Where To apply

People usually ask where we should apply. There is no general answer for this kind of questions. My suggestion is that first decide about "Your Median List". Where do you go you think is appropriate for you. Then divide all universities to 3 groups. 1. Top Rank 2.Median Group 3.Satisfactory level.

Choose 20% of your list from first level. 60% from Median Group and the rest from last group. For example who thinks that Boston Univ. is fine for him, I mean he has seen his friends with the same grade went there are are happy. The three groups are as following:

MIT
Chicago*
Northwestern
LSE
Upenn*
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UMN*
Penn state*
Maryland
Washington Saint louis*
Austin*
Boston Univ*
Illinois
SSE
UBC
Toronto*
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Arizona*
USC
Texas A&M*
BC
Virginia Tech
Rice
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If he want to send 10 application, he could apply for * universities. Based on other factors like cities, Iranian Groups, Money and ...

PS: In all the preceding univ some Iranian had graduated in recent years or got admission or already study economics. Thus I suggest you to fist try for this univ.
PS: I found 3 source for ranking. I do not have any idea about methodology or how much there are reliable, I only want to vast your choice to rank univ for yourself. Also very good and international source is econphd.
Here1
Here2
Here3
PS: I rank the above universities based on my opinion. It might be different from other ranking.