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daniel.k 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top Brazilian BA Econ
Undergrad GPA: 8.4/10 (2nd in my cohort so far - graduating in June)
Type of Grad:
Grad GPA:
GRE: 800Q, 460V, 3.5AWA (Toefl 113)
Math Courses: Calculus I & II, Mathematical Econ I & II, currently auditing Linear Algebra, Stat I & II, Econometrics I, II & III (A's or A+)
Econ Courses: many, Micro I & II, Game theory, Info & Corporate Governance, Macro I & II, Monetary Econ, Economic history, Brazilian Econ history I & II, Financial Math, International econ, Institutional Econ, Development
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: Very good, I guess. One got his PhD at UCLA (my thesis supervisor) and the other did his Post Doc at LSE (did pretty well in his class and kept in touch since then)
Research Experience: Currently writing undergrad thesis
Teaching Experience:
Research Interests: Development, Info, IO, Financial Econ (Corporate Governance)
SOP: Standard, I suppose.
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: LSE MSc Econ, Tilburg MSc Econ, Barcelona GSE MSc Econ (half TAship), Toulouse M2 Eco-Math, CEMFI Masters ($$)
Waitlists: None
Rejections: None
Pending: None
What would you have done differently? At the beginning I care nothing about grades. The first year is supposed to be the easiest at my uni and I didn't take advantage of that. Had no idea I'd be willing to get a masters or PhD. It's particularly easy/simple to take more math because math courses are offered by another department and I wouldn't get fully accredited for that. Anyway, should have taken more. At least Linear Algebra and maybe Analysis. Other than that, I think it's almost impossible to go straight from undergrad to top PhD's coming from a Uni which is outside the Europe-US axis. Most of the people from Brazil that go to top PhD's did their masters at a top school at home.

icebear 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Economics, Colorado State University
Undergrad GPA: 3.89 (magna cum laude)
Type of Grad: courses during UG: Foundations of Quant Econ Analysis, Political Economy 1
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 790/560/6.0 (2009), 750/570/4.5 (2006)
Math Courses: Calc 1 (A), Calc 2 (B+), Statistical Methods (A), Matrices and Linear Equations (A), Foundations of Quant Econ Analysis (8 week grad math-econ course which covered Simon & Blume) (A+)
Econ Courses: Micro Prin & Inter, Macro Prin & Inter, Econometrics, Independent Study x 2, Comparative Economic Systems, Recent Economic Thought (i.e. History of Academic Economics), Transformation of Central and Eastern European Countries, Privatization and Foreign Capital (B), Globalization - Social and Economic Aspects (B), Games and Decisions (B), Senior Seminar on Globalization and Trade, Political Economy I (graduate level) [Note: all A's except where noted].
Other Courses: Java Programming, freshman year of Electrical Engineering sequence (A's)
Letters of Recommendation: PhDs from MIT, Cambridge, Harvard, Kansas. 1 is a Lead Economist at a international organization, other three are professors; two recent and enthusiastic (regarding research), two enthusiastic but dated (regarding coursework, especially math ability).
Research Experience: Consulting in the private sector and international organizations for ~ 2.5 years, always in close collaboration/supervision with PhD economists.
Teaching Experience: ~1 year teaching English.
Research Interests: International (trade/finance/macro)
SOP: Standard, with a few lines on my grad econ-math course and how my working experience shaped my interests
Other: Intermediate level Chinese, strong experience/knowledge of Chinese development and trade policy, international trade policy, international organizations.
Knew my chances were almost zero at top 10s, but was strongly encouraged to apply to some anyway, given the relatively low costs of additional apps.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: CEMFI ($$), UBC MA ($), Barcelona GSE MSc, Toulouse M2, Carlos III MA ($$)
Waitlists: -
Rejections: Duke PhD, Columbia PhD, JHU PhD, Harvard PhD, UVa PhD, UCSD PhD, NSF GRFP
Pending: Georgetown PhD
Attending: CEMFI
What would you have done differently?
I probably should have taken grad micro/metrics following my grad math-econ course (as typical grad students did), as that signal would have been much stronger than Political Economy 1. More formal math, of course, but I didn't realize that in UG and have never found a schedule complimentary with my working hours since then (I've lived in non-English speaking countries since graduating, so math courses taught in English are pretty limited). Those two things would have done the most to improve my profile, although I wasn't too concerned about it at the time and am happy with how my UG and professional experience has been since then.
That said, I've had talks with my LORs and done some soul searching and am not exactly certain that sinking 5 years into a PhD is the best way to get me where I want to go. Academia is one interesting career path to me, but economic policy research (government, international orgs) or working in China again (in consulting or similar) also hold my interest, and for the later two a MA coupled with 3 more years of working experience and/or language training make more sense. I initially was set on UBC, unfunded, over UC3M, funded, for reputation issues and a better fit with regards to research interests (plus a bad feeling on UC3M's faculty responsiveness from my interactions with them and students), but had a last minute change...
...long after assuming CEMFI had implicitly rejected me I received a invitation to Madrid for an interview in early May to clear up some question marks in my profile (several years of professional experience and goals with pursuing the MA). Apparently I made a good impression, because I was admitted with the standard (?) CEMFI scholarship and stipend. CEMFI made a great impression on me also, with the faculty very warm, responsive and expressing a genuine interest in and support for my several competing career goals and providing clear examples of how CEMFI is well placed to get me there. I was really impressed with the detail they could provide on professional and academic placements relative to most other master's programs' vagueness at this question. So, the main take away is that it isn't over till its over and I'm very pleased to be moving to Madrid next fall!