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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

bojangles42124 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Public university with a top 20 econ program.
Math & Econ double degree
Undergrad GPA: Overall 3.2 (3.7 my final two years); Econ 3.9; Math 3.2
GRE: 800Q, 550V, 4.5 AW
Research Experience: Undergraduate honors thesis (which I think is stellar), currently a statistician for Dept. of Commerce since graduating in May
LORs: Two of them great (my thesis advisors) and one probably mediocre, all from senior econ faculty
Concerns: Math grades are all over the place...
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UVa, George Washington U
Rejections: Johns Hopkins
What would you have done differently? I originally got a 740 on my GRE, so I was sure I would have to reapply next year. Because I didn't want to put my recommenders through two rounds of 10 applications, I applied to just three schools. I retook the GRE a month later (in January) and got an 800, but it was too late to start applications to more schools. Also, I probably should have studied more than 30 seconds before the test for the verbal and AWS, if only for my own vanity. But one thing to keep in mind is that after an entire college career, there is only so much that is within my control.
Most importantly, I would have spent more time on this forum before applying.

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.

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.

tennisboy85 2008:
Type of Undergrad: good but not elite program, no PhD or grad econ
Undergrap GPA: 3.8 (3.9 in finance and econ)
GRE: 800q/450/4.5
math courses: Calc 1 (A), Calc 2 (A), Stats (A), Linear Algebra (in progress)
econ courses: a lot including math econ and econometrics
other courses: finance and econ double major, thus a lot of finance courses as well
LORs: Tufts, Purdue, Virginia, good rec-s, but not from well-published profs
Research experience: none, not in my school
Teaching experience: none
reseach interests: macro
SOP: very good one, spend a lot of money and time on it
results:
acceptances: Tufts MA Econ ($), LSE F&E (no $)
waitlists: Wustl MS Finance
rejections: Brown, Cornell, Yale Phd-s in econ, Cambridge Mphil Finance, Princeton MS Finance
pending: JHU PhD, BC MS Finance
What would you have done differently? I would not have applied to any PhD-s. Clearly I have no shot to get into them, because of my lack of my lack of math background. Not really sure if I actually want to get a PhD.

zwicker 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Econ Major, Private not well known University (US)
Undergrad GPA: overall GPA: 3.9; econ: 4.0 ; math:4.0.
GRE: 800Q, 510V,AWA 5.0
Math Courses: Calc sequence (A), Differential equations (A), Linear Algebra (A), Probability & Stats (A), Adv. Stats (A), Discrete Math (A)
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ, 1 math; all were strong (but not MIT, Harvard, etc.)
Research Experience: Very little.
Teaching Experience: Graded and have taught occasional undergrad classes.
Research Interests: IO, micro.
SOP: I thought it was good.
Concerns: No grad level classes. No analysis. No research. Not from well known school.
RESULTS:
Attending: Arizona ($$$)
Acceptances: Wisconsin (none 1st year), Virginia($$), UNC ($$), Kentucky ($$), Arizona ($$), Texas A&M ($$), Clemson ($$),
Rejects: Yale, Brown, BC, Caltech
Pending: WUSTL (waitlist), Vanderbilt (waitlist)
What would you have done differently? Nothing really. I am happy with arizona. I will be a good fit there. If I was shooting for a top 10 school then I should have done a masters program in stats first and/or finished my math major. I shouldn't have applied to so many lower ranked schools. I wish I would have applied to UIUC.