honey6931

Thanks! As a long time lurker who has seen you post on other similar topics, I really appreciate your advice! (and congrats on Berkeley!! :-o) I have gotten a few interviews for the summer Fed positions but they passed me over at final rounds last year so hopefully next time around I can get a full time one with Fed or the top institution RAship. I had some serious doubts about my competitiveness at a RAship like your Cambridge position or SPEIPR but given your advice I have a bit more hope. Cast a wide net right? Plus my letter writer is very eager to bat for me which means a lot too. If I don't get a top 5 RAship like the ones you mentioned, do you think it would be worth it to do that after a Fed RAship? That is 4 years of research before starting PhD. Do you think getting more A's on my record in math will help my case for a top 5? Or is it just prestigious of ugrad that is missing? From what I've seen on this forum it seems like the top 5 likes to accept people from other top 5 ugrad institutions.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: ugrad with top 30 econ phd program Undergrad GPA: 3.82 Major: Economics Minor: Math GRE: Q: 169, V:167 Math Courses (program known for grade deflation if that makes a difference): Calc 1 - C+ Calc 2 - A- Linear Albegra & Diff EQ - B+ Multivariable Calculus - A- Intro to Proofs - A- Advanced Lin Algebra - A Real Analysis - A Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro and Macro (A,A-), 3 Advanced Econ classes (A,A,B) Grad Courses: Econometrics - A Other Courses: upper level stats theory sequence - A,A Letters of Recommendation: Prof 1: faculty at top 20 phd, got his phd from top 20 Prof 2: faculty at top 20 phd, got his phd from top 10 both have excellent publication records Research Experience: RA for professor 1 year, honors thesis Applying: I want to get into funded decently ranked program that has good chance of academic placement at top 50 phd granting school afterwards, suggestions? My research interests are very flexible but I like applied micro Worries: Bad math grades early on, no third letter. One of my professors said I'm competitive for top 30 as is...but I want to do a RAship at Fed and take more math then another RAship for top 5 prof for letter. What I am looking for is evaluation of profile as is and predictions of marginal benefit of doing the RAships. Also my chances of getting these RAships (I can code STATA, R, SAS, and python). Thanks!