mathematics)最好全是A/A+. 至于10-20，成绩不需要很完美，只需要一眼看过去有较大面积的A就行。

Personal Statement:
有一点要提醒，如果不是很了解的faculty members，在PS中尽量不要出现。但如果是熟悉的faculty (尤其是recommender), 则最好讲讲你们的interaction。

GRE:
没什么太大用，只要Quantitative 168-169+, analytical每个学校要求不大一样, 例如Princeton不大看重，Stanford则最好4.5+. Verbal对于international applicants基本没用.

TOEFL:
也没什么用，口语最好26+ (Yale, Chicago要求). 但26也不是necessary, 如果其它方面优秀, 口语稍低也不要紧.

Additional Notes on Application:
申请一般在10月初开启. 商学院的deadline会早些, 大多在12.1, 经济学院多是12.15.
Reference letter最好早跟recommender说, (海外professor有时会出去visiting, 港大professor有的不上心, 推荐信提交也可能有问题), 必要时要有礼貌地适当催，不要不好意思, 因为学校一般要求reference letter也在deadline之前提交.
Economics offers较其它专业一般会发的晚, 2月底-3月中才会出, 所以之前不用着急. 可以在grad cafe 上查询实时信息，但没什么用，因为大多数学校offers & rejections 同时发. 有3个学校比较奇葩, Columbia是先发waiting list，之后再发offers and rejections; Harvard offers是电话通知, waiting list + rejections是邮寄通知, 3月中旬才会收到; Northwestern完全不发rejection (offers会邮件通知)，要自己到网上查.
如果有多个offers (尤其level相近), 强烈建议接受学校campus visits的邀请. 通过和教授、学生的交流，我们不仅能够make a more informed decision, 同时还能认识不少人, 对于之后的学术交流应该有不少帮助.

Concluding Remarks:
希望我们的sharing给大家一个overall picture, 还有有一点想说明: 其实上述这么多项，没有什么是必然或者必须的。申请也是，前二十的项目也不是从事学术的必需。举个例子, Larry Samuelson, Yale Professor, associate editor of AER (American Economic Review), 当年是University of Illinois (这个program也非常好，虽然不属于top  20范畴) 毕业的。
最后一点建议就是，无论学术还是申请的问题，最好跟Economics Professor多咨询. 美国的professor 对各个programs了解会很多, 有些可能本身就在Admission Committee. 港大的professor虽然略有逊色，但在学术界也有一定connection, 而且对各个学校的研究情况，placement等方面也比较了解。

下面是几个参考网页:
Minnesota 学生对PhD year 1的描述: http://www.econ.umn.edu/graduate/so_you_want_to_be_a_phd.pdf
Johns Hopkins学生的建议: http://econphd.econwiki.com/downloads/twcomments.pdf
Stanford GSB Professor Susan Athey (之前在Harvard Ad Com) 对PhD申请的建议: http://kuznets.harvard.edu/~athey/gradadv.html

如果还有问题，可以邮件或人人咨询我们:
丁凯: dingx203@umn.edu
黄琛怡: alicehcy@hotmail.com
石凡奇: fs2440@columbia.edu
赵晨: chenzhao@princeton.edu