gsm94

I am a bachelor in Economics from the top university in a South American country (but not among the most prestigious in the region). I graduated last year, first of my class. Since my degree lasted 5 years, I have already taken intermediate courses on economic theory, econometrics and mathematics. I have more than one year experience in Applied Economic Research at my university's Research Center. I also spent a semester as an exchange student in Mannheim (Germany), where I took elective courses from the Master's program and passed with a 4.00 GPA. I want to enter a top PhD program in the US as soon as possible, but I don't know which is the best route to achieve that. I am undecided between RAing in the US or attending a master's program in Europe, this coming fall. Right now I have received an offer to be RA to a top researcher at Northwestern University. However, I was also planning to apply to the Bocconi master in ESS. Since I have not taken the GRE yet (I've been preparing for the last few weeks and plan to do it soon), I would have to accept or decline the offer at Northwestern before knowing the outcome of my application process to Bocconi (which would be due in april, approximately). Which option would you recommend? Some points I have in mind are. - I have a fair chance of entering Bocconi, but I have no idea if I would be granted full or partial funding (and in contrast I would be paid for working as an RA). From what I have read here, it seems that the program has very good placement in the US, but does anyone know if I would get the chance to do Research and interact with top faculty? - South American PhD aspirants always hear that we should do a master before applying, because of poor signaling. Would my experience as an RA in the US substitute for this? Would I have a better or worse chance to be accepted in a top PhD without a graduate degree, but considering that I have spent >1 year at Northwestern? - Is the work as a pre-phd RA challenging? Would I interact closely with top researchers there? How likely is it to get good LORs after this period? I was also told that I would get the chance to take courses at Northwestern, do you think that could help my profile? Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks to everyone in advance :)