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Hi everyone, I am currently a junior, looking forward to apply for a Ph.D in Economics sometime in the future.I would say two of my biggest concerns is that 1) I go to a small liberal arts college (although it is top 5), and 2) I didn't consider going to grad school under this year, so most of what I did in the past are irrelevant (marketing, finance, etc). I wanted to ask you for advice on what I should do during my senior year (still try applying to schools or just focus on full-time RA & etc?), where to apply, and for any additional comments/recommendation (also about what classes I should take next? Since I still have a full year left). Do you think I have the chances to be admitted to a top 15? Type of Undergrad: B.A. in economics from Top 5 LAC Undergrad GPA:3.84/4.0 at the moment Type of Grad: Grad GPA: Econ Grad Courses: TOEFL: Math Courses in the undergrad: Calc III, Linear algebra, Diff eq/modeling (all As); Econ stats (A-); Probability and math analysis in progress Econ undergrad Courses:Applied econometrics, Accounting and financial analysis, Micro (all As); Macro (A-); Development econ (B+); Adv econometrics and an elective course about poverty in progress GRE: planning to take soon Letters of Recommendation: I haven`t talked to them yet. But 1) most likely from econometrics prof I TAed for, and wrote a research paper for his class & he loves it and considers it one of the best papers written for his course BUT I don't think he's well-known 2) labor economics prof from MIT 3) not too sure about my third one... hopefully my thesis advisor? Research Experience: independent research supervised VERY closely by one of my letter writers (perks of LAC i guess) My supervisor thinks it's publishable. Planning to work as an RA for another one of my letter writers Teaching Experience: Teaching assistant/grader for econometrics course, and writing mentor for 2 econ courses Research Interests: Labor economics, Economics of gender & family Working Experience: I have so many working experiences, as I mentioned above that I wanted to go into industries after college but not anymore :( Worked as intern for the last 3 sem in private equity firm and consulting firm. past summer, analyst intern in investment/wealth management firm, marketing intern for the summer before SOP: n/a Other: Concerns: Too many, to be honest... 1) LAC 2) Letters from profs not well-known/no big connections 3) too much irrelevant work experiences (I am really not thinking of going into finance despite all my finance backgrounds. I wanted to go into finance and "sell-out" initially because of family financial reasons, but realized that that's not what I want to do) 4) No grad level courses Applying to: Also, MA is really not an option for me because of financial reasons as well (unless I go abroad and get scholarships). Do I have any chance (for both top PhD programs and competitive RAship programs)? and please give me all the advice for my senior year and this upcoming summer! Thank you very much your help!