PhD Program Evaluation

[reginaqueen]

Hello, everyone.

I would be very glad if someone would help me evaluate my chances of getting into a top PhD program in Economics. 

I currently apply for 16 PhD programs in States.  I am a senior student in the University of British Columbia, Vancouver School of Economics. My Undergraduate degree is Honours in Economics and Minor in Math. 

My Overall GPA is 90.1/100, Major GPA is 93/100

Core courses I have taken: Optimization in Economic Theory, One Graduate Level Microeconomics and One Graduate level of Econometrics, Time Series, Machine Learning , Math: Honours Calculus, Linear Algebra, Applied Linear Algebra, Real Analysis, Differential Equations, Probability Theory. 

GRE:  V/Q/W: 158/167/3.5   I have only taken once in my second year, so it is already two years' past. I know this score looks not so good, especially for writing section. 

LORs: One professor  (I worked as a summer research assistant for him) emailed me saying: He wrote a strong rec letter for me. He is an Associate Professor who earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard and completed his PhD at MIT, he used to teach in Berkeley Haas for 7 years, Another Professor is my course instructor who earned his PhD degree at U of Chicago, I don't know whether he will write my strong letter or not, but I do get the highest score in his Optimization in Economic Theory class. (91, class average 60, I am the only one who get above 90.). The last professor earned his PhD degree at Yale, I went to his office hour every week for his Econometrics course during last semester.   

My field of interests are in Development Economics and Labor Economics.

 

I know my weakness lies in GRE, I only have one research experience. I applied for several top business schools and economics departments. I wonder do I need to increase my list so that I will not face the situation of being rejected by every school.  My list is from Harvard to UCLA, WashU, Oxford, etc.