xy1215

I am an international applicant as well and I am also interested in labor, with special focus on human capital formation. As I have a quite specific research question that I'd like to explore, I spent quite a lot of time researching the faculty website of each school and identified at least one professor whose research fits with my research interests. I can give you a list of schools I am applying to, but I think it's better you do the research yourself (and I am not sure if I am aiming as high as you do). In this process, you can know some big-names doing research in fields you are interested in, and read some good papers written by them. Another thing I think you could do is to read some research papers in labor (or the economics of education) published on top journals, and identify the institutions of the authors to these papers. However, as tm_member said, almost all top programs have at least one fantastic labor economist. If you take into account other factors such as location, you might at the end only have the exact number of schools you could afford to apply to. This is totally based on my experience. Hope this helps.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: BA in Human Resource Management at a well-known university in my country Undergrad GPA: 3.43/4 Type of Grad: MA in Applied Economics at a top Asian university Grad GPA: 4.75/5 GRE: Q168 V157 AWA 3.5 Math Courses: Calculus I/II (A/A-) Linear Algebra (D) Probability and Statistics (A-) Econ Courses (grad-level): micro macro econometrics (master-level) econometrics (phd-level) financial econometrics public finance, all A or A+. Advanced international trade (phd level) B+ Econ Courses (undergrad-level): micro labor all A- Letters of Recommendation: one from my current employer and one from my co-author, both are faculty members at a top asian university. We are working on a research paper in health economics and they know my academic ability very well, should be quite strong. The third one is from a faculty member of the department where I received the master's degree, should be good (but who knows) Research Experience: 6-months graduate RA. 2-year full-time RA for the first LoR, have one working paper in health economics, and one research project in labor in progress. Teaching Experience: none Research Interests: labor, development, environmental SOP: Only talk about my research experience and interests, and some future plans. Mentioned one professor for each school whom I'd like to work with. I didn't mention my math background as I don't know how to explain the atrocious linear algebra grade in a good way. Anyway, I suppose they could know my ability from my grad GPA, research experience and LoRs. Concerns: A lot, AWA, math background, undergrad major, and the third LoR. Applying to: Northwestern, Columbia, UC Berkeley ARE, Maryland AREc, Maryland Econ, Brown, Rochester, UCSD, Boston U, Boston C, Virginia, U of Washington, UIUC, Rice, HKUST

Thanks very much for the comments! Sorry for the late reply as I was preoccupied by work as well as preparing for application. Your advice is really helpful. I totally agree with you that being the best student in a mid-ranged program is still very nice. In fact, a mid-ranged program with faculty matching my research interests would be very good, and funding opportunity and location are things I have to take into consideration as well. And here is a list of programs I'm going to apply to: Northwestern, Columbia, UCSD, Rochester, Maryland, John Hopkins, Brown, Virginia, Boston College, U Washington, Berkeley ARE, Maryland AREc, Cornell AEM and HKUST. It would be very nice if you, and anyone else who see this thread, could comment on whether this list is reasonable and whether I would be competitive for some of the programs. Thanks very much!

Thanks for the comment! I read a lot of your comments in other threads that help me a lot. And your reply here really makes me more confident (hope not being over-confident) in my application. In fact, my math is not bad at all, and that's why I handled those Master's/PhD level econ course really well even I only took 4 math courses undergrad. Many grad econ courses I took involved a lot of complex math. I just don't know how to show the AdComs this. One of my other concerns is that my LoRs writers are not quite well-known in the field. The two knowing me well are young assistant profs, though they all graduated from top econ departments in the US. But still, I don't know how to improve this ... I don't have any strong connection with well-known economists. Anyway, I think I will spread my applications in a wide range, maybe 2 in top 15, 4-6 in top 15-30, 3 in top 30-40 and 2 in top 40-50. And 4-5 ARE programs including those I mentioned above and ARE in UC Berkeley. Do you think this distribution reasonable? Or do you think I should focus my choices in a more narrow range?

Hi, I am an international applicant from China, and currently working as an RA in a top university in Asia. Need your advices in the PhD application. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: BA majoring in Human Resource Management from top university in China Undergrad GPA: 3.43/4 Type of Grad: Master of Social Science(Applied Economics) from a top university in Asia out of China Grad GPA: 4.75/5 GRE: Q168 V157 AWA3.5 (one of my concerns) Math Courses (undergrad): Calculus I (A), Calculus II (A-) Linear Algebra (D, my biggest concern), Probability (A-) Econ Courses (undergrad): Western Economics (A-) Labour Economics (A-) Personnel Economics (A) Econ Courses (master level): Microeconomics (A) Macroeconomics (A) Quantitative & Computing Method (A-) Financial Econometrics (A+) Public Finance (A) Project & Policy Evaluation (A-) Econ Courses (PhD level): Econometric Modelling and Applications (A+) International Trade (B+) Research Experience: half-a-year part-time RA for a sociology assistant prof; currently working as a full-time RA for an assistant prof for 1.5 years, most of the time doing research independently (my boss is too busy to give me instructions), co-authoring one paper (presented in a few research seminars and conferences with promising feedback, not published yet) with my boss and her colleague in health economics, another paper in demographic economics in progress. All papers involve a lot of econometric analysis that are done by me. Letters of Recommendation: Econ PhD from Yale: my boss; know me well and definitely will write a decent LOR for me. She thinks I can apply to top 30 Econ programs, though I don't know if she overestimate me. Econ PhD from U of Maryland: an assistant prof working closely with my boss, and know my research ability well. Another two potential referees (not confirmed yet) are Associate Profs from department of Econ in my master university; I did a great job in their courses. Teaching Experience: none Research Interests: Health economics, environmental economics, applied econometrics SOP: still think about it, perhaps mainly talk about my research experience and research interests. I consider applying top 20-40 econ programs (try 1 or 2 in top 20 maybe), but I don't know if I am targeting too high, since I had poor AWA score and atrocious grade in linear algebra. My undergrad major might be too far away from Econ as well. Concerning my research interests, I'm also searching for agricultural econ and applied econ programs, which in my opinion require less math knowledge. Currently I'm considering Applied Econ in U of MN, AREC in U of MD and ARE in UC Davis. I think my strengths will be my research experience, and my grad GPA, but not sure if I overstate. So let me know what you guys think, and please be as harsh as needed.