How can I improve my odds of getting into graduate school for economics?
You’re right – you’re at a great disadvantage without any collegiate calc, stat or econ courses on your transcript. You’re probably looking at low-end state school programs at best unless you ace your GRE and are widely published in your field, which it sounds like you’re not. The problem is that there has been a large influx of grad students in econ in recent years, so you’re facing much stiffer competition. I’d say either make up your coursework deficit by taking those classes (maybe an associate’s degree?), or figure out if you really need a Master’s degree to do what you want to do.
As an Economics PhD drop-out, I would suggest taking lots, and lots, and lots, of math and statistics. If you are naturally a whiz at math but just never had the opportunity or need to take very many math classes, then you may do fine. What I mean as a whiz would be if you do differentials and integrations for fun while watching hockey, or if you do matrix algebra on napkins at lunch, or if you use linear programming to calculate your most efficient route through town to pick up dry cleaning, go to the bank, and pick up dinner. If you are math-challenged or even at all math-uncomfortable, you need to get yourself to calculus and statistics classes, and I mean ASAP. Your results on the GRE will help gauge your needs. If you score less than 700 on the Math, you need help. Most of my classmates had 720+ math. Anything over 600 in Verbal you’ll probably be fine.
