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Norsker 2010:
PROFILE: (At time of Application)
Type of Undergrad: BA Economics, minor mathematics (At a 'middle' UC)
Undergrad GPA: 3.38
GRE: 790Q / 720V / 4
Math Courses: Linear Algebra, Single variable/vector calc, ODEs, Intro to math proofs. (Listed RA 1 and 2 and probability theory as remaining college coursework). Math Grades averaged to about B+
Econ Courses: A few more UG courses than required, average falls between B+ and A-
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: "Strong" letters from an assistant professor I TA'd for and talked with a decent amount about research and a lecturer I TA'd for, and a favorable but likely 'nondescript' letter from another assistant professor.
Research Experience: Worked a little bit for a labor economist, acquired funding for and ran a pilot experiment
Research Interests: Experimental, assorted micro topics
SOP: I wrote my essays a couple days before they were due; slightly modified SoP for later applications
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UCI($$, TA), Pitt(?), Arizona(No $)
Waitlists: Caltech(eventually rejected)
Rejections: University of Zurich(This one was a complete surprise), UVA, NYU, CMU
What would you have done differently?
Applied to a slightly wider range of schools , started taking math a lot earlier(my biggest regret), procrastinated much less, studied more than 4-5 hours for the GRE, worked harder to get a paper published, put more care into crafting my SoP, gotten more exercise. It probably would have helped if my letter of recommendation writers were more established.
The usual.

takethemoneyandrun 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Mid-ranked liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.7/4.0
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 770Q/700V/5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III (A/B/A-), Linear Algebra (A-), Probability Theory (B+), Mathematical Statistics (B+), ODEs (A-), PDEs (A), Advanced Calculus (A), Real Analysis (A), Topology (IP), Complex Analysis (IP)
Econ Courses : Intermediate Micro (B+), Intermediate Macro (A-), Intro to Econometrics (B), Labor Economics (A), Senior honors thesis (A)
Other courses: Nothing of value
Letters of Recommendation: Three econ professors (PhDs from top 30 programs) who advised me on research papers that turned out pretty well and one statistics professor with whom I did summer research. They are all very nice, helpful people and I get along well with them.
Research Experience: Two econ term papers and a senior honors thesis that I am proud of; one co-authored statistics publication based on summer research.
Teaching Experience: TA for 2 sections of introductory statistics and 2 sections of introductory economics.
Research Interests: Economics of labor, health, aging, and education.
Statement of purpose: I made it clear that I want to become an academic economist, discussing my math preparation and research interests.
Concerns: Low GRE Q and limited undergrad econ background with very shaky grades.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Virginia(wl-$), Texas(wl-$), Washington-Seattle($$), Indiana($$), UC-Davis($$), UC-Irvine($$), Rice($$), Colorado($0), Maryland AREC($$), Cornell AEM($0), Oregon($$)
Rejections: Brown, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, WUSTL
What would you have done differently? I would have applied to more schools in the 15-30 range. I didn't expect to be accepted to at least half of the programs that admitted me and was biased towards lower-ranked schools. I have heard this over and over, but it's worth repeating: The MC of sending out an additional application is extremely low; apply to any and every school that you think matches your research interests!

chin_music 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 Public, top 15 Econ. B.A. Math & Economics, B.A. Political Science.
Undergrad GPA: 3.78
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 760Q, 600V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc, Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (A), Mathematical Reasoning (B), Ordinary Differential Equations (B), Advanced Linear Algebra (A), Game Theory (A), Cryptography (A+), Analysis I (B-), Linear Programming (A+)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro (A,A,A-), Intermediate Macro (A,A), Econometrics (A+,A+,A+), Non-linear Optimization (Pass), Economics of Immigration (A)
Other Courses: Political Science Coursework (All A's and a few A-'s)
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Caltech (political science), 1 UCLA (political science), 1 UW (econ)
Research Experience: Won departmental and college award for economics thesis. Won departmental award for political science thesis. 1 year in economic consulting.
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Political Economy, Development, Public Policy
SOP: Standard
Other: I wasn't sure how my admissions would turn out. I had 2 letters of rec from political science faculty, a B- in real analysis, no stats in a math department and 760 GRE quant. It appears that my two theses and presumably excellent recommendations as a result, were very beneficial. I am quite pleased with my results.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UCSD ($), UCLA($), UVA(?), UCI($), UCSB($), BU(no $), Princeton WWS-political economy ($$), RAND Pardee ($), UCSD Political Science ($$), NYU Political Science ($$), Rochester Political Science ($$)
Waitlists: Johns Hopkins
Rejections: Stanford GSB (political economics), Berkeley Hass BPP, MIT political science, Harvard KSG, Chicago Harris
What would you have done differently? I would apply to Harvard PEG instead of Harvard KSG and Stanford Political Science instead of Stanford Political-Economics as I believe that both are better fits for me.

dsdoodle 2010:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Econ/B.A. Math from large state/30ish ranked Econ PhD program in US
Undergrad GPA: 3.72/4
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 760Q, 500V, 6.0AWA
Math Courses: Calc I, II, III, Multivariate Calc I, II, Linear algebra, Differential equations, Math reasoning, Linear analysis, Real analysis (I, II), Linear optimization, discrete modeling (avg gpa 3.71, upper level classes 3.9)
Econ Courses (PhD-level): Micro I, II (B) (skipped undergrad version of micro theory and first micro class since Freshman year... which is somewhat of an excuse for the poor grade)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Monetary (2 classes), Econometrics, Biological resources, International trade, International macro, Applied econometrics.. all As
Letters of Recommendation: My honors thesis adviser (Harvard PhD), prof whom I am RAing for right now (Harvard PhD), prof whom I took two monetary classes from who thinks I'm one of his best student in the last few years (Rochester PhD), prof whom I took an applied econometric class and will be RAing for starting in January (Yale PhD)
Research Experience: Summer internship at non-profit economic research organization, Honors thesis that won an award, RAing with a professor in macro - did work on two papers and coauthoring on a third, RA'd for two professors in labor, editing a macroeconomics textbook for a new edition
Teaching Experience: Grader for econometrics and international trade classes
Research Interests: Environmental, monetary, macro
Statement of purpose: Discussed how I'm taking a year off to do research, made a slight mention of my lower GRE score but high math grades
Concerns: Too much competition!! And maybe the fact that I didn't do well in my grad level micro classes.
Other: Thy will be done.
Applying to: Stanford, Berkeley, Northwestern, Columbia, NYU, Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas, Minnesota, UCSD, UC-Irvine, Washington, WUSTL, Hong Kong University, Boston College, Virginia
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Hong Kong University, UC-Irvine, Texas-Austin, Minnesota (off the long waitlist)
Rejections: Everywhere else (was withdrawn at UW because I work there and the DGS found out I got a better offer and thus withdrew me..oh well)
Attending: University of Minnesota (TA-ship funding)
What would you have done differently?
Section in bold is my updated response after getting an offer from Minnesota on 4/20.
Wow! I am so, so thankful and am so blessed to have a chance to go to my first choice school. I think what made a huge impact was getting the top professor at my school to send a quick note about me to the department and Minnesota. Why do I think this? Because the DGS actually responded and thanked him for recommending me! It's amazing... so if you are in a similar situation as I am where you are on a long waitlist, there are things you can do to get a shot at the incoming class. These things are (these are things that I did):
1) Have a few professors vouch for you. In my case, I had a lot more stuff going on with research after I've applied... and the professors I was working for could send in a note about what I'm doing now or have done for them. Let them know about the waitlist situation and see if they can email or call the department on your behalf. Anything for them to look at your profile again is good.
2) Visit the school. They probably won't pay for your visit, but going there is helpful to first see whether this is the place you want to go and to show that your interest is more than just talk. Obviously anyone can say a school is their first choice school but not everyone will back that up with the money and time it takes to make a visit.
3) Keep in close contact with the school. Don't overdo this... I wouldn't send one email everyday but keep the contact going. I sent two emails that were not responded to asking about the waitlist, but I sent one today (the 20th, so it was after the deadline) and I think it made the DGS look at my application one more time - because he mentioned that he looked at my application again and their situation this year and decided to make me an offer.
4) Pray! I don't presume everyone to believe in the Christian God as I do, so this may not apply to you. But from the beginning, I've prayed that God will send me where I can be best used. Honestly, the morning I got the email accepting me to the program, I thought to myself that everything so far has seemed like God is calling me to Minnesota... from my interests, things I was doing in my RAships, talks with current students, and so on... everything pointed to UMN. Like I said, I trusted that God will bring me where He wanted me to be... and whether that's Texas or Minnesota, I was completely at peace with it. In fact, my interest in Minnesota started out with the reason that there's a pastor, whom I respect very much, who had a church very close to the UMN campus. But I can't stress the importance of prayer and can't fully comprehend God's grace in all of this.
I'm not positive about this, but I may have jumped over some people on the short waitlist (or maybe they all already got offers to come, who knows?). Regardless... I'm very happy to have a chance to get my PhD at Minnesota. Please PM me if you are in a similar situation and need some help.
Now below is the stuff I wrote before I got into UMN... which I'm going to keep here since there are still some good (I hope) information in there.
I am pretty pleased with the results. I think my GRE score and a low grad micro score probably kept me out of most places, as people in the forum said. I don't think a GRE score of 760 will mean you are automatically out, but because there are many others with the exact same grades and research experience (and even better) than you, you really don't want to have a disadvantage in anything. So I guess I may have tried to do better on the GRE (I did, but got the same score) and probably either not take grad micro or know that it was a bad idea to take grad micro when the last micro class you had was 3 years ago in freshman year.
I also may have looked into applying to more target schools instead of reaches.
My first choice was Minnesota, so I am grateful to have been waitlisted and I actually went to visit and had a few professors contact the department to vouch for me. Texas is a great place as well so I am blessed to have that as my "backup", when having it as a first choice would have been more than exciting.
I would also want to repeat what my professor said about applying for econ phd programs - that it's a random process and the only way to increase your chances is to increase the number of trials. Apply to more schools! If you are thinking about applying to less schools to save like 500-1000 dollars, then think about this: $1000 is nothing compared to getting full funding from a school for 5 years. You really, really don't want to miss out on a school that might have given you full funding just because you wanted to save $100. I would recommend everyone to apply to at least 12 programs - 2 reaches, 8 targets, 2 safeties... but it's probably better to apply to 4 reaches, 8 targets, and 4 safeties.
Don't be shocked if a safety school rejects you. It happens.. and in my case those schools were probably very borderline safety schools.
And the most important advice: There's still time to network with professors. It goes a long way if you have good connections with the professors at your school. They are willing to help those they know and think is capable. So look for research opportunities and attend departmental events!
In the end, God provided me with a great place to go and a great experience visiting schools... I'm very happy with the results.

walt526 2010: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Political Science from UC Davis (started at a well-regarded LAC in the Midwest)
Undergrad GPA: 3.50/4.00 (combined)
Type of Grad: MA in Economics from lower-tier public university
Grad GPA: 3.92
GRE: 800Q, 600V, 6.0AWA
Math Courses: Calculus I-III (high school with AP, plus C from Fall 1998), Linear Algebra (A), Intro to Statistics (A), Math for Economists (A), Intro to Formal Math (A-), Numerical Analysis (A), Axiomatic Set Theory (B+), Real Analysis (in process), Mathematical Statistics MA-Level (in process), Operations Research (Spring 2010), Applied Linear Algebra (Spring 2010)
Econ Courses (MA-level): Advanced Micro Theory (A-), Advanced Macro Theory (A), US Economic History (A), Cost-Benefit Analysis (A), Applied Econometric Analysis (in process), Econometric Theory (in process)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro to Economics (B+ from spring 2000), Intermediate Micro (A+), Intermediate Macro (D), Public Microeconomic Theory (A+), Economics of Development (A-), US Economic History (A-), World Economic History (A), Economics of Education (A), Econometrics (A), History of Economic Thought (Spring 2010)
Political Science Courses:
- High School: AP American Government, AP Comparative Government
- LAC: International Relations (A-), American Political Thought (B+), Central European Politics (A), Russian Politics (A-), Soviet and Russian Foreign Policy (A)
- UC Davis: Systematic Political Science (A-), The Legislative Process (A-), The Politics of Interdependence (A-), National Security Policy (A), Intro to Judicial Politics (A), Judicial Politics: First Amendment (A), Judicial Politics: Equality (A-), Seminar in American Political Behavior (A+)
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors (1 WUSTL, 1 UC Davis ARE, 1 Stanford)
Research Experience:
- Research assistant to LAC political science professor (developing new course in environmental international politics)
- Research assistant to UC Davis political science professor (judicial politics--read a sample Supreme Court decisions and classified the argument type of each paragraph)
- Masters Thesis: Does State Support for Public Four-Year Universities Decrease as Minority Enrollment Increases?
Teaching Experience: TA to Intermediate Micro
Research Interests: My research interests lie along the intersection of political science and economics. I am interested in Public Choice (Law and Economics and Institutional Factors), Industrial Organization, and Miscellaneous Applied Microecomics
Statement of Purpose: Should be strong
Concerns: The D in Intermediate Macro came in a semester wherein I received incompletes in my other courses (personal issues) in winter quarter of 2004). I completed the two lower-division courses that I needed to fulfill the BA in Political Science at community college (statistics and history of western civilization). No topology, possibly weak advanced math grades.
Other: Have a career certificate in Accounting from a community college, worked for 2 years as an accounting administrator and 3 years as a purchasing agent for an electrical contractor.
Applying to: UC Berkeley, Northwestern, Stanford, Michigan, UPenn Wharton (Applied Econ), WUSTL, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, Texas, UIUC, Maryland, Virginia, UC Davis, George Mason, Vanderbilt, Rochester, Michigan State, Georgetown, UC Irvine, UMass-Amherst, Arizona, Colorado, Syracuse, Kentucky (might whittle down the list some)

thehurricane 2010:
Institution: UC-Irvine
Program: Economics
Decision: Admitted
Funding: 16.5K, 5 years of TA
Notification date: 2/26
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GF: Yes
Comments: Excited! I applied to a fairly small subset of schools for this admission cycle so the course of my academic future was hinging on decisions like this. First admit (and first official decision).

econwarrior 2010:
Institution: Rutgers
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: No
Notification date: 1/29
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on grad cafe: Yes
Comments:
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Shortlisted for funding
Notification date: 2/25
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on grad cafe: Yes
Comments:
Institution: UC-Irvine
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: 16500 TA with tuition and fees
Notification date: 2/27
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on grad cafe: Yes
Institution: Northwestern
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Rejected
Funding: No
Notification date: 1/26
Notified through: Website
Posted on grad cafe: No
Comments:

jenferlizbeth 2010:
Institution: Columbia University
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 03/04/2010
Notified through: Email to check website
Comment: I had already counted them out anyway...
Institution: UC Irvine
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Yes! $$
Notification date: 2/26/2010
Notified through: unofficial e-mail from director Dale Poirier
Comment: Very happy
Institution: Yale University
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 02/18/2010
Notified through: Email to check website
Comment: ah well.

nnweconphd 2010:
Type of Undergrad: BS in Mathematics and Economics, Top 80ish public university
Undergrad GPA: 3.5-3.6
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 350V, 4.0AWA
Math Courses: Calculus Sequence(A/A+), Linear Algebra(A), Discrete Math(A), Abstract Algebra(B), Geometry(A), Real Analysis(A), Graph Theory(A), Intro to Statistics(A-), Probability Theory(B), Differential Equations(In progress), Optimization(In progress)
Econ Courses (Undergraduate): Intro Micro(A-), Intro Macro(B), Intermediate Micro(A-), Intermediate Macro(A), Econometrics(A-), some others, grades vary, two A+, one B+, and one C+(sigh), three in progress
Econ Courses (Graduate): None
Letters of Recommendation: I don't think any of them is really well known and I actually have no idea how the letters are.
Research Experience: None
Teaching Experience: Tutor math and hold review sessions
Research Interests: Micro theory, econometrics, international
Concern:
1.Bad GRE Verbal and writing grade. I am international and graduating in three years with double major so I didn't have time preparing for the test. I might have been better off taking a TOFEL test at least to show that I don't have trouble with English.
2.Bad Econ grades. My econ gpa should be around 3.5, very bad. I even got a C+ in one course. I was too aggressive and took too many courses each semester which resulted in bad grade.
3.LORs. I had a hard time finding professors that can write me good letters. I rarely talked with econ professors but spent more time in the math department. So I don't think the letters were good.
4.No research experience, not even senior thesis
RESULTS:
Acceptances:None
Rejections: Cornell, Brown, UW-Madison, UPitt, BU,UW-Seattle, UCI(they said my GRE Verbal was too low and it's not likely that I be accepted)
Pending: Purdue
What would you have done differently?
Except for the listings above under Concern, I would have done some more research before choosing schools, say, at least wouldn't have put UCI on the list since they are strict with students' verbal and TOFEL grades. I would also have applied to a larger number of schools and put some more safeties.
It's a very disappointing result but I am not despair. I am not waiting for Purdue and I've decided to stay at school for one more year to take some graduate level econ courses to convince adcoms that I can do well in economics. Hopefully with the grades of current semester and next fall, my GPA can go up a little bit. And my summer might mostly be contributed to GRE Verbal and AWA.

blackwhite 2010:
Institution: Georgetown
Program:PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding:
Notification date: 2/22
Notified through: Mail
Posted on GF: yes
Comments:
Institution: Pittsburgh
Program:PhD Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Decision is still being made
Notification date: 2/26
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: yes
Comments:
Institution: Carnegie Mellon
Program:PhD Economics
Decision: Waitlisted
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 2/19
Notified through: Personal email
Posted on GF: No
Comment: Those who were admitted to CMU please tell them that you don't wanna got there asap if you have better option. Many thanks...

narinka11 2010:
Institution: ASU
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: No word yet
Notification date: 2-26-2010
Notified through: Email
Posted on grad cafe: Yes
Comments: Excited though still worried about the funding. Without funding I won't be able to make it!

JenniferG 2010:
Institution: Rochester
Program: Economics, PhD
Decision: Rej
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 03/02/2010
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: No
Comments: First Rej.
Institution: UC-Irvine
Program: Economics, PhD
Decision: Rej
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 03/01/2010
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: No
Comments: Second Rej.
Institution: Michigan
Program: Economics, PhD
Decision: Rej
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 03/02/2010
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: No
Comments: Third Rej. Nothing to say. Sigh.
Institution: Rutgers
Program: Economics, PhD
Decision: AD
Funding: N
Notification date: 02/05/2010
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: No
Comments: No $!!