Could a good research paper compensate for a low GPA?

[kknd82]

My question :Could a good research paper compensate for a low GPA ?

Anyone heard of someone got in good school with low gpa but with some good research paper ?:hmm:

[YoungEconomist]

My question :Could a good research paper compensate for a low GPA ?

Anyone heard of someone got in good school with low gpa but with some good research paper ?:hmm:

 

I don't know the answer, but you should probably define what you mean by "low gpa" because then someone will probably be able to give you an answer.

[Cassin]

My question :Could a good research paper compensate for a low GPA ?

Anyone heard of someone got in good school with low gpa but with some good research paper ?:hmm:

 

I don't know particular examples but I think it depends on the details. A good paper in Econometrica might, but I doubt that's what you are asking. Many top schools may auto-reject GPA's below some threshold, so in that case they might not care/know about a "good research paper." Some schools don't ask for writing samples and advise against sending one as they don't have the staff/time to read them (I know that Minnesota and Chicago ask for one, however) - so it may depend on what schools you have in mind.

 

How "good" is the paper? Has it won any competitive awards? Does it answer some puzzle persuasively (and discredits alternative explanations)? If it's an empirical paper, does it use some rare dataset and advanced econometrics techniques (I think most people have only empirical-style papers at an early stage of their education and the committees probably could care less about the t-test significance or R^2).

 

Also it depends how low is "low GPA" and in what classes. If it's 3.5 overall because of philosophy and biochemistry electives but 3.8 in the (econ) major that may be fine but if it's because of a few C's in calculus/analysis classes, that may be a red flag.

[apropos]

How low is your GPA? If it's in 3.0-3.5 range, but you have a nice selection of math and economics courses, good LoRs, perhaps from known professors, and perhaps some research experience, you might be able to get into some schools in the lower half of the American top 60 economics departments.

 

However, from my experience, breaking into Top 30 is still very very difficult (maybe impossible). For example, I have a low GPA (B+ average) for the last two years of school plus four courses taken afterwards (A,C,A-,A) from a well known public university that's also known for tough rigorous grading. The low GPA is partly due to my insistence to purse a double major in econ and math while also working enough hours (over 50% time) to fund all of my education and living expenses to the last cent by myself. This was well documented by some of my LoR writers, some of whom are known people in their respective fields. I even managed to get decent grades in courses that are recommended to PhD admissions such as analysis, advanced linear algebra, mathematical statistics, optimization, graduate econometrics, etc. My worst grades were earned in courses like Complex Analysis or Abstract Algebra, which are not as relevant. I also wrote a paper for an undergraduate research seminar which wasn't published anywhere but my professor liked it a lot and said it was the best in class. Still, none of these credentials seem to matter if you have a low GPA.. that's the way things are. You can see in my signature a sample of graduate programs that you might get into with such record. Some other poster on this forum with a low GPA got into UC Davis after taking some courses at Columbia University and doing well. I hope this answers your question.

[quantwanabe]

do u mean GPA

[quantwanabe]

Ok...it seems to me that on testmagic a GPA below 3.5 is low, which to me is a surprise...I have a 3.4 gpa in my undergrad...even though I doubled major in pure mathematics and computer science along with a minor in physics many people on this forum when I asked tought my chances at some schools thougth that my GPA was low..my grad GPA in my masters program in applied math is 3.45....maybe people are right about my GPA that it is indeed low....maybe thats why I got into Columbia GSB but without funding despite very good LORs and good research experience in stochastic calculus both in academia and the real world..I am still waiting on CUNY maybe I get funding there

[kknd82]

Thanks for the feedback

Here's my profile

 

Undergraduate GPA:3.4

Got most As in senior math courses( about 10 As? , inculding real analysis 1,2) and 2 Bs and Cs

8 economic courses, B- in intro courses, As in intermediate micro and macro,C in mathematical economics,As in advanced theory

 

Master Economics.

Phd microI B- ,Phd macroI B, Phd EconometricsI B-,Phd Micro2 B+, Phd Macro2 A+. Graduate Probablity A+, Graduate Partial differential equation A+, Graduate mathematical stats A+,Galois theory A+, Financial Econometrics A+

 

seeing so many people with good background got rejections these days, I am thinking that I really need to do something to show my potential and enthusiasm in economic research.:(

[econphd07]

My question :Could a good research paper compensate for a low GPA ?

Anyone heard of someone got in good school with low gpa but with some good research paper ?:hmm:

 

 

I know a guy that have a good GPA. However, overall he doesn´t have the profile of a typical guy admitted in Harvard except by the fact that his research paper allowed him to get an outstanding recomender. Many think that the mentioned recomender was the key to Harvard.

[apropos]

kknd82

 

I think it would be difficult to explain away those B's in PhD theory courses, unless your professor explains in a LoR that getting a B in those courses is commendable (in my undergraduate institution, it seemed like getting below A- in a PhD-level economics or statistics course was "bad")

 

At the same time, you seem to have good grades in graduate math and statistics courses. This may help but this fact may also raise some questions. E.g. How come your math grades are so much better? Perhaps you have no interest in Economics? And why did you take, of all things, the Galois Theory course for Zeus's sake :-)

 

You should definitely seek an expert advice.

[kknd82]

kknd82

 

I think it would be difficult to explain away those B's in PhD theory courses, unless your professor explains in a LoR that getting a B in those courses is commendable (in my undergraduate institution, it seemed like getting below A- in a PhD-level economics or statistics course was "bad")

 

At the same time, you seem to have good grades in graduate math and statistics courses. This may help but this fact may also raise some questions. E.g. How come your math grades are so much better? Perhaps you have no interest in Economics? And why did you take, of all things, the Galois Theory course for Zeus's sake :-)

 

You should definitely seek an expert advice.

 

I could explain but seems it's not a good idea to tell the adcom that I was not so interested in Economics at first. The reason I took so many math courses and got good grades is that I am very interested in math . And I also think it's very reasonable for one to spend sometime to decide which path he gonna choose for his life. But maybe the adcom people dont think so.:hmm: Or maybe it's true that I dont have such passion many people on this forum have. :(