Testmagicians, please evaluate my chances (Econ PhD)

[Mex_Econ]

Hi Testmagicians!, I’m new here.

Please evaluate my chances

Int’l Applicant (from Mexico)
Honors Double Major Econ (8.5/10) & Pol. Sci. (9.0/10) –ITAM, Mexico-
Math background (Calculus I, II, III, Multivariate Calculus, Matrix Algebra, Probability, Statistics, Econometrics, Applied Econometrics I & II, Real Analysis, Quantitative Methods I & II –grad level-)
Econ Background (Advanced Micro I & II, Advanced Macro I & II, IO, Public Finance, Political Econ I & II, Public Sector Econ, Rational Choice and Game Theory, etc.)
Summer Sessions UCSD (Int’l Econ, 2001), UC Berkeley (Econ Develop, 2002), A and A+
Public Sector Econ Diploma -Carlos III, Spain-
Master in Public Policy (9.0/10) –ITAM, Mexico-
Six Months RA -published paper- by the InterAmerican Development Bank
One year RA in Environmental Econ (Mexican Environment Ministry) - with three publications.
Two years as Economist in Labor, Education & Public Sector Econ (Mexican Education Ministry)
Two year TA in basic and intermediate Econ (undergrad)
Two great LoRs, One good of the ITAM president
Undergrad and Grad honors thesis
National Award of Economics, National Award of Economic Consultancy and two departmental awards (undergraduate thesis).
TOEFL: 253, 4.5 W
GRE: 450V /800Q/ 4.0A

Applying to:
MIT, Harvard U, Chicago U, Stanford U, Columbia U, Yale U, UC Berkeley, NYU, UCLA, Cornell U, U Penn, U Rochester, Brown U, UCSD; Duke U, U Texas and UWSTL.

I appreciate your comments.


Gracias,

[econphd123]

are u mocking me?


in case thy not. thy chances look good

[Freethinker]

Whoa! I'm impressed. But doesn't the University of California system have a cutoff of 5.0 in the AWA? Check that to avoid wasting three apps. If in the other univs there are no Verbal or AWA cutoffs, I believe you have good chances. Taking into account your profile, you seem to have researched all over the place. Which are your interests?

Btw, did you go to LACEA?

Saludos.

[Mex_Econ]

My interests are Public Sector Economics/Public Finance and Political Economy

I am not yet a member of LACEA. I expect I will (next year).

Where can I find the cutoffs of the UC universities?

[Freethinker]

Yes, those interests are logical taking into account your background. Good luck with the LACEA membership and with your apps!

About cutoffs, I'm sorry I couldn't find info for UC Berkeley, but UCLA's graduate econ site:

http://www.econ.ucla.edu/grad/

Look for the Admissions link. There you will see this:

"the Department considers only those with excellent academic records, GRE scores that average in the 80th percentile in verbal, 95 percentile in quantitative, and with a 5.0 in analytical, and those with outstanding letters of recommendation. TOEFL scores must be at least 260."

And I recall that I had read somewhere that the whole UC system had the 5.0 AWA cutoff, but don't take my word (I don't want to mislead you), contact the grad advisor!

[vqlong]

I think you dont need to take the words in websites very seriously. It is often that these words are written long a ago and things already changed. BTW, who the hell they are asking for 95% in MATH? dont they know that nowaday 92% is the maximum you can get? this is evident of the inapplicability of these guidelines.
Besides, I remmeber last year one guy getting in UCLA with <400V. In econPhd decision table, I also saw one guy getting in all top school with aid with GRE verbal =350.
I would say dont worry about it, go ahead and apply - you GRE score would not disqualify you in any schools.

[econphd123]

I heard abt the guy with V = 350. apparently he is a genius (seriously) from China... Something like he finished his undergrad in 2 years and after that they just let him hung around the university for a while and do research with profs ...

so yeah... experience outweight the gre IMHO

[snappythecrab]

I think you dont need to take the words in websites very seriously. It is often that these words are written long a ago and things already changed. BTW, who the hell they are asking for 95% in MATH? dont they know that nowaday 92% is the maximum you can get? this is evident of the inapplicability of these guidelines.

I think Yale and Berkeley both have outdated numbers.

[Mex_Econ]

Thanks for your comments, I’ll try to UC anyway

[reactor]

Your profile seems appropriate for the top schools.
Apart from the raw numbers, what about your ranking in your undergrad etc ?