PhD chances?

[Totoshka]

Hello, everyone! I would be glad if you can comment on my background and tell if I have any chances for Political Science PhD and what is the possible range of universities I can hope for. 

BA: Political Science, Top-1 school in my country (non-US), GPA: 7.8/10. Minor specialisation: Data Analysis. Also won in research paper competition in Political Science once. Also was included for a year in "High Potential" group of "promising young scholars" with additional funding.

MA: Economics, Top-1 school in my country, that is very well-known in US among economic departments. It is a very math intensive program with the majority of students having background in physics or mathematics. It also features relative grading system, therefore, I have no idea regarding my resulting GPA. Most likely, it will be 3.7-4 out of 5. 

Additional Education: ECPR Winter School in Methods and Techniques (Germany), ICPSR Summer School in Ann Arbor: received 5 IETM certificates for excellence in Bayesian Inference and Game Theory courses.

Research Experience: 2 years in Research Institute, working on 3 papers in total. One was already published in co-authorshop. Another one will be submitted soon. The last one is the economic policy paper for federal government that we won a grant for. All papers are in co-authorship and cover Political Economy issues (except economic policy one).

Recommendation Letters: One from director of my research institute, who I work closely with. He has good connections with Columbia. The other two will come from economics professors from my MA program.

Question: My main concern is my Economics MA experience and my grades during MA. 

Thank you for any feedback.

[jjiffy]

Yeah I agree that the main problem area for you is the GPA, which is not *stellar*. That said, you seem to have plenty of quant experience and research under your belt, so I think you will make a competitive applicant. PhD applications is a crapshoot for everybody but I wouldn't mind coming in with your profile. As always, fit, SOP, and writing sample will be key. 

[MrsPhD]

I don't think the GPA is a problem. Grades in the US are inflated. Grades in other countries work differently and I've seen many places that, if grading is from 1 to 10, nobody gets a 10 or even a 9 at times. If you think this is the case, your professors for the Masters should be writing that you were in the 1% of the class or the 5% or 10% of all the students they've had... things like that. They can also explain things for their own class like, so and so got X in my class and although it could seem low by US standards, it was in the top X% of the class. 

Your GPA from undergrad shows that as well. You got some awards and your GPA is not good *by US standard*. But again, US grades are way overinflated. Don't put your GPA on your resume.

I think you have good chances with the information provided. I'd check programs that are more quant focused. Your skills are a plus. 

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by MrsPhD