Index of Schools AnalysisAbout the Site 2012 20112010 20092008 2007all years
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Most Recently Selected profile:

The data below comes from testmagic forums and shows accepted, waitlisted, and rejected applicants for 2010 for economics graduate school. Clicking on points in the graph above will make the most recent profile appear in the space below the graph.


Acceptances:

Cinzia 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BSc Economics & Math from large Canadian university
Undergrad GPA: 3.95 (not finished yet)
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 620V, 800Q, 4.5AW
Math Courses: Calculus (A+), Advanced Calculus (A+), Linear Algebra II (A+), Nonlinear Optimization (A+), Real Analysis -- undergrad (A), Real Analysis -- grad (A+), Advanced ODE (A-), Concepts in Abstract Math (A), Intro Math Logic (A+); Prob & Stats I (A+), Prob & Stats II (B), Probability -- no measure theory (A+), Mathematical Stats (A+). (all undregrad except "grad real analysis")
Econ Courses: Intro Econ (A), Intermediate Micro (A+), Intermediate Macro (A+), Advanced Micro -- game theory (A+), Advanced Macro (A), Econometrics I (A+), Econometrics II (A), Economic Analysis of Law (A+), Political Economy (in progress); graduate courses: PhD Micro Theory II -- game theory, contract theory (A), Advanced Micro Theory (in progress).
Other Courses: 1st year bio + chem + physics (I wanted to study molecular biology), Italian language courses.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from a well-known prof who taught me graduate game theory and supervised a summer research project; 1 from a young prof who taught me intermediate micro and undergrad game theory; 1 from a law & econ prof who taught me economic analysis of law.
Research Experience: summer research project in game theory --> uninteresting small paper.
Teaching Experience: none.
Research Interests: micro theory, political economy.
SOP: talked about how I got interested in economics, in particular micro theory, what I learned from my courses and research, and my own interests (not very well-defined interests); didn't mention any specific faculty.
Other: Note: the Canadian grading system is a bit different from the American one: here 90-100 ~ A+, 85-89 ~ A, 80-84 ~ A- etc., and 85-100 ~ 4.0 GPA, so it seems easier to get high GPA, but my friend told me the grades aren't inflated as much as in the States (which I don't know, but it is true that in my school, a large public school, they try to keep the course average low).
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Stanford, NYU, UPenn (waitlisted for funding), Wisconsin, UCSD (they didn't talk about funding), Toronto MA(doctoral), Toulouse M2.
Waitlists: MIT.
Rejections: Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, Yale, Berkeley.
Pending: Northwestern (what happened to my application???)
What would you have done differently?
I wouldn't say doing sth. could get me into better schools (e.g. Harvard, MIT), but some things could certainly prepare me better for a PhD program, e.g. taking "analysis" instead of "calculus" courses, graduate probability, and more econ courses.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Stanford, NYU, UPenn (waitlisted for funding), Wisconsin, UCSD (they didn't talk about funding), Toronto MA(doctoral), Toulouse M2.
  • Institution: U Wisconsin-Madison Economics Decision: accepted Funding: yes Notification date: 02/22/11 Notified through: email
  • Institution: U Penn Economics Decision: accepted Funding: waitlisted Notification date: 02/24/11 Notified through: email
  • Institution: U Toronto MA Economics (Doctoral Stream) Decision: accepted Funding: yes Notification date: 03/03/11 Notified through: email
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: accepted Funding: yes Notification date: 03/07/11 Notified through: email
  • Institution: NYU Economics Decision: accepted Funding: yes Notification date: 03/08/11 Notified through: email
  • Institution: Toulouse Master 2 Decision: accepted Funding: yes Notification date: 03/10/11 Notified through: mail I haven't heard from Harvard, Princeton, Northwestern or UC San Diego yet, but I expected to be rejected by at least 3 of them. Probably going to Stanford.
  • Institution: UC San Diego Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: not mentioned (???) Notification date: 3/15/11 Notified through: email By the way ... what happened to my Northwestern application???
Rejects:
    Rejections: Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, Yale, Berkeley.
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/16/11 Notified through: email to check website
  • Institution: Berkeley Economics Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/04/11 Notified through: email
  • Institution: Chicago Economics Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/07/11 Notified through: email
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/10/11 Notified through: email Comment: Congrats to the admits! I really like this school but they rejected me so I'll probably go to Stanford.
  • Institution: Harvard University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/14/11 (sent on March 11) Notified through: mail
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: MIT.
  • Institution: MIT Economics Decision: waitlisted Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/07/11 Notified through: email

JRav 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Math, Economics; MA Math (haven't graduated yet) Top 15 US, Top 25 Economics
Undergrad GPA: 3.91/4.0
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: 4.0/4.0
GRE: 800 Q, 620 V, 6 AW
Math Courses: Honors Multivariable Calculus (A+), Honors Linear Algebra (A-), Differential Equations (A), Complex Analysis (A), Honors Analysis I (A), Honors Analysis II (A-), Number Theory (A+), Topology (A), Abstract Algebra I (A+), Abstract Algebra II (A-), Differential Geometry (A-), Graduate Real Variables (A), Graduate Microlocal Analysis (A), Graduate Abstract Algebra (A), Graduate Partial Differential Equations (A), Graduate Algebraic Topology (A+), Graduate Complex Variables (in progress), Probability & Statistics (A+)
Econ Courses: Elements of Macro (A), Elements of Micro (A), Monetary Analysis (A+), Macro Theory (A), Financial Markets and Institutions (A), Econometrics (A+), Graduate Macro I (A), Graduate Micro Theory I (A+), Graduate Macro Theory II (in progress), Graduate Micro Theory II (in progress), Corporate Finance (in progress), Economic Forecasting (in progress), Senior Thesis (in progress)
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: Thesis adviser whom I had for two classes (Ph.D. from MIT, among top 1% most cited economists), Professor I had for graduate macro (Ph.D. from Northwestern, among top 7% most cited), Fairly well-known math professor I had for three grad math courses (Ph.D. from Princeton)
Research Experience: Senior Thesis (in progress)
Teaching Experience: Teaching Assistant for Calculus I and II
Research Interests: Macro, Monetary Economics, Finance (?)
SOP: Talked about my senior thesis, my coursework, and department macro seminars I attended. Threw in a paragraph for each school. Solid.
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Princeton ($$$), Stanford ($$$)
Waitlists: MIT, Chicago (in with funding any other year they say), Michigan (same as Chicago)
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Berkeley, Brown
Pending:
What would you have done differently? I didn't take an economics course until I was a sophomore so I guess I would have started sooner, which would have allowed me to take more grad econ courses. I might have also pushed harder for a research opportunity. But I'm not complaining about Princeton vs. Stanford...
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Princeton ($$$), Stanford ($$$)
Rejects:
    Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Berkeley, Brown
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: MIT, Chicago (in with funding any other year they say), Michigan (same as Chicago)

hzzhangyu 2011:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Econ from a top-tier Chinese university; Exchange at a top-15 econ department in U.S.
Undergrad GPA: overall 91.3/100 (1/48, but the program includes people doing sociology and political science); Exchange GPA 4.0
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: V700 Q800 AW4
TOEFL: 119 (iBT)
Math Courses: Single Variable Calculus (90), Multivariate Calculus (92), Linear Algebra & Analytical Geometry (91), Probablity Theory & Math Stats (97) -- (mandates of my program, these four appear in transcripts as College Math for Social Sciences 1, 2, 3, 4: really bad course names which need explaining in the SOP) -- , Real Analysis (96, rank 1st), Stochastic Calculus(92).
Econ Courses (grad-level): Phd Micro I (A), Math Econ I (A). both at the exchange department and top in both classes.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): typical econ major requirement at home university (all but one are above 90/100); International Finance (A), Game Theory(A), Econometrics (A) at the exchange department, top in all three classes.
Other Courses: lots of typical mandates required in China.
Letters of Recommendation: all come from professors in the exchange department, two senior faculty from grad micro and undergrad international finance (both relatively well-known in their respective fields), one AP from grad math econ course (should be very enthusiastic).
Research Experience: Virtually none. Started to write a Honor Thesis only after applying.
Teaching Experience:No
Research Interests: Macro theory and behavioral macro. likely to change after 1st year.
SOP: talks about my love for math, however I have no solid research experience to write about.
Concerns: lack of research experience (also all three letters are supposed to talk about not much more than performance in class); bad names for math courses.
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT(wl for $ -> unfunded), Stanford($$$), Princeton($$$), Minn, UCLA, PSU
Waitlists: UPenn(-> rej), UMich
Rejections: Harvard, Chicago, Yale, Berkeley, Northwestern, NYU, Columbia, Duke.
Withdrawn: UCSD, Wisc.
What would you have done differently?
My lack of research experience partly results from some family reasons and an unexpected health incident; I guess I couldn't have done much differently.

Accepts:
    Acceptances: MIT(wl for $ -> unfunded), Stanford($$$), Princeton($$$), Minn, UCLA, PSU
  • Institution: Minnesota Economics (PhD) Decision: accepted Funding: yes (TAship) Notification date: 2/22/2011 Notified through: email with formal acceptance (pdf) Posted on GF: not yet Comments: one rej one offer, 16 more to go!
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: fellowship (only covering tuition & insurance) Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Penn State Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: TA-ship Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: MIT Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: waitlisted Notification date: 3/6/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: no Comments: cannot believe it!!!
  • Institution : Stanford Program : Economics PhD Decision : Accepted Funding : $33,000 Notification date : 3/7/2011 Notified through : E-mail Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes Notification date: 03/10/11 Notified through: Email Comments: Greetings Hongkai! If you are looking at this post you know what I mean~ Hope to see you at the flyout
Rejects:
    rej), UMich Rejections: Harvard, Chicago, Yale, Berkeley, Northwestern, NYU, Columbia, Duke. Withdrawn: UCSD, Wisc.
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: Feb. 16 Notified through: E-mail to check website Posted on GC: yes Comments: wasn't pleasant to start with a reject, but life goes on right?
  • Institution: Duke PHD economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no Comment: no
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: expected
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 3/5/2011 Notified through: website Posted on GC: no Comments: Eventually...
  • Institution : Chicago Program : Economics PhD Decision : Rejection Funding : N/A Notification date : 3/7/2011 Notified through : E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments :
  • Institution: Columbia University Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification Date: 3/09/2011 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: meh~
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: UPenn(->
  • Institution: UPenn Econ PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: No information offered Notification date: 02/25/2011 4pm EST Notified through: Email Posted on GC: no Comment: extremely short email
  • Institution: UMich Economics Decision: waitlisted Funding: 1st year tuition waiver, TA/RA 2nd year onward (if admitted) Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: says that chances of admission is high and everbody gets funding if admitted

thewhiterabbit 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: MIT, SB Economics, SB Political Science, LSE study abroad (General Course)
Undergrad GPA: 4.8/5.0 overall and across both majors (converts directly to 3.8/4.0). All 1st class marks on exams at LSE (4.0/4.0).
Type of Grad: n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 790Q 660V ?AWA
Math Courses: Statistics (AP), Single Variable Calculus (AP BC), Multivariable Calculus (P under P/no record - mandatory for first term), Principles of Econometrics (LSE advanced intro course, known in UK to be very hard, 1st/A), Differential Equations (credit by advanced standing, B), Linear Algebra (audited), Introduction to Analysis (pending, ~60hance A, 40hance B)
Econ Courses (grad-level): International Economics I (A), Politics and Economics (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro (grad Varian, A), Game Theory (A), Intermediate Macro (B), Econ Research (A), Public Economics (LSE: 1st/A), Development (A), Principles of Micro (B), Principles of Macro (A)
Other Courses: Political Science degree, French concentration
Letters of Recommendation: 3 very recognizable names in my field. They all mentor the very top students regularly (since I'm at MIT) so it is somewhat hard for me to gauge strength of two of them. (I feel a little like a medium sized fish in a big pond)
Research Experience: Oodles: part time RA all through undergrad, full time RA since 2007. ~2 years field work. Speak Indonesian fluently. No journal publications. AAA+ Stata programmer. Best thesis award for political science thesis.
Teaching Experience: After school teacher for middle schoolers, test prep.
Research Interests: Development, behavioral, health
SOP: Have a lot of material to work with, will condense three NSF essays
Concerns: The obvious, math preparation. That I haven't had the chance to coauthor (just hasn't been an option) but some other people in RA jobs do. That I've been out of school longer than most people similar to me.
Other: I've done some cool work in technology innovation that is somewhat relevant to economics and which I wrote about for NSF. I'm really happy with my NSF app (and have been told by profs who are historically very honest with me that it was good).
Applying to:
Funding: NSF
Econ: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, NYU, Chicago, LSE, Columbia, Brown, UCLA, Caltech, UCSD, Oxford, BU, UMD, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, UCL, Georgetown, BC
Other: Berkeley (ARE), Stanford (GSB), Chicago (GSB), Harvard (Public Policy), HSPH Economics
Accepts:
  • Institution: UCSD Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: "You have been nominated for a San Diego Fellowship and your file is currently under review at the UCSD Office of Graduate Studies." - came in later email. Notification date: Feb 11 Notified through: email Comments: First result, so I'm happy
  • Institution: London School of Economics MRes/PhD Track 1 Decision: Accepted Funding: "2+2 Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) studentship which provides full fee remission and maintenance support of 18,590 a year for four years subject to satisfactory progress in your studies." Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: no Comment: A welcome bit of news.
  • Institution: Harvard School of Public Health Doctor of Science (SD) in Global Health and Population, Economics track Decision: Accepted Funding: Pending Notification date: 02/18/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Georgetown Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 5 years, $20,000 Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: no Comment: No decision in the online web portal through ApplyYourself, it looks like, only an email.
  • Institution: Harvard Kennedy School of Government Public Policy Decision: Accepted Funding: Full funding with stipend (no dollar amount mentioned) Notification date: 02/28/2011 Notified through: Voicemail Posted on GC: Not yet
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: No first year funding Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Johns Hopkins Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: tuition waiver, stipend after first year, can discuss stipend in first year if I want to come. Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Oxford MPhil Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Not decided; haven't even been put through college selection yet. Notification date: 3/4/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: no Comments: Same UK visa problem.
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: They think I will win NSF Notification date: 3/6/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: Um. What?
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: $33,000 Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: Now I'm really confused.
  • Institution: BU Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: No first year funding at all, afterwards tuition + $19k stipend Notification Date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comments: Will decline immediately
  • Institution: University of Maryland Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Full Fellowship Notification date: 03/11/11 Notified through: Email Comments: I emailed for feedback on my file and reasons for rejection, not asking for it to be reconsidered. The response was a full fellowship offer and an apology for never having read my file. Eesh.
  • Institution: Brown Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 20.5k stipend +3.5k summer stipend + tuition waiver, health insurance, etc. Notification date: 3/18/11 Notified through: Email to check Website, letter posted Posted on GC: No Comments: Email came at 9:24am EST.
  • Institution: NSF GRFP Decision: Accepted Notification date: 4/5 Notified through: NSF website Posted on GC: no Comments: Really happy, since funding at MIT was still uncertain. For all future years, it seems like there is a pattern where they announce planned server maintenance on Fastlane from 11pm-5am on some day in early April, and upload the results then. The results become available around 2AM.
Rejects:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/16/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Economic Analysis and Policy Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/18/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no Comment: Was a terrible fit anyways. Also, I'm presuming I'm out at Caltech and Northwestern, but haven't heard officially.
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: As much as people say admissions are random, I am starting to see a distinctly bright line in the rankings of the places where I am admitted and rejected.
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No. Comments: Laughed out loud at "Our action is not intended to discourage your interest in further study nor is it a judgment of your overall ability."
  • Institution: Northwestern University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/4/2011 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Chicago Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: University of Maryland, College Park Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: Website Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: Columbia University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Notification Date: 3/09/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: - NA Notification date: 03/11/2011 Notified through: email
  • Institution: Harvard Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: 03/12/11 Notified through: Post Comments:Quelle Surprise!
  • Institution: Caltech Social Science PhD Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/15/11 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: Caltech wins among my schools for greatest lag between notifying admits and notifying rejects.
  • Institution: NYU Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/17/11 Notified through: Unofficial e-mail after I asked about my status Posted on GC: no
Waitlists:

skysky 2011:
Type of Undergrad: A hopefully well-known school in Asia. One-semester visiting student experience in a top econ dept in U.S.
Undergrad GPA: 90+/100
Type of Grad: n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800 Q / 720 V / 4.5 W
Math Courses: Mathematical Analysis, Linear Algebra, Probability theory, Mathematical Statistics, Real Analysis, Stochastic Process, Mathematical Modelling, all with decent scores. Abstract Algebra, Differential Equations, finished after application. Complex Analysis, in progress.
Econ Courses (grad-level): PhD-level Micro.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Regular courses like intermediate micro/macro, econometrics, game theory etc.
Letters of Recommendation: 3 from Berkeley professors. 2 from my home institution.
Research Experience: One semester RA in the US school.
Teaching Experience: none.
Research Interests: No idea, really.
SOP: Just so-so. Not in a good mood when writing this stuff, so did not put much effort in it. Emphasized my interest in math, though. Wierd, but that was all in my mind then.
Applying to: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Northwestern, Upenn, Columbia, NYU, UCSD
Accepts:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Full Fellowship Notification date: 02/16/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: (what does this mean... I suppose no, though...) Comment: I had no idea how generous the offer was at first for Yale was the very first piece of news. I found this econ phd forum when googling info about Yale.
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Not clear Notification date: 02/23/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No...? Comment: The funding seems insufficient, even in the best possible state...
  • Institution: Upenn Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: $$ Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No... Comment: It is kind of interesting to compare different school's admission letters...
  • Institution: Harvard University Economics Decision: Admitted Funding: Details will be sent next Monday by email. Notification date: 2/26 Notified through: Phone call Posted on GF: No Comments: Really unexpected!It is weekend after all... And what time is it now in East U.S, midnight?
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: not mentioned Notification date: 3/4/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GF: no Comments: Berkeley's rejection was nicely written, but the admission email looks pretty much like a rejection notification...
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: $$$ Notification date: 3/6/2011 Notified through: E-mail
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: $33,000 Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: Columbia Economics PhD Decision: Proposed for admission Funding: $$ Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes Notification date: 03/10/11 Notified through: Email
Rejects:
  • Institution : Chicago Program : Economics PhD Decision : Rejection Funding : N/A Notification date : 3/7/2011 Notified through : E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments : Actually quite happy to receive my first rejection, which is simple to deal with... It is so difficult to turn down a generous offer...
Waitlists:

nigritude 2011:
Institution: Yale
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding:
Notification date: 16 February
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: no
Comments: lawls.. makes me wish i applied to more schools
Accepts:
  • Institution: Minnesota Economics (PhD) Decision: accepted Funding: yes (TAship) Notification date: 2/22/2011 Notified through: email with formal acceptance (pdf) Posted on GF: not yet Comments: 2 rejects, first offer, 10 more to go
  • Institution: Upenn Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: fellowship Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comment: moneyyyyyyy
  • Institution: Wisconsin Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: tuition waiver, taship Notification date: 3/1/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Michigan Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: tuition waiver, stipend after first year, Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: $33,000 Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: stuntin...
Rejects:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 16 February Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments: lawls.. makes me wish i applied to more schools
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Economic Policy and Analysis Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: February 18 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: no Comments: lulz
  • Institution: Northwestern University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/4/2011 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: QQ? actually , don't care... hahaha
  • Institution: NYU Ecomics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification Date: March 21, 2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Took them long enough...
Waitlists:

coffeefanatic 2011:
Throwing my results so far into the mix...
Institution: Wharton
Program: PhD in Applied Economics
Decision: Interview
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 02/15/2011
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: Yes
Comment: Who knows how many they interviewed...
Institution: Yale
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 02/16/2011
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: Yes
Comment: Unsurprising.
Institution: Stanford GSB
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 02/18/2011
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: Yes
Comment: Super long-shot/terrible match for my research interests, anyway.
Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: university-wide fellowship
Notification date: 02/21/2011
Notified through: Email from department
Posted on GC: Yes
Comment: Nice.
Institution: Duke
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: graduate school fellowship
Notification date: 02/22/2011
Notified through: Email to check website, follow-up email from department
Posted on GC: Yes
Comment: Very nice.
Institution: Penn
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 02/24/2011
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: Yes
Comment: Ouch.
Accepts:
    Accepted Funding: university-wide fellowship Notification date: 02/21/2011 Notified through: Email from department Posted on GC: Yes Comment: Nice. Institution: Duke Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: graduate school fellowship Notification date: 02/22/2011 Notified through: Email to check website, follow-up email from department Posted on GC: Yes Comment: Very nice. Institution: Penn Program: PhD in Economics Decision:
  • Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: university-wide fellowship Notification date: 02/21/2011 Notified through: Email from department Posted on GC: Yes Comment: Nice.
  • Institution: Duke Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: graduate school fellowship Notification date: 02/22/2011 Notified through: Email to check website, follow-up email from department Posted on GC: Yes Comment: Very nice.
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics PhD Decision: Admitted Funding: Waitlisted Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comment:
  • Institution: Wharton Applied Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Fellowship Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Pleasant surprise
  • Institution: UCLA Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: None first year Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments:
  • Institution: University of Michigan Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: First year tuition waiver + nominated for fellowship (waiting to hear back) Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments:
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: WHATTTT. Still recovering from the shock, can't believe it!!
  • Institution: UChicago Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Level 2 Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Nice!
  • Institution: Columbia University Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Waitlisted for first year funding Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: UCSD Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: No info yet Notification date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No
Rejects:
    Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/16/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: Yes Comment: Unsurprising. Institution: Stanford GSB Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/18/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: Yes Comment: Super long-shot/terrible match for my research interests, anyway. Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison Program: PhD in Economics Decision:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/16/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: Yes Comment: Unsurprising.
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/18/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: Yes Comment: Super long-shot/terrible match for my research interests, anyway.
  • Institution: Penn Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: Yes Comment: Ouch.
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Brown University Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No
Waitlists:
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Economics PhD Decision: Waitlisted Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Berkeley Economics PhD Decision: Waitlisted Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: No clue how likely an admission would be.
  • Institution: Princeton University Economics Decision: Waitlisted Funding: Yes if admitted Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No

PhDstud 2011:
Institution: Michigan
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Not Accepted
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 3/3/2011
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: Yes, letter A
Comments: Personalized lette
Accepts:
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: accepted Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC : yes Comments: full tuition and stipend, 10 min ago
Rejects:
Waitlists:

gtgtgt 2011:
Institution: Yale
Program: Econ PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Yes $$$
Notification date:
Notified through: email
Posted on GF: no
Comments:
Institution: UPenn
Program: Econ Phd
Decision: Rejected
Funding: n/a
Notification date:
Notified through: email
Posted on GF: no
Comments:
Institution: Stanford GSB
Program: PhD Econ Analysis and Policy
Decision: Rejected
Funding: n/a
Notification date:
Notified through: email
Posted on GF: no
Comments:
Institution: Northwestern
Program: Econ PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Yes $$
Notification date:
Notified through: email
Posted on GF: no
Comments:
Institution: Stanford
Program: Econ PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Yes $$$
Notification date:
Notified through: email
Posted on GF: no
Comments:
Institution: NYU Stern
Program: PhD (Economics)
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Yes $$$
Notification date:
Notified through: email
Posted on GF: no
Comments:
Institution: Berkeley
Program: Econ PhD
Decision: Rejected
Funding: n/a
Notification date:
Notified through: email
Posted on GF: no
Comments:
Accepts:
  • Institution: Yale Econ PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes $$$ Notification date: Notified through: email Posted on GF: no Comments:
  • Institution: Northwestern Econ PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes $$ Notification date: Notified through: email Posted on GF: no Comments:
  • Institution: Stanford Econ PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes $$$ Notification date: Notified through: email Posted on GF: no Comments:
  • Institution: NYU Stern (Economics) Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes $$$ Notification date: Notified through: email Posted on GF: no Comments:
Rejects:
  • Institution: UPenn Econ Phd Decision: Rejected Funding: n/a Notification date: Notified through: email Posted on GF: no Comments:
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Econ Analysis and Policy Decision: Rejected Funding: n/a Notification date: Notified through: email Posted on GF: no Comments:
  • Institution: Berkeley Econ PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: n/a Notification date: Notified through: email Posted on GF: no Comments:
Waitlists:

oikomaniac 2011:
I am a new member. My results below (all funded offers):
Institution: Stanford GSB
Program: PhD in Finance
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Institution: Yale
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Institution: Duke
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Institution: Northwestern
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Institution: Harvard
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Institution: Maryland
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Institution: MIT
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Institution: Stanford
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Institution: Chicago
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Institution: Columbia
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Accepts:
    Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Institution: Yale Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Institution: Duke Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Institution: Northwestern Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Institution: Harvard Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Institution: Maryland Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Institution: MIT Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Institution: Stanford Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Institution: Chicago Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Institution: Columbia Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Finance Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Duke Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Harvard Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Maryland Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: MIT Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Chicago Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Columbia Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
Rejects:
  • Institution: MIT Sloan Finance Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Financial Economics Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Columbia Business Finance & Economics Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: London Business School Finance Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Wharton Finance Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes
Waitlists:

Marketforlemmas 2011:
Finally want to stop lurking and make some posts:
Institution: Yale
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Wait Listed
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Comments: Really hoping this one works out
Institution: Duke
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: no
Comments: Excited
Institution: UCSD
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Comments: Would love to live there, but don't know about funding.
Institution: Maryland
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Comments: Ok!
Institution: MIT
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Wait Listed
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: no
Comments: Hope to win the NSF.... I hear that will help me out?
Institution: Stanford
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Comments: Sooooooooooo happy.
Institution: Northwestern
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Comments: Bad day.
Institution: Berkeley
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Comments: Ok, not for me.
Institution: Princeton
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Comments: Oh well.
Institution: Columbia
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: yes
Comments: Yay!
Accepts:
  • Institution: Duke Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: Excited
  • Institution: UCSD Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: Would love to live there, but don't know about funding.
  • Institution: Maryland Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: Ok!
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: Sooooooooooo happy.
  • Institution: Columbia Economics Decision: Accepted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: Yay!
Rejects:
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: Bad day.
  • Institution: Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: Ok, not for me.
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: Oh well.
Waitlists:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Wait Listed Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: Really hoping this one works out
  • Institution: MIT Economics Decision: Wait Listed Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: Hope to win the NSF.... I hear that will help me out?


Rejections:

papachara 2011:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. in Economics from unknown Latin-american university
Undergrad GPA: N/A (First place of graduating class)
Type of Grad: M.S. Economics from well-known Latin-american University
Grad GPA: Average: 9.66/10.00 (first of classs)
GRE: 800Q / 570V / 4.0AWA (1st try) 800Q / 600V / 4.0 AWA (2dn try)
Math Courses: Real Analysis I and II (A+), Measure Theory (A+), Topology (A), Convexity and Optimization (A), Dynamic Sistems (A-), Probability (A), Intro to Stochastic Processes.
Econ Courses (grad-level): Microeconomic Theory (A+), Game Theory (A), Macro I and II (A+), Mechanism Design (A), Political Economy, General Equilibrium, Macroeconometrics, Microeconometrics (A-)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro I and II, Macro I and II, IO, International Economics I and II, Growth, Development, Econometrics I and II, Topics in Micro Theory, Topics in Mathematical economics, Monetary, Econometrics I and II, Public Economics. Basically A's and A+'s
Other Courses: Agent-Based modelling
Letters of Recommendation: 1 prof from NYU, 1 from UCLA and 1 from Urbana-champaign (knows me very well and should be an excellent letter)
Research Experience: RA in political economy research for 3 years, thesis in political economy
Teaching Experience: TA in econometrics, microeconomics and computational economics
Research Interests: Micro theory, computational economics and development
SOP: Very short, only 400 words long. No names mentioned and very general ideas.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Princeton ($$$), Yale($$$), Northwestern MECS ($$$), Columbia($$), UPenn($$), BU($$)
Waitlists: None.
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Stanford GSB, Berkeley, .
Pending: NYU (I think this a reject).
What would you have done differently? Not much. Getting into top programs depends on the people writting your LORs, that is why I got into Princeton. Not much to be done about this. If I had really wanted to go to MIT or Harvard I would have had to chose another MA. Conclusion: Good grades and LORs are fundamental.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Princeton ($$$), Yale($$$), Northwestern MECS ($$$), Columbia($$), UPenn($$), BU($$)
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: A letter containing the details of our offer has been sent via mail. Notification date: Feb 15 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GF: No Comments: 11 more to go!
  • Institution: Northwestern Kellogg (MES) Decision: Accepted Funding: 32k Notification date: 2/23/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GF: no Comments:
  • Institution: Columbia Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 23k + 3k summer stipend + health insurance Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: UPenn Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 23k + 3k health insurance Notification date: 2/24/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes Notification date: 03/10/11 Notified through: Email Comment:
Rejects:
    Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Stanford GSB, Berkeley, .
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Economic Policy and Analysis Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: February 18 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: no Comments: This was a hard one. 10 more to go!
  • Institution Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: None.

Elliephant 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: business (Canadian school, econ dept. ranked >100 worldwide)
Undergrad GPA: 3.9/4.0 or 3.98/4.0, depending on conversion scheme
Type of Grad: none
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: Q800, V790, AWA 6.0
Math Courses: calc I-III, linear algebra I-II, applied stats, real analysis I-II (all A or higher)
Econ Courses (grad-level): none
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): intro micro, intro macro, international econ, advanced micro, advanced macro, metrics (all A+); supply-side macro (B+); did a term in China's top econ department (roughly speaking, >85 = A): international trade (90), information econ (91), Chinese development (93), urban and regional econ (98); applied metrics and forecasting (spring); managerial econ (spring)
Other Courses: none relevant
Letters of Recommendation: micro prof (reasonably well-known in IO and a past department chair); research supervisor in Beijing (used to be tenured at UNC, well-connected in health policy); UG director at b-school
Research Experience: summer fellow at an econ think tank in Beijing, one RAship at my home school, two conference presentations of my sole-authored papers
Teaching Experience: TAed micro and business statistics
Research Interests: still fluid; currently economics of human capital (education, health), transition economies, other applied micro
SOP: standard
Concerns: credibility of LORs; insufficient math background; low visibility of UG econ department
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Wharton health, Kellogg MECS, Penn, UMich, Toronto MA, Queen's MA, UBC MA
Waitlists: none
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Berkeley, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, NYU (implicit)
What would you have done differently? If I had known in high school that I wanted this, I would have gone to a better UG school and done a double major in math and econ. However, given my constraints, I'm very happy with my results, and it's entirely possible that I would not have ended up with equally good offers if I'd had the option of slacking off in UG (by being in a better department, say). I'll write up a detailed "lessons learned" thread for applicants from low-ranked UG departments, non-quantitative majors, and internationals without a master's in the next couple of weeks.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Wharton health, Kellogg MECS, Penn, UMich, Toronto MA, Queen's MA, UBC MA
  • Institution: Northwestern - Kellogg Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences (PhD) Decision: Accepted Funding: TBA Notification date: 2/21/2011 Notified through: phone (unofficial) Posted on GF: no Comments:
  • Institution: Penn - Wharton Health Care Management and Economics (PhD) Decision: accepted Funding: yes Notification date: 2/21/2011 Notified through: email/phone Posted on GF: no Comments: absolutely awesome department
  • Institution: UPenn Economics PhD Decision: Admitted Funding: Waitlisted Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comment:
  • Institution: Toronto MA Decision: accepted Funding: no Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: no Comments: waitlisted for doctoral stream
  • Institution: Michigan - Ann Arbor Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: tuition waiver, funding after first year Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: Queen's MA economics Decision: accepted Funding: yes, lots Notification Date: 3/14/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: UBC MA Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: TBA Notification date: 3/18/11 Notified through: email from the grad school Posted on GC: No Comments: still no word from the department (on funding, etc.)
  • Institution: UBC MA Economics Decision: accepted Funding: yes, TA Notification date: 3/24/2011 Notified through: E-mail Comments: apparently they were having email issues last week
Rejects:
    Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Berkeley, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, NYU (implicit)
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 16 February Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: rejected Funding: Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: c'est la vie
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no Comments:
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/09/11 Notified through: email Posted on GF: no Comments:
  • Institution: Columbia University Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification Date: 3/09/2011 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: certainty is good
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/11/11 Notified through: Email Comments:
  • Institution: Harvard Economics PhD Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/15/11 Notified through: snail mail Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: NYU Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification Date: March 22, 2011 Notified through: Official e-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: finally!
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: none

thegunners 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Engineering. Top university in my country (Asia) and quite reputed worldwide.
Undergrad GPA: 7.73/ 10
Type of Grad: MS in Economics from a very well-known institution in my country.
Grad GPA: 82% (class rank 2)
GRE: Q800, V620, AWA 6.0
Math Courses: Math 1 & 2 (Consists of calculus, vector calculus, numerical methods), Transform calculus, ODE and PDE, Real Analysis, Linear Algebra
Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro, macro, econometrics, stats, game theory etc etc.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level):
Other Courses: none relevant
Research experience: Worked with a professor at a reasonably well-known European university over the summer of 2009. Worked on political economy. Produced a writing sample.
Working as an RA since June, 2010. Working on experiments.
Letters of Recommendation: 2 Game theory profs - very well known. Very famous. 1-from the prof I worked with over the summer of 2009. He is quite famous too.
Teaching Experience: None.
Research Interests: Micro theory, political economy, social choice theory.
SOP: standard
Concerns: Low undergrad GPA. Less math courses in undergrad.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UPenn (with 1st yr funding waitlist), LSE, Penn State
Waitlists: Princeton, NYU
Rejections: Yale, Duke
What would you have done differently? If I had known long ago, the importance of math courses, then I would have taken more at the undergrad level. But apart from that there is very little that I think I did wrong. However, if there was something that I could have done to counter some unfortunate events that affected my application (I can't talk about them here), tough though it was, I could have worked a bit harder on producing a research material of a better quality. I think if your recommenders are well connected, impressing them with a stunning research work would boost your chances significantly. That's a very subjective thing though.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: UPenn (with 1st yr funding
  • Institution: Penn State (PSU) Decision: Accepted Funding: Slightly more than riskaverse (don't know if quoting the amount is legal) Notification date: 2/19/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GF: Yes Comments: Happy for my first admit. Hope to get better offers. RA is a bit of a
  • Institution: UPenn Economics Decision: Accepted, waitlisted for funding in first year. Placed very high Funding: yes Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comment: I hope guys like eds and all get placed at better schools and I make it here.
  • Institution: LSE PHD Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: +3 Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) studentship which provides full fee remission and maintenance support of 18,590 a year for four years subject to satisfactory progress in your studies. Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: e-mail to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: Extremely happy.
  • Institution: Cornell University Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Acceptance Funding: Sage Fellowship Notification Date: 03/25/2011 Notified Through: Email Comments: Happy. Now, its the decision time. With 2 big waitlists and one funding waitlists, its going to be a long drawn one.
Rejects:
    Rejections: Yale, Duke
  • Institution: Yale University Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/17/2011 Notified through: Email -> website Posted on GC: Yes Comments: 1 down. Hoping that the future's bright. One of the letter of recommendation had warned me that people aren't very connected from here to Yale so it will be tough.
  • Institution: Duke Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: n/a Notification date: 02/28/2011 Notified through: via email Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/08/11 Notified through: EMail Posted on GF: No Comments: Top choice gone
Waitlists:
    waitlist), LSE, Penn State Waitlists: Princeton, NYU
  • Institution: NYU Economics PhD Decision: Waitlisted Notification date: 3/5/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: Very long E-mail, 1000 applicants for 18 slot.
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Waitlisted Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Did the univs mistake my application for the post of a waiter? :P

econchef 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small Liberal Arts University, Atlantic Canada (Honors Econ, Minor Math)
Undergrad GPA: 3.95 (4.0 Econ) (4.0 Math) (Converted) (top graduate in Econ)
Type of Grad: MA Econ, Queen's University
Grad GPA: 4.0 (Converted) (top graduate)
GRE: 800Q 570V 5.5AW
Math Courses: calculus (I,II,III), linear algebra, ODE, Discrete, Intro Stats, History of Math, Intro to Game Theory (All A or higher)
Econ Courses (grad): Micro, Macro , Econometrics, Resource, Applied Econometrics, Research Problems and Methodology, Empirical Micro (All 90%+)
Econ Courses (u/g): Adv Micro, Adv Macro, Uncertainty and Strategy (Adv Micro II), Econometrics (full-year), All intermediates and Intros, a bunch field courses (All A or Higher)
Letters of Recommendation: All positive, 2 full professors (1 resource econ, very well established; 1 applied time series), 1 associate professor (gaining a big rep in time series), I supplement with three other profs who know me well at universities where they have contacts.
Research Experience: master's essay, summer research paper in u/g, Internship at Inter-American Development Bank (Poverty Research / HH Exp'd Surveys), 3 applied metrics courses in Grad, very strong STATA programming skills and LATEX knowledge
Teaching Experience: Taught tutorials for principles (Micro and Macro) for 2 years in u/g; environmental econ and principles macro at Queen's
Research Interests: Econometrics, Labor, Education
Concerns: Could have taken more math; Small unknown undergrad
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Berkeley ($$$), Princeton ($$$), BU ($$), U Toronto ($$$), Queen's ($$$), Chicago (3rd year)
Waitlists: MIT, U Penn, U Mich
Rejections: Harvard, Northwestern, Stanford, NYU, Yale, Columbia
What would you have done differently? Well if I had a time machine, I would have gone back to the start of first year and convinced myself not to take any political science courses in second year and instead replace them all with math courses. I also might have convinced myself that I should have taken more math in fourth year instead of taking basic sciences for med school (I applied and got in but decided to continue with econ grad school). The only other thing I might have changed regarding my record with said time machine would have been to write my MA essay on a time series theory topic as opposed to one in applied micro but I'll be honest these wouldn't be the first things I would do with a time machine. Perhaps with those changes I might have had a better shot at Harvard but there's always some noise in the dgp so who knows. Overall, I'm very excited by my results and can't wait to visit my top two offers.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Berkeley ($$$), Princeton ($$$), BU ($$), U Toronto ($$$), Queen's ($$$), Chicago (3rd year)
  • Institution: UofT Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: fellowship/teaching assistant/ra-ship ($31K first year, $28K 2-4) Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: First acceptance albeit expected. Exciting nonetheless!
  • Institution: Queen's University (Kingston) Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Fellowship/TAship/Summer Stipend Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: No Comment: Good to know I have a couple fall back options.
  • Institution: Berkeley Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 25000 for first year + tuition/fees Notification date: 3/6/2011 Notified through: E-mail (attached letter is dated 1 March 2011) Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: Chicago Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: No funding until phase two (3rd year) Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Really exciting to get in to Chicago but no funding first and second year is a hard sell with other funded offers.
  • Institution: BU Ph.D. in Economics Decision: accepted Funding: tuition/fees and stipend Notification Date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comments: I'm surprised. I thought this would come much later.
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes Notification date: 03/10/11 Notified through: Email Comments: Incredible!
Rejects:
    Rejections: Harvard, Northwestern, Stanford, NYU, Yale, Columbia
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: Feb 16 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments: On the bright side, the rule of complements holds true - much rejoicing ensues.
  • Institution: Northwestern University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: - Notification date: 3/4/2011 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: no Comments: certainty...at last
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: The sign off on the reject letter is first class
  • Institution: Columbia University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Notification Date: 3/09/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: I haven't read White Man's Burden...they must have known...
  • Institution: Harvard Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/16/11 Notified through: Post Posted on GC: no Comments: Unfortunately I'm not a 6'5" crew star nor did I revolutionize social networking. Ex post I should have spent more time trying to prove the Riemann Hypothesis before applying.
  • Institution: NYU Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification Date: March 22, 2011 Notified through: Official e-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: certainty..at last!
  • Institution: MIT Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Rejected from waitlist Funding: NA Notification date: 04/07 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Makes the deciding easier.
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: MIT, U Penn, U Mich
  • Institution: U Penn Economics Decision: Waitlist Funding: Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: placed high on the waitlist for admission (I'm sure they say that to everyone)
  • Institution: UMich Economics Decision: waitlisted Funding: 1st year tuition waiver, TA/RA 2nd year onward (if admitted) Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: Enthusiastically placed on the waitlist!
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: I hope it's not a fake

Segan 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Large Canadian University, not very well known for economics
Undergrad GPA: 4.0
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 800 Q/570 V/5.0 AW
Math Courses: Calculus, Linear Algebra, Probability/Stats for Economists, Mathematical Economics I and II (all A+)
Econ Courses: Econometrics I (grad); Intro to econometrics; Microeconomics I, II, and III; Macroeconomics I, II, and III; Environmental Economics, Economic Growth, Cost-Benefit Analysis (all A+).
Other Courses: 2 geomatics courses (1 in geostatistics), a minor in political science
Letters of Recommendation: 1 full professor, 1 assistant professor, and 1 associate professor. The full professor is a star in the department, but I doubt any will have major name recognition.
Research Experience: At the time of my application, this was a concern. I have 2 interesting research experiences in the private and public sectors related to policy, but had not worked on a strictly economics related project. Since applying, I have taken a directed research job with a professor at our department.
Teaching Experience: NA
Research Interests: Environmental economics, developmental economics
SOP: Elaborated on the contents of the mathematical economics courses I took, particularly because mathematical economics II covers the basics of real analysis and forces us to write some basic proofs.
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Brown ($$), Maryland AREC ($$), UBC MA ($$), LSE MA, Cambridge MA
Waitlists: MIT
Rejections: Berkeley AREC, Columbia, Stanford
Pending: Queen's MA
What would you have done differently?
Definitely more math, and would have chosen my undergraduate institution more carefully. I am currently unsure about whether I should spend a year to upgrade math courses and take an MA in Canada, or to take what are good options at Brown/Maryland.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Brown ($$), Maryland AREC ($$), UBC MA ($$), LSE MA, Cambridge MA
  • Institution: Maryland Ph.D. Agricultural and Resource Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: TAship Notification date: 2/23/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Cambridge MA Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Waiting to hear more Notification date: 2/01/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Notes: Still no word re: College choice/Funding Sorry for the delay!
  • Institution: Brown Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: 20,000 stipend Notification date: 3/18/11 Notified through: Email to check Website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: UBC MA Decision: Accepted Funding: TAship topped off with an RA (16,000) Notification date: 3/17/11 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Rejects:
Rejects:
    Rejections: Berkeley AREC, Columbia, Stanford
  • Institution: Berkeley ARE Phd Decision: Reject Funding: NA Notification date: 3/14/11 Notified through: Email to check Website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 03/08/11 Notified through: Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Columbia Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 03/09/11 Notified through: Email to check Website Posted on GC: No Comments:
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: MIT
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No

LAecon 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: International Student, Joint Econ and Math + Computer Science double major at a top US Econ PhD granting school. (Transferred in Junior Year from no name east coast business school)
Undergrad GPA: 3.9
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA:N/A
GRE: 790 Q, 590 V, 3.5 AWA / 740 Q, 610 V, 3.0 AWA
Math Courses: At business school: Discrete Math, Linear Algebra, Calc I-III, Intro to Prob and Statistics (All A's). At PhD school: Analysis I (A), Probability and Statistics (B), Topology (A), Scientific Computing (A), Analysis II (Current Semester)
Econ Courses: At business school: Intro Micro/Macro, Intermediate Micro/Macro, Money and Banking (All A's). At PhD School: Intro to Econometrics (A-), Public Econ (A), Africa in the world Economy (A), International Econ (A), Advanced Macroeconomics and Finance (A).
Other Courses: Whole Computer Science Major (As(, Plus Honors Thesis (A and Current Semester)
Letters of Recommendation: Great (I expect) one from a really well known economist who I've taken classes and worked for. Great one from political scientist I've worked for and are currently trying to get a paper published with. I have no idea one from the chair of my department who didn't know me that well.
Research Experience: Worked the whole summer for my main letter writter, a really well known economist, also for my number two letter, will end up coauthoring a paper with him. Writing my own honors thesis.
Teaching Experience: Nothing.
Research Interests: Macro, DSGE, Finance, Development and International.
SOP: Pretty bland, just changed Universities and sometimes faculty I'm interested in. One page and a half. Actually sent a couple in with a small grammatical mistake. Talked about my research experiences, a little bit about my interests, and about my thesis.
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UPenn ($$$), Minn ($$$), UCLA ($$), Duke ($$$).
Waitlists: Carnegie Mellon
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Northwestern, Chicago, Booth, Stanford GSB, Brown, NYU, Princeton, Stern and Yale.
Pending:
What would you have done differently?
The only thing in my opinion that could have gotten me into higher ranked places in my opinion would have been to get a better third letter of recommendation, which is something that I could have done in my department in retrospect; or a master's abroad. This last one IMO, is not worth my time, as I got into great schools.
I will make a post in the Getting into PhD's from low ranked schools thread, but I hope my example here shows that if you care about the two years you will invest in a masters and will not get funding, if you have the grades try to transfer to a department with a good PhD. From my previous department I wouldn't have been able to enter a top 50 place. My money / time was better invested in an undergrad where access to great economists is commonplace.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: UPenn ($$$), Minn ($$$), UCLA ($$), Duke ($$$).
Rejects:
    Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Northwestern, Chicago, Booth, Stanford GSB, Brown, NYU, Princeton, Stern and Yale.
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: Carnegie Mellon

tcttc 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: University in China ranked between 3-5. Econ department is not so famous.
Undergrad GPA: 3.79 overall, 3.92 last 2 years
Type of Grad: Master of economics in US university with top 20 econ department
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: V640+Q800+AW3.5
Math Courses (undergrad-level): calculus, linear algebra, ODE, probability, statistics, complex analysis, functions of real variables, stochastic process, intro to topology, abstract algebra, measure theory, numeric analysis, dynamic programming
Math Courses (grad-level): measure and probability, linear models, Functional analysis
Econ Courses (PhD-level): RA for economists , Micro 1 & 2, metrics 1,2, Metrics 3.a & b
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): primary + intermediate micro, macro and metrics sequence, several math econ courses
Other Courses: Finance 1 in B-school
Letters of Recommendation: 1 young Associate professor from UCSD (know me quite well, took class with him),
1 new hired assistant professor from Northwestern (took class with him and get an A+),
1 young associate professor from Univ of Florida (took class with him and get an A),
1 senior full professor from Harvard (my director, know me well, work with him).
None of my references are famous economists. But they are all very kind persons. Two of them think I am strong. I didn't talk with the other two too much.
Research Experience:1. undergraduate thesis (excellent thesis award),
2. 2 course projects in my first year in US.
3. worked with my director on a conference project. And finally he converted it to a working paper and put my name on it. not published and not theoretical. I feel very grateful for him to put my name on it but I didn't talk it too much in my sop.
4. Now RAing for a professor in Law school. mainly coding in R and run all kinds of regressions.
Teaching Experience:none in english, undergraduate metrics in Chinese
Research Interests: metrics theory
SOP: Pretty good I guess. Although my AW is low, I ask for help from my friend who is good at writing proposals and my directors.
Concerns: Low AW, funding
Others: TOEFL 110
Applying to: (all econ PhD) USC, U Washington, UC Davis, UT Austin, BU, Duke, NYU, Berkeley, Stanford, Northwestern, UCSD, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, MIT
Results:
Acceptances: Duke($$), BU(waitlisted for 1st year/$$ from 2nd year), UT Austin($$), USC($$$),UC Davis(?), U Washington Seatle(asked about my other offers, then withdrew),
Rejections: NYU, Berkeley, Stanford, Northwestern, UCSD, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, MIT.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Duke($$), BU(waitlisted for 1st year/$$ from 2nd year), UT Austin($$), USC($$$),UC Davis(?), U Washington Seatle(asked about my other offers, then withdrew),
  • Institution: UC-Davis Economics Decision: Accept Funding: will decide at the end of March Notification date: Feb. 17 Notified through: E-mail from Paul Bergin Posted on GC:No Comments: Yes, after reject by Yale
  • Institution: Duke Econ PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: TBD Notification date: 2/22/2011 Notified through: E-mail to check website Posted on GF: No Comments: Now I am relieved
Rejects:
    Rejections: NYU, Berkeley, Stanford, Northwestern, UCSD, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, MIT.
Waitlists:

spaceship earth 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Double major in Business Economics & Environmental Studies; Top 10 public, top 40 econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.88
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 780Q 640V 4.5AW
Math Courses: calc series (A+/A), diff equations (A)
Econ Courses: intro micro (A+), intro macro (A-), Micro I (A), Micro II (A), Macro (A+), Nat Resource Econ (A), Env Econ (A+), Data Analysis (A)
Other Courses: lots of ecology & environ science for my environ studies major; relevant because of my research interests, but no substitute for more math/stats/econ
Letters of Recommendation: 1 tenured prof known for resource econ, 1 tenured prof who i performed research under (also known in env/resource econ), 1 recent phd in env econ who was probably unknown but was close to me (TA'd several of my econ classes & guided me through admissions process, now teaches at another unranked school)
Research Experience: employed about 9 months doing econ research part time; also got course credit another time for doing not very technical research related to role of competitive social pressures in mitigating climate change
Teaching Experience: nothing formal; just tutoring on & off for a while
Research Interests: Resource Econ, Environmental Econ, Sustainable Development, Energy Econ/Policy, etc
SOP: Talked about why I wanted to be a economist studying environmental issues. Emphasized extra-curriculars & research.
Other: Was president of an undergrad campus org. Also, I've been working at a global financial services firm since undergrad and I got a CPA license. It probably would have been relevant if I wanted an MBA, but I'm thinking it was no use in this PhD application
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UC Davis ARE ($), UC Santa Barbara (wl$), U Maryland AREc ($)
Waitlists: None.
Rejections: Stanford, UC Berkeley ARE, Columbia, NYU, Yale, Cornell AEM, UC San Diego
Pending: None.
What would you have done differently? No regrets; I was appropriately placed given my research interests. I reached high and the results were similar to my expectations. Also, you only need 1 good admit. That said, if I knew I was going to get a PhD earlier on here's what I would change (in no order):
1) Take the GRE earlier, so I could retake for an 800Q (I took it in Nov, just weeks before the app deadlines; I'm confident i could have gotten an 800Q since I did on several practice exams)
2) Get a straight "econ" major instead of a "business econ" major (this would mean more math/econ/stats/econometrics instead of more finance/accounting)
3) Get a job post-undergrad that is a better stepping stone to PhD (ie: research job, econ thinktank, econ analyst, certain consulting positions) instead of a job that is a stepping stone to an MBA (ie: finance, accounting, certain banking positions)
4) Realize the importance of LORs earlier and connect with more professors who have connections at top institutions (& do more research under them)
5) Regarding top straight econ depts, I also think I was out competed by alot of people w/ masters degrees. It might have served me well to get a masters to bulk up on econ/math/stats/etc.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: UC Davis ARE ($), UC Santa Barbara (wl$), U Maryland AREc ($)
  • Institution: UC Davis , Agricultural and Resource Economics Decision: Admitted Funding: TA/RA, but details will come later. Notification date: 1/30/2011 Notified through: Phone Comments: very happy with this one.
  • Institution: UC Santa Barbara Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: No mention yet... hopefully that will come later..... Notification date: Feb 14 Notified through: website Comments: I was expecting this, but I am still very excited to see it :-)
  • Institution: University of Maryland Agricultural and Resource Economics PhD Decision: Admitted Funding: graduate research assistantship, tuition waiver, health insurance. Notification date: 03/29/2011 Notified through: Letter attached to Email Comments: This came out of nowhere... I had heard they do "semi-rolling admits" but this was so late I thought it was over.
Rejects:
    Rejections: Stanford, UC Berkeley ARE, Columbia, NYU, Yale, Cornell AEM, UC San Diego
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/16 Notified through: Email to check status on website Comments: Kinda like flirting with a supermodel out of my league. Expected rejection, but I had to know for sure so I never thought "what if..." 10yrs from now.
  • Institution: Cornell , Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/28/2011 Notified through: Email w/ attached reject letter Posted on GC: no Comment: I hold offers that better fit my research interests so its no big deal. Still, since I originally expected to get in here, the rejection is a dismal sign of more results to come...
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/5/2011 Notified through: Mailed letter Posted on GC: no Comments: Expected this unfortunate rejection. Also, my mailing address is close to the school, so if they sent them all on then same day then most people should get them in 1-2 days. Good luck.
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Agricultural & Resource Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/15 Notified through: e-mail to check status Posted on GC: no Comments: Obviously disappointed since this was my dream school, even though a rejection was expected.
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: None.

goose88 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 15 undergrad, Top 30 Econ PhD
Undergrad GPA: 3.5/3.76 for econ
Type of Grad:n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800Q, 620V, 4AW
Math Courses: Calc(I-III: B+,B-,B-), Linear Algebra(B+), Intro to proofs(A-), Real Analysis(A), Lebesgue Integration (In progress with an A so far)
Econ Courses (grad-level):
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro and Macro, IO, Property Rights, Intro and Applied Econometrics, Game Theory etc. (all A-/A's except for one B)
Other Courses: MATLAB(in progress)
Letters of Recommendation: All econ PhDs...2 well Known professors (one Stanford and another from Rochester), and one ok recommendation (Stanford)
Research Experience: Award winning Honors thesis, summer fellowship
Teaching Experience: Teaching Assistant for a intro level macro class
Research Interests: Development econ, Applied Micro/IO
SOP: Good but didn't bother to customize it for each school...highlighted my diverse background
Concerns: Weak GPA and Math grades...I was not the best student for the first two years of my college career and my grades suffered...hopefully they can also see the radical change in my grades from B's to A's
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Northwestern($$), WUSTL($$), ASU($$), UWO-PhD stream MA($$)
Rejections: Brown, Duke, Georgetown, Michigan, NYU, Queens, Rochester, Stanford, U Minnesota, UC-Berkeley, UCLA, U Wisconsin, Yale
Withdrawn: Columbia, Purdue
Attending: Northwestern
What would you have done differently? So, so many things. I think I was ridiculously lucky given how marginal my profile looks (but I promise, I am not as bad as I look on paper)
i) I would have started out as an Econ major instead of waiting till junior year to switch out of the Business school (no offense to business majors but that place drained my soul and made me super lazy)
ii) I would have taken my Calculus classes seriously or at the very least attended them for more than the first week
iii) I would have taken some more stats classes than the basic courses such as Stochastic Processes or Probability Theory
iv) I would have done more research/get to know more professors but then again, this is tied to (i)
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Northwestern($$), WUSTL($$), ASU($$), UWO-PhD stream MA($$)
  • Institution: Arizona State University Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: No info on funding yet Notification date: 03/01/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: yes Comment: Some good news finally
  • Institution: Washington University (WUSTL) Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Fellowship ($$) Notification date: 3/4 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Feeling better already
  • Institution: University of Western Ontario Economics, Masters (doctoral stream) Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes Notification date: 03/09/2011 Notified through: Personal call Posted on GC: yes Comment: Good to have options
  • Institution nstitution: Northwestern Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Accepted, off of the waitlist Funding: more info next week Notification date: 04/06 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: YESSSSSSSS!!! Hopefully, I will get something for the first year.
Rejects:
    Rejections: Brown, Duke, Georgetown, Michigan, NYU, Queens, Rochester, Stanford, U Minnesota, UC-Berkeley, UCLA, U Wisconsin, Yale Withdrawn: Columbia, Purdue
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: Feb 16 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: yes Comments:
  • Institution: Rochester Economics PhD Decision: rejected Funding: n/a Notification date: 2/22/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GF: yes Comments: I seriously overestimated my chances.
  • Institution: Duke Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: n/a Notification date: 02/28/2011 Notified through: via email Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: Nicest rejection letter so far
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail
  • Institution: Michigan Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Worst Rejection Letter Ever!
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: postal mail Posted on GC : no Comments: SHOCKER...not
  • Institution: Brown University Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Georgetown Econ PhD Decision: rejected Notification date: 03/11/2011 Notified through: postal Posted on GC: No Comments: Somewhat surprised but could not care less
  • Institution: NYU Econ PhD Decision: rejected Notification date: 03/18/2011 Notified through: postal Posted on GC: No Comments: oh well
  • Institution: Brown Econ PhD Decision: rejected Notification date: 03/18/2011 Notified through: postal Posted on GC: No Comments: meh
  • Institution: Wisconsin Econ PhD Decision: rejected Notification date: 03/18/2011 Notified through: postal Posted on GC: No Comments: Brutal day oh and a postal rejection from UCLA just in case I didn't get the message from their email rejection
Waitlists:
  • Institution: Columbia Economics PhD Decision: Wait list Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/9/2011 Notified through: E-mail, said it is an unofficial notification and the official one will come later. Posted on GC : yes Comments:Second unofficial wait list but still happy

kipfilet 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Economics, top school in small European country
Undergrad GPA: 18/20, converted to 4.0/4.0, top of my class
Type of Grad: MPhil in Economics in progress (2 year Masters including 1st year PhD coursework)
Grad GPA: 19/20, converted to 4.0/4.0
GRE: Q800, V710, AWA 5.0
Math Courses: Calc I (already includes some intro real analysis and lots of proofs), Calc II (multivariate calc, topology, lots of optimisation), Linear Algebra, Math I (difference eqns, dynamic programming, discrete-time optimization), Math II (differential eqns, optimal control), Advanced Math (advanced topology and real analysis, measure theory, correspondence theory). All A's
Econ Courses (grad-level): Full Macro and Micro sequences, lots of random trimester courses (game theory I and II, time series, microeconometrics, energy economics, etc), all A's.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Lots of them. In my country, programs are not flexible at all. We spend 3 years being bombed with economics courses just about everything.
Other Courses: some Law, Finance and History courses. Two seminars on European Union institutions.
Letters of Recommendation: My thesis advisor and three assistant professors who know me well I guess (was a student and worked/working in projects with all of them).
Research Experience: Summer internship at a Ministry, applied macro research; lots of minor projects; macroeconometric paper with two colleagues; co-authoring an empirical paper; my MPhil thesis (in progress) is supposed to be one of the three papers one usually writes for a PhD.
Teaching Experience: twice TA (lecturer) for Multivariate Calc, twice TA (lecturer) for intermediate macro (all undergrad)
Research Interests: Macro: monetary economics, DSGE's, asset pricing. Also interested in behavioural.
SOP: Pretty standard, not customised at all. I actually sent the same SOP to ALL schools, only changing their name.
Concerns: Coming from a school that is virtually unknown in the US (and better known as a business school in Europe), no letter of recommendation from a senior professor.
Other: TOEFL 119, Erasmus in a well-known university in the Netherlands.
RESULTS
Acceptances: Minnesota ($$$), UPenn ($$$), LSE (), Oxford (MPhil, no ), Columbia ($$$), Chicago (no $), Northwestern (no$ 1st year), NYU($$$)
Waitlists: UCLA (rej), MIT (rej), Northwestern (acc), NYU (acc)
Rejections: Yale, Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, UCLA, MIT.
Attending: NYU
What would you have done differently?
Not much, I think. I regret not having asked a letter of recommendation from a well-known professor at my university whom I later discovered to be rather willing to write it (I had never worked for him). Not asking any senior prof for a letter of recommendation was a huge risk I took, and I only discovered the value of seniority much later (i.e. after having discovered TM). My 2nd year MPhil grades (1st year PhD courses) have been rather good so far, and my thesis is going really well (my apologies for not being very humble in this aspect), so I guess I could have a stronger profile if I decided to apply next year. Anyway, I'm not going to cry over it, as I'm already ecstatic with my outcome! This was an extremely long and stressful process, and I'm really glad that it has come to a happy ending. See you all in the job market!
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Minnesota ($$$), UPenn ($$$), LSE (), Oxford (MPhil, no ), Columbia ($$$), Chicago (no $), Northwestern (no$ 1st year), NYU($$$)
  • Institution: Minnesota Economics (PhD) Decision: accepted Funding: yes (20k) Notification date: 2/22/2011 Notified through: email with formal acceptance (pdf) Posted on GF: not yet Comments: One of my top choices!
  • Institution: UPenn Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: 23k Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: yes Comment: really happy! Decision between this and Minnesota is going to be a tough one for a macro guy like me...
  • Institution: London School of Economics MRes/PhD Track 1 Decision: Accepted Funding: No. "Unfortunately competition for funding is very strong and we are not able to offer you any financial support at this stage. However you are waitlisted for funding and we will inform you immediately if and when this becomes available. In the meantime we would be grateful if you could update us on the outcome of any funding applications you have made." Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: yes Comment: Fantastic! Lack of funding is a problem, though...my girlfriend will certainly pressure me to strongly consider this one due to proximity.
  • Institution: Oxford MPhil Economics Decision: Accepted Notification date: 2/28 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: yes Funding: Not clear regarding that, but I guess that means a no. Comments: I'll have to read through the letter to better understand whether there is funding or not. From what I've gathered, I guess that depends on the college I end up in.
  • Institution: Columbia Economics PhD Decision: Proposed for admission Funding: Full, details later Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes [B]Comments: Unofficial e-mail from grad coordinator! so happy! dream school!
  • Institution: Chicago Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Tuition waiver only, offer conditional on earning my country's NSF Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: E-mail GC: yes Comment: Poisoned joy, I am speechless, but have no idea what to do. My country's NSF only publishes results in September...
  • Institution: Northwestern Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Accepted if interested in attending Funding: No 1st year, full afterwards Notification date: 04/14/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Great for fluctuations (Christiano & Eichenbaum), but not really the strongest in my fields of interest.
  • Institution: NYU Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Full Notification date: 04/14/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Accepted right away
Rejects:
    rej), MIT (rej), Northwestern (acc), NYU (acc) Rejections: Yale, Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, UCLA, MIT.
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: Feb 16 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: yes Comments: Already expected!
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Meh x 2.
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: The e-mail mentioned that there were 750 applications, out of which 75 applicants were admitted.
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: - NA Notification date: 03/11 Notified through: email Comments: Expected, now only waitlists remain to close the admissions season!
  • Institution: Harvard Economics PhD Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/15/11 Notified through: snail mail Posted on GC: no Comments: Who are these people who keep sending me air mail letters? Harvard? Is this some sort of ice cream company?
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Rejected out of the Waitlist Notification date: 4/5 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: Did not interest me much anyway.
  • Institution: MIT Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Rejected from waitlist Funding: NA Notification date: 04/07 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Makes the deciding easier. Never had any real chances though. Was really surprised about not being rejected right from start.
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: UCLA (
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Waitlisted Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: Yes Comments: Meh.
  • Institution: NYU Economics PhD Decision: Waitlisted Notification date: 3/5/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: Better than a rejection, would very much like to attend.
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Waitlisted Funding: Probably none Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: As the old adage goes, better than a flatout rejection. This is probably the most ungrateful waitlist to be in, ever.

chisquared 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BBM Quantitative Finance and BSc Economics. Small university in SE Asia.
Undergrad GPA: 3.92/4.00
Type of Grad: MSc Applicable Mathematics, LSE
Grad GPA: In Progress
GRE: 800Q, 660V, 5.0AW
Math Courses: Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (A-), Real Analysis (A-), Intermediate Mathematics for Economics (A+), Advanced Mathematics for Economics (A), Stochastic Calculus (A), Numerical Analysis (A), Probability Theory and Statistical Inference (A-), Continuous Time Optimization (Grad, IP), Probability and Measure (Grad, IP), Stochastic Analysis (Grad, IP)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Advanced Microeconomics (IP)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Microeconomics (A+), Intermediate Macroeconomics (A-), International Economics (A+), Economics of Financial Intermediation (A+), Applied Econometrics (A), Economic Development in Asia (A)
Other Courses: A lot of other business and finance courses. A few courses in psychology, sociology and political science.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Stanford PhD, 1 Berkeley PhD, 1 Harvard PhD, 2 UPenn PhDs distributed over different schools. All supposedly good letters.
Research Experience: Undergraduate thesis in political economy (A-), a few research assistantships
Teaching Experience: A few terms as a teaching assistant
Research Interests: micro theory, game theory, financial economics, political economy
SOP: Standard
Concerns: Unknown undergrad institution. Limited (read: almost none) placement history. Unknown letter of recommendation credibility.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: LSE ($$$, initially on a waiting list for funding), Michigan (off the waiting list, $$), BU ($$, initially on a waiting list for first-year funding)
Rejections: Tons. Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Chicago, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Northwestern (Kellogg MEDS), UPenn, Columbia, NYU, Caltech, UCSD (actually, I never heard from them. Should probably send them an angry email.), Chicago Booth, Stanford GSB, Wharton, Minnesota
Withdrawn:
Attending: LSE
What would you have done differently?
It's hard to say, really. A few ideas, though:
(i) Work harder on my senior thesis. Winning the senior thesis prize may have helped me sneak on to a few more waiting lists.
(ii) Write a more interesting SOP. It probably wouldn't help much, but it just might matter on the margin, and it's hard to say where I was or wasn't a marginal candidate exactly (at least, for the schools ranked just above where I was admitted. I'm only kidding myself by trying to claim I could have been a marginal candidate at Harvard/MIT.).
(iii) Done more undergrad field courses in econ. This would help me write a more interesting SOP, I guess, since it would give me more research ideas. This would mean that I'd have to drop one of my majors, or not do a senior thesis, though. I'm not sure I would be willing to do the former ex-ante, nor the latter ex-post.
(iv) Tried to go on exchange at the one top 10 department my undergrad had an exchange program with. Someone from my undergrad did this, and it seemed to have helped her out a lot this admissions season. That being said, that entails the same kind of tradeoffs that I mentioned in (iii), so I'm not sure I'd do this if I could do everything over again.
(v) Worked really hard on my MSc, graduate with distinction, and apply for admission in fall 2012 instead. I may still consider this, in fact.
(vi) Considered schools that I was applying to more carefully. While I don't think I'd have applied to fewer schools, there are some programs (PSU, CEMFI, Toulouse) I wish I applied to after all the deadlines were over but before the admissions results were released. While I wouldn't have gone to any of those aforementioned programs over any of the options I had, this may have been a wiser decision ex-ante (even if I may be out a few hundred dollars ex-post).
Accepts:
    Acceptances: LSE ($$$, initially on a
  • Institution: London School of Economics MRes/PhD Track 1 Decision: Accepted Funding: No. "Unfortunately competition for funding is very strong and we are not able to offer you any financial support at this stage. However you are waitlisted for funding and we will inform you immediately if and when this becomes available. In the meantime we would be grateful if you could update us on the outcome of any funding applications you have made." Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comment: Relieved. Will probably need funding though.
  • Institution: BU Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: After first year, tuition + $19k stipend Notification Date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Michigan Ph.D. Economics Decision: Accepted from the waiting list Funding: Full Notification date: April 12 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: None.
Rejects:
    Rejections: Tons. Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Chicago, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Northwestern (Kellogg MEDS), UPenn, Columbia, NYU, Caltech, UCSD (actually, I
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: Feb 16 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Expected, but still depressing.
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Economic Analysis and Policy Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: February 18 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: Wharton Applied Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 22 February 2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GF: No Comments:
  • Institution: UPenn Phd in Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: Website -- checked it after I saw the rejection on GC Posted on GC: No Comments: Ouch. A shut out is looking likelier every day. Ah, well.
  • Institution: Minnesota Phd in Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: Saw a rejection on GC, then checked the website. ...I should really stop doing this. Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Ouch.
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No. Comments: Not too surprising.
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: Well, that was a long-shot.
  • Institution: Chicago Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: Ugh.
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Sigh.
  • Institution: Columbia University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Notification Date: 3/09/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: Hm, I guess a shut-out wasn't all that unlikely. (Yes, I am aware at the pitfalls of considering probabilities ex post.)
  • Institution: Northwestern - Kellogg Ph.D. MECS Decision: Rejection Notification Date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/11/11 Notified through: Email Comments: I appreciate their promptness. Take note, NYU. <-- Ditto. I guess this marks the close of the admissions season for me.
  • Institution: Caltech Social Science PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/15/11 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: Harvard Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/11/11 Notified through: Snail Mail Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: NYU Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/17/11 Notified through: Unofficial e-mail after I asked about my status Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: UCSD Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 04/21/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: That took a while.
Waitlists:
    waiting list for funding), Michigan (off the waiting list, $$), BU ($$, initially on a waiting list for first-year funding)
  • Institution: UMich Economics Decision: Waitlist Funding: Yes, if accepted Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments:

FromTheHip 2011:
Well, time to throw out my profile, which I suspect will make my results a source of hope for many with mediocre undergraduate GPAs.
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BS in a science field at a highly-ranked U.S. university
Undergrad GPA: 3.34/4
Type of Grad: Part time classes at a top-5 econ program
Grad GPA: 4.0/4
GRE: 800Q, 700V, 4.5AW
Math Courses: Linear Algebra (A), Multivariable Calculus (A), Vector Analysis (B), Differential Equations (A-), Real Analysis (B+)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Two semesters of core micro (A/A), both grades near the top of the class
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro Micro (A-), Intro Macro (A-), Intermediate micro (A-), Intermediate Macro (A-), Two term theoretical econometrics course (B/B+)
Other Courses: A lot of very quantitative science courses.
Letters of Recommendation: All three were economists with tenure at a top-5 econ program and PhDs from top programs. One was a professor from my core micro who talked about my coursework, while another was my long-time boss (see below). The third worked as my advisor on an independent project.
Research Experience: Two years as an RA and an independent research project (still ongoing).
Research Interests: Resource/environmental, development, game theory, IO. Statement focused on resource, game theory, and development.
SOP: Fairly long. I’ve spent some time outside of undergrad and was not an econ major, so I spent a bit of time explaining how I’d come to be interested in economics and putting my non-economics accomplishments into context.
Other experience: Several years work experience before starting my economics career
Concerns: Non-economics background, low undergraduate grades
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Cornell (no $), Georgetown ($), Iowa State ($),LSE ($), Penn State ($), Rochester ($), UC-Davis ($), UC-San Diego ($), UC-Santa Barbara (no $), University of British Columbia ($), University of Colorado ($), UPenn (initially wl for $, then $), University of Wisconsin ($), Yale ($).
Rejections: Berkeley ARE, Brown, Caltech, Chicago, Chicago Booth, Duke, Harvard, Minnesota, NYU, Northwestern, Princeton, Stanford, University of Maryland, University of Michigan
Waitlists: BU (withdrew), Columbia (withdrew), MIT (eventually rejected)
Withdrawn: University of Wyoming
Attending: Yale
What would you have done differently? Gotten better undergraduate grades and started as an economist sooner.
Other Comments: Given where I was coming in, I’m pretty ecstatic about my results. There was a lot of variance in my admits, and I’m grateful to all the programs which were willing to take a chance on me.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Cornell (no $), Georgetown ($), Iowa State ($),LSE ($), Penn State ($), Rochester ($), UC-Davis ($), UC-San Diego ($), UC-Santa Barbara (no $), University of British Columbia ($), University of Colorado ($), UPenn (initially wl for $, then $), University of Wisconsin ($), Yale ($).
  • Institution: UC Davis Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Will be decided in March Notification date: Feb 11 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: Extremely happy about my first acceptance.
  • Institution: UC Santa Barbara Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: No mention of funding Notification date: Feb 14 Notified through: website (I checked after seeing an acceptance up at GC) Posted on GC: no Comments: I suspect decisions are generally available, even though an e-mail notification hasn't been sent yet.
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: To be announced (but they fund everyone, so it seems a safe bet) Notification date: Feb 15 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments: Um, yeah, I'm pretty happy
  • Institution: University of Pennsylvania Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Very high on the waitlist for 1st year fellowship Notification date: 2/24/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Penn State Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: TAship Notification date: 2/24/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: LSE Economics MRes/PhD (track 1) Decision: Accepted Funding: Fellowship Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Georgetown Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: yes; 3 years TA, 2 years Fellowship Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: University of Wisconsin Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: TA-ship Notification date: 03/01/2001 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: University of British Columbia Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Pending Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: Sorry, slow to post this one. Excited though - looks like another option which will solves my two-body problem!
  • Institution: Rochester Economics PhD Decision: Accepted? Funding: No idea? Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: Got an e-mail with an invitation to visiting day and a second congratulations on admission. I never got any sort of notification the first time around, so I'm just guessing.
  • Institution: UCSD Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Will get a letter next week Notification Date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: University of Colorado - Boulder Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: TA+Fellowship Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no
Rejects:
    Rejections: Berkeley ARE, Brown, Caltech, Chicago, Chicago Booth, Duke, Harvard, Minnesota, NYU, Northwestern, Princeton, Stanford, University of Maryland, University of Michigan
  • Institution: University of Minnesota PHD economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: e-mail to check website Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Duke PHD economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: e-mail to check website Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: University of Michigan Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Chicago - Booth School of Business Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Northwestern University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/4/2011 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Chicago Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: Guess I picked the wrong week to quit smoking... (Airplane reference for the humorless)
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 (letter dated 3/5) Notified through: post Posted on GC : no Comments: Guess I picked the wrong week to quit drinkin'... (Airplane reference part 2 for the humorless)
  • Institution: Maryland Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/9/2011 Notified through: e-mail to check website Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: Princeton Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: Brown Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: Harvard University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/14 Notified through: mail Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Agricultural & Resource Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/14 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Caltech Social Science PhD Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/15/11 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: no
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: BU (withdrew), Columbia (withdrew), MIT (eventually
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: Please pardon the interruption -- when NYU/Stanford rejects come out, we will return to your regularly scheduled Airplane-based programming.
  • Institution: Columbia Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/9/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: BU Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no

Potica 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA econ and psych from top 10 liberal arts college. Post-BA math classes in continuing studies program at top 20 University
Undergrad GPA: 3.5 (overall), 3.4 (BA institution), 3.8 (post-BA), 3.6 (econ classes), 3.6 (final two years of UG at liberal arts college)
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: Q780, V650, AWA 5.0
Math Courses: Calc I-III (C, A, A), Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (A-), Game Theory (A-), Probability I-III (A, A, A-), Real Analysis I-III (B+, A, A-), Math Stats I (B-). All but Calc I taken post BA.
Econ Courses: Intro Micro (B+), Intro Macro (B+), Intermediate Micro (A-), Intermediate Macro (A), Econometrics (B+), IO (A), Decision Making (A-), IO Seminar (A), Trade (B+), Managerial Econ (A-), Law and Econ (P)
Other Courses: lots of psychology courses, a few history classes.
Letters of Recommendation: Two young (well known) economists at top 10 econ PhD program for whom I had a 1.5 year RA job. One economist who previously had a senior position at the FTC who supervised me at a consulting firm for 5 years. Letters were clearly strong.
Research Experience: Undergrad thesis (both econ and psych), work at econ consulting firm (5 years), full time RA job at top 10 university (1.5 years), co-authored working paper with supervisors at RA job, and a little bit of very preliminary work on a couple of my own ideas
Teaching Experience: TA for 2 quarters of intro micro and 2 quarters of intro macro
Research Interests: Applied micro (changed the fields a bit from school to school)
SOP: Probably strong. Good argument for why I want to study econ and why I am prepared. Wrote extensively about two research ideas. Customization varied from school to school.
Concerns: Relatively old, weak undergraduate grades, no grad classes.
Other: Presented co-authored paper as a poster at a conference in late March (a mention that the paper was accepted for the conference made it onto about half of my apps)
RESULTS
Acceptances: UW Madison ($), Cornell ($), UT Austin ($), UVA ($), OSU (unclear), Vanderbilt ($), UC Davis ($), UC Irvine ($), Notre Dame ($)
Waitlists: U Chicago Booth econ (accepted), U Michigan Ross econ (accepted), Brown (accepted), U Maryland (accepted, no $), U Michigan (withdrawn, prob could have gotten in at last minute), UNC (withdrawn), U Minnesota (rejected)
Rejections: Yale, Harvard PEG, Berkeley ARE, Stanford, Princeton, UPenn, Wharton Applied Econ, U Chicago, Northwestern, Columbia, NYU, CMU, Duke, JHU, Rochester, University of British Columbia, UCSD, Wash U
Attending: U Chicago Booth econ
What would you have done differently?
Not much. Would have changed my mix of schools slightly and not applied to UBC (with its $150 application fee). Obviously I could have done better as an undergrad, but at the time I had no interest in graduate school. I think the RA job was hugely beneficial (for a number of reason). My results would have been much worse without it. The last five months have been very busy and stressful, so I'm happy it's done even, especially given how well it turned out.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: UW Madison ($), Cornell ($), UT Austin ($), UVA ($), OSU (unclear), Vanderbilt ($), UC Davis ($), UC Irvine ($), Notre Dame ($)
  • Institution: Notre Dame Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: ~$17k/year Notification date: 2/9/11 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: UC - Irvine Economics Decision: Accepted ("unofficially") Funding: a few quarters of fellowship with TAship for the rest Notification date: 2/9/11 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: UC Davis Economics PhD Decision: Accepted (conditional on OK from Grad Admissions office) Funding: Decision "before the end of March" Notification date: Feb 11 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: Very happy about this one.
  • Institution: UVA Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: ? Notification date: 2/21/2011 Notified through: Email to Check Website Posted on GF: No Comments: They let me in even though the grad school listed two of my three transcripts (including the one for my BA) as incomplete
  • Institution: Vanderbilt Economics (PhD) Decision: accepted Funding: yes (1st year fellowship, later years TA) Notification date: 2/22/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GF: no
  • Institution: University of Wisconsin Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: TA-ship (not much money) Notification date: 03/01/2001 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: 14 other people copied on email. Indicated they previously made 13 fellowship offers
  • Institution: UT - Austin Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Unclear Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail to check website Posted on GC: No.
  • Institution: Maryland Economics PhD Decision: Admitted (off waitlist) Funding: Not currently, but they indicate they may be able to offer me funding Notification date: 3/17/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: One waitlist down, four to go!
  • Institution: Cornell Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Sage Fellowship: 22.25k stipend +4.7k summer stipend + tuition waiver, health insurance, etc. (required to RA or TA after first year) Notification date: 3/18/11 Notified through: Personalized email Posted on GC: No Comments: A very nice offer...looks like I'll have some decisions to make after all
  • Institution: U Chicago Booth Ph.D. Business Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Full Notification date: April 8 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Was waitlisted
Rejects:
    rejected) Rejections: Yale, Harvard PEG, Berkeley ARE, Stanford, Princeton, UPenn, Wharton Applied Econ, U Chicago, Northwestern, Columbia, NYU, CMU, Duke, JHU, Rochester, University of British Columbia, UCSD, Wash U
  • Institution: Wharton Applied Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: Feb 10 Notified through:Email Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 16 February Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: University of Rochester Economics (PhD) Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/22/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Harvard Kennedy School Political Economy and Government (PhD) Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/22/2011 Notified through: Letter Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: UPenn Phd in Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Duke Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Northwestern University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: - Notification date: 3/4/2011 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: UChicago Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: Checked website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Washington U. in St. Louis Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Somewhat surprised by this rejection. I guess it's evidence of the randomness of the process.
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/08/11 Notified through: Mail Posted on GF: No Comments:
  • Institution: Columbia University Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification Date: 3/09/2011 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: CMU (Tepper) Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejection Notification Date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Princeton University Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Agricultural & Resource Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/14 Notified through: e-mail to check status Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Johns Hopkins University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/15/11 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: NYU Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification Date: March 22, 2011 Notified through: Official e-mail Posted on GC: Yes Comments: I was looking forward to getting this one after all the waiting.
  • Institution: University of British Columbia Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/29/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GradCafe: No Comments: The application fee was steep. Probably should have just skipped this one.
  • Institution: UCSD Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification date: 04/06 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: U Chicago Booth econ (
  • Institution: Minnesota Economics (PhD) Decision: Wait List Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/23/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: University Michigan Economics Decision: Waitlisted (indicate that last year I would have been admitted without funding and there is a reasonable chance of being admitted this year) Funding: if admitted tuition waiver, TA after first year Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: first two sentences of the letter: "I am happy to report that the Admissions Committee of the Department of Economics has enthusiastically recommended you for our Ph.D. program. I would like to inform you that you have now been placed on a waitlist for admissions." Thought I was in until I read it more carefully!
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Economics Decision: Waitlist ("...you are highly ranked on the Economics waitlist.") Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No. Comments: Pretty happy about this one. Because I excpected a rejection. No idea what my chances are of getting off the waitlist.
  • Institution: University of Maryland Economics PhD Decision: Wait List Funding: "...There is also some probability that we may be able to offer financial aid" Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: University of Michigan (Ross) Business PhD (international business and business economics) Decision: Waitlist Notification date: 3/15/11 Notified through: Response to email asking about my status Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Brown Economics PhD Decision: Waitlisted Funding: I think it's yes if admitted Notification date: 3/18/11 Notified through: Email to check Website Posted on GC: no Comments: Waitlist number 6 (this must at least put me in a tie for the most waitlists)
  • Institution: UNC Ph.D. Economics Decision: waitlist Funding: ? Notification date: April 13 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No

JerseyBoy89 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Economics, B.A. Mathematics (Top ~10 Econ Dept / Top ~5 Math Dept)
Undergrad GPA: 3.85/4
GRE: 800Q/700v/5.0a
Math Courses: Linear Algebra, Multivariate Calculus, Intro Probability Theory, Mathematical Statistics, Stochastic Calculus, Numerical Analysis, Analysis I, Topology, Vector Analysis, Abstract Algebra (Overall, 3.85 GPA)
Econ Courses: Basic Microeconomics Course, Math for Economists, Micro Theory, Macro Theory, Global Macroeconomics, Econometrics, Adv. Macro and Finance, Adv. Micro Theory, Independent Study (Overall, 3.9 GPA)
Other Courses: Finance Courses (foundations financial markets, corporate finance), Business Core (don't wish to list these )
Letters of Recommendation: I received one recommendation from an extremely well known econ professor. Other two recs from well known econ academics that are very successful as well.
Research Experience: RA work sophomore and junior summers. Also worked on independent thesis project senior year.
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Macro-Finance (consumption-based asset pricing, term structure models), Corporate Finance in macro setting, Monetary Economics, Business Cycles
SOP: My statement was pretty straightforward - I discussed my research interests and motivations, coursework, research experiences, and my broad fit with each program.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Carnegie Mellon ($$$), UMN ($), UPenn ($$), Wharton Finance ($$$), UCLA ($$ eventually)
Waitlists: Michigan, Princeton (eventually rej), Columbia Business
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Chicago, Stanford, among others
Attending: Wharton
What would you have done differently? I am very very happy with my results and am really pumped to go to Wharton. That said, I think the one thing I should have considered is attending an MA program in econ (eg. Toronto, LSE) or an RA job at one of the regional Federal Reserve banks. Given my relatively strong recommendations, either one of these would have solidified my candidacy for a higher-ranked program (not that I didn't get into a great program already!). Looking back, coming from an undergraduate program, I also wouldn't mind some more economics training before I start a PhD program - it would certainly make me more economically mature as well. Nonetheless, I am very very happy with my results.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Carnegie Mellon ($$$), UMN ($), UPenn ($$), Wharton Finance ($$$), UCLA ($$ eventually)
Rejects:
    rej), Columbia Business Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Chicago, Stanford, among others
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: Michigan, Princeton (eventually

HealthEconGirl 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Econ from top-30 U.S. university
Undergrad GPA: 3.76 / 4.0, magna cum laude
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: Q800, V720, AW5.5
Math Courses: Calc I&II (AP), Multivariable Calc (A), Diff Equ (A), Intro to Proofs (A), Upper-level Probability Theory (A), Lin Alg (A), Intro to Analysis (A-)
Econ Courses (grad-level): None
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Regular econ major courses (mostly A's, one B+ and one B), IO (B+), African Development (A-), Econ Reforms and Corruption (A-), Pol Econ of Growth, Redistribution and Poverty (A-), Intermediate Econometrics (A), Senior thesis seminar (A)
Letters of Recommendation: Senior thesis advisor (Columbia Ph.D.), one Assoc Prof (Foreign Ph.D.), one Epidemiologist (Berkeley Ph.D.), one former supervisor
Research Experience: Senior thesis, RA for epidemiologist since August 2010, Paid Internship where I basically do standard RA work (data cleaning, analysis) since June 2010
Teaching Experience: none really, but LORs talked about my potential for teaching
Research Interests: economics of global health, specifically HIV and sexual behavior in developing countries
SOP: Highlighted my senior thesis, significant time working in a developing country, and well defined research interests; customized to each school
Concerns: While I have extensive work experience that is relevant, it's not the standard econ RA work; no graduate econ classes despite being in a research univ.
RESULTS:
Attending: UCSD
Acceptances: UCSD ($), UBC ($$$)
Waitlists: U Mich (Withdrawn), UCLA (Withdrawn)
Withdrawn: BU, U Toronto
Rejections: UC Berkeley, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, NYU, Harvard, MIT, Brown, Cornell, Northwestern, Duke, UPenn, UMD College Park, NSF (Honorable Mention)
Comments:
Overall, I am very pleased with this result. Even though I had a lot of rejections (and that was hard), you only need one good admit, and I am extremely excited about UCSD. I applied to all of the top ten on the advice of my undergrad advisor, but I knew that cracking the top ten was a long shot.
The best thing I did was apply for the NSF GRFP. The application process, and particularly the process of developing a research proposal, really helped me crystallize my objectives and research interests, and I believe the experience made my SOPs that much stronger.
Taking my choice of undergrad institution, GPA, GRE, and work experience as given, there isn't much I would have done differently. However, writing the SOPs took me much, much longer than I expected. If I could do it again, I would start drafting SOPs over the summer.
A note about my LORs: a lot of people say that LORs from non-economists are useless. But I decided to go with an letter of recommendation from an epidemiologist who is extremely well know both within and outside her field, knows me really well, has a good sense for my research ability, and wrote me a glowing recommendation. I believe that if they are relevant to your research interests, LORs from disciplines that are close to econ, such as math, poli sci, or epidemiology, can be acceptable, and may even be preferable to letters from econ profs who barely know you.
I'm so glad the waiting is over!
Accepts:
    Attending: UCSD Acceptances: UCSD ($), UBC ($$$)
  • Institution: UCSD Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Not yet specified Notification Date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Didn't get an official admission letter, but an invitation to their open house that says "Congratulations on being nominated for admission to the Economics Doctoral Program at the University of California San Diego for Fall 2011. You should receive a formal admission email from the Office of Graduate Studies (OGS) soon and we want to welcome you!" I am so, so happy.
  • Institution: University of British Columbia Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 25k Notification date: 3/15/11 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GradCafe: no Comments: Deadline to respond is Mar 29!
Rejects:
    Rejections: UC Berkeley, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, NYU, Harvard, MIT, Brown, Cornell, Northwestern, Duke, UPenn, UMD College Park, NSF (
  • Institution: Duke Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/28/2011 Notified through: website (saw above and checked) Comments: really disappointing, I thought I had a good chance of getting in
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: My first choice. This sucks.
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics, PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: No Comments: Finally!
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/5/2011 Notified through: Mailed letter Posted on GC: no Comments: Expected but still disappointing, as this was my last shot at staying in the SF Bay Area.
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: Expected.
  • Institution: UMD College Park Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: Testudo website Posted on GC: No Comments: Still no admits.
  • Institution: Columbia University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Notification Date: 3/09/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/11/11 Notified through: Email Comments: I appreciate their promptness. Take note, NYU.
  • Institution: Brown University Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Harvard University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/14/11 Notified through: mail Posted on GC: no Comments: The letter finally came.
  • Institution: NYU Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/17/11 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Finally.
  • Institution: Cornell Economics Ph.D. Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification Date: 03/25/2011 Notified Through:Email Comments: Waiting on two more.
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: U Mich (Withdrawn), UCLA (Withdrawn) Withdrawn: BU, U Toronto
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Waitlisted Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: No Comments: Even though it's only a waitlist, feeling better about my chances.
  • Institution: UMich Economics Decision: Waitlist Funding: Yes, if accepted Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments:That letter is seriously confusing. Like others, it says I would have been admitted without funding last year. I wonder what happens if I am able to find an external source of funding (will call tomorrow).
  • Institution: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Decision: Honorable Mention Funding: No Notification date: 4/5 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: Obviously funding would have been great, but I knew it was a long shot, so I'm happy with this result.

dr12 2011:
PROFILE
Type of Undergrad: BS economics and physics from top 10 university
Undergrad GPA: 3.95
GRE: 800Q 620V 5.0AW
Math Courses: Multivariable Calc, Linear Algebra, Probability, Statistics, Diff EQs, Complex Analysis, Data Analysis
Econ Courses (grad-level): Econometrics (3 terms)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Macro, Micro, IO, Game Theory, Econometrics, Auctions, Finance, Options, Organization Design
Other Courses: Lots of physics courses
Letters of Recommendation: 1 famous, 1 well-known, 1 assistant prof (all econ)
Research Experience: Job in private industry focused on econ analysis, research, and data work
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Micro theory
SOP: Standard
Concerns: No research within academia or published papers
Other: Worked for several years in private industry after undergrad
RESULTS
Acceptances: Northwestern, UCLA, UCSD
Waitlists: MIT
Rejections: Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, Chicago, Princeton, Yale
Attending: Northwestern
Comments: I think working in private industry the last five years likely prevented me from cracking the top-5. I think it is legitimately viewed as a risk (e.g., potential for rusty math skills, concern of going back into private industry, added likelihood of personal distractions) - a friend I have in graduate school says that the older graduate students tend not to do as well on average (at least in his class). Additionally, it becomes harder to get academic letters of recommendation. I would recommend that people who have worked for a few years and are thinking about pursuing an econ phd to take a graduate economics course or two through a local university's extension program (if you can fit it in while working). Outside of being informative/beneficial for you, it will strengthen your application and maybe set you up for a fresher letter of recommendation. That being said, I am very excited about Northwestern as my interests are in micro theory and it has always been in my personal top-5. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to know anything else.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Northwestern, UCLA, UCSD
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics (PhD) Decision: Accepted Funding: not clear Notification date: 2/23/2011 Notified through: I checked the site after having seen the posts here Posted on GF: no Comments: Feels good after the Yale rejection.
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: none
Rejects:
    Rejections: Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, Chicago, Princeton, Yale
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: February 16 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments: Sorry for late post, been away for a few days. Congrats to the admits!
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments:
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: MIT

ggoofer 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Econ, Math at Non-HYP Ivy
Undergrad GPA: 3.89 overall, 3.94 Math, 3.97 Econ (out of 4)
GRE: 790 Q, 660 V, 4.5 AWA
Math Courses (undergrad level): Baby Linear Algebra (A+), Multivariable Calc (A), Honors Analysis (A), Linear Algebra (A-), Honors Algebra (A-), Topology (A), Stochastic Processes (A+)
Math Courses (grad level): Measure Theory (A+), Applied Functional Analysis (A), Algebra (A), Probability (A), Topics in Group Theory (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad level): Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), Prob & Stat (A+), Intro to Econometrics (A+), Money and Banking (A-), Financial Economics (A+), Game Theory (A), Intertemporal Economics (A+), Trade (A+)
Econ Courses (grad level): Micro I (A), Micro II (A), Decision Theory II (A+), Contract Theory (in prog)
Other Courses: Stochastic Calculus for Finance (A-)
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ, 1 math. I know these people well. Expecting strong letters.
Research Experience: Econ, none worth mentioning. Spent a summer working on finite group theory with a math prof here. Learned how much I hate group theory.
Teaching Experience: TAing is not allowed. I have done a lot of tutoring for the department since sophomore year.
Research Interests: Micro theory topics
SOP: Weak. Did not spend much time.
RESULTS:
Attending: Northwestern
Acceptances: Northwestern ($$$$), Berkeley ($$), Princeton ($$$), Yale ($$$$), UMN ($), Cornell ($$$)
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Penn, Chicago
What would you have done differently? Not much really. Very happy with my results. I should have spent more time on my SOP probably. Wish I could have gotten econ research in somehow, but it is borderline impossible to get anything that is not applied/data monkey work (and any theory stuff you do yourself e.g. for thesis most likely sucks). Also would have stopped taking undergrad econ courses a lot sooner. Most are a waste of time.
Accepts:
    Attending: Northwestern Acceptances: Northwestern ($$$$), Berkeley ($$), Princeton ($$$), Yale ($$$$), UMN ($), Cornell ($$$)
  • Institution: Minnesota Economics PhD Decision: Admitted Funding: $$ Notification date: 02/22/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comment:
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics PhD Decision: Admitted Funding: Waitlisted Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comment:
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: yes Comments: so excited!!!!!!!
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes Notification date: 03/10/11 Notified through: Email Comments: Choices!
Rejects:
    Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Penn, Chicago
  • Institution: UPenn Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: Yes Comment:
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: snail mail Posted on GC : yes Comments: A little disappointing, but oh well.
  • Institution: Chicago Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : yes Comments: Mostly bruises the ego, I doubt I would have attended.
  • Institution: Columbia University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Notification Date: 3/09/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: I am really doing much worse than I thought would, but I have a stellar funded admit, so it doesn't matter much at this point (thank God!). I'm just curious why my expectations were so off
Waitlists:
  • Institution: Yale Economics PhD Decision: Waitlisted Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/16/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: Yes Comment:

philecon 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BS Business Economics, relatively unknown university in Southeast Asia
Undergrad GPA: no idea how to convert it, but I graduated magna cum laude (Rank: 7/150)
GRE: 800Q, 590V, 5.0AW
TOEFL:112/120
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Abstract Algebra, Linear Algebra, Real Analysis and Math Stats
Econ Courses: the standard Econ courses, nothing special
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Northwestern PhD, 1 Ohio State PhD, 1 PhD from my uni
Research Experience: undergrad thesis (won an award, forthcoming in local journal), RA for six months
Research Interests: Health Economics, Industrial Organization
SOP: Pretty standard
Concerns: I shifted from Accounting to Economics, and I took a leave for a year to take a break; first to apply as an undergrad from my school (never been done ever)
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Georgetown, LSE EME, BGSE MS Economics, CEMFI MSc Economics and Finance, PSU (from waitlist)
Waitlists: PSU (eventually admitted, but without funding), Michigan (rejected off the WL though)
Rejections: Northwestern, Columbia, Brown, Penn, Virginia, Stanford, Duke, Singapore Management
COMMENTS:
I wasn't an economics major when I entered college, and I left school for a year after sophomore year (since something happened to me) to evaluate myself, and the direction I was going. I accidentally stumbled upon economics, and I found out that I loved it. Like the previous poster, however, I decided to do a PhD only around my junior year, so I had to cram a lot of math during my last two years, plus take the economics classes. I knew it was a huge risk, applying with only an undergrad degree, as most students from my university had at least a year of graduate coursework before applying to even European masters. I am very pleased with my results, though, and I look forward to attending the program that I chose. The only things that I probably would've done differently are: (1) I would've probably majored in math when I first thought about it (since my Math average is significantly higher than my Business average), or that I would've done my undergrad in the US when I had the chance and (2) I would've probably applied to mainly masters programs.
I guess I'll be back again for Fall 2013 PhD admissions.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Georgetown, LSE EME, BGSE MS Economics, CEMFI MSc Economics and Finance, PSU (from
  • Institution: UPF MSc Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: None Notification Date: 2/25/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: I wish I had funding. Haha.
  • Institution: Georgetown Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: None Notification Date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: I don't think I will attend Georgetown, even if I can sweet talk my parents into funding me.
  • Institution: CEMFI Master in Economics and Finance Decision: Accepted Funding: tuition waiver, plus 10,000 euros per academic year Notification Date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: first admit with funding! Yay! And I think I'd love to go to CEMFI.
  • Institution: LSE MSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics Decision: Admitted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: Happy, but I didn't get funding though. Have to talk it out with the parents.
  • Institution: Penn State Economics Decision: Accepted Notification date: 03/15/11 Notified through: E-mail Comments: WTF. No funding for the first year though.
Rejects:
    rejected off the WL though) Rejections: Northwestern, Columbia, Brown, Penn, Virginia, Stanford, Duke, Singapore Management COMMENTS: I wasn't an economics major when I entered college, and I left school for a year after sophomore year (since something happened to me) to evaluate myself, and the direction I was going. I accidentally stumbled upon economics, and I found out that I loved it. Like the previous poster, however, I decided to do a PhD only around my junior year, so I had to cram a lot of math during my last two years, plus take the economics classes. I knew it was a huge risk, applying with only an undergrad degree, as most students from my university had at least a year of graduate coursework before applying to even European masters. I am very pleased with my results, though, and I look forward to
  • Institution: Duke Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification Date: 2/26/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: I knew I was a long shot.
  • Institution: Penn Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification Date: 2/25/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: One of the schools I was hoping to get into, but okay.
  • Institution: Columbia Economics Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: as expected.
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: This broke my heart.
  • Institution: University of Virginia Economics Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: last minute application
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: as expected.
  • Institution: Brown Economics Decision: Rejected Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: as expected.
  • Institution: Singapore Management University Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 05/03/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: If the thread on highest ranked admit vs. lowest ranked rejection is still around, I'll probably win the award. Hahaha. But no worries, I think I'm all set for September. All I have to do is post my profile.
Waitlists:
    waitlist) Waitlists: PSU (eventually
  • Institution: Michigan Economics and Public Policy Decision: Waitlisted Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: Should I even try to wait and see if I'll eventually get an admit?

ryanmagic 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Rank 3 University in China (Fudan), B.A. of econonmics, with one semester exchange experience in UC Davis.
Undergrad GPA: 3.57 in Fudan, top 10%; 4.0 in UC Davis (courses with * below).
Type of Grad: N/A.
Grad GPA: N/A.
GRE: 800Q 540V 3.0 AWA, TOEFL 105.
Math Courses: Advanced Math (differential calculus, integrals, a little differential equations)(B&A-), Linear Algebra(B+), Probability Theory(A), Statistics(A-).
Econ Courses (grad-level): N/A.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Political Economics(A), Micro(A), Macro(B+), International Trade(B+), History of Economic Thoughts(A), Econometrics(A+*), Macro Development(A*), Money and Banking(A+*), Financial Management(A-), Industrial Economics(A), Investment(B), Economic History of China(A), Accounting(B), Contemporary Chinese Economy(B+), Theory on Capital(C+).
Other Courses: C programming(A).
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from UC Davis, 1 from Fudan.
Research Experience: RA for a term, one independent project and one team project in progress.
Teaching Experience: Representative for a course.
Research Interests: Labor, Development, IO.
SOP: So so.
Other: Awarded the National Scholarship in China (for top 1tudents).
RESULTS:
Acceptances: BU MA, UC Davis ARE MS.
Waitlists:
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Northwestern, UPenn, Columbia, NYU, Cornell, Duke, CMU, Rochester, Maryland, Berkeley AREC, BU, JHU, UC Davis, Georgetown, U Colorado - Boulder, UC Davis ARE PhD.
Pending: Syracuse, Columbia QMSS.
What would you have done differently?
I would apply to Canadian master programs, Duke master and Tufts master.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: BU MA, UC Davis ARE MS.
Rejects:
    Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Northwestern, UPenn, Columbia, NYU, Cornell, Duke, CMU, Rochester, Maryland, Berkeley AREC, BU, JHU, UC Davis, Georgetown, U Colorado - Boulder, UC Davis ARE PhD.
Waitlists:
    Waitlists:

LUDuckling 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 30 liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 4.0 Economics/Maths/International Relations
GRE: Q 800 V 730 AW 4.0
Math Courses: Calculus, Linear Algebra, ODE, Probability, Math Stat, Real Analysis
Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro, Macro, Econometrics, IO, Economic Thought, Development, Money Banking
Letters of Recommendation:professor of grad micro class; econ prof; math thesis advisor - all mentioned my originality & ability to abstract from real world happenings. One talked about I am "one of the most impressive students during his 40+ years of teaching at Harvard & xx university."
Research Experience: RIPS student industrial math research@IPAM; RA; math thesis in game theory
Teaching Experience: TA math & econ for 2 years
Research Interests: micro, behavioral, not really set
Other Experience: Co-founded a company and initiated an int'l summer school; various volunteering experiences, mainly has to do with (re)building houses for poor people(write about in diversity statement)
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Yale, Columbia, NYU, UCB, Chicago, etc.
Waitlists: MIT, UCLA, CMU
Rejections: Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Brown, Caltech, etc.
What would you have done differently?
Applying straight from a non-top liberal arts college and with no significant grad course work/ research job, I am very content with my result. I think I really put everything I could reach together. I have no regrets.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Yale, Columbia, NYU, UCB, Chicago, etc.
Rejects:
    Rejections: Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Brown, Caltech, etc.
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: MIT, UCLA, CMU

noa 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Economics, specialized in Quantitative Econ (basically lots of Econometrics) from unranked European Univ
Undergrad GPA: 9.27/10 (top of 300+ class)
Type of Grad: One year Master in Economics from the same uni (taking it now)
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q 660V ?A
Math Courses: linear algebra, topology, calc and advance calc, real analysis, matrix algebra, linear and non-linear programming (all A+ save for linear algebra, A-)
Econ Courses (grad-level): macroeconomics, microeconomics, quant methods, energy markets, labor markets, monetary markets
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro I-IV, Macro I-IV, game theory, tons of Econometrics and Statistics courses (mostly As, a couple of Bs)
Other Courses: Some applied econ courses, business courses, operations research
Letters of Recommendation: Should be quite good, from teacher whose PhD is from Harvard, UPenn, SUNY, CEMFI, Stanford, and whose Post-Doc was from Berkeley, Princeton,... (I think asking for approx. 10 LORS is a lot so I'm splitting the work a bit)
Research Experience: TA/RA Scholarship for a semester, I wasn't allowed to do much however, university system in Spain is not flexible at all...
Teaching Experience: High School Math and English tutor
Research Interests: Applied Econometrics, Macroeconomics, Micro Theory
SOP: Not finished yet, hopefully decent
Concerns: Adcoms not knowing my uni, not knowing how to interpret grades, etc. Also I'll be applying as a US student but I have more of a Int'l profile (I have dual citizenship)
Other: Any suggestions welcome!
Applying to: assorted top 20 and some safeties, also applying for several RA positions
Accepts:
Rejects:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: Feb 16 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: not yet Comments: expected, but still disappointed since it was one of my top choices
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: rejected Funding: n/a Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: oh well
  • Institution: Northwestern University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: - Notification date: 3/4/2011 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: no Comments: -
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: Postal mail, postmarked March 4th Posted on GC: No Comments: The letter got here quick... I live in Spain
  • Institution: UMD Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: Postal mail, postmarked March 4th Posted on GC: No Comments: Deserved. I said Berkeley once in the SOP. Still no admission though, and I don't think I'll be getting one. Life goes on...
  • Institution: Columbia Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/9/11 (not really sure about this one...) Notified through: E-mail to check website Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: Princeton Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/11/11 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: Harvard Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/15/11 Notified through: Snail Mail Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: NYU Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/11/11 Notified through: Unofficial e-mail after I asked about my status Posted on GC: no Comments: Guess I'll be staying home this year!
Waitlists:
  • Institution: UPenn Economics Decision: Waitlisted Notification date: 2/28 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: no Funding: N/A Comments: Honestly, a bit surprised. This proves you shouldn't listen to your professors when they say "don't worry, they've [Adcom at Penn] already assured me you're in".

caledonian2011 2011:
Type of Undergrad: BS from a large Asian Uni (ranked in top 60 in econphd.net), majored in Economics and Applied Mathematics
Undergrad GPA: 3.82 (top undergraduate)
Type of Grad: MS in Economics from a top European uni
Grad GPA: Highest honors, ranked top 5 graduates of about 80 people in cohort
GRE: 800Q, 600V, 5.0AW
Math Courses: Linear algebra I (B), Linear algebra II (A-), Calc (B+), Multivariate Calc (B+), Diff Eq (B-), Mathematical Stats (A+), Probability (A+), Numerical Computation (B-), Real Analysis I (A), Real Analysis II (A-), Complex Analysis (A-)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro I, II, II (All A+) .. (intermediate micro is micro II), Macro I, II, III (All A), Econometrics I, II, III (all A+), International econ (A+), Game Theory (A+), IO (A+), Monetary Econ (A-), Financial Econ (B+), Math econ (A+), Health econ (B+)
Econ Courses (grad-level): PhD micro (A-), Phd macro (A), PhD Econometrics (A), Game Theory (A+), price theory (B+), master IO (A), PhD IO (B+), Empirical IO (A-), dynamic optimization (A+), Mircoeconometrics (A+)
Other Courses: None relevant
Letters of Recommendation: 1 master thesis supervisor, 1 undergrad thesis supervisor, 1 from master program... None of them is famous, but all letters should be good or very good
Research Experience: Undergrad Honors thesis (grade A-) and Master thesis (grade A, and currently polishing under my sup to send for publication), and some term papers
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Theoretical and empirical IO, applied microeconometrics
SOP: explained reasons for doing PhD, career goal, and talk (at a rather shallow level) about research interest... did not mention any names of professors
Concerns: Some poor math grades (but math dept in undergrad uni is very stringent in grades), no 800Q (but not retaking), letter of recommendation from not famous people, lack of RA experience
Applying to: (I only have "sufficient money" to apply to around 10 schools). Looking to apply to 4 top 10s (probably MIT, Stanford, Yale, NU) , 4 top 20s (probably Columbia, NYU, UPenn, UCSD)... and 2 "safeties": UIUC and Penn State
Others:I posted my profile on a seperate thread to ask for comments but I didn't get many. If anybody has any advice or comment, please PM me. I will appreciate it very much!
Accepts:
  • Institution: UIUC Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: fellowship and TAship Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution:Penn State economics Decision: Accepted Funding:yes Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: Boston University economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: UC San Diego economics Decision: Accepted Funding: ? Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: UPenn Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Fellowship Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: Northwestern economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Waitlisted for 1st year funding Notified through: Email Posted on GC: no Comments: -
  • Institution: Chicago economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes Notified through: Email Posted on GC: no Comments: -
  • Institution: Columbia economics Decision: Accepted Funding: yes Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Most likely will attend
Rejects:
  • Institution: NYU Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notified through: Mail Posted on GC: No Comments: -
Waitlists:
  • Institution: MIT economics Decision: Waitlisted Funding: ? Notified through: Email Posted on GC: no Comments: Not hopeful at all

tsimonoce 2011:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Joint (not double) Math / Econ major - Top 15 for Econ.
Undergrad GPA: 3.70 Cumulative, 3.96 in Econ, 3.63 in Math.
Type of Grad: n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800q / 610v / 4.5awa
Math Courses: LOWER DIV: Calc 1-3 and DiffEq taken in HS. Vector Calc (B), Linear Algebra (B). UPPER DIV: Probability (B), Stochastic Processes (B), Statistics (A-), Math Reasoning (A-), Analysis 1 (A+), Analysis 2 (A+), Applied Linear Algebra (A).
Econ Courses: Micro 1 (A+), Micro 2 (A), Micro 3 (A+), Macro 1 (A+), Macro 2 (A-), Metrics (A), Game Theory (A+), Micro Research Class (A), Grad Micro (IP), Senior Thesis (IP).
Letters of Recommendation: All three got PhDs from Stanford and I did research with. 2 really well-known and one assistant prof.
Research Experience: Small Micro class research, independent research project over summer (with a prof), and Senior Thesis.
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Micro - especially Game Theory / Contract Theory
Concerns: Feeling pretty good
Other: All 3 letter of recommendation writers think I will crack top 5.
Applying to: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford GSB, Stanford Econ, Berkeley, Chicago, Northwestern, Yale, U Penn, NYU, Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, Wisconsin, NSF.
Accepts:
  • Institution: Caltech Social Sciences PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: $28k/year Notification date: Feb 10 Notified through: email Comments: Notified first through phone. It was a private/blocked call so I didn't answer! Got a voicemail and email. Ecstatic!!!
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics (PhD) Decision: Accepted Funding: not clear Notification date: 2/23/2011 Notified through: I checked the site after having seen the offer post here Posted on GF: no Comments: awesome!
  • Institution: UPenn Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: on the "very high" waitlist Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comment: gmail put it in my spam filter! i got the offer a little over an hour ago.
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: fellowship Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: not quite understanding how much money the stipend is?
  • Institution: UCSD Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Not yet specified Notification Date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Same as all above.
Rejects:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: Feb 16 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Economic Policy and Analysis Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: February 18 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Not fun.
  • Institution: Michigan Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Somewhat surprised but I'll live.
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: Not surprised.
  • Institution: Chicago Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: awesome...on top of the implicit stanford rejection, i'm pretty upset.
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/08/11 Notified through: Postal Posted on GF: yes Comments: Really really wanted it. Cruel that they teased me and it took 3 days to go 30 miles in the mail. Ouch.
  • Institution: Princeton University Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: NYU Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: 03/21/2011 Notified through: emailed Marj about status Posted on GC: No
Waitlists:

thesparky 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Econ with honours, top 4 Canadian
Undergrad GPA: ~3.9X/4.0 (converted)
Type of Grad: none
Grad GPA: -
GRE: 800Q 650V 4.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III (A-, A, A+), Honours Linear Algebra (A-), Proofs (A), ODE (A+), Probability (A+), Stochastic Processes (A+)
Econ Courses: Inter. Micro I-II (A, A+), Inter. Macro I-II (A-, A-), Stats-Metrics (A+, A+, A+), Development Econ (A+), Game Theory (A+, A+), Human Behaviour (grad; A+), Honours Thesis (A, A), Math Econ (A, A)
Other Courses: some commerce courses (As), some relevant non-econ courses (A, A+), several unofficial grad course audits
Letters of Recommendation: econ/psych prof; current boss (well known); econometrics prof
Research Experience: A couple of directed studies (A+s), thesis, some years RA for first letter of recommendation writer, currently full-time RA for second letter of recommendation writer.
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: Behavioural econ
SOP: Its a statement of purpose alright.
Concerns: No real analysis. Oh well.
Other: Had a SSHRC (Canadian NSF) last year.
Applying to: Some top 5 (with B-schools) and a few others
Accepts:
  • Institution: Caltech Social Sciences PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: $28k/year Notification date: Feb 10 Notified through: email Comments: All accepts probably today. [edit]phone also[/edit]
  • Institution: Cornell Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Sage Fellowship Notification date: 03/11/11 Notified through: Email Comments: Glad to have it.
Rejects:
  • Institution: Chicago Booth MOB Decision: Rejected Funding: n/a Notification date: Feb 16 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Economic Analysis and Policy Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: February 18 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments: Was never going to happen.
  • Institution: MIT Sloan Economic Sociology PhD Decision: rejected Notification date: 2/22/2011 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GF: No Comments: Email to check website = reject. No B-school for me :/
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: another one bites the dust.
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: Probably none Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: figures.
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: - Notification date: 3/4/11 (mailed) Notified through: Mail Posted on GF: Comments: Finally able to check what I knew was there.
  • Institution: Harvard University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/14 Notified through: mail Posted on GC: No Comments: there's the end of it. all official notifications received.
Waitlists:
  • Institution: UMich Economics Decision: waitlisted Funding: 1st year tuition waiver, TA/RA 2nd year onward (if admitted) Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: they ask us to keep them updated about our other offers.

riskaverse 2011:
Type of Undergrad: B.Sc. Economics at Top10 South American university; B.A. International Relations (not the same university as Economics)
Undergrad GPA: 7.5/10 for Economics (Top 5%); 8.46/10 for International Relations
Type of Grad: M.A. Economics at Top10 South American university (not the same as undergrad).
Grad GPA: 7.98/10
GRE: 800Q/540V/4.0A (2nd try)
Math Courses (undergrad): Calculus I and II
Math Courses (grad): Real Analysis, Measure Theory, Linear Algebra (audit)
Econ Courses (undergrad): a lot of them
Econ Courses (grad): Micro Theory I to IV (entire MWG), Macro Theory I to III, Econometrics, Microeconometrics, Corporate Finance, Empirical Microeconomics, Mathematical Economics I and II (some chapters of Stokey&Lucas).
Other Courses: lots of them too because of International Relations
Letters of Recommendation: A total of 4 letters, all from my MA professors. I think all of them like me, but I'm pretty unsure about the strenght of the letters. Two of them are somewhat well known, specially in their fields. I sent the letter from my advisor to all universities and rotated among the other recommenders.
Research Experience: My MA Dissertation. I have some works from undergrad published (co-authored), but not in academic journals (they were mainly directed to policy makers in my country - only one of them written in English).
Teaching Experience: TA for Microeconomic Theory II and Statistics II at the graduate level; TA for International Finance and IO in MBA courses; TA for Micro and Trade for undergrads.
Research Interests: Microeconomics, Contract Theory, Corporate Finance
SOP: very honest. I liked it in the end.
Other: TOEFL 106, but a low grade in the speaking portion. Although I applied to all parts of the US, I have very strong personal reasons for wanting to be in the East Coast.
Concerns: my first GRE try was a disaster, the second try was in December 2010, which made me really afraid of my results getting to the universities very late. My profile seems sometimes a Frankstein for me and I'm really concerned about my letters of recommendation. I don't have the minimum score for the TOEFL speaking portion that many universities require. I'm not the strongest applicant from my country this year, which makes me very pessimist about my dream schools. Also, I worked some time before entering my MA, so I'm kind of older I think... well, lots of concerns!
Accepts:
  • Institution: Penn State (PSU) Decision: Accepted Funding: yes (RAship) Notification date: 2/20/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GF: yes Comments: Totally unexpected for a Sunday! Really relieved!
  • Institution: Minnesota Economics (PhD) Decision: accepted Funding: yes (TAship) Notification date: 2/22/2011 Notified through: email with formal acceptance (pdf) Posted on GF: yes Comments: very very happy!!!
  • Institution: Arizona State (ASU) Economics (PhD) Decision: Accepted Funding: not mentioned Notification date: 2/22/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GF: yes Comments:
  • Institution: University of Rochester Economics (PhD) Decision: Accepted Funding: no funding Notification date: 2/23/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GF: yes Comments: wrote the department to ask about my results. They replied with a letter attached saying I was accepted but no funding...
  • Institution: U Penn Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: "very high on the wait list for a first year fellowship" Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: yes Comment: kind of worried about funding but very very happy . Great school!!
  • Institution: Georgetown Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: yes Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: yes
  • Institution: Wharton Applied Economics Decision: Admitted Funding: Yes Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: I am very very happy!! The program seems very nice and l would love to live in Philadelphia!!
  • Institution: Wisconsin - Madison Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: no first year funding, support guaranteed for the next three years Notification date: 03/14 Notified through: Email (informal) Posted on GC: yes Comment: without funding, even only for the first year, is impossible for me
  • Institution: UIUC Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: yes Notification date: 3/14/11 Notified through: Email Posted on GradCafe: yes Comment: very nice, specially after a week of rejections
  • Institution: Cornell Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: No Notification Date: March 23, 2011 Notified through: Official e-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: no funding for 5 years as well... but I'm really surprised to be accepted
Rejects:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: Feb 16 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: yes Comments: I cried... one of my very top choices. Already expected from not hearing from them, but it is still hard... Congrats for the ones accepted and waitlisted!
  • Institution: Harvard Kennedy School Political Economy and Government (PhD) Decision: Rejected Funding: - Notification date: 2/22/2011 Notified through: Postal service (the letter was dated 2/18) Posted on GC: Yes Comments: long long shot, but still
  • Institution: Duke PHD Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: e-mail to check website Posted on GC: yes Comments: kind of expected
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: Yes Comments:
  • Institution: Northwestern University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: - Notification date: 3/4/2011 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: yes Comments:
  • Institution : Chicago Program : Economics PhD Decision : Rejection Funding : N/A Notification date : 3/7/2011 Notified through : E-mail Posted on GC : yes Comments : soooo sad... I thought I had a good chance
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/08/11 Notified through: email Posted on GF: yes Comments: it was a long shot
  • Institution: Columbia University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Notification Date: 3/09/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: Yes Comments: This one hurt a lot...
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/11/11 Notified through: Email Comments: never really thought I had a chance, but I had to try... it was my dream school, both for academic and personal reasons
  • Institution: NYU Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification date: 3/18/11 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: Finally... they replied my email
  • Institution: Boston University Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Rejection FUnding: N/A Notification Date: 03/25/2011 Notified Through: Email Comments: Mass email with no care about privacy...
  • Institution: Washington University St. Louis (WUSTL) Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: -- Notification date: April 13 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: finally^2
  • Institution: Columbia Business School Finance and Economics Decision: Rejected (from wait list) Funding: N/A Notification date: 04/19/2011 Notified through: e-mail to see website Posted on GC: no Comments: I happened to know that I was waitlisted from the rejection letter.
Waitlists:
  • Institution: Brown Economics PhD Decision: Wait listed Funding: I think it's yes if admitted Notification date: 3/18/11 Notified through: Email to check Website Posted on GC: yes Comments: short wait list

Ineedanap 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small, women-only, liberal arts college (double major in Econ/Poly Sci; won honors thesis prize for both depts and school-wide)
Undergrad GPA: 3.89/4.0
Type of Grad: Top 3 US program (Policy MA, took grad econ/extra math courses while there)
Grad GPA: 3.9/4/0
GRE: 800Q/710V
Math Courses: Linear algebra (A), Ordinary Diff Eqs (A), Multivariable Calc (A), Calc-based probability (A), Analysis (A)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Macro (A), Micro (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): A lot... all A's (major GPA: 3.98/4.00)
Other Courses: A lot of Poly Sci/ Policy coursework...
Letters of Recommendation: Both from well-respected, top 50 economists globally. Worked as an RA for both.
Research Experience: Honors thesis in undergrad, 3 years of quant-intensive RA experience since then.
Teaching Experience: grad-level economic growth course
Research Interests: International economics, macroeconomics
SOP: Strong (doesn't everyone think so??)
Concerns: I worked for a couple years in the private sector and then got a policy MA... may come across in my application as "unsure of what I want to do with my life so I'm defaulting to a PhD in Econ"
Other:
Applying to: MIT, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Berkeley, LSE, UCSD, Columbia
Accepts:
  • Institution: University of California at Berkeley Economics, PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: No mention yet.. Notification date: 2/25/2011 Notified through: Website Posted on GF: Yes Comments: I checked the website this morning - https://gradadm.berkeley.edu/grdappl/welcome. Went to "login to your online application account." On the left hand side, at the bottom is a hyperlink that reads "Admit with Awards SIR." And yes, I'm very excited. Update: Just talked to the Cal admissions people - apparently there's some glitch in the system and I was not supposed to be able to see the offer online yet. The formal offer is being mailed.
  • Institution: University of California at Berkeley Economics, PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: No mention yet.. Notification date: 2/25/2011 Notified through: Website Posted on GF: Yes Comments: I checked the website this morning - https://gradadm.berkeley.edu/grdappl/welcome. Went to "login to your online application account." On the left hand side, at the bottom is a hyperlink that reads "Admit with Awards SIR." Update on funding - snail mail offer arrived today- full funding + stipend for four years.
  • Institution: London School of Economics and Political Science Economics MRes Decision: Accepted Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Uninterested.
Rejects:
  • Institution: London School of Economics & Political Science Track 1 PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: -- Notification date: 03/07/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: Was last in my list of preferences.
  • Institution: Stanford University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: -- Notification date: 03/06/2011 Notified through: postal Posted on GC: yes Comments: Not unexpected, also not a good fit for my specialization
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: -- Notification date: 03/07/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: yes Comments: This one was a bit more painful than the others...
Waitlists:

econger 2011:
Institution: LSE
Program: EME 2y
Decision: Accepted
Funding: no "graduate support scheme" - other available scholarships pending till July...
Notification date: 01/21/11
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: no
Comments: if I don't get any form of financial support, I cannot afford the fees (plus living expenses London!) - so I guess I hope for PhD-admits or other Master-programs, which are more generous
Accepts:
  • Institution: LSE EME 2y Decision: Accepted Funding: no "graduate support scheme" - other available scholarships pending till July... Notification date: 01/21/11 Notified through: Email Posted on GF: no Comments: if I don't get any form of financial support, I cannot afford the fees (plus living expenses London!) - so I guess I hope for PhD-admits or other Master-programs, which are more generous
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: nothing for the first year, then salary via assistentships plus tuitions but not including the enormous non-residential fee Notification date: 3/6/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: Well... happy on the one hand to get my first admit... but sad on the other hand that I will hardly be capable to finance this...
Rejects:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: Feb 16 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments: sad - but not suprising, since obviously all admits were already made yesterday
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: rejected Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: Mail Posted on GC: no Comments: Quite expected - why do they vary so much in how they inform the applicants? Anyway, I think it is very respectful from them to send a real letter as rejection-notification... (esp. seen in contrast to some other universities that obviously think that they are too brilliant to send official rejections at all...)
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Reject Funding: -- Notification date: 3/9/2011 Notified through: E-mail (I asked them) Posted on GC : no Comments: Not really suprising
  • Institution: Princeton Economics PhD Decision: Reject Funding: -- Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: Harvard Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/15/11 Notified through: mail Posted on GC: no Comments: well, at least it's nice that they did answer at all.
Waitlists:
  • Institution: Columbia Economics PhD Decision: Wait list Funding: dunno Notification date: 3/9/2011 Notified through: E-mail, unofficial Posted on GC : no Comments: Actually, one of my absolute favourites - so happy to be still part of the race (is this an English saying? anyway...)

thirty 2011:
Institution: Yale
Program: Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: Feb 16
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: no
Comments: Started thinking about applying next year if I don't get any offer.
Accepts:
  • Institution: UPenn Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: very high on the wait list for a first year fellowship Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: yes Comment: So happy.
Rejects:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: Feb 16 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments: Started thinking about applying next year if I don't get any offer.
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: California dreaming...
  • Institution: Harvard Kennedy School of Government Public Policy Decision: Reject Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/03/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/4/2011 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: No Comments: 3rd reject this week.
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Chicago Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Notification Date: 3/08/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Columbia University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Notification Date: 3/09/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Columbia Business School Finance PhD Decision: Rejected Notification Date: 3/09/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No Comment: 9th straight rejection. Only Princeton rejection is left, and I'll be relieved after that.
  • Institution: Princeton University Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: - Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: End of the season for me (with implicit rejections from Harvard, NYU). I'm happy for my only offer, hoping funding comes through.
Waitlists:

kida 2011:
Institution: Yale
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: rejected
Funding: -
Notification date: 02/16/2011
Notified through: email to check site
Posted on GF: no
Comments: sad to start with rejection..
Institution: Duke
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: accepted
Funding: yes
Notification date: 02/22/2011
Notified through: email to check site (yesterday department also sent email with funding details)
Posted on GF: no
Comments: soooo happy
Institution: Northwestern
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: accepted
Funding: yes /edit: called them and apparently my first email with details on funding got lost... /
Notification date: 02/23/2011
Notified through: no notification, checked site after seeing post here
Posted on GF: no
Comments: yay!
Accepts:
  • Institution: Duke Economics Decision: accepted Funding: yes Notification date: 02/22/2011 Notified through: email to check site (yesterday department also sent email with funding details) Posted on GF: no Comments: soooo happy
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics Decision: accepted Funding: yes /edit: called them and apparently my first email with details on funding got lost... / Notification date: 02/23/2011 Notified through: no notification, checked site after seeing post here Posted on GF: no Comments: yay!
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: yes Notification date: 3/6/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: very very happy
  • Institution: NYU Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: yes Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: speechless...
Rejects:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: rejected Funding: - Notification date: 02/16/2011 Notified through: email to check site Posted on GF: no Comments: sad to start with rejection..
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: rejected Funding: - Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: email GC: no Comment: oh well
  • Institution: Columbia University Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: - Notification Date: 3/9/2011 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: Very nice letter though
  • Institution: Princeton University Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: - Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: and with this I got all my decisions (except the implicit rejections from Harvard and BU), good luck to all those still waiting!!
Waitlists:
  • Institution: University of Pennsylvania Economics Decision: Waitlisted Funding: - Notification date: 02/28/2011 Notified through: via email Posted on GC: no Comment: finally a decision... I thought it will never come
  • Institution: MIT Economics Decision: waitlisted Funding: - Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: I cannot believe it, wow...

Pinkee 2011:
My apology for posting late too.
Institution: Penn State
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Full fellowship
Notification date: really early
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: No
Comment: One of the earliest decisions.
Institution: UC Berkeley
Program: PhD in ARE
Decision: Recommended for admission
Funding: Nominated for competition
Notification date: 02/04/2011
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: No
Comment: Email saying a more formal letter would follow, but haven't received it yet.
Institution: Yale
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 02/16/2011
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: No
Comment: My top choice, perfect match for my research interests (development and political economy). I thought I had a shot, but got to know the sad result about a week before the official notification, so kinda prepared for it.
Institution: Stanford GSB
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 02/18/2011
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: No
Comment: Super long shot. I actually regret applying...
Institution: Penn - Wharton
Program: PhD in Applied Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 02/22/2011
Notified through: Email to check the website
Posted on GC: No
Comment: I think my research interests do not really match.
Institution: Penn
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Waitlisted
Notification date: 02/24/2011
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: No
Comment: One of my top choices. Hoping for the best.
Accepts:
    Accepted Funding:
  • Institution: Penn State Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Full fellowship Notification date: really early Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comment: One of the earliest decisions.
  • Institution: UC Berkeley ARE Decision: Recommended for admission Funding: Nominated for competition Notification date: 02/04/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comment: Email saying a more formal letter would follow, but haven't received it yet.
  • Institution: Penn Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Waitlisted Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comment: One of my top choices. Hoping for the best.
Rejects:
    Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/18/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No Comment: Super long shot. I actually regret applying... Institution: Penn - Wharton Program: PhD in Applied Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/22/2011 Notified through: Email to check the website Posted on GC: No Comment: I think my research interests do not really match. Institution: Penn Program: PhD in Economics Decision:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/16/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No Comment: My top choice, perfect match for my research interests (development and political economy). I thought I had a shot, but got to know the sad result about a week before the official notification, so kinda prepared for it.
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/18/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No Comment: Super long shot. I actually regret applying...
  • Institution: Penn - Wharton Applied Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/22/2011 Notified through: Email to check the website Posted on GC: No Comment: I think my research interests do not really match.
  • Institution: Duke University Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/25/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GF: No Comments: Expected.
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Long shot.
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: Long shot.
  • Institution: Chicago Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments:
  • Institution: UMD Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/9/2011 Notified through: E-mail to check website Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/9/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: Columbia Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no
  • Institution: Princeton Economics PhD Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no
Waitlists:
    Waitlisted Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comment: One of my top choices. Hoping for the best.
  • Institution: UMich Economics Decision: Waitlist Funding: Yes, if accepted Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: A bit confusing letter.
  • Institution: NYU Economics PhD Decision: Waitlisted Notification date: 3/5/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: 3 wl's in a row... a bit disappointed

vidamilonga 2011:
I just got an account, so I'll post my results so far in chronological order. Somewhat schizophrenic results...
Institution: Yale
Program: econ PhD
Decision: rejected
Funding: n/a
Notification date: mid Feb
Notified through: email to check website
Posted on GF:no
Comments: not surprised, but a little disheartened
Institution: UPenn
Program: econ PhD
Decision: waitlist
Funding:n/a
Notification date: 2/25
Notified through: email
Posted on GF: no
Comments: high on waitlist
Institution: Harvard
Program: econ PhD
Decision: accepted!
Funding: not specified, but I did submit my documents late
Notification date: 2/25
Notified through: phone call
Posted on GF: yes
Comments: total surprise! but super excited
Institution: UC Berkeley
Program: econ PhD
Decision: rejected
Funding:n/a
Notification date: 3/2
Notified through: email
Posted on GF: no
Comments: surprised at this, especially given my Harvard admit. my recommenders told me I had a very good chance, and they're very well-connected to Berkeley. Oh, well, at least it makes my decision even easier
Accepts:
    accepted! Funding: not specified, but I did submit my documents late Notification date: 2/25 Notified through: phone call Posted on GF: yes Comments: total surprise! but super excited Institution: UC Berkeley Program: econ PhD Decision:
  • Institution: Harvard econ PhD Decision: accepted! Funding: not specified, but I did submit my documents late Notification date: 2/25 Notified through: phone call Posted on GF: yes Comments: total surprise! but super excited
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes Notification date: 03/10/11 Notified through: Email Comments: Incredible!
Rejects:
    rejected Funding: n/a Notification date: mid Feb Notified through: email to check website Posted on GF:no Comments: not surprised, but a little disheartened Institution: UPenn Program: econ PhD Decision:
  • Institution: Yale econ PhD Decision: rejected Funding: n/a Notification date: mid Feb Notified through: email to check website Posted on GF:no Comments: not surprised, but a little disheartened
  • Institution: UC Berkeley econ PhD Decision: rejected Funding:n/a Notification date: 3/2 Notified through: email Posted on GF: no Comments: surprised at this, especially given my Harvard admit. my recommenders told me I had a very good chance, and they're very well-connected to Berkeley. Oh, well, at least it makes my decision even easier
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: oh, well
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: postal mail Posted on GC : no Comments: oh, well
  • Institution: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 4/5 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: It would have only meant an extra $4k for me, so I'm glad it went to people who got admissions/funding from it. Congrats to all the new fellows!
Waitlists:
    waitlist Funding:n/a Notification date: 2/25 Notified through: email Posted on GF: no Comments: high on waitlist Institution: Harvard Program: econ PhD Decision:
  • Institution: UPenn econ PhD Decision: waitlist Funding:n/a Notification date: 2/25 Notified through: email Posted on GF: no Comments: high on waitlist
  • Institution: U Michigan Economics Decision: waitlisted Funding: if admitted, at least tuition/healthcare for 1st year, GSI thereafter Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: Letter says everyone not offered funding was waitlisted. Funding offers were made based on balancing out fields and likelihood of acceptance.

jzir11 2011:
Institution: Stanford
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Rejected
Notification date: 3/5/2011
Notified through: Mailed letter
Posted on GC: no
Comments: Bummed, but not unexpected (like several others here, I hoped to stay in the bay area). Curious if anyone has any insight into the "special sauce" Stanford is looking for.
Accepts:
Rejects:
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/5/2011 Notified through: Mailed letter Posted on GC: no Comments: Bummed, but not unexpected (like several others here, I hoped to stay in the bay area). Curious if anyone has any insight into the "special sauce" Stanford is looking for.
Waitlists:

Brusegadi 2011:
Institution: Stanford
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Rejected
Funding:
Notification date: 3/6/2011
Notified through: Mail
Posted on GC : no
Comments: Letter postmarked March 04
Accepts:
Rejects:
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 3/6/2011 Notified through: Mail Posted on GC : no Comments: Letter postmarked March 04
Waitlists:

Milo2010 2011:
Rejections:
Institution: Yale
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejection
Funding: -
Notification date: 2/16/11
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GF:
Comments:
Institution: UPenn
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejection
Funding: -
Notification date: 2/24/11
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GF:
Comments: A bit shaken, as this is the second reject.
Institution: UC Berkeley
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejection
Funding: -
Notification date: 3/2/11
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GF:
Comments: As expected. Been told that we tend not to take our own undergrads.
Institution: Northwestern
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejection
Funding: -
Notification date: 3/4/11
Notified through: Checked the website.
Posted on GF:
Comments:
Institution: Stanford
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejection
Funding: -
Notification date: 3/6/11
Notified through: Mail
Posted on GF:
Comments: The most painful reject thus far. I was hoping not to leave the Bay Area.
Institution: MIT
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejection
Funding: -
Notification date: 3/7/11
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GF:
Comments: Very much expected. It was a long shot anyways.
Admits:
Institution: UCLA
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Acceptance
Funding: No first year funding.
Notification date: 3/2/11
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GF:
Comments: Really not thrilled with the "no first-year funding" part.
Accepts:
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Acceptance Funding: No first year funding. Notification date: 3/2/11 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: Comments: Really not thrilled with the "no first-year funding" part.
  • Institution: UCSD Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Unspecified. Notification Date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: No Comment: Invitation to open houseonly. Details will come in the official admission letter later.
Rejects:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: - Notification date: 2/16/11 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: Comments:
  • Institution: UPenn Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: - Notification date: 2/24/11 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: Comments: A bit shaken, as this is the second reject.
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: - Notification date: 3/2/11 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: Comments: As expected. Been told that we tend not to take our own undergrads.
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: - Notification date: 3/4/11 Notified through: Checked the website. Posted on GF: Comments:
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: - Notification date: 3/6/11 Notified through: Mail Posted on GF: Comments: The most painful reject thus far. I was hoping not to leave the Bay Area.
  • Institution: MIT Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: - Notification date: 3/7/11 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: Comments: Very much expected. It was a long shot anyways. Admits:
  • Institution: Columbia University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Notification Date: 3/09/2011 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: Quite painful reject. Thought that this would have been within reach. Perhaps my expectations in general were off.
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Dream school. Sad it didn't work out.
  • Institution: Brown University Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/11/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Oh well.
  • Institution: NYU Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification date: 3/18/11 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: Finally scrambled up the courage and emailed them...prompt reply.
Waitlists:


Waitlists:

eds 2011:
PROFILE
Type of Undergrad: South Italian University. Graduate in 2004.Major in Economics
Undergrad GPA: 110/110 cum laude (say equivalent to 4 )
Type of Grad: MSc in economics form a top 5 UK department in 2007,
Grad GPA: Master 90+%,
GRE: 800Q, 590V, 3.0AWA. I will be retaking it next month. Do not consider this result when evaluating my profile.
Math Courses: (UG)General Mathematics, Financial Mathematics, Linear Algebra, Real Analysis Multivariable Analysis(should be calculus) , Statistics I and I. ‐ All equivalent to A's or A+.
Math Courses: (Master): introductory to math and stats 90%+
Econ Courses (masters-level): Micro, Macro, monetary economics ,international monetary economics, Econometrics ,Trade theory All 90%+
Econ Courses (PhD level) About 13 course in macro fields with famous profs at PhD level. All passed with As
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro and Macro Theory, Labor, International economics, monetary economics, Industrial econ. Development economics, economic history, History of economic thought theory, econometrics, Public economics, Regional Economics, Applied economics, Economic Policy‐ All equivalent to A's or A+
Other Courses: Summer school at UPF
Letters of Recommendation: ) 1 stellar letters from a NYU PhD undergraduate thesis supervisor well connected 2) Form a guy with PhD Michigan well known in his field. I got A in his graduate course. I am now looking for the third letter.
Research Experience: A working paper in progress with one of my a letter of recommendation writers and we are talking to start working on a paper with my second letter of recommendation writer. Not sure If I will have something concrete by December 2010 . I won special merit from the evaluation committee for the quality of my u/g thesis work, presentation skills and academic performance. I also won the prize for the best u/g thesis for that year. My MSc thesis was marked (90%+) as the best among MSc students in my year. Visitor Researcher at a well know institute .Visitor Scholar at a top 20 US department (research only) for fall 2009. I have served as a visitor scholar at the research division of the ECB
Teaching Experience: TA for intro to micro (In the USA) and for Monetary economics
Research Interests: Monetary economics , International macro, .
SOP: Should be strong.
Concerns: AGE!!!! I am, currently 33. I will been turned 34 and a half by fall 2011 .. I need to get new letters of recommendation from people I currently work with . I cannot ask for a letter from my MSc because of other personal reasons nor from the US department.
Other: Applying for the usual fellowships.
Applying to: In many programs. In the US and Europe. Suggestions are welcome !
Accepts:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: To be announced Notification date: Feb 15 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: Yes Comments: How good are they on monetary policy and Central Banking????
  • Institution: Minnesota Economics (PhD) Decision: accepted Funding: fellowship Notification date: 2/22/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GF: yes Comments: This is a school I was targeting to get in considering my research interests but for some other reasons I cannot attain. I will decline their offer
  • Institution: UPenn Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: yes Notification date: 02/24/2011 Notified through: email Posted on GC: yes Comment:Well it is a good gift a day before my birthday(2/25) but I am waiting for a real good one on my birthday day
  • Institution: University of California, Santa Cruz International Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: yes Notification date: 02/28/2011 Notified through: via email Posted on GC: yes Comment: None
  • Institution: Stockholm School Of Economics Economics Decision: Accepted Notification date: 03/01/2011 Notified through: via email one hourago Posted on GC: Yes Comments: none
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: yes Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC:yes Comments:none
  • Institution: UMich Economics Decision: accepted Funding:yes Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments: letter date 03/01/2011
  • Institution: Columbia University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Accepted Notification Date: 3/09/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqlJl1LfDP4
  • Institution : Chicago Program : Economics PhD Decision : Accepted Notification date : 3/8/2011 Notified through : E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments : none
  • Institution :Oxford Program : Economics Mphil Decision : Accepted Notification date : 3/8/2011 Notified through : E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments :They first rejected me from the DPil and now they are offering me a place to the MPhil program. I already got two masters ..... WTF!!!!
  • Institutioninstitution: Northwestern Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: none Notification Date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: website Posted on GC: No Comments: Took a lot of time for them.....
  • Institution: Tilburg Research Masters Decision: Accepted Funding: Partial tuition waiver (pay1,713), waitlisted for CentER scholarship Notification date: March 14 Notified through: email Posted on GC: soon Comments:They ask me to inform them before 28 March 2011 whether I intend to accept their admission offer.
  • Institution: HEC-Lausanne Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Same interview invitation with ecpfdq above. Notification date: 04/21/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: no Comments: none
Rejects:
  • Institutioninstitution: Oxford DPhil in economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: 2/14 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: YES Comments: Who cares about oxford.They offered me the opportunity to pass my application for the Mhil program while I already hold two masters degrees.Lol!!!
Waitlists:
  • Institution: Harvard University Economics Decision: waiting list Notification date: 2/28 Notified through: I called Posted on GF: yes Comments:I do not hope much. People usually do not turn down Harvard and MIT offers
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: wait list Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC : yes Comments: Second wait list for Cambridge schools.
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: waitlist Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: Phone Posted on GC: yes Comments: I had enough waiting so I called them!
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Waiting List Notification date: 03/11/11 Notified through: Email Comments:none
Admit summary statistics:
As submitted and recoreded from Test Magic:
There were 11 accepted out of 46 applicants.Of those accepted, average GPA was 3.93, average GREQ was 798.0.
From the Department webpage in 2010 (please send me a link if this is wrong!)
The Department receives more than 700 applications per year, and approximately 50 are admitted. The entering class size usually consists of 25 students. On average, approximately 50 percent of our admits are international students...Most of our successful applicants score a perfect 800 on the quantitative section of the GRE, and at least a 4.5 on the analytical section. If you do not score at least a 780 on the quantitative section and a 4.0 on the analytical section, we recommend that you re-take the exam and try to improve your score. In the admission process, the verbal section of the test is not as heavily weighted.
(Source-Source 2)

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Last Updated: 14:58:1, Fri May 11, 2012