<p>Remember, however, that there can be a self-selection bias, in that many students at NYU, tOSU, and PSU have more pre-professional motivations (economics is often taken as a substitute for a business major). Heavier recruiting by employers at big universities may also draw some students away from the PhD route.</p>
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If you need a lot of aid then you’re probably going to end up at a State college because the privates with generous aid and not just big loan packages are going to be beyond your current GPA and scores.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean throw in the towel. You can by all means achieve your goal. It means more of the burden is on your shoulders to make sure you are doing the right things to prepare. As already pointed out, a PhD in Econ requires a lot of math. When you get to college you can talk with your Econ profs or the advisors in the Econ dept to make sure you are taking the kinds of classes (math and otherwise) they know grad programs want to see. The burden at State will also be on you to get to know some profs so that you get strong letters of rec. Even though having an official advisor is not common at state colleges, nothing is stopping you from making an informal arrangement with one of your profs by mutual agreement; they know the ropes about what it takes to prepare for and get into grad school since they did it themselves.</p>
<p>OP, I want to get this thread back to your immediate needs. Some of us are questioning your choice of major (and your career plans) based on your standardized math scores. In addition, choosing a college based on a single major is also frowned on in some quarters at CC. </p>
<p>Do you have any math cred you haven’t enumerated?
-what is the name of the math course you took last year and what was the grade?
-what course do you plan to take this year?
-have you taken any SATIIs? what was the score?</p>
<p>Would you consider studying for and re-taking the SAT and/or ACT?</p>
<p>Did either of your parents earn a bachelor’s degree?</p>
<p>What is your household income?</p>
<p>Are you an underrepresented minority?</p>
<p>Are you female?</p>
<p>@jkeil911 I took honor pre-calc/trig my junior year and during my senior year i will take AP Calc AB. I have only taken the US History SAT II and i do plan on taking the Math II subject test in october. Also i plan on retaking the ACT hoping to improve my composite by at least one point and my science by a few points. So my super score is higher. As for my parents both have high school diplomas and did not attend college but my sister did so i am not the first in my family to attend college. Our household income is around $42500. I am an south asian immigrant (indian) but i don’t think indians are a underrepresented minority. Im a dude no other way to say it lol. </p>
<p>@mikemac the problem is Penn State or UPitt don’t offer much aid. The Net Price Calculator show that it would cost almost $32,500 a year to attend.</p>
<p>I am in the camp that would recommend looking into LACs. Grove City College is a good option, in PA, for Economics. </p>
<p>Well, OP, there are a bunch of PA state colleges (Bloomsburg, Slippery Rock, Millersville, West Chester, PSU-Abington/Lehigh Valley/etc.) with COAs of around 23K. Check out</p>
<p><a href=“Home | PA State System of Higher Education”>http://www.passhe.edu/Pages/default.aspx</a></p>
<p>These are your academic safeties, assuming they have economics 
. </p>
<p>Then there are the private PA schools with “lower” COAs and some need-based and/or merit aid and higher admissions standards: Moravian 49K, Muhlenberg 55K, Allegheny 52K, Albright 50K, Rosemont 46K, etc. </p>
<p>Then there are some nearby but OOS schools with even lower COAs: James Madison 38K, Christopher Newport 35K, Marymount 41K, Emory & Henry 42K, Rowan 35K, Binghamton 33K, and so forth. There could very well be an econ gem in this bunch of less expensive schools.</p>
<p>There are many others in PA and the contiguous states. You’ll have to do the research. These may not be the best economics departments; you’ll have to do the research. You’ll definitely have to check the depth of their econ and math curricula and check for ways to supplement if they don’t offer the higher-level math/econ courses you need for grad school. You’ll have to run the npcs on all of these to see what your family can afford.</p>
<p>You might also be a candidate for Questbridge:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.questbridge.org”>http://www.questbridge.org</a></p>
<p>There deadline is fast approaching: 9-26, I think.</p>
<p>Net Price Estimates<a href=“full%20cost%20of%20attendance%20minus%20estimated%20grant%20aid%20only”>/u</a></p>
<p>$23,340 Pittsburgh
$16,882 Gettysburg
$10,790 Earlham (after deducting not only institutional grant aid but also $4395 Pell Grant and $3500 Indiana Grant or federal SEOG)</p>
<p>Assumptions
$42500 family income (divided equally between married parents)
No significant assets
PA resident</p>
<p>I never knew about questbridge, but isn’t it very competitive. Do you really think i have a chance with my GPA and test scores? Also do you think i have a chance at Rochester if i apply ED?</p>
<p>Your CR+M scores are near the bottom of the middle 50, it’s true, but your ACT score is in the middle of it. It’s a reach, and the money might not be there at URoc, but it’s worth looking into, esp if your APT improves.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about Questbridge, and the website isn’t very helpful, frankly. I suggest you take a look at it, nonetheless, and also take a look at the Financial Aid Forum on the left side of this page and the QB forum within that. </p>
<p>I think you have a compelling biographical story to tell about why you should be admitted to a very good college. Maybe I’m wrong.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, the OP is in Pennsylvania, where the state schools are relatively expensive and have poor in-state financial aid.</p>
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<p>Grove City is not the best school for a pre-PhD economics major. The economics courses do not make much use of math (intermediate micro and macro economics do not require any calculus, and econometrics requires just a semester of business calculus).</p>
<p>That is true but the students can take more math and actuarial science courses which will give them a good foundation. There are plenty of students that come out of LACs with the tools to succeed in PhD programs. </p>
<p>When you say graduate school, do you mean a PhD program in economics or an MBA or something else?</p>
<p>when the OP says graduate school, he or she means a PhD.</p>
<p>After reading up about economics programs and such, i still believe its my first choice. But does anyone know more about majoring in political science and then pursuing a MPA? Is it worthwhile?</p>
<p>really, dude? political science? </p>
<p>why not pursue economics as an undergraduate and then do the MPA or MPP afterwards? The econ degree will bring you work and income a lot of places. The polisci degree will bring you…law school. Follow your passion, man!</p>
<p>lol OP I think you need to explore first. No need to jump into a bandwagon right now. </p>
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<p>Some LACs are better than others for this purpose (pre-PhD in economics). The same applies to non-LAC schools. For a pre-PhD student in economics, using more advanced math in the economics courses will be more interesting for the student, as well as give more of a taste of what PhD study in economics is like.</p>
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<p>This was completely not true in our case. My son had lower stats (3.6w / 27 ACT) than the OP and got $21,000 in merit aid from one Pennsylvania LAC, and $15,000 from another. They also added on $5,000 and $9,500 in need-based college grants (not counting PHEAA grants), respectively. In one case, the merit alone brought the tuition down to below that of Pitt for in-state. Loans at one would be $20,000 for four years. The other will be $10,000 for all four years.</p>