A lot of people ask me about how I got into grad school, statistics, economics, cat videos etc. Here is an attempt to compile all the advice I've given over the years to many an unsuspecting aspirant. No warranty applies.
A lot of people ask me about how I got into grad school, statistics, economics, cat videos etc. Here is an attempt to compile all the advice I've given over the years to many an unsuspecting aspirant. No warranty applies.
Here's some light reading on how to get into an econ PhD program: The Complete Guide to Getting Into an Economics Ph.D. Program
Next, go through http://econphd.econwiki.com/. This website is the comprehensive archive of everything a prospective econ PhD might be interested in. There's advice, there's grad level course lecture notes, there's even a ranking section that may help you evaluate programs.
Some more professional advice from Susan Athey, a prominent economist at Stanford.
1) Coursework in advanced micro theory (choice theory, game theory and/or market design) and strong quantitative skills (linear algebra, real analysis, some probability and statistics, especially regression analysis, and programming—some combination of Stata, R, Python, Git). A good GPA in these courses is important.
2) Experience with econ research (such as an honors thesis or an RA with a professor). Having a paper may not be needed but good if there.
3) Letters of recommendation from top academics (usually NOT managers in industry or government). One letter from a professor whose class you've taken and done well in is fine, but at least two should be professors who you have worked with personally on research.
The rank of your PhD program in econ certainly matters if you want to join academia, i.e. if you want to be a professor of economics in the US. But if you wanted to go get a job in industry (in economic consulting, tech etc.) it matters much less so. Think tanks probably don’t care so much about the rank either.
There are very few general economics masters programs, but there are a sizable number of programs in development/environmental economics, public policy, education etc. Depends on what you want to specialize in. Economics PhD programs are much more competitive than masters programs, and masters programs do not necessarily help in getting into an econ PhD program, especially if they are only course-based with no research component. Given that many of these masters programs are also expensive, I would not recommend this route.
Stats masters students doing PhDs in economics is not unheard of but it is not exactly commonplace either. Stats masters have many skills useful in econ—handling data, running and interpreting regressions, being comfortable with quantitative analysis, and increasingly, methods for large datasets and machine learning. However, most stats masters students are looking to get jobs in industry, so they pick training that is more "applied." If you want to get a PhD in econ and want to go the stats masters route, you should have an equal interest in statistics as a field. You will probably have to design your masters to make sure you're taking hard econ classes and getting econ research experience, both which the masters will not automatically provide.
Not directly in econ. What economics programs look at is if you have taken advanced courses in stats and economics (game theory, choice theory, real analysis, probability theory, programming etc.). They also want to see if you have experience with academic research. So unless your policy experience involved directly working with researchers and writing papers, it will not count for much.
Find a discussion on what pre-docs are, who hires pre-docs, what skills they look for etc. here: https://bradchattergoon.com/the-economics-pre-doctoral-fellowship-what-is-it-and-should-you-apply-for-one-27965bcf7c3. Also, look at this survey of predocs and the discussion below.
At a high level, they are the same. Business school econ PhD programs tend to be smaller and harder to get into. Because they are smaller, they might also have a narrower focus and don't typically have the breadth of subfields you see in a larger economics department.
It’s easy to send PhD apps to multiple schools because there is little overhead. The only downside is the cost, so you might watch out for that. A rule of thumb I use is the lowest-ranked school you apply to should still be one you’re excited to study at, on the off chance you were rejected by everyone else.
This highly depends on what exact field and what particular interests a student has. Here is a compilation of where Stanford public policy masters students go to work after their degrees: https://publicpolicy.stanford.edu/alumni and here an equivalent list for Stanford economics PhDs: https://economics.stanford.edu/graduate/student-placement.
A number of data science programs have sprung up recently (CMU has several, in fact), and these provide excellent preparation for an industry data scientist career. However, that doesn’t mean stats is “outdated.” Stats gives you a classic core, and strong foundations are important to have, especially for getting into academia. I guess what I’m saying is a data science masters is excellent for industry but could close doors to academia (especially fields with stronger theory like statistics, economics or CS), whereas a stats masters is good for both, depending on what you do with it. In any case, regardless of name (stats vs data science), you should find a program that gives you enough flexibility to choose whatever coursework you like.
The typical jobs people take with a MS in stats/data science is to work as a data scientist or analyst in tech or finance. People also work on other domains of their interest, such as sports analytics, retail, and healthcare. There are many, many jobs available with this profile. See https://stat.illinois.edu/academics/careers-statistics for some of them.
Generally, no. It might depend on the exact institution but plan to get into a stats masters program expecting to be unfunded for at least one full year. If you are an international student, you will have to demonstrate ability to pay for that one year with your own funds anyway. Some students pay for some part of their masters using teaching or research assistantships (TAs or RAs) but these jobs are not plentiful and in any case, are not automatically granted. You should be entrepreneurial in finding them.
It is fairly common for students to take out loans to pay for such a masters, if unable to fund it themselves. Given the plentiful job prospects, a graduate can pay off these loans within a year or two of starting their job.
Absolutely. The Stanford stats program is excellent. The coursework is rigorous, the curriculum is flexible and accommodating of your particular professional interests. For me, it was very much the reason I got into the econ PhD program. It gave me access to top faculty in econ and stats, gave me opportunities to do research to figure out my interests and take PhD level classes to understand the field better. For those inclined to go to industry, statistics is booming these days with the rise of data science and is probably one of the hottest masters degrees you can get today.
I did an interview a long time ago when I was still in college, where I talk about my thought process back then. Find it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20190917053707/http://chennai36.iitm.ac.in/the-grad-guru-karthik-rajkumar-at-stanford-university/.
The first thing I would ask is what the reason is you want to apply to a degree in economics and what you hope to get out of it. Particularly with the PhD program, the initial motivation should be academic (being a professor, doing research etc.). If your goal is to do practical policy work, then you are better off doing a masters degree in public policy or government.
For getting into a PhD program in the US, I have heard three routes that work: 1) get an econ masters at places like ISI Delhi or DSE (cheapest) 2) get an econ masters at top places like LSE or 3) get a masters in statistics in a top department. My own experience is with the third option but I know many people go with option 2 (beware though that econ masters are not very common and if they are not from a top university, they might not be very useful for the purpose of admission to a PhD program). I don't know much about option 1 but I know that ISI has a solid reputation in my other field of interest, statistics, and a strong record of placing their students at top stats departments in the US.
Actually, if you asked me, I would try not to go the masters route. The trend in econ these days is to do a “pre-doc”, which is generally a two-year RA contract with a specific professor or department and get hands on research experience. These programs sometimes also allow to take a couple of classes useful for your econ PhD. They are great because they are training students specifically for getting an econ PhD, so you get more relevant mentorship and, of course, experience that enhances your PhD application. No better way to get a strong letter of rec! Look up https://twitter.com/econ_ra and http://www.nber.org.stanford.idm.oclc.org/jobs/nonnberjobs.html for listings. Not all of them sponsor international students, but some definitely do. Stanford has one open to internationals: https://siepr.stanford.edu/research/student-opportunities/predoctoral-fellowship.
Also, predocs pay you, whereas masters cost 💸💸.
I know people who have also worked with reputed organizations like J-PAL or the IIMs, working closely with a professor there, and having the professor recommend them to PhD programs. Such collaborations have placed students in top universities in the US like Berkeley etc.
Alright, here's one for you.