Profile Evaluation and Advice for Fall 2023

[Perturbed One]

Hello community,

 

I'm thinking of applying for Economics PhD in the United States for the fall of 2023. At this point, I am not sure if my profile is strong enough to get into a good program, within the top 50.

Please let me know what you think. Any suggestions welcome !

 

Type of Undergrad: (BS, not economics) Low-ranked uni. in Asia

Undergrad GPA: 2.61

Type of Grad: (MA in economics) top 25 uni. in Asia

Grad GPA: roughly 3.5, thesis: 4.3

Exchange Program in EU Uni for two semesters: Mathematics Dept. (GPA: 9.375/10; 4.0/4.0)

Math Undergrad: Calculus I-II (both C), Introduction to Mathematical Analysis I (B-), Applied Linear Algebra (A-), Mathematical Statistics (A), Mathematics for Chemistry I-II (incl. Linear Algebra and Differential Equations)(both C), Numerical Analysis (A-), Machine Learning (A-)

Math Grad: Introduction to Quantitative Methods (B), Multivariate Statistics (A), Bayesian Statistics (A), Stochastic Processes (A), Stochastic Analysis (A), Data Mining (A)

Econ Undergrad: Microeconomics (A), Macroeconomics (A), Econometrics II (A), Microeconometrics (A+), Predicting Financial Crises (A-), Financial Economics (A), Urban and Regional Economics (B), Data Analysis (A), Data Science and Social Inquiry (A+), Topics on Money and Finance (A-)

Econ Grad: Econometrics/Microeconomics/Macroeconomics Theory I (All B), Panel Data Econometrics (A), Big Data Econometrics (A), Practical Econometrics with R and Python I-II (incl. Time Series) (A), Topics on Network Theory (A)

Others: Data Structure (B), Big Data and Business Analytics (A), Data Analytics for Food and Health Science (A-)

GRE: Haven't but plan in Aug.

Letters of Recommendation: Three Econ professors from Asia or/and Math professors from the EU

 

Publication: One in ESCI, one in SSRN, one in non-sci but peer-refereed, one master thesis (under review SCI journal)

Research Experience: Three part time RA experience during Master program

Others: four TA experience, lecturer for  International Economics Olympiad

 

 

My concern is:

1. My grade isn't good and even not from the economics dept. In addition, my grad econ courses are not performed well.

2. Having an article in non-sci and non-esci would backfire on my research quality, showing that I do not have potential?

 

So,

1. Should I take additional math classes for real analysis, for example?

2. Maybe, enrolling in a good MRes/MPhil programme would be a better solution?  (Costly for me)

 

Please let me know what you think - I guess it's an unusual profile so any feedback will be massively helpful.

Thank you so much !