Search the Community

Hi all I have a question. I am beginning my grad school applications and I am hoping to get into a decent econ PhD program. At my school where I received my degree from (double major in math and econ) my GPA was good (3.88), however I transferred schools after my freshman year, where my GPA was probably around a ~3.2. I am worried that sending my transcript from freshman year will ruin my chances of getting into a good program. I just requested my transcript from freshman year so I can get more specific with classes and grades once I receive it but I believe the only econ class I took was micro and I got a B, and other than that it was other random gen eds... I know admissions will mostly care about my math and econ grades however I am just nervous that my GPA from freshman year will just be an automatic negative for my application, regardless of the classes I took during this time. Additionally I did not do great on the GRE (162V, 164Q, 4.5 AW- probably will take it again in Oct to try for 166+Q). Some top programs have waived the GRE requirement, so I presumably stand a chance of not automatically being discarded, however I am wondering if my GPA from freshman year will ruin any chance I have at these schools. I'll provide some more background on my profile below. Any advice is appreciated:) PROFILE: Undergrad: double major in math & econ (B.A.) Undergrad GPA: 3.88/4.00 overall GRE: Q164 / V162 / AWA 4.5 LOR's : Should be really strong, 2 from professors I did research with during undergrad (one with a PhD from MIT, one with a PhD from Harvard), and one from my current supervisor who has overseen my research the past few years and has a PhD from an international uni. Research Experience: Worked at the fed during undergrad as a research intern and now in an RA program at an international institution. I have many research acknowledgments and one published working paper.