finally decided.. plz evaluate

[eimmot]

finally decided the schools i am going to apply.

GPA: 4.0 in a top 15 econ school (BA and MA simultaneously)
transferred from community college: GPA 3.85

GRE: Q 800/ 620 V

Econ:
Intro. Econ A; Intermediate Micro (A+), Macro (A+); History of Econ (A+),
Legal issues in Econ (A+); Public Finance (A+); Intl Econ Theory (A+); Investment (A+); Development in Econ (A+); Econometrics (A+)
Grad Econ Classes: Micro, Macro ( do not have grades yet, but probably A); Math for Econ (Pass); and 5 more Grad. Econ classes by the end of this academic year

Math:
Multicalculus (1,2) (B); Elementary Linear Algebra (B); Advanced Linear Algebra (A+); Real Analysis (A+); Topology (A+); Probability theory (A+); Econ. Stat (A+); Math. Game Theory (A+); Diff. Equation (A+)

Two pretty good Recommendations from well known professor; and the other one do not know yet

Working on a honor thesis.


School I plan to apply:
Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, UCLA, Cornell, Columbia, Oxford , Cambridge, LSE, Cal tech

do i need some safty schools? how about the UK schools i hv applied? safe enough?

[Nalfien]

Seems like UCLA is a saftey for you...

[eimmot]

oh really, i thought cambridge and oxford whould be easier for me to get in..? isn't it?

[abababba]

I think he was implying UCLA and below are all safeties for you.

[user_name]

Looking at the econ classes you've taken, it seems to me you're interested in macro-related stuff. If that's true, why are you applying to Caltech then? That's the last place you'd wanna be given your interest.

I think other people are a little too optimistic. Maybe I'm a little pessimistic, but I don't think any of those schools can be considered a safety for anybody (unless you graduated from HYP with the same profile).

[OneMoreEcon]

Profile seems strangely similar to Antichron (though a bit less math... otherwise, way too similar). Did you once work at Red Lobster?

[user_name]

Oh, so you're that guy from UCLA. Never mind, then.

[eimmot]

it is because people in UCLA undergrad usually take all these classes if they would like to go to grad school.

my worry is, would my Bs in calculus seriously affect my chance of getting into the top school?

to be frank, do u guys think Harvard / MIT are possible?

[Antichron]

Originally Posted by eimmot

it is because people in UCLA undergrad usually take all these classes if they would like to go to grad school.

my worry is, would my Bs in calculus seriously affect my chance of getting into the top school?

to be frank, do u guys think Harvard / MIT are possible?

I think Harvard and MIT are possible, but I can't imagine why you would want to go to Harvard. In all seriousness, though, I would add Chicago, Yale, and Berkeley and get rid of Oxford, LSE, Cambridge, Caltech, and probably Cornell. Caltech has a very specialized program that is probably not a good idea to get into unless you're fairly sure what you want to do. You will certainly get into UCLA (assuming you get A's in Riley's/Hansen's classes), so there's no point in applying to anything below.

Apply for the NSF if you haven't already. If you're interested in going to MIT, I'm under the impression that it is very important that you apply for it. (But not so necessary that you win it, unless you want to be stress free during the visiting week.)

Good luck! I hope to see another departmental scholar out here in Cambridge next year.

[Zavera]

Don't bother applying to Cornell, unless employment isn't important to you upon graduation.