PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. in Economics at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland (quite prestigious for Business in Germany/Switzerland, less so for Economics), I´m German so St. Gallen might even count as experience abroad
Undergrad GPA: 5.16/6, including a bachelor´s thesis (5.5/6)
TOEFL: 118/120
GRE: Not required for Warwick, but did it anyway for fun (without any preparation
). Q:780, V:580, Writing: 5.0
Math Courses: Maths 1 and 2 during the assessment year covering what a German student with a focus on maths would do in his final 2 highschool years, then econometrics, basic statistics, applied statistics, 2 courses featuring statistic/econometric papers (Health economics and population economics), linear models and variance analysis
Econ Courses: The usual stuff (Macro 1-3, Micro 1-3), international macroeconomics, economic history of the 19th and 20th century (2 courses), Public Finance I, Economic policy.
Other Courses: That´s where St. Gallen "excels"... basics of International Affairs, basics of Political science, several courses in Law, several courses in management theory, several courses in "critical thinking", "cultural awareness" and "leadership skills" (like PHP programming, rhetoric and philosophy of money).
Letters of Recommendation: 2, one from a visiting professor and one from a lecturer. Both barely knew me (had the the professor in 2 courses, and he supervised my bachelor´s thesis, but hardly spoke more than 10 words with him in 1 year, lecturer taught only one course with a written exam for 2 credits...), I don´t even know what they wrote in their letters.
Research Experience: Several papers and a bachelor´s thesis about the profitability of Imperial Germany`s colonies (if that counts =) )
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Warwick, MSc in Economics-->going to attend this fall. University of St. Gallen, MA in Economics (they had to take me in since I did a sufficiently good BA at St. Gallen)
What would you have done differently?
Maybe attending Mannheim or Bonn in Germany as their Economics reputation is better in Germany, but I doubt I could have started a BA there back in 2004, so i would have done a Diplom (~Master), probably with no foreign experience at all and tougher chances for going abroad for the PhD.
Currently I´m doing a gap year with several internships (UBS IB, PwC, Deutsche Bank Research) before Warwick starts this fall, I tried to go to Warwick immediately after graduating from St. Gallen, but the final transcripts weren't available till late October which was too late for 2007 admission to Warwick.