Fall 2021 Profile Evaluation

[rtk1]

Hi Everyone, I am an undergrad hoping to apply to Econ and Finance PhD programs this fall. Hoping to get feedback on my profile to help narrow down the range of schools that I plan on applying to. I will also be applying to RA roles this fall in case this admissions cycle doesn't work out. Thanks in advance for the feedback.

 

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: B.S. in Economics and Mathematics from large public school USNEWS T25 Econ and Math

Undergrad GPA: 3.80/4.00 overall ( 3.83 in Econ, 3.72 in Math)

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA :N/A

GRE: Will take this summer

 

Econ Courses: Principles of Micro (A-), Principles of Macro (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), Econometrics 1 (A+), Econometrics 2 (A+), Market Design (A), Advanced Micro (A+), Global Capital Markets (B), Grad Micro Theory 1(Fall)

 

Math Courses: Calc I (AP), Calc-II(AP), Honors Calc-III/Diffeq/LinAlg 1 (B+), Honors Calc-III/Diffeq/LinAlg 2 (A), Discrete Mathematics(A-), Real Analysis 1(A-), Real Analysis 2(A), Probability Theory (A-), Mathematical Statistics(A), Mathematical Finance(A), Abstract Linear Algebra(B), Numerical Analysis(A), PDEs(A), Grad Stochastic Processes(B+), Graph Theory/Combinatorics(Fall), ML/Data Science(Fall)

 

LOR's: 2 very strong LORs from an Econ and Finance professor. Worked as an RA for 2yrs during the school year for the econ professor. Did independent Market Microstrucure reseach with well known finance professor for 1 year. Both have said they will be happy to write very enthusiastic letters. 3rd LOR will likely be from the prof who taught my grad stochastic processes class. Despite getting a B+ I scored a 90% raw and will be taking the ML course with him next fall. Went to his office hours a lot and he knows about my plans.

 

Research Experience: Worked as an RA with Econ professor for 2 years. Currently working on a paper with him. Wrote a lot of python code on my own and did statisitcal analysis in R. Independent research in market microstrucure with well known finance professor. Lots of python and SAS code for the finance research project. Wrote an independent paper for this work. Also worked as an RA for 1 year doing survey design related work.

 

Research Interests: Finance, IO, Market Design, Micro-Economic Theory, Metrics

 

Applying to: T20 US Econ + few Finance programs

 

Concerns : Lack of publication and few Bs in relatively important math courses. I am hoping the letter from my math professor will rectify the latter but I wasn't sure.

 

Other info: Graduating in December 2021. I have 2 summers of work experience as a SWE in a FAANG company.

[startz]

The best answer to this question is always "ask your letter writers."

 

Having said that, applying to top 20 seems pretty reasonable, assuming the GRE comes out okay. Unless the stochastic processes prof is an economist, you might want to switch the third letter.

[rtk1]

Appreciate the feedback. I'll definitely think about the thrid letter. I had been considering the stochastic processes prof because I have a solid relationship with him and my interests are math heavy. I was hoping a letter from him might help support my math background as I do have a B and two B+s. My other two reccomenders will definitely be able to give ample information in terms of my economics research background. Also I just realized I meant Fall 2022 in the thread name, sorry about that haha.