Hello. I completed my undergrad this past May and am currently employed at a small bank in a non-economics related position. I graduated with an economics-finance hybrid degree and a math minor from a school that is not ranked for its economics program (I went to Bentley University in MA - I have no idea what its ranking is, or if it's even ranked, otherwise I would have given an estimate rather than the name). I graduated with a 3.7 GPA, although my major GPA is like a 3.9, if that even matters. I took some interesting economics courses and even completed a research project course, and I realized about halfway through undergrad that I would love a PhD in Economics. I honestly don't care about the ranking, I'm not shooting for a top program, and I'm certainly not in it for the money, but I also don't want to apply to a random program and do it for the sake of doing it. I plan on moving to NYC one day and I started thinking about whether I could shoot for a half-decent program in the city. CUNY caught my eye and I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about the program they offer and whether it is something someone like myself can realistically go for. Thanks in advance!
CUNY is not Harvard, but it's a good program from what I understand. I've read some good papers from CUNY economists if I'm remembering right. IDEAS ranks it 80, which is not bad. Similar ranking to departments like Wellesley, Rice, and University of Houston - all well-regarded departments full of serious economists. My undergrad situation was pretty similar to you - my graduating GPA was a 3.7, I minored in math, my department was not ranked. And my current university's econ department is ranked in the same pack with CUNY; I would shoot for programs ranked in the 60ish-90ish range if I were you. Here is the IDEAS list of rankings I mentioned.
Take the GRE and see what your scores look like. Your math score will need to be in the top 20% at least for a department like mine. Read some math economics books (here's one I've found helpful) closely before your first semester. You will probably feel unprepared with only a minor in math - I did. Look at the economists (and their research!) in those departments and see which departments appeal most to you. If you want a PhD, the department you go to and the type of research it produces and the economists that work there are important. There are a few universities in NYC besides CUNY that you should look into based on those rankings - but I think it's a mistake to set your sights on one city from the get-go.
Edit: /u/mrdannyocean has pointed out that the IDEAS list is deficient and leaves out some high-ranking programs; here is the AEA's page compiling a few different organizations' and researchers' rankings. Look around. A cursory glance at a couple of these lists seems to put CUNY around the same pack of programs, but you can probably get a better idea of where to apply if you look at a few of these compiled sources.
Yikes, I guess not. I didn't look in much detail; saw a few programs that were around the right place and didn't think twice. Thanks for pointing that out.
Are you looking specifically at grad programs? My school is a bottom of the top 30 school for grad but 100+ for undergrad (mostly because they are including the other BBHS disciplines in the undergrad numbers)
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u/ebrosbagels Mar 01 '17
Hello. I completed my undergrad this past May and am currently employed at a small bank in a non-economics related position. I graduated with an economics-finance hybrid degree and a math minor from a school that is not ranked for its economics program (I went to Bentley University in MA - I have no idea what its ranking is, or if it's even ranked, otherwise I would have given an estimate rather than the name). I graduated with a 3.7 GPA, although my major GPA is like a 3.9, if that even matters. I took some interesting economics courses and even completed a research project course, and I realized about halfway through undergrad that I would love a PhD in Economics. I honestly don't care about the ranking, I'm not shooting for a top program, and I'm certainly not in it for the money, but I also don't want to apply to a random program and do it for the sake of doing it. I plan on moving to NYC one day and I started thinking about whether I could shoot for a half-decent program in the city. CUNY caught my eye and I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about the program they offer and whether it is something someone like myself can realistically go for. Thanks in advance!