<p>Does an A- in an intermediate economics class disqualify me from top Economics PhD programs?</p>
<p>Doubtful! Relax and take some time to read the first thread in this forum.</p>
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There's no perfect way to go about getting into the graduate program of your dreams.</p>
<p>Very broadly speaking, graduate schools care a lot about your letters of recommendation and your statement of purpose -- the essay you write about why you want to attend graduate school in a particular field, and what your qualifications are. In some fields, admissions committees care about things like undergraduate research, writing samples, your work or internship history, or an in-person interview. Graduate schools generally do not care about extracurricular activities whatsoever unless they're directly related to the field you want to study -- often there's not even a place to write about extracurriculars on the application.</p>
<p>Graduate school admissions are not usually as numbers-based as undergraduate admissions.</p>
<p>We can't tell you the magic GPA or GRE score that will help you get into the program of your dreams. And actually, that data's not even generally available on the web -- very few programs publish their average GPAs or average GRE scores. That's because those numbers aren't usually used as major determinants of your status; a bad GPA/GRE score will probably hurt you, but a good one definitely won't secure you a spot. You should try to do your best in college and get a good GPA and good GRE scores, but there's probably no number that's going to absolutely keep you out of every program.
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<p>Without question, the most important thing for getting into a top program is recs. This is assuming a faculty member will not write an outstanding rec for someone with mediocre grads.</p>
<p>Let's put it another way: grades and GRE scores are a gating factor, and may make a difference for getting into 2nd or 3rd tier programs, but for top programs, once you have the numbers, other factors come into play. And there is no magic threshold for "the numbers". It will vary by grad program, undergrad institution and such. </p>
<p>Your goal should be to be better than your peers who want to go to grad school too, to have "connected" with faculty members who will sing your praises etc. </p>
<p>Undergrad research/projects can be crucial when they allow you to show your stuff to faculty, who will then be able to write with experience to grad programs. For example, one kid I know took a grad level immunology seminar the summer after her first year (her getting in was based on a misunderstanding!). In the course, she did better than most of the grad students. Needless to say, this was reflected in her LORs, and also led to some undergrad awards like a Goldwater as a soph.</p>
<p>Man, this board depresses me sometimes....</p>