Hello,
I appreciate any feedback from anyone who has thoughts on my profile. I am having a hard time gauging what range of schools I am competitive at.
PROFILE
Type of Undergrad: Top 30 US News in Econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.85 Econ / 3.66 Math / 3.53 overall
GRE: 163(Q), 161(W), AWA(4)
Retaking for a hopefully higher Quant score
Math Courses:
Calc 1(A), Calc 2(A), Calc 3(B), Intro to Proof ©, Differential Equations(A), Linear Algebra(B+), Intro Stats (A), Advanced Calculus (A-), Topology (A), Probability (A-), Real Analysis (Fall), Stochastic Processes (Fall)
Econ Courses:
Principles Micro(A+)/Macro(A+), Intermediate Micro(A)/Macro(A+), Advanced Micro(A-)/Macro(A), Mathematical Economics (A), Econometrics (A), Industrial Organization (A-), International Economics (B+).
Research Experience:
Undergrad Research fellow for my final year. Working with harvard grad prof. Got good results, has been very successful project so far. Use Python, R, Stata..
LOR:
One from prof I do research with, harvard grad, prof at my uni and researcher at uc berkley (strong). One from math econ prof, did well, he taught a difficult course, he claims grad level (should be strong). One from econometrics prof, did well, fairly difficult course, tutor for his class (should be good).
SOP:
I think I've written a pretty good one, still touching it up. I don't address my overall lower GPA, don't know if I should. Lower grades in my first 2 years of uni. Seems pointless to address a C in sociology when word count is valuable.
Concerns:
Low GRE scores. I am retaking and hoping for at least 165+ Q.
Spotty math grades.
Overall low GPA.
Applying to:
I am applying to a lot of schools (20).
Yale, Columbia, NYU, UCSD, UCLA, UT Austin, Brown, John Hopkins, Duke, Boston Col, Maryland, UCDavis, UNC Chapel Hill, UC Irvine, UCSB, Vanderbilt, Carnige Mellon, UCol Boulder, U Washington.
Should I be looking to maybe shift down the range of schools I am applying to? I am hoping to be competitive in the ~ 15-30 range. Will also be applying to Fed RA programs. Thank you for the opinions.