Shakee95

Hi guys, any comments would be greatly appreciated! Also, have I applied to too few schools? Program: MSc Statistics Schools Applying To: LSE, Oxford Interests: high dimensional stats, causal inference, econometric theory Undergrad Institution: University of York (mid-ranking UK uni) Undergraduate GPA: first class honors (no idea of GPA equivalent but graduated top 5%) Undergraduate Major: Economics and Econometrics Quantitative Courses: Microeconomics (I-III), Macroeconomics (I-III), Introductory Econometrics, Linear Statistical Analysis, Time Series (financial) Econometrics, Applied Econometrics, Econometric Methods for Research, University Mathematics (I-II) Years of Work Experience: two overseas internships in development econ Age: 22 Languages: English (native), Italian (native), French (intermediate) LORs: one from professor whose postgrad class in econometric methods I attended in the third year, the class was quite small so he knows me well. One from third-year macroeconomics professor (large class but I came second in his course), and another from applied econometric professor. SOPs: Oxford - spoke about computationally intensive stats, and then more generally about research interests in the department. LSE: spoke in detail about the research of a few faculty members looking at high dimensional modeling, since the application is also for a 1+3 (masters+PhD) Concerns: 1. I am taking a year out to work, but will still need at least a 50% scholarship to do either of the courses... I know of people with similar backgrounds who have received scholarships, but still, the process seems pretty competitive. 2. For this year I won't be doing anything stats related, and I'm afraid this will be viewed disfavourably by assessors. I may try to get another internship if I receive an offer in January, but objectively it seems more sensible to save up. 3. I did two semesters abroad at the University of Hong Kong and found the mathematics horrendous. When I went back to York for my final year the courses seemed quite easy and for most classes, I was in the top 5%. I'm am worried that I'll find myself in the same position in I do get into a good school.