Profile Evaluation for middle ranked schools

[richardsorge]

Hello,

 

My target schools are generally middle ranked schools like UVA, US Davis-Irvine-SB, Michigan State, Wisconsin-Madison and maybe a couple of upper frontier schools such as Duke, UCLA and UCSD. I would be very happy if you evaluate my chances for getting admitted into phd program of one of these schools.

 

Profile:

Undergraduate education: top research university in an Eastern European country

Undergraduate Degree: Economics

Undergraduate GPA: 3.82

Math Classes: Calculus I-II (A,A), Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (A), Mathematical Programming (graduate level course and I'm currently taking it, probably will pass with B or B+), Models and Methods in Linear Optimization I-II (A, B), Advanced Calculus (currently taking, textbook is baby rudin, will pass with probably with B+,A- or A), Math for Econ (A), Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics (A)

Statistics Courses: Probability and Statistics I-II (A, A), Stochastic Models (A-), Applied Data Analysis (A)

Economics Courses: Macroeconomic Theory I-II (A,A), Microeconomic Theory I-II (A,A), Econometrics I (A-), Theories of Growth and Development I-II (A,A), Game Theory (B+), Institutions and Development (A)

Other Courses: Algorithms and Programming (java) (A-), Some European and world history courses (A's mostly)

Research Experience: unfortunately I have no credible research experience. Although in econometrics and growth courses I have written 2 research papers as assignment, I guess they are far from being enough. I will take a seminar in macroeconomics in which we will prepare an honors thesis in spring 2018, but it will not show up in my transcript at the time of admission.

 

I have also completed my summer internship in a leading think-tank in my country as a research intern.

Letters of Recommendation: one is from one of my professors who holds a phd from Oxford, she has published in top journals of her field recently. She was also a visiting scholar in Princeton during the previous year. Second letter can be written by a professor whose field is applied microeconomics and got the phd from Northwestern, he is also active in research. Third one is from a professor working on institutional economics and has world wide reputation in that area (her phd is from Marryland).

Work experience: As I mentioned above, I have done my summer internship in one of the leading think-tanks focusing on economical policy-making in my country. I have no industry experience.

 

My Toefl score has come 97 which is a little bit low unfortunately, but in these schools I listed above the minimum requirement is usually below my score. My GRE verbal is 155 and aw is 4.

 

Thanks in advance.

[greg3]

What's your quant GRE score?

[richardsorge]

168Q, sorry I forgot it to write.

[Zubrus]

It will depend on how well known your school is and how often your school places people in top 40 programs. Cannot really infer too much from this profile.

[greg3]

That's a difficult case. On the bright side, your grades are good, the GRE score is very nice and also looks like your letters of recommendation will be strong. However, unfortunately you might be a bit disadvantaged as you are still due to complete your course. They will not really pay that much attention to courses that you are taking now unless you can provide grades before they send you their decision. Not having a thesis might be your weak point. Is the research experience mentioned in economics? You might also consider doing a master's course first.

[startz]

If you have strong letters--and Zubrus says if your school places candidates in the top 40--then you are a plausible candidate at the places you name.