Profile and advice

[ImProcrastinating]

Hey all, I'm trying to make a decision and I'd appreciate any advice. I may have the chance to RA for (and get LORs from) two very well published IMF economists. The trouble is I would have to make a 2 year commitment which would push back my starting a PhD by at least 1 year, and I'm trying to decide if it's worth it. Here's my profile:

Type of Undergrad: Top 25 with a top 40ish econ program. BA in econ.

Undergrad GPA: Overall: 3.74, Econ: 3.8ish, Math: bad.

Type of Grad: Not highly ranked, top 100ish. MS in applied math.

Grad GPA (so far): 3.9

GRE: 790Q / 740V / 5.0 AWA.

Math Courses:
Undergrad: Calc III (B+), ODE (C- (Ouch, I know)), Real Analysis (A-), Linear Algebra (A). The first two classes I took my very first year in college, so I'm hoping they'll be discounted.

Grad: Measure Theory (A-), Math Stats (A), ODE (A), Functional Analysis (A)

Econ Courses:

Undergrad: A bunch, the important ones are Intro. Micro (A), Intro. Macro (A), Mathematical Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (B+), Econ Stats (B+), Econometrics (A). The rest are As in field courses.

Grad: PhD Micro I (A-), PhD Micro II (A)

Letters of Recommendation: 1 from a Fed Economist, 1from my functional analysis prof, and 1 from the prof I RAed for. All will have nice things to say about me, but only the prof I RAed for is well known.

Research Experience: Two month stint at the IMF, summer at the Fed, senior thesis, 1 year + 1 summer as an RA for a professor.

Teaching Experience: None

Research Interests: International Finance, Time Series

Any thoughts?

[Lokayot]

I don't think you should worry about your math, if you have good grades in advanced math classes then bad grades in lower level math classes dont count for much.

[asianeconomist]

Yup. You've excelled in the really tough courses. The lower grade math courses should not hold you back.

Where are you planning to apply ?

[hubrishedge]

Of course these things are never certain, but I'd bet you could pull a top 10 admit with that profile, assuming your LORs are very positive.

You've done enough RA work that the marginal benefit of another RA position is very low for admissions committees; however, the LORs you get from these profs could certainly be very good. So basically, I would say if you think your current letters are lacking, do the RA, otherwise apply. Getting another letter from a well known economist might get you a marginally higher admit, but you gotta decide if thats worth 2 years.

[Lokayot]

from my point of view, the only thing that might make it slightly difficult for you to get admitted in top 10 is the ranking of your grad school. But since you have excellent economics grades from a good department, and a masters in math, that wouldn't be a major factor I believe.

[ImProcrastinating]

I'm glad you guys are optimistic. I think I'll apply to a few top 10s as reaches, and target top 25 schools like Maryland, Duke, and UCSD. I'm still trying to decide but I do think my current letters are lacking - I only had the functional analysis prof for one course and I only worked for the Fed economist for a few months, so neither knows me terribly well. Maybe I'll talk to them and see what they think.

[mosfro]

sounds like a really interesting case...
the RA position might give you some real experience and open your eyes to something you could really see yourself doing, or what you really never ever want to do again...learning experience...

having said that, i don't think you should delay the grad school any longer, you got that masters in math for a reason, and you dont wanna be in grad school throughout ALL of your 20s

and since i think i know who you are, I think you should apply to all the top programs you want...because that one good LOR will help...a LOT

as much as I would like to kick it with you for another 2 years, you need to get outta here and go to cambridge