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!

[BioEconomist]

Remember that PhD student is a job like any other. And your application is a job application like any other; A track record of success is far more important than what you score on a test. If you have published before, then you are a highly prized applicant. I would be surprised if you didn't get into at least one of them. I got into a Phd program with a GRE score that was super low. I was surprised that they were willing to roll the dice with me. I only got a 720.

That publication will pay off.

[jblsmith]

I too scored a 750Q and got funded offers from 4 schools ranked 35-50ish without any publications. I also have a friend who scored a 740Q and got into a similarly ranked program. The point being that the GRE is not the only section of the application that adcomms look at. It's well documented that GRE scores are not a robust indicator of grad school performance and adcomms know this. They use them more as a guidline, not so much as a rule. As the saying goes: "A good GRE score wont get you in anywhere but a bad one will keep you out."

Based on the little information you've given I feel that you have a strong application and should get some hits. My only concern is the lack of math coursework. It would have been better if you took more classes as an undergrad or did you masters in econ, statistics, or math. Because of this I would suggest also applying to some programs in that 35-50ish range as well and maybe one or two lower. Better safe than sorry.

Edited July 5, 2011 by jblsmith