I recently graduated with an econ major from a pretty good US school and spent a year doing an econ master's in a well known and well reputed European university (maybe a waste of time but I had to go to europe for family reasons). My gre score is 780, my grades are a bit bellow average, but we are talking advanced econ and econometrics courses in joint classes with econ Phds (told ya, it's europe!). I probably can get a couple of professors to give me good references, but nothing shockingly positive given that they've only known me for a year.
I now would like to start a phd so my question is:
- What level of postgrad programmes should I be aiming for? OK, i don't cut it for Harvard but how low should I go?
- I probably can get an 800 at gre if I take it for a second time, will it make a difference?