Econ PhD Profile Evaluation Fall 2020

[francene]

Hi everyone,

 

I am currently applying to US universities for a PhD in economics, starting fall next year, but I'm not sure which unis I should be applying to with my results. Universities in Spain don't give out many As, but I don't know whether that is known in American universities, so my GPA and grades are my biggest doubt.

 

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Top Spanish university

GPA: 8.8/10, self calculated GPA (Scholaro) 3.7. Ranked second in my class and did an honors thesis.

Math Courses: Calculus I and II (A+), Linear Algebra and Topology (B), Statistics & Probability I and II (A+ and B), econometrics (A), Time Series (A).

Econ Courses: Micro and Macro I and II, growth economics, decision making theory, health economics, industrial organization... all the usual courses for an economics major. They're all As and Bs.

 

GRE: 168 Quant, 168 Verbal, 4 AWA.

 

TOEFL: 119/120

 

Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ professors, 1 statistics professor (they are PhDs from Northwestern, Columbia and Carnegie Mellon)

Research Experience: honors thesis, research paper for university forum

Research Interests: development, public and environmental economics

 

I've also worked for 6 months at the European Central Bank and as a macroeconomic analyst at the Spanish Embassy in Brazil for 1 year.

 

The list of universities for now is made of two long shots (Berkeley and Columbia) around 6 unis like U Michigan, UIUC, UC Davis, and another 6 from slightly less competitive unis like CU Boulder, UC Irvine, Arizona.

 

Am I on the right track? Or should I aim lower? (I doubt I should be aiming higher).

 

Thanks to anyone who'll answer! :)