Nesquick Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 Hi Urch community. I have been an avid reading of this forum since february, and it has been very useful to me. Right now I'm preparing for the application process of a Ph.D. in Economics, but I'm a little worried about how admission committee will assess my GPA since in my country grades go from 0 to 10, and you pass with a 7, but there is a lot of variance depending on the professor. If I scale my GPA to the U.S scale it is only a 3.32, which from I understand is pretty weak for a US university. However, I was first of my class in my math major and in Economics, and top 5 in my Economics major. I also was able to ask for a letter of recommendation from a very prestigious professor of Economics in a top 10 US university whom I was able to work and made a great impression on him. What do you think? Is this a deal breaker for any admission committee? I am aiming to a wide range of Univs, but decided to take a shot at a master in another country if I don't get at least in a top 30. A little more info: Country: A small one from the Americas with few recognized economists. University: The most recognized university at my country. GPA: 8.3/10.0 LoRs: One from a professor in a top 10 in US, the other two from professors at my university with whom I have a great relation. GRE: 170Q, 162V, 4.5 AW TOEFL: 107 (28R, 29L, 25S, 25W) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chateauheart Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 (edited) Top 20 U.S. programs admit ~60% of their cohorts from international students, and they'll have at least 1 faculty member that understands how to read international transcripts. I don't think you have anything to worry about. They'll focus on the ranks (#1/#top 5) in your majors. Apply to all the top 20 + a few good master's programs. You'll likely get into a top 10, especially the one that your letter-writer works in. Edited September 30, 2019 by chateauheart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nesquick Posted September 30, 2019 Author Share Posted September 30, 2019 That 60% is quite an important fact. I knew US universities were diverse, but didn't know that so much. That's gives more hopes to me. Thank you for the motivation. I was thinking about applying some 15 universities up to the top 30s. After I realize my results I will give an update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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