Search the Community

Would it be fair to say that a quantitative score of 800 can offset a verbal score of 420 for a phd in operations management and give one a chance at some of the top schools ? Obviously assuming that the gpa, lors and sop are very good.

Hey! I have real big problems to evaluate my chances of getting into a us phd programm.. i spend way too much time on looking for programs, so i would appreciate any advice. I'm an international student (small unknown european university). TOEFL 109 (25r, 27l, 29s, 28w) and horrific first GRE attempt (700Q, 340V, 4.5AWA, retaking soon, but i'm afraid verbal won't get much better). GPA is ca. 1.3 (1.0 is best, 5.0 is worst possible, i'm best out of my class of ca. 350). RA for 1.5 years, but no TA. 3 LoRs from relatively unknown professors, who should be very strong. I'm interested in game theory, behavioral/institutional econ and micro theory. Nearly all econ classes were very good. But I have a heavy lack in math. At the time of application i will only have Math for Economists (A+), and Statistics I (A)!! In February/March I will have as well Real Analysis, Linear Algebra, Statistics II, Econometrics, and I will take 3 further math courses in the spring term. Will the math courses i am going to take be considered by the departments? I'm thinking about applying to CalTech(favorite choice), UW Madison (never give up dreaming :), Cornell, UCSD, Arizona State, Texas A&M, Ohio, George Mason, ... and the list goes on.. the other problem is that i fully depend on being funded, my family can't financially help me in any way. Do you think this would be possible in any of these schools? Are Top 20 possible for me, if i would apply next year after having all the math courses? In that time, I would try to get into LSE/UCL/Essex/Toulouse/CarlosIII/Tinbergen for a master but also not sure if i have a chance.. Sorry for that many questions, but I desperately need advice. I#m so sick of searching for schools instead of concentrate myself on things like actually learning economics instead of planning and organizing :) ...