Profile Evaluation & School Suggestions – Political Economy

[Miyavmiyavkedy]

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to apply for PhD programs starting in Fall 2025 and I’d really appreciate your thoughts on two things:

1. Which programs (Econ or Political Science) might be a good fit for my research interests.
2. My realistic chances of admission at different tiers.

 

 Research Interests

• Political economy (especially governance, state capacity, and public spending).
• Development economics (infrastructure, electoral behavior, and intergenerational mobility).
• Empirical, quant-heavy approaches (DiD, IV, RCTs) rather than qualitative methods.
• Preference for faculty who combine political science and economics perspectives.

My Profile

Education:

• M.A. in Economics, one of the best universities in Turkey) – GPA: 4.0/4.0 (current student)
• B.A. in Economics & Political Science (Double Major), one of the other best universities in Turkey,  – GPA: 3.66/4.0, 9th in 100 students

Research Experience:

• Master’s thesis likely using Difference-in-Differences on infrastructure and voting behavior.
• Some empirical course projects using R, Stata.
• Past research assistantships in summer undergrad research projects in economics and political science, at undergrad level, nothing too fancy.

Test Scores:

• GRE: 170Q / 155V / 4.5AW
• TOEFL: 111

Extracurriculars:

1) one of the board members of my university’s debate club during my undergrad studies, for four consecutive years

2) one of the board members of my university’s effective altruism group

Letters of Recommendation (expected):

• 2 senior faculty from my master’s program (PhD from top-30 Econ programs, strong publication records).

Skills:

• R (intermediate), Stata, econometrics, applied micro methods.

 

 Current Draft School List:

Political Science (U.S.):

Yale, Stanford, Harvard (Gov), UC Berkeley, MIT, Princeton, NYU, University of Chicago.

Political Science (Europe):

LSE Government, Oxford DPIR, Cambridge POLIS, UCL Political Science.

Economics (Europe):

University of Zurich, Paris School of Economics, UPF Barcelona GSE, EUI Florence, Stockholm School of Economics, Bocconi, Tinbergen Institute, Mannheim, LMU Munich, Bonn, Warwick, CEMFI, Carlos III Madrid. (Since I am based in Turkey, a PhD in Europe is much more logistically feasible for me.)

 

Questions for you:

1) Based on my profile, what tier of schools in my list are realistic targets? For UK and other European programs, what are my chances of securing funding?

2)Which programs (especially in Europe) are particularly strong for quant-heavy political economy?

3)Are there other programs I should consider, especially in Europe, that align with my interests?

4)Any advice for strengthening my profile before December 2025 applications? Is the Verbal and writing scores of my GRE a problem?

Thanks in advance — I’d be grateful for any feedback on both fit and chances.

[A Dalek]

I'm based in the US, so my advice about European universities is limited. I'd suggest looking into places like Essex, Aarhus, etc. in Europe. In terms of methods training, I have not been impressed with the students I've interacted with from Oxford/Cambridge. There are exceptions, but between the US vs Europe, the former is clearly dominant for quantitative political science.

I can't give you any meaningful feedback on likelihood of getting into a program. Admissions are heavily dependent on the applicant pool in a given year. I think you meet the bar for admission, but without seeing who else is applying, I can't say much about your -relative- likelihood.

Based on your interest, I would suggest you consider looking at WashU and Rochester. I'd expand your range to include a few programs in the 30-50 range to increase your likelihood of admission. Illinois, TAMU, Indiana, etc.

A better verbal score would help. A perennial concern with admitting international students is whether they are proficient enough to TA.