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These undergrad field course have little to do with serious PhD level research. The admission committee would rather see something else.

Hi all, I am going to start my graduate study (economics PhD) this fall. I got offers from UCSD and PSU. Though I am currently leaning towards UCSD, I am eager to hear voices from more people before I make a final decision. Here is some general background of me. I did my undergrad at a huge public U in US where the economics department is strong in Macro but very weak in Metric. I have done 1st-year grad-level Micro and Macro sequences and measure-theoretic probability theory. Now, I am mainly interested in international trade and economic growth, but not sure whether I will actually enter some other fields because I haven't dedicated a lot in them. PSU seems to be a good match for my current interest. UCSD also has a few strong professors in this field, while there are many more metric professors. What do you think? Thank you for any reply!

I would suggest you contact someone to figure out what books are used for the courses that you are going to take. You can just read those books assigned for the class. If they do not use a specific textbook, then Varian's Microeconomic Analysis is probably a good choice. It is an old textbook written for graduate students with some math in it. But it is not too hard.

PhD algebra and differential geometry are very hard but useless for economics applications. Metric and measure-theoretic probability are useful.

Some professors were overwhelmed by the number of letters they were urged to sumbit and would not submit all of them until mid or late December.

If you are going to do PhD economics after graduation, you might want to read the beginning chapters of Hayashi. Though it is a graduate-level book, it is readable for undergraduates with good understanding of the material in a typical prob-stat sequence. Alternatively, Greene might also be a good choice. For linear algebra, I once read Leon's book several years ago and felt that it was a good one. You may also want to try Friedberg's classic text on linear algebra. That one contains a bit more "theory" than Leon's and is very rigorous. I heard that Linear Algebra Done Right by Axler is also very good, but I have not read that.

For your case, it's better to ask people from your U. You will want to post a thread on some Chinese forum as well.

The chance for TOP 10 is very low. Depending on how strong your letters are, you might have a chance in somewhere from 15-30

The Analysis I & II for undergrads are exactly what ECON people mean by "real analysis". They are helpful for developing your skills of writing proofs and also teach you knowledge that might be useful when you learn more advanced Econ. For now, forget about the graduate level real analysis. They are super difficult and not required for applications.

Your GRE score is almost perfect. A 4.0 in AW is fine. You don't need to worry about it at all. There is no need to mention GRE/TOEFL in essays either.

It really depends on what kind of field you are more likely to be in. Econometrics or Micro theory? There's no single answer for it.

Since (Intro) real analysis is proof-based and contains much more contents than the Intro Proof class, getting A should compensate. But, the thing is usually it is much more difficult to get A in (Intro) real analysis than to get A in Intro Proof. It takes time to accumulate proof-writing skills.

Most schools require the SOP to be 1-2 pages long. So, I think 2-page length is fine. But, admission committee might not be interested in reading carefully, unless your SOP is really interesting.

For UT-Austin: It's said that some Chinese PhD students who stayed in the program for too many years were forced to leave. They strongly suggest that Phd students graduate in 4 years, which is shorter than the usual 5-year length.

Whether you should get a third letter in Econ depends on how well the third Econ professor would be willing to help you. But, the real thing I want to say is that you should apply some schools in the 20-30 range and even some good european master programs. PhD application for Top 15 schools is super competitive.