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Hello Urch, I want to apply for a Ph.D. program this year, but I have a lot of concerns regarding my chances due to my low profile. At the beginning of this year, I finished my master degree, and I was very excited to get a Ph.D. But after I read several profiles evaluation topics on this forum, I'm concluding that it would be almost impossible to get into any Ph.D. in the US or Europe. But I really want to get some opinions to move forward (to apply, to take another way or to give up). My Profile: Type of Undergrad: Public Federal University in South America in Business Administration. But, unfortunately, my university is almost unknown outside my country. In the positive side, the public federal universities are the best Unis in my country. Test Scores (GMAT/GRE): Planning to take the GRE in July 2019. Undergrad GPA: 3,12 (7,8/10 in my country). Type of Grad: Master at the same university in Business Administration (Corporate Finance Track). Graduate GPA: 3,4 (8,5/10 in my country). Research Experience: My MSc in Business was research oriented. So I have almost seven research papers/working papers: A paper published in a peer review national accounting journal; A paper published in the most recognized national business congress. Two papers in the most recognized national accounting congress. Two papers in the best finance congress and one working papers that I have to finish. They are all in my SSRN.com page. I think I can submit two of them to an international journal at the end of this semester. Teaching Experience: A semester as a teacher assistant (Corporate Finance class). Work Experience: Internship in a public audit office. Finance courses (Undergrad-level): Financial Management I and II, Financial Mathematics; Finance courses (Grad-level): Strategic Planning and Control, Asset Valuation and Corporate Finance. Econ Courses (Undergrad-level): Business Economics :( Math/Statistics (Undergrad-level): Introduction to calculus; Applied Quantitative and Qualitative Methods; Statistics for Business Research; Math/ Statistics (Grad-level): Quantitative Research I and II (Those classes covered subjects such as exploratory analysis, univariate and multivariate hypothesis tests, cross-sections and panel data analysis). I did a lot of accounting classes, but I don’t see how these classes will help me in Finance… LOR: I have 3 letters of recommendation, but all of these letters are from professors in my country: A LOR from my master supervisor (he is a decent researcher in my country), other LOR from the professor who accepted me as a teacher assistant and another LOR from a professor who is the chief of my university applied social science department. My question is: Sincethe GRE and the research papers are the only variables that I can improve right now, let’s suppose I can get a good GRE (>90% for Q and V), what do you recommend? Should I apply for a Ph.D. or a MPhil? I know that I have a bad GPA, a poor econ-related number of classes, a bad work experience, and that I’m from an unknown university/ country. But I have a decent research background and my plan is to work with empirical corporate finance research Also, due to the exchange rate conversion, I can’t apply for dozens of programs, so I have to choose carefully (10 or 12 programs) and I have to get financial aid too, since I’m not rich (all my savings are divided by 5 due to exchange rate conversion). I was thinking about the programs in Europe, because the majority of them offer financial aid: UC3M, HDHEC, ESSEC, IESE, ESSAD, HEC Lausanne (Léman, Lugano or Zurich), St. Gallen, CBS, Mannheim, and Frankfurt, or in Canada: Alberta, Queens, Toronto or McGill. I’m accepting more suggestions since some of those universities are the ones that I find because they have professors who publish papers that I used to read. 2. So, I really need some advice to move forward. Because, if I don’t have any chances to get a Ph.D. or MPhil, I will not expend my time (I’m studying 4-6 hours a day to take the GRE) and savings trying to do something impossible or something that I can’t pay for. Any help will be appreciated!

I am yet to hear back from there, so I am assuming I am on an implicit waitlist. I do not have any other admission offers right now. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Economics department at SSE? I can see there are some big names in micro theory (Ellingsen, Weibull) and macro-theory. But the applied emperical fields seem to be completely neglected. In terms of placements, how does SSE fare? How does the department compare to top-20 universities in the US? How is it ranked within Europe? I was talking to my batchmates about SSE, and they were of the opinion that the grad students there are basically rejects from other European programs.

Hello everyone, Could you please evaluate my profile and check if i’m not overestimating my chances? i have only done undergrad so far, and I’m also considering getting an European masters. Undergrad GPA: 3.35 (could go to 3.5) or 8.3/10 (standrised, Brazilian top-3 university), ranking in the 20% of cohort. R.A experience: With a professor that seems to like me enough to write me a good reference letter. Was top 2 in her class. Also another one for two years, that one in a group so maybe not a stellar letter but a good one. Recommendation letters: one from the R.A professor i mentioned, another one from my advisor (top 10 economists in my country, i believe could write a good letter). GRE: not yet, some schools don’t require it so I may give it a second thought. Awards: I think I can win a prize for the best thesis in undergrad. Considering applying to (Msc): Cambridge, Mannheim, BGSE, CEMFI, LSE, Bonn, UCLouvain, Tilburg, Toulouse, PSE and (maybe) Bocconi. I’m fine with doing my PhD from any of these unis (maybe not Bocconi), so I may continue after masters. Does anyone know if I’m aiming too high? Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone, I am currently a Ph.D. student at one of the top school in Economics in Turkey. However, I applied 7 schools for Ph.D. in Europe( SSE, Maastricht, Lund, EUI, PSE, BGSE, MGSE). I am very nervous about taking rejection all of them. Since I don't want to pursue my education here, I am searching one safety option in Europe. I will be very appreciated if someone helps me. My profile: Undergrad GPA: 2.77 in Economics (a French spoken university in Turkey, I am ranked top 1000 among 2 million people at university entrance exam) Grad GPA: 3.11 in Economics (one of the top three universities in Turkey) Published paper in Economics Letters. Current GPA in Ph.D.: 3.39 (one of the top three universities in Turkey) References from well-known professors who took their Ph.D. from top universities.

Hi, I am applying for the 2017 admission cycle, and I am focussing on behavioral/ experimental economics for my PhD. I am looking forward to getting through to an Economics PhD program in Europe, and the following is my shortlist for now: University of Zurich, Stockholm School of Economics, Oxford, LSE and Norwegian School of Economics (NHH). The deadlines to most of these places are approaching, which is why I need any feedbacks that you may offer urgently! My profile is as follows: Type of Undergrad: Electrical Engineering, from a top 5 department in India Undergrad GPA: 7.96/10, placed in top 30% of my class. Type of Masters 1: M.A in Economics from top department in India Maths courses: Analysis (68/100), Probability and measure theory (72/100) Linear Algebra (70/100) Econ courses: Game Theory (60/100), Intermediate macro (70/100), intermediate micro (70/100), econometrics (66/100) Masters 1 grades : 63%, in the top 30 percentile of my class. Type of Masters 2: M.Res in Economics from University of Glasgow, UK (the program is new, but taught by professors who are well known). Courses: Intermediate maths (multivariate calculus, Real analysis, linear Algebra etc): A2, intermediate micro A5, intermediate macro A5, Econometrics B1 [ where A1-A5 correlates with 80-100 points in a 100 mark paper, and B1 is just below A5]. Ranked within the top 1-2 students in class. Dissertation: Currently in progress, should be a nice writing sample, not publication level work but promising according to my supervisor. Awards: I have received full University funding for my 2nd masters course. Letters of recommendation : 2 of the most senior professors in my current department, who are well-known in the Econ Theory community, but not behavioral economists. The letters should be quite strong. Research exp: I worked as an RA for 1 year between the two masters degrees listed above, and I am currently collaborating with a professor from the law faculty on a joint paper on internet economics. My dissertation is a paper on internet economics intersecting with IO. Teaching exp: none SOP: Since I shifted my concentration after my undergrad, my first Masters grades were below par. But with my second masters by research I have tried to fill up the gap, and thrown in some research exp in the mix GRE: 168 Q, 164 V, AW 4.0 Research interest: Behavioral/ Experimental econ. Am I aiming too high? Are there any schools, of a similar stature, that I should consider in addition to these? Please note, receiving funding is crucial for me, for example in places like LSE, where quite a few students self fund/ receive external funding. I would love to hear any suggestions/ thoughts that you may have! Thanks a lot

Hi everyone, I need an advice. I've been admitted into Bologna MSc Economics (LMEC), and I have also some offers from reputable UK universities such Nottingham, Essex, Bristol, Southampton... All one year program (instead in Bologna two), some programs are MSc other MRes. My question is... Bologna should be compared with which UK universities? It worth the extra year? My goal is to get admitted in a good PhD program in Europe. Here Bologna placement from various year: LMEC students admitted to prestigious programs! - LMEC - Laurea Magistralis in Economics - Università di Bologna LMEC students admitted to prestigious programs! - LMEC - Laurea Magistralis in Economics - Università di Bologna Students admitted to prestigious graduate programs! - LMEC - Laurea Magistralis in Economics - Università di Bologna Is this placement comparable with UK universities listed above? Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

Hi everyone, I am so at loss at this moment. Need your help! I am now studying Financial Engineering at National University of Singapore (NUS) at Master level and wants to pursue a PhD program in Europe(like Frankfurt or Zurich). My interest is in banking and monetary econ. And I don't know what to choose between 【1】GAP one year( doing some voluntary research with professor at NUS ) and 【2】 going for the advanced master at KU.Leuven, which is a one-year program Sincerely want to know your opinion! Also, I am a little bit confused: I see KU.Leuven ranks high on kinds of ECON school lists, but what is the strong area of KU.Leuven? Is it Econometrics? Thanks very much!