Graduate School Admission Chances

[bowl176]

I am a Senior at the University of Wyoming majoring in Economics and Statistics with a minor in math (honors college). I have applied to graduate schools for a Ph.D. in economics, and was wondering of my chances of getting in (with funding). Here's what I got going for me:

-3.94 GPA (3.9 in major)

-Math: Calc III (A), Linear Algebra (A), Theory of Probability (B+), then taking Real Analysis and Diff Q's next semester.

-Stats: Many graduate courses, 2 theory courses

-Econ: Intermediates, econometrics, math econ, history

-McNair Research Scholar: Funded summer research with a mentor

-Several other research projects

-Several research presentations

-GRE: Q - 166, V - 152, AW - 4.0

-TA for College Algebra

-Tutor for high-level statistics classes

-3 solid letter of rec: 2 economics professors, one if which I did research with. And 1 from statistics which I did my McNair project with.

-Notes: First generation, low income, Hispanic, graduating in 3 years instead of 4

I'm interested in econometrics, applied micro, and labor.

I get free applications, so I applied to many schools. Here is a list (starred are my target schools, double starred are the schools I am shooting high for):

Stanford**

Harvard**

Berkeley**

Yale**

Princeton**

MIT**

UC San Diego*

UCLA*

Johns Hopkins*

Chicago**

Colombia*

Northwestern*

U of Oregon

U of Michigan

Cornell (Applied Econ)*

Brown U*

U of Pennsylvania*

UC Irvine

New York U

U of Wisconsin

Carnegie Mellon

U of Maryland Duke*

U of North Carolina*

U of Rochester *

I have gotten very mixed answers of my chances for admissions, and was wondering if anyone would be willing to give their opinion.

I also applied to the NSF-GRFP.

 

After reading about other people's profiles being rejected, I am starting to get worried.

Thank you for the help.

[johng]

I'm waiting to hear back from programs myself, so definitely wait for more knowledgeable people to give their opinions, but it seems to me that with this list you're bound to get something... it's definitely competitive but you seem like a good candidate and the sheer number of schools seems pretty safe. Since you get free admissions I might throw a few more schools in 40-75 range (I got this same advice), the cost to do so is extremely low and the reward could be very high.

[startz]

You are obviously an extremely good student. But that's not enough at the top schools without more evidence about research ability. And so far you haven't taken enough math and your GRE isn't going to help. You would probably have been better off to spend a fourth year, have more math on your record, and perhaps engage in more research. (Although I'm sure there are personal tradeoffs.) Being a McNair scholar will help some though.

 

Unless your letters say you are one of the best students the recommenders have ever seen, the chances at the ** schools are not very good. I think the advice to apply to more low-ranked places is a wise idea. You might want to ask your econ letter writers what they think your chances are compared to other people who have gone on to PhD programs from Wyoming.

 

(As a side note, I have no idea why someone would downvote your post, which was perfectly reasonable.)