The Economics Applicant Mentoring Program (AMP) is a graduate student-led initiative from the Economics departments at LSE, Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, and Warwick. It helps applicants by matching them with PhD student mentors from these universities to guide them through pathways to pursue research in economics and with PhD application process.
In the four years since AMP began, we have mentored over 500 applicants, many of whom have had successful academic careers since.
Applying successfully to Economics PhD programs can be challenging, especially for those without access to people familiar with the process. Some applicants benefit from help from family or friends who are academics, or have experience with admissions into top programs through their own work and experience. However, this kind of support is often unavailable for all and therefore creates unequal opportunity. AMP aims to break down these barriers.
Barriers to entry to academic economics can stem from a lack of access to knowledge on the admissions pipeline, research opportunities, specific research and technical skills, and familiarizing with processes at each step. Other barriers include not knowing what a PhD entails, opportunities after a PhD, and a lack of confidence that may prevent individuals from striving for it in the first place.
If you plan to pursue academic programs in economics and would like to seek mentorship, do consider applying for AMP!
For more details on applying, please check our Frequently Asked Questions.
For recent evidence on socioeconomic diversity in academic economics, see Anna Stansbury and Robert Schultz's paper in the Journal of Economic Perspectives (2023).