Evaluation or advice for masters in economics

[kaion]

Hi all,

 

I was an international student and I graduated 2 years ago. I was interested in doing graduate studies but I ultimately returned to my home country to work for 2 years, trying to reduce the financial burden as an international student. After 2 years, I have paid off most of the debts and I am thinking of returning to university in 2020 to do a master degree (and eventually a phd in public policy/economics).

 

My gpa is a bit mediocre as I did pretty bad in most of the arts and humanities courses. Just want to know if graduate programs such as oxford econ mphil / lse msc econ etc. would be a long shot for me? I understand that they are typically looking for 3.7+ GPA students and I am not sure if this is a hard admission requirement and would they focus mainly on econ/math courses only?

 

I am also quite concerned about the courses in red. Are these red flags to admission that will lead me to a quick ding? I am particularly concerned about my withdrawals and C+ in a seminar course.

 

Also, if I am lucky enough to receive an offer and perform well at these masters programs, will it overcome my academic deficiencies in undergrad?

 

Thank you so much!

 

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Profile:

Economics undergraduate at Columbia (transferred from a top 20 majoring in econ and business)

GPA: 3.55

 

Math courses at old uni:

Calcs I II (A)

Business stat (A)

Maths for economics (W)

Math courses at Columbia:

Calc I III (A, i have taken them again at Columbia)

Intro to probability (A)

Intro to statistics (A)

Maths for economics (A)

Stat reasoning (W)

 

Economics at old uni:

Microeconomics for Business (A-)

Macroeconomics for Business (A)

Political economy (B+)

Intermediate micro (A)

Intermediate macro (A)

Intro to econometrics (A)

 

Economics at Columbia:

Intermediate micro (A)

Intermediate macro (A)

Financial economics (A-)

Money and banking (A-)

Public economics (A-)

Corporate finance (B+)

Industrial organization (W)

Monetary policy seminar (C+)

 

Planned: linear algebra and real analysis from harvard extension or illinois online