Hello,
I am an undergraduate at a top ten university and am looking into going to economics or math grad school. Therefore, I was wondering if anyone could tell me what are the mean and median GPA and GRE for economics and mathematics masters and PhD programs at tier 1 universities like Stanford, Berkeley, Chicago, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Yale. I understand that there are factors other than grades and test scores that go into consideration, but I am only interested in knowing the grad/test stats so that I can strive for a reasonable GPA target.
I know typing the stats for all the colleges is going to be annoying. So you can paste the links of your sources instead.
For math, 170 on Quant, 150+ on verbal, 4+ on writing, and get 800+ on subject test for top 20 schools, 850+ for top 5-10 schools. Maybe 700+ if you’re a white female. Go check out profiles and admission stats on mathematicsgre.com
Stanford’s economics PhD: “Most of our successful applicants score in the 94th percentile or above on the quantitative section of the GRE, and at least a 4.5 on the analytical section. If you do not score in at least the 92nd percentile on the quantitative section and a 3.5 on the analytical section, we recommend that you re-take the exam and try to improve your score. In the admission process, the verbal section of the test is not as heavily weighted.” and “In deciding whether to apply, you should be aware of how competitive the process is. Successful applicants have scores above the 95th percentile on the quantitative GRE, and received excellent grades in economics and math courses.”
Yale: “The minimum quantitative GRE score is 760 or 160 under the new test. There are no minima for other sections of the test.”
Harvard: “We do not require a minimum GRE score, however among students admitted in the last few years, scores ranged in the 97th percentile.”
Princeton and Chicago did not offer minimum score information, and I didn’t check MIT. None of the websites had any information about GPA.
Given this, I would say that you want to aim for at least the 95th percentile on the quantitative section of the GRE; of course, the higher you get, the better. Although these schools weight the verbal section less, you probably want to at least score in the 80th percentile there, and at least a 4.0 on the analytical writing.
As for GPA, a good rule of thumb is to try to get at least a 3.5 (both cumulative and major, and in your case, in math classes) for PhD programs. However, schools don’t have minimums posted because the process is holistic - a student with a 3.3 who did cutting edge economics research and has a publication or two still might get into the program.
Very few of the top tier programs offer a terminal MA in economics in their departments. Yale offers a terminal MA in economics, but it is not in the economics department. Stanford definitely doesn’t in their department.