2016 Fall Econ PhD

梦里乡音UID: 3631534

学校背景：
本科：清华工科
研究生：JHU MSF
           之前博士申请没有申到，继续在JHU读金融数学硕士
成绩：
本科：3.75/4.00
硕士：3.78/4.00

课程
数学：微积分（80, 88），线性代数（79,87）概率论与数理统计（90）硕士MSF的统计课 （A）金融数学项目秋天开始。。。不知道成绩能不能用得到
经济学：本科只上过经济学原理（87），硕士阶段 微观（A-），宏观（A），和各类金融课程（大多是A）；最近选了JHU PHD level的宏观经济学，秋天开始上
GT： G：159V+170Q+3AW； T：104
Paper：正在和老师写一篇关于News sentiment 和 Earning Announcement的文章，不知道能否发表
RA/TA: 做了一个research项目就是关于上面paper这个内容的，在JHU也做过一些TA
推荐信：今年的推荐人还没有确定，预计和去年类似：一封经济学老师的（Chicago PhD，但比较年轻）金融数学项目教授（在应用数学界应该比较有影响力）另外一封待定，希望能找到经济学系的教授。。。
其他：打算申请金融或经济学的PhD，对申请难度缺乏了解，不知道应该选择哪一层次的学校，求各位PHD前辈和对选校有了解的同学帮忙。另外针对我的背景，申请时有什么需要注意的吗？

第一次发定位贴，可能信息发的不全，大家回复之后我来补充

RomanzaUID: 2663796

顶一个。。。保守估计前三十。。

bsybenUID: 2988063

lz的背景还是很好的，有希望冲击Top 30。要说缺点的话大概就是两方面：一是lz好像没有什么理论数学的课程，比如real analysis的成绩，这样可能会是lz申请时候的一个弱点；二是lz最好多准备一些推荐人，好在申请PhD的时候分开使用。就我个人经验来看，申请Econ PhD的时候，金融教授的推荐信并不一定，反之亦然。lz如果两方面都想申请，而且是并重的话，最好能多找几个教授，在投Econ PhD的时候多用Econ的教授，投Fin PhD的时候用Fin 教授。至于其他教授，比如数学统计系的，说实话意义不大。隔行如隔山，各个系一般不会进行深度的跨系交流，因此推荐信的影响力也有限。

ＨＥ→赫γUID: 3382109

竟然见到了JHU 同僚。。。。。保守估计top 30.。。。。。不过推荐信最重要，JHU师资就算是最烂的CAREY一样大牛云集，所以请好好把握~~~~Carey GPA 3.7+很有说服力了，清华本也是妥妥的惹。倒是很好奇为什么之前申phd会失败。。我觉得最不济top50当时也应该是没问题的吧~

梦里乡音UID: 3631534

bsyben 发表于 2015-6-28 12:17
lz的背景还是很好的，有希望冲击Top 30。要说缺点的话大概就是两方面：一是lz好像没有什么理论数学的课程， ...

嗯，确实。我也觉得我上的数学课偏少，基础课成绩也不是很好，可能是个问题。关于推荐人的建议，我也觉得很有道理，之前一个系里老师也是这么和我说的。我是应该好好下点功夫。谢谢啊！

梦里乡音UID: 3631534

ＨＥ→赫γ 发表于 2015-6-28 18:28
竟然见到了JHU 同僚。。。。。保守估计top 30.。。。。。不过推荐信最重要，JHU师资就算是最烂的CAREY一样 ...

唉？楼上也是JHU的同学啊？
之前申请可能因为只申了金融，选校也有问题，最后在UIUC和UNC的wait list里悲剧了。。。

梦里乡音UID: 3631534

Romanza 发表于 2015-6-28 10:01
顶一个。。。保守估计前三十。。

大家觉得能到前三十啊:D，是Eco专业排名吗？要申综合排名Top30，鸭梨山大啊。。。

圣妈妈的照耀UID: 3409450

梦里乡音 发表于 2015-6-29 00:08
大家觉得能到前三十啊，是Eco专业排名吗？要申综合排名Top30，鸭梨山大啊。。。

你要申PhD看综合排名做什么...综合排名是给本科生看的

ＨＥ→赫γUID: 3382109

圣妈妈的照耀 发表于 2015-6-29 00:30
你要申PhD看综合排名做什么...综合排名是给本科生看的

其实就算专拍不咋样但是综排亮瞎的学校一样挺难申的。。。。例如brandeis emory等....

cheesechanUID: 3505689

ＨＥ→赫γ 发表于 2015-6-28 18:28
竟然见到了JHU 同僚。。。。。保守估计top 30.。。。。。不过推荐信最重要，JHU师资就算是最烂的CAREY一样 ...

1. Empirically
Remember that you had said somewhere else that the PhD placement for JHU MSF is nearly as good as Duke MS Econ......I think it will be very help to OP if you can provide more detail on that.....

2. Theoretically
Given how soft the MSF is, thus I will serious doubt how strong the reference letter can be as it is very difficult to stand out academically in such a professional master....OP is of course have the chances given the TA and paper.


OP part:
which micro / macro you took in the master level?
hopefully it is not the "micro/macro" in the core of MSF, nor the one as core in the MS AE.......
both of them are not really at master level (though still useful to your profile as you don't have a economics major in bachelor)

ＨＥ→赫γUID: 3382109

cheesechan 发表于 2015-6-29 16:54
1. Empirically
Remember that you had said somewhere else that the PhD placement for JHU MSF is  ...

我知道的楼主那届去了一个IUB fin 一个IUB econ 一个emory fin还有一个去了哪我不记得了...这些是我知道在申请的结果（我的sample只有4个人）。。。也许还有很多我完全不认识不了解不知道在申请的（例如低调的楼主）。。。所以我的结论也许是有bias的~~
其实不管是上的什么样的core，我觉得推荐信还是很重要的。前阵子研究了下gatech 的econ MS项目发现课程也肯定达不到phd level but 如果你有兴趣可以去看下placement, 会发现还是有人去了Umich UCB这些学校读fin/econ phd。
其实申请过程中no one really cares about what you truly learn in your master courses. 道理正如很多美国本科有advanced micro/macro 但是水平充其量是国内中级，在申请的时候没有人会去调查到底是不是真的advanced level。 就算申请的学校和你就读的学校都在美国，也不见得信息对称，因为录取委员会不会有人有空到去调查每个申请人的每个course到底到什么水平。

当然，我也赞同，学高级点学扎实点对自己有好处。至于申请，学到中级以上且能保持全A的话，足矣。

cheesechanUID: 3505689

ＨＥ→赫γ 发表于 2015-6-29 19:18
我知道的楼主那届去了一个IUB fin 一个IUB econ 一个emory fin还有一个去了哪我不记得了...这些是我知道在 ...

what I am thinking is:

1. if the core is too weak..........will a good grade from it enough for the teaching faculty to write a strong reference letter for it?
Professor are likely to be careful in betting their reputation on that (since the professor teaching / from the same department are very likely to know the quality).

2. the teaching faculty of the course......who is teaching? of course one can always find other way of contacting professor, the one teaching the course are the most trivial and common one.
$$-earning program / professional program are not likely taught by the star professor in the department, i.e. need really work hard + luck to get a good reference letter.

3. of course I don't mean I expect a PhD course in a master program as it is a master but not a PhD......but I will expect at least something not in bachelor level (e.g. at least using Romer (or eqv) for macro, micro not necessarily MWG but not varian's intermediate Micro please, again not Bodie for Investment at master level...).
It is hard to let one have exposure to the frontier of research with that little background, and imagine what will happen if one go for a interview for PhD...

4. of course I believe the admission committee will not have time (and will bother) what level a course is teaching........but the point is, it is kind of track record.
If the training of a certain department is not enough, it is likely that the quality of output (alumni) is not good also, and thus this will affect the reputation of their program (either bachelor / master) within the academic circle.

罐头鹅肉UID: 3539924

ＨＥ→赫γ 发表于 2015-6-29 19:18
我知道的楼主那届去了一个IUB fin 一个IUB econ 一个emory fin还有一个去了哪我不记得了...这些是我知道在 ...

推荐信里会写上过的课是什么水平

ＨＥ→赫γUID: 3382109

cheesechan 发表于 2015-6-29 19:35
what I am thinking is:

1. if the core is too weak..........will a good grade from it enough f ...

again, 美国的phd其实面向的以及主要的申请者是本科直接申的人。所以我不是很明白为什么你一直在纠结申phd要上过什么样高级的课。我想说的就是这么多了。。。。。也许美国master在大神眼里真的是水，不过我真心没觉得香港及欧洲大部分项目好到哪里去了。看了下被吹上天的某欧洲项目课程简介和考试，感觉水平也不外如是。

cheesechanUID: 3505689

ＨＥ→赫γ 发表于 2015-6-30 16:17
again, 美国的phd其实面向的以及主要的申请者是本科直接申的人。所以我不是很明白为什么你一直在纠结申ph ...

1.
如果某人的cv上有master degree，interview他的時候的expectation會有所不同於someone with a bachelor only吧?

這樣說吧，phd interview我就沒試過，不過工作面試都被人問過pricing kernel, dickey fuller test, parametric resampling等等的問題，我就不想像拿著master title但只有bachelor水平去interview phd會有甚麼後果了……

也可能是因為我做人比較腳踏實地，對讀bachelor level卻拿著master title覺得有一點弄虛作假的感覺吧……make it clear here, I don't mean phd level class is a must.........just master level will be enough. (but some "master" is offering core and tons of elective at senior bachelor level, and this is the stuffs I will refer as "water")



2.
我要說清楚一點的是，我從來沒說美國的master水……水不水絕對不能只用國家分(same holds for emea and apac)，而要逐個來看。(e.g. duke vs jhu, hkust vs hku ms econ…)

The only different between US and non-US is: in US, a master is not necessary to be admitted to PhD, but a master is generally required in other part of the world.

I don't know which program you mean by "被吹上天的某欧洲项目", so please name it, else it is just a statement without any evidence. (i guess you mean CEMFI? honestly I think gter overvalue it a bit........but the key selling point of that program is indeed not the program structure (of course is good but not something stand it out), but rather the faculty student ratio...which is rare among most master over the world)


3.
people often say that reference letter are the most important, much more important than other stuffs.......and indeed that's true, but one point to remember is........reference letter is just the way for information transfer, and how one can get a strong reference? Nothing special, but just let the refreee know that one have good potential for do research, i.e. solid background (able to do research), and some research background (i.e. know what research is). Of course a letter from "big cow" is much more powerful as it is much more creditable.
=> some stuffs is indeed not going to be shown to the admission committee, but indeed the referee instead....in order to have a strong reference letter.
(same logic for good grade.....no one really knows how the grade curve are for other university.....but with a good grade, the referee can easily tick a better percentile in the box, and use it as a support for saying something good for the applicant)

(just my own experience) I was asked to give the professor a copy of my transcript every time when I ask for a reference letter.......(and I think it is reasonable to expect the professors know how solid stuffs are in the same department. Not necessarily mention the level in the letter, but will think twice to support too strongly if the student always take the easiest course to get some A. Some explicitly said to me that they do care about that.)