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Thank You for the reply. I've done the ground work as you suggested but had a few questions which do not relate to me being an Indian candidate. Will be great if you could address them. First, I have a working paper, might not be able to get it published before the application deadlines, but how much will this help ? Second, I am more inclined to doing an interdisciplinary research (not applied economics), though am not sure, but somewhere on the lines of what INET (Institute for New Economic Thinking) has been doing. Something like political economy, institutions, behavioral aspects would be of my interest. Can you recommend some schools (which aren't top notch; say, barring top 25) where I can apply to ? Recently one of the students from my college (with stellar grades) got admitted to Cornell. So I am keeping my hopes in the range of 25 - 70 with more emphasis on lower ranked schools which may match my research interests.

Can anyone please help ? any suggestions ? or am I posting in the wrong forum ?

Hey guys I would really appreciate if you could help me assess my profile here. I am an Indian student, it has been hard for me to get the real picture as to how PhD programs abroad see Indian students as the grading system here is totally different. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Mechanical Engineering, Panjab University (One of the top ranked universities in India) Undergrad GPA: 58% (quite a bad performance, although it was quite hard to score)Type of Grad: MSc in General Economics Economics, Madras School of Economics (Top 5 econ dept in India). Grad GPA: 8.6 (out of 10) GRE: Still have to write one, confident of scoring >325, based on the practice tests) Math Courses: Engineering Mathematics which includes Calculus I,II,III , Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Mathematical Proofs, Probability, Real Analysis (scores are around 55%), in Grad Mathematical Methods which included Linear Algebra, Differential Calculus, Optimization and Dynamic Models(A+) Statistics Courses: Intro Statistics (B+) includes estimation, hypothesis, sampling, etc Econ Courses (Grad-level): Microeconomics I,II (A,A) Macroeconomics (A+,B+) Econometrics (D**,A), Development Economics (A+), Public Economics (B) Industrial Economics(A) International Finance (A) Institutional Economics (A+) and Financial Economics (A) Other Courses: Engineering Courses, Programming languages Letters of Recommendation: One from an Ex-Central bank governor (PhD UPenn, not very active in research but well known), One personal recommendation from mentor (PhD IGIDR, well known finance prof in India), and one from a professor in Industrial Economics. I am hoping of all recos to be solid and favorable. Research Experience: Have written a Master's thesis, can show a working paper for this. Also been working under ex-Central Bank Governor for almost 8 months and have worked in a data analytics startup. Teaching experience: None Research Interests: Behavioral Economics and Finance, Financial Institutions, Social Networks, Game Theory, Inter-disciplinary research with other social science subjects SOP: Will try to explain anomaly in my grades, why I want to do a Phd and research ideas Other: Basic knowledge of statistical softwares such as EViews,Stata, R, GAUSS. Can do basic programming too. Have an engineering paper published if that counts. I've also worked for a while as an engineer and an entrepreneur (I know that is of no use but it explains the gap between my studies) Applying to: Need help on this, been contemplating too much as my grades don't support me much I am open to universities other than the ones in US. Concerns: Overall grades dont leave a very good picture, although Grad scores do give me some relief. Got a D in econometrics which I've tried to compensate with applied ecotrix and my dissertation, but I don't know how far will this drag me down. I am very well motivated to do a PhD and I hope to bring that out in my SOP. Any advice or suggestions(especially in regards to which range of schools to apply to as far as my interests are concerned and the profile I have) ? Thank you

Hey guys I would really appreciate if you could help me assess my profile here. I am an Indian student, it has been hard for me to get the real picture as to how PhD programs abroad see Indian students as the grading system here is totally different. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Mechanical Engineering, Panjab University (One of the top ranked universities in India) Undergrad GPA: 58% (quite a bad performance, although it was quite hard to score) Type of Grad: MSc in General Economics Economics, Madras School of Economics (Top 5 econ dept). Grad GPA: 8.75 (expected) GRE: 170Q / 160-165V (Taking the test in a few days very confident of scores based on the practice tests) Math Courses: Engineering Mathematics which includes Calculus I,II,III , Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Mathematical Proofs, Probability, Real Analysis (scores are around 55%), in Grad Mathematical Methods which included Linear Algebra, Differential Calculus, Optimization and Dynamic Models(A+) Statistics Courses: Intro Statistics (B+) includes estimation, hypothesis, sampling, etc Econ Courses (Grad-level): Microeconomics I,II (A,A) Macroeconomics (A+,B+) Econometrics (D**,A), Development Economics (A+), Public Economics (B) Industrial Economics(A) International Finance (A) probably be taking Institutional Economics and Financial Economics Other Courses: Engineering Courses, Programming languages Letters of Recommendation: Great personal recommendation from mentor (PhD IGIDR, well known finance prof). Two good recos from professors whom I have known one was a post doc at UC Berkeley. All are well known in India. Research Experience: 2 months internship at a public policy institute helping consolidate and analyse data. Building policy briefs and structure. Teaching experience: None Research Interests: International Finance, Financial Institutions, Macroeconomics Inter-disciplinary research amalgamated with other social science subjects SOP: Will try to explain anomaly in my grades, why I want to do a Phd and research ideas Other: Basic knowledge of statistical softwares such as EViews,Stata, R, GAUSS. Can do programming too. Have an engineering paper published if that counts. Master's dissertation on Macroeconomic forecasting (intense time series econometrics) hopefully will be published as a working paper. I've also worked for a while as an engineer and an entrepreneur (I know that is of no use but it explains the gap between my studies) Applying to: Need help on this, been contemplating too much as my grades don't support me much I am open to universities other than the ones in US. Concerns: Overall grades dont leave a very good picture, although Grad scores do give me some relief. Got a D in econometrics which I've tried to compensate with applied ecotrix and my dissertation, but I don't know how far will this drag me down. I am in my second year right now, whether I should apply this year or get some research experience with a professor and then apply. I am very well motivated to do a PhD and I hope to bring that out in my SOP. Any advice or suggestions(especially in regards to which range of schools to apply) ? Thank you

Thanks for the reply Insti. I think the intensity of the course is much needed as the Top Schools in US would particularly demand that. I've heard that Delhi School of Economics, Indian Statistical Institute, JNU offer good courses and had their students placed in top 10. I don't know how much truth does it weigh. Certainly, getting into one of these is one hell of a job. I am an Engg Graduate with not so good grades(a 2nd class) so I wouldn't dare to apply as of now. I am pondering as to what would land me at one of the good schools in US or for that matter Europe.

I was trying to search a thread where we could talk about the prospects of getting admitted into top Econ PhDs after studying in India. What are the chances ? Which Schools/Colleges/Universities are best to study in so as to open our doors to the top Econ programs. Any other Questions in the same context are welcomed.