Profile Evaluation- Phd in Econ

[karenma1997]

Hi guys, I know it is a bit too late for a profile evaluation at this stage. I have selected a few programs, but still not confident whether this is a reasonable school list for me.

it would be really nice if any of you could share your opinions!

 

Profile:

 

Type of Undergraduate: top 10 in China (top 5 in Econ)

Major: Agricultural Economics

GPA: 3.85/4.0; rank: 1/38

 

Exchange student at a US school for one semester (top 40 in Econ)

Exchange GPA: 4.0

 

Type of Graduate: N/A

 

Math Courses:

Taken in US:

Introduction to Optimization (A) [upper level]

Taken in China: Mathematical Analysis A II (A); Linear Algebra C (A); Probability and Statistics C (A); Calculus C II (A); Calculus C I (B+); Statistics (A-) [A,B,C in course title stands for type of math courses: A stands for high level; B is basically for engineer students; C for social science and business]

 

Econ Courses:

Taken in US: Applied Econometrics (A+); Game Theory(A+); Labor Economics(A+)

Taken in China: Intermediate Micro(B+); Intermediate Macro(A); Primary Micro(A); Primary Macro (A); several field courses (A or A-) [my home university does not offer A+]

 

GRE: 157(V)+170 (Q)+3.5(AW)

TOEFL: 107 (Speaking 22)

 

Research Experience:

(1) Three months full-time RA to a prof in a Canadian university (co-author); Not the top 2 in Canada, but my prof has a phd in top 10 in US; will publish the paper next year;

(2) RA to a prof in China for seven months (co-author);

will publish the paper next year;

(3) RA to a prof for three months in US when I was an exchange students;

(4) Team leader for an undergraduate research project;

For (1) and (2), I did pretty good (Ithink). I did all the empirical work and provided some useful thoughts; for(3), it was only some basic dada cleaning and analysis work.

Reference letter:

From the three profs I mentionedabove. They all said will write a strong letter. (hopefully...)

Research Interest: Applied Micro;Labor

School List:

PhD:

BU, BC, OSU, UBC. UNC-CH, Virginia;

Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, TAMU;

Rice, UCI, Notre Dame

Master:

Duke, Uchicago MAPSS, UBC, Toronto

Concern:

I feel like my math courses areweak, especially compared to other Chinese.

Do you think I aim too high?

Thanks!

[chateauheart]

You can aim higher. Remove your #30-#50 programs and add a few #5-#15 programs. If you don't get into a top 30 program, just get a master's and then apply again. You'll definitely be admitted to one of your targeted master's programs.

[karenma1997]

Thank you for the advice! I will add a few more programs. May I ask an additional question? Is it okay to submit four recommendation letters instead of three? Will that hurt my application? (suppose they are all strong)