B's all across the board, but challenging courses, Am I screwed?

[Macromatica]

Like the title says I have B's all across the board, however I have taken some challenging courses. Will be applying for phd for next fall. The following are all B's: calc II, calc III, vector calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, mathematical economics, and microeconomic theory I. This semester I am taking mathematical statistics and a real analysis course. I will be taking the GRE in late october, and cum. gpa barely below a 3.0 but can push it up to a 3.0 iff I make A's in both math stat and real analysis. Wondering what range I can apply to?

 

Following feasable? Boston College, UConn, WUSTL, George Mason, George Washington, Penn State, CUNY (I like the northeast schools mainly)

[mfarhanmajid]

Dude i am sorry to say but i am afraid that u would have to apply to schools rnaked even lower. It also depends which school u went to. If u got a B from harvard wustl/boston/etc might take u... but if u got a B from say UVA then wustl will not be impressed.

 

PLEASE choose ur schools wisely. DO u have publications or conference papers , any prospects of STRONG letters?

[unitroot]

If you're coming from a somewhat visible research university and you can secure a good letter of recommendation from economics and/or say math or statistics faculty members, you could probably still get into a department somewhere in or near the range you're mentioning. Of course, it would be much better if you had As at least in some of the hard courses and pulled overall GPA to say 3.25. I think realistically, WUSTL (which aims to be a top 20 department sometime soon), Penn State, as well as some of the private universities like say Rice or BC, probably will not be impressed. Despite their rank, it's fairly competitive to get into some of such departments because they usually fund their students and have little or no TA requirements. I think you should ideally try to apply to big state universities with visible but somewhat low-ranked departments and be prepared to accept admission offer without 1st year's funding, but maybe I am wrong. Ideally, you should ask your professors for an honest opinion, specially those who served on admissions committees some time recently. Have you considered getting a masters degree first? I think having a masters degree with a solid GPA even from an average institution could help you a long way.

[asianeconomist]

Are you considering a Masters ?

[hubrishedge]

Make darn sure you get that GPA over 3.0. Many schools have a Graduate School wide requirement of 3.0, and autoreject those who do not meet that standard.

 

What is your goal in getting a PhD? That might help in giving you advice on where to apply or how to strengthen your profile.

[Macromatica]

Well here's the deal: I am getting my m.s. in economics and will be finished with it in May 2009. I really want to to monetary economics. I didnt decide that I wanted to pursue a phd until roughly a year ago. Thus, I took calc II, calc III, vector calc, diffee, linear, and now math stat and real analyisis all in 3 semesters to strenghen my profile. However, these have all landed at B's. Im thinking my only option is to make A's in real analysis and math stat and do bad *** on the GRE quant section. Thanks for everyones input.

[GymShorts]

If you have below a 3.0 in a masters program, then I think you don't stand a chance for penn state or BC. What do you want to do with your PhD? Lots of lower ranked schools have decent placement into the IMF and World Bank.

Here's the problem. You're not taking PhD level classes, and if a PhD student had your GPA, they wouldn't make the minimum requirement to continue in the program at most schools. So given that these classes are probably less rigorous than PhD level classes, you've got a big problem on your hands.

 

A low ranked school might take you. If you get straight A's from now on, some medium ranked schools might take you as well.

[Tex Jansen]

Here's the problem. You're not taking PhD level classes, and if a PhD student had your GPA, they wouldn't make the minimum requirement to continue in the program at most schools. So given that these classes are probably less rigorous than PhD level classes, you've got a big problem on your hands.

quote]

 

True, but remember that grad student grades are on a much different scale. A C is considered god awful in grad school.

 

You do have the advantage of knowing what field that you want to pursue. I think that you are going to have to apply to more schools closer to CUNY and UConn than the others on your list. Try to find lower ranked programs that are decent in money/macro.

[zshfryoh1]

What was your GPA in your masters level econ courses? Penn State, WUSTL, Boston College and GMU will probably not touch you no matter how well you do in your remaining few courses and your GRE's. Don't know much about UConn or George Washington, but if you get A's in those last 2 courses to get yourself over a 3.0, and your masters GPA in your econ courses is in the 3.3+ range and get a good GRE quant score, CUNY might take a chance on you, but will definitely not give you any funding (and they have a rep for giving real poor funding anyway). If you are still interested in the northeast schools and are willing to go to lower ranked schools, look at Fordham and Temple. Also, CUNY has a mediocre academic placement record, but you say you are interested in monetary econ and the NY office of the NBER is located on the same floor and building, just down the hall from CUNY's econ department office. Also if I remember correctly, CUNY has very late application deadline (late April) and so you might be able to get your spring semster grades in your application there.