We are Economics PhD students from five British universities — LSE, Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, and Warwick. We are excited to mentor and advise aspiring applicants to academic economics programs.
We are concerned about the barriers that prevent individuals from first-generation households, low-income families, developing countries, and other disadvantaged backgrounds, from entering academic economics. Many of these barriers stem from a lack of access to knowledge that others in the field may take for granted. This may include information on the admissions pipeline, research opportunities, specific research and technical skills needed to succeed in a strong economics program, and familiarizing with institutions. Other barriers can include a lack of confidence that may prevent individuals from striving in the first place.
To close these knowledge gaps, build applicants' confidence, and leveling opportunity, we launched the AMP in 2020, and have been growing ever since.
Hence, AMP is not a substitute for the work that is required to do well; rather, it is mentorship that will be useful in (1) orienting and complementing your efforts, (2) connecting with mentors and (3) informing about opportunities that make for a good fit for your goals. It is like asking for the route to a well-traveled person and roadblocks one may face heading toward your destination.
Our leadership team and mentors come from various countries and backgrounds, and we are committed to making a real impact during the admissions process. Most importantly, we hope to welcome you as future colleagues and friends in our departments!
AMP welcomes everyone interested in pursuing a PhD in Economics. We encourage college students, research assistants, pre-docs, and industry professionals to apply. Our support is likely to be more valuable for those who do not know the pathways to pursuing economics, are first-generation, or come from low-income, developing countries or otherwise disadvantaged backgrounds who lack know-what and know-how of academic economics and admissions.
AMP mentors are Economics PhD students from LSE, Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, or Warwick who volunteer to mentor potential applicants. They provide advice on finding the right programs, what a strong statement of purpose or research statement looks like, highlighting strengths of applicants, addressing their weaknesses, informing about courses that will be useful in economic research (if applicants are still studying), and on reference letters. Mentors also share their own experiences to give applicants a better understanding of what it’s like to pursue a PhD in economics. Part of "mentorship" is to also to help you articulate what your own goals, and how PhD aligns with your goals, rather than impose a research program or PhD itself as a goal. Our mentors originate from around the world, and depending on applicants' preferences, we match them with best fit mentors.
Mentees connect with their mentor via email and online calls to discuss their profile, application and ask any questions about the process. The mentorship process usually lasts for a few weeks or months, but it depends a lot on case-by-case basis.
If your goal is to pursue economics research and apply for a research or a PhD program, then you should consider applying to AMP. Pursuing PhD and building a profile for a strong application for it is a big commitment in terms of time, planning and effort.
It is possible you realize through the mentorship process that research or PhD is not something want to pursue. Or you may alternatively learn that you need to gain more research experience, skills, pursue a Masters program or take coursework before making a strong application. That is totally fine and still a valid reason to apply for the AMP.
What we require is you to have an interest in pursuing research at the time of your application to AMP, since this is what we specialize in.
That is not a problem, but it depends. AMP is run by Economics departments. Top PhD programs in finance, quantitative public policy and management have large overlaps with economics, especially in the core training provided in the first couple of years of the PhD (namely econometrics, microeconomics and macroeconomics). Given we understand institutions well in economics, we are of most value to those mentees who wish to pursue research in economics. Our expertise could be limited in other programs since they may be looking for different things than economists do and require slightly different planning.
Qualitatively oriented programs are not fit for AMP.
Absolutely! As long as you are interested in pursuing an Economics PhD, we welcome you to apply. Our leadership team and mentors are well versed with top programs in UK, US and Europe, and many of our mentors have either studied at or done research with these departments. We can provide you even more detailed inputs if you plan to apply to UK based programs. Our mentors originate from around the world, and tend to be versed with institutions and barriers faced by applicants unique to various countries.
AMP is ideal for prospective applicants who will submit their applications to Economics PhD programs — either this year or the next. We prioritize mentees who are keen to apply to LSE, Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, or Warwick.
Applications for 2025-26 season are ongoing.
Please fill out our application form here to apply to become a mentee with the AMP.
Although this year's deadlines are yet to be announced, last year's deadlines are below. These tend to be roughly stable.
Cambridge: 18 November 2025 (early deadline); 2 December 2025 (final deadline); PhD application details
LSE: 16 December 2024 (TBA for 2025-26 cycle); PhD application details
Oxford: 27 January 2026; PhD application details; MPhil application details
UCL: 13 January 2026; PhD application details
Warwick: 15 January 2026; PhD application details
Application Assistance & Mentoring Program. Many students interested in an economics PhD experience disparate degree of support in the application process. The Application Assistance and Mentoring Program (AAMP) aims to mitigate these gaps by helping students from underrepresented groups connect with a graduate student mentor in MIT or Harvard’s PhD economics programs. Deadline: July
Graduate Applications International Network (GAIN). The GAIN program matches African-American, Latino, and Native American economics Ph.D. students and new doctorates with mentors in the field. Deadline: March
Women in Economics. Open to all WiE members with an economist background (or related) who identify as women, non-binary, gender non-conforming, queer or questioning. Deadline: September
Graduate Mentorship Program. The aim of the Duke Economics Graduate Mentorship Program (GMP) is to help applicants from under-represented backgrounds in the field prepare their applications to Economics Ph.D. programs by matching them to mentors in the Duke Econ Ph.D. program. Deadline: Late August
Research in color foundation. The Research In Color Foundation (RIC) is a 501c(3) nonprofit organization that is dedicated to increasing the number of Ph.D. students of color in economics and economics-adjacent disciplines. Deadline: December