greg3 Posted November 7, 2017 Share Posted November 7, 2017 (edited) I'm a UK-based student, currently doing an MSc and applying for PhDs in econ for Fall 2018. I'm trying to figure out where I should aim to get accepted. Would that potentially be top10, top20, top30 or maybe lower? I'd really appreciate your suggestions. Undergraduate Type of Undergrad: Top 3-5 UK uni for economics and maths Major: Economics and statistics (basically 50/50) GPA: 80% (First-Class honours) Maths: two-semester analysis, one-semester linear algebra, set theory, multivariate calculus (all 1st class honours, top 5% of the class); loads of statistics courses (all of them 1st clas honours). Economics: 12 courses in total, mathematical economics, intermediate level micro, macro and econometrics (almost all 1st class honours). Thesis: (macroeconomics)Top 1 in almost 400 students cohort; received a departamental prize for that Graduate Type of Grad: Oxbridge Major: Statistics GPA: won't be available before I apply for PhD. Courses: loads of advanced mathematical statistics. GRE: 169 Quant Research Experience - Two internships in governments related to macro policy. - Research assistant at a national research institution. I know it might not be enough information to give an accurate evaluation, but I was wondering whether based on that you could make a suggestion how I stand among applications from the US and what sort of range of unis I should apply to. Cheers! Edited November 8, 2017 by greg3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg3 Posted November 9, 2017 Author Share Posted November 9, 2017 anyone? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard7 Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 I am assuming that your undergraduate GPA is around 3.2 in the American system. Then that might be your problem. It would help to know which classes you did not do as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg3 Posted November 9, 2017 Author Share Posted November 9, 2017 Thanks for your answer! I would think that 80% in the UK system would translate to at least 3.9 GPA if not 4.0, am I wrong? I know it's a bit peculiar, in the way the British systems works it's usually difficult to score 70+%, while in the US it'd be a good pass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
startz Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 You seem to have a good record. Almost any place is plausible, especially if someone says you were the best of 400 students. Where do your recommenders suggest you apply? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg3 Posted November 9, 2017 Author Share Posted November 9, 2017 My recommenders were comfortable with recommending me to Harvard or Princeton, but my personal top choices are Yale and Cornell. I'll get a reference from my thesis' supervisor, who will mention my relative performance. Thing I'm most worried about is that I don't have any hard-core maths like measure theory, metric spaces, ODEs, topology etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard7 Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 You are probably right. I am not familiar with the UK system. Then sky is the limit. But I would recommend applying to more schools. At top universities, even with a great application like yours, it can all come down to luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg3 Posted November 9, 2017 Author Share Posted November 9, 2017 Thank you Richard. I really don't want to make a mistake of overestimating my chances as I know that there are hundreds of, probably better, candidates from the US. Do you think that applying broadly to top 1-35 to about 15 schools I should stand a good chance? Or rather, should I pick some schools from top 50-100 just in case? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard7 Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 A former Admission committee chair once gave me this advice. Split your application into 3 tiers, and apply a couple schools in each tier. For example, 5 in Top 15, 5 in 15 - 30, and 2 in 30 - 50. The last group will be your safety school. It might be a good idea to choose the lower ranked schools to apply to in part based on what different programs are good at. In general, if you can get into the top 20 programs, you should go for the highest ranked one because those programs are generally very good in all major fields, but as you go down the rankings, the fields become more important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
startz Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 A former Admission committee chair once gave me this advice. Split your application into 3 tiers, and apply a couple schools in each tier. For example, 5 in Top 15, 5 in 15 - 30, and 2 in 30 - 50. The last group will be your safety school. It might be a good idea to choose the lower ranked schools to apply to in part based on what different programs are good at. In general, if you can get into the top 20 programs, you should go for the highest ranked one because those programs are generally very good in all major fields, but as you go down the rankings, the fields become more important. Richard7 is giving good advice. But if your advisors are willing to recommend you to Harvard and Princeton, then apply heavily to the top 10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg3 Posted November 9, 2017 Author Share Posted November 9, 2017 Thank you very much for great advice, guys. I will apply to the majority of top10, broadly within top20-40 and to about 1-2 school in top40-60. I hope that this approach will make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rohanps Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 I am assuming that your undergraduate GPA is around 3.2 in the American system. Then that might be your problem. It would help to know which classes you did not do as well. A First is the highest grade available, and is the equivalent of a 4.0 or 4.3 GPA in US terms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tutonic Posted November 12, 2017 Share Posted November 12, 2017 Thank you very much for great advice, guys. I will apply to the majority of top10, broadly within top20-40 and to about 1-2 school in top40-60. I hope that this approach will make sense. Given your profile, I don't think you should waste time (and money) applying to Top 40-60 schools. Your safety schools will probably be ~ rank 25-30 or so. If you apply too far down the rankings with an inordinately good profile, chances are, they won't accept you since they'll know you're applying to them as a safety measure (and hence, know that it will be unlikely for you to accept if they provided you an offer). They'll rather provide offers to students who actually want to attend those programmes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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