Best Undergrad Economics Programs

FutureEconomist
Sun, 24 Aug 2014 22:02:25 +0000

Hey guys!

I’m a freshman at the University of Central Florida, and I plan to transfer to a top research university as a junior, though I wouldn’t mind going to a top liberal arts college. My question is, can anyone give me some insight regarding which are some of the best undergrad economics programs that would work out for a transfer student? Also, I already have a list of schools that I am considering, so if you know anything about them please share. My list goes as follows:

U Penn
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
USC
Notre Dame
Emory
UF(safety school)

Also, as far as extracurriculars, I am doing a bunch of volunteer work dealing with homelessness and hunger, and am planning on going on a trip to Dominican Republic to build houses and help Haitian refugees. I will hopefully be a justice in the judicial branch of my school’s SGA. Also, I’m in a leadership program on campus called LEAD Scholars, which is reasonably selective, and I will be a part of it’s admissions team this spring. In addition to the program I am getting a leadership certificate. My classes are fairly easy, so estimate that I will have around a 3.9 GPA by the time I transfer. My ACT is 29, but I’m sure I can get it up if I need to, since I din’t study for it and only took it once, same with SAT, only that I took that one twice and got a 2030.

Given this (mostly hypothetical) profile, what are my chances of getting into a top 12-25 research school? And also, what other schools should I look more into?