PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Economics Latin America (with minor in Philosophy) - One of the two best in the country
Undergrad GPA: Around 3.6/4.0 in US grades (5/60 in ranking in my cohort)
Type of Grad: Two in Economics: One M.A. from same U in Latin America with Honors; and one M.Sc. from Europe, cum laude (Top 5-10 European Economics Schools)
Grad GPA: 4.0/4.0; 3.8/4.0 respectively
GRE: 168 Q/ 161 V/ 4.5 A
Math Courses: Linear Algebra (A+), Dif. and Int. Calc (A+), ODE and optimization (A+), Dynamic Programming (B+), Math Methods and Math. for Econ - Equivalent to a Math Camp (A+), Statistics and Prob. (A)
Econ Courses: Lots and lots. Will only mention the Grad ones (I took all the main courses twice because of the two masters, although the level was way harder in Europe): LA: Adv. Micro I (A+), Adv. Macro I (A+), Adv. Metrics (A+), New Political Economy (A+), Development (A+), Adv. Micro II (A+), Neuroeconomics (A+), Macroeconometrics (A). Europe: Adv. Micro I (A), Adv. Macro I (B+), Adv. Metrics I (A), Adv. Micro II (A), Adv. Macro II (B), Adv. Metrics II (A), Game Theory (A+), Research Seminar in Micro (A+), HET (A).
Other Courses: Around 10 courses in Philosophy including 3 logics.
Letters of Recommendation: One from known researcher from T. 20, published in Econometrica several times; One from a European Game Theorist published in highly mathematical journals; One from European Prof. thesis adviser in Europe, young but active publishing in Development.
Research Experience: Not with a University but with the most known econ. think tank in country (did not emphasize it much in the application because did not think it would help me much, unless I was going for more applied/ public policy programs)
Teaching Experience: Undergrad: Macro seminar, Development and New Political Economy; Grad: New Political Economy
Research Interests: Political Economy, Game Theory, Development and Network Theory
SOP: I guess standard, trying to defend myself against my lack of hardcore math courses, emphasize honors thesis and profs. I want to work with at each institution.
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Brown (fully funded from 2nd year), Warwick ($$) and Duke (off waitlist - $$$)
Waitlists: Duke
Rejections: NYU, Princeton, UCLA, UCSD, LSE, Cornell, Harvard (PE program), Michigan, UPenn, NW and Columbia (Pol. Sci)
Pending: -
Attending: Duke!!! (although I liked Brown quite a bit, particularly in my field, but needed to get 50k into debt, so ... Duke!!)
Comments: I was very nervous about several parts of my profile, including the not hardcore math courses, many philosophy courses (read as signal of low math skills), low macro grades, not very well connected in the US recommenders, and high but not incredibly high undergrad GPA. I tried to cover the weaknesses I could. For example in math, I asked for recommenders strong in that area.
What would you have done differently? Honestly, I was very nervous during this process, but given my restrictions, I think it worked out pretty well. Maybe if I would have known that the other known U at my country had so many links with top US schools, I might have decided to do my master's there, instead of Europe. But, like I said, I ended up quite happy with the result. And I got to live in Europe... which was awesome! =D
