The chart will appear within this DIV. This text will be replaced by the chart.
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:
anothereconstudent 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 50 research University with unknown econ dept.
Undergrad GPA: 3.97 cumulative
Type of Grad: Straight from undergrad
Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 780Q, 690V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses:
Calc I-III (A/A/B+), Linear Algebra (A-), Diff EQ (A), Time Series & Spatial Analysis (A), Prob & stats (A-), Real Analysis (current)
Econ Courses:
Intermediate Micro/Macro, Adv Micro, about 12 subject courses and econometrics. (4.0)
Letters of Recommendation: Econ profs - senior thesis advisor, 2 profs I had TA'd for and had in at least 2 classes. They were pretty strong.

Research Experience: Senior thesis, research assignments at work
Teaching Experience: TA for Intro Micro/Macro
Research Interests: Applied Micro, applied IO
SOP: Fairly generic
Other: Won award for best thesis, best econ student. Extensive programming experience in SAS and stata. Economics-related job.


RESULTS:
Acceptances:
UIUC (attending)
OSU
Georgetown

all funded

Rejections:

MIT
Berkeley
Chicago
Columbia
Northwestern
Maryland
UT Austin

What would you have done differently?

Applied to more schools, especially schools in the 5-20 range. Taken real analysis sooner. 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:
Valhalla 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA in economics in continental europe, huge public university but internationally not very well known I'd say.


Undergrad GPA: 3.72/4 (using WES-conversion table), top 5% in my university

Type of Grad: MA Economics (I'm currently in the second year)

Grad GPA: 3.77/4 until now


GRE: 790 Q, 600 V, 4.5 AWA

Math Courses:

(900f those courses were not required in the economics-track (BA and MA) but I did those courses additionally as offered by the math department for math-students)

UG-Level: Mathematics I,II, III (dealing basically with integral calculus, differential equation systems, vector calculus...), Real analysis I, II, III, Functional Analysis I, II, Probability theory I,II,III, Linear Algebra I, II, III, Topology I, II, Differential Topology, Measure Theory, Optimization Theory,



Graduate Level: Real Analysis, Topology, Linear Algebra, Operator Theory, Recursive Methods/ Dynamic programming, Statistics I (using Casella and Berger), Statistics II (using Davidson's Stochastic limit theory)


Econ Courses: That's just an endless list... but some highlights:

UG Level: Micro I,II,III, Macro I,II,III, Game theory I, II, Evolutionary Game Theory, Cooperative Game Theory, Industrial Organization I, II, International Trade I, II, III, Monetary Economics I, II, ...


Graduate level: Micro I,II, (using MWG) Macro I,II, (using Ljungquvist and Sargent/ Stokey and Lucas), General Equilibrium Theory, Incomplete markets, Asset pricing, Public choice theory, Auction theory, Game theory, Voting theory, Industrial Organization

Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ profs, 2 are well known

Teaching Experience: TA UG Level for elementary economics, TA Graduate level in math and macro


Awards: 2 merit based awards from my UG - university, scholarship from my graduate institution, award from our central bank for my diploma thesis,

Research Interests: Micro-theory

SOP: talked about personal interests/ hobbys and connected it with some papers I read... but I don't think someone cared about it


Schools I applied to:

NW
UPenn
UCSD
Tilburg
UIUC
JHU
Purdue

U Arizona
BC
UC Davis
Toronto
IUB


RESULTS:


Acceptances:

UPenn (nada $)
Tilburg ($)
UIUC ($$)
U Arizona ($$)
BC ($$)
IUB ($$)
UC Davis (?)


Rejections:

NW... (I'm still shocked):eek:

Pending:

Toronto, Purdue, JHU, UCSD


What would you have done differently?

A lot! I wouldn't underestimate me anymore and I would apply for some top ten universities. My tip: aim as high as possible otherwise you get a lot of acceptances from middle-ranked universities and what can you buy with that?









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Show 30 post(s) from this thread on one page 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:
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:
EMEQU 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Good Latin American university
Undergrad GPA: 15.4/20

Type of Grad: Good Latin American university
Ggrad GPA: 8/10
GRE: 800Q 500V 4.0AWA
TOEFL: 260/300
Math Courses (undergrad and grad): Calculus, Probability, Statistics, Real Analysis, Mathematical Economics (optimization and optimal control)

Econ Courses(grad): Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Econometrics, Aplied Econometrics.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 strong LOR from one very well-known senior professor, 2 strong LORS from two assistant professors.
Research Experience: Master's thesis, few working papers.
Teaching Experience: TA (undergraduate), Lecturer (undergraduate)
Research Interests: Macroeconomics.

SOP: Explained why I wanted to pursue a PhD in economics.

RESULTS:
Acceptances: University College London (no $), Texas A&M ($$), UC Davis ($$), University of Virginia ($$), Arizona State University ($$$), UIUC ($$$, 1st year fellowship), Carnegie Mellon ($$$, 1st year fellowship).
Rejections: UC San Diego, Brown University, UC Santa Cruz, JHU.
Pending: Queen's University.

What would you have done differently?
I think LORs matter a lot, specially for international students (since one professor may recommend 4 or 5 students at the same time to the same university). I wish I applied to fewer safety schools. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
bertthepuppy 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 50 private university by US News
Undergrad GPA: 3.61

Type of Grad: a couple semesters of non-degree courses, medium-sized, well-ranked state school
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 790/500/5.5
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Lin Alg, Real Analysis, 3 semesters of Stats
Econ Courses: Int Micro & Macro, Money and Banking, Public Finance, Int'l Trade, Int'l Finance, Thesis Course, Econometrics...

Other Courses: many policy-related analytical courses
Letters of Recommendation: solid, all knew me very well one Yale, one Johns Hopkins, one Berkeley, and one Northeastern (but ironically, probably the most well-known)
Research Experience: RA in undergrad and currently RA for one of my letter writers
Teaching Experience: TA for Econ for Public Affairs and Macro
Research Interests: Labor, Applied micro

SOP: well-tailored to each school, and given emphasis on my drive, with comparisons to running the two marathons I did

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Wisconsin (short list for $), Texas (w*it list for $), UNC-CH($), Ohio State (no $), Iowa ($), Colorado (?), Illinois ($), Cornell (no $), Vanderbilt ($), Kentucky ($)
Waitlists: Georgetown (then given fellowship)
Rejections: Duke, Michigan, MarylandWhat would you have done differently? I wish I would have realized that April 15th seems like this magical day when everything will be done. However, this is not always the case, especially if you are near the middle of the pack at some good programs. Even though I've been formulating preferences for months, I feel like they have all changed within the past week. I'll probably go to Wisconsin if I get off the wait list for $, otherwise I think I will go to Texas, perhaps unfunded. Ask me tomorrow and I will change my mind again. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
mamama 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Engineering-best university in my country
Undergrad GPA: 3.31/4.00
Grad GPA: 3.7/4.00 same university economics department

GRE: 800q, 400v, 3.5w
Math Courses: Calculus I,II linear algebra, differential eq. real analysis
Econ Courses: master courses and many micro courses
Letters of Recommendation: from economics department/ applied to some without master thesis advisors LOR
Research Experience: 2 years, a published article in native language and 2 ongoing

Teaching Experience: TA for a couple semesters in UG and G
Research Interests: micro,io
SOP: standard

RESULTS:
Attending: Austin

Acceptances: Austin ($$), Boston College ($$), Duke ($$), Rochester ($$), Rutgers ($$), UIUC ($$),Pompeu Fabra($$), Tinbergen ($$), Tilburg($$), Wisconsin Madison
Rejects: Upenn,Nyu,Columbia,NW
What would you have done differently? have chose another university for master Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
MNGoon 2008:
PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: B.A. Economics and Political Science with a Math Minor from large state University top 25ish in general, top 20 in Econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.07/4.0
Type of Grad: Master of Regional Planning
Grad GPA: 3.8/4
GRE: 780Q, 710V, 800A
Math Courses: Calculus (multi variate), Linear Algebra, Differential Equations

Econ Courses (PhD-level): None
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Public, Input-Output, IO, Urban, Housing, Game Theory, Micro and Macro Theory
Other Courses: A whole pile of Economic Development and GIS courses for Masters
Letters of Recommendation: 3 economic develoment professors (1 UC-Berkely PhD, 1 Cornell PhD, 1 Rutgers PhD), all extremely solid.
Research Experience: RA for Econ Development Prof, thesis, and cited extension work
Teaching Experience TA for Masters level Urban and Spatial Econ

Research Interests: Public Finance, Urban Econ, Spatial Modeling, Community Economic Development, Extension
SOP: Critiqued by Econ Profs
Other: Been out of school for a while, Former Peace Corps Volunteer, Currently working for a non-profit loan fund

RESULTS:
Attending: UW-Madison (Agricultural and Applied Economics)
Acceptances: Applied/Ag Econ Programs: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio State, Penn State, Georgia State, Clemson

Waitlists:
Rejections: Econ Programs: Brown, BU, UMass-Amherst, UConn Applied: Cornell, Wharton, UNC
What would you have done differently? Maybe not have waited until I turned 30 to accept an offer. In all seriousness, as far as the application process goes, I would not have done anything differently. I spent last summer talking to former professors and asked them to introduce me to the people they know in departments that they thought would be a good fit for me. I also talked to them extensively about my interests and the work I had done with them in the past so that they would have more information to draw upon when writing the LORs. As a result, I got into more, and better programs than my profile may have suggested. I am though going to get my *** handed to me at Madison. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
dismally_yours 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Well-known university in Pakistan

Undergrad GPA: 3.15
GRE: 770 Q, 710 V, 4.0 AWA
Math Courses: Calculus I, II , III, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Real Analysis, Optimization Techniques, Numerical Analysis, Probability, Statistics (Very average grades in all of them!)
Econ Courses: Many, including 2 masters courses: Micro Analysis, Macro Analysis
Letters of Recommendation: Two econ, one math. Nobody famous or well-published.
Research Experience: None

Teaching Experience: TA for a senior course in my university
SOP: Okay. Not very exceptional. Didn't have anyone read it.

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Northern Illinois University, MA ($$, RA position)
Waitlists: None
Rejections: None

Pending: NoneWhat would you have done differently?
It would have really helped if I had figured out what to do early in college or scored a better GPA. I am going for a master's primarily to improve my profile. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
The MAN 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Bachelors at an unranked non-PhD state school
Undergrad GPA: 3.4
Type of Grad: none
Grad GPA: n/a

GRE: 800 Q, 560 V, 4.0 AWA
Math Courses: Calc 1 and 2
Econ Courses: All the prerequisites, Environ. Econ, Econometrics 1 and 2, Law and Econ, Telecom Econ, and a bunch of others
Other Courses: Computer Programming in C++, Physics
Letters of Recommendation: Three letters from instructors at unranked state school

Research Experience: None
Teaching Experience: Some tutoring experience
Research Interests: Public econ, environ. econ, tech. econ
SOP: Pretty standard SOP talking about why I want to pursue econ grad school, details on why I am a good candidate, and details on why I like the particular school.
Other:


RESULTS:
Acceptances: NIU, U. of Delaware, UNM, Colorado State, Nevada-Reno, IUPUI, and Illinois State
Waitlists: none
Rejections: USF and Oregon
Pending: none


What would you have done differently? I would have taken more math classes as an undergrad. I'm planning on going for a masters and picking up some missing math classes before applying to PhD programs. 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:
Mankins 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Very large US public university
Undergrad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 800Q, 600V, 4.5AWA

Math Courses: Calc I-III, Mathematical Structures, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Probability, Advanced Calculus I, and Intermediate Real Analysis I (all A or A+). Topology and Mathematical Statistics (Spring 2009).
Econ Courses: The usual, plus Econometrics , Advanced Honors Micro (uncertainty), Advanced Honors Macro (taught by Nobel Laureate). All A or A+, except Econometrics where I got an A-. Game Theory (Spring 2009).
Letters of Recommendation: One from a Nobel Laureate (not sure how solid it was). One from a well-known economist in micro theory and information (probably knows me better than any of my other professors). One from my Advanced Calc professor.
Teaching Experience: N/A
Research Experience: Some preliminary work on an undergraduate thesis (never finished), Econometrics paper co-authored with two other students

Research Interests: micro theory, advertising, economics of information, behavioral/neuro/experimental, IO, development
SOP: Standard
Concerns: Very little research experience, no graduate courses
Applying to: Yale, Duke, Stanford, MIT, Northwestern, Chicago, Illinois Urbana, Berkeley, Texas, Minnesota, Arizona State, Carnegie Mellon, and Duke Decision Sciences


RESULTS:
Attending: Minnesota ($$)
Acceptances, declined: Carnegie Mellon ($$$), U Texas at Austin ($), U Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ($$), Arizona State ($$)
Rejections: MIT, Berkeley, Yale, Stanford, U Penn, U Chicago, Northwestern (on the waiting list, briefly), Duke Economics, Duke Decision Sciences
What would you have done differently? There's not much more I could have realistically done. Maybe I could have gone to more office hours and talked to professors more outside of class. I think I may have had better results if I had taken PhD Micro, but I don't know where I would have fit that into my schedule. I transferred schools and switched majors halfway through my junior year, and it took 5 years to finish my Bachelor's degree because of it. I hadn't finished Calc I until the summer of 2007, so I had to catch up quickly on the math required for graduate economics. Considering what a tough year it was, things could have turned out much worse. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
mathy backpack 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Large Public University, BA Economics
Undergrad GPA: 3.75 Overall, 3.9 Econ, 4.0 Math
Type of Grad: MA Economics (1/2 of credits were math though)
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 800Q, 690V, 5.0AWA
Math Courses: Calc I, Calc II, Vector Calc, Linear Algebra, Logic, Probability/Statistics (multivar calc), Real Analysis, Linear Algebra(grad), Probability Theory(grad)...All A's Taking: Statistical Theory(grad)
Econ Courses (grad): Micro(MA), Macro(MA), Econometrics(MA), Labor(MA), Public Finance(MA), GameTheory(MA), Optimization I(PhD)...All A's Taking: Adv Macro(PhD), Optimization II(PhD)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermed. Micro & Macro, plus 12 other Junior/Senior semester courses for the major...All A's in these, but with a spicy little B and a C in intro Micro and Macro(101 and 102) as a Freshman
Other: English Minor, Drum & Bass show on student radio
Letters of Recommendation: Different combos of 5 Econ profs from master's program
Research Interests: Micro Theory, Game Theory, Behavioral, Micro-ish Development
SOP: Spent way too much time, 1 1/2 pages, standard I'm sure
Concerns: Picked a great year to apply!?!
Other: Despite the random attacks of anxiety, I am pretty excited. Trying to prepare myself to not take the rejections too personally. I have faith that I will end up exactly where I am supposed to be.
Applying to: The usual suspects...Princeton, Yale, Berkeley, Chicago, Northwestern, NYU, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Penn, WUSTL, Duke, Carnegie Mellon.... hopefully enough!
Fingers: crossed
:)Good Luck to everyone. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Rejections:
EconCandidate 2007: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small, relatively unknown private university in the northeast.
Undergrad GPA: 3.65 (3.83 in Econ and Math)
GRE: 800Q/550V/4.0A
Math Courses: Intro Calc (A), Calc of Single Variable I (A-), Calc of Single Variable II (A-), Calc of Several Variables (A-), Integral Calc and Differential Equations (A), Linear Algebra (A-), Numerical Analysis (A-), Advanced Calculus (A), Intro to Real Analysis (A), Math Stats and Probability I (A), Math Stats and Probability II (In Progress)

Econ Courses: Honors Principles of Micro (A), Honors Principles of Macro (A), International (B+), Money & Banking (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), Law & Economics (B+), Public Finance (A-), Game Theory (A), Econometrics (In Progress), Advanced Public Policy Thesis (In Progress)
Letters of Recommendation: From 3 professors who knew me extremely well. I can't imagine they could have been any stronger.
Research Experience: Completed a summer research project about the term structure of interest rates. Currently working on a senior thesis about funding for public education.
Teaching Experience: Certified Level III Tutor. Math and Econ tutoring experience. Teaching Assistant for Intro Calc and Calculus of a Single Variable II.
Research Interests: Public Finance, Game Theory, Applied Micro.

SOP: Discussed my math preparation, research project, teaching/tutoring experience and my goals.

RESULTS:
Acceptances:
University of Wisconsin-Madison ($) (Attending)
University of Virginia ($)
Waitlists:
Boston College

Rejections:
University of Chicago
Yale University
Northwestern University
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
University of Rochester
Duke University
University of Maryland-College Park

Brown University
The Ohio State University
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

What would you have done differently?
My experience suggests that this process is incredibly random. I ended up with funding at a program that is clearly top 12- top 15, and got rejected outright by many programs that were not ranked as highly. Don't rule out any programs that you have been admitted to, because you never know what can happen, even at the last minute! Overall, I should have tried to improve my overall undergradaute GPA and scores on the other sections of the GRE, because coming from an unknown university probably hurt my applications some. Additionally, I would have tried to complete more research as an undergrad. A combination of these factors might have made my applications considerably less random. The best advice I can give people is that a high GPA, high GRE Math, and an extensive math background are the norm for applicants, and they are minimum preparation to be an appealing candidate. These do not seperate you from the pack any more. In the end though, no regrets at all.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
econ2007 2007: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: medium (roughly 30,000 students) public university

Undergrad GPA: 3.55 overall, 3.83 economics GPA
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q / 580V/ 6.0AW
Math Courses: Calc I (A), Calc II (B+), Calc III (C+), Applied Linear Algebra (C+), Numbers and Polynomials (D+), Elementary Differential Equations (C), proof-based Linear Algebra (B)
Econ Courses: Honors Principles of Microeconomics (A), Honors Principles of Macroeconomics (A), Banking Financial Markets and Monetary Theory (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (B), Games and Decision (B), International Trade (A), Economics of State and Local Govt (A-), Intro to Econometrics (A)

Other Courses: audited PhD Macro I
Letters of Recommendation: undergraduate advisor and professor in two classes (PhD from UNC-CH), econ prof for intermediate micro and macro (PhD from Carnegie Mellon), econ prof for econometrics (PhD from Carnegie Mellon), math prof for proof-based LA (PhD from NYU)
Research Experience: started a senior thesis, but not completed.
Teaching Experience: tutored all four years of undergrad
Research Interests: micro theory, applied micro, labor, environmental, bioeconomics
SOP: started with a template, and tailored each SOP to each schools interests and strengths (as long as there was some intersection in interests). THEY DO READ YOUR SOP.

Other: out of school for 2 years

RESULTS:
Acceptances: FSU, UGA, Colorado at Boulder, UC Irvine
Waitlists: UNC (r*jected later), Illinois (r*jected later),Boston College, Pitt
Rejections: UWashington, UTexas, UNC, Illinois
What would you have done differently?

Let me preface by saying that my original plan was to go to law school. I didn't seriously start thinking about economics PhD until late junior year. Take as much math as possible, with good grades.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
cooper 2007: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small state school, no PhD program in Econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.2

Type of Grad Mid-size public uni, no PhD program in Econ
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 770 Q, 370 V, 4.5 AWA
Math Courses: Calc 1-3, Diff Eqs, Linear Alg, Operations Research (Linear programming, Integer Programming, & Dynamic Porogramming), Math Stats 1, Adv Calc 1. (All A's) Taking final semester: Adv Calc 2, Topology, Stoch Calc.

Econ Courses: Micro and Macro up to masters level, Math Econ up to masters level, Econometrics up to masters level (including regular Econometrics, Time Series, and Financial Econometrics), and Game Theory. (Two B+'s in undergrad courses and rest A's)
Other Courses: Some programming courses.
Letters of Recommendation: Strong letters from not well known Profs (two econ and one math). One more letter from a well-connected econ Prof, not sure how strong it was.
Research Experience: Research asistant for Prof for two years in masters program. Research Assistant for another Prof for one year. Completed Research paper at AEA summer program. Completed a masters research paper. Did some Matlab programming with another professor for independent study on oil and monetary poicly.
Teaching Experience: Tutor for calc 1&2 in undergrad. Tutor for Principles of Micro in undergrad.

Research Interests: Macro: RBC theory, monetary policy, oil and empirical macro
SOP: Talked about my interests and experience, and a little about the particular school.
Other: AEA summer program

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Iowa (full $$), Vandy (full $$), Indiana (full $$), Virginia ($$-?), Rutgers (no $$)

Waitlists: I guess Pitt since I emailed them and never got a decision
Rejections: Princeton, Duke, WUSTL, U Wash, Illinois, JHU

What would you have done differently? I think I found my range, but I probably should have tried some more top 30's and mayber one or two top 20's just in case.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
kanishka 2007: Type of Undergrad: International – India, Top in country (I mean the college, not my performance)
Undergrad GPA: 3.6 (using the WES conversion guide)

Type of Grad: International – India, Top in country (ditto qualification as above)

Grad GPA: 4.0 (using the WES conversion guide)

Note – most students perform better in the undergrad than the grad. I ran the other way.

GRE: Q800:grad: , V650, A4.5 :yuck:

Math(s) courses: Real analysis, concepts in linear algebra and calculus: linear independence; bases and dimension; subspaces and vector spaces; eigenvalues, continuity; differentiability; implicit function theorem, static optimization: unconstrained optimization; optimization with equality and inequality constraints; Envelope Theorem, dynamics and dynamic optimization: difference and differential equations, optimal control theory.
Econ Courses: My undergrad was wholly an economics course, as was my grad degree. Took the introductory micro, macro, econometrics (“trix”) courses in my grad. The material covered in these intro courses is pretty similar to what is done as introductory coursework in the US.

Significant electives: Game Theory, Law and Economics, Environmental Economics, Environment and Development. Also took an advanced macro course – Open Economy Macroeconomics, but I wont be doing any more macro. I enjoyed this course, though it was very hard.

Letter of Recommendations: 4 in total. One has a phd from an (arguably) Top 10 US school. The next two were PhD’s from LSE; the last is an Indian Phd, with loads of work experience and masters degree from a Top-20 to 25ish US school.


Research experience: One year as a Research Analyst with the Institute of Economic Growth, the leading research institute in environmental economics in India. Also wrote two papers during my masters, which were okay. Not really worth being published, but who knows? I never really tried. A couple of internships during previous summers also …one with ICICI Bank’s Social Initiatives Group (this involved significant field work) and the other with the National Council of Applied Economic Research.
Also worked a year in General Electric – Money, the consumer finance division. It taught me two things –(a) handling huge databases; and (b) the private sector is not for me.
Research interests: Environment and development; applied work in this area. Would love it if I could do something in India, somewhere in the Himalayas where the scenery is spectacular. If you’re going to be doing field work for months on end, might as well do it in a nice place.:D


SOP: Focused only on a very business-like description of the work I was doing in the Institute of Economic Growth and what I had done in GE; described my term papers and wrote a paragraph on what I would like to do. Did not claim to be touched by the hand of Adam Smith.:p

Results:
Accepted by: University of Maryland – AREC (20K$ first four years):) , University of Wyoming – Econ (15K$ five years) and University of Minnesota APEC (no funding). Received a note from the Nicholas School of Duke University saying there was “interest in my file but not enough funding”. Don’t know where to place this. Logically I got rejected but my vanity will not allow this.
Rejected by: UCSD, UCSB, Yale, ASU, Wisconsin Madison.
Ignored by: UIUC – ACES program.


What would I have done differently?
1. Yale and UCSD were poor fits to my profile + interests. Probably was an immediate reject at these schools, and their apps were expensive, so it was a waste of time and money, which RA’s have in limited amounts. Would apply to UC – Davis and maybe OSU. That said I got into the program I was aiming for, so it turned out well, which I didn’t think likely at the time of application. 2 of my reco’s were most likely weak to indifferent, but there’s nothing much I could do about that.

2. Would erase my last paragraph in my SOP describing in a shallow manner why I’m applying to that particular school. I would say, only if there are very strong reasons why you think you’d fit with the dept (such as a strong correlation with your research work and some prof’s main area of research), then include such a paragraph.

Advice:
1. Please get some research experience if you want to do applied work. It helps immensely, apart from adding to your application.


2. For any Indians who are reading this, since we tend to do this – when writing SOP, don’t describe your love of economics, just say what you have done so far in life in a very objective manner. No phrases like “I believe economics to be the true saviour of mankind”. I cannot stress this enough. I don’t know how much weight an SOP carries, but write it objectively please.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
EcoBd 2009: PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad/Grad: BSS and MSS in Economics in a South Asian University.
Undergrad/Grad GPA: 3.7/4.0 in Undergrad and 4.0/4.0 in Grad
GRE: 790Q, 380V, 3.5AWA
TOEFL: 106 (29R, 29L, 23S, 25W)
Courses: Lots of econ courses. PhD level micro and econometrics. Calculus, probability theory, linear algebra, real analysis etc.

Letters of Recommendation: 3 economics professor from my University. 1 got his PhD from Harvard and taught me Microeconomics. Another did her PhD from MIT and taught me Econometrics. The last one got his PhD from Manchester and taught me International Economics. I am sure that they all gave me excellent recommendations.
Research Experience: Currently working in a research institute in my home country. I also have 2 RA positions in two different organizations previously.
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Econometrics

SOP: Traditional. Emphasized my interests in economics.
RESULTS:
Attending: Texas A & M University
Acceptances: TAMU ($$), FSU (no $), OSU AEDE: (no$: informally)
Rejections: UCSD, UIUC, UNC, UF, Vanderbilt, IUB,

No word: USC
What would you have done differently? I think I should really do well on GRE verbal and AWA. And I should be more focused on my SOP.
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:
Waitlists:
econ2007 2007: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: medium (roughly 30,000 students) public university

Undergrad GPA: 3.55 overall, 3.83 economics GPA
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q / 580V/ 6.0AW
Math Courses: Calc I (A), Calc II (B+), Calc III (C+), Applied Linear Algebra (C+), Numbers and Polynomials (D+), Elementary Differential Equations (C), proof-based Linear Algebra (B)
Econ Courses: Honors Principles of Microeconomics (A), Honors Principles of Macroeconomics (A), Banking Financial Markets and Monetary Theory (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (B), Games and Decision (B), International Trade (A), Economics of State and Local Govt (A-), Intro to Econometrics (A)

Other Courses: audited PhD Macro I
Letters of Recommendation: undergraduate advisor and professor in two classes (PhD from UNC-CH), econ prof for intermediate micro and macro (PhD from Carnegie Mellon), econ prof for econometrics (PhD from Carnegie Mellon), math prof for proof-based LA (PhD from NYU)
Research Experience: started a senior thesis, but not completed.
Teaching Experience: tutored all four years of undergrad
Research Interests: micro theory, applied micro, labor, environmental, bioeconomics
SOP: started with a template, and tailored each SOP to each schools interests and strengths (as long as there was some intersection in interests). THEY DO READ YOUR SOP.

Other: out of school for 2 years

RESULTS:
Acceptances: FSU, UGA, Colorado at Boulder, UC Irvine
Waitlists: UNC (r*jected later), Illinois (r*jected later),Boston College, Pitt
Rejections: UWashington, UTexas, UNC, Illinois
What would you have done differently?

Let me preface by saying that my original plan was to go to law school. I didn't seriously start thinking about economics PhD until late junior year. Take as much math as possible, with good grades.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
vivaquijote 2007: GRE:
Q 640 V 630 Written 5

MA GPA: 3.2 from a small moderately ranked private school.
Classes: Micro I and II, Macro I and II, Econometric Theory, Applied Financial Econometrics, Microeconometrics, Labor Economics, Development of Human Capital (all at doctoral level of the school)

Undergrad GPA: 3.4 from a large state school, with honors.

Spanish BA: 3.7
Econ BA: 3.3
Math BA: 2.5
Classes: Honors Spanish (MA level courses), MA Econometrics, MA Econometric Forecasting, International Finance, Math Theory of Statistics, Probability Theory, Analysis (that class killed me), Linear Algebra, Calculus, and lots of Latin American literature courses (doesn't help my chances for economics, but it certainly was fun).

Research experience: I don't think my MA papers count. They were literature reviews. No real grunt work with data. I ended up reading more papers for it than I did for the classes though.

Teaching experience: Calc paper grader and tutor for business and engineering level calculus courses.


LOR: Good recomendations from an Econometrician and Macro prof in my MA program.

SoP: Harped on my interest in international trade, remittances, migration (emigration), education and human capital development. Noted that while my GPAs were not as high, I had three majors in undergrad while taking MA courses, and took all doctoral levels in my MA program (thank God the department let me). Not sure if that last bit actually helped, but I suppose it was worth a shot. It probably just revealed that I like biting off more than I can chew. :rolleyes:

Admission Results:
Accepted:
University of Kansas (ah, my sense of nostalgia won me over)
University of New Mexico
Pending:
University of Colorado - ?
University of Maryland - ?
University of Arizona - ?
Univeristy of Illinois Urbana - ?
University of North Carolina - ?
University of Texas (Austin) - ?
Arizona State University - ?
Texas A&M - ?
Rejected:
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists: