Profile Evaluation for PhD programs or Federal Reserve RA positions

[chubwagon]

Hi there, I'm looking at both going direct to PhD programs, or taking 2 or so years to strengthen my profile by being a Federal Reserve RA, preferably at the Board, but also potentially at the Boston or NY fed. Where could I aim for PhD programs now, and am I competitive for an RAship.

School: Top 60ish undergrad, 60ish Econ program (US news), private school

Majors: BS in Math and Economics (Double major)

GPA: 3.85 (summa cum laude)

GRE: Haven't taken, but practice put me at 168+ Q and 163+ V

 

Econ Courses: Intro micro and macro (A,A), Intermediate Micro and Macro (A-, A-), Econometrics (A), Int'l Trade Theory (A), Game Theory (A), Econ Development (A-), Financial Economics (A), Special Topics Course (A), Proseminar in Economics (A)

 

Math Courses: Calc 1-3 (AP, A, A), Ordinary Differential Equations (A-), Linear Algebra (A), Numerical Analysis (A), Partial Differential Equations (B+), Intro to Proofs (B+), Real Analysis I (A), Complex Analysis (A), Math Logic (A), Math Modeling (A), Special Topics Course (A-)

Research Experience: Proseminar in Economics course was a semester long independent research project, Professor was impressed with my paper and has told me she will write me a recommendation. Worked for a year in the Economics research division of a regulatory agency, worked with Economists, did a lot of data cleaning and extraction in R.

 

Recommendations: Professor I talked about above (Top 5 Econ PhD), another Economist I worked with (Top 30 Econ PhD), and perhaps another professor, but that recommendation would be likely weaker (Top 5-10 Econ PhD).

 

My main concern is my weak recommendations outside of the first one, and limited research experience. Where could I aim if I were to go direct to PhD, or should I try my look at a Fed RA position?