Cornell University Unit Name 1 Unit Name 2

• Ph.D. Faculty Directory
• Ph.D. Program Contacts
• GSAFE
• Graduate School
• Admissions and Financial Aid
• Ph.D. Job Candidates

Admissions and Financial Aid

Cornell Graduate School Admissions

Admissions
Foreign Applicants
Financial Aid
Fellowships
Teaching Assistantships
Research Assistantships

Admissions

Students may only start in the Fall term.

Undergraduate Degree
The Ph.D. program in Economics does not require an applicant to have completed an undergraduate degree in Economics or in Mathematics for admission. But note the prerequisites in Economics and Mathematics. These should be completed prior to the admissions process in January and February. If courses in Mathematics or Microeconomics are completed after the transcript has been sent, the student is strongly advised to send an updated transcript (a copy will do) showing the grades in these courses.

References
Applicants should ask their references to address not only their academic prospects in their letters, but to also address their prospects as a teacher. Academic references should preferably be from professors in one’s major subject and possibly from a Mathematics professor in an advanced mathematics class. If others would know more about the applicant’s prospects as a teacher, supplementary letters can be provided from professors for whom one has taught or given oral presentations.

GRE
Applicants are required to have taken the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE). As a practical matter a high score on the GRE Quantitative examination is very important for both admission and financial-aid considerations. GRE subject examinations are optional.

Deadline
Applications, including letters of reference, GRE and TOEFL scores, should be received by Cornell by January 15th. Admissions are generally announced in mid March.

Acceptance Decisions
Cornell University, like most prominent American graduate schools, is a member of the Council of Graduate Schools in the United States. As a member of this group, Cornell may not consider an acceptance (of admission and/or aid) from a student to be binding until after April 15th. (The applicant may renege on their acceptance of any school's offer by writing that school before April 15th.) Because early acceptance of an offer from a university is not binding on the student, we make most financial aid offers in mid to late March.

Foreign Applicants

The TOEFL examination is required of all applicants from countries where English is not the official native language, unless the applicant has been awarded an undergraduate degree from a qualified, English speaking only, University. Accepted applicants may be required to take English courses if their English is deemed to be marginal in any of aural, oral, or written skills.

Furthermore, for non-native English speakers, you are strongly advised to get supplemental letters of reference from native English speakers if at all possible. These letters should address your likely "presentational skills" in English (e.g., potential for success as a teaching assistant). The writer need not be one of your professors; in practice these letters often come from visiting American academics, sometimes visiting departments other than Economics at your school for a seminar or a semester whom you have asked to have a conversation with you for the purposes of such a letter. Further, many Universities have English language departmnents with American (or British) faculty members.

Financial Aid

Financial aid is not "need based", all applicants are considered for financial aid awards based on academic merit and potential success as a teaching assistant.

Aid decisions for many students are contingent upon the acceptances or rejections of those who have the initial aid offers. The aid market, therefore, is very active between April 1st and April 15th. Applicants are advised to make certain we know how they can be reached quickly (by e-mail, or if necessary fax or telephone) during that time.

Some successful students with self-funding in the first year may be funded in subsequent years if they are likely to be outstanding teaching or research assistants. A key criterion for a teaching assistantship is teaching excellence; those who are deemed to be unlikely to excel in teaching in English will in most cases not receive financial assistance. (I-20 visa guarantees are taken seriously, only a few self-funded non native English speakers will receive financial aid.)

Financial aid packages for incoming students are typically guaranteed, given satisfactory performance, through the Spring term of the fifth year of study (if five years are in fact needed to complete the degree). Most of these are in the form of fellowships (approximately ten per year).

Fellowships

The normal package includes two fellowship years. These fellowships include an academic year stipend (currently $20,710) with four years of Summer stipends (at $4,100). They in addition cover full tuition ($29,500) and medical insurance. Given that the third and fourth Summers are on fellowship, as is the fourth year, this provides for a fifteen month research period without job requirements.

Further, with the Special Committee’s support, the student can use the fellowship to study elsewhere, possibly at another university or maybe doing research in another country.

Teaching Assistantships

A few students will be brought in on teaching or researching assistantships. These too may be guaranteed for five academic years (subject to satisfactory performance), but Summer aid may not be guaranteed (some Summer Session grading and other positions may be available). Teaching assistantships also cover the tuition as well as an academic year stipend and medical insurance. (Note that in practice many first year teaching or research assistants defer part of the first year core requirements, typically Econometrics or Macroeconomics, to their second year of study.)

As noted, Cornell (fully) funded students receive medical insurance-- all others are required to purchase medical insurance.

Most of our financial aid for our continuing students (including fellowship students in their second, third and fifth year) is also in the form of teaching assistantships.

One of the primary concerns at Cornell is teaching excellence. This is desirable in its own right, and it is valuable for the student to be able to establish excellence in teaching for the job market. We have a variety of programs available to assist students in becoming good teachers. Some of these programs are required, others are voluntary supplements.

All students who will be serving as teaching assistants for at least the first time are required to arrive at Cornell for training about ten days before the semester starts. Incoming student teaching assistants for whom English is not their native language are generally required to show up in early August for additional training, for which there is a stipend supplement for the additional living costs. (All teaching assistants are required to arrive five days in advance of classes and to remain on campus until all course grades are completed.) Students with undergraduate degrees from countries where English is not the official language are required to take an oral examination prior to being employed as a TA. Depending upon the results of this examination, they may have additional training requirements designed for non-native English speakers.

Research Assistantships

Research Assistantships may be available from individual faculty members. These are awarded to qualified graduate students whose research interests are clearly similar to those of the faculty member with the research funding, and generally to students with strong academic performance and/or special skills (e.g., programming).