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pevdoki1 2008:
Type of undergrad: Mid-sized state university (SUNY Binghamton)
GPA: 3.99 (math/econ double major)
Type of Grad: none
GRE: Q800, V470, AWA 4.5
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Linear Algebra, Intro to Higher Math, Complex Analysis, Real Analysis I-II, Mathematical statistics I-II
Econ Courses: The usual. No graduate level courses.
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: 1 really good one from an economics professor who knows me well, 2 from math professors
Research Experience: Virtually none. Started a thesis, never finished
Teaching Experience: TA intermediate macro for 1 semester. 1 year of tutoring experience.
Research Interests: Macro and monetary, but these can change
SOP: Pretty good, I think. Standard 1st page, customized second (mentioning professors and all)
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
University of Minnesota ($)
WUSTL ($)
UT Austin ($)
U Toronto (MA, $)
UBC (MA, $)
Indiana ($)
Rutgers ($)
Purdue ($)
Virginia (no funding)
Cornell (no funding)
Waiting list: none
Rejections: University of Western Ontario
No word: Queen's
What I would have done differently:
Applied to less lower ranked schools. However, I'm quite happy with getting into Minnesota (and WUSTL, for that matter).s

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.

lamahe 2008:
Type of Undergrad: International, top in my country but probably not known outside Central Europe.
Undergrad GPA: 1.24 (1-4 scale, with 1 being best)
Type of Grad: MA in Economics, top place in Eastern-Central Europe.
Grad GPA: 3.88
GRE: Q800/V590/AWA4.5
Math Courses: Linear Algebra I-II, Mathematical statistics I-III, Real Analysis I-IV, Complex Analysis, Differential Equations, Dynamic Optimization
Econ Courses: Standard Micro, Macro, and Econometrics sequences at MA level.
Letters of Recommendation: From 4 professors; PhDs from Chicago, Minnesota and WUSTL, and 1 who graduated from a local university. Worked as a TA for all of them.
Research Experience: Worked for 2 years at Institute of Economic Research in my country, but I think that it is actually not worth mentioning. Useless in the longer perspective.
Teaching Experience: TA for Macroeconomics I-II
Research Interests: Macroeconomics, Public economics.
SOP: Indicated my research interest and the reason why I want to leave my current program.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UPenn ($), Minnesota ($), WUSTL ($)
Rejections: Columbia, NWU
What would you have done differently:
Maybe applied to a couple more places, but it would not change my decision where to go anyway.

AstralTraveller 2008:
Type of Undergrad: Top research institution in the country (Latin America), Economics major.
Undergrad Ranking: 54th out of almost 300 people
Type of Undergrad: Doctoral Stream MA in Econ at same University as undergrad.
Grad Ranking: 4th out of 38
GRE: 780Q, 550V, 3.5 AW
GMAT: 710 Overall, Percentile 95%Q, 83%V.
Math Courses: Calc I,II, Statistical Probability, Statistical Inference, Classic Algebra, Linear and Matrix Algebra, Optimization Methods, Mathematical Economics (Differential Equations).
Econ Courses:
UG: Intro Econ, Intro Micro, Intermediate Micro I & II, Industrial Organization, Intro Macro, Intermediate Macro I & II, International Economics, Econometrics, Urban Economics, Econ Growth Theory.
Graduate: Micro Theory (MWG), Macro Theory (Journal articles), Econometric Theory incl. Probability Theory (Spanos, Greene), Applied Econometrics (Hamilton, Maddala, Baltagi), Resource Economics (Journal articles), Behavioral Economics (Becker + Journal articles), Economics of Regulation (Tirole), Macroeconomic Programming (too many things to mention!), Social Projects Evaluation (Fontaine + Journal articles).
Letters of Recommendation: 3 Profs from my alma mater (two econometricians who graduated from Econ departments ranked 30-50, plus the director of grad studies who graduated at a top-15 institution), 1 prof from the current B-school I work at (graduated from a B-school in Europe, but who has held visiting positions at several top-5 US schools) and 1 letter from a professor (Info Systems and Technology Management) at a US Top 30 B-school who studied at a top-5 PhD program in the New England area. To all I related either as a student, research assistant, or both.
Research Experience: RA for three years: one at my alma mater's Econ department, two at a nascent local B-school. Several working papers.
Publications: Published an empirical paper on an ISI indexed blind-refereed minor journal, and a chapter on Maximum Likelihood Estimation on a Math for Economists textbook.
Teaching Experience: TA for entire Econometrics and Statistics sequence, undergrad and graduate Economics, and MBA.
Lecturer for graduate econ: Math camp (you know, the pre-enrollment course we'll all have to go through before our PhD...I have taught it!), plus Introductory Econometrics and Optimization Methods the following term. Also lecturer of Statistical Inference (for 2nd year undergrad business and econ) and Advanced Econometrics (for 6th year engineering students).
Research Interests: Industrial Organization, Econometrics.
SOP: Prepared over a 18 months timeframe.
Other: Male, single, 25 years old. Since I didn't take analysis at college, self taught Real Analysis from Baby Rudin and Topology from Ivorra. Pointed it out on my SOP.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: none so far
Waiting: UCLA (Anderson) [interviewed, shortlisted according to prof, but "not admitted" according to PhD program secretary]
Rejections: Northwestern (Econ), Chicago (GSB), Minnesota (Econ), Stanford GSB (EA&P), Duke (Fuqua), Brown (Econ).
Pending: NYU (Stern), MIT (Sloan) [these two already notified their admits], UCSD (Econ)
What would you have done differently?
Don't quite know yet . Prepared this season's application for years. As Mr. Keen, I don't know what a Micro or Macro course is without calculus. Have done my best throughout years to get admitted at a good place and so far I only have been "booted out". Maybe I applied to one too many business schools. Should have tried more Econ schools (2 top 10's) and some definite safeties.
Not sure if I want to go thru this process once again.

raamar 2008:
Type of Undergrad: International Solid University (Not in EconPhD Ranking)
Undergrad GPA: 3.76/4.00 in Business Administration
Type of Grad: International Another Solid University (Still Not in EconPhD Ranking)
Grad GPA: 3.53/4.00 Economics
GRE: Q 800/ V 370 / AWA 4.0
TOEFL: 111/120
Completed Math Courses: Not plenty
Completed Econ Courses: Micro, macro, metrics and many others (mostly solid, Grad Level)
Letters of Recommendation: Good Recommendations from some known professors of grad. school
Research Experience: Ongoing Master Thesis, (an international paper, but not at the time of application), RA
Teaching Experience: TA for 2 semesters of grad and undergrad macros
Research Interests: Macro mainly
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Maryland ($$), Pittsburgh ($$), Virginia ($ waitlist), Carlos III de Madrid ($$), Pompeu Fabra (No $)
Waitlists:
Rejections: Berkeley, Columbia, Minnesota, Michigan
Pending: WUSTL, UNC, Georgetown, Penn State
Attending : Maryland
What would you have done differently? Could have gone for more and better publications

Mr.Keen 2008:
Schools: Top econ undergrad from Mexico, Masters from unknown US department, graduate summer at Duke.
Major: Economics. Now taking maths while working full-time for the fed.
GPA: Undergrad: 81/100 (tough program). Grad: 3.8, 4.0 at Duke.
GRE: Q=790, V=550, AW=3.5
Courses:
Economics: up to grad level micro, macro, econometrics (mostly A's on grad-level, B's and C's in undergrad) All the standard field courses you take in a top latin american undergraduate program: IO (Tirole), International Trade (Feenstra-level material and Helpman and Krugman), Public Finance I and II (Musgrave & Musgrave, Rosen), Open Macro (mostly journal articles, Sebastian Edwards' book on RXR).
Statistics: Probability Theory, Mathematical Statistics, 3 theoretical econometrics (Greene was the textbook in all three). Applied econometrics, applied time-series.
Mathematics: Calc I and II, Logic and Proofs, Linear Algebra, Numerical Optimization, Introductory Real Anlaysis, Dynamic Optimization (Continuous and discrete), C's in easiest, A's on the hardest.
Research: Published paper in exchange rate error correction modeling. Working paper on international real business cycles (research sample). Working paper on growth and space. Several Fed publications.
TA: TA in intro Macro, International and Development.
letter of recommendation: Two Duke professors (tenured with strong publication record). One respected Fed economist. Another professor from the Duke summer program. All of them very strong, I think.
SOP: I explained the wholes in my application and stressed the strengths. I tried to signal that I know what I am getting into. In cases where it made sense I mentioned faculty members I would like to work with. I mentioned specific topics I am interested in studying.
Interests: Open Macro, International Trade, Growth and Applied IO
Schools:
Chicago
Northwestern (Finance at Kellog)
NYU
Yale
MIT (Financial Econ at Sloan)
UT Austin
Minnesota
Duke
Stanford
My Concerns:
My low undergraduate grades. I hope the coursework at Duke and research experience can compensate for those. I expect the recommendations to be superb, so that must help.
RESULTS
In: UT Austin (funding decision pending), Chicago (Level 1 funding)
Waiting list: Minnesota
No news: Yale, NYU, Stanford, NWU Kellogg, MIT Sloan
Rejections: Duke
What would you have done differently?: Nothing, really. I did my best to make up for the effects of past mistakes and it paid off.
NB: I must add that those Bs and Cs in undergrad are in no way compared to their American counterparts. Beyond principles of micro and macro, I don't know what a course in economics without calculus is. My intermediate micro textbook (in my junior year) was MWG.

Thesus 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BSc Econ, minor in math. School does not appear on econphd.net.
Undergrad GPA: 3.97, 4.00 in math/econ
Type of Grad:n/a
Grad GPA:n/a
GRE: 800Q, 770V, 5.5 AWA
Math Courses: Calc I,II,III, Linear Algebra, Vector Calc, Intro Stats, Mathematical Stats, Real Analysis I,II, Integration & Metric Spaces, ODE, Discrete Math
Econ Courses: Micro I,II,III (not very rigourous), Macro I,II,III (ended with Romer), Math Econ I,II, Econometrics I,II, another ten electives or so, honours essay in progress.
Other Courses: nil.
Letters of Recommendation: Used four econ profs and a math prof, depending on school. None of them are well-published or
Research Experience:n/a
Teaching Experience: TA, three semesters.
Research Interests: Growth, economic dynamics.
SOP: Short, succint. Didn't reference names of professors. Briefly discussed interests but admitted I wasn't committed to the field.
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Rochester(fellowship), UBC(MA,TA)
Waitlists: Minnesota
Rejections: Brown, Yale, Berkeley, Princeton
Pending: Queen's, Toronto
What I would have done differently: I think I should've transferred to a different undergrad after two years. Now unsure whether to do the MA and reapply or head directly south.

representative_agent 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Economics, ranked 12/189 in my year
Type of Grad: MSc (econ) in Europe
GRE: Q 790, V 580, AW 4.0
Math Courses: Everything my undergrad school had to offer, but no real analysis (didn't have much choice).
Econ Courses (Graduate level): Micro (1+2), Macro (1+2), Econometrics, Incentives, Auction Theory, Several courses in public econ, Growth, ...
Other Courses: Several undergrad statistics courses
Letters of Recommendation: 1 well-known, 3 known in their field, 1 thesis advisor (relatively unknown)
Research Experience: undergrad thesis
Teaching Experience: undergrad macro
Research Interests: game theory, information econ, applied micro
SOP: hard to judge - does anybody read it?
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Chicago ($$), NWU ($$), NYU($$), UPENN($$), UCL($$)
Waitlists: Minnesota
Rejections: Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton

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 M 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 (Wait-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.