Quote:
Originally Posted by Zavera
IVY league schools check where you are from. If you are not from a highly ranked school or other IVY league they toss your application. I got this straight from several director's mouths too
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And I personally know Americans in/recently graduated from econ PhD programs at Ivy League Schools (Princeton and Harvard) who did not attend top-ranked undergrad institutions. An undergrad degree from a top-ranked school helps, but we have existence proofs that it is not necessary.
Before taking Zavera's claim too seriously, remember that this is the same poster who claimed "
The Cornell faculty doesn't help their students get jobs, nor do they even care. I got that straight from the graduate director's own mouth (Reasons for schools with poor placements)."
To
the OP, I suspect that there is some minimum GRE score. Someone probably takes a quick look at applications below that cut-off to see if there is something else that makes the applicant worth considering, and a top-ranked undergrad school or
LOR from a very well known economist might move an application from the "discard" to the "consider" pile.