kosker

I am also a bit anxious, but this was unexpected for me which makes me feel relieved.

Yeah, I am also not sure whether all of the competent applicants invited for interview. They may admit some of them directly without any interview process.

I received an email yesterday evening, but two hours before that I had seen the first interview post on gradcafe. Therefore, they probably send interview decisions one by one. This is just the first round of the decisions, I think there will be others.

I am not very familiar, but according to gradcafe, they sent their early round acceptances on Feb. 2, and waitlist decisions on Feb. 20, last year(all same day btw). I guess we will hear about waitlist decisions later in February.

I think they will reconsider remaining(not accepted in the early round) applications after the final deadline(March 31).

For BGSE, I think you're fine. They look at your overall score, and it is above the minimum requirements(6.5).

Congrats xantric !!

Congratulations to both of you !!1!

I have seen a couple of UCLA results at gradcafe. Isn't it a bit early compared to last years?

I hope that, this silence is the sign of a good; drop in the number of applicants :) I am done with the three quarters of my pool, and probably will finish the rest after I got my TOEFL result. I will post my profile to roll call thread after I'm done with the rest. I wish good luck to all of you applying this year.

You should consider to add Bocconi, BGSE, CEMFI, Mannheim, Bonn which have better placement records than Utrecht, Maastricht, Aarhus and CEU. Also, Tinbergen and Tilburg are inclined to admit students who will continue to their PhD programs.

I have a quick question. Most of the application forms ask whether I apply other graduate schools and order of preference. What should I do?

I got my score exactly one week after the test. However, you should take into consideration Thanksgiving break. I am not sure if they grade AWA at holidays.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad : B.S Industrial Engineering+Math minor. Joint Program with a low ranked public state Univ. in US and Top 3 Engineering Univ. In Turkey Undergrad GPA (Turkey): 3.38/4 (ranked 3/35) (No grade inflation, I will explain it) Undergrad GPA (US): 3.16/4 ( Only A,B,C,D,F) Undergrad GPA (Cumulative): 3.27, major GPA 3.60 Type of Grad: MA Economics and Finance Top 1-2 University in Turkey (1 year -3 semester- program, no thesis but a research project under guidance of an advisor) Grad GPA: 3.9/4 (ranked 2/45) GRE: 170Q / 151V / AW TBD (unofficial results) Grade description for Turkey: AA 4.0 , BA 3.5, BB 3.0, CB 2.5, CC 2.0, DC 1.5, DD 1.0, FF 0.0. US: A,B,C,D,F only. The classes with 2 letters grade are taken from Turkish uni., the classes with 1 letter grades are from US uni. Math Courses(undergrad-level): Calculus 1,2,3 ( BA,CB,B), Linear Algebra (BB), Differential Equations (B), Operations Research and Optimization 1,2 (AA, CB), Probability Theory (DD) i will explain later, Statistical Methods for Eng. (BB) Math Courses (grad-level): Quantitative Methods for Economics and Finance (BA) Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Macroeconomics (B), Engineering Economics (AA) Econ Courses (grad-level): Macroeconomics (AA), Microeconomics (AA), Econometrics(BA), Monetary Policy and Central Banking (AA), Financial Markets (AA), Theory of Finance (AA), Corporate Finance (AA), Financial Risk Analysis and Management (AA), Derivatives (AA) Other Courses: Bunch of industrial engineering courses Letters of Recommendation:Planning to take from: 1) Master's research project advisor. Econ Phd from one of the top Sweden Uni. , head of the department and very experienced professor. It should be decent because he told me that he liked my research paper and showed my work to one of his fellows. 2) Econ. Professor and director of the program. Phd from Top 6 UK uni. , took AA and performed well at his class, may be decent too. Associate Professor phd from one of the top French Uni. took AA and performed well at his class. Research Experience: No experience expect the MA research project. Teaching Experience: No. Research Interests: Macroeconomics, Development, International Trade SOP: Standard one, talked why I changed to econ. why I want econ phd and why I chose their program and a little about research interests. Concerns: A lot. 1) First and the major one. Undergrad GPA. I know that the competition is very harsh on economics and 3.27 GPA is a very bad signal for admission. I ranked 3rd at my cohort which is a good thing (%8) but still i doubt that the adcoms know the severe grade deflation in Turkey. For example, the mean GPA of the all graduates in 2014(more than 4000 graduates) was 2.76. And 1st ranked graduate (valedictorian) out of more than 4000 graduates had a 3.97 GPA. So, a 4.00 GPA is very hard to achieve. My US GPA is also low, and one of the reason for that is the grade policy ( A,B,C,D only). I can say that my GPA may be between (3.45-3.55) if there were + and - grades. Also, another reason for low GPA at US was classes like physics classes, drawing classes, communication, engineering ethics, IS classes etc. I got 6 A's 2 B's at my major classes so my major GPA was above 3.7 in US. Only relief for me is my performance at econ. masters. I am not sure if this will compensate my low undergrad GPA. 2) Math grades. My program had a strict curriculum except major electives, so i did not have a chance to took other advanced math courses like Real analysis etc. but i think my math course load is still sufficient for EU PHD and some low ranked US uni. BUT they are mostly B's AND I got DD at Probability Theory class. First of all, all of the industrial engineering students at my institution in Turkey have been taking Probability class from only one prof. for more than 25 years. You had no choice. And he was famous for the grade deflation at his classes. I will attach some of the grade distribution charts of his previous classes, as well as my own class (different one on attachments). You can clearly notice the severity of deflation then. But it is impossible for adcoms to know that. So, it is another huge bad signal for me. 3) No research experience. I only changed to economics a year ago, so i did not have much time for that. Therefore, we had no chance to be RA as an undergraduate in my institution. My research project took my two semesters and I am delighted with the result, but still no RAships etc. 4) My industrial engineering bachelor degree. It is not economics so another downside for my application. 5) It is harder to get funding and to get an admission (not all, but for some particular countries) in EU as a non-EU applicant. Applying to: I have preference for Europe over US, so bunch of universities in Europe. A few universities in US. Most of them low ranked, but have not decided yet. Let's start; EU (Master's. Doctoral tracks especially): TINBERGEN, TILBURG, BGSE, TOULUSE (M2), ZURICH (TRACK C) EU PHD: EUI, BOCCONI, FRANKFURT GSEFM, MANNHEIM, STOCKHOLM UNI. , LAUSANNE UNI., GRADUATE INSTITUTE(GENEVA) US PHD: UC IRVINE, UC RIVERSIDE, CUNY, AMERICAN, FIU, CONCORDIA (CANADA) I will add a few universities into EU and US so if you think any other universities to add, feel free to write down. I prefer universities close to big cities ( esp. which have more universities nearby) for US because my gf is looking for post doc. positions and this will increase her chances to find one. I am not sure about what range is realistic for me. Honestly, I am not sure if I will able to get any admits at all. I also know it is hard to make an evaluation for international students+engineering degree. But, it took more than 1 hour to write down my profile with almost all details I can find. Thus, I will be appreciated if you make comments. Thank you.