The chart will appear within this DIV. This text will be replaced by the chart.

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.

keepitsimple888 2009:
Institution: Carnegie Mellon University
Program: PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Mellon Fellowship
Notification date: 2/20/09
Notified through:Website
Comments:

tmb2118 2009:
Institution: Carnegie Mellon University
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Mellon Fellowship (Tuition + $25K)
Notification date: 2/17/09
Notified through: Website followed by Post
Comments: It's sure nice to get the first offer!!

mjsmith1986 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Econ from small but respectable liberal arts college with well known Econ researchers; they don't do minors but I have taken enough math to qualify for a "minor" at other schools
Undergrad GPA: 3.67 cumulative, 3.83 econ
GRE: 800Q, 590V, 5.5 AWA
Math Courses: Calc I (A-), Calc II (A), Calc III (A), Linear Algebra (A), Proofs and Fundamentals (B), Stats (A), Real Analysis I (A), Topology (A), Real Analysis II (Spring '09), Dynamical Systems (Spring '09)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): The relevant ones: Intermediate Micro (B+), Intermediate Macro (A), Advanced Micro (A), Econometrics (A), Senior Thesis (A)
Other Courses: Some political studies/physics
Letters of Recommendation: Two from Econ Profs (UT-Austin and Yale), one from Math Prof (head of Math dept.)
Research Experience: RA for Econometrics professor; Awarded summer research grant (co-authored a paper with a professor, in publishing stages); senior thesis
Teaching Experience: TA for intro micro
Research Interests: Labor Economics (specifically Economics of Education), Behavioral Economics, basically Applied Micro and Econometrics stuff.
SOP: Just talked about my research experience and interests.
Other: Applied for an NSF grant to build on some conclusions from my undergraduate thesis.
Concerns: That my Verbal score might be a little low. I was easily testing in the high 600s but I basically rushed through it on the GRE to get to the Quant. I also declared a late major in Econ (in my junior year) and have spent the last year and a half rushing to make up the appropriate math/econ courses for grad school, so I don't know whether that sends a good or bad signal to the adcomms. Also, high volume of apps this year with rather homegenous profiles.
What I would have done different: Majored in math from the start. Curse my fickle interests!
Applying to: Princeton (Woodrow Wilson School), Cornell, Brown, Johns Hopkins, Maryland, George Mason, Carnegie Mellon, Boston U, Boston College, Virginia, Duke
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Boston College ($$), Johns Hopkins ($), UVA ($?)
Rejections: Princeton, Brown, Maryland, George Mason, Boston U, Duke, CMU
Pending: Cornell (Probably rejected)
ATTENDING: Boston College
What could I have done differently?
As I said before, I would have majored in math from the start rather than rushing in my last semesters to make up the appropriate coursework. Aside from that, not much; I am pleased to have the offer that I do and am looking forward to graduate school!

Visible Hand 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Applicant: International, big continental european country.
Type of Undergrad: Good public university but with a very bad school of Economics. Student of the university honor college (more selective than Ivy) which offers courses on its own, including in heterodox Economics.
Undergrad GPA: Overall: ~3.9/4.0; Economics: 4.0(+)/4.0; Math/Stat: 4.0(++)/4.0.
(+), (++) and ~ are due to different conversion methods that can be applied.
Type of Grad: Two-years Master in Economics (attending 2nd year), best public university of the country, 2nd department of Economics in the country, best in my fields. Enrolled in the first year of run of the program: it was brand new! Also student of the university honor college (less selective and prestigious than undergraduate's).
Grad GPA: 4.0-ε/4.0 or 4.0(+)/4.0 according to different conversion methods.
GRE: 790Q 530V 5.0AWA - TOEFL: 110
Math Courses: Several courses in Math and Stat covering all the basic Calculus/Analysis/Linear Algebra/ODE/Optimization/Measure stuff up to Simon-Blume (Vol. 2) and De La Fuente level, as well as Probability/Inference/Multivariate Stats up to Casella-Berger.
All full grades with mention.
Econ Courses: All the basic undergraduate Micro/Macro/Metrics stuff plus some applied/heterodox/history/quantitative courses. At Master Level, Micro I/Macro I/Metrics I (taking II for each in the fall) plus: Topics in Economic Theory, Economics of Innovation, Competition Policy.
All full grades, often with mention, apart from graduate Macro I (~A).
Other Courses: Undergraduate courses in Accounting, Management and Law; graduate Corporate Finance. I have lower grades on these on average.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 MIT, 1 Toulouse, 1 Louvain (from the Master program), 1 Sussex (from my undergraduate honor college). I know ex-post, they were good but not too informative (apart from the Toulouse one maybe); the Sussex one was maybe not very good in the "fill the form" part. They were not always all of them four on every place I applied to.
Research Experience: Started to work on Master Thesis in theoretical I.O.; some short dissertations and empirical projects in the past (none of them valuable).
Teaching Experience: In line of principle, not possible in my country before Master graduation. Starting this march, however, I have assisted my MIT Ph.D. recommender in the graduate course in Econometrics taught by him.
Research Interests: Industrial Organization, Behavioral Economics, Microeconometrics.
Statement of Purpose: A synthetic overview of my academic life and interests.
Other: I obtained full scholarships from both honor colleges I have been student of. Moreover, I have been awarded 2-years full funding (tuition+stipend) to attend a top PhD in Economics, by a board of economists from a prestigious private foundation in my country; most schools I applied to knew this. So basically I would have had ($$$$) in every school had admitted me, at least for the start.
RESULTS:
Attending: Berkeley
Acceptances, declined: Northwestern, Chicago, Stern, UWM, LSE, TSE
Waitlists, eventually rejected: MIT
Rejections: Princeton, Stanford, Yale, UCSD, NYU, CMU, HBS, Wharton (Mgmt), Caltech, EUI
General Comments: If you are an international applicant and the institutions you come from are not so well known, luck and connections really matter alot, even if you have good LoRs from famous economists and a brilliant CV. I know that MIT, for instance, preferred two other students with external funding from my country over me, and they both just came from the two institutions with more reputation in sending students to top Ph.D. programs (but one of them I know, she is really a genius, 780Q). External funding might help, but it depends on the school: for some it really does (MIT, Chicago) but for others it does not (Stanford, Yale). It's not easy to decline Northwestern offer! But, in the end, I am happy with Berkeley.
What would you have done differently? Definitely, attended another undergraduate institution, the best in my country, which is very well established in sending students to top Ph.D. programs. I would have not been funded as I was, at least for the first years, but ex-post I would have had definitely very good shots for Cambridge, MA. My parents had the money, I had been admitted, so I really regret it. I should have also tried to do more research with my recommenders in the first Master year: it hurted me, they did not know me enough well (they also more or less directly told it to me). Perhaps I should have worked more in the final undergraduate years to produce a good analytical working paper to be sent as a writing sample: it may help in some schools, I think; but there was not much I could do as my undergraduate institution was a mostly empirical/heterodox place (not fitting too bad with Berkeley!).

EconJames 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: International students. Good university in my home country but not well known.
Undergrad GPA: Major in Econ, minor in Math, GPA 3.8
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q 570V 4.0A
Math Courses: Mathematical analysis, Advanced algebra, Numerical analysis, Analytical Geometry, ODE, Real analysis, Complex analysis, Functional analysis, Probability theroy, Mathematical statistic, Dynamic optimization, Stochastic process
Econ Courses: many, all basic courses including intermediate marco,micro,metrics.
Grad Econ Courses: Advanced macro, Game theory, Advanced finance
Letters of Recommendation: Not famous professors, but know me well
Research Experience: Two papers published in domestic journals
Teaching Experience: No
Research Interests: Macro
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UMN, JHU, OSU, UBC, IOWA, IUB, ASU
Waitlists: Princeton UPenn (rejected on April 15)
Rejections: UCLA, UCSD, Michigan, Cornell, WUSTL, Rochester, Duke, CMU
What would you have done differently? Perhaps attend a MA first. Or maybe should prepare a paper with a DSGE model.
Comments: The undergraduate school's reputation matters a lot. If you cannot change this, try to get strong letter of recommendation then.

tmdruie 2009:
So I can get on the shiny charts!
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Physics and Economics from a top 10 liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.14/4.0
Type of Grad: One stats class
Grad GPA: 3.3
GRE: 790Q, 600V, 5.0AW
Math Courses: Calc I-III(I took them in high school, I really dont remember and nor do my transcripts), Linear Algebra (B), Mathematical Probability and Statistics (B-, B), Real Analyst(A, at a different school then my undergrad), Stochastic Processes (B+, grad course, at a different school then my undergrad)
Econ Courses: AP Micro and Macro (A, in high school), European Economic History (B+), Law and Economics (B), Intermediate Price Theory (B), Intermediate Macro Theory (B), Econometrics (B), Contemporary British Economy (B), Industrial Revolution-Britain (A-), Econ of Multinational Corps (A-), Thesis (labor econ)
Other Courses: Physics, which I put in my math lists. Quantum Mechanics I, Partial Differential Equations (B+), etc. I only did the bare minimum for a liberal arts major
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ professors (my thesis advisor and the person who led my study abroad), 1 physics professor (thesis advisor), 1 economist who is my supervisor
Research Experience: RA for 2.5 years at a central bank
Teaching Experience: Tutored, graded and lab assisted for two years for physics in college
Research Interests: All over the place. Labor, policy, experimental, applied micro, development, etc.
SOP: Intro, I did physics I can do math!, I wrote a thesis in economic and liked doing research, Im working as an RA and like doing research, I took extra math and can write proofs, I was part of an econ paper reading group and like reading papers, interests (changed a bit depending on what the school had, and more policy oriented for ag econ schools). Also a few sentences about things I did that I removed or added depending on the school. The 500 word schools were hard, the 1000 word schools were easy. I also had a Personal History Statement about being a female doing math for the schools that wanted it.
Other: Applied for the NSF. I tried not to say anything to risky, and not say much about interest in policy to non policy/ ag econ schools. I like Aikido.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Boston University (waitlist for $), Michigan State(no $), University of Essex (ISER), Ohio State (Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics) ($-Fellowship), Indiana University ($-TA), Iowa State University ($-TA)
Waitlists: University of Minnesota
Rejections: MIT, Harvard (Econ and Political Economy and Government), Yale, Berkeley (Agricultural & Resource Economics), Northwestern, NYU, U Penn (Econ and Wharton), University of Wisconsin Madison (Econ and Agricultural and Applied Economics ), Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Caltech, University of British Columbia , Ohio State, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (Econ and Public Policy and Economics), University of Maryland (Econ and Agricultural Economics), Boston College, Johns Hopkins, University of Minnesota (Applied Economics), University of California Davis (Econ and Agricultural Economics), Duke, University of Essex, Vanderbilt, Rutgers, Carnegie Mellon (Econ, Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Public Policy and Economics)
Pending: Toronto MA, Queens MA
What would you have done differently?
Gotten better grades in undergrad. When I really started understanding what the things I need to do for a PhD I think I did the best I could, took real analysis, applied for the NSF (if only to write a SoP for them), read papers etc. I probably could have gotten more research experience at my job (co-author), and I defiantly could have gotten better grades and taken more math as an undergrad. But over all Im happy.
Attending:
Boston University

eastnile 2009:
Here goes nothing.
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: U of Chicago. Econ/Physics Double Major.
Undergrad GPA: 3.5/4 - Econ, 3.5/4 - Physics, Overall 3.5/4
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 780Q, 730V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Honors calc (I,II,II) A-, Real Analysis (I,II,II) A-, Adv. Prob/Stat B.
Physics Courses (well, it's mathy): Quantum Mech B+, E&M A-, Thermal/Statistical Mech A-, Fluid Dynamics B+, Honors Physics A-, Modern Physics A-, etc.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): All your typical classes. A- Average.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Econ Prof, 1 Physics Prof, 1 Econ PhD (Not a prof). All from UoC, all solid but not famous.
Research Experience: Working at econ consulting firm right now.
Teaching Experience: Lots of tutoring/TA-ing experience.
Research Interests: Spatial Economics
SOP: What can I say?
Concerns: GPA is mediocre.
Applying to: Reach: Harvard, UChicago, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, NYU, U-Boston, Brown, UCSD. Match: UMich-Ann Harbor, SUNY:SB, Syracuse
Do you guys think the physics will help me?

boldwolf 2009:
Institution: CMU
Program: Ph.D. Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: -90(including gre report)
Notification date: 2/26/09
Notified through: Checked ApplyYourself Website @ 9.15am
Not looking good at all...