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zurich_econ 2010:
PROFILE:
Degrees Licentiate (=MA+BA) in economics, summa cum laude, GPA 5.8/6; B.Sc. math, GPA 5.7/6 both from large Swiss university
GRE: First go: 770Q 510V 5.5 AWA, Second go: 800Q 610V 4.5AWA
TOEFL 119
Math Courses: Analysis I-III (equivalent to real analysis, plus measure theory, integration on manifolds etc.) linear algebra I-II, abstract algebra, probability theory, measure theoretic probability theory, differential geometry (fall), topology (fall), functional analysis (fall)
Econ Courses: Micro I-IV (III and IV used Jehle/Reny and MWG), Macro I-IV (III used Obstfeld/Rogoff, IV used Romer), Growth and distribution theory, public economics, money and credit, monetary economics, behavioral economics, behavioral macroeconomics, behavioral finance (used Shleifer), experimental economics, statistics, econometrics (used Wooldridge), analysis of microdata, mathematical statistics and time series analysis, environmental economics, microeconomic theory of the firm, topics in international finance, finance and the macroeconomy, business economics.
Other Courses: Motivational psychology, psychology of perception, social psychology I-II, social neuroscience
Letters of Recommendation: 1 famous econ, 1 well known econ, 1 less well known econ, one math
Research Experience: RAing for 2 years, two theses (developped a game theoretic model in each of them)
Teaching Experience: Teaching exercise classes in undergrad micro, undergrad macro, public economics
Research Interests: Micro, behavioral, game theory, experimental, public econ
Other Fulbright
Concerns Adcoms not knowing how to interpret Swiss grades, relatively unknown university (though we got a handful of visiting profs from the top 5 every year here), the IIE handling some of my applications (but I'll be happy if they assessed my chances correctly!), ...and of course the insane competition
Applying to Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Chicago, NYU, NWU, Caltech, Cornell, CMU SDS, LSE, Oxford, UCL, Zurich (so much for the hypothesis that we international applicants choose our safeties at home)
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Yale, Stanford, NYU, Berkeley, Chicago, Caltech, Northwestern, Oxford (PhD, PRS), UCL (PhD), all with good or great funding
Waitlists: None (great!)
Rejections: Cornell, Tilburg, Harvard
Pending: LSE, Carnegie Mellon SDS
What would you have done differently? Not much, really. Maybe I should have applied to Princeton, but I certainly can't complain! I think two things boosted my application: 1. The fact that I showed commitment by getting a BS in maths after finishing my MA in econ to do econ theory, and 2. the fact that I did independent research for my MA-thesis and spent sufficient time and energy on it to impress my advisor

DerPumuckl 2010:
Undergrad: Top 3 in Germany, BA in Economics
Undergrad GPA: 1.45/5.00 (the nearer to 1, the better)
Exchange: UW, Seattle
Exchange GPA: 3.86/4.00
GRE: 800Q/560V/4.5AWA
Math Courses: 2 Math courses for Economists, 2 Statistics Classes, Game Theory
Econ Courses: A lot including Micro I & II, Macro I & II as well as Econometrics I & II.
Grad courses: None - even though advanced German courses are well above Econ 400 level.
Letters of Recommendation: 3 from Profs with PhDs from Columbia, Chicago and Harvard. All should be strong.
Research Experience: RA for one Semester (for one of my letter of recommendation writers).
Teaching Experience: TA for one Semester.
Research Interests: International Macroeconomics, Finance.
Statement of Purpose: Good.
Other: Applying for Masters.
Concerns: Maybe not good enough grades.
RESULTS (Masters only):
Acceptances: Cambridge, UCL, Tinbergen ($$$) and Warwick
Still waiting for response: SSE, UBC
Rejections: LSE, Oxford
What would you have done differently? I'm attending Cambridge for my MPhil - very happy!

hecka88 2010:
PROFILE:
(at the time of application)
Type of Undergrad: B.S. in Mathematics and Finance, Minor in Economics from a large public school in Midwest, overall top 80 by USNEWS
Undergrad GPA: overall 3.794/4, Econ 4.0, Math 4.0
GRE: 800Q 360V 3.5AWA
Math Courses: Calculus 1-4, Liner Algebra, Differential Equations 1-2, Probability Theory 1-2, PDE 1, Numerical Analysis 1, Real Analysis 1, Honor Real Analysis 1 (in progress), and Intro to Statistical Theory, all A/A+
Econ Courses (PhD-level): Econometrics 1
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro to Micro, Intro to Macro, Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Development Economics, all A/A+
Other Courses: intro to programming, java, some finance and accounting courses, and some physics and astrophysics courses as GE.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 finance assistant professor (WUSTL) and 2 math full professor (NYU and MIT)
Research Experience: senior honor thesis on executive compensation
Teaching Experience: TA for one semester for an honor business technology class
Research Interests: Development Economics, Macroeconomics, and Financial Economics
RESULTS:
Acceptances: LSE Msc Economics (1 year), UCL Msc Economics, Warwick Msc Economics (2 years), UWO direct entry PhD (18000 plus tuition)
Waitlists: none
Rejections: (all PhD) Northwestern, Brown, John Hopkins, Cornell
Pending: Toronto MA (Don’t care anymore)
What would you have done differently?
I have decided to attend LSE and apply again next year. Overall, I think I should apply to more schools and retake the GRE for higher verbal score. And I should have taken more Econ classes and obtain at least one recommendation from Econ professor. Anyway I’m quite satisfied with my LSE offer.

blablabla 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A in Economics, top South American University
Undergrad GPA: 7.9/10.0
Type of Grad: M.A in Economics, same University
Grad GPA: 3.95 (converted). 8 A's and 1 B
GRE: 800Q 490V 3.5 AWA
TOEFL: 103
Math Courses: Calculus I and II, Linear Algebra, Math Economics I and II, Math Economics (grad level: sort of a real analysis course)
Econ Courses (undergrad level): A lot.
Econ Courses (grad level): Micro I and II, Macro I, Econometrics I and II, Microdevelopment I and II, Contract Theory
Other Courses: NA
Letters of Recommendation: 1 PhD UCLA and 1 PhD BU (probably very good ones), 1 PhD Yale and 1 PhD Chicago (probably not so good ones)
Research Experience: Nothing special. 1 year in a research foundation
Teaching Experience: 1 semester as TA for grad Econometrics I, 1 semester as TA for undergrad Econometrics II
Research Interests: Development Economics, Microeconometrics
SoP: Standard, I think.
Other: NA
RESULTS:
Acceptances: A few. Wisconsin-Madison (no $ 1yr), Maryland ($), Brown ($), LSE MRes/Track 1 (no $)
Waitlists: None
Rejections: A lot. MIT, Yale, Northwestern, Berkeley, NYU, Duke, Michigan, BU, UCL, Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, Cornell
Pending: None
Attending: Brown
What would you have done differently?
1. Get higher grades as an undergrad.
2. Lack of math. I would have taken real analysis/measure theory
3. One of the probably-not-so-good letter of recommendation is my currently advisor. HUGE mistake.
Anyway, I am happy with my outcome! Good luck to all future applicants!