Is this profile good enough for schools ranked 40-50? Please recommend schools

**samboy** · 10-25-2010, 11:58 PM

Type of Undergrad: BS Mathematics, BA Economics, Small unknown liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.99, Top 3 in my graduating class till now.
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 620V, 4.0AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-II, Multivariate Calc I-II, Discrete Math, Linear Algebra, Game Theory, Partition Dynamics, Abstract Algebra, Probability, Advanced Calc (Intro to Real Analysis) (All A's), Taking Math Stat and ODE next sem.
Econ Courses (all undergrad): Micro, Macro, Intemediate Macro-Micro, Econometrics, Money Credit Banking, Economic History,Business Finance, Statistics for Economics, Independent Study on Time-Series (All A's), Taking Econ. Development next sem.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Director of the Summer REU Institute (Math), 1 Micro Professor (not well-known), 1 Math Professor who is my thesis advisor + took game theory with (fairly well-known)
Research Experience: Summer REU Applied Math. RA for a Math professor for 2 years. Senior Thesis in Game Theory/Repeated Games.
Teaching Experience: Tutoring Physics, Math and Econ for 3 years. Taught Math to high school students during the summer after my freshman year.
Research Interests: Development Economics, Game Theory.
SOP: Standard. Tried to relate my interest in Development to the fact that I come from a poor country.
Concerns: letter of recommendation/Undergrad reputation. Math-concentrated research/letter of recommendation. Low AWA score. No Grad-Level Econ courses
Applying to: NYU, Rutgers, CUNY, Fordham. Please recommend others?

I dont know if I should apply to top 50 schools. I've been following this forum pretty regularly and I don't think I stand a chance at NYU or any other top 20. I dont know if I want to go anywhere else. Rutgers is my realistic first choice, but it seems like funding will be the biggest issue. Should I apply for full-time RA jobs instead?

**corolla09** · 10-26-2010, 12:10 AM

Are you personally limited to the NYC area? If not there are a good number of top-50 schools you can probably get into.

**Liwanyo** · 10-26-2010, 12:13 AM

All but NYU seem like near guarantees to me, and you certainly wouldn't have your application thrown out there either. What's the weakness besides undergrad institution? I think top 20 is easily possible, right?

**whatdoido** · 10-26-2010, 12:13 AM

In my opinion, since it seems as though your LORs will be weak, you should apply to full time RA jobs and apply in the next cycle. Your profile seems to have all of the math and econ courses, grades, and GRE for top 25 schools. A full time RA position at a highly ranked university will give you the chance to work with someone closely and get a recommendation from a more well-known economist. It will also give you the chance to put some economics RA experience on your profile. Once that is done, I think your profile would be worthy of top 25 programs, given that your letter of recommendation writer likes you. Also, take what I say with a grain of salt because I'm not that well informed about this stuff, its just what I've heard.

**econornot** · 10-26-2010, 12:27 AM

You have a good profile. If you want to further boost it, go do an RA or do a Master. I just checked out your previous thread and you had gotten some really good advices there, so I don't understand why you are suddenly asking if you qualify for a 40-50 schools. You know you are better than that...

**samboy** · 10-26-2010, 12:41 AM

Guys,

Thank you for the encouragement. I really appreciate it.
@corolla09: Yea, I've been in this region for almost 3.5 years now and I prefer to stay around here. But having said that, I will be applying to few other top 50 schools not in this region.
@Liwanyo: I might get into the other programs that I mentioned but I will need funding which will make it a bit harder. Top 20? I dont know man.
@whatdoido: Yes, my biggest concern is my letter of recommendation's. I'm sure they will be very very good, but from what I've seen in this forum, you need letter of recommendation's from economists who are active in Research. My Econ professor is not well-known in her field.
@econornot: Thanks for the encouraging words buddy.

Do you know what other places have openings for RA positions? I know NBER has one. But where do we find information on RA openings at, say, Top 10 schools? If I can do a full-time RA for one or two years, take a few PhD level courses and then apply, I would definitely aim for top 15. So any information on RA job links would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

**samboy** · 10-26-2010, 12:48 AM

econornot,

Yea, I got some really good advice there. But I just wanted to gather views with my completed profile. I took my GRE and finalised some of my schools. I was still in my REU then and I had not made up my mind about the schools then. Like you said, I will be looking for RA positions. I dont know about the masters as I mentioned in my previous thread. If I had to do a masters, I would go back home and do it.

**Harry2010** · 10-26-2010, 12:52 AM

Originally Posted by whatdoido

In my opinion, since it seems as though your LORs will be weak, you should apply to full time RA jobs and apply in the next cycle. Your profile seems to have all of the math and econ courses, grades, and GRE for top 25 schools. A full time RA position at a highly ranked university will give you the chance to work with someone closely and get a recommendation from a more well-known economist. It will also give you the chance to put some economics RA experience on your profile. Once that is done, I think your profile would be worthy of top 25 programs, given that your letter of recommendation writer likes you. Also, take what I say with a grain of salt because I'm not that well informed about this stuff, its just what I've heard.

I completely agree with whatdoido. Given that all the rest part of your application is very good, you should get some econ research experience and work with well-known economists. In that way, you surely will have a great chance to get into top 25.