I need some feedback on where I should apply. Let me give you my story:
Undergrad: I went to a highly selective, private, liberal arts school but wasn't sure what I wanted to do until about Junior year when I decided to pursue graduate study in Economics/Finance. I realized the a strong math foundation would be required, however, at that point I hadn't taken any math courses for about three years since my high school physics/calculus course. Nevertheless I jumped right in taking Calc I-III and Linear Algebra. I had always had strong quantitative skills but my formal training was not up to par and as one might expect I did not fair so well in these classes. Despite these set backs I was able to graduate Cum Laude with Honors with degrees in Economics and Political Science. I took my GRE and scored 710 Q 535 V and 5.0 AW. Certainly not stellar, again reflecting my lack of formal mathematical training. Nevertheless, it was good enough to get me into a terminal masters program with funding.
Graduate: I performed very well my first year in the MA program, earning A/A-'s in all my courses including Math Econ and two semesters of graduate Econometrics. I feel that the MA put me through the rigor I needed and now I'm looking to apply to Ph. D.'s for Fall '11.
Here are my questions to you guys: Will my less than outstanding math performance in undergrad (including the low GRE Q score) come back to haunt me? Can some of this be outweighed by my performance in the MA program? And ultimately, what programs, Econ and/or Finance do you think I should look into? I should note that I'll be retaking the GRE in 3 days and I'm confident I will perform much better.
Stats:
Undergrad
GPA: 3.75/4
Majors: Econ/Poli Sci
Quant Courses: Calc 1-3, Linear Algebra, Econometrics, Time Series
Awards: 2 Summer Research Fellowships, 2 Semesters as a Research Assistant
Undergraduate Honors Thesis: Macroeconomic Growth Modeling
Bunch of extracurricular/honors stuff...
Graduate
GPA: 3.95/4
Quant Courses: Math Econ (A), Econometrics 1 (A-), Econometrics 2 (A)
Awards: Full Assistantship
Master's Thesis: Growth Theory and Human Capital
Advisor: Department Chair who was also Math Econ Professor
LoR's: Department Char in MA program, Econometrics 2 Professor, Undergraduate Honor's Thesis Advisor
