profile evaluation/seeking advice for econphd 2015

[infield fly]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Top 5-10ish in an East Asian country, but not so famous in economics field

Undergrad GPA: 3.92/4.0 (Econ GPA: 4.0/4.0, Class valedictorian)

Type of Grad: Top economics institution in an East Asian country

Grad GPA: 3.55/4.0

GRE: 168Q/164V/4.0A

Math Courses: Multivariable Calculus(A, taken at a Top 10 LAC in US), Math for economist(A+), Intro Statistics(A), Linear Algebra(A-, taken at Grad institution but still UG level), Mathematical Analysis (B, taken at grad institution but still UG level) , Mathematical Statistics(B+, Grad level)

Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro(B+), Macro(A), Applied Micro(A), planning to take Advanced micro(micro sequence II) ,econometrics, and a field course this fall

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro(A+), Macro(A+), Game Theory(A+), Econometrics(A+), Trade(A+), Int'l finance(A+), Development(A+), Finance(A+)

Other Courses: Various English courses in undergrad

Letters of Recommendation: one UG professor(columbia phd, who knows me very well but not so active), professor I have TA'd and I'm RAing for(doing health/applied micro stuff& have sent some students to wisconsin, chicago, etc.), and applied econ professor

Research Experience: RA'd with a professor for a semester(data work)

Teaching Experience: principles of economics- 2 semester

Research Interests: Applied micro/labor, health, development, empirical macro

SOP: not yet written

Concerns: not sufficient math courses, B in mathematical analysis, B+ in grad micro and stats

Other: someone went to Iowa straight from my UG 7 years ago, and it looks like he was the only placement from there.

Applying to: I'm looking at UVA, Iowa, Asu, georgetown, rice, maryland, texas, bu, msu, uiuc, and johns hopkins. I've restricted to schools whose deadlines are after dec 20th. (so I can include the fall term grades of advanced micro and grad econometrics)

 

Questions:

 

1) Should I wait a year and apply when I am equipped with better grades, master thesis, and better rec(given that I spend more time RA'ing) next year? I want to apply to schools like chicago/michigan/Duke/UCSD, but if things can't be changed much due to low reputation of UG institution and B+ grad micro, I will just give a shot this year.

 

2) Am I looking at right schools? please give me some advice on schools I can add to the list. Should I focus more on 40-50ish ranked programs?

Edited July 25, 2014 by infield fly

[sulebrahim]

hopefully someone who has experience of that region can chime in, but I think what you said here is key

 

"professor I have TA'd and I'm RAing for(doing health/applied micro stuff& have sent some students to wisconsin, chicago, etc.)"

 

How does he rate you, what does he think of your chances? His input should be a good way to gauge yourself. I am always a fan of applying now and seeing what happens. If you don't like it, you can try again. I mean, you do lose a bit of cash if you try again, but maybe you learn something and work at improving It's worked for some people here.