bottlerack

If you focus on empirical micro, your profile will look more like the one by econ girl, although she has a slightly higher GPA: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-economics/157310-profiles-results-2016-a.html#post1003486 Judging from her results, the top 15 range seems possible. You should also consider the lower ranked schools she was accepted to or waitlisted at. Based on my own results as a non-US applicant with a worse profile, I say consider also BC, MSU, UIUC at the top 25-30 range. UC Irvine is definitely a good safety in the top 50.

PROFILE Type of Undergrad: Economics, National University of Singapore (top Asian university, and practically doxxing myself) Undergrad GPA: equivalent to 3.33/4.00 (overall, including retaken class with initial F grade, otherwise 3.41), 3.46/4.00 (econ) Grad GPA: NA GRE:168 Q, 168 V, 4.0 AW Math Courses: Calculus(B+), Multivariable Calculus(F, B+), Linear Algebra I-II (B+, A-), Probability (B), Intro to Real Analysis (B) Econ Courses (grad): Policy Impact Evaluation (A+) Econ Courses (undergrad): Intro Econ (A-), Micro I-III (A, B, B), Macro I-III (A-, A-, B+), Econometrics I-III (A-, A+, A-), Labor I-II (C+, B+), Development I (A-), International I-II (B-, A), Public I-II (B, B+), Financial I (B-), Money and Banking I (B-), Mathematical Econ (B), Game theory (B), Environmental I (A+), Senior Thesis (A+) Other courses: Innovation and Productivity (A+), Labour Law (A), Math of games (A+), Intro politics (A) Awards: Achieved an average grade among the top 5% (3.67/4.00) in my second semester, and among the top 1% (4.00/4.00) in my final semester (when I wrote my senior thesis). Letters: 3 good letters from econ professors. One from a senior professor among the top 20 authors in my country (I know a research assistant of his got admitted to a top 10 school), who knows me well due to the small class size. Two from assistant profs (top 15 PhDs) I RA-ed for two years. One of them taught a core econ class and can compare the academic standards here to the US. Research experience: Empirical senior thesis on development/political economy topic, 1 year part-time RA (data cleaning, regressions) on empirical labor/development project, 1.5 years full-time RA (procuring data, data cleaning, regressions) on different empirical labor/development econ project. Teaching experience: None at the time of application, but my CV indicated future TAing in Spring 2017 Research interests: applied micro (development, labor), trade, innovation/productivity SOP: In terms of academics, I briefly attributed some poor grades to the worsening of an ongoing health issue, which improved after I got help before my senior year. I referred to a guide on the comparability of international degrees to imply that my B+ level GPA was closer to an A level GPA in the US. I mentioned taking econ classes that used more advanced math without elaborating on my mediocre grades, and also mentioned my good performance in econometrics classes. For research experience, I tried to signal my ability to learn independently with a group project for which I had to learn Stata and do all the empirical analysis. I talked passingly about my senior thesis--because the idea and most of the data originated from the supervising prof--and explained that my initial idea didn't work out. I elaborated more on the range of tasks I did for my full-time RA job to show that I know my stuff. In terms of research interests and fit, I only mentioned applied micro and some fields in applied micro without specifying who I wanted to work with unless required. In addition, I took advice from some reddit comment to basically present something like a short research proposal to give a stronger signal of my interest in research. I had a pool of three research ideas, and usually included two that somewhat fit the research of faculty members I considered working with. The SOP reached 2 full pages in length for schools that did not set a strict limit. Other: Where possible, I submitted my senior thesis as a writing sample. RESULTS: Acceptances: MSU (assistantship with stipend each year), UC Irvine (assistantship with stipend each year + extra $15k total from their counteroffer to MSU's offer), Pitt (waitlisted for $), Maryland Ag Econ (funding unconfirmed), UC Davis Ag Econ MSc (rejected from PhD but offered quarter of TAship for MSc) Waitlists: UIUC, BC Rejections: Columbia, Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, Wisconsin-Madison, Berkeley Ag Econ, Cornell, Brown, Maryland, Duke Econ AND Business (Strategy), Boston U, UC Davis Econ and Ag Econ, UNC Chapel Hill, UVA, Purdue, Notre Dame, Texas A&M Attending: MSU, because its overall reputation is better than UC Irvine's. Comments: Going in, I knew I had to rely on the research experience angle and apply to many schools to get a reasonable chance of a funded offer. I filtered out schools with little to offer in fields I had an edge in, and missed the deadlines for some. I'm not sure whether the explanation of my academic record helped or not. One school mentioned the reason for rejection as having an academic record that was not as competitive as other candidates, which was very much expected. I half-expected an acceptance from UC Irvine because I scoured past threads and found two similar posters who were also accepted there (THANK YOU RECENT GENERATIONS OF TM POSTERS). I also don't know if it's a coincidence, but both my funded offers came from schools that still required hardcopies of transcripts to be sent directly to them. Some applicants may think that it's not worth the effort to apply to those places, so the competition there might be less stiff or maybe the adcomms have the luxury to properly evaluate--not immediately throw out on the basis of GPA--candidates like myself, with the caveat that the hassle probably screens out some types of candidates as well. What would you have done differently? I didn't apply to a masters program because I didn't want to spend so much money (no funding without excellent grades!) and now I feel relieved with that decision. A reply to my profile evaluation thread for a masters program mentioned that the good ones "almost always place their top few students in top 30," which is no better than MSU, and who's to guarantee my place as a top student in a masters program? Based on the results, I probably would have been satisfied applying to only UC Irvine, which was the place I believed I had the best chance of getting accepted. Choosing between MSU and UC Irvine was tough given my research interests. Despite the lower rank, UC Irvine has David Neumark and I heard from a graduate of the program that his students place relatively well. Moreover, quality of life and ease of travelling back to Asia is indubitably superior at UC Irvine. On the other hand, given the uncertainties of admissions for an international student without a graduate degree, I would say that applying to many schools definitely pays off; most of the schools below the top 30 rejected me anyway! I should also have been more careful through the application process. I didn't start applying early enough, which prevented the submission of some applications when I got some deadlines and procedures wrong; I was spacing out my applications and submitting them (far too) close to the deadline. I wasted too much time worrying about tailoring my SOP to schools even though I ended up mostly putting down my research ideas and letting the adcomms decide on the fit. I was also fortunate to have gotten good enough scores in the GRE in the first mid November attempt (except for the botched Analytical Writing section) to not need to retake it. I don't know if my subpar GRE Writing score harmed me and if my great TOEFL and verbal GRE scores helped. How accurate were others' predictions of your range of admissions? I didn't ask TM posters but the senior prof thought top 30 was expected. Another asst professor who I considered as an alternative letter writer thought I could go as high as top 20 but he didn't see my transcript, so he didn't know the full extent of my academic record. Personally, I was hoping for top 20 but expected top 30, meaning MSU is sort of within my predictions despite being the ONLY top 30 program to give me a funded offer. About half a year ago, my reading of past threads made me fearful to hope for even top 50-75 but one of my other letter writers assured me that I would be compared to candidates in the top 20 range in the LOR, so getting into a top 30 or 40 program could be possible even with the weakness in academics. That was good enough for me because I heard that one undergraduate from my university with much better grades (at least A- on average) only made it into another top 30 program (UVA), though I do not know where else he applied or the rest of his profile. At the same time, I want to emphasise how fortunate I am to have gotten two funded offers with my profile; that might not have been possible had I not applied to many schools and I still believe it was a close enough shave that I should have applied to more. I remember feeling frustrated that some schools were being dinosaurs about having to submit transcripts by post before confirming admittance, but now I'm grateful and honoured that two of those programs thought highly enough of me to give me funded offers.

Thanks for the suggestions. One of my other letter writers has told me that I'll be given a favorable comparison with students in higher ranked programs so now I'm less worried about getting funding for my masters or even entering a top 50 program.

PROFILE Type of Undergrad: Economics, top Asian university Undergrad GPA: 3.40/4.00 (overall), 3.43/4.00 (econ) GRE: 168 Q, 168 V, ? AW (expecting 4.0) Math Courses: Calculus(B+), Multi-variable Calculus(F, B+), Linear Algebra I-II (B+, A-), Probability (B), Intro to Real Analysis (B) Econ Courses (grad): Policy Impact Evaluation (A+) Econ Courses (undergrad): Intro Econ (A-), Microeconomics I-III (A, B, B), Macroeconomics I-III (A-, A-, B+), Econometrics I-III (A-, A+, A-), Labor I-II (C+, B+), Development I (A-), International Economics I-II (B-, A), Public I-II (B, B+), Financial I (B-), Monetary and Banking I (B-), Mathematical Econ (B), Game theory (B), Environmental I (A+), Senior Thesis (A+) Other courses: Innovation and Productivity (A+), Labour Law (A), Math of games (A+), Intro politics (A) Awards: Achieved an average grade among the top 5% (3.66/4.00) in my second semester, and among the top 1% (4.00/4.00) in my final semester (when I did my senior thesis). Letters: 3 strong letters from econ professors. One from a senior professor among the top 20 authors in my country, who knows me well due to the small class size. One from an assistant prof (top 15 Phd) who was my senior thesis advisor. One from the assistant prof (top 15 PhD) I RA-ed for. Research experience: Empirical senior thesis on political economy topic, 1 year part-time RA (data cleaning, regressions) on empirical labor/development project, 1.5 years full-time RA (procuring data, data cleaning, regressions) on different empirical labor/development econ project. Teaching experience: None SOP: I had poor mental health in my sophomore and junior years, which led to terrible grades in those years. After getting help, my econ grades went up in my senior year (3.87/4.00) despite taking on more courses and getting my first RA gig. My strengths are in econometrics and in my ample research experience. Research interests: Development, Labor, Political economy Concern: My grades are obviously lackluster in both math and econ. Even during the period of poor mental health, my grades had a pretty high variance (F to A+) so I'm worried they won't be convinced. I doubt my chances at even a top 50-70 US Phd program, much less a top 30-50. Similarly, I don't think I stand a chance at top masters programs, much less getting a funded offer. Other: I audited a small (5 people, including me) grad-level monetary econ class by a well-regarded junior professor (top 15 Phd). Although I took part in the assigned presentations and discussions, I didn't complete most of the other assignments. I'm not sure if his recommendation will be helpful at all. I also think I made an impression on another well-regarded junior prof (top 2 Phd) from different class I did well in. However, the senior professor is saying that these won't add to my current letters since my current letter writers know me better. Applying to: Lower-tier masters programs that can get me into top 30-50 Phd programs. Any suggestions on masters programs that would offer funding to someone with my profile? I strongly prefer getting funding, otherwise I might as well do the masters program at my undergrad place.