International Applicant to Linguistics or Econ Program

CaoCao
Thu, 13 Jun 2013 08:44:00 +0000

I’ve come to this fantastic site with a few questions in hope that this community can answer them.

I’m currently a first-year CompSci student minoring in Econ in a top Lebanese university. I’m assuming that I’ll get a very high GRE score and excellent recommendation letters. My interests in Econ are trading algorithms and game theory; in Linguistics, I’m interested in morphosyntax, grammar, CompLing, and other fields.


Due to a combination of health and personal reasons my CGPA dipped below the 3.5 required to maintain my scholarship; it is currently at a 3.39. By the time I graduate I should be able to get it back to at least a 3.7, possibly a 3.8, graduating with either Distinction or High Distinction on the Dean’s List. I will likely secure another scholarship by then.


Should I log the scholarships on my application or would it be a negative if it’s clear that I lost my first one? If I gain another would it offset the negativity of losing the first to the admissions office?


My math grades so far aren’t representative of my mathematical aptitude so far. Here are my grades so far:
CalcIII: B.
Discrete Structs I: B+ (The teacher gave higher grades to people with lower scores; she did not like me.)
Linear Algebra: B-. (Health reasons.)


I still have Probability and Statistics, and Discrete Structs II. I should get an A on those courses. I might also be able to retake Linear Alg and get an A on it, as well as an extra Graph Theory course.

Would those grades make up for the first math grades?


I have a few projects (like a Graph library in Java implemented from a Linear Alg perspective and a trading alg) and I will be enrolled in a few extracurriculars (like the national programming competition and the Debate Club.)


Furthermore, it is likely that I will have a paper published by the time I graduate.

Would those be of any help in my application?


To sum up, are my prospects of being admitted into a Linguistics or Econ Phd in either MIT or UChicago (or some similarly-ranked university) high? If not, what should I do, and what should I aim for?


Thank you in advance for your input!