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Nalfien 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: SUNY University Center
Undergrad GPA: Econ (4.0)/Math (3.8) overall 3.84
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: None
GRE: 800/590/5.5
Math Courses: Multi Variable Calc A- , Diff Eqs A, Real Analysis A, Measure Theory A, Linear Algebra I B+ &II A, Computational A, Typical Math Major,
Econ Courses: Grad Micro, Metrics. undegrad Math Stats, Metrics, Money and Banking, Computational, Interm Micro and Macro. A's
Other Courses: Honors College
Letters of Recommendation: 3 strong ones. One very very strong one. I really think the biggest reason I got in where I got in is because one of my recommenders put his neck out for me and called people to tell them about me.
Research Experience: Year long honors thesis senior year.
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: Labor, Development
SOP: Pretty nice... I think, didn't hear anything bad about it. two pages.
Other: Used to go to departmental research seminars since sophmore year, got my face seen and showed an interest in research.
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
Stanford ($)Yale ($)UCLA ($)UVa ($)UNC ($)..... no money: UCSDU,Mich
Waitlists:
UPenn,NWU,NYU
Rejections:
Princeton,Berkeley,Columbia,Duke
What you would have done differently: I would have applied to less places. But there is no way I would have imagined I would have made out how i did. Very very fortunate.

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.

commodore 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: top 20 private research university with an average econ department
Undergrad GPA: 4.0
Type of Grad: none
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800 Q/750 V/ 6.0 AW
Math Courses: calc I & II (A), linear algebra (A), diff eq (A), advanced calc (A), stats (A), applied stats (in progress)
Econ Courses: everything, all A's
Letters of Recommendation: three good ones, two from people who are somewhat known. It turns out that one of my recommenders is a friend of Truman Bewley, Yale's DGS. I didn't know that until last week. I certainly hope that's not the reason I got in, but in looking at the results, I have to wonder.
Research Experience: undergraduate honors thesis (to be submitted for publication)
Teaching Experience: 2 semesters as a TA for intro micro & macro
Research Interests: development, labor, economics of education, IO, trade
SOP: I really don't think it matters much. I talked about wanting to do development. I hid my love of teaching and played up my love of research.
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
Yale ($)
Northwestern (no funding)
Michigan (no funding)
Kennedy School ($)
Duke PubPol ($)
Waitlists:
Brown
Rejections:
Princeton
Berkeley
Stanford
Cornell
Attending: Yale
What would you have done differently? I'm not really sure what was wrong with my application, but I'm very glad to have gotten into Yale, and I'm sure I'll be happy there. I guess that if I had it to do over again, I'd apply to even more good schools, because admissions really are random sometimes. Cast a wide net and don't take anything for granted. I really thought Cornell and Brown were my fallbacks, and I didn't even get in. Doing it over again, I'd probably pick 3 or 4 more schools to apply to.

Zoethor2 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Large public state university, no reputation in economics or mathematics. I will be the 3rd graduate ever from the economics department to pursue a PhD in Economics.
Undergrad GPA: 3.93 overall, 4.0 economics, 3.85 math
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 780Q, 660V, 4.5A
Math Courses: Intro Calc, Intro and Theoretical Linear Algebra, Intro Proofs sequence, 2 semester Theoretical Stats sequence, 2 semester Real Analysis sequence, Theoretical Complex Variables, Intro to DiffE
Econ Courses: Intro and Advanced Econometrics, Intro and Intermediate Macro and Micro, Managerial, Monetary, International Trade, Experimental (Game Theory), 6 Independent Studies doing my own research (fun!)
Other Courses: Majored in Psych, also, so a whole slew of those, but I doubt they hugely impacted my application.
Letters of Recommendation: Very strong, but by relatively unknown professors. Two econ, one math.
Research Experience: Did about 6 independent (though overseen by faculty) pieces of research, each culminating in a paper. 2 in experimental economics, several in economics of education, and one in game theory and conflict situations. Each paper was presented at a professional conference, mostly in non-student sessions.
Teaching Experience: Was a TA for Johns Hopkins CTY for 2 summers for the Probability and Game Theory course.
Research Interests: applied microeconomics/econometrics, experimental economics, economics of education
SOP: I think it was reasonably strong. My advisors and I revised it quite a bit.
Other: Triple-majored in economics, mathematics, and psychology. This meant a lot of semesters with 6 courses, as well as taking me 5 years to graduate.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: U of Maryland (no funding), UCLA (no funding), U Michigan (no funding), Georgetown (funded), Boston College (funded), CMU's Decision Science PhD (funded)
Waitlists:
Rejections: MIT, UPenn, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Caltech, Princeton, NYU (presumably), UPitt (presumably), GMU (presumably)
(Presumably = I still haven't heard either way from these schools as of 4/12.)
What would you have done differently? I would have applied to more schools in the top 20. When all my results were in, I was choosing between unfunded offers from top 20 schools and funded offers from schools ranked below 40. I wish I had looked into and applied to more schools in the 10-30 range, where it seems I could've performed well. As I said, pretty much no one from my school has applied to graduate programs before, so I had very little information to go on as far as my chances at top programs. Overall, though, I'm ecstatic about my results. I was expecting to get into GMU, UPitt, BC and maybe one other school. Getting into UMD, UCLA, UMich was a fantastic surprise.

peterB 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top public univeristy, excellent econ dept.
Undergrad GPA: 3.1; 3.95 continuing ed. program
Type of Grad:
Grad GPA:
GRE: math 780 verbal 780
Math Courses: stat and probability, real analysis, calc II and III, linear algebra
Econ Courses: inter'l trade, monetary econ., 20th century econ. history, development economics, history of development economics, econometrics
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ people and one poli sci prof, no big names. Two of them knew me very well, and this must have helped a lot.
Research Experience: summer RA
Teaching Experience:
Research Interests: development, IO, applied micro
SOP: explained the circumstances for my low GPA, other than that pretty standard
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UT, BU, Davis, UCLA, Riverside, Penn State
Waitlists:
Rejections: lots, NYU, Columbia, Stanford, Berkeley ARE, UCSD, U Mich, Cornell
What would you have done differently? If I had more time and money, I would have taken a grad-level micro course. Overall I feel really lucky to be in at UCLA; anyone else headed there?

indyecon 2007:
I've been avoiding posting my profile because of slight paranoia (and the fact that I do not compete with most of these profiles), but I guess now that I know where I'll be next year what is there to lose?
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: small liberal arts college no one has heard of (unless you're from Indiana - and even then it's a stretch). Majors: Economics, Math Education (I'm licensed to teach 5-12...basically a math degree plus student teaching)
Undergrad GPA: 3.85 (overall), 3.95 (Econ), 3.75 (Math Ed), summa cum laude, top 10%
GRE: 800Q/570V/4.5A
Math Courses: Calc I (high school), Calc II & III, Linear Algebra, Math Models, College Geometry, Discrete Math, Abstract Algebra, Real Analysis
Econ Courses: Intro to Micro, Intro to Macro, International, Intermediate Micro, Money & Banking, Topics in Contemporary Econ (focused on corporate tax policy)
Letters of Recommendation: two from professors (one math and one econ) - I'm pretty sure they were good and spoke very highly of me - they're just from lesser-known profs, and one from my boss at my current job (consulting) - also good, and I know because he asked me to proof it
Research Experience: none to speak of, other than a research paper (junior year) on none other than...college admissions
Teaching Experience: only tutoring at the college level (math and econ), but LOTS if you include middle and high school (math and history). I also taught linear algebra when I student taught (at an IB school in Australia).
Research Interests: mainly economics of education, lots of areas of public economics
SOP: I think it was good, but who knows? I tailored it for every school (for the most part)
Other: I'm a white female from the states, which I've heard is rare and might help, although I don't think it did. I was awarded the top econ student of my class and graduated with honors in math ed. I've been working for three years, but not in the field of econ.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Georgia State ($26K + tuition), Indiana (no money at first...then$13K...then it was $15K...then $17K)
Waitlists: well, I'm waiting on Purdue
Rejections: Iowa, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Stanford (School of Education - Economics of Education PhD)
I'll be attending Georgia State in the fall!
What would you have done differently? I probably would have branched out of the 'I want to go to a Big 10 school' mentality. It just so happens that the Big 10 is more competitive than I had considered, which I didn't realize until the rejections started rolling in. I think I got caught up in reading posts on this site and the idea of a 'safety' for many on here is just not realistic for those of us who went to no-name schools and have little research experience. I probably would apply to more schools, but I'm happy with my final result, so I guess the money I saved can go towards moving to Atlanta.

Jhai 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: 40-ish ranked American LCA
Undergrad GPA: 3.70
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800 M, 690 V, 5.0 A
Math Courses: Calc I through III (taken while in high school, mix of A's & C's), Linear Algebra (A), Analysis (A-), Differential Equations (B+), Operations Research I (A), Operations Research II (A-), Probability & Statistics I (A), currently in Probability and Statistics II
Econ Courses: Intro (A), Int Micro (B-), Int Macro (A-), Quantitative Analysis (A-), Math Econ (A), International Finance (B+), Nobel Laureates & Their Work (A), International Econ (A), Game Theory (A-), Econometrics (A-), Advanced Micro (A)
Other Courses: Advanced Logic (A-) - it was pretty proof-intensive
Letters of Recommendation: Three from econ profs at my undergrad (head of the dept from Southern Methodist, assistant prof from Minnesota, and associate prof from Stanford) plus a new math professor from U of Indiana. I expect (and in some cases know) them to be very, very strong, but none of the professors do much research since they're at a teaching college.
Research Experience: two summers of research (at undergrad in international finance and at Georgia State in urban), plus a big project in Econometrics, which then developed into my senior thesis this semester (on H-1B applications)
Teaching Experience: 3 years of tutoring econ, math, and logic classes at undergrad. Also TAed a freshman seminar on ethics & leadership, which was taught by the chair of the econ department
Research Interests: International (trade) and development. Some interest in labor & political economy
SOP: I think it was a pretty well-written SoP, with the last paragraph customized for each school (mentioning professors, strong research groups, facilities, etc). Said I was interested in the overlap of development, labor, and international, with different emphasis depending on the school's strengths.
Other: American female student. Partially Hispanic. Applied as a senior in college. Philosophy as a second major.
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
UC Davis (no funding)
UC Santa Cruz ($21k fellowship for two years followed by TA/RA)
Georgetown ($27k fellowship for five years, two with work responsibilities, includes summer research work with a professor/mentor) Accepted!
Waitlists:
None
Rejections:
Stanford
Stanford GSB
UC Berkeley
UCSD
UCLA
Duke
Johns Hopkins
What would you have done differently?
I think I probably should have applied to a few more schools in the 30 range - I guess I overestimated my chances. I suppose I could have given up my philosophy major and taken more math, but you're only an undergrad once, and I really, really like philosophy. I think part of the problem was that my professors are pretty unknown, as is the school. I'm very happy with where I'm headed, though, so I guess it doesn't matter too much. In the end, I doubt I would have changed much at all.

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 letter of recommendation); 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
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.

phdphd 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Business Administration
Undergrad GPA: 7.5/10
Type of Grad: MSc Business Administration
Grad GPA: -
GRE: 790Q / 580V / 3.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III / Operations Research I-II / Stats I-II / Linear Algebra / Advanced Probability (Grad)
Econ Courses: Econometrics I, II, IV (Grad), Stochastic Economics I-II (Grad) (kind of asset pricing courses, devoted specially to derivative pricing).
Other Courses: Micro I, Macro I, Mathematical Analysis - First year PhD courses, I didn't have the grades at the time of the application
Letters of Recommendation: One supposed to be strong, finance PhD from Stanford GSB; the other two good ones I think (PhD North Carolina, local)
Research Experience: Two papers presented at a National Conference in Finance, MSc dissertation thesis.
Teaching Experience: TA for the MBA courses in my university.
Research Interests: Finance, applied micro, political economy.
SOP: I did the following: first I explained my interest in finance, second why pursuing a PhD in economics and not in business, third I mentioned three professors that I would like to work with at the university that I was applying.
Other: Male, 26, Latin America.
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
University of Southern California ($)
UNC ($)
Minnesota (no $)
Penn State (no $)
Boston University (no $)
UC Davis (no $)
Waitlists:
Cornell (I suppose) - rejected in the end
Rejections:
MIT
Princeton
Stanford
Chicago
Columbia
Northwestern
UCLA - Anderson
Rochester
Maryland
Wisconsin
Caltech
Going to: University of Southern California
What would you have done differently?
First of all, a good MSc in economics, not only because it would increase my chances of being admitted at better places but to feel more comfortable with the courses in the first year; second, I should have participated more in this forum, I remember that I asked for the evaluation of profile stuff but only this. I should have gathered more information about the places that I would fit better with the TM's; I'm happy with the school that I'm going to but a little bit frustrated being rejected in all the top 15 schools. What I mean is that the idea of applying to a lot schools can hurt a lot. Now I have kind of mixed feelings about all of this: should I wait one more year, finish the PhD core couses sequence in my program right now and apply again? Or this is just a dream? I don't know...

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.

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 waitlisted 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.

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 )
Rochester
Duke
University of Maryland
University of Virginia
Johns Hopkins
no funding:
UCLA
University of Pennsylvania (accepted off waitlist)
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"!