Links of Interest:
Susan Athey's Advice Page - short, to the point, yet comprehensive.
Tony Williams' Comments - similar to what I would say about my experience.
EconPhD.net - a comprehensive site with rankings, advice and lots of info; a good place to get oriented.
RePEc - rankings of economists, university, research institutions, etc.
Specific to me:
I found it rather amusing
that I am listed first (now second, thank goodness) on the graduate student web pages. What a
responsibility. And the odds of "Borgschulte" being first (ok, maybe second) in a list
of 50 last names? Maybe I'll
get ambitious and setup a link offering a guide to the
other students' pages... probably not.
I put this page up in the
summer of 2007, while working as a graduate student instructor here at
Berkeley. There were several students in my intermediate macro
section who asked me for advice about applying to graduate school. I remember looking up tons of graduate students' webpages linked off all the department pages- hi!
Hopefully it speaks to some of you.
In the process of preparing for graduate school I read a lot of good and mediocre advice. My first and best advice : be sure to apply to Berkeley! Second best advice is to seek an adviser who knows the field, ideally a practicing economist at a research university.
There is a problem inherent in putting up a page like this. I don't think there should be one type of student that graduate schools
look for, or a checklist of things to do before you get here.
If the field was like that it would quickly stagnate, and to the extent that it may already lean this way, I don't want to encourage it. The most interesting people I've met here have been people who have
backgrounds in totally different fields, and interests outside of what economists "normally" study. However, I do believe there are certain skills in logic, careful thinking about statistical issues, and a facility with computation that CAN help anyone thinking about seriously studying economics. Make of it what you will.
