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Chillax

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: BA in Economics, Top 7 universities in South Korea

Undergrad GPA: 3.9/4.5 (for home university), 3.92/4.0 (for one year study abroad in UT Austin)

Type of Grad: None

Grad GPA: None

GRE: 157V/170Q/4.0AW

Math Courses: Calculus I,II (A took in UT), Linear Algebra (A- took in UT), Economic Stat(B+ took in home uni), many Econometrics related classes (A/A+ took in home uni), Econ Stat, Math Econ, Computational Economics(deals with Diff Eq)

Econ Courses (grad-level):

Econ Courses (undergrad-level):Micro Econ I&II, Macro Econ I&II, Financial Econ I&II, Development Econ, Urban Econ, Management Econ, International Finance, Law and Econ, Crime and Econ, Empirical Macro, Empirical Micro, Time Series Analysis with Big Data, Quantitative Econ, Computational Econ, Big Data Analysis

(Upper division classes mostly A+/A, Final Year GPA 4.3/4.5)

Letters of Recommendation: One from Home University professor who knows me very well(Chicago PhD and Active professor), One Tenured professor from UT Austin(Berkeley PhD and very active), One lecturer from UT Austin whom I worked as RA for a semester(UT PhD), One professor from Bio-lab whom I worked as RA for 4 years

Research Experience: RA in Bio-lab(which is quite unrelated to Economics, but worked for 4 years doing various stuff), RA in UT Austin for one semester

Teaching Experience: Teaching Math, English, Economics in Korea(5 years of experience, but not college level)

Research Interests: Development Economics, Econometrics, Applied Econ

SOP: Specific motivation and contents but not very strong i guess

Concerns: As an international student, not having MA and applying directly to Econ PhD abroad is quite unfamiliar route in my home country. I have taken many major courses, but I think my math courses are not enough(I didn't took real analysis). Plus, my last 40 credits economics grades are all A,A+ except just for one, but I don't have really good grades during my sophomore year. Especially for Micro. Also, I worked as RA in Bio-lab, which is not much related to Economics. Do you think it will negatively influence my admission results?

Other: I have applied to MAs for Urban Planning for specifications in 'economic development'

Applying to:

Economics PhD - Boston University, UT Austin, Michigan State University, University of Virginia, Rice University

Economics MA - University of Toronto

Urban Planning MA - UIUC, UC Berkeley, University of Toronto, Rutgers, Cornell

 

Can anyone leave me any comment please? Would there be any chances for me to get admitted?

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It’s one of the most prestigious institution in Korea.

How does the overall profile sound like?

 

To reiterate what Zubrus said, it does really depend on the placement record of your institution (and your letters of recommendation, of course). SNU has better placement compared to Yonsei or Korea Univ. The latter two schools also send their best students to top programs as well. I'm not too familiar with what placements looks like outside of these schools, even if they may be in the top 7.

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I guess Top 7 from South Korea won't give you any advantage at all unless there have been many students from your home uni who study in US. I'm Korean and actually even I am not sure what top 7s are.. But I think you have a good profile and great experience in one of the decent schools in US, which may be helpful. The lab RA expeirence would also be good if you explained like how that experience affected you to further study economics or improved your research capabilities. Anyway good luck!
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To reiterate what Zubrus said, it does really depend on the placement record of your institution (and your letters of recommendation, of course). SNU has better placement compared to Yonsei or Korea Univ. The latter two schools also send their best students to top programs as well. I'm not too familiar with what placements looks like outside of these schools, even if they may be in the top 7.

 

I get the point. Like you said, my department hasn’t been placing many students like Yonsei or Korea does even though it sends plenty of students in engineering department.

Thank you for the comment and wish me luck :)

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I guess Top 7 from South Korea won't give you any advantage at all unless there have been many students from your home uni who study in US. I'm Korean and actually even I am not sure what top 7s are.. But I think you have a good profile and great experience in one of the decent schools in US, which may be helpful. The lab RA expeirence would also be good if you explained like how that experience affected you to further study economics or improved your research capabilities. Anyway good luck!

 

Thanks! Hope everything goes well with you either

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I get the point. Like you said, my department hasn’t been placing many students like Yonsei or Korea does even though it sends plenty of students in engineering department.

Thank you for the comment and wish me luck :)

 

In that case, maybe you can benefit either by getting a masters or by working as a full time RA (those that sponsor working visas). Both tracks are experienced with placing their students/RA's into econ PhD programs. Considering that you have a good academic record, I think you'll have a good chance at these options

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Since your interests lie in development, you might want to check out the pre-doc fellowship (just a fancy way of saying RA) linked below. The placement for their RAs are fantastic, although one could argue an input quality influence in the placement data since it's a highly competitive position.

 

The Equality of Opportunity Project

 

The fellowship is 2 years and they do sponsor your visa

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In that case, maybe you can benefit either by getting a masters or by working as a full time RA (those that sponsor working visas). Both tracks are experienced with placing their students/RA's into econ PhD programs. Considering that you have a good academic record, I think you'll have a good chance at these options

 

Thanks! I will definitely consider that as my option. My question is, do they normally accept international students?

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Since your interests lie in development, you might want to check out the pre-doc fellowship (just a fancy way of saying RA) linked below. The placement for their RAs are fantastic, although one could argue an input quality influence in the placement data since it's a highly competitive position.

 

The Equality of Opportunity Project

 

The fellowship is 2 years and they do sponsor your visa

 

 

Thanks a lot! I didn't even know that there exists such experience. I will absolutely consider it as an option after admission result comes out!

Thanks again.

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Well.... I am not so sure about applying directly to phd program. Your GPA is not enough considering you are not from the top 3 Korean institutes. Even for the top-3 institutes that GPA is a bit weak. The promising point though is that your final year GPA is quite good, and you did well in UT Austin. You can try applying to the unis that accept last 2 years GPA. But even considering that, I am very worried about not seeing any, not even elementary proof courses in your profile. The best choice for you in my opinion is to go to top3 econ MAs in Korea, which is what most Koreans do, and take the relevent math courses needed. Elementary proofs and real analysis is a must. Considering even those who top their undergrad programs and got econ RA opportunities from their junior years apply to econ MAs first,I believe it's your best option as well. Edited by WelshCorgi
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