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LazyStudent 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.Sc. in Math, Economics and Humanities honors program, from a top 50 or so university (international)
Undergrad GPA: 95.4/100 (cum laude)
Type of Grad: M.A. in Economics and Game Theory, same university
Grad GPA: 98.1/100 (cum laude)
GRE: 800Q, 620V, 5.0AWA
Math Courses: Lots of undergrad courses (most of them A+, some A), auditing grad courses.
Econ Courses: Many undergrad courses (all A+), micro, macro, econometrics, and many game theory courses at grad level (all A+)
Other Courses: A lot of humanities undergrad courses, some in social sciences
Letters of Recommendation: All from well-known professors, and according to what I was told, they were all stellar.
Research Experience: Lots of algorithms research in Hi-Tech industry, two unpublished papers (MA thesis and another one) in microeconomics.
Teaching Experience: TA for Microeconomics and Game Theory (grad level) and for Math for economics (undergrad level)
Research Interests: Microeconomics, Game theory
Statement of purpose: Pretty standard, almost non-customized.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Harvard (HBS and Economics), NWU, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Stanford (GSB and Economics), Berkeley, Chicago.
Rejections: None.
What would you have done differently?
In retrospect, I might have applied only to my top 5 places (like I was advised by one of my recommendation letter writers), but I guess there was no way to really predict how much impact the recommendations would have.

saucyapples 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 liberal arts college, majored in Math and Econ (class of 2008)
Undergrad GPA: 3.69
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 630V, 5.5AW
Math Courses: The usual , plus some high level statistics classes. Mostly As, some B's.
Econ Courses: 12 or so, mostly A's and some A-'s.
Other Courses: Some random classes, several about law since when I got to college I wanted to be a lawyer. A's and B's.
Letters of Recommendation: Only from people who know me well and (I think) like me. Two from econ professors with PhD's from top-5 places and one from a reasonably famous math prof.
Research Experience: Undergrad thesis (won an award), RAed for two summers including once abroad, and did field research in Latin America for almost two years after graduation
Teaching Experience: TAed and tutored a couple of math and econ courses. I've also tutored at an underachieving elementary school near my house (which is remarkably similar to tutoring underachieving college students, actually)
Research Interests: Development, IO, Game Theory, Education
SOP: Had it vetted by various economists, they said that it was fine. I wrote about three pages and then for each school only kept the 1-1.5 pages that were most relevant to that program. I'm not really sure how much it matters
Concerns: Had no idea what my LORs actually said.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: HBS($$$, pretty sure that I'm going to take it), Harvard ($$), Cal($$), Michigan ($), BU($), Maryland()
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Duke, Yale, Northwestern, Stanford GSB, Columbia, NYU, Stanford, MIT
What would you have done differently? I got into my dream school, so I'm ecstatic.

murofcigamtset 2010:
Institution: Stanford
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: admitted
Funding 32K for five years
Notification date: 3/11
Notified through: email with pdf-attachment

dauntilus 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA in econ & math at top 10 econ dept
Undergrad GPA: 3.88
Type of Grad:
Grad GPA: 4
GRE: 800q, 660v, 5w
Math Courses: Linear algebra (A), Real Analysis (A), Abstract Algebra (A), Numerical Analysis (A), Complex Analysis (A-), Probability (A)
Econ Courses: Undergrad: Intermediate Micro, Macro (A, A), Game Theory (A), Financial Econ (A), Metrics (A)
Grad: Micro (A), Game Theory (A), Psych in Econ (A)
Letters of Recommendation: 3 great letters from good economics faculty with a record of putting students into top schools. 2 knew me very well, 1 not as well.
Research Experience: 2 years RA experience for 1 professor, no publications
Research Interests: Applied micro, Behavioral econ
SOP: More or less polished, minor changes for each school. I found 1 small typo in 1 school's SOP after submitting.
RESULTS:
Attending: MIT
Acceptances: Berkeley, Yale, Chicago, MIT, Caltech, UCSD, Cornell (no funding), NYU Stern Waitlists: NYU
Rejections: HBS, UPenn, Columbia, NYU, MIT GSB, Harvard, Princeton, Northwestern, Stanford, Brown
What would you have done differently? I would have started taking grad classes my third year- I thought they would be harder than they are.

freakout2010 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.Sc. Economics at Top10 South American university.
Undergrad GPA: 8.5/10 (Top 5%)
Type of Grad: MA Economics at Top10 South American university (not the same as undergrad).
Grad GPA: 9.6/10 (1st in class)
GRE: 800q/500v/3.0a
Math Courses (undergrad): Calculus I to III, Linear Algebra, Introductory Real Analysis.
Math Courses (grad): Real Analysis, Measure Theory.
Econ Courses (undergrad): a bunch of them!
Econ Courses (grad): Micro Theory I to IV (entire MWG), Macro Theory I to III, Econometrics, Microeconometrics, (New Dynamic) Public Finance, Corporate Finance, Mathematical Economics I and II (some chapters of Stokey&Lucas).
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: A total of 5 letters, all from MA professors. Strong letter from my advisor which I sent to all universities (rotated among the other recommenders). Two strong letters from micro theory guys (with PhD outside US but good recent publications); one good letter from a professor at top10 US university; and one fair letter from well-known general equilibrium guy.
Research Experience: My MA Dissertation.
Teaching Experience: TA for Microeconomic Theory I and II at the graduate level.
Research Interests: macroeconomics, mechanism design, economics of information.
SOP: pretty standard
Other: Ranked the first (out of 800 candidates) on a national selection process for economics MA in my country.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Princeton($$$), Yale($$$$), Northwestern($$), Columbia($$), UCLA(no $)
Waitlists: MIT (then rejected)
Rejections: Chicago Booth (Econ), Stanford GSB (EA&P), Berkeley, HBS (BusEc), Harvard.
What would you have done differently? Not applied for to many business schools. Also I think I should have studied more for the analytical section of the GRE. I am pretty sure my application was dropped off on some schools because of my weak score.