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Most Recently Selected profile:

The data below comes from testmagic forums and shows accepted, waitlisted, and rejected applicants for 2007-2009 for economics graduate school. Clicking on the graph above will make the most recent profile appear to the right of the graph.

All profiles:

Acceptances:
hockeytime 2007:
Hey hockeytime, I'm gonna copy your profile from the other thread and put it here for the sake of completeness. Let me know if you mind, I'll delete it.

Profile:


Gre: 800 Q, 700 V, 6.0 A
GPA: Overall: 3.97 (Undergrad). 4.0 in all econ/math/quant courses. Ranked 2nd in my graduating class.
Classes:
Math: Lin Alg, Calc, Diff Eqs, Vector Calc, Real Analysis
Econ: Intro to Micro and Macro, Intermediate Micro

Graduate: Probability and Micro at the PhD level at a top US school
Type of Undergrad: top Canadian undergrad school, major in Business, minor in Math.
Research Experience: Full time RA at a top US school for the year prior to starting my PhD.
Teaching Experience: None
LORs: Three strong econ profs in my field at a top US school.
SoP & Interests: Empirical IO. Energy/Telecom/High Tech sectors.

Other: Worked in consulting after my undergrad (first in Management Consulting, then Economic Consulting). Somewhat atypical applicant because my undergrad was in business/math. Strong comp sci background, and very strong technical skills (several programming languages, STATA, etc).


Admissions Decision Results

Rejected: Berkeley
MIT
Princeton


waitlisted: Harvard Econ (Declined)

Accepted: UCSD
UCLA
Duke
Stanford
Stanford GSB
Chicago Econ

Chicago GSB
Northwestern
Yale
Harvard Business Economics Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
almagro 2008:
Type of Undergrad: Economics - Top institution in my country
Type of Grad: M.A. in Economics - Same institution
Grad GPA: 1st

GRE: 800Q/500V/4.5W
Math Courses: 3 Basic courses + 2 Statistics + 2 advanced courses
Econ Courses: 16 during undergrad + 9 during grad
Other Courses: from art to political science
Letters of Recommendation: very strong

Research Experience: undergrad and grad thesis + co-authoring a paper w/prof + RA to 2 professors
Teaching Experience: 9 undergrad courses (some twice)
Research Interests: microeconometrics

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Harvard ($), Stanford ($)

Rejections: MIT
Pending: Princeton and other top-10 Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
wednesday 2008:
PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: UC Berkeley
Undergrad GPA: 3.76ish
Type of Grad:
Grad GPA:
GRE: 800/680/4.0
Math Courses: 9 upper division undergrad, 5 grad
Econ Courses: 6 upper div undergrad, 11 grad

Other Courses: misc
Letters of Recommendation: 1 junior guy, 1 senior guy, 1 Nobel laureate
Research Experience: 4 RA gigs, generalizing vNM for my thesis
Teaching Experience: currently teaching intermediate micro
Research Interests: micro theory, finance, PF
SOP: boiler plate

Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale
Waitlists: None
Rejections: None
Pending: NSF

What would you have done differently? I'd haveworked harder freshman year and not ruined my GPA. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Sammy6 2008:
Type of Undergrad: Top 25 Econ
Undergrad GPA: 4.0/4.0

Type of Grad: MA, Top 25 Econ
Grad GPA: 4.0/4.0
GRE: 800Q, 650V, 5.0 AW
Math Courses: calc 1-3, diff eq, linear algebra, stochastic processes, optimization theory, adv. prob/stat (all A's), audit topology, self-study real analysis

Econ Courses: Micro, Macro and Metrics (Intermed, Master's and 1st semester PhD), Health (MA), Trade(MA and PhD), Internat'l Finance (MA), Game Theory (MA)
Letters of Recommendation: 5 very strong (1 Harvard, 1 Chicago, 2 MIT, 1 Michigan). 4 of the professors are very well known. 4 I took classes from, and 2 I worked with.
Research Experience: RA for one year, about to submit co-authored paper with supervisor
Teaching Experience: private tutoring

Research Interests: no f***'in clue
SOP: pretty good, my adviser took a look
Other: female, 21 years old, transfer

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Harvard($$), MIT(money dep*nds on NSF), Stanford($$), Yale($$), UPenn($$, declined), Northwestern($$), Chicago($$)
Waitlists: NYU, Berkeley (declined)
Rejections: Princeton
Pending: NSF/Javits
What would you have done differently? Relaxed during the waiting game :) Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
VGC 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Good Latin American university
Undergrad GPA: 5.9/7

Type of Grad: Same Latin American university as undergrad.
Ggrad GPA: 6.4/7
GRE: 790Q 510V 3.0AWA
TOEFL: 108/120

Math Courses (undergrad and grad): Calculus I & II, Algebra I & II, Probability, Mathematical Statistics, Analysis, Mathematical Economics (dynamic systems and optimal control)
Econ Courses(grad): Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Game Theory, Industrial Organization, Econometrics, Aplied Econometrics, Financial Econometrics, Financial Economics, Enviorenmental Economics.
Letters of Recommendation: Strong LOR from economics professor who know me well.

Research Experience: Master's Thesis, Working Paper, and several research assistanships. Mostly theoretical.
Teaching Experience: Undergraduate Principles of finance.
Research Interests: finance, auction theory.

SOP: I invested a lot of time in it.

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Stanford GSB (finance)($$), MIT Sloan (Financial Economics)($$), Harvard (Business Economics)($$), Northwestern Kellogg (Finance)($$), NYU Stern(Finance)($$), Princeton (Economics)($$), Chicago (Economics)($$).
Waitlists: Berkeley Haas (Finance).

Rejections: Harvard (Economics), Wharton (Finance), Columbia GSB (Finance), Duke Fuqua (Finance).
Pending: MIT (Economics), Chicago GSB (Finance).
What would you have done differently?
I really have applied to fewer places. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
99luftballoons 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Large Private University, Top 10 Econ/Top 5 Math
Undergrad GPA: 3.82 (4.0 Econ, 3.9 Math)
Type of Grad:

Grad GPA:
GRE: 790Q, 640V, 6.0AWA
Math Courses: Calc Sequence, Linear Algebra, Number Theory, Real Analysis I, Real Analysis II, Algebra I, Combinatorics, Topology, Math Stats, Grad. Linear
Econ Courses: Intros, Micro Theory, Macro Theory, Econometrics, Senior Seminar, International Econ (1 yr), Organizational Analysis, Finance, Math Econ
Other Courses: Ind. study in Game Theory and Math Econ, Intro Operations Research

Letters of Recommendation: 2 really good ones, 1 fairly good one
Research Experience: Spent a summer RAing and trying to write a paper
Teaching Experience: Grading
Research Interests: Micro theory, decision theory, game theory, mech. design, experimental... list keeps growing actually

SOP: Wrote about what I liked, what I'd done, I got comments on being "very specific" in my SOP from schools that I've gotten in to

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Harvard, Caltech, Rochester, Cornell, PSU, Northwestern, UMinn
Waitlists: UPenn

Rejections: Princeton, Stanford GSB, Stanford Econ, Berkeley
Pending: NYU, BU
What would you have done differently? I would have applied to less safeties, but that's really an ex-post judgment. I think I had a good year, though Stanford GSB was my dream school, but oh well, life goes on.

Comments: I think italos is right, LOR is everything! Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
scrobles 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Econ and Math, MIT
Undergrad GPA: 4.7/5.0 (equivalent to 3.7)

Type of Grad: none
GRE: 800Q/740V/5.5W
Math Courses: Calc 1&2, Linear Algebra, Probability, Statistics, Real Analysis, Intro to Discrete Math, Modern Algebra, Intro to Stochastic Modeling (Grad course). About half As and half Bs, with more As in the later years.
Econ Courses: Intro and Intermediate Micro and Macro, Econometrics, Education, Development, Behavioral, Public Policy, Environmental, Econ research class. Mostly As.

Other Courses: Chinese
Letters of Recommendation: 3 profs with PhDs from MIT. The first was my development teacher and I RA'd for her a couple of semesters. I worked for the second two doing field research for 2 years after graduating.
Research Experience: Working at a econ research NGO for 2 years after college. RA for a bit in college.
Teaching Experience: Tutoring probability course in university, and general tutoring stuff.
Research Interests: Development, Behavioral, applied micro

SOP: My experiences and my interests. Why I like econ.
Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances: UCSD, UCLA, UC Davis ARE, Northwestern, Chicago, Duke, USC, Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford
Waitlists: nope

Rejections: MIT, Columbia, Brown


What would you have done differently?
My results were great, I think mostly because of my LORs so I think my after-college job really saved me. If I had to do it again, I would get As in key courses (mostly math) and do an economics thesis, but this is just theoretical since it wasn't necessary. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Rejections:
butler blue 2007: Profile:

Gre: 800 Q, 650 V, 6.0 A
Type of Undergrad: Basically a liberal arts college; good but not elite
GPA: Overall: 3.99, Econ: 4.0, Math: 4.0

Classes:
Math: Calc I through III (A's), Linear Algebra (A), Analysis I (A), Differential Equations (A), Probability & Statistics I and II (A's), Topology (A), Topics in Game Theory (A), Discrete Math I and II (A's), Modern Algebra (A), Analysis II (in progress)
Econ: Intro (A), Int Micro (A), Int Macro (A), International Econ (A), Econometrics (A), Comparative Economic Systems (A), Environmental and Natural Resource Econ (A), Math Econ (in progress)
Other: A programming course...
Research Experience: Summer research program within my university producing a paper about Doha's potential impact on China; Senior thesis on the political economy of foreign aid donation

Teaching Experience: Lots of tutoring econ and math but no TA'ing
LORs: One from the econ prof (Ph.D. from Pitt) who advised both of my research projects; one from another econ prof (Ph.D. UCLA); one from my real analysis prof (Ph.D. Indian Institute of Technology). All of them were very high on me and know me well, but the economists are not well-known or well-published.
SoP & Interests: Talked about my interest in research, reasons for applying to the Ph.D., particular interest in working in development policy institutions, and reasons why I was interested in their department.
Other: American citizen



Admissions Decision Results
accepted
Virginia
UC Santa Cruz - partial TAship
Maryland - no funding
UCLA - no funding
Indiana - w/ TA
Georgetown - w/ fellowship funding for 2 years and all summers

rejected:
Berkeley
Brown
Columbia
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
Yale

What I learned: Research programs throroughly to find ones that fit your career goals and then be honest. I did what is generally taboo in my SOP by stating outright my interest in policy over academia. It may have hurt me some places, but I ultimately got into programs that fit what I want to do. Also, don't get caught up in groupthink on this board. I should have applied to Cornell (given my interests) but didn't because of concern on here about their placements. I may very well not have gotten in (given my record with Ivy's) but I should've applied there. Finally, it is true; your undergrad school is very important, but you can still get into a good (though probably not top tier) school coming from somewhere no one's heard of if everything else is top notch.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
tunedradio 2007: PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Top liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.89
Type of Grad: audited 1st year micro, 2nd year development
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q/700V/6.0A
Math Courses: Multivariate Calc (A-) Linear Algebra (A), Real Analysis (currently taking), Statistics (A), Diff Eq. in High School

Econ Courses: lots, A's throughout, A+'s in intermediate micro and macro
Other Courses: lots of political science / development / policy
Letters of Recommendation: one very famous, one very good one (coauthor) but junior, another junior
Research Experience: substantial; senior honor's thesis, presentations at four conferences, year of RA full-time, co-authored (yet to be published) less-technical papers with two professors (one very famous)
Teaching Experience: TA for three semesters (one at graduate level)
Research Interests: devo / trade

SOP: good (but it doesn't really matter)
Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances: NSF, Yale ($), Berkeley ARE ($), Michigan Econ/Public Policy ($), USSD ($), Penn State ($), Brown (w*itlisted $), Duke ($), UC-Boulder ($), LSE (Msc)
Waitlists: Princeton PolyEc PhD
Rejections: Harvard KSG, Cornell, LSE (PhD), MIT


What would you have done differently? I actually applied last year with substantial less math and research experience and was accepted into two top 20 programs but no top 10 programs (and honorable mentioned on the NSF), so for those who are considering it, I found a year of RAing and a few more classes (and better recs) can really boost your admits.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
snigai 2007: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: International Student, top 10 University in the country, exhange student in the US.

Undergrad GPA: 85%
Type of Grad: MA in Economics, Top 3 University in the Region
Grad GPA: 4,10 out of 4,33
GRE: 770/420/5.0, TOEFL: 115/120
Math Courses: Mathematics for Economists, Mathematical Programming
Econ Courses: relevant Micro I, II; Macro I, II; Econometrics I,II all grad
Other Courses: Statistics, Probability
Letters of Recommendation: all grom grad economics professors
Research Experience: GRA for 1 semester for visiting professor

Teaching Experience: GTA for 2 semesters
Research Interests: Macroeconomics, Monetary Economics
SOP: It was allright I suppose )))
Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances: UVA, Penn State, UC Riverside, American U (probably)
Waitlists:
Rejections: Harvard, Berkeley ,Cornell, Georgetown


What would you have done differently?Nothing. I did the best I could.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Prometheus_Econ 2007: PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Top 50 public university
Undergrad GPA: 4.0 GRE: 800Q, 610V, 5.0AWA
Math Courses (all As):
Undergrad Math: 3 semesters Calculus, two semesters proof-based Linear Algebra, Intro to Statistics, Probability Theory, Differential Equations, Intro to Topology, Analysis 1, Game Theory and Math. Programming, Proof Writing, Stochastic Processes (IP), Analysis 2 (IP)
Econ Courses (all As):

Undergrad Econ: Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Intro Econometrics, Game Theory, Experimental Economics
Grad Econ: Quantitative Methods, Micro 1, 2nd year seminar in behavioral economics
Letters of Recommendation: 1 math professor, 2 econ professors, from 3 different universities, all advised me on research, only one I took classes with
Research Experience: Summer REU program, independent research in mathematical finance, honors thesis, gave 2 seminar presentations and 1 poster presentation
Teaching Experience: Calculus 1 (undergraduate TA), lots of tutoring

Research Interests: Microeconomic Theory, Financial Economics
SOP: emphasized research experience, and explained how I became interested in economics, customized last paragraph
Other: Applied for NSF (got honorable mention), got several departmental scholarships and awards in mathematics

RESULTS:
Acceptances:
(with fellowship)

NYU
Caltech
UPenn (after being w*itlisted for funding about 2 weeks)
Carnegie Mellon Tepper
Johns Hopkins
University of Michigan (external funding)
Boston University
(with TAship)
Penn State

UT Austin
(without funding first year)
Wisconsin
UCSD

Rejections:
Princeton
Stanford GSB
Harvard

Harvard Business School
Northwestern
Berkeley

Waitlisted:
MIT
Stanford

What would you have done differently?

I would have applied to Yale as well, and perhaps applied to less safety schools.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
ockam 2007: hey, I just heard about this forum a couple weeks ago. wish I had know about it earlier, but I hope somebody else might find my info useful

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: large "top-ten" public research university w/ top 15ish econ dept

Undergrad GPA: 3.95 overall, 3.97 math
GRE: 800Q/610V/5.0
Math Courses: majored in math, with rigorous year-long sequences in analysis, stats, and abstract algebra. upper div electives included applied linear algebra and mathematical modeling. note to future applicants: the admissions director at princeton seemed to take very seriously the fact that i had taken the more rigorous math courses
Econ Courses: very few: intro to micro, mathematical econ, grad-level micro. After applying, some macro and behavioral (and said I would do so on application)
Other Courses: lots of philosophy including grad-level coursework in philosophy of science.

Letters of Recommendation: These were probably the strongest part of my application. One from a full professor each of: econ, math, phil departments. Math letter came from my real analysis prof who is also a college provost. Phil letter was from my honors thesis advisor. I took a grad course with the econ prof. I know all my letter writers quite well, so there were lots of very specific things they could say about me.
Research Experience: none in economics. Assisted research in epidemiology (with a sociologist) and genomics. Independent research in philosophy of science and sabermetrics.
Teaching Experience: tutor/TA for the computer science dept (java)
Research Interests: very broad. mostly micro and metrics, both theory and applied

SOP: 700 words, nothing fancy. described how my background in math and phil led me to economics. said my interests in econ were broad and described a couple specific topics that interest me. Used mostly the same statement at every school, changing just the last two sentences for each application
Other: Residential advisor, phil club president, and undergrad phil journal editor.

RESULTS:
Acceptances:
full funding:
Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, UPenn, Columbia, Northwestern Wisc-Madison, UBC

no $: UCSD
Waitlists:
Yale, MIT
Rejections:
Harvard, Berkeley
What would you have done differently?
absolutely nothing.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
econchick06 2007: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Large, not highly ranked public university
Major: Economics Minor: Mathematics
Undergrad GPA: Overall: 3.96, Econ: 3.98, Math: 3.85

GRE: 780 Q, 600 V, 5.0 A
Math Courses: Calc I through III, Diff Equations (A+), Discrete Math (A+), Foundations of Math (Intro to Proofs) (A-), Matrix Algebra (A+), Linear Algebra (A), Probability (A), Advanced Calc (A, only A in the class)
Econ Courses: Undergrad:
Int Micro (A+), Int Macro (A), IO (A+), Urban/Regional (A+), Public Choice (A+), Math Econ (A), Econometrics (A+), Development Econ (A), International Economics (A), Money and Banking (A+)
Grad (taken as an undergrad):

Macroeconomic Theory (A), Mathematical Economics I (A-)
Other Courses: Intro Stats I and II (A+, A+), Intro to Comp Statistical Packags (SAS) (A+)
Letters of Recommendation:3 econ profs- 1 who I RA'd for and co-authored w/, 1 from grad macro prof, 1 from department chair.
Research Experience: RA for 1 year for one of my professors/TA this
Two sort-of publications (co-authored with professor,1 empirical paper in non-peer reviewed journal, and one study funded by a think tank)

Completed a thesis-type paper (we don't have a formal thesis program), will be submitting for publication shortly (and I did submit this paper to the schools I applied to as evidence of my research aptitude)
Teaching Experience: TA one semester
Research Interests: mostly applied micro
SOP: talked about my experiences with and passion for research, first para was tailored to each school
Other: founded economics club


RESULTS:
Acceptances:
full funding:
Chicago (Will be attending :D)
Rochester
Duke

University of Maryland
University of Virginia
Johns Hopkins
no funding:
UCLA
University of Pennsylvania (accepted off w*itlist)
Waitlists:
Stanford

Rejections:
Harvard, Berkeley, UCSD, Michigan, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, NYU, Northwestern, MIT
What would you have done differently?
Hmm.. I think it turned out pretty well, I probably applied to too many schools but I am happy with the outcome and wouldn't really change anything. At least I don't have any "what ifs"!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
macrodude84 2007: Type of Undergrad: Graduated top 5% of top 10 university
Undergrad GPA: 3.90 overall and major (double major math and economics)
GRE: 800Q, 800V, 6.0 W
Math Courses:
Undergrad Math: Linear Algebra (A+), Differential Equations (A), Differential Geometry (A), Grad level Abstract Algebra (A-), Topology (A-), Grad level Real Analysis I/II (A-/A-), Statistics (A), Partial Differential Equations (A-)

Econ Courses:
Undergrad Econ: Intro Econ (A+), Intro Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), Intermediate Micro (A+), Intro Econometrics (A+), International Trade (A), Monetary Economics (A+), Health Economics (A-), Financial Economics (A), Industrial Organization (A), Game Theory (A+), International Macro (A)
Grad Econ: PhD-level micro (A), PhD-level macro (A-), PhD-level econometrics (B+), Mathematical Economics (A+)
Letters of Recommendation: All economics professors, including the chair of the department.
Research Experience: Two years research with public policy professor, plus summer internship with think tank in DC.
Teaching Experience: TA master's-level micro and macro

Research Interests: Macroeconomic theory, search theory, labor economics (theory), some interest in behavioral econ

RESULTS:
Acceptances:
UPenn (funding)

Rejections:
Princeton

Harvard
MIT

What would you have done differently?
Not really sure. Perhaps done a little better in the math classes. Written a better statement of purpose, maybe?
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
EconChump 2007: GRE: 800Q 610V 6.0AWA

GPA: BSc Econ (1st Class), MPhil Econ (Pass, but near-miss on distinction)

Classes:
Math: 2 years of calc, linear algebra, stats; pure math - all ug.
Econ: usual ug courses & electives; grad micro, macro, metrics, adv theory, IO.


Type of Institution: LSE bsc econ; Oxford mphil econ.

Research Experience: distinction-class mphil thesis in theoretical IO; 2x6-month long RAs (financial econometrics & environmental science); macroeconomic forecasting in research division of top-tier investment bank (recently published in top think-tank journal).

Teaching Experience: 1 year leading ug micro theory tutorials during mphil.


LORs: 3 econ profs, all fairly well published.

Interests: international, macro, industrial org, applied econometrics; pretty much anything other than micro theory.

Other: 23 yo international male; currently working as research associate in economics for i-bank, directly under former economics professor (now uk chief economist).

Admissions Decision Results


accept (and attending): NYU Stern (Econ PhD)

reject: Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, Stanford, MIT, Penn, Duke, Columbia, Northwestern, Chicago, Princeton, UCLA

Moral of the story: Be careful who writes your recs. I got a rec from a very famous mathematical economist professor that did (and probably could) not say I was outstanding. i did so in order to make up for a somewhat deficient math background (i.e. no analysis). i confirmed this with Stern who said that my recs (they only needed the other two) were outstanding. A mediocre rec is a real problem if you are only applying to top schools. (Note that I didnt apply to any more safeties as my outside option was a fully-funded dphil at oxford). If I could do it all again I would get a rec from someone that was ridiculously positive even if this person was unknown/junior. that said, i am very happy with the Stern admit and the ball is very much in my court now. in addition, i probably wouldnt waste so much time on this blog worrying that i dont have topographanalysis on my transcript.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
anukriti 2007: Type of Undergrad: Masters in Economics from the best economics department in my country...history of students being accepted to Top 10 universities every year.
Undergrad GPA: 69%. Ranked 3rd in my class.

GRE: 800Q, 570V, 4.5 W
Math Courses:
Undergrad Math: Linear Algebra , Differential Equations, Topology, Real Analysis, Statistics, Partial Differential Equations, Game Theory, Calculus
Econ Courses:
M.A.Econ: Microeconomic Theory, Advanced Macroeconomic Theory, Basic and advanced Econometrics, Public Economics, International Trade, Forecasting Methods and applications, Economics of Regulation, Applied Consumption Analysis, Comparative Development
Letters of Recommendation: All economics professors with Ph.D.'s from Yale, Cornell, Princeton. One of them working in a leading research institute in the US now.
Research Experience: One year research with an international research organization in DC.

Teaching Experience: Undergraduate Statistics for one year.
Research Interests: Development, Health, Education
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
Columbia
Rochester
Maryland

Brown
Wisconsin
Waitlisted
NYU
Rejections:
Princeton
Harvard
MIT
Yale

Cornell
UPENN
What would you have done differently?
Nothing actually. I tried my best!
vbrep_register("442973")
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
SMH 2007: Type of Undergrad: No one knows my university outside my country (which is a third world country).
Undergrad GPA: 3.78; Econ:3.81, Math:4.0
GRE: Quant : 800, Verbal : 570, AWA : 5.0
Math Courses: Cal 1-3 (A/A+/A), linear(A),prob(A),stats(A), ODEs(A), numerical solutions to ODEs (A+), Partial diff eqs (A+), Discrete Maths (A+), Quantitative and Computational finance(A)

Econ Courses: inter'l finance, monetary econ., dynamic econ,dev econ,IPE,econometrics1-2, Applied econ, macroeconomic analysis, public econ, (apart from all the regular micros and macros and a couple more)

Recommendation: 2 econ people and one math prof, no big names. i know all of them were full of praise for me in their letters like they are for everyone else
Research Experience: RA for a year
Teaching Experience: TA for ODEs, stats, elementary formal logic, microeconomic-II, econometrics & research methodology (grad level course)

Research Interests: econometrics
SOP: nothing special
Other: a substantial part of my CV and personal statement was only to show my achievements in sports, i know it doesnt count much but i cudnt just leave it out


RESULTS:
Acceptances: UVA, Rice, Rochester, Wisconsin-Madison, UNC (UNC funded from univ, rest funded via a scholarship)

Waitlists:
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Chicago
(did not hear from U florida and ohio state)

What would you have done differently? if the econ dep at my univ had not made it mendatory for us to take stupid univ core courses (50 units of that) in SS like politics and sociology then i wud have taken courses like real analysis and functional analysis

overall it was pretty difficult to choose between wisconsin and rochester first and then after that i got a funded offer from UNC so another difficult decision, but i wud probably stick to my original decision of going to rochester

Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
macrotime 2007: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Third world country (unknown to most)
Undergrad GPA: 76/100 (math 90/100)
Type of Grad: Third world country (well known top program)
Grad GPA: 6/7

GRE: 780Q/500V/4.5A
Math Courses: Calculus, Linear algebra, ODE, Dynamic prog., optimization, probability, econometrics
Econ Courses: micro, macro, just as many courses an econ major should take
Letters of Recommendation: 1 (MIT), 2 (NYU), 1 (Duke), 1 (UCLA) all of them really strong. 4 of them publish or have published in top journals, one less known.

Research Experience: 2 years as an RA in a well known research institute, 2 years working in an interntional organization but in a more policy oriented position
Teaching Experience: TA ecometrics grad level, TA international macroeconomics, instructor undergard macro, TA while undergrad macro, an intro courses to economics
Research Interests: Macro, econometrics
SOP: Honest, just described my research interests
Other:

RESULTS:

Acceptances:
Duke ($$)
Georgetown (no $$)
Rochester ($$)
Waitlists:
NYU

Rejections:
MIT

Harvard
Northwestern
Columbia
BU

What would you have done differently?
First, I would have resaerched more the universities I wanted to apply. Probably, that would have led me to apply to other set of universities. I would have worked less, and I would have taken more math classes.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Skipper 2007: Top 20 private undergrad (with top 40 econ dept)
3.90 GPA, double-major in math and econ.

Selected Math courses:

Multivariable Calc: A-
Probability: A-
Mathematical stats: A
Matrix Algebra (not proof-based): A+
Intro to proofs: A
Intro to analysis (taken at a local public school): A

GRE: 690 V, 800 Q, 5.0 AWA


Results: Accepted with funding
WUSTL
Texas-Austin

without funding
Northwestern (off w*itlist)
Wisconsin-Madison
Duke (tuition waiver)


Rejected
Harvard
MIT
Michigan

Waitlisted
Chicago


What I would do differently: I would have taken a rigorous 2-semester analysis sequence and written a senior thesis. I wouldn't have wasted money applying to Harvard and MIT.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
dorothy 2007: Profile:

Gre: 790 Q, 700 V, 5.0 A
GPA: Overall: 4.0 Double Major: Econ and Math (BA's)
Classes: (all undergrad)
Math: Calc I through III, Linear Algebra, Modern Algebra, Real Analysis, Intro Probability & Statistics, two semester sequence in Probability and Statistics (current). Econ: Int Micro, Int Macro, Math Econ, Labor Econ, Public Finance, Welfare Econ, and a really cool economic history class all about Adam Smith

Type of Undergrad: big public university in the midwest
Research Experience: departmental honors thesis...unfinished as of application time. so not much.
Teaching Experience: taught college algebra for 1 yr, this year TA'ing for introductory economics (the kind for basketball and piano majors). Head TA for the spring semester.
LORs: One math prof that has known me since I was a freshman (Phd Yale) Two econ profs, one who has been my mentor but isn't publishing much anymore (Phd Minnesota) and one who is definitely publishing and is advising me for my honors thesis (Phd UW-Madison). They should all be very strong.
SoP & Interests: my SOP was nothing special. i'm interested in labor and public finance right now, but i want options.

Other: Female american. Numerous deparmental scholarships and honors over the years from both the math and econ departments. Graduating with college and departmental honors. National Merit back in the day, not that it probably matters anymore. Applying as a senior in college.


Admissions Decision Results
Admitted w/funding: Wisconsin, Maryland
Admitted w/o funding: Northwestern (w*itlisted for funding but I turned them down before I found out), Michigan
Rejected: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Berkeley, Yale

I'm going to Wisconsin.


What would I have done differently? Well...I couldn't have gotten better grades. I really think the weakness of my profile was my undergrad university. If I was starting over, I would have gone somewhere else. I could have taken an extra year and taken the PhD sequence here, or worked for a couple years, but I'm not even sure how much those would have mattered. Undergrads don't get to RA (I tried...) Who knows? I'm learning the UW drinking songs :)
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
grahamcoxon 2007: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. in Economics from top university in my country (who has always placed students in top US PhDs)
Undergrad GPA: Econ 28.73 / 30 (= 3.83 / 4.0 ); Overall 28.27 / 30 ( = 3.77 / 4.0 )
Type of Grad: 2 years long MSc in Economics from the same university

Grad GPA: Econ 28.73 / 30 (= 3.83 / 4.0 ); Overall 28.73 / 30 (= 3.83 / 4.0 )
GRE: 790 Q, 520 V, 4.0 A
Math Courses:
Undergraduate: Mathematics (29/30; one year long course), Statistics and Probability (30/30), Econometrics (30/30)
Graduate: Multivariate Analysis (30/30), Microeconometrics (28/30)

Econ Courses:
Undergraduate: Industrial History (30/30); Microeconomics (27/30); Industrial Organization (30/30); Macroeconomics (29/30); Organization Theory (28/30); International Trade (29/30); Innovation and Industrial Dynamics (27/30); Economic Policy (28/30); Technology and Economic Development (28/30); International Monetary Economics (30 cum laude / 30)
Graduate:International Trade (30/30); Industiral Organization (29/30); Theory of the Firm and Corporate Governance (27/30); Business History (30/30); Economics of Innovation (29/30); Labour Economics (27/30); Public Economics (29/30).
Other Courses: Undergraduate: German Language, International Financial Markets, Innovation Management, … ; Graduate: Knowledge and Innovation Management, Comparative Politics, Spanish Language, …

Letters of Recommendation: associate econ professor and MSc thesis advisor (PhD UCLA); full econ professor and teacher of graduate labour econ (PhD NYU); associate econ professor and RA supervisor (PhD Northwestern); at least two of them are very very strong letters from people who know me well; two letter-writers are well-known economists and all publish on top economics journals.
Research Experience: Honors MSc thesis; started to work on co-authored paper with my MSc thesis advisor (I don’t mention it in my application but he probably talked about it in his LoR); 3 months RA at Dept of Quantitative Methods of my undergrad/grad university; 1 year RA at CHILD (Center for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics);
Teaching Experience: 1 semester of Multivariate Analysis (graduate)
Research Interests: Political Economy, Behavioral Economics, Microeconomic Theory

SOP: nothing special, talked about reasons to pursue graduate studies in economics, research experience, research interests and future plans; used almost the same text for all universities; 2 pages research proposal outline added for European programs who asked for it (LSE, UCL, Oxford, UPF)
Other: international applicant; TOEFL: 107/120; no application for external funding; honor roll student in both years of MSc; submitted everywhere MSc thesis as writing sample; at least other 10 (very very strong) students applied this same year for almost the same US top programs from my university (in this sense, this was a strong year for applicants from my country/university)

RESULTS:
Admitted : Caltech (w/ funding), BU (w/out funding), LSE MSc (w/out funding), Oxford MPhil (w/out funding)

Waitlisted: Yale (not admitted in the end)
Rejected: UCSD, Columbia, Berkeley, MIT, Princeton, Northwestern, Stanford, NYU, Chicago, Harvard, LSE MRes/PhD, UPenn, Oxford Dphil, Stokcholm School of Economics, Stockholm U, Yale
Never got an answer : UPF, UCL

What would you have done differently? I would say the standard “taken more math classes” or try the alternative version “taken more graduate econ theory classes”, but since I decided to try the path of an Econ PhD less than 12 months ago (when I had already taken all classes needed to graduate) this wasn’t an option. Maybe I should have applied to a more diverse set of schools (no European at all; some Business School or some lower-ranked school with programs/faculty in line with my interests like Stanford GSB, Northwestern MEDS, Rochester or Carnegie Mellon), because I acted clearly as a risk-loving individual (I didn’t overestimated my profile, though…I know my chances at top15 schools were thin, but just wanted to come all the way to the U.S. only if it was really worth). Anyway, in this case, it worked.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
stupidolive 2007: Profile:
Gre: 800 Q, 550 V, 5.0 A
GPA: Overall: 3.87 Double Major: Econ and Math (BA's)

Classes: (all undergrad)
Math: Calc I through III, Linear Algebra, Abstract, Real Analysis, two semester sequence in Probability and Statistics, Independent study in ODE (current), Complex analysis, Operation research
Econ: Int Micro, Int Macro, Econometrics, bunch of others
Type of Undergrad: 30th LAC
Research Experience: departmental honors thesis...unfinished as of application time. Research assistant for 3 professors for the last 3 years

Teaching Experience: TA for calc, econ

LORs: One math, 2 econs

SoP & Interests: my SOP was nothing special. interested in development or international. said i want to work in the bank. but i think i can change now :D

Other: Female international. Applying as a senior in college. Graduating with departmental and college honor


Admission Decision Results:
Admitted: UMD (no $), GWU (18k), OSU (15k)
Rejected: Cornell, Brown, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley
Probably going to OSU

I wish I had applied more!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
fidelio 2007: Profile:
Gre: 800 Q, 670 V,

GPA: Overall: 3.89 Major: IR Minor: Econ
Classes: (all undergrad- all As)
Math: Calc II, III, Linear Alg., Real Analysis, Econ: All the ones everyone else typically does.
Type of Undergrad: Top 50ish National Univ.
Research Experience: Nothing, really; have work exp. at econ consulting.
Teaching Experience: Taught English abroad, that's it.

LORs: Two from school, one was probably fantastic, one good. Third was from boss at work, probably not much better than lukewarm, unfortunately.
SoP: I thought it was pretty good; focused on why I spent so much time away from school and why I knew I wanted a PhD in Econ.
Interests: Dev., Trade, Micro

Admissions Decision Results
Admitted w/funding: JHU
w/o funding: UCSD, UC-Davis

Rejected: MIT, Harvard, Brown, Yale, Columbia, Penn, Stanford, Berkeley

Going to UCSD.

What would I have done differently? Nothing, absolutely nothing. I think that my profile said everything about me as accurately as it could, though I tend to like math a lot more than my profile would imply. I figured I'd get rejected from most of the places I applied to, but I thought it wasn't worth spending five years of my time at a place I felt I was settling for. Luckily, I actually had UCSD ranked ahead of quite a few of the schools I got rejected from for a variety of reasons, and am incredibly excited to be going there. In retrospect I've thought that maybe I should have applied to Maryland, but I've never really gotten a good feel from the campus there, and so am OK I decided against it.

Advice: Even if they don't make a flyout offer, visit schools! My visits definitely impacted my decision, and made me feel so much more comfortable and confident about it.


Good luck to all!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Econ07 2007: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: International, Top in the country
Undergrad GPA: 9.3/10.0
Type of Grad: MSc

GRE: Q800, V550, A4.5
Math Courses:Undergrad: Calculus I-III, 2 semester Lin Algebra, Probability, Statistics, Real Analysis
Grad: Real Analysis II, Measure Theory, Statistics
Econ Courses: Lots of undergrad, core grad sequence in Micro, Macro and Econometrics
Electives: Contract Theory, Finance, Advanced Theory
Letters of Recommendation: All domestic based. Two tenured, two junior. All had PhDs from top 7.

Research Experience: MSc thesis in progress, Undergrad thesis
Research Interests: Theory, Public Finance
SOP: Discussed my background and interests

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Chicago(Ext fund), Columbia($), MIT($, not immediately), Northwestern (waiver, Ext fund), NYU($), Princeton($), Penn($), Yale (lots of $)

Rejections: Chicago GSB-Econ, Stanford GSB-Econ, Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford


What would you have done differently?
Not have applied for the Fulbright. Focused more on the GSBs, emphasizing theory or not have applied to those.

Advice: Relax. Focus on every aspect of the app (LORs, courses, research exp). Now, I believe this forum overemphasizes math (but, still, you should have Real Analysis). Having recomendants that are known by the Adcom seems to be important.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
kgreene1906 2007: Type of Undergrad: Big 10 midwestern School
Undergrad GPA: 3.32
Type of Grad: Smaller BIG 10 school with a Ph.D program in the top 50
Grad GPA: 3.599

GRE: 800 V, 780 Q, 4.0 wirting
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Diff Eq, Linear Algebra, Proof Writring, Abstract Algebra, Advanced Calculus I and II, Real Analysis(B-), Math Stats I and II, Engineering Stats, Grad Complex Analysis, Grad Real Variable Theory.
Econ Courses: MA Micro and Macro, Monetay Theory, Growth and Development, Game Theory and Firm Behavior
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: Pretty Solid, one came from a UCSD grad, one came from a Cal-Berkley Grad and one came from a Michigan Grad
Research Experience: None...
Teaching Experience: TA for 2 semesters
Research Interests: Trade, Development, IO
SOP:

Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances: SIU-Carbondale, Howard, Purdue, UIUC, Northern Illinois, Michigan State
Waitlists:n/a
Rejections:WUSTL, Berkley, Harvard

Attending: SIU-Carbondale(they are waving me out of alot of classes, it should take me 1.5 years to finish my course work and 1.5 to 3 to do my dissertation)

What would you have done differently? I waited until the LAST MINUTE to apply to places. And basically I wish I had took school alot mroe seriously. But dont underestimate the power of good reconomentation letters...by looking at my GPA, i really shouldnt have gotten into a few places, but letters will get u in.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
kgreene1906 2007: Type of Undergrad: Big 10 midwestern School
Undergrad GPA: 3.32
Type of Grad: Smaller BIG 10 school with a Ph.D program in the top 50
Grad GPA: 3.599
GRE: 800 V, 780 Q, 4.0 wirting

Math Courses: Calc I-III, Diff Eq, Linear Algebra, Proof Writring, Abstract Algebra, Advanced Calculus I and II, Real Analysis(B-), Math Stats I and II, Engineering Stats, Grad Complex Analysis, Grad Real Variable Theory.
Econ Courses: MA Micro and Macro, Monetay Theory, Growth and Development, Game Theory and Firm Behavior
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: Pretty Solid, one came from a UCSD grad, one came from a Cal-Berkley Grad and one came from a Michigan Grad
Research Experience: None...
Teaching Experience: TA for 2 semesters
Research Interests: Trade, Development, IO
SOP:
Other:


RESULTS:
Acceptances: SIU-Carbondale, Howard, Purdue, UIUC, Northern Illinois, Michigan State
Waitlists:n/a
Rejections:WUSTL, Berkley, Harvard

Attending: SIU-Carbondale(they are waving me out of alot of classes, it should take me 1.5 years to finish my course work and 1.5 to 3 to do my dissertation)

What would you have done differently? I waited until the LAST MINUTE to apply to places. And basically I wish I had took school alot mroe seriously. But dont underestimate the power of good reconomentation letters...by looking at my GPA, i really shouldnt have gotten into a few places, but letters will get u in.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
mikethechampion 2007: My profile will be a good indicator for those at poorly ranked state schools I believe:


Profile:

Type of Undergrad: Average state school (econphd ranking 250-300) of about 30,000 students, valedicatorian/scholar of the year

Major: Dual econ theory/math major, econ honors plus university honors, 181 undergrad credits, 18 phd econ credits

GPA: 4.0/4.0


GRE: 800Q/760V/6.0A

Classes: Took almost all econ courses offered by the department, undergrad and grad, started the phd econ first year courses in my third year including Math for Econ 1 and 2, Metrics. Took all standard BA math courses plus advanced analysis, topology, Math/Stat theory, Lin al. theory, etc.

Research: Wrote three honors papers (all empirical) and a theoretical grad micro paper, senior honors thesis last semester. 3 years RA experience plus worked as a data analyst for two years.


Teaching: Substitute taught for various professors in micro, macro, labor, etc. while they were at conferences or vacation. Taught the econ sequence in the MBA core courses.

SOP: Outlined my senior honors project dealing with life-cycle consumption, outlined my interests in IO, labor, applied micro. Very poorly done as it sounded like it was computer generated and I wish I could go back and make it unique and instead of highlighting my math and econ skills, highlight my creativity, talents, and show them who I am..

LOR: 3 very strong letters (Phd's MIT, Chicago, Oregon), I did research with all three and knew them as friends going to their house for dinner etc. I wrote one of the LOR, read one, and was shown the general outline and flow of the third. They all basically said that I am the best undergrad they have seen in 30 years (the one I wrote was especially lauditory lol).

Other: 2 years foreign volunteer experience, won a national econ competiton (not well known).


I hope those of you from small state school realize that you can get good admits but I would recommend applying everywhere because grad schools may have never had a student from your school and they may think you're a great candidate but not willing to take the risk, plus you need to do a lot to overcome the ranking of your school. Good luck!

Admission Desicion Results:
Admits:
Stanford (32k)
UCSD (no $)
BU (no$)
UPenn (waitlist)

Rejects: Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, Northwestern, UCLA, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Caltech






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Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Chicunomics 2008: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Honours bachelor's degree at a big international university (econphd.net top 100)
Undergrad GPA: 89/100-ish, 1st of 149
Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q 700V 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Advanced streams of first year linear algebra, calculus, also core undergrad probability, statistics subjects (As in subjects completed so far). For semester before I start: vector analysis, real & complex analysis.
Econ Courses: up to grad level micro, macro, econometrics, auction theory, search theory, industrial organization (all As)

Other Courses: Nothing any adcom would care about.
Letters of Recommendation: 2 full professors, quite senior and relatively well known, 1 junior academic (honours thesis advisor) -- all economics.
Research Experience: Thesis prize; theoretical IO paper (to be submitted to Information Economics and Policy soon co-authored with advisor), co-author on another paper to be submitted to Journal of Labour Economics soon. RA since 2004 - both empirical and theoretical stuff.
Teaching Experience: TA in intro Micro and Macro, advanced undergrad IO and micro.
Research Interests: IO and micro theory.

SOP: Nothing special, just discussed my interests and research.

RESULTS:
Attending: Northwestern University
Acceptances: Northwestern ($$), NYU ($$), Wisconsin ($$), MIT (No $), UCLA (No $)
Waitlists: Yale ($$), Pennsylvania (No $), Princeton ($$)

Rejections: Stanford GSB (EAP), Columbia, Maryland, Harvard, Stanford Economics, Berkeley

What would you have done differently? Nothing really. I did the best I could. I can't help but feel that with another year's math preparation, I would have gotten admits to a better selection of schools. However, NWU was a really high personal preference, so it was worth cutting the math short a year!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Julius 2008: PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad&Grad: BA in Econ and 2 semesters in MA course, Both in the top university in my country (East Asia)
Undergrad GPA: 4.13/4.30
Grad GPA: 4.18/4.30 (At the time of application, 4.10/4.30)
Honors : Top in my graduating class (1/201)
2 Grand prizes in paper contests (one in my school, one nationwide)
GRE: 740V 800Q 4.0AW

Math Courses: Calculus 2, Linear Algebra, Mathematical Analysis, Real Analysis, Topology, Mathematical Statistics, Theory of Statistics 1 & 2 (Grad level) , Probability Theory (Grad level) - All A+ except Probability(A0)

Econ Courses: Bunch of them. Some highlights are: Grad Micro, Grad Macro, Grad Stat in Econ dept, Grad Advanced Micro, Grad Advanced Time series, Game theory, Some finance related courses,... (All A+ except Grad Macro(A0) for aforementioned courses)
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: Four LoRs, three from econ and one from stat. I was ranked on the top(or near the top) in at least one class of each professor. Two of them knows me very well and probably wrote their letters enthusiastically.

Research Experience: RA for a macro paper of my adviser, programming for cointegration analysis and stuff.
Teaching Experience: TA for Econometrics, Statistics and Time Series Econometrics. Instructed regular TA sessions.
Research Interests: Applied Micro, Econometrics
SOP: Devoted a lot of space for my motivation and my preparation.


RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT, Princeton, U of Chicago, Yale
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Stanford GSB, Harvard(99%), Stanford(99%), Berkeley, NYU(??)
Others: UPenn, NWU - Stopped the review process before decisions.

What would you have done differently?
Maybe more math.

I really appreciate all the supports and infos from fellow TMers and I think this is the best service I can do for the TM next generation :) Good luck to everyone!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Fatrapa 2008:
Type of Undergrad: None (French system of Grandes Ecoles)
Type of Grad: Business School + Paris School of Economics

Grad GPA: 1st / 60
GRE: 800/610/4.0
Math Courses: french system
Econ Courses: 3 "undergrad", 20 grad
Other Courses: business

Letters of Recommendation: 3 well-know economists, 2 less-well-known but who know me well
Research Experience: Master thesis
Teaching Experience: TA
Research Interests: Political decision (Roemer, etc.) / political economy
SOP: spoke about my research
Other:


RESULTS:
Acceptances: Chicago
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Columbia, NYU (99%), Harvard (99%)
Pending:
What would you have done differently? I would have described my math credentials more precisely. This is an advice for all French future applicants: explain how the system works and how good you are in maths in your letter.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
jeeves0923 2008: Oops, accidentally posted this on the 2007 thread... here you go anyway.


PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Math, B.A. Econ from top 30 U.S. institution
Undergrad GPA: 3.9/4, Summa Cum Laude, In Honors
Type of Grad: M.S. Math
Grad GPA: 3.8/4

GRE: 800Q, 610V, 4.5AWA
Math Courses: All required courses for math degree + Real Analysis I and II, Math for Economists, Graph Theory (graduate), Abstract Algebra (graduate), Measure Theory (graduate)
Econ Courses (PhD-level): PhD Micro, PhD Labor
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): IO, Public, Econ of China, Environmental and Natural Resource Econ, Game Theory, Micro and Macro Theory
Other Courses: History minor, about half of an engineering degree

Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors (1 Chicago PhD, 1 UMN PhD, 1 UCSD PhD), 1 math prof (Princeton PhD, NSF winner), all extremely solid, though they are all quite old.
Research Experience: RA for Econ prof, Theoretical math thesis, Economics thesis, one paper submitted to journal
Teaching Experience: GTA for University Writing Coaching Center, Intermediate Micro, and an Honors Colloquium on Game Theory
Research Interests: Public Finance, Education, Labor, Theory

SOP: Sure
Other: I applied only to Princeton, Harvard and MIT, because they are the only ones that can pull me away from my current MS program. I love it here, and will cast a wider net next year once my Master's in math is completed(if MIT ends up saying no).

RESULTS:
Acceptances: none
Pending: MIT

Rejections: Princeton, Harvard(for certain now)
What would you have done differently? Maybe more statistics. However, I think I have a pretty good shot next year after having PhD metrics, Stochastics, Optimal Control Theory and a Master's Thesis under my belt

Concerns: Being rejected isn't fun, even if the process is "random" and I only applied to top programs.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Elly 2008: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small LAC (women's college)
Undergrad GPA: 3.91
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 720V/790Q/5.0A
Math Courses: Math Major: Linear, Advanced Linear, Multivariate, Differential Equations, Probability and Statistics, Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra I and II, Grad Analysis and Topology
Econ Courses: Econ Major: Micro, Macro, Int'l Trade, Int'l Finance, Econometrics.. etc.
Other Courses: Intermediate Programming

Letters of Recommendation: all strong- one from my math advisor, one from my econ advisor (who I also did research with and TA'd for), one from a respected economist at a top department at which I took classes
Research Experience: Summer REU in Game Theory, Senior Thesis
Teaching Experience: TA'd for Calculus, Linear Algebra, Intro to Econ, Macro, MBA Micro Theory, MBA Statistics and Econometrics
Research Interests: Development, Micro Theory

SOP: I took it seriously but it wasn't too long
[b] Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT($), NYU(off of list), UCLA ($), LSE (MRes/PhD Track 1, $), Toronto (Research MA, $), NSF
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, Princeton, Stanford, Columbia, Brown
What would you have done differently? Nothing! I will be attending MIT.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Antonio 2008: PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Good Italian University (not Bocconi, but good)
Undergrad GPA: 28/30
Type of Grad: Italian School of Excellence (oooooh)
Ggrad GPA: 30/30
GRE: 800Q 540V 2.5AWA

TOEFL: 107/120
Math Courses (undergrad and grad): Mathematical Methods, Mathematics for Economics I&II, Statistics I&II, Advanced Statistics, Generalised Linear Models.
Econ Courses(undergrad and grad): Advanced Micro/Macro, Game Theory, IO, Advanced Econometrics I&II, Public Finance, Corporate Finance, Applied Econometrics, Financial Economics, Experimental Economics, Advanced Topics in Macro (PhD Course).
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from Economics professors, my graduate academic tutor and a guy from LSE (summer school). The others changed with respect to the target. However they were all economists but one (math).

Research Experience: Undergrad Thesis, one Working Paper and visiting researhcer at ENS-PSE for my grad thesis.
Teaching Experience: Undergraduate Micro.
Research Interests: Applied Micro, IO and Applied Econometrics.
SOP: Pretty good...I think.

Other: GMAT; LSE Summer school (A+); Visiting for 6 months at University of Southampton in UK. Italian, 22 (almost 23).

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Berkeley ($$), Northwestern ($$), BC ($), Toulouse (M2).
Waitlists: NYU.
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, UChicago, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, UCSD, Brown, Duke, UPenn.

Pending: BU.
What would you have done differently?
I really have not understood almost anything!
My results show a lot of randomness (i.e. MIT was wrong in rejecting me) and/or luck (i.e. Berkeley was wrong in accepting me).
On one hand I think that waiting another year, with another master from a well reputed European University and with two more well known LORs I could have had some better shots for Cambridge MA or Princeton.
On the other hand, I could say that I have been very lucky and that I must take this opportunity as soon as possible.
Just some advices for European and, more in dept, Italian guys since this forum is too American-oriented: there is always a trade off between time (apply just during my last year of school) and odds (wait one year in order to improve my chances). And only you can decide upon this. You can speak with your profs and they will suggest you. But in the end it is just a matter of your own preferences.
However I have learnt two things:

1) Getting accepted in a very good US School (Berkeley or Northwestern) is less difficult than I used to think.
2) Getting accepted in a TOP US School (MIT or Princeton) is more difficult than I used to think.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
VGC 2008: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Good Latin American university
Undergrad GPA: 5.9/7

Type of Grad: Same Latin American university as undergrad.
Ggrad GPA: 6.4/7
GRE: 790Q 510V 3.0AWA
TOEFL: 108/120

Math Courses (undergrad and grad): Calculus I & II, Algebra I & II, Probability, Mathematical Statistics, Analysis, Mathematical Economics (dynamic systems and optimal control)
Econ Courses(grad): Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Game Theory, Industrial Organization, Econometrics, Aplied Econometrics, Financial Econometrics, Financial Economics, Enviorenmental Economics.
Letters of Recommendation: Strong LOR from economics professor who know me well.

Research Experience: Master's Thesis, Working Paper, and several research assistanships. Mostly theoretical.
Teaching Experience: Undergraduate Principles of finance.
Research Interests: finance, auction theory.

SOP: I invested a lot of time in it.

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Stanford GSB (finance)($$), MIT Sloan (Financial Economics)($$), Harvard (Business Economics)($$), Northwestern Kellogg (Finance)($$), NYU Stern(Finance)($$), Princeton (Economics)($$), Chicago (Economics)($$).
Waitlists: Berkeley Haas (Finance).

Rejections: Harvard (Economics), Wharton (Finance), Columbia GSB (Finance), Duke Fuqua (Finance).
Pending: MIT (Economics), Chicago GSB (Finance).
What would you have done differently?
I really have applied to fewer places.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
ForTheWin!_08 2008: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: International, best in South Africa (University of Cape Town for those in the know)

Undergrad GPA: We don't use the GPA system. About 80%, which is 4.0 according to the WES conversion scale.

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 800Q, 5.0 A, 670 V

Math Courses: A year and a half of calculus, Linear Algebra, Algebra I and II, Real Analysis, Metric Spaces, Complex Analysis, Measure Theory, Functional Analysis I + II, Differential Geometry, Topology I + II. All above 75%, so I guess A- to A+ range.

Undergrad thesis: Explained the Delbaen-Schachermayer version of the "Fundamental Theorem of Asset Pricing" (basically, a financial market satisfies No Arbitrage iff there exists an equvalent martingale ["risk-neutral"] probability measure). Essentially, it was just a whole lot of functional analysis and a little bit of stochastic integration.


Econ Courses: Intro macro/micro/game theory, Intermediate Macro/Micro, Honours Macro/Micro (i.e. 4th-yr level - we used adult Varian for micro, to give you an idea of the level), Undergrad Metrics and Quantitative Methods, Computational Political Economy (4th-yr elective on simulation methods and behavioural econ), Masters Econometrics, Masters/PhD Microeconometrics. All A- to A+ range.

Other Courses: 3 years of Mathematical Statistics, including stuff on: basic probability theory, regression analysis, stochastic processes/time series (not that I remember much of it!), Bayesian statistics, generalised linear models/qualitative regression models. Some basic applied math courses on ordinary differential equations (A's).

Letters of Recommendation: One should be very enthusiastic, from the one of the country's most hardcore empirical microeconomists (though his PhD is local)... another is likely to be good (I mean, I'm certain the guy thinks I'm smart, I got the second-best grade in his class), from quite a big-shot macro guy (PhD Cambridge, and he's co-authored some stuff with Phillip Aghion), but he's only taught me once. I'll probably use my honours thesis supervisor for the third one.

Research Experience: Not a lot... I've ostensibly been an RA for one professor for a summer, but I'm not sure how much work you should do to say this of yourself... I attempted to solve this game theory problem for him (he kind of gave me a half-finished paper of his and said "Can you fix this up?"... I couldn't). So not so impressive on this front I think.


Teaching Experience: Tutor for intermediate micro for two years, rewrote some of the problem sets for the same course.

Research Interests: Development micro, game theory, criminology

SOP: Decent, I thought. I posed a few questions that I thought were interesting and tried to show how my personal background led me to be interested in them. Customised one paragraph to mention which fields at the respective schools were strong, and why I thought they should want me.

Weaknesses: No research experience, from a relatively unknown university; no money to live off of if financial aid is denied.



Results:
Admissions: Michigan ($16k + tuition + health insurance), Chicago ($20k + tuition + health insurance) [attending]
Waitlists:Northwestern, Pennsylvania, Princeton
Rejections:Yale, MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard
No Reply:NYU

What would I have done differently: Not much. I wish I had gotten my undergraduate degree from a more prestigious place. Other than that, I'm not sure there was much that I could have done differently. But I'm not at all unhappy with what I got...
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
ward 2008: PROFILE:
School: Oklahoma State University
Type of Undergrad: Economics (Honors) and Mathematics
Undergrad GPA: 3.9 (4.0 Econ, ~3.8 Math)

Type of Grad: none
GRE: V 530, Q 790, A 5.0

Math Courses: Calculus 1-3, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Calc. of Several Variables, Intro. to Modern Algebra, Intro. to Modern Analysis, Mathematical Statistics 1 & 2, Mathematical Modeling, Advanced Calc 1.

Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Public Finance, History of Economic Thought, Econ Development, Econometrics (undergrad), Grad Micro Theory, Grad Math Econ.


Other Courses: Computer Science I, SAS Programming

Letters of Recommendation: not from well known professors but must have been fairly strong. Two tenured Econ professors and my Intro. to Analysis prof
Research Experience: honors thesis, but nothing substantial
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: Applied Micro, Micro Theory, Behavioral and Experimental

SOP: I put some time into it but it was essentially the same for each school; I just changed a few sentences here and there.
Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances:
Duke($$) <attending>
Wisconsin (no$)
Ohio State ($$)

UIUC ($$)
Arizona ($$)
Waitlists:
NYU
Rejections:
Harvard
M.I.T.
Northwestern
UCSD

Penn State
RA position at NYC Fed

What would you have done differently?
I would have tried to pick programs that fit my interests better and probably would have applied to more schools - especially in the 10-25 range. That's really about all I would have changed.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
needeconhelp 2008: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: large US public university(SUNY-SB), Econ and applied math Major

Undergrad GPA: overall GPA: 3.79; eco: 3.89 ; math:3.88.


GRE: 800Q, 510V,AWA 4.0

Math Courses: Calc 1-3 (A), differential equations(A),Logic, Language and Proof (B), Introduction to Real Analysis (A), Mathematical Statistics(A), Data Analysis(A), Finite Mathematical Structures (B+),Applied Linear Algebra (A), Linear Algebra(fall), Real Analysis(fall),

Econ Courses: A's: Intro, Micro, Macro, Strategic thinking, Regional, Mathematical Statistics, Applied Microeconomics, Financial; Econometrics (A-), Money and Banking (B+)

Grad classes: Graduate Data Analysis (A), Introduction to Probability(B-), Microeconomics(fall)

Other Courses: Intro to comp. sci.(A)


Letters of Recommendation:
4 strong letters(Yale, Stanford,LSE )
Research Experience: Independent research(fall) with Economics honors thesis
Teaching Experience: Grading assistant for intro to economics.
Research Interests: economics of education, family ( i guess labor, developement), applied microeconomics

SOP: probably below standard.
Other: I have been part of a scientific research on arsenic in drinking water in bangladesh. Thus, I have been co-authored in a few science publications. I can get some very strong recommendations from some of these professors who are really well-known in their fields.

RESULTS:
Acceptances: UVA($$), Ohio state($$),Duke (no stipend), Wisconsin(no $$ or tuition), Pittsburgh(no $)
Rejections: Berkeley, Columbia, Michigan, yale, brown, harvard, stanford, wharton, Upenn, UCLA, Maryland


What would you have done differently?
-more Pure math classes and actually work harder
-not send my Honors thesis to some school, because it was not that great.

Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
crutchboy3 2008: PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Top 20 Private University
Undergrad GPA: 3.81
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q/600V/5 A

Math Courses: Honors Calculus I-IV (A's), Honors Linear Algebra I,II (B+,A-), Intro to Probability (A), Honors Algebra III (A), Honors Analysis I (A-), Graduate Topology (A-), Graduate Optimization (A), Measure Theory (B), Functional Analysis (B+), Galois Theory (B+), Number Theory (A)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro/Macro (A), Game Theory (A), Econometrics (A), Graduate Econ Prob and Stats (A), Grad Micro I (A),
Letters of Recommendation: Two professors that had taken several classes from and had done research with, One that had just taken classes from, all econ
Research Experience: Math REU, Summer REU to begin work on thesis project, Honors thesis, 2 years of RA
Teaching Experience: Some tutoring

Research Interests: Micro theory, game theory
SOP: Nothing Special

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Northwestern ($)(Attending), NYU ($), Duke ($), UIUC ($), Caltech($), Chicago (Tuition Waiver + Health), Wisconsin (No $), Penn (No $)
Waitlists: Penn (Eventually Accepted, no $)

Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Princeton
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
touchwood08 2008: PROFILE
Type of Undergrad: Good European university (Political Science)

Undergrad GPA: 4.00/4.00
Type of Grad (3 years program): Good European University (Economics)
Ggrad GPA: 4.00/4.00
GRE: 780Q 610V 4.5AWA
TOEFL: 102/100

Math Courses (grad): Probability, Statistics, Mathematical Economics (calculus and static optimization), Dynamic Optimization
Econ Courses (grad): Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Econometrics, Various Fields.
Letters of Recommendation: 4 strong letters. One letter from a very well known professor.
Research Experience: Undergraduate honor thesis (applied econometrics. awarded a national price) + working paper on more theoretical stuff (not so polished at the time of applications). Research assistant for the very well known professor.
Teaching Experience: TA in Introduction to Economics (undergraduate) and in Econometrics I (graduate)

Research Interests: Macro-Finance; Corporate Finance; Applied Econometrics.
SOP: ...not enough time to write a good one.
Other info: male, 25 y/o

RESULTS:
Acceptances (w*itlist): UPenn ($$ attending), Northwestern ($$, declined), LSE Mrs./track 2 ($$, declined), BU (no $$, declined), NYU (w*itlisted, declined).

Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Yale, UCLA, LBS,
What would you have done differently?
My greatest regret is to not have applied to Princeton. I was informed I ended up at the border at Chicago so I could have taken a chance there. Maybe I would have spent more time polishing my research paper and writing a good SOP. Anyway, I am very pleased with my outcomes and I believe Penn is a very good match with my interests.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
jeeves0923 2008: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Math, B.A. Econ from large state University top 50ish in general, top 25 in math, decent econ dept
Undergrad GPA: 3.90/4.0, Summa Cum Laude, In Honors

Type of Grad: M.S. Math (to finish Dec. 08)
Grad GPA: 3.8/4
GRE: 800Q, 610V, 4.5AWA
Math Courses: All required courses for math degree + Real Analysis I and II, Math for Economists(graduate), Abstract Algebra (graduate), Measure Theory (graduate)
Econ Courses (PhD-level): PhD Micro, PhD Labor

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): IO, Public, Econ of China, Environmental and Natural Resource Econ, Game Theory, Micro and Macro Theory
Other Courses: History minor, about half of an engineering degree
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors (1 Chicago PhD, 1 UMN PhD, 1 UCSD PhD), 1 math prof (Princeton PhD, NSF winner), all extremely solid, though they are all quite old.
Research Experience: RA for Econ prof, Theoretical math thesis on Bond Percolation, Economics thesis, one paper submitted to journal

Teaching Experience: GTA for University Writing Coaching Center, GTA for Vector Geometry, Intermediate Micro, and an Honors Colloquium on Game Theory
Research Interests: Public Finance, Law & Econ, Education, Labor, Theory
SOP: It was ok, but it will be better for the next round
Other: Spending next spring in New Zealand hopefully to study education policy


RESULTS:
Acceptances: none
Waitlists:
Rejections: Princeton, Harvard, MIT
What would you have done differently? Nothing too big. I would have probably asked for advice from more profs on my NSF proposal. I feel like I was so close. MIT gave me the whole, wait a little while longer note and rejected me about an hour after I got only Honorable Mention on NSF. I'll be happy to spend another year at VT and pick up a master's in math, some grad stats, more PhD econ and write a thesis. Next year, I will definitely increase the number of schools I apply to(probably around 15). I think Berkeley could be a better fit for me than Princeton which I didn't figure out this year until too late. I also think that my NSF evals will give me some good guidance to hopefully improve for next year! Also, will take LSAT and apply to J.D. and Ph.D. next year.


To Apply next year:
J.D. and ECON Ph.D.: Harvard, Berkeley, Yale, Chicago, Northwestern, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Stanford, Columbia, NYU, maybe Duke
Only ECON Ph.D.: MIT, UCSD
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Chess is life 2008: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Public University BA
Undergrad GPA: 3.94/ 4.0 Math/ Economics
Type of Grad: Public University MA
Grad GPA: 4.0/ 4.0 Economics
GRE: 670 V 800 Q 5.0 Writing (I took it when I was 19 to get a job at Kaplan and it worked!)
Math Courses: Topology, Real Analysis, Linear Algebra, Calculus 1-3, Differential Equations, Probability and Statistics, Numerical Analysis, Econ Courses: International Economics I and II (MA), Math for Economists (MA and PhD), Microeconomics (MA and PhD), Urban Economics (MA), Econometrics (MA and PhD), Health Economics (MA), Macroeconomics (MA), Intro. to Econometrics, Statistical Methods, Intermediate Micro and Macro, Industrial Organization (Best Class ever), Seminar in economics, Money and Banking, several independent studies,
Other Courses: Physics 1 and 2 (I seriously considered majoring in it). Computer science 1.Letters of Recommendation: Math and Economics professors. I did research with the economics professors.

Research Experience: A lot. Washington, DC think tank work for almost a year now, mainly immigration and trade issues. However, I am currently doing research on state policies that effect economic growth and presented at the CATO Institute on microcredit. I also have done research on child abuse, social capital, fed policy and housing prices, a senior thesis on NAFTA's effects on Mexico, municipal government efficiency (Global Perspective), and the fed challenge (Rutgers won our district).
Teaching Experience: Tutor for my University 2 years and tutor/teacher for Kaplan test and prep.
Research Interests: Probably Microeconomics, most likely something very game theoretical. This is subject to change given that I have yet to take a PhD level economics course in Macroeconomics.
SOP: General but adapted to each university I applied to.
Other: I think being affiliated with the CATO Institute (libertarian think tank) hurt me. Also, Rutgers has a tendency of sending students to programs and watching them promptly fail the qualifier. This couldn’t have helped me.[/font]

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Rochester (24k Fellowship), Duke (17k fellowship), Washington University, St. Louis (TA/ RA 20k), Rutgers (30k Presidential Fellowship), Michigan (Nada), UCLA (Nada), Wisconsin (Nada), Georgetown (w*it-list for funding), UCSD (TA and after a complicated formula 7k), Cornell (Nada)

Waitlists: Minnesota, NYU (High whatever that means), MIT (later rejected)
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Chicago, Columbia, UPenn, Brown, Stanford, Berkeley, Northwestern,
Pending: Nothing
Concerns: My letter writers are not very well-known

What would you have done differently?
Maybe take more math? I really don’t know what else I could have done. I think I will regret not taking more computer science courses.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
2008applicant 2008: Undergrad: Top three LAC in US

GPA: 3.75/4.0 Econ (Econ major)
Math:Calc I-III, Linear Algebra
GRE: 790Q/710V/5.5AW
Teaching experience: TA in college for Intermediate Macro and Econometrics
Research experience: Senior thesis, since turned into co-authored paper w/ advisors, submitted for publication. RA job since college (3 years) supervising big field experiment in Latin America. Started (no results yet) small independent field/lab experiment here.

LOR: 2 from my current bosses and the other from my thesis advisor.
Interests: development, demography, experimental
What I learned: I did very well except at the very top schools and it was obviously my weak math background that hurt me there, but it was my choice not to take those classes. It was a really hard choice between Michigan and Berkeley ARE.
Accepted: Michigan ($), Wisconsin (AAE) ($), Davis (ARE) ($), Berkeley (ARE) ($), Brown ($), UCSD ($), UCLA ($), Duke ($), Penn (Demography) ($)
Rejected: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale, NYU

Other: NSF Honorable Mention
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
nash12 2008: Undergrad: B.A. in Mathematics (2006) from a well known college/university in my country (South-East Asia). Grades: 84%


Graduate: M.A. in Economics from a well known school of economics in my country. It is a two year course and I only had the grades of the first year or two semesters when I applied. Grades for the first year: 70%

GRE: 800Q, 530V, 5.0AWA. TOEFL: 117/120


Math Courses: Since I'm a math undergrad so lots. Real Analysis, Basic Algebra, Topology, Ordinary Differential Equations, Partial Differential Equations, Probability and Statistics, Linear Algebra, Group Theory, Ring Theory, Mechanics, Multivariable Calculus, Numerical Analysis, Number Theory, etc.

Econ Courses: All Grad Level. On my transcript with grades when I applied- Microeconomic Theory, Macroeconomic Theory, Introductory Econometrics, Mathematical Economics and two more. On my transcript without grades when I applied- Topics in Economic Theory, Game Theory-I, Topics in Macroeconomic Theory and Econometric Methods.

Research Experience: Was a visiting research scholar in a European Institute during the summer of 2007. Wrote two papers there. Both were selected for decent conferences which I mentioned in my application. Sent one of the papers in all the applications.


LORs: One a well published and reasonably well known econ theory professor at University of Warwick. One econ professor in my grad school, phd from Princeton. Another econ associate professor in my grad school, phd from Yale. I think all of them were strong.

SOP: Talked about my interests- Micro and Game Theory. Talked about some of the papers that I've really liked. Also, about my motivation to do economic theory.

Teaching Experience: None.


Other: Male, 22 years old.

Results
Acceptances: NYU($), Columbia($), University of Chicago($), LSE MRes/PhD($), Cornell($), Brown($), Penn State($).
w*itlisted and finally in Yale($) and Princeton($).
Rejected: Harvard, MIT, Northwestern, UPenn and Stanford.


Attending: Princeton. Yuhoooo..:)

What would have I done differently? Nothing in particular. Well I don't really know if I would have ever made it to Harvard and MIT. None have made from my school in the past 10 years. As an aspiring economic theorist, Princeton was really my dream school and I'm over the moon to have got it..:) My suggestion to all the future applicants, esp the International Students is guys dream big and work hard. Dreams do come true..:)
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
elcapitano 2008: GRE: 800Q 720V 4.5AW(doh) (2nd Attempt)

Undergrad: Good but not brilliant research university

High 1st Class Degree
All Maths and Econ Courses 1st in 12 of 14 including all the maths courses.
Graduated 2nd in class.

Math: All that I was allowed to take

SOP: Probably weak


Experience: Two years in government

Interests: Growth, Development, Trade

Applied: Brown, Columbia, Harvard, Oxford (MPhil), NYU, UBC (MA)

Results: Accepted - UBC ($$), Oxford ($?)

Rejected - Brown, Columbia, Harvard, NYU

What would you have done differently?
I would've realised that UK undergrad and some work experience is not sufficient to get into a top US program. Having realised this I also would've applied to Cambridge for their MPhil and probably LSE and not bothered applying for US programs this time round. However, i'm still pretty happy.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
asianecon 2008: I'll just be following my friend econphilomath...

Type of Undergrad: B.A. in Economics from a top institution in Southeast Asia.

Type of Grad: M.A. in Economic Theory and Metrics from France
GPA: Graduated 1st in my class for undergrad and 2nd for masters
GRE: 800Q, 610V, 4.5AWA
TOFEL: 114/120
Courses: Tons of econ, some math, no formal real analysis (only audited)

TA: None
Teaching: None
Research: 1 published in IJIO; Honours and MA thesis
RA: RA during undergrad; RA right now for profs in a top 5 program
LORS: 1 really senior (Econometric Society Fellow), 2 junior but quite famous, 1 from undergrad (co-author)


Interests: Microeconometrics + (Statistical) Decision Theory + (a little bit of) Mechanism Design/Game Theory --> IO applications

SOP: Not so good I guess. Not focused enough and all over the place. Kinda sounded like I didn't know what I wanted to do.

Schools: Shooting for the top 10 schools.

Other: Male, 25


RESULTS:
Attending: Northwestern ($$$$)
Acceptances: Yale ($$$$$$$....), Chicago GSB ($$$), Stanford ($$), UChicago ($)
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Harvard, HBS (interviewed) MIT, Princeton, UCSD

Never heard anything: Berkeley
What would you have done differently?
Made my SOP tighter. Maybe tried to impress my current RA bosses more, but I'm not really an applied/Stata guy so that won't be fun. An adcom head told me that they would've accepted me even without the current RA job so I don't know if it really helped (a friend of mine even speculates that it might have hurt me since it's not aligned w/ my interests).

Contrary to econphilomath, don't put too much weight on the flyout. Try to visit the school on an ordinary day and see what goes on. I didn't go to a real flyout at NWU (not even the special TM day) but I decided to go there nonetheless, after visiting thrice and attending classes and seminars.


Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
ImProcrastinating 2009: Profile:
Type of Undergrad: Top 25 with a top 40ish econ program. BA in econ.
Undergrad GPA: Overall: 3.74, Econ: 3.8ish, Math: bad.
Type of Grad: Not highly ranked, top 100ish. MS in applied math.

Grad GPA (at application time...): 3.9
GRE: 790Q / 740V / 5.0 AWA.

Math Courses:
Undergrad: Calc III (B+), ODE (C- (Ouch...)), Real Analysis (A-), Linear Algebra (A).
Grad: Analysis (A-) (taken at the summer school of a top 10), Measure Theory (A-), Math Stats (A), ODE (A), Functional Analysis (A), General Topology (In progress at application time...)

Econ Courses:


Undergrad: Intro. Micro (A), Intro. Macro (A), Money and Banking (A), Economy of China (A-), Intro to Econ Stats (B+), Mathematical Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (B+), Econometrics (A), International Trade (A), Distinguished Majors Seminar (A), Independent Study (A)
Grad: PhD Micro I (A-), PhD Micro II (A), PhD Micro III (IP)

Letters of Recommendation:
1 from an undergraduate econ professor, not well known.
1 from a graduate math prof, very well known among mathematicians but I don't know if that counts...
1 from a graduate econ prof, very well known.

Research Experience: Summer at the Fed, senior thesis, 1 year + 1 summer as an RA for a professor, RAing at the IMF while applying.

Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Micro Theory, I/O, International Finance

Results:
Acceptances: NYU ($$$)
Waitlists: None
Rejections: A lot, Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Yale, Berkeley, Stanford, Columbia, and UPenn.

Pending: None.

What would you have done differently? If I could do it ALL over again, I'd probably go to an undergrad that was stronger in econ, take more math courses earlier on, and work as hard my first couple years in college as I did my last couple. But I was expecting to get rejected everywhere I applied this time around, so I'm ecstatic to be going to a dream school like NYU.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
MorgieLilly 2009: PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: B.A in Econ-Phil and Math. Ivy League, top 10ish in economics Uni.
Undergrad GPA: 3.85, summa cum laude.
GRE: 780Q, 510V, 3.0W
Math Courses (undergrad):
Cal I, Calc III, Linear Algebra, Real Analysis, Analysis and Optimization, Probability and Induction (P/F), Probability and Statistics, Advanced Logic, Independent Reading Course, (all As)
Econ Courses (PhD-level): Micro-econometrics (A-)

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro/Macro(A-,B+), Advanced Econometrics (B+), Advanced Macro (A), Economic History (A-), International (C, took abroad in Ghana.)
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ, both well known. 1 math, well known in math. 1 philosophy, well known in the philosophy of science.
Research Experience: REU Intern in geophysics at Lamont Earth Observatory, summer 2007 (My paper was accepted to the 2008 ASLO Conference). Full-time economics RA this year.
Research Interests: Development, Economic History, Alternative Theories in Economics, Econometrics.
SOP: Talked about why I chose interdisciplinary study, my work abroad in Ghana and my experience this year as a research assistant. I stated that I expected to change my mind about my specialization anyway, so I didn't want to state a particular one.

Applied to: LSE, MIT, NYU, Harvard, UCSD, UC Berkeley, Chicago, Stanford, Columbia, UMich, Princeton, Yale
RESULTS:
Rejected: Everywhere (LSE, MIT, NYU, Harvard, UCSD, UC Berkeley, Chicago, Stanford, Columbia, UMich, Princeton, Yale)
Waitlisted/Accepted: Nada
What would you have done differently? I dunno. Feedback from my home institutions admissions committee (where I was also rejected) says that I should have taken more econ (at the expense of my philosophy and science courses) but I would not give that knowledge and my resulting world outlook up for an admit to this discipline, because I feel that this will inform my research abilities more so than having taken much more economics. I have to do a lot of thinking now about whether I belong in this discipline, seeing as the adcoms don't seem to think so. Today is sad.

Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
myrrh 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: University of Maryland - Environmental Economics w/ Math minor
Undergrad GPA: 3.77, magna cum laude
Type of Grad: none

Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 770Q 540V 4.0AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III (A-,B,A), Linear Algebra (A-), Differential Equations (A-), Number Theory (B), Advanced Calculus I (B), Probability Theory (B), Mathematical Statistics (TBD)
Econ Courses: Intro Micro and Macro (A,B+), Intermediate Micro (B+), Economic Statistics (A+), Intro Econ & Environment (A), Econ of Nat'l Resources (A), Econ of Land Use (A), Public Finance (A+), Game Theory (A+), Econometrics I (A), Intermediate Macro (TBD), Econ of Climate Change (TBD)

Other Courses: Environmental Policy and Philosophy courses, all A's
Letters of Recommendation: 2 AREC and 1 ECON professor, well known and respected in their fields, should have been solid
Research Experience: ~2-3 years as an undergrad RA in the AREC department. Currently and at time of application, working on honors thesis that has been described as "ambitious," hope to have a publishable version this summer.
Teaching Experience: None

Research Interests: Environmental/resource economics, computational economics, applied micro
SOP: Tried to make it engaging, explained why I wanted to be an econimist (environmental research!), talked about my own research and what I wanted to in the future, etc.
Other: n/a

RESULTS:
Acceptances: UC Davis ARE Ph.D. ($), UW Madison AAE MS (no$), Cornell AEM (no$)

Waitlists: none
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Michigan, UT Austin, UC Berkeley ARE, UW Madison AAE Ph.D., Cornell AEM Ph.D.
Pending: none
What would you have done differently? On hand I would have done nothing differently: you really only need one good admit and I am more than satisfied with UC Davis. On the other hand, if I had to do it all over again I would have made sure to have a 4.0 Econ GPA (because I'm sure those 2 B+'s set off red flags), got at least ONE A in my upper level math and found the time/energy to take the graduate micro series. My QGRE was also at the lower bound of what I would have liked it to have been, but I do not think taking the GRE again would have been worth it. I also would have applied to more mid-range top 20-25 ECON schools instead of Harvard and Yale.

All in all, I feel pretty good about how the whole thing went. I'll be attending UC Davis ARE in the fall!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
ilikefreefood 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Econ major from a top 5-10 liberal arts college.
Undergrad GPA: 3.73/4, magna cum laude with distinction in major for senior thesis research.
Type of Grad: none

Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800Q 640V 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc II-III (A,B+), Linear Algebra (Pass), Statistics (A), Mathematical Structures (A-), Real Analysis (B, taken as a non-degree student at a local school this Fall)
Econ Courses: Principles Micro/Macro (A-,A), Intermediate Micro (A) Intermediate Macro (B), Econometrics (B+), pre-thesis seminar (A-), Ag. & Food Econ. (A), Development Econ. (B+), Econ. of Inequality (A), Econ. of Water Policy (B+), British Econ. history (B+)

Other Courses: A pass/fail seminar on game theory, a Poli. Sci. course on agent-based computer modeling (A)
Letters of Recommendation: 3 ECON professors (LAC profs but with Chicago/Stanford Ph.Ds), including my thesis adviser who has previously stated that my thesis was one of the best he's ever advised. Where possible, 1 VP at my Econ. consulting firm with whom I've worked extensively on econometric analyses.
Research Experience: ~3 years as an RA in a major Econ. consulting firm; I specialize in statistical and econometric analysis within my office.
Awards: Thesis award from state Economics association, thesis presentation award from state science association, college fellowship for (non-research) work in development related to microfinance.
Research Interests: Development, environmental/resource economics, urban economics, general applied micro.

SOP: Well-written but fairly standard; mentioned specifically my interest in development and applied micro fields.
Other Concerns: Didn't anticipate the B in analysis and received it after I had submitted applications; I don't think I have enough additional math coursework to make up for exercising a pass/fail option in linear algebra way back when.

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Minnesota ARE ($$)
Waitlists: none

Rejections: Berkeley, Columbia, Harvard, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, MIT, NWU, Penn, Princeton, Stanford, Yale
Pending: Chicago, Cornell
What would you have done differently? Applied to Berkeley ARE and not Berkeley ECON when they made me pick just one; applied to more schools in the 20-30 range and not limited myself by the fact that I applied to 15 programs; discounted the advice of my former professors w.r.t. how far my school's reputation would get me; learned of and read the TestMagic forum earlier in the process.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
LagrangeJames 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. econ, B.A. math, large state university, EconPhD top 60
Undergrad GPA: 3.9/4.0
GRE: 800Q, 650V, 4.5AWA

Math Courses: Calc III (A+), Linear algebra (A+), Differential equations I, II (A-, A), Introductory probability theory (A, fall), Math modeling (A, fall)
Econ Courses (PhD-level): Optimization theory (A-, fall), Econometrics II (spring)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): All of them, including two econometrics courses and game theory; A- in intermediate microeconomics, A's otherwise
Other Courses: Spanish minor
Letters of Recommendation: Four economics professors -- nobody famous, but I had collaborated on research projects (that I had initiated) with three of them

Research Experience: Two working papers co-authored with faculty
Teaching Experience: Teaching assistant for introductory microeconomics, spring
Research Interests: Growth and development, specifically microeconomic development
SOP: Used a standard template for all statements but tailored last couple paragraphs to specific program, mentioning examples of faculty research I was interested in (but did not mention any faculty by name)

Concerns: No real analysis, but optimization theory provided a good crash course
Applying to: Maryland, Brown, MIT, Harvard, Yale, UCSD, Berkeley, Minnesota, Michigan, NYU, Boston, Columbia, LSE (M.Sc.)

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Yale (with funding), Michigan (no first-year funding), Boston (with funding), UCSD (with funding)
Waitlists: Minnesota

Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, Columbia, Maryland, Brown, NYU
Withdrawn: LSE
What would you have done differently?
If I had discovered this forum sooner, I probably would have taken more proof-based math courses, which most likely would have boosted my chances at top top schools. However, I think research experience, letters of recommendation from faculty involved in that research and a good "fit" (in terms of my research interests) -- factors that are often overlooked, including by myself -- helped my chances at several schools. Good luck, everyone.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Internationalstudent08 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top-5
Undergrad GPA: 3.7
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: Q800, V670, A4.5
Math Courses: Real Analysis, Optimization (As)
Econ Courses: Typical undergrad courses, intro+field courses
Letters of Recommendation: 3 good ones
Research Experience: 1 year RA (+2 summers as an undergrad)

Teaching Experience: Some tutoring
Research Interests: Mostly applied micro
SOP: Must have been good
Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances: UChicago (waiting to hear about funding), UMaryland (18k), Penn State (25k)

Waitlists: Wharton AE
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Northwestern, Columbia, NYU, Brown

Total Score: 10-1-3
Pending: None

What would you have done differently?


I really didn't take advantage of my undergrad school as I should have. I should have started RAing earlier, and I should have taken graduate-level courses as an undergrad, instead of being a chicken. Also, I made some bad thesis-related choices hehe

However, since last year's admission cycle, I did everything that I could to improve my profile, and ended up working with some great people. I learned a lot- perhaps more than what I'm going to learn in grad school.

The only significant econ-phd-related mistake I made was to apply to all top-10 schools and almost none of the schools between 10 and 20 (except for UMaryland). I rejected most of the schools in that range based on location preferences. Since my profile was not clear-cut top10, I should have been more careful.

Anyway, I'm glad I made it!!!!!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
icebear 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Econ (2006), large state university, poorly ranked economics department
Undergrad GPA: 3.89

Type of Grad: A few courses during my BA
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 750/570/4.5 (2006)
Math Courses: Calc 1 (A), Calc 2 (B+), Matrices and Linear Equations (A), Statistical Methods (A), Foundations of Quant Econ Analysis (graduate level math/econ course intended as a refresher for incoming PhD students) (A+)
Econ Courses: Micro Prin & Inter, Macro Prin & Inter, Econometrics, Independent Study x 2, Comparative Economic Systems, Recent Economic Thought (i.e. History of Academic Economics), Transformation of Central and Eastern European Countries, Privatization and Foreign Capital (B), Globalization - Social and Economic Aspects (B), Games and Decisions (B), Senior Seminar on Globalization and Trade, Political Economy I (graduate level) [Note: all A's except where noted, the 3 B's were received while studying abroad if that's worth anything].

Other Courses: Java Programming, Electrical Engineering courses for one year (A's, if these helpfully display math/computer competency...?)
Letters of Recommendation: PhDs from MIT, Cambridge, and Harvard. The first was my advisor in University, the latter two colleagues on a research project during 2007/2008 (see below).
Research Experience: Working at a European consultancy (China office) for about 18 months in 2007/2008, as a project manager for government funded economic development/trade research projects dealing with China. The job had me doing about 500usiness related tasks, 50% working with our PhD economists who did the modeling/analysis in a RA type of capacity.
Teaching Experience: ~1 year teaching English in China between my BA and the research listed above.
Research Interests: International trade, economic development in Asia (China/ASEAN), political economy in China

SOP: Talked about my strong interest in being involved in trade policy, emphasized my research experience and particular interest in each respective department (faculty, papers, topics, etc), and provided a few interesting research questions which I had brushed upon with previously and would like to continue working on as examples. Maybe a bit weak, should have sought more advice here.
Other: I decided to apply late last fall as my job was expressing an interest in fast tracking me along a management path and I knew research was more my goal. I knew my math was deficient and sought the advice of my LORs, whom all strongly encouraged me to apply to fewer, higher ranked schools with the explanation that my research experience should outweigh my deficiency in math and hiatus from formal education. This cut my plans of applying to 6-10 schools with a range of competitiveness to only 4 reach schools. Knew my GRE Q score was very low but was unable to retake once I had decided to "go for it" as China only has several mass-test dates per year and the next one wouldn't be available in time for that round of applications (definitely was not interested in the $1500+ option of flying home for a weekend to take the GRE :sick:)

RESULTS:
Acceptances: -

Waitlists: -
Rejections: Harvard, NYU, Columbia, Princeton
Pending: -

What would you have done differently?
I knew my math was deficient (both coursework and GRE) and a likely sticking point, but went for it due to encouragement from LORs. In the next 8-9 months I guess my goal is to rectify that situation as best as possible, although my circumstances make that a bit more complicated (will cover that and ask some questions in another thread).


Also, I should have included a few 'safer' options, as only top 10/20 doesn't seem realistic given my profile now that I've read a bit on TM over the past few weeks. More broadly, should have taken more math as an undergrad and perhaps considered transferring schools once I switched majors (my school was pretty good for engineering) - although my scholarship there would have made any transfer unlikely.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Swingkid 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: University of California, BA Econ & Applied Math, French Minor
Undergrad GPA: 3.85

Type of Grad: micro
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 800/700/6.0
Math Courses: Multi-var Calc, Linear Algebra, Real Analysis, Complex Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Numerical Analysis, Probability
Econ Courses: Grad Micro, Intermediate Micro and Macro, Metrics, Applied Metrics, Corporate Finance, Game Theory, Contract Theory, Development
Other Courses: a lot of French
Letters of Recommendation: 3 letters, one of which was from a fecund researcher that I've worked with for two years. The other two are from my grad micro professor and my undergrad development professor; the former barely knows me, the latter I've spoken to about my research ideas.
Research Experience: Two years undergrad RA. Thesis (?)
Teaching Experience: Does dance count? =P

Research Interests: Development, Applied Micro
SOP: I don't think it was that special. In any case, it probably didn't carry much weight.
Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances: UCLA, Yale, Berkeley, Brown
Waitlists: U Penn
Rejections: MIT, Columbia, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern, NYU

What would you have done differently?

I would have definitely submitted a better-prepared application for the NSF, since funding is kind of an issue for me. I found out about the fellowship a week before the deadline and decided to apply anyway. That said, I wouldn't have done much else differently, since I'm really ecstatic about my acceptances! :-)

Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
veryshuai 2009: PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Nicely ranked midwest LA
Undergrad GPA: 3.62
Type of Grad:Econ
Grad GPA: ~85/100
GRE: 800/700/4.5

Math Courses: Calc 1-3 (A,A,A-), Stats (A), Real Analysis (A)
Econ Courses: Grad series Macro, Micro, and Econometrics and some other stuff...A's except Micro 1 (B) and Time Series (B) (no pluses or minuses in our program)
Other Courses: Nothing that should matter
Letters of Recommendation: UCLA (thesis advisor), Brown, U Mich
Research Experience: RA for a semester, Master's Thesis

Teaching Experience: Nope
Research Interests: Development, Applied Macro Theory, not sure...goal to work in the research dept. of international organization
SOP: Spent a lot of time on it, but who knows...
Other: Fulbright fellowship and some other money awards...


RESULTS:
Acceptances:Penn State ($$),BU (no$), UW Madison(no$)
Waitlists: none
Rejections:Michigan, Minnesota, Brown, Harvard, U Chicago, NYU, Columbia, UPenn, Berkeley, UCLA,
Pending:Georgetown

What would you have done differently? Applied to a few more mid-ranked schools...it would be nice to have another funded option or two. Having said that, I am glad that I got firm rejections from all the top 20's, so that I don't have to wonder "What if?"
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Ecolocomex 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Economics top LATAM university
Undergrad GPA: 3.78

Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: None
GRE: 740Q, 410V 3.5 AWA
Math Courses: Throughout then whole BA studies, never knew about real analysis. Lots of Statistics.
Econ Courses: Advanced Micro, Advanced Micro, Monetary Policy, Industrial Organization, International Trade, Public Sector Economics, Econometrics

Other Courses: Environmental economics, financial markets, etc.
Letters of Recommendation: Professors of economics who also happen to be directors of the graduate school I attended.
Research Experience: Issues in international trade and industrial organization at the construction sector firm.
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: International Economics, Monetary Policy, Financial markets
SOP: Application of economics in public policy issues.


RESULTS:
Acceptances: UBC MA (no$), McGill MA ($)
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Yale Phd, LSE MA, Columbia Phd, Harvard Phd, UT Austin Phd.
Pending: UofT


What would you have done differently?

I’d have improved my GRE, and done more research. Perhaps that’s the way the cookie crumbles, and I’m rather into applied economics than a PhD. Perhaps I needed to improve my knowledge of economics through a MA program first, and then decide over MBA or PhD.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
wind up bird 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Large Public University, Top 50 Econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.82
Type of Grad: Masters in Statistics at same school

Grad GPA: 3.75
GRE: 800Q, 700V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc Sequence, Linear Algebra, Intro to Abstract Math (Baby proofs), Cryptology (Baby Number Theory), Real Analysis I & II, Algebra I, Lots of probability and stats.
Econ Courses: Intro, Intermediate sequences, Econometrics, Public econ, Game Theory, Asymmetric Info, Economic Anthropology, Economic History (graduate), Empirical Methods (graduate), Math camp

Other Courses: Sociology of Sexuality
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Berkeley, 1 UCSD, 1 Stanford. All apparently pretty strong.
Research Experience: 2+ Years of RAing, summer research internship at Fed, crappy honors thesis and undergrad presentations
Teaching Experience: Tutoring for intermdiate micror, TA-ing for stats (only made it to my Cornell application)

Research Interests: Micro theory, decision theory, game theory, mech. design, experimental, economic history, social choice, public economics, etc etc. Short answer is "not macro"
SOP: It was kind of bad, I'm not going to lie. Mostly I tried to demonstrate how I have been gearing myself up for research. Then the last paragraph was tailored for each school; I dropped names at all of them.

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Caltech($$$), Northwestern(WL$), UCSD(No$), BU($$$), University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign($$), UNC-Chapel Hill (?$), Boston College($$), UW-Seatte(WL$)
Waitlists: None! Awesome.

Rejections: Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Chicago, UCLA, Cornell
What would you have done differently? Besides working harder in school? Probably nothing. I have an acceptance with funding at my dream school and have some other ego-boosting admits as well.

Comments: Italos is right, LOR is everything ;)

Might as well document some of my weird admissions cycle happenings as well:


- Boston College sends me an email saying I am not being offered admission because I will get into "superior" schools.
- UW-Seattle pulls the same thing
- Northwestern rejects me, then admits me a week and a half later. Looks like my one top 10 admit really did involve a clerical error.

Attending: Caltech!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
anx1ous 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Econ & Int'l Affairs from top 10 U.S. public (with an 'unranked' econ dept.)

Undergrad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 800Q, 680V, 5.5 AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Linear Algebra, Diff Eqs, Stats I, grad Prob & Stats
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): the usual suspects
Other Courses: lots of poli sci/int'l affairs

Letters of Recommendation: all econ, 2 'unknown' (Berkeley ARE & Michigan State) and 1 'known' (MIT)...probably 2/3 were 'really' strong
Research Experience: in my 4th semester as an RA, worked on 2 projects that led (or rather, are leading) to a working paper & a senior thesis
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: applied micro--labor (specifically education) & development

SOP: standard?
Other: did a summer research program at a top 20 dept. (which I think was incredibly instrumental in my outcomes); tried to show that despite my weak math background I at least had some programming skills
Concerns: LACK OF MATH...everything else was ok, I think
What I would have done different: TAKEN MORE MATH, but I didn't know I wanted to do an econ PhD until 2nd semester junior year and was always drawn more to the social sciences than math (and had no idea they could be one and the same!)


RESULTS:

Acceptances: Columbia ($), Maryland ($), Berkeley ARE ($), Texas ($), Vanderbilt ($), Georgetown (waitlisted w/ $), GW (no $)
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, NYU, Brown

ATTENDING: Columbia :D

What could I have done differently?

In terms of the application process: applied to 2-3 fewer lower ranked depts. and put that money/time/effort towards applying to a few more top 10 schools (probably just to cover my bases, as I have no reason to believe that I would've done any 'better'). Also: stayed away from TM/Gradcafe during admissions season! ;)

In terms of preparation: again, done a math minor/double major (for admissions as much as self-preparation--I'm pretty worried now!), but you can only take this 'should've/would've/could've' question so far, since I simply didn't know until later that I wanted to pursue this path or what was required of me.

All in all, however, I am extremely happy with my outcomes. I obviously had zero expectations or I wouldn't have applied to such a wide-ranging group of schools.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
FierceEconDR 2009: Type of Undergrad: B.A. Math & Econ from the Poor's people Harvard aka CUNY

Undergrad GPA: 3.92/4, Summa Cum Laude
Type of Grad: M.S. Economics courses
Grad GPA: ?
GRE: 790Q, 540V, 5 AWA
Math Courses: All required courses for math degree, Calc I-III + Real Analysis I (B), Abstract Algebra, Linear Algebra 1 and 2, Probability Theory(B+), Statistics (Theory) (A+) All others A's

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro and Macro Theory, Labor, International Finance(Macro), Development theory- All A's Advanced econ stats (A+)
Grad courses: Took the Macro, Micro, Econometrics, and some other stuff at a masters in europe. Not in my applications.
Letters of Recommendation: 4 econ professors=1 Berkeley ('semi-known') + 1 Harvard + 1 Kansas/NBER +1 Queen's ('Known'), I am confident they were solid and very enthusiastic.
Research Experience: AEA Summer Training Program, some development research in Paris IX

Teaching Experience: Macro & Micro, Math Tutor
Research Interests: Labor, Development, Applied Micro-econometrics
SOP: I think it was ok, I did it alla S. Athey: Why I want it (duh research!) what research have I done, what papers did i like, some questions I would like to answer, why U X is good. Name dropped in all of them (2 names).

RESULTS:


Acceptances: Maryland ($),Texas ($)
Withdrawn: UC Davis
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Yale, Chicago, UPenn, Berkeley, Michigan, NYU, Cornell, Northwestern, UCSD, Brown, Penn State

ATTENDING: Maryland :grad:


What could I have done differently?
In terms of the application process: not apply to PSU and apply to Columbia for my NY Bias (not that I would've gotten into!). I have to second: stayed away from TM/Gradcafe during admissions season! ;)

I am extremely happy with UMD so in the end it payed off.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
piffle_dragon 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: U of Minnesota: weak undergrad, top 20-15 grad econ
Undergrad GPA: Overall: 3.83, Econ: 4.0, Math: 3.93(I think...)
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 790Q 670V 6 AWA

Math Courses: Calc I-IV, Linear Algebra, Advanced Calculus, Theory of Stats I and II, Math econ, Series and Sequences, Honors Real Analysis (in progress), Linear Programming and Optimization (in progress) All As except Calc 1.
Econ Courses:All the standard ones (all As) in addition to Phd-level macro (B+, A).
Letters of Recommendation: Three. One very strong from a very well-known prof. A second strong one from a known prof. A third very strong from an unknown prof.
Research Experience: Grant for research project advised by big name prof. RA on another professor's work. Senior Thesis.
Teaching Experience: Statistics TA, tutor in math, econ and writing.

Research Interests: At the time, Macro and growth.
SOP: I tried to be genuine, discuss research interests and preparation. Tailored last paragraphs to the school.
Other: Minor in political science. Classes in philosophy, karate, tango, and film. Used to be a music major.
RESULTS:
Attending: UC Berkeley ($$)
Admitted, Declined: Stanford, Minnesota, UCLA, WUSTL, Penn, Penn St., Michigan. All with full funding.
Rejected: Yale, NYU, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Columbia

What I would have done differently: Adjusted my SOP to each school better. I think I did well at schools building their DSGE macro and not well at schools that weren't. But that could just be my perception. I would have also tried to get analysis in and done before the application year. Otherwise, I was extremely happy and lucky with my results and would have only gone to MIT or Harvard over Berkeley. So I'm thrilled! :tup:
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Palimpsest 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Public, Top 40 Econ PhD program
Undergrad GPA: 4.0, Economics (Honors) and Political Science

GRE: 800Q, 740V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-II (AP test), Multivar. Calc (A), Math Stats I-II (A, A+), Linear Alg. (A+), ODE (A+), Undergrad Real Analysis (A+), PhD Real Analysis (Withdrawal).
Econ Courses (PhD-level): Micro I w/MWG (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Standard intermediate and field courses (A/A+'s), Intro Econometrics (A+)

Letters of Recommendation: Were very strong I think. One from PhD micro prof./informal thesis adviser (Stanford GSB PhD), one from current boss (Harvard KSG PhD), one from well-known metrics prof. (Fellow, Econometric Society & ASA).
Research Experience: RA for econ prof (lit rev.), Honors Thesis (Simple game theory application), RA at economic think tank (co-authored journal submission)
Teaching Experience: Limited tutoring.

Research Interests: Public, Energy/Environment, Development, Applied Metrics.
SOP: Focus on learning more and more rigorous methods to work on the types of problems I've encountered in my job.
RESULTS:
Attending: Michigan (tuition waiver + health)
Admitted, Declined: UMN($), UMD($), Duke($), UCSD(TA$)

Rejected: Harvard, MIT, Yale, Berkeley, Stanford, NWU, Columbia, NSF
What I would have done differently: I think I did all I could beyond going to a slightly stronger undergrad school 6 years ago -- sticking with grad analysis would have destroyed me as a person that last semester of school. No regrets at all, I went in thinking Michigan was the most likely outcome, and there you have it. Tough to turn down solid money from very good programs, but UMich felt like the best fit overall by far. For all the talk about randomness, my results were unbelievably coherent.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
jeeves0923 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Math, B.A. Economics (Both Honors), Virginia Tech

Undergrad GPA: 3.90
Type of Grad: M.S. Math, Virginia Tech
Grad GPA: 3.90
GRE: 800Q, 610V, 4.5AWA
Math Courses(undergrad): through Real Analysis I & II.

Math Courses(PhD): Abstract Algebra, Stochastic Processes, Measure Theory, Matrix Theory
Econ Courses: Lots of electives + PhD Micro, Metrics, Labor.
Other Courses: Half an engineering degree, history minor.
Letters of Recommendation: 3 Econ Profs (didn't end up using the math prof). All extremely good (at least that's what a couple adcoms told me)
Research Experience: A couple of papers, 4 semesters of econ research, one math theory paper, a bunch of presentations

Teaching Experience:Quite a lot- Calculus, Vector Geometry, Writing Coach, Micro Econ Theory, and some tutoring
Research Interests: Micro Theory, Political Economy, IO... maybe some other applied micro
SOP: I think it was too long, and I would have done a bit differently (see the link below)
Other: I fly airplanes and cook, but not at the same time

RESULTS:

Attending: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Accepted: NSF, MIT($$), Kellogg (MEcS) ($$), UChicago ($$), Minnesota($$), Duke ($$), Michigan(no $), Berkeley Law School
Wait List: Princeton, not eventually admitted
Rejections: Stanford GSB, Yale, NYU, Columbia, Penn, Harvard, Berkeley



What would you have done differently? http://www.urch.com/forums/phd-econo...te-school.html I did better than I expected :)

Nothing too drastic. I'm so happy!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
funkychinamen 2009: PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Top 10 Econ program, transfer from top 40 Econ program, Econ major
Undergrad GPA: 3.892 /4.000
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 780Q 480V 4.5AWA

Math Courses: Calc I, Calc II, Calc III, Vector Calc, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Probability Theory, Linear Algebra - proof-based, Intro to Proofs, Real Analysis, Math Stats (Spring)
Econ Courses: Intermed Micro, Intermed Macro, Topics in Macro, Analysis of Econ Data, I.O., International Micro, International Macro, Labor, Intro to Mathematical Econ, Game Theory, Econometrics, Grad Micro I, Applied Econometrics (Spring)
Letters of Recommendation: One from an associate professor in the Ag Econ department who I researched with, one from an assistant professor at Business School who I researched with, one from professor who taught grad course
Research Experience: One year with an associate professor in the Ag Econ department, One semester with assistant professor in Business school, senior thesis in progress

Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: I.O., Micro Theory, Labor
SOP: Looked back at it the other day. I HOPE they didn’t read it.:(
RESULTS:

Acceptances:
USC Marshall ($), Duke ($), Northwestern ($), UCSD (No $), Texas (No $), Boston U (No $)
Waitlists:
UPenn (rejected), Caltech (rejected)
Rejections:
Yale, Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford, Columbia, MIT, Minnesota, Maryland, UCLA Anderson, Harvard, Michigan, NYU, Cornell, Brown
What would you have done differently?

I would have studied harder for the GRE, finished a major in applied math, and applied to UCLA econ.

(Not-so) Fun Facts:
-Not accepted to any Ivy League school (UPenn waitlist)
-Not accepted to any school that used the Embark system (Caltech waitlist)

Attending: Northwestern!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Cricketer 2009: PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: BA Economics - Top British Uni
Undergrad GPA: First Class
Type of Grad: MA Economics - Top Brit. Uni
Grad GPA: (Exp. Distinction)
GRE: 780Q, 600V, 5.5AWA

Econ Courses: Lots of courses + Grad Micro, Macro, Metrics, Networks.
Letters of Recommendation: 3 economic professors. All know me pretty well
Research Experience: Not much - only undergrad dissertation
Teaching Experience:None
Research Interests: Micro Theory, Development

SOP: Wrote what I am interested in and who I would like to work with. Why that uni
Other: Cricket.
RESULTS:
Attending: MIT
Accepted: MIT($$) - after waitlist, LSE ($$$), Cambridge ($$$)
Rejections: Stanford, Chicago, Harvard

Comments: Was apparently very close at Stanford.

What would you have done differently? Nothing much, except apply to a few more places perhaps. Twas a tad risky only applying to four US places I guess
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Nebuchadrezzar 2009: PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: european, gpa scale
Undergrad GPA: 3.8/4.0
Type of Grad: european masters
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800 q, 440 verbal, 4.0 awa

Math Courses: calculus 1, 2, 3, diff eq, real analysis 1 2, topology, lin alg
Econ Courses: int mic, int mac, labor, game theory, io, phd micro 1 2, phd macro 1,2 , phd metrics 1, 2, optimization
Other Courses: -
Letters of Recommendation: 3 from home inst, at least 2 of them should be good
Research Experience: term paper, honors thesis

Teaching Experience: ta in several courses
Research Interests: micro-macro theory, game theory
SOP: standard sop summarizing my profle
Other: -

RESULTS:

Acceptances: rochester($), wisconsin(no $), michigan($)
Waitlists: wustl
Rejections: harvard, mit, chicago, nw, upenn, nyu, columbia, stanford, berkeley, caltech, cornell, yale, princeton...!!
Pending: -

going to: university of michigan

What would you have done differently?
i could study more in masters and send my transcript and get a letter of recommendation from there maybe. i don't know if that would help with the top 10. but i am happy to go to michigan!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
calgrad08 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: UC Berkeley, double major in Economics and Applied Math (with high honors)

Undergrad GPA: 3.9
GRE: 800Q, 710V, 5.5A
Math Courses (Undergrad level): multivariable calc, linear algebra (2 semesters), abstract algebra, numerical analysis, real analysis, complex analysis
Econ Courses (Undergrad level): micro, advanced micro, macro, metrics, applied metrics, game theory, development, psych & econ

Econ Courses (PhD level): metrics (2 semesters)
Other Courses: probability theory; operations research courses for applied math concentration
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from prof for whom I’d worked for years as an RA, 1 from advanced micro prof, and 1 from grad metrics prof
Research Experience: 3 years (including summers) working for Berkeley profs; 1 summer at Treasury Dept; 1 year at Federal Reserve Bank
Teaching Experience: none

Research Interests: metrics, applied micro
SOP: nothing special, and I didn't customize it at all for the different schools
Other: submitted NSF app but didn’t win

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Berkeley, Chicago, Michigan, Northwestern, Penn, Princeton, Stanford, UCSD, Wisconsin

Waitlists: Brown
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Yale
Pending: none

Attending: Princeton

What would you have done differently?

--Senior honors thesis, both for the sake of submitting it along with my apps and being able to say that I'd done one, and for the good practice it would have been to have done my own research. I also would have tried to coauthor something with my profs, or at least get more involved in the analysis/writing of their papers rather than the (mostly) data-prep work I did for them as an RA.
--Attend office hours. I got quite good letters from my recommenders, but I can't help but think it would have been good to get to know them (and other professors) better.
--Grad-level micro. Metrics was great and I would certainly take it again if I was doing things over, but it would have been nice to have had micro under my belt as well.

But honestly I've had great luck in the admissions process and I'm thrilled to be heading to Princeton this fall. These "things I would have done differently" are really minor in the grand scheme of things, and with so much noise in the process anyway, would hardly have made much of a difference. The admissions game is as much a mystery to me now as it was before I applied!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
untitled 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Math, BA International Studies (mid ranked Midwest Flagship State School)
Undergrad GPA: 3.65
Type of Grad: M.S. Math (mid ranked but slightly better Midwest Flagship State School)

Grad GPA: 3.6
GRE: 800Q, 600V, 5.5AW (scored 800, 590, 6 before MS degree)
Math Courses (undergrad): Lots, some Bs, B+/A- average
Math (grad): Lots, still a couple Bs, A- average
Econ Courses (grad): Few
Econ Courses (undergrad): None

Other Courses: Physics Minor, once, lots of Poli Sci before I realized math + poli sci =~ econ
Letters of Recommendation: Two Math, One Poli Sci, One Econ. Econ was extremely strong
Research Experience: Math Thesis, RA at academic leaning econ consulting firm
Teaching Experience: Taught micro, macro, math econ, and econ stats principles courses during two year stint at local university while working as a consultant
Research Interests: Econometrics, Resource Economics, Decision Theory, Development

SOP: Focused on work/research experience - probably would have done it differently
Concerns: yes, mostly private.

RESULTS:
Acceptances: University of Washington - Seattle
Waitlists: none

Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford, Duke, Boston University, Davis, Pittsburgh, UCSD, UBC

What would you have done differently?
I can think of one or two classes where an A might have made a difference. Also, it might have been helpful to take at least some econ classes as an undergrad, but I'm glad I didn't, as I enjoyed my undergrad enough. Many private things.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
tmdruie 2009: So I can get on the shiny charts!


PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Physics and Economics from a top 10 liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.14/4.0
Type of Grad: One stats class
Grad GPA: 3.3

GRE: 790Q, 600V, 5.0AW
Math Courses: Calc I-III(I took them in high school, I really don’t remember and nor do my transcripts), Linear Algebra (B), Mathematical Probability and Statistics (B-, B), Real Analyst(A, at a different school then my undergrad), Stochastic Processes (B+, grad course, at a different school then my undergrad)
Econ Courses: AP Micro and Macro (A, in high school), European Economic History (B+), Law and Economics (B), Intermediate Price Theory (B), Intermediate Macro Theory (B), Econometrics (B), Contemporary British Economy (B), Industrial Revolution-Britain (A-), Econ of Multinational Corps (A-), Thesis (labor econ)
Other Courses: Physics, which I put in my math lists. Quantum Mechanics I, Partial Differential Equations (B+), etc. I only did the bare minimum for a liberal arts major
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ professors (my thesis advisor and the person who led my study abroad), 1 physics professor (thesis advisor), 1 economist who is my supervisor

Research Experience: RA for 2.5 years at ‘a central bank’
Teaching Experience: Tutored, graded and lab assisted for two years for physics in college
Research Interests: All over the place. Labor, policy, experimental, applied micro, development, etc.
SOP: Intro, I did physics I can do math!, I wrote a thesis in economic and liked doing research, I’m working as an RA and like doing research, I took extra math and can write proofs, I was part of an econ paper reading group and like reading papers, interests (changed a bit depending on what the school had, and more policy oriented for ag econ schools). Also a few sentences about things I did that I removed or added depending on the school. The 500 word schools were hard, the 1000 word schools were easy. I also had a Personal History Statement about being a female doing math for the schools that wanted it.
Other: Applied for the NSF. I tried not to say anything to risky, and not say much about interest in policy to non policy/ ag econ schools. I like Aikido.


RESULTS:
Acceptances: Boston University (waitlist for $), Michigan State(no $), University of Essex (ISER), Ohio State (Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics) ($-Fellowship), Indiana University ($-TA), Iowa State University ($-TA)
Waitlists: University of Minnesota
Rejections: MIT, Harvard (Econ and Political Economy and Government), Yale, Berkeley (Agricultural & Resource Economics), Northwestern, NYU, U Penn (Econ and Wharton), University of Wisconsin – Madison (Econ and Agricultural and Applied Economics ), Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Caltech, University of British Columbia , Ohio State, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (Econ and Public Policy and Economics), University of Maryland (Econ and Agricultural Economics), Boston College, Johns Hopkins, University of Minnesota (Applied Economics), University of California – Davis (Econ and Agricultural Economics), Duke, University of Essex, Vanderbilt, Rutgers, Carnegie Mellon (Econ, Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Public Policy and Economics)
Pending: Toronto MA, Queen’s MA


What would you have done differently?
Gotten better grades in undergrad. When I really started understanding what the things I need to do for a PhD I think I did the best I could, took real analysis, applied for the NSF (if only to write a SoP for them), read papers etc. I probably could have gotten more research experience at my job (co-author), and I defiantly could have gotten better grades and taken more math as an undergrad. But over all I’m happy.

Attending:
Boston University
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
DreamFactory 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BBA (minor Econ), International applicant, not top but one of the best schools in my country.
Undergrad GPA: 3.83/4.00 after rescale, summa cum laude (within 2% of the graduates, but the transcripts doesn't offer the rank anymore)

Type of Grad: Same school, MA econ - major:Economic theory (expected aug. 2009)
Grad GPA: 4.0/4.0 after rescale
GRE: 800Q, 670V, 4.0AWA
Math/Stat Courses:
Calculus I (B+),II (A), Intro to Probability (A+), Differential Equations I (B+), Linear Algebra I (Aced all exams, A+), II (A+), Analysis I (A+), II(A+), Topology I (A+), Stochastic Processes (A+), grad Real Analysis I (A)
Econ Courses: undergraduate - Principles I (A+),II (A), Biz Econ (A), Monetary (A), Financial (B+), Micro (A+), Macro (A), Metrics (B+)/ graduate - Micro I (A+) II (A), Macro I (A), II (A+), Metrics I (A+), Financial Economics (A), Micro Seminar (A+), Public Sector Economics II (A+)

Other Courses: Bunch in biz. especially in finance (mostly A's or A+'s in finance)
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ (both micro), 2 biz (both finance), 1 math (analysis 1,2, topology 1), all very strong but not so famous
Research Experience: RA for 2 semesters (participated in a project), 1 working paper, conference participation etc.
Teaching Experience: grad Micro I (MWG) - 2 semesters
Research Interests: Behavioral Finance/Economics/Experimental, Market Microstructure, various topics in Micro Theory......actually almost everything in Finance and Economics since most of them are interesting (I'll choose them after I get to know more)

SOP: no idea how it look like to the adcoms.
Other: External fellowship.(5 years of tuition+health+18k)

RESULTS:
Acceptances/Attending: U of Chicago (Econ, very late admission!)
Waitlists: none

Rejections: 4 econ (actually I was rejected from Chicago econ in March) - Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia
17 finance - Booth, Kellogg, Wharton, Stanford GSB, Sloan, Stern, Haas, Fuqua, Tepper, Simon, Anderson, UIUC, OSU, UMinn-TC, Eli Broad, Wisc-Madison, Johnson
Pending: LSE MSc Finance and Economics (Applied after all those dings)

What would you have done differently?
I would've concentrated more on my SOPs. Should've had different major in my undergrad (changing major is not allowed in my alma mater, and Biz major had toooooooo many required courses back then). Also, I should have gone for exchange student in the U.S. when young...get some LORs from famous faculties there...BUT I DON'T CARE ex-post, I got into one of my favorite school!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Mobius Strip 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Mathematics and Economics from a top 10-15 liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.87/4.0
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 800Q, 570V, 5.0AW

Math Courses: Calc I-III, Linear Alg, Modern Alg, Adv Modern Alg, Real Analysis, Game Theory (in Math Dept), Topology, Chaos Theory. Received department honors in Math.
Econ Courses: Basically all of them, 4.0 GPA, Thesis (A), Department Honors, Brownell Prize for Distinction in the Study of Political Economy
Other Courses: NA
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from Federal Reserve, 1 Math from Undergrad
Research Experience: RA for 3 years at FRB in DC. Co-authored published paper on racial discrimination in credit markets.
Teaching Experience: NA
Research Interests: Labor (Education), Real Estate, Financial Markets
SOP: Talked about my volunteer activities in tough, urban schools and how it shaped my interests in research in education. Transition to work at the Fed regarding discrimination in the credit markets. Final, throw-away paragraph naming some profs at schools who I'd be interested in working with.
Other: Crushed by NSF


RESULTS:
Acceptances: U Michigan (off waitlist, after 0-14 start)
Waitlists: NA
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Berkeley, Princeton, Chicago, Chicago Booth, Northwestern, Wharton, U Penn, NYU, Columbia, Duke
Pending: NA
Outside Fellowship: Received a $20k fellowship from undergrad college to supplement lack of funding from UM

What would you have done differently?
After receiving NSF results and reading Jeeves's posts, spelling out the broader impacts to make it easier to checklist. I scored fairly well on intellectual merit, but only average on the broader impacts.


Other than that, it's hard to say. I had nearly a 3.9 GPA with a Math and Econ double major, 3 years at the Federal Reserve, a published paper, and a presented working paper. I did spend 3 years in the private sector at a major bank, which probably hurt my admissions results, but gave me a broader personal, real-world experience that I do not regret taking.

Attending: U Michigan - Ann Arbor
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
nzecon 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Econ, minors:math, finance
Undergrad GPA: Econ 3.9, 3.7 overall
Type of Grad: M.S. Econ
Grad GPA: 3.8
GRE: 730Q, 530V, 4.0AWA
Math Courses: Multivariable Calc (B+), Linear Algebra (A+), Algebra (A+), Discrete Math(A), Real Analysis (B-), Math Modelling (B), Differential Equations (B+), classical mechanics (B-)
Econ Courses (Masters-level): Micro (A-), Finance Theory (A-), Applied Econometrics (B+), regulation and competition policy (A-) Industrial Organisation (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): managerial econ, econometrics, macro, IO, micro
Other Courses: OB, strategic management, marketing, accounting, heaps of finance
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors (1 well known top 10 school prof, 1 well known UK prof, 1 less well known but knows me well)
Research Experience: Masters thesis to be submitted, honours thesis, other research papers
Teaching Experience: TA Econometrics, Microeconomics and Strategic Management
Research Interests: IO, competition/regulation, innovation, micro theory
SOP: wrote a lot about my experience and how that's led me to the phd and my research topics, not sure if that was the right thing to do - but since my GRE is not solid at all I figure it was my best shot
Concerns: terrible GRE - paper based test in my country, could not resit
Other: been working full-time for two years in senior job related to regulation/competition policy and completed masters at the same time.
Applying to: HBS, Chicago Booth, NWU Kellogg, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, Stanford GSB.
Basically I decided that I like living in the same country as my family, not sure if I want to be on the other side of the world so if I am going to study a PhD in America its gotta be at a good school with $.
I chose business schools because I like the programs better. They also fit well with my interest for IO. Didn't have my GRE score at application - paper based test takes forever, Also difficult to resit without flying to another country for the computer based test.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
softsquirrel 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: France's top Grandes Ecoles(2 years in a top "Classe Prépa" if anyone knows it)
Undergrad GPA: 4.35/4.4, 1st out of 500 (Our school thinks its students merit a 10% bonus on GPA and that's why they add that, which made me some trouble as I always have to explain that)
Type of Grad: Same school(The system is weird in France, basically it's 2+3 years after high school and they deliver a somewhat Master-equivalent degree at the end)
Grad GPA: FALL
GRE: 800Q, 720V, 4.5AWA
TOEFL IBT: 115(27Speaking and 28Writing)
Math Courses: basically everything, almost like a math majoring student
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): baby micro+macro+corporate finance
Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro, Macro, Econometrics, Development , Growth, Game Theory, Financial Economics etc.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from a well-known French prof teaching economics in US top universities, 1 Oxford Phd (eco), 1 School prof(eco), another 1 schoolprof(math)
Research Experience: only one team-based research on auction theory
Teaching Experience: 2 years TA on maths for 2nd-year math students (the so-called "colle" in our argot)
Research Interests: macro+international
SOP: quitewell-written, I think
Applying to: Princeton, Yale, Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Stanford, NYU, UPenn, Columbia
Commnet: little research experience, but it's the problem for all candidates from French Grandes Ecoles
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Waitlists:
hockeytime 2007: Hey hockeytime, I'm gonna copy your profile from the other thread and put it here for the sake of completeness. Let me know if you mind, I'll delete it.

Profile:


Gre: 800 Q, 700 V, 6.0 A
GPA: Overall: 3.97 (Undergrad). 4.0 in all econ/math/quant courses. Ranked 2nd in my graduating class.
Classes:
Math: Lin Alg, Calc, Diff Eqs, Vector Calc, Real Analysis
Econ: Intro to Micro and Macro, Intermediate Micro

Graduate: Probability and Micro at the PhD level at a top US school
Type of Undergrad: top Canadian undergrad school, major in Business, minor in Math.
Research Experience: Full time RA at a top US school for the year prior to starting my PhD.
Teaching Experience: None
LORs: Three strong econ profs in my field at a top US school.
SoP & Interests: Empirical IO. Energy/Telecom/High Tech sectors.

Other: Worked in consulting after my undergrad (first in Management Consulting, then Economic Consulting). Somewhat atypical applicant because my undergrad was in business/math. Strong comp sci background, and very strong technical skills (several programming languages, STATA, etc).


Admissions Decision Results

Rejected: Berkeley
MIT
Princeton


waitlisted: Harvard Econ (Declined)

Accepted: UCSD
UCLA
Duke
Stanford
Stanford GSB
Chicago Econ

Chicago GSB
Northwestern
Yale
Harvard Business Economics
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
P=NP 2007: Gre: 800 Q, 660 V, 6.0 A
GPA: Overall: 3.95. Math: 4.00, Econ: 3.98
Classes (all A+'s):
UGrad Math: Abstract Algebra, Logic, Analysis

Grad Econ: Micro I, Micro II, Macro, Econometrics I, Business Cycles, Monetary, Economic History, Regulation
Grad Math: Measure Theory, Topology, Group Theory

Type of Undergrad: International, top in country

Research Experience: macro project, summer intern at Central Bank (econometrics), micro thesis, summer project in maths


Teaching Experience: 6 semesters of tutoring economics (micro, macro, international)

LORs: I hope they're good :). My letter writers have PhDs from Minnesota, Stanford (x2) and Yale.

Interests: micro theory, macro theory, non-parametrics


Results Admits (with full funding)
Chicago
Stanford
Northwestern
Princeton
Yale
UPenn
NYU
Columbia

Brown

Waitlist
Harvard

Rejects
MIT
Cornell


What would you have done differently? Spent time writing and polishing a great research paper. I only submitted a writing sample to Chicago.

--Going to Yale
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
probablyawildcard 2007: Profile:

Gre: 800 Q, 780 V, 5.5 A
GPA: Overall 3.7, BA Anthropology 3.8, Econ Classes 3.5, Math Classes 4.0
Classes:

Math: Calc I (A), Human Population Biology (applied linear algebra, A), Data Analysis (basic statistics, A). Calc III (ongoing). Advanced Calc I (soon), Probability Theory (soon)
Econ: Econ 1 (B), World Food Economy (A)
Other: Third-world development focus within anthro
Type of Undergrad: elite liberal arts school
Research Experience: Honors fieldwork (in anthropology) studying an indigenous development project in Bolivia (highly qualitative, no math)

Teaching Experience: Literature tutoring for high schoolers, Community ed Spanish classes
LORs: None from econ profs, one from a relatively well-known evolution scholar (strong), one from a demographer (very strong), one from the head of my university's Center for Public Service (very strong)
SoP & Interests: Development, environment, international
Other: Male US Citizen


Admissions Decision Results
pending: Berkeley - On the edge, apparently. I'm one of the minority who didn't hear anything March 1.
Harvard - ?
MIT - ?
Chicago - ?
Princeton - ?
rejected: Columbia
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Big Tuna 2008: PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Highly ranked US public university with top 25 econ phd program. Majors in economics/philosophy, minor in math.
Undergrad GPA: 4.0
Type of Grad: No masters program; just 1 course while in undergrad.
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 800V/800Q/4.5AW
Math Courses: Calculus I, I, III, linear algebra, real analysis, mathematical modeling, ordinary differential equations, currently enrolled in numerical methods and complex variables.

Econ Courses: intro/intermediate micro/macro, stat for economists, undergrad econometrics, 3 thesis/independent study courses, a bunch of undergrad field courses, and PhD econometrics I.
Other Courses: Mostly a lot of philosophy.
Letters of Recommendation: Three from good people, all of whom have supervised an independent project I've done.
Research Experience: The aforementioned thesis projects, plus 2 years as a research assistant and one empirical paper submitted to a decent (though not top tier) journal. I received an undergraduate research grant from my school to do this paper.
Teaching Experience: Just tutoring.
Research Interests: Applied micro, public finance, maybe econometrics

SOP: I guess it was fine.
Other: I had one withdrawal (W) on my transcript because I dropped abstract algebra; the professor was more boring than anyone else I'd ever had.

RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT, Stanford, Yale, UChicago, Northwestern, NYU, Columbia, Duke, UMaryland.
Waitlists: Harvard.
Rejections: None.

Pending: None.

What would you have done differently? Probably nothing. I guess Harvard might have let me in instead of waitlisting me if I'd taken more advanced math or gone to an Ivy, but that's hard to tell and I wouldn't have wanted to do too much more work as an undergrad than I actually did; you have to leave time to have some fun.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
jcash 2008: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: top ten U.S. liberal arts

Undergrad GPA: 3.95
Type of Grad: none.
GRE: 670V/800Q/6.0AW
Math Courses: real analysis(A+), differential equations (A+), math logic (A), linear algebra and multivariable calculus in high school
Econ Courses: core courses in micro and macro, math econ and econometrics, some electives
Other Courses: lots of random stuff

Letters of Recommendation: 2 good econ ones, but not from well-known professors. 1 from a more well-known professor, but who didn't know me as well. 1 really good one from a political science professor.
Research Experience: Undergrad thesis in philosophy of economics, empirical and theoretical term papers.
Teaching Experience: TA for intermediate macro.
Research Interests: Public finance, econometrics
SOP: talked about possible research interests and what I had worked on
Other: applying for a j.d.-ph.d. Also: I meant to apply to Berkeley, but found out after the fact that I had never finished submitting my online application...oh well...


RESULTS:
Acceptances: Yale, Princeton, Columbia
Waitlists: Harvard
Rejections: MIT
Assumed Rejections: NYU, Chicago


What would you have done differently? Taken a grad level math course
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
gregobad 2008: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Research university w/ top 5 econ program

Undergrad GPA: 4.9/5
Type of Grad: none.
GRE: 770V/800Q/5.5AW
Math Courses: calc I & II, differential equations, linear algebra, probability, linear programming / optimization
Econ Courses: intermediate micro and macro, econometrics, game theory, various field courses

Other Courses: Minor in physics
Letters of Recommendation: Two from econ profs, neither of whom are well-known but both know me well (one was my thesis advisor, another my undergrad advisor). One from a manager at my job (econ consulting firm). Pretty sure all three are very strong recs, but the third probably doesn't count for much because it's non-academic.
Research Experience: Was an RA for a summer in a physics lab. Did an undergrad thesis. Worked for 1.5 years doing semi-relevant stuff at an economic consulting firm - I have a lot of experience with Stata, Matlab, other programming languages
Teaching Experience: tutored undergrads in physics and econ
Research Interests: Game theory, political economy, behavioral economics
SOP: talked about possible research interests and what I had worked on



RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT, Stanford GSB (political economy), Princeton, Caltech, Berkeley, Northwestern, Chicago
Waitlists: Harvard
Rejections: Stanford economics


What would you have done differently? Not much, really. Maybe taken an academic RA job instead of working in economic consulting, and applied for last year instead of this year. Although, there's nothing like having a boring job to motivate you to get back to school.;)
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
eqtisadi 2008: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Econ,Philosophy,Politics from an Israeli university
Undergrad GPA: 94%
Type of Grad: Econ in the same university

Grad GPA: 96%
GRE: Q800, V450, A5.0
Math Courses: Calculus, (simple and calculus-based) Statistics, Linear algebra and advanced calculus, as well as two advanced logic courses by the department of philosophy (all 90+). I took Real Analysis too but I am not going to do the test. It was much more fun doing it without the pressure.
Econ Courses: All around: undergrad: intro to econ I & II, price theory I & II, macro I & II, development, econ history, intro to econometrics, honors students seminar. MA: micro, macro I & II, industrial organization, econometrics I-III, econ history. All 90+

Letters of Recommendation: 1 from a very known professor, 2 from professors who are pretty known in their respective fields and 1 from a pretty young professor
Research Experience: RA for the first professor mentioned above
Teaching Experience: quite a few econ courses for BA, but I don't think it mattered.
Research Interests: Too many. I have to narrow them down.
SOP: 500 words (or whatever was the limitation) about why I want to do research in economics and how I decided that.
Other: Nice set of teeth.


RESULTS:
Admitted: Berkeley, NYU, Yale, Columbia, Northwestern, Chicago, Stanford, Princeton
Waitlisted: Harvard
Rejected: MIT

What would I have done differently? Nothing. Maybe get an American citizenship and apply for the NSF, but seriously, I'm very very happy with the choices I have.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
econphilomath 2008: Type of Undergrad: B.A. in Economics from top institution in my country.

Type of Grad: M.A. in Economics from the same institution
GPA: Graduated 1st in my class, both programs.
GRE: 800Q, 730V, 4.5AWA
TOFEL: 118/120
Courses: Tons of econ, some math, no formal real analysis.

TA: Lots of undergrad macro courses and some graduate macro courses.
Teaching: I teach undergrad macro.
Research: Several published papers. All applied. (average to low/mediocre national and international journals)
RA: Current job is as an RA at Central Bank and lecturer at my university.
LORS: One senior, one semi-senior and one junior. I know them all really well (for over two years) and with all I have co-authored different research.


Interests: Macroeconomics, Labor and Development.

SOP: Tried to be serious, signal I know what I'm getting into. No BS, no talking about whats in my CV, no naming professors and not very long.

Schools: Shooting for the top 10 schools.

Other: Male, 27


RESULTS:
Attending: Yale ($$)
Acceptances: NorthWestern ($$), Columbia ($$), UMinn ($$), UPenn (:2cents:), UChicago (:2cents:)
Waitlists: Harvard and MIT. Later rejected.
Rejections: Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford, NYU.


What would you have done differently?
Applied earlier. Would not have stressed so much and spent less time on TM!:) The extra stuff on your CV doesn't make all that much of a difference. Past decent grades and GRE, basic math requirements, its all LORs. Its how you get the LORS that differs among applicants. Randomness that I was worried about was confirmed but its not that big once you know the underlying decision making structure.
Also I would have gone with more famous professors LORs who didn't know me as well, but who were willing to write beaming letters, instead of my junior professor/coauthor.

ALSO wait-lists suck. They do move around (not for me) but the wait is terrible.

Last Recommendation: Try as hard as you can to go to fly-outs. It can make a huge difference when you have to choose on the margin. Talk with professors and students as much as you can. It helped me a lot.

EDIT: See my buddy asianecon's next post. To avoid confusion, I recommend visiting (something usually done at fly-outs). However as asianecon suggests, it might be more informative to go on a regular day and sit in at classes talk with people etc as he has done and skip the marketing. Either way try and go get a feel for the program in person.




Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
knickerbocker 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. in Economics, Math, Applied Math, Top 7 econ program, Minor Japanese Language and Culture
Undergrad GPA: 3.94/4.0 PBK, Econ 4.0/4.0, Math 4.0/4.0
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: Q 790; V 620; AW 5.5
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Linear Algebra, Math Stats, Real Analysis I,II, Higher Level Math
Econ Courses: A lot
Other Courses: Mostly Japanese
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ full professors, no nobel prize winners, but know my work well
Research Experience: NONE
Teaching Experience: None.
Research Interests: Economic History, Macro
SOP: Sub par, I fear
Other: Good summer jobs the past three summers
Applying to: Columbia, Yale, Harvard, MIT, Penn, Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, Chicago
Worried I didn't apply to any safeties. Low GRE. Reassurances greatly appreciated.

Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists: