GRE Quant score and PhD Economics

[cucumber]

Hello,

I hold an undergraduate degree in Economics with a GPA of 3.9 on 4, a Masters in Public Policy with a GPA of 4.7 on 5. I have been working for the past two years as an Economist for the Ministry of Finance in India. With a 750 in Quant and 660 in Verbal, two academic publications in international journals and as a referee to one of the top fifty economics journals, what do you think are the chances of the poor Quant score ruining chances of getting into a decent school? By decent, I'm looking at schools such as Uni Michigan, Ann Arbor; UCal San Diego; UCal Santa Cruz; Wisconsin Madison; Maryland and North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I'm looking at PhD Economics (macroeconomics is the focus) and do not have the real analysis nor the linear algebra in my academic transcripts.

In short, to what extent does a poor GRE score (compared to the mean of 780 as mentioned in most schools on NRC rankings) weigh against an applicant, particularly one with real world experience and applied macroeconomics publications? Am I being reasonable in the target list of schools for macroeconomics?

Thanks,

Vimal

[Soapcase]

Vimal: you may get a better reply at urch forums. post your question at: http://www.urch.com/forums/phd-economics/

[jblsmith]

A 750 is still a strong score and I suspect that it is more competitive than you think. And remember, the GRE is not the only aspect of your application adcomms consider. Indeed, it may be the least important. The good news is that your transcripts appear to be strong and you have really solid research experience. If you think your GRE is out of synch with the rest of your application then why not just retake it? You have pleanty of time, pick out a new study book, study for another month and then try again. Simple as that.

However, I wonder how the rest of your application looks. Did you take any formal math classes as an undergrad? I suspect you didnt get much rigorours training in you MPP, correct me if I'm wrong. What about your LoR's? It's better to have them come from profs/academics than industry people, are you still in contact with your advisor or journal editors?

[cucumber]

Thanks Double Shot; I did retake and do better. Hopefully I hear soon from universities.