Economics PhD Harvard

How hard is it to be the best systematically over so many years? Of course, the answer depends on so many things… But in such a highly competitive social science as economics it is extremely hard. Of course, there are great Professors at Yale and Princeton, Chicago and UCLA. But the concentration of the best economist per square inch is by no doubts is the highest at the Harvard Economics PhD.

There are many jokes about PhD Economics Harvard. One is that your grandfather and father should have studied at Harvard PhD Economics for you to be admitted to the program. Another joke is that the IMF and the World Bank hire the third-tier students from the top PhD Economics Harvard because the best students would go MIT. No doubts these jokes are made by those envy people who never got a chance to get to Harvard.

How to increase your chances of getting to Harvard? The easiest way is to have your parents and grandparents studied there. Your chances will probably be higher if your family is sufficiently rich to donate enough money to establish an endowed chair in Economics at Harvard. If money is not your strength you can try to publish a paper first in some decent economics journal such as American Economic Review or Journal of Political Economy. The trick is that you cannot publish in those journals without a PhD. However, if one of your Economics Professors is good enough to publish there you can try to convince her to make you a co-author.

There is an easier way, however. You can try to get to some other top school like Yale or Princeton. Of course, if you can get to Economics PhD Harvard any other option is a waste of time. So the trick is to get to another PhD, study there like crazy for a year, especially, in the courses taught by Harvard graduates. How do we know that there will be any? The answer is simple – if there is no one from Harvard PhD then it is not a top PhD in Economics. If you get “A” in such a course the chances are that your Professor will write you a reference and you will be admitted to Harvard Phd Economics.

For foreigners the problem becomes even harder because their parents could not have studied at Harvard. However, there is another loophole that the foreigners can use. It is very likely that there is a Professor from the same country as the applicant. In this case it is absolutely necessary to find the way of contacting this Professor for a reference letter and advice.

Do not neglect young faculty members at Harvard Economics PhD because admission selection is often done by younger faculty. In other words, networking is the key in the process! Try to get noticed by Harvard faculty by publishing, presenting at some Harvard conference or inquiring Professors from the same origin.