Hey all,
as many others I am here to get some help evaluating my admission chances for top programs in the US (NYU, Columbia,...). My 'advantage': I still have two and half years left in my undergrad before I will start applying for grad programs, so I hope with the right decisions in the near future I can prepare myself to be a strong applicant!
My profile:
Bachelors in Economics (University Freiburg, germany)
Bachelors in Mathemartics (University Berlin, germany)
Economics degree is almost finished, I will start maths this fall. By completition I will have more than enough math and econ classes, I dont worry about that, BUT:
- gpa? the things is that in some classes, I just could not get an A. For example my public policy class, best of 250 students, and I got a B-. in economics I will probably get a gpa of 1.3 - 1.6 which formally translates to 3.4 - 3.7 however no one ever got an 1.0 (4.0 US scale). Do american grad schools know that it is harder to get perfect scores in germany and other countries?
- research experience, I worked on a research project for my professor when I studied abroad in the US last year. Nothing to fancy though. I will definately try to get some more research experience during the next years. Is research experience in maths also welcome for economics phd applications or should I really try to get research experience in econ?
- teaching experience, I tutored maths/statistics for two semesters
- GRE I dont worry about the quantitative part, verbal part could be a problem not being a native english speaker
- LOR: well mh, no one really famous, but at least one really good letter from a professor who knows me, I worked for him and even did a grad class with him!
So what do you guys think? What should I focus most on the next few years?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!