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Profile Evaluation


Deekdeekerson

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Berkeley

Undergrad GPA: ~3.94

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 170/159/4.0

Math Courses: Calc I/II/II (As), Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (A), Introduction to Statistics (A), Concepts of Probability (A-), Linear Algebra (Upper-Div; Proofs, etc.) (A), Real Analysis (A+), Mathematical Economics (like a matching theory class) (A)

Econ Courses (grad-level): Econometrics I at a top 40 school near where I do research (IP)

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro to Micro/Macro (A), Intermediate Micro/Macro (A-), Industrial Organization & Public Policy (A), Financial Economics (A), Econometric Analysis (A), Public Economics (A), Mathematical Economics (A), Senior Honors Thesis (A)

Other Courses: Random philosophy courses, poli sci courses, and general ed. stuff.

Letters of Recommendation: 1) Honors Thesis Adviser, has known me for well over a year and will definitely write me a glowing letter. Also one of the department chairs.

2) Professor in one of my advanced undergrad courses. Also knows my research interests well and will write me a great letter. Stanford PhD.

3) Professor in another advanced undergrad course. Will likely be a good letter only because he is extremely nice and is also a Stanford PhD. Also a department Chair.

4) Graduate Student at UCLA. This letter is the one that I likely won't use even though it demonstrates more of my research interests. I would like advice on this letter probably.

Research Experience: Honors thesis revolving around behavioral economics and competition. 2 summers of research experience at UCLA with graduate student revolving around industrial organization and optimization stuff. Currently working at a top think tank that is extremely academically focused. Won't say much more than that about the current position since my profile is already fairly recognizable.

Teaching Experience: Volunteered for the tutoring program in Oakland and Berkeley high schools for ~1 year. Was probably around 8-10 hours a week. I don't expect to even include this unless its prompted.

Research Interests: I have a pretty wide range of interests (IO, behavioral, metrics, and public finance) at the moment, but I'm sure I'll be able to narrow it down for my SOP.

SOP: Will likely be pretty standard.

Concerns: Three primary concerns. The first is that I don't have a lot of math outside of the standard Lin, RA, probability, etc. I did very well in all of my math courses and have a 170 on Q GRE so maybe that concern is unfounded. Second concern is no grad level Econ courses. I took RA during my last semester so I didn't really have time to get into Micro or Metrics or something like that. I'm currently taking PhD Metrics where I'm at, at a reasonably good PhD granting program. Will I be able to report that on my applications and will I be able to report my grade in that class as well if it finishes in early December? (I'm fairly confident that I'll get an A). My final concern is with my letters. The first two letters I mentioned above are ones that I will 100% use as they both know me very well, are pretty well known, and will write great letters. Should my third letter be the one mentioned above though, or should I use the graduate student letter? Or should I use the first 3 I mentioned and then send a 4th anyway? How would that work or be perceived? Thanks!

Other: -

Applying to: Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, Chicago, Princeton, Yale, NYU, UPenn, and maybe a few others.

Edited by Deekdeekerson
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A bump is fine. I think one of the reasons your profile evaluation is not getting much attention is because you have a really really good profile. You will be very successful in applying to grad school.

 

With respect to your letter from a UCLA grad student, I would advise against it. You have what seem to be 3 good letters from Berkeley faculty, which will be very credible and respected. I would save the research you are doing with the UCLA student for your statement of purpose.

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Thanks for the advice with the letter; bringing up the research there in my sop is definitely a good alternative! I guess the only question I have left is how Fall courses (my phd metrics course) are signaled or viewed by adcoms? Do I just bring it up in my SOP? Do I send the transcript after the course is over?, etc. I assume that this question has been asked many times and I certainly wouldn't be opposed to someone linking me to another thread where it has been answered.
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I am confident you will do well in the metrics course, so I won't even really consider the alternative. You probably would want to briefly mention in your SOP that you are taking the metrics course, but that's it. I would let your updated transcript you send in do most of the talking. Focus your SOP more on your research interests, experience, and extracurricular work.
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Your profile is pretty great. Adcoms probably won't ask for updated transcripts from you, they'll just assume As or A-'s and either way your profile is very strong and they won't make or break you either way.

 

I would advise you don't use the graduate student letter under any circumstances. At the same time, I would advise trying to get a letter from someone who does academic research at the think tank. It would complement your profile quite well.

 

Other than that, I would wish you luck but you won't need it.

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First of all, well done for the fantastic grades. I think that you will have few rejections as you have great grades from a very good university.

 

Probably your 'worst' case scenario is that you'll stay at Berkeley to do your PhD (I guess admission to PhD at Berkeley is pretty much guaranteed), which most people would be envious of.

 

I am interested to see your offers of admission in a few months, keep updating this forum with how you get on.

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