Am I on the right track?

[gradientspecter]

I'm an undergraduate in my last semester and I intend to apply in the Fall. I'll also be a master's student in the Fall and I'm wondering if my credentials will be competitive by that time.

In particular, I want to know if my math grades are good enough, since I did have a bad semester last year. The main question is: should I apply this Fall or wait another year and get some more education/experience.

 

Thanks in advance for any comments! I'm sorry if this post is not of high quality or doesn't belong here. Please let me know.

 

 

PROFILE:

 

 

Type of Undergrad:

My school is the smaller branch campus of a public U.S. university ranked top 50 in graduate Economics. My campus itself has PhD program in Econ and is ranked top 150 nationally (in general, not for Econ alone).

I will be finishing a BA in Econ after 3 years instead of 4. I will then spend that 4th year as a grad student earning an MA in Econ.

 

 

Undergrad GPA:

3.8 so far. 3.9 in Econ alone. This is my last semester as an undergrad and I'm going strong.

 

 

Type of Grad:

I have taken master's and PhD level coursework in statistics, computer science, and other master's electives (see coursework below). I decided to stay an extra year as a grad student and finish an MA in Econ, so I'll be a grad student at the time of application.

 

 

Grad GPA:

3.65 after taking only 2 grad courses so far, but I'm taking 2 more this semester and I expect this to be higher by the Fall.

 

 

GRE:

I'll take this in the summer.

 

 

Math Courses:

Algebra (B+), Precalc (A), Calc 1 (A), 2 (A), and multivariate (B+), Linear Algebra (B+), Ordinary Dif Eq (B), 300-level Prob and Stat (C+, bad semester), 400-level proof course (W).

Will take introductory real analysis course (only multivar calc as prereq) in the Fall. Will take 500-level proof course and micro theory in the Fall.

 

 

Econ Courses:

Intro Micro/Macro (As), Intermed Micro/Macro Theory (As), Statistical Methods (A), 300-level honors seminar in economic history (A), Intro Econometrics (A), Individual study in econ (A), 500-level statistics and econometrics (A), 500-level compsci/data mining (B+)

I'm currently taking another 500-level elective and a PhD-level elective at the larger, better ranked university affiliated with my campus. I expect As in both.

 

 

Other Courses:

Honors independent study. Honors BA thesis.

 

 

Letters of Recommendation:

3 professors. I expect them to be good to very good.

 

 

Research Experience:

RA intern for a small public policy think tank with a fellowship. Predictive analytics intern for a medium-large municipal government. RA for a professor in freshman year. Honors BA thesis. Progress on MA thesis by the time I apply in the Fall.

 

 

Teaching Experience:

Might be able to TA in the Fall for intro theory or stats.

 

 

Research Interests:

Urban econ, Econ history, crime, drugs, prostitution (BA thesis on this topic), land use and zoning (MA thesis on this topic).

 

Other:

Member of ODE, several other honors societies.

[NBZ]

I think you're ticking all the right boxes apart from your math grades. You should definitely take introductory real analysis. I would be concerned about taking the 500-level proof course (is that a math course?): you should only take it if you can score an A/A- in it. If not, taking a lower-level math course and excelling in it will help more. The other thing that can really help is taking a rigorous PhD level course this Fall (such as micro theory) and doing really well in it.

 

What range of schools are you thinking of targeting?

[gradientspecter]

is that a math course?

 

It's a math for microeconomics course. Not in the math dept though.

 

What range of schools are you thinking of targeting?

 

Columbia is my long shot. Rutgers would be cool but I know they are big on real analysis prep. I also thought it would be neat to try for National University of Singapore and Univ of Victoria.