sophieless

Full-time RA 2016 Profile Evaluation Hey all, After traveling a long journey, I am open to any suggestions. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: B.Eng. in Urban Planning, B.Sc in Mathematics from top2 Chinese university Undergrad GPA: 3.95/3.83 Type of Grad: Master in city planning from MIT Grad GPA: 5.0/5.0 GRE: old score, 700V+800Q+3.5W Math Courses: Calculus I&II (A+) Mathematical Analysis (A+) Probability Theory (A-) Functions of Real Variables (A) Advanced Algebra (A+) Mathematical Statistics (A-) Abstract Algebra (A) Ordinary Differential Equations (A) Operation Research (A-) Theory of Functions of a Complex Variable (A-) Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Principle of Economics (A+); Urban Econ (A); Environmental Econ (A) Other Courses: some finance courses, mathematical finance, real estate finance, investments, etc. A handful of applied courses for urban planning. Letters of Recommendation: Research supervisors at work – well-known in the field (top 5% ideas). Possibly IO professor at GWU who graduated from MIT Research Experience: Various research experience in urban studies & public finance. Currently working as full-time RA at DC think-tank specializing in environmental economics for 1.5 years Teaching Experience: TA for public finance in grad dept at MIT Research Interests: Environmental, IO SOP: Will be strong -- focused and concise with research interest and projects that I have been working on. Will talk about 2~3 papers (upcoming) as 2nd and 3rd author. Concerns: not trained as an economist in school. Before full-type RA, my research experience has largely been qualitative, based on survey and fieldwork, extraneous to what I am aiming to do. Insufficient econ courses. A- in statistics/probability course. Weak GRE writing. Applying to: top 20 econ, top ARE programs, HKS, Standford MS&E Other: I am currently taking Phd Micro II, III, RA II at GWU part-time (and hope I will get As) Ideally, I want to go to a place that is strong in both IO and environmental, because my research interest now is how firms respond to and affect the efficiency of energy and environmental policy. Harvard and MIT would be great ( I have plan to take more courses in summer and next fall (hoping I can get my fall transcript to adcom). What courses will have the biggest marginal utility? Many say field course like PhD IO will not carry much weight but it will be very good for me to consolidate my research ideas. Or Macro I will be a better choice? Do I need to take a graduate-level mathematical statistics or phd econometrics to compensate my weakness in statistics grade? (if so, which one is better?) Though I have taken many undergrad math courses (4 year ago), the knowledge is not active. Is it necessary to take grad measure theory, functional analysis, typology to send stronger signal (or am I just being paranoid)? Also importantly, will my grade at GWU be discounted in some way because it is not a top school? Thanks much -- I look forward to any feedback