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When applying for research positions in the summer after sophomore year, I will also be considering applying to JPAL in India (since I live there). How should I rank this in priority vs a research opportunity at my university (top 10 PhD econ) or a Fed internship? Assuming that development economics is an interest of mine (if not the dominant one).

Hey there amigos. I'm an Indian graduate in Economics deep into development and political economy, a hence considering an RA position with J-PAL for next year (completing the application by Jan 2011). I can't help but notice that no BA student of an Indian university has been selected so far, even if the evaluations are in India. At best there are Indian RAs accepted but only after they complete a Masters Degree in the US or UK. Strange, because the BA degrees from a lot of US/Uk institutions seems to suffice for RA positions- I know this from the J-PAL website. Nevertheless, I'll do whatever it takes to be deserving and ready in the next 5 months. I'd be really grateful if you could have a look at my background and evaluate my chances of being taken in::) Academics:grad: Degree: BA Economics (3 years, not 4 like in the States) Institution: St. Xavier's College, Mumbai University. The college is among the top 3 for arts in the country but the University itself doesn't have much to boast about in its current state. GPA: About 3.8. Don't know how this corresponds exactly to the Indian system. Did about 16 projects, most of them As GRE: Exam in December, aiming at 1580+, 6 in AWA Undergrad Minors- Political Science and Eng Lit (and hence limited Quantitative content- a year-long paper each in Maths for Economics and Econometrics) Graduate Coursework 2 Distance Diplomas, both concluding by June next year: 1) Mathematics & Statistics (LSE) 2) Population studies (IIPS- this institution conducts most of India's official demographic surveys) Also, short courses on Design of Experiments and ANOVA; Survey Design and Analysis of Data of Complex Samples; upcoming courses on Generalized Linear Models, Bayesian Statistics and Multivariate Analysis (http://www.statistics.com)- all with the necessary computing skills. Skills Programming skills Currently studying Stata(not part of curriculum in India, Advanced Netcourse certificate by Mid Jan) Research Experience: a) 2 months with the Reserve Bank of India (India's Central bank) after clearing a national level exam where only 50 students were selected b) Planning to evaluate BRAC's Targeting the Ultra-Poor programme in January Other Strengths: Linguistic: I speak 8 languages, including French and Spanish which feature in RA job requirements Extensive experience in partnering NGOs- AIESEC, Rang De (Microfinance group in India) I don't want to unload the entire La Vida Loca on you- so let's stop here. If anyone could appraise my chances or inform me on possible reasons why non-US/UK universities have not been preferred so far, I think I'd be indebted to you for life!:p Looking forward to meeting some of you Cheers Abhishek

Hey there;) I'm an Indian student (recent graduate in Economics) currently applying for the position of Research Associate with MIT's Poverty Action Lab. I hit a roadblock while filling their online form. At one place they ask for a scan of my Undergraduate Transcript. At another, they ask for coursework and grades received. How is coursework different from syllabus exactly? If my scores are what they want, it's already in the transcript, right?:mad: In college, we had an additional 'honours' programme (unlike most universities in India) where we undertook additional projects outside the 'main' syllabus. These projects and essays received grades. Is that what 'coursework' might be referring to? After all, we get marks only and not grades for our core subjects anyway. If anyone understands the fine semantics of Western academia, I'd be really grateful for a little advise. Plus if you know what kind of coursework J-PAL values, I really wouldn't know how to thank you. Adios! -Abhishek