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:

asianecon 2008:
I'll just be following my friend econphilomath...
Type of Undergrad: B.A. in Economics from a top institution in Southeast Asia.
Type of Grad: M.A. in Economic Theory and Metrics from France
GPA: Graduated 1st in my class for undergrad and 2nd for masters
GRE: 800Q, 610V, 4.5AWA
TOFEL: 114/120
Courses: Tons of econ, some math, no formal real analysis (only audited)
TA: None
Teaching: None
Research: 1 published in IJIO; Honours and MA thesis
RA: RA during undergrad; RA right now for profs in a top 5 program
LORS: 1 really senior (Econometric Society Fellow), 2 junior but quite famous, 1 from undergrad (co-author)
Interests: Microeconometrics + (Statistical) Decision Theory + (a little bit of) Mechanism Design/Game Theory --> IO applications
SOP: Not so good I guess. Not focused enough and all over the place. Kinda sounded like I didn't know what I wanted to do.
Schools: Shooting for the top 10 schools.
Other: Male, 25
RESULTS:
Attending: Northwestern ($$$$)
Acceptances: Yale ($$$$$$$....), Chicago GSB ($$$), Stanford ($$), UChicago ($)
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Harvard, HBS (interviewed) MIT, Princeton, UCSD
Never heard anything: Berkeley
What would you have done differently?
Made my SOP tighter. Maybe tried to impress my current RA bosses more, but I'm not really an applied/Stata guy so that won't be fun. An adcom head told me that they would've accepted me even without the current RA job so I don't know if it really helped (a friend of mine even speculates that it might have hurt me since it's not aligned w/ my interests).
Contrary to econphilomath, don't put too much weight on the flyout. Try to visit the school on an ordinary day and see what goes on. I didn't go to a real flyout at NWU (not even the special TM day) but I decided to go there nonetheless, after visiting thrice and attending classes and seminars.
Accepts:
    Attending: Northwestern ($$$$) Acceptances: Yale ($$$$$$$....), Chicago GSB ($$$), Stanford ($$), UChicago ($)
Rejects:
    Rejections: Harvard, HBS (interviewed) MIT, Princeton, UCSD
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: None

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

laca 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Econ from top 10 US, top 5 econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.77/4.00
Type of Grad:
Grad GPA:
GRE: 800Q 690V 4.0AWA
Math Courses: Honors Calculus I-III (A,B-,A), Real Analysis I-III (A-,B+A-), Math Probability (A-), Stat Methods/Theory (A-)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Price Theory I (B), Social Interactions and Inequality (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate micro (A-,A), intermediate macro (A,A-), game theory (A-), IO (A), honors metrics I-II (B+, A), macro modeling (B+), reading/research (A,A)
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: 1 econ, 1 finance, 1 accounting prof, all highly regarded in their field. I have RAd for at least a year for each, two of them have seen me in a classroom setting as well. Coauthored an unpublished working paper with two of them. They all reassured me that the letters would be strong.
Research Experience: 1 year undergrad RA, 1.5 year as full time researcher at highly ranked business school.
Teaching Experience: for a short while I tutored math to freshmen in college
Research Interests: applied micro
SOP: Nothing too exciting.
Concerns: Math grades could be stronger; GRE AWA could be better. Hoping that research experience and strong LORs will compensate for it.
Other: Some poli sci electives and required college core courses
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Chicago Booth finance ($$), Chicago ($), Stanford GSB political econ ($$), NYU Stern finance ($$), UCLA ($)
Waitlists:
Rejections: Berkeley, Brown, Columbia GSB finance and econ, Cornell, Harvard, Kellogg finance, MIT, NYU, Princeton, Stanford, Yale
Attending: Chicago Booth finance
What would you have done differently?
Overall, I am very happy with my results, although I was really not expecting the composition of the acceptances to be so tilted towards finance instead of econ - I originally applied with the expectation that I would end up at an econ program. I think that the take home point is that recommendations matter; having two biz school recs provided me with excellent results at other business schools, but possibly doomed my applications at econ departments. So in hindsight I should have added an additional econ recommender. I also wonder a bit if I somehow messed up my econ sop, despite the fact that I have much less familiarity with finance research topics.
However, I am quite excited to take a step outside of my comfort zone, and learn about a whole new field!
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Chicago Booth finance ($$), Chicago ($), Stanford GSB political econ ($$), NYU Stern finance ($$), UCLA ($)
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Political Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Standard package Notification Date: 2/17/12 Notified through: phone Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Amazing.
  • Institution: Booth Finance PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 35K Notification date: 02/22 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes
  • Institution: NYU Stern Finance PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Don't know yet, but assume full funding Notification Date: 2/28 Notified Through: Unofficial email from professor Posted on GC: Yes
  • Institution: UChicago. Econ PhD. Decision: Accepted Funding: Fellowship (23k + 3k summer) Notification Date: 2/29 Notified Through: E-mail Posted on GC: Yes Comments: I finally have a pure econ acceptance!
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Fellowship Notification Date: March 2 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
Rejects:
    Rejections: Berkeley, Brown, Columbia GSB finance and econ, Cornell, Harvard, Kellogg finance, MIT, NYU, Princeton, Stanford, Yale
  • Institution: Yale Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 12.22.2012 Notified through: Checked website after posts here. Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification 2/24/12 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: MIT Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: February 22 Notified through: Email to check webpage Posted on GC: No Comments: Although I always thought it was a long shot, it's still disappointing; was my top choice without question.
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification Date: March 2 Notified Through: Website Posted on GC: Yes Comments:
  • Institution: Princeton University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification Date: 3/8/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Like Peot, this just about wraps up the season for me. I am a tad ambivalent about the results - I was hoping for more econ and received (apart from Chicago) a bunch of finance and PE instead. Suppose a little career shift might not be so bad. Conclusion: unless your coursework clearly conveys you're a genius, who writes your recs will make it or break it.
  • Institution: Brown Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/15/12 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC: Yes Comments:
  • Institution: Harvard Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification Date: 3/20/2012 Notified Through: Mail Posted to GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: NYU Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification Date: 3/21/2012 Notified Through: E-mail Posted to GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Columbia Business School Finance and Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification date: 03/21/12 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Cornell Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 4/4/12 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Whatever.
Waitlists:
    Waitlists:

OutOfGame 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.96
Type of Grad: Part-time student at a top 5
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: Q800/ V580/ AWA 5.5
Math Courses: Calc, Modeling, Linear Algebra, Intro to Proofs, Real Analysis, Complex Analysis, Measure Theory, Functional Analysis, Topology, Abstract Algebra, Combinatorics, Number Theory, Probability, Stats, Stochastic Processes, Math Problem Solving
Econ Courses: Principles, Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Finance, Game Theory, Accounting, Econometrics, PhD Econometrics
Other Courses: Intro to CS, Data Structure, Algorithms, Data Mining
Letters of Recommendation: 3 research supervisor (top young professors in econ / finance), 1 PhD Metrics professor (department chair at top 5), 1 undergrad professor (took 3 classes with, and TAed for).
Research Experience: ~2 years full time RA at top 5
Teaching Experience: TA for intermediate macro
Research Interests: using empirical methods to answer macro / finance questions; IO
SOP: professors say it's very good
Other: rejected by all top 10 schools two years ago
RESULTS:
Attending: MIT
Acceptances: MIT, Harvard, Stanford GSB, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Berkeley, Chicago, NWU, Columbia, NYU, Booth (finance / joint), Sloan (finance)
Waitlists: Penn, Wharton (finance), Michigan
Rejections: None
Never heard back after interview: Stern (finance)
Accepts:
    Attending: MIT Acceptances: MIT, Harvard, Stanford GSB, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Berkeley, Chicago, NWU, Columbia, NYU, Booth (finance / joint), Sloan (finance)
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Economic Analysis and Policy Decision: Accepted Funding: Standard package Notification Date: 2/17/12 Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Yale Decision: Accepted Funding: Will come in by mail Notification date: 02/22 Notified through: Email to check online status change Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Booth Finance PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 35K Notification date: 02/22 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes
  • Institution: Harvard Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: coming by mail Notification 2/24/12 Notified through: phone Comments: Happy
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Admitted Funding: ?? Notification 2/24/12 Notified through: phone call Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: MIT Decision: Accepted Funding: Fellowship Notification date: 2/27/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: 34k Notification Date: March 2 Notified Through: Website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Will come by email soon Notification Date: March 2 Notified Through: Website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Columbia Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Tuition + stipend + summer funding etc Notification Date: March 2 Notified Through: Email
  • Institution: Sloan Finance Decision: Accepted Funding: 32k Notification Date: March 2 Notified Through: Email
  • Institution: Princeton Econ Decision: Admit Funding: ~30k Notified: 3/7 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no
Rejects:
    Rejections: None
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: Penn, Wharton (finance), Michigan
  • Institution: Penn Economics Decision: Waitlisted Notification 2/24/12 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No
  • Institution: University of Chicago Economics PhD Decision: Waitlisted Funding: NA Notification date: 2/29/2012 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: "In a normal year, I would be offering you admission and financial aid at this time. Due to the economic realities of the current year, however, we must place you on a short wait list."
  • Institution: Wharton Ph.D. Finance Decision: Wait listed Funding: N/A Notification Date: 3/5/2012 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no
  • Institution: Michigan Economics Decision: Waitlisted Funding: N/A Notified: 3/13/12 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: no Comments:

roadvirusss 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 5 Liberal Arts College
Majors: BA Math, BA Economics
Undergrad GPA: 3.94/4
GRE: 800Q, 610 V, 6.0 AW
Math Courses: Linear Algebra (A-), Vector Calculus (A), Cryptography (A-), Combinatorics (A), Intro to Analysis (A), Differential Equations (A), Real Analysis I (A-), Real Analysis II (A), Probability Theory (A), Statistical Theory (A), Complex Analysis (A), Abstract Algebra I (A), Operations Research (A), Topology (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro Macro (A-), Intro Micro (A), Empirical Methods (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), International (A), Energy Economics (A), Econometrics (A), Game Theory (A), Advanced Micro (A)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Econometrics I (A-)
Research Experience: Departmental honors for theses in both majors; Math thesis will be published. Did econ and math research during undergrad summers.
Research Interests: Applied Micro, IO
SOP: Spent no time on fluff; focused on a particular project.
Letters of recommendation: Four active Harvard PhD economists.
Concerns: Did poorly when I applied two years ago (Profiles and Results 2010).
Work Experience: Two years working as an RA at a top 5.
Results:
Accepted: Princeton, Northwestern, Chicago Booth, Columbia, UCLA, UCSD, Wisconsin, Duke
Waitlists (all declined): Penn (vh), NYU, Michigan
Rejected: Wharton (Interviewed), Yale, Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, GSB, Chicago, Stern, HBS, Cornell
Never Heard from: UW
Attending: Princeton
What would you have done differently?
Nothing. I was very well informed about the process this time around. I'm definitely happy with my results, and in the end the decision between Princeton and Northwestern was a tough one. It was odd that the only Top 7 I got into was the one worst in IO even though my SOP was spent entirely on an IO topic. My decision to take two years off was in the end vindicated, even though I largely slacked off during this time and at one point almost gave up on the PhD route. I can't help but be an advocate of the liberal arts college -> RA -> PhD route, as the improvement in rec letters alone earned me a jump from the top 25 to the top 5.
Accepts:
    Accepted: Princeton, Northwestern, Chicago Booth, Columbia, UCLA, UCSD, Wisconsin, Duke
  • Institution: Booth Econ Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 35k Notification Date: 2/23/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Shocked!
  • Institution: Duke Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 19k Notification Date: 2/28/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Columbia Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 26.5k Notification Date: 3/2/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: UCLA Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: I need to ask for it? Notification Date: 3/2/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Withdrawn
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 22k Notification Date: 3/5/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Wow!
  • Institution: Princeton Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 30k Notification Date: 3/8/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Absolutely stunned.
  • Institution: UCSD Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 19k Notification Date: 3/14/2012 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Declined
Rejects:
    Rejected: Wharton (Interviewed), Yale, Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, GSB, Chicago, Stern, HBS, Cornell
  • Institution: Yale Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification Date: 2/17/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification Date: 2/23/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Berkeley Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification Date: 2/29/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Disappointed...
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification Date: 2/29/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Chicago Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification Date: 2/29/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Stanford Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification Date: 3/2/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Harvard Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification Date: 3/5/2012 Notified Through: Mail Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution:NYU Stern - Econ Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notified: 3/12 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Wharton Applied Economics PhD Decision: Rejected (Interviewed) Funding: NA Notification Date: 3/16/2012 Notified Through: E-mail to check website. Posted to GC: No Comments: Didn't take it as a good sign that my interviewer never got back to me with the follow-up emails he promised. My results have had a pretty high variance so far.
  • Institution: Cornell Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 4/4/12 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: NSF waiting list?
Waitlists:
    Waitlists (all declined): Penn (vh), NYU, Michigan
  • Institution: Penn Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: N/A Notification Date: 2/24/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: NYU Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: N/A Notification Date: 3/6/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Waitlist size is "in the tens."
  • Institution: Michigan Economics Decision: Waitlisted Funding: N/A Notified: 3/13/12 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: no Comments:


Rejections:

Econ07 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: International, Top in the country
Undergrad GPA: 9.3/10.0
Type of Grad: MSc
GRE: Q800, V550, A4.5
Math Courses:Undergrad: Calculus I-III, 2 semester Lin Algebra, Probability, Statistics, Real Analysis
Grad: Real Analysis II, Measure Theory, Statistics
Econ Courses: Lots of undergrad, core grad sequence in Micro, Macro and Econometrics
Electives: Contract Theory, Finance, Advanced Theory
Letters of Recommendation: All domestic based. Two tenured, two junior. All had PhDs from top 7.
Research Experience: MSc thesis in progress, Undergrad thesis
Research Interests: Theory, Public Finance
SOP: Discussed my background and interests
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Chicago(Ext fund), Columbia($), MIT($, not immediately), Northwestern (waiver, Ext fund), NYU($), Princeton($), Penn($), Yale (lots of $)
Rejections: Chicago GSB-Econ, Stanford GSB-Econ, Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford
What would you have done differently?
Not have applied for the Fulbright. Focused more on the GSBs, emphasizing theory or not have applied to those.
Advice: Relax. Focus on every aspect of the app (LORs, courses, research exp). Now, I believe this forum overemphasizes math (but, still, you should have Real Analysis). Having recomendants that are known by the Adcom seems to be important.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Chicago(Ext fund), Columbia($), MIT($, not immediately), Northwestern (waiver, Ext fund), NYU($), Princeton($), Penn($), Yale (lots of $)
Rejects:
    Rejections: Chicago GSB-Econ, Stanford GSB-Econ, Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford
Waitlists:

AstralTraveller 2008:
Type of Undergrad: Top research institution in the country (Latin America), Economics major.
Undergrad Ranking: 54th out of almost 300 people
Type of Undergrad: Doctoral Stream MA in Econ at same University as undergrad.
Grad Ranking: 4th out of 38
GRE: 780Q, 550V, 3.5 AW
GMAT: 710 Overall, Percentile 95%Q, 83%V.
Math Courses: Calc I,II, Statistical Probability, Statistical Inference, Classic Algebra, Linear and Matrix Algebra, Optimization Methods, Mathematical Economics (Differential Equations).
Econ Courses:
UG: Intro Econ, Intro Micro, Intermediate Micro I & II, Industrial Organization, Intro Macro, Intermediate Macro I & II, International Economics, Econometrics, Urban Economics, Econ Growth Theory.
Graduate: Micro Theory (MWG), Macro Theory (Journal articles), Econometric Theory incl. Probability Theory (Spanos, Greene), Applied Econometrics (Hamilton, Maddala, Baltagi), Resource Economics (Journal articles), Behavioral Economics (Becker + Journal articles), Economics of Regulation (Tirole), Macroeconomic Programming (too many things to mention!), Social Projects Evaluation (Fontaine + Journal articles).
Letters of Recommendation: 3 Profs from my alma mater (two econometricians who graduated from Econ departments ranked 30-50, plus the director of grad studies who graduated at a top-15 institution), 1 prof from the current B-school I work at (graduated from a B-school in Europe, but who has held visiting positions at several top-5 US schools) and 1 letter from a professor (Info Systems and Technology Management) at a US Top 30 B-school who studied at a top-5 PhD program in the New England area. To all I related either as a student, research assistant, or both.
Research Experience: RA for three years: one at my alma mater's Econ department, two at a nascent local B-school. Several working papers.
Publications: Published an empirical paper on an ISI indexed blind-refereed minor journal, and a chapter on Maximum Likelihood Estimation on a Math for Economists textbook.
Teaching Experience: TA for entire Econometrics and Statistics sequence, undergrad and graduate Economics, and MBA.
Lecturer for graduate econ: Math camp (you know, the pre-enrollment course we'll all have to go through before our PhD...I have taught it!), plus Introductory Econometrics and Optimization Methods the following term. Also lecturer of Statistical Inference (for 2nd year undergrad business and econ) and Advanced Econometrics (for 6th year engineering students).
Research Interests: Industrial Organization, Econometrics.
SOP: Prepared over a 18 months timeframe.
Other: Male, single, 25 years old. Since I didn't take analysis at college, self taught Real Analysis from Baby Rudin and Topology from Ivorra. Pointed it out on my SOP.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: none so far
Waiting: UCLA (Anderson) [interviewed, shortlisted according to prof, but "not admitted" according to PhD program secretary]
Rejections: Northwestern (Econ), Chicago (GSB), Minnesota (Econ), Stanford GSB (EA&P), Duke (Fuqua), Brown (Econ).
Pending: NYU (Stern), MIT (Sloan) [these two already notified their admits], UCSD (Econ)
What would you have done differently?
Don't quite know yet . Prepared this season's application for years. As Mr. Keen, I don't know what a Micro or Macro course is without calculus. Have done my best throughout years to get admitted at a good place and so far I only have been "booted out". Maybe I applied to one too many business schools. Should have tried more Econ schools (2 top 10's) and some definite safeties.
Not sure if I want to go thru this process once again.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: none so far
Rejects:
    Rejections: Northwestern (Econ), Chicago (GSB), Minnesota (Econ), Stanford GSB (EA&P), Duke (Fuqua), Brown (Econ).
Waitlists:
    Waiting: UCLA (Anderson) [interviewed, shortlisted according to prof, but "not

no_time 2008:
Been free riding this forum too long. Perhaps this could be useful for someone as it has been for me.
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: industrial engineering major from top school in small, developing latin american country
Undergrad GPA: 6.3/7.0
GRE: 800q, 650v, 5.0w
Math Courses: Calculus, Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations, Elements of Vector Analysis, Functions of C in C, Numerical Methods, Probabilities, Statistics, Cue Theory, Optimization, Operations Research
Econ Courses: Micro, Macro, IO, Finance Theory, Derivatives Pricing
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from a finance professor from MIT-Sloan who I'm working with as an RA, 1 from a locally well known econ prof with whom I co-authored a paper, 1 from a locally well known OR prof from my university
Research Experience: RA on two empirical finance projects for an MIT prof, co-authored 3 pol econ paper (not very relevant except for the fact that I got to work with my future recommender)
Teaching Experience: I work as a junior faculty member at my former univeristy. I've instructed Finance Theory I and II several times and have extensive experience as a TA
Research Interests: Corporate Finance, slightly biased to empirical
SOP: I highlighted the fact that I worked at an investment bank prior to my academic interest, found some interesting questions that this experience had given me
Other: International student,
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Columbia GSB Finance & Economics (attending), UCLA Anderson, CMU Tepper, London Business School, Yale SOM, Boston College (interview), UBC Sauder
Waitlists:
Rejections: MIT Sloan, Chicago GSB, Stanford GSB, Kellogg, Berkeley Haas, NYU Stern, Duke Fuqua
Pending: Harvard GSB
What would you have done differently? Nothing really, this was by far the best outcome I could have dreamt of
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Columbia GSB Finance & Economics (attending), UCLA Anderson, CMU Tepper, London Business School, Yale SOM, Boston College (interview), UBC Sauder
Rejects:
    Rejections: MIT Sloan, Chicago GSB, Stanford GSB, Kellogg, Berkeley Haas, NYU Stern, Duke Fuqua
Waitlists:
    Waitlists:

desimba 2008:
PROFILE:
Field you are applying to: Business Economics-type departments in business schools & conventional Economics departments as well
Type of Undergrad: Chemical Engineering (IIT)
Undergrad GPA: 3.88
Type of Grad: Business Adminstration
Grad GPA: 4.0
GMAT: 750
Math Courses: Vector Calculus; Linear Algebra with Applications (Graduate); Mathematics – I , II & III; Transform Calculus & PDE (Undergraduate: Topics covered include Complex Analysis, Multivariable Calculus, Numerical Methods, and Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations) (No real analysis)
Econ Courses: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Game Theory (Graduate-at the MBA level); Economics (Undergraduate)
Relevant Finance Courses: N/A
Other Courses: N/A
Letters of Recommendation: 3-4 from professors at my graduate institution
Research Experience: RA in Engineering during my graduate studies; some experience during my consulting job at our firm's economic think tank
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Institutions; trade; development; transitional economies
SOP: 2-3 page SOP talking about why I am qualified; what got me interested in these topics; why interested in the school and briefly on future plans of joining academia. Provided citations to some academic papers which had kindled my interest on these topics
Other: GRE-800 Q; 580 V; 5.5 AWA; TOEFL:116
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Economics @ Wisconsin-Madison (without funding for 1st year); University of Michigan Ross School's International Business & Business Economics; Global Economics & Management at UCLA Anderson; Economics @ U. of Iowa; Business Economics & Public Policy at Kelley (Indiana) (all with funding)
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Stanford GSB Economic Analysis & Policy; Chicago GSB Economics; Economics @ University of Maryland; Economics @ Arizona State University; Economics & Public Policy at Tepper & Heinz, CMU
What would I have done differently? Nothing during the application phase; from a long term stand-point though, I would have tried to get my senior year thesis published & also during my MBA studies, I would have probably tried to get involved in research with faculty members at my institute
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Economics @ Wisconsin-Madison (without funding for 1st year); University of Michigan Ross School's International Business & Business Economics; Global Economics & Management at UCLA Anderson; Economics @ U. of Iowa; Business Economics & Public Policy at Kelley (Indiana) (all with funding)
Rejects:
    Rejections: Stanford GSB Economic Analysis & Policy; Chicago GSB Economics; Economics @ University of Maryland; Economics @ Arizona State University; Economics & Public Policy at Tepper & Heinz, CMU
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: None

DreamFactory 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BBA (minor Econ), International applicant, not top but one of the best schools in my country.
Undergrad GPA: 3.83/4.00 after rescale, summa cum laude (within 2% of the graduates, but the transcripts doesn't offer the rank anymore)
Type of Grad: Same school, MA econ - major:Economic theory (expected aug. 2009)
Grad GPA: 4.0/4.0 after rescale
GRE: 800Q, 670V, 4.0AWA
Math/Stat Courses:
Calculus I (B+),II (A), Intro to Probability (A+), Differential Equations I (B+), Linear Algebra I (Aced all exams, A+), II (A+), Analysis I (A+), II(A+), Topology I (A+), Stochastic Processes (A+), grad Real Analysis I (A)
Econ Courses: undergraduate - Principles I (A+),II (A), Biz Econ (A), Monetary (A), Financial (B+), Micro (A+), Macro (A), Metrics (B+)/ graduate - Micro I (A+) II (A), Macro I (A), II (A+), Metrics I (A+), Financial Economics (A), Micro Seminar (A+), Public Sector Economics II (A+)
Other Courses: Bunch in biz. especially in finance (mostly A's or A+'s in finance)
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ (both micro), 2 biz (both finance), 1 math (analysis 1,2, topology 1), all very strong but not so famous
Research Experience: RA for 2 semesters (participated in a project), 1 working paper, conference participation etc.
Teaching Experience: grad Micro I (MWG) - 2 semesters
Research Interests: Behavioral Finance/Economics/Experimental, Market Microstructure, various topics in Micro Theory......actually almost everything in Finance and Economics since most of them are interesting (I'll choose them after I get to know more)
SOP: no idea how it look like to the adcoms.
Other: External fellowship.(5 years of tuition+health+18k)
RESULTS:
Acceptances/Attending: U of Chicago (Econ, very late admission!)
Waitlists: none
Rejections: 4 econ (actually I was rejected from Chicago econ in March) - Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia
17 finance - Booth, Kellogg, Wharton, Stanford GSB, Sloan, Stern, Haas, Fuqua, Tepper, Simon, Anderson, UIUC, OSU, UMinn-TC, Eli Broad, Wisc-Madison, Johnson
Pending: LSE MSc Finance and Economics (Applied after all those dings)
What would you have done differently?
I would've concentrated more on my SOPs. Should've had different major in my undergrad (changing major is not allowed in my alma mater, and Biz major had toooooooo many required courses back then). Also, I should have gone for exchange student in the U.S. when young...get some LORs from famous faculties there...BUT I DON'T CARE ex-post, I got into one of my favorite school!
Accepts:
    Acceptances/Attending: U of Chicago (Econ, very late admission!)
Rejects:
    Rejections: 4 econ (actually I was rejected from Chicago econ in March) - Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia 17 finance - Booth, Kellogg, Wharton, Stanford GSB, Sloan, Stern, Haas, Fuqua, Tepper, Simon, Anderson, UIUC, OSU, UMinn-TC, Eli Broad, Wisc-Madison, Johnson
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: none

Mobius Strip 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Mathematics and Economics from a top 10-15 liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.87/4.0
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 800Q, 570V, 5.0AW
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Linear Alg, Modern Alg, Adv Modern Alg, Real Analysis, Game Theory (in Math Dept), Topology, Chaos Theory. Received department honors in Math.
Econ Courses: Basically all of them, 4.0 GPA, Thesis (A), Department Honors, Brownell Prize for Distinction in the Study of Political Economy
Other Courses: NA
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from Federal Reserve, 1 Math from Undergrad
Research Experience: RA for 3 years at FRB in DC. Co-authored published paper on racial discrimination in credit markets.
Teaching Experience: NA
Research Interests: Labor (Education), Real Estate, Financial Markets
SOP: Talked about my volunteer activities in tough, urban schools and how it shaped my interests in research in education. Transition to work at the Fed regarding discrimination in the credit markets. Final, throw-away paragraph naming some profs at schools who I'd be interested in working with.
Other: Crushed by NSF
RESULTS:
Acceptances: U Michigan (off waitlist, after 0-14 start)
Waitlists: NA
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Berkeley, Princeton, Chicago, Chicago Booth, Northwestern, Wharton, U Penn, NYU, Columbia, Duke
Pending: NA
Outside Fellowship: Received a $20k fellowship from undergrad college to supplement lack of funding from UM
What would you have done differently?
After receiving NSF results and reading Jeeves's posts, spelling out the broader impacts to make it easier to checklist. I scored fairly well on intellectual merit, but only average on the broader impacts.
Other than that, it's hard to say. I had nearly a 3.9 GPA with a Math and Econ double major, 3 years at the Federal Reserve, a published paper, and a presented working paper. I did spend 3 years in the private sector at a major bank, which probably hurt my admissions results, but gave me a broader personal, real-world experience that I do not regret taking.
Attending: U Michigan - Ann Arbor
Accepts:
    Acceptances: U Michigan (off
  • Institution: University of Michigan Programme: Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Notification Date: 31/03/2009 Funding: None Comments: Now 1 for 15!
Rejects:
    Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Berkeley, Princeton, Chicago, Chicago Booth, Northwestern, Wharton, U Penn, NYU, Columbia, Duke
  • Institution: Yale University Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/20/09 Notified through: Email to check website Comments: Did Yale and Duke have to be my first two responses?
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: 2/24/09 Notified through: E-mail Comments: Getting frustrated ...
  • Institution: Northwestern Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 2/26/09 Notified through: ApplyYourself Website, No email
  • Institution: Wharton Applied Economics, PhD Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/16 Notified through: Checked website Comments: Probably was my last shot: 800Q, 3.9 GPA, Math/Econ double major, and 3 years at the FRB -- but no graduate school in the Fall. $#@!
Waitlists:
    waitlist, after 0-14 start) Waitlists: NA
  • Institution: Michigan Economics, PhD Decision: Waitlist Notification date: 3/20 Notified through: snail mail Comments: Tease! Just when I got past anger and denial and into acceptance ...

nzecon 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Econ, minors:math, finance
Undergrad GPA: Econ 3.9, 3.7 overall
Type of Grad: M.S. Econ
Grad GPA: 3.8
GRE: 730Q, 530V, 4.0AWA
Math Courses: Multivariable Calc (B+), Linear Algebra (A+), Algebra (A+), Discrete Math(A), Real Analysis (B-), Math Modelling (B), Differential Equations (B+), classical mechanics (B-)
Econ Courses (Masters-level): Micro (A-), Finance Theory (A-), Applied Econometrics (B+), regulation and competition policy (A-) Industrial Organisation (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): managerial econ, econometrics, macro, IO, micro
Other Courses: OB, strategic management, marketing, accounting, heaps of finance
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors (1 well known top 10 school prof, 1 well known UK prof, 1 less well known but knows me well)
Research Experience: Masters thesis to be submitted, honours thesis, other research papers
Teaching Experience: TA Econometrics, Microeconomics and Strategic Management
Research Interests: IO, competition/regulation, innovation, micro theory
SOP: wrote a lot about my experience and how that's led me to the phd and my research topics, not sure if that was the right thing to do - but since my GRE is not solid at all I figure it was my best shot
Concerns: terrible GRE - paper based test in my country, could not resit
Other: been working full-time for two years in senior job related to regulation/competition policy and completed masters at the same time.
Applying to: HBS, Chicago Booth, NWU Kellogg, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, Stanford GSB.
Basically I decided that I like living in the same country as my family, not sure if I want to be on the other side of the world so if I am going to study a PhD in America its gotta be at a good school with $.
I chose business schools because I like the programs better. They also fit well with my interest for IO. Didn't have my GRE score at application - paper based test takes forever, Also difficult to resit without flying to another country for the computer based test.
Accepts:
Rejects:
  • Institution: Stanford GSB EA&P Decision: Rejected Notification date: 2/23/09 Notified through: Email/website Comments: expected
  • Institution nstitution: Chicago Booth Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: 2/24/09 Notified through: E-mail Comments: expected
  • Institution: Harvard Business Business Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/17 Notified through: letter date 3/9 Funding:Well expected
Waitlists:

econslave 2010:
Type of Undergrad: BA in Economics from top 15 liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.7ish
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q / 630V / 5.0AWA
Math Courses: Calculus I/II, Intro to Statistics, Probability Theory, Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Discrete Math, Ordinary Differential Equations, Real Analysis (Note: Some grades were good, but most were not.)
Econ Courses (Undergraduate): A lot of basic field courses, but also econometrics and advanced theoretical econometrics
Econ Courses (Graduate): N/A
Letters of Recommendation: (1) RA-ed for 2.5 years; (2) RA-ed for, co-authored decent article with, advised for thesis, and took two courses with; (3) Took an advanced economics course with as an undergraduate and did very well in the class (Note: None of the letter-writers are well-known, but all went to top 10 PhD programs.)
Research Experience: 2.5 years RA for one professor, 1 year RA for another professor, undergraduate thesis (ranked best), summer RA at prestigious policy think-tanks, 1 year full-time RA position with top 10 school professor
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Behavioral/experimental, decision theory, micro theory, applied micro
Concerns: Lacking in math (not many classes and less-than-stellar grades). Didn’t graduate with any honors or anything.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UCSD (TA $), Michigan (no $), Boston University (no $)
Waitlist: Minnesota
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Northwestern, Penn, Columbia, NYU, UCLA, Wisconsin, Caltech, Brown, Cornell, Duke, CMU, Maryland, Texas, PSU, Stanford GSB, Chicago Booth
What would you have done differently? Besides getting better grades as an undergraduate, not much. I applied to all of the top 20 and several others, and got into a few great schools. Perhaps I would’ve taken a different RA position, but it seems to have worked out anyway.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: UCSD (TA $), Michigan (no $), Boston University (no $)
  • Institution: Michigan Ph.D. Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Don't know Notification date: 3/1 Notified through: Checked website Posted on GF: No Comments I'm so thrilled about this. My first admit!!!
  • Institution: Michigan Ph.D. Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Don't know Notification date: 3/1 Notified through: Checked website Posted on GF: No Comments I'm so thrilled about this. My first admit!!!
  • Institution: UCSD Economics Decision: Accepted!! Funding: To arrive via e-mail next week Notification date: 3/12/2010 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Flyout March 31-April 1 ... Financial info to arrive next week. It was a personalized message. So happy!
  • Institution: Boston University Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: No Notification date: 3/26 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Nice, but I'll probably turn down the offer soon.
Rejects:
    Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Northwestern, Penn, Columbia, NYU, UCLA, Wisconsin, Caltech, Brown, Cornell, Duke, CMU, Maryland, Texas, PSU, Stanford GSB, Chicago Booth
  • Institution: Duke Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 2/16 Notified Through: E-mail Posted on Grad Cafe: No Comment: First "official" rejection. Trying to keep the faith.
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: None Notified Through: Checked online status Posted on Grad Cafe: No Comment: No good news yet...
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Economic Analysis and Policy Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/19 Notified Through: E-mail to check website Posted on Grad Cafe: No Comment: Not surprised, still worried
  • Institution: Duke Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/16 Notified through: E-mail to check website Posted on GF: No Comments: 1
  • Institution: Yale Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/18 Notified through: E-mail to check website Posted on GF: No Comments: 2
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Ph.D. Economic Analysis & Policy Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/19 Notified through: E-mail to check website Posted on GF: No Comments: 3
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/26 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: No Comments: 4
  • Institution: Northwestern Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/26 Notified through: Checked website Posted on GF: Yes Comments: 5
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Reject Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/02/2010 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: No Comments: Not surprised, but very disappointed. Oh well.
  • Institution: Columbia Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/4 Notified through: E-mail to check website Funding: Laughing to hide the tears... Comments: This is old news by now.
  • Institution: University of Chicago Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: See decision. Notification date: 03/05/2010 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: No Comment: Looks like Illinois does not like me.
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Reject Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/02/2010 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: No Comments: Not surprised, but very disappointed. Oh well.
  • Institution: Columbia Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/4 Notified through: E-mail to check website Funding: Laughing to hide the tears... Comments: This is old news by now.
  • Institution: University of Chicago Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: See decision. Notification date: 03/05/2010 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: No Comment: Looks like Illinois does not like me.
  • Institution: NYU Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: ... Notification date: 3/9 Notified through: E-mail (unofficial personalized rejection) Posted on GF: No Comment: This one really really sucks.
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Reject Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/9 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comment: Don't care anymore
  • Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison Economics Decision: Reject Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/9 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comment: Not surprised at this point.
  • Institution: Penn State University Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: ... Notification date: 3/10 Notified through: E-mail (from Lynn Sebulsky) Posted on GC: No Comment: More rejections --> disutility
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: ... Notification date: 3/10 Notified through: Snail mail Posted on GC: No Comment: Hm.
  • Institution: Harvard Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: ... Notification date: 3/12/2010 Notified through: Postal mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Big shocker...
  • Institution: University of Pennsylvania Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: - Notification date: 3/12 Notified through: E-mail to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: Expected by now.
  • Institution: Brown Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 3/16 Notified through: E-mail to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: Everything is alright.
  • Institution: MIT Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 3/16 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: I'm so surprised...
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 3/17 Notified through: E-mail (with PDF attachment) Posted on GC: No Comments: It's ok.
  • Institution: Cornell Economics Decision: Reject Funding: ... Notification date: 03/19/10 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Oh well.
  • Institution: Caltech Social Science Decision: Reject Funding: ... Notification date: 03/19/10 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Not surprised by now.
  • Institution: U Maryland Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/20/10 Notified through: E-mail to Check Website Posted on GC: No Comments: Not new news.[/QUOTE]
  • Institution: UT-Austin Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 3/26 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Oh well.
  • Institution: Carnegie Mellon Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 3/25 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Oh well.
Waitlists:
    Waitlist: Minnesota
  • Institution: Minnesota Ph.D. Economics Decision: Waitlist (not the "priority" one) Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/25 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: Yes Comments: Lots of rejections, and even more implicit ones. Hopefully one will work out.
  • Institution: Minnesota Ph.D. Economics Decision: Waitlist (not the "priority" one) Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/25 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GF: Yes Comments: Lots of rejections, and even more implicit ones. Hopefully one will work out.

shadowprice 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 undergrad; top 15 graduate econ program
Undergrad GPA: 3.46
Type of Grad: some master-level classes
Grad GPA:
GRE: 780 (1st time 690 - yikes!), 620, 5.0
Math Courses: Calc 1-3, Linear Algebra, Analysis and Optimization, Real Analysis 1-3, Probability, Statistical Inference, Stochastic Processes, Sample Surveys
Econ Courses (PhD-level):
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Development, Public, Poverty and Inequality, International Monetary Theory, Intro to Econometrics, Microeconometrics, Advanced Micro
Letters of Recommendation: 1 U Chicago - took class, very strong; 1 U Chicago - RA for three years at regional Fed; 1 UCLA - RA for one year in undergrad
Research Experience: 5 years - 2 in undergrad , 3 years at a regional Fed. Extensive programming, coauthoring 2 papers (although not at the time of applying)
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: Applied micro - public and IO.
Statement of purpose: 2 pages double-spaced (~650 words). Did not tailor to schools.
Concerns: Very low undergrad GPA with a few B's and B+'s in important classes
Other:
RESULTS:
Attending: University of Wisconsin ($$)
Acceptances: University of Wisconsin ($$), Boston University (none), Boston College ($$), Johns Hopkins (tuition - off of waitlist), UC-Davis (none), University of Pittsburgh ($$), University of Washington (could have if wanted), University of Colorado ($$), Georgetown (wl funding)
Waitlists: Carnegie Mellon (econ)
Rejections: Columbia, NYU, Brown, Chicago Booth, Michigan, Maryland
What would you have done differently?
Definitely do better as an undergrad. I went to a prestigious university that typically sends students to MIT (and NSF), so I feel like I let an amazing opportunity slip by. That being said, I am ecstatic with my admits and think that Wisconsin is a great fit for my interests. I know for a fact that one of my letters played a HUGE role in getting funding, so for anyone who does not have a stellar GPA - if you forge a great relationship with your professors, your chances of landing a top 20 admission are completely possible. Good luck all future classes!
Accepts:
    Attending: University of Wisconsin ($$) Acceptances: University of Wisconsin ($$), Boston University (none), Boston College ($$), Johns Hopkins (tuition - off of
Rejects:
    Rejections: Columbia, NYU, Brown, Chicago Booth, Michigan, Maryland
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: Carnegie Mellon (econ)

freakout2010 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.Sc. Economics at Top10 South American university.
Undergrad GPA: 8.5/10 (Top 5%)
Type of Grad: MA Economics at Top10 South American university (not the same as undergrad).
Grad GPA: 9.6/10 (1st in class)
GRE: 800q/500v/3.0a
Math Courses (undergrad): Calculus I to III, Linear Algebra, Introductory Real Analysis.
Math Courses (grad): Real Analysis, Measure Theory.
Econ Courses (undergrad): a bunch of them!
Econ Courses (grad): Micro Theory I to IV (entire MWG), Macro Theory I to III, Econometrics, Microeconometrics, (New Dynamic) Public Finance, Corporate Finance, Mathematical Economics I and II (some chapters of Stokey&Lucas).
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: A total of 5 letters, all from MA professors. Strong letter from my advisor which I sent to all universities (rotated among the other recommenders). Two strong letters from micro theory guys (with PhD outside US but good recent publications); one good letter from a professor at top10 US university; and one fair letter from well-known general equilibrium guy.
Research Experience: My MA Dissertation.
Teaching Experience: TA for Microeconomic Theory I and II at the graduate level.
Research Interests: macroeconomics, mechanism design, economics of information.
SOP: pretty standard
Other: Ranked the first (out of 800 candidates) on a national selection process for economics MA in my country.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Princeton($$$), Yale($$$$), Northwestern($$), Columbia($$), UCLA(no $)
Waitlists: MIT (then rejected)
Rejections: Chicago Booth (Econ), Stanford GSB (EA&P), Berkeley, HBS (BusEc), Harvard.
What would you have done differently? Not applied for to many business schools. Also I think I should have studied more for the analytical section of the GRE. I am pretty sure my application was dropped off on some schools because of my weak score.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Princeton($$$), Yale($$$$), Northwestern($$), Columbia($$), UCLA(no $)
  • Institution: Yale PHD Econ Decision: Accepted Notification date: 2/18 Notified through: E-mail to check website Posted on Gradcafe: no Date of Gradcafe post: no Comments: Great news !!!:D
  • Institution: Columbia Ph.D. Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: "Full funding" Notification date: 2/26 Notified through: Personal e-mail from Professor Posted on GF: No Comments: :)
  • Institution: Columbia Ph.D. Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: "Full funding" Notification date: 2/26 Notified through: Personal e-mail from Professor Posted on GF: No Comments:
  • Institution: Princeton University Economics Decision: Accepted Notification date: Mar 9 Notified through: Email Funding: 29,8k for 5 years (TA last 3 years)
Rejects:
    rejected) Rejections: Chicago Booth (Econ), Stanford GSB (EA&P), Berkeley, HBS (BusEc), Harvard.
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: MIT (then
  • Institution: MIT Economics Decision: Waitlisted Notification date: Mar 17 Notified through: email Funding: N/A Comments: is there any hope ?

Hammer456 2010:
Institution: Stanford GSB
Program: PhD Economic Analysis and Policy
Decision: Rejected
Notification date: mid February
Notified through: email to check website
Posted on GF:Nope
Institution: Northwestern (Kellogg)
Program: PhD Managerial Economics Decisions Sciences
Decision: Rejected
Notification date: late February
Notified through: checked website
Posted on GF:Nope
Institution: Chicago (Booth)
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Notification date: early March
Notified through: email
Posted on GF:Nope
Institution: Berkeley
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Notification date: March 2
Notified through: email
Posted on GF:Nope
Accepts:
Rejects:
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Economic Analysis and Policy Decision: Rejected Notification date: mid February Notified through: email to check website Posted on GF:Nope
  • Institution: Northwestern (Kellogg) Managerial Economics Decisions Sciences Decision: Rejected Notification date: late February Notified through: checked website Posted on GF:Nope
  • Institution: Chicago (Booth) Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: early March Notified through: email Posted on GF:Nope
  • Institution: Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: March 2 Notified through: email Posted on GF:Nope
  • Institution: Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: March 2 Notified through: email Posted on GF:Nope
Waitlists:

rthunder27 2011:
Type of Undergrad: BS in Electrical Engineering from Penn State, Math Minor
Undergrad GPA: 3.92 (1 B, assorted A-'s)
Type of Grad: MS in EE from Johns Hopkins, MA in Applied Econ from JHU in progress
Grad GPA: EE: 3.91, Econ: 3.95
GRE: 800Q, 630V, 4.5AW (08/10) / 770Q 650V 5.5AW (08/06)
Math Courses(undergrad): Calc, Multivariate Calc(A), Diff Eq(A), Matrices(A), Linear Programming(A), Game Theory(A), Stats(A), Numerical Computation(A-), Discrete Math-proof based(A)
Math/other Courses(grad)- My emphasis in EE was signal processing, which is pretty much all advanced calculus. Neural Networks (A), Intelligent Algorithms (A), Probability (B), Math of Finance (A), Control Systems (A), Digital Signal Processing(A), Advanced Signal Processing(A), Multidimensional Signal Processing (A), Wavelet Signal Processing (A)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro (A), Macro (A-), Statistics(A) Econometrics (A+), Game Theory in Economics (A+), Financial Economics (A+), Microeconometrics (A). Macroeconometrics, Macro Forecasting, International Finance
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro(A)
Letters of Recommendation: Strong letters I hope, but from weak recommenders. Undergraduate Thesis adviser (Math Phd, PSU I think), current supervisor (non-academic), and Grad School professor (UVA Econ Phd).
Research Experience: Undergrad Honors thesis on game theory/agent based modeling. Presented preliminary results from an unfinished game theory/behavioral paper on wagering Behavior in "Jeopardy!" at the Stony Brook Game Theory Conference. My current work is at a research lab, but it's not econ focused.
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Game Theory, Behavioral Economics/Finance, Discrete Micro
SOP: Strong maybe? I explained my research interests, the road I took in discovering them, and I describe the type of ideas that I have and how to test them.
Concerns: My letter of recommendation could be stronger, but that's a result of access. No RA, for which I am kicking myself, because I could have taken it as an elective in my EE MS program. No clue how adcoms view EE/signal processing (which is very much proof based calc at times)
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Stanford GSB Finance ($$$$), UCSD($), uArizona
Waitlists: Columbia (asked to be removed), Kellogg MEDS (implicit, later rejected)
Rejections: Princeton, NYU, Wharton, Booth, Berkeley, UCLA, CMU
What would you have done differently? Geesh, well, for starters, I would have realized my interest in economics earlier than 22 months ago (May 2009). I also regret some of my school choices, I probably should have applied MIT/Sloan instead of UCLA and I definitely should have applied for NSF, since I had a pretty good idea for a proposal, but I didn't learn about it in time. The late interest in economics really made it difficult to get good LORs while working full-time.
In reverse chronological order, I would have taken RA when I had the chance (Spring 2009), taken more than one econ course in my undergrad (2003-2007), potentially taken a different major entirely, and applied back in high school to more schools than just the PSU honors program (2002). But maybe I shouldn't have done anything differently; I got into a top 5 program about which I am very excited, and can lead to a wide variety of future opportunities. And I doubt I would have gotten in if I had a more traditional background. So although I sometimes feel I've wasted the past four years of my life, I did earn 2 masters in that time while saving up enough money to finance an extravagant (by grad student standards) lifestyle for the next 4-5 years, which is something at least.
Accepts:
    access. No RA, for which I am kicking myself, because I could have taken it as an elective in my EE MS program. No clue how adcoms view EE/signal processing (which is very much proof based calc at times) RESULTS: Acceptances: Stanford GSB Finance ($$$$), UCSD($), uArizona
  • Institution: Stanford GSB Finance PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: No mention Notification date: Feb 14 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: Yes Comments: I'm blown away right now
  • Institution: UCSD Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Letter coming later Notification Date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Relieved. This is the school a priori I thought I'd most likely attend. So even though I'll probably turn them down for Stanford GSB, it's just good to know that I wouldn't have been completely shut out if I hadn't had that fluke admit.
  • Institution: u Arizona Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: ?? Notification date: 3/17/11 Notified through: Unofficial e-mail Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Expected, but appreciated. This was my last minute safety school. I feel pretty good that my self-assessment of likely admits was pretty much dead-on, given this and UCSD (and my implicit waitlist at Kellogg). I will reject this for my completely unexpected Stanford GSB admit, so I'm glad to be spared a potentially difficult choice between a well-funded uA offer and a minimally funded UCSD offer.
Rejects:
    rejected) Rejections: Princeton, NYU, Wharton, Booth, Berkeley, UCLA, CMU
  • Institution: Wharton Applied Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: Feb 10 Notified through:Email Posted on GC: yes Comments: "Our applicant pool is outstanding and unfortunately we cannot offer admission to all good candidates." Very disappointed, this was one of my top choices.
  • Institution: uChicago Booth MOB Decision: Rejected Funding: N/a Notification date: Feb 16 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Slighty disappointed, but I had already convinced myself that Stanford GSB dominates them in my interests, so no biggie.
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Not unexpected, it was a bad fit, which I realized as I was prepping my SOP for them. I regret not applying to MIT/Sloan instead, but I guess I went on a Cali kick when selecting schools.
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Expected, given how things have been trending.I would be feeling incredibly depressed and hopeless right now if it weren't for Stanford GSB.
  • 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: Yes Comments: Not unexpected given the talk of waitlists over the weekend. Strictly dominated by other offer, so only hurts my ego, not my future.
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: - NA Notification date: 03/11/2011 Notified through: email
  • Institution: NYU Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/17/11 Notified through: Official e-mail Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Oh well, I figured that this was the case. They must have read the complaints I posted on this board Stanford it is then!
  • Institution: Kellogg MEDS Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/18/11 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Not surprising, I guess I was on their implicit waitlist, and they realized that they wouldn't need to draw from it. Overall a bit disappointing, because before decisions started rolling in they were my top pick of schools I thought I had a decent chance of getting. Of course things have changed a lot since then, and I'm happy with the way things turned out.
  • Institution: Columbia GSAS MA in Mathematics of Finance Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 06/22/2011 Notified through: e-mail to check site Posted on GF: No Comments: The Columbia PhD application had the option to also apply to an MA program for no additional cost. I figured why not, so I checked that box, and submitted to them the same exact SOP as I did to Economics. I don't particularly care, since I've accepted an offer elsewhere, but I am amused because I thought I was finished with getting rejection letters.
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: Columbia (asked to be removed), Kellogg MEDS (implicit, later
  • Institution: Columbia Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: Full Notification date: 3/8/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : yes Comments: My very first wait-list, I'll probably ask to be removed when they ask later.

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

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

taurenchieftain 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BAS in applied math and economics from Stanford
Undergrad GPA: 3.9
Type of Grad: MS in statistics from Stanford
Grad GPA: 3.9
GRE: 800 Q, 610 V, 5 AWA
Relevant Courses:
Linear Algebra and Differential Calculus (A+)
Multivariable Calculus (A+)
Ordinary Differential Equations (A)
Function of Real Variable (credit)
Linear Algebra and Matrix Theory (A+)
Theory of Probability (A+)
Statistical Inference (A)
Partial Differential Equations (A+)
Fundamental Concepts in Analysis (A+)
Linear Regression and Analysis of Variance (A)
Introduction to Stochastic Processes (A-)
Lebesgue Integral and Fourier Transformation (A)
Microeconomic Theory I (A-)
Microeconomic Theory II (A)
Macroeconomic Theory (A)
Introduction to Econometrics (A-)
Advanced Topics in Econometrics (A+)
Risk and Insurance (A+)
International Finance (A)
Financial Economics (A+)
Economics of Innovation (A)
Introduction to Optimization (A-)
Introduction to Stochastic Modeling (A)
Discrete Mathematics For Computer Scientists I (A)
Discrete Mathematics For Computer Scientists II (A)
Programing Methodology (A-)
Programing Abstractions (A)
Imperfect Competition (Pending)
Phd Micro I (Pending)
Financial Statisics (Pending)
Letters of Recommendation: one from chair prof in finance, one from assist prof in finance, one from assist prof in economics. Worked as RA for all three, knows me well and should be glowing.
Research Experience: 1 year each as an RA in economics and in finance. Doing honors thesis on a finance topic
Teaching Experience: ABSOLUTELY NONE
Research Interests: financial economics, corporate finance, IO, applied econometrics.
SOP: starting to write it
Concerns: I feel that I am prepared. My 3.9 GPAs are due to a few Bs in required humanities and writing courses (I am an international student).
Other:
Applying to: Top 15 finance and economics programs, but mainly in finance.
Accepts:
  • Institution: Northwestern University Finance Decision: Accepted Funding: coming in next email, but should be the standard package. Notification date: 02/28 Notified through: Email Posted on Grad Cafe: No Comments: First admit. This gave me back some confidence that was totally lost after the ding from MIT and waitlist from Stanford. Really blew my worries away. Now I can wait for the other schools and eventually the stanford waitlist with ease.
  • Institution: UCLA Anderson Finance Decision: Accepted Notification date: 03/01/2011 Notified through: via email Posted on GC: No Comments: I tend to stay on the business forum these days. This is just for untiltled's record and future applicants as a reference.
  • Institution: Duke Finance Decision: Accepted Funding: coming Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: no
Rejects:
  • Institution: Yale SOM Finance Decision: Rejected Notification date: 02/15/2001 Notified through: email directed to website Posted on GC: No Comments: None
  • Institution: MIT Sloan Finance Decision: Rejected Notification date: 02/20/2001 Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comments: None
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Finance Decision: Rejected Notification date: 03/01/2001 Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comments: Confirmed that I am not a top3 applicant. Bye-bye Chicago
Waitlists:

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:

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.

54321 2011:
Institution: Wharton
Program: Applied Economics
Decision: Interview invitation
Funding: N/A
Notification date: Feb 15
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: no
Comments: excited
Accepts:
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: fellowship Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: feels great to finally get an acceptance!
  • Institution: UT Austin Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: fellowship Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: good news
  • Institution: UCSD Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Letter coming later Notification Date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Invited to open house
Rejects:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: Feb 16 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments: Congrats to all 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: not too surprised
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No. Comments: Really liked this program
Waitlists:

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

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:

MathEcon12 2012:
Since it seems like the season is coming to an end for some TMers, and because last year's thread was also started on the second Saturday of March, I think it's a good time to get the annual Profile and Results Thread started.
I'll take a page out of Italos' playbook and quote asquare's post from the 2009 thread:
"This thread is meant to be a reference thread only. Please fill out the information below, but post any comments or questions in a separate thread. Other comments will be deleted from this thread. Note that you can only edit your posts for about one hour after you make them. This means that if you are still waiting on admissions decisions, you should wait to post your profile on this thread. Otherwise, your profile will be incomplete."
Without further ado,
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad:
Undergrad GPA:
Type of Grad:
Grad GPA:
GRE:
Math Courses:
Econ Courses:
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation:
Research Experience:
Teaching Experience:
Research Interests:
SOP:
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
Waitlists:
Rejections:
Pending:
What would you have done differently?
Accepts:
    admissions decisions, you should
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Accepted? Funding: No first-year tuition waiver; no stipend. TA/RA yrs 2-4. Notification Date: 03/02/12 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Whoooooaaaaaaa! (But I fear I have now lost the "Chron Award")
  • Institution: Boston University Econ Decision: Admitted Funding: Only years 2-5. Notification date: March 12 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comment: Official decision to come in the mail.
Rejects:
    Rejections:
  • Institution: Yale Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/22/2012 Notified through: Email to check website. Posted on GC: No Comments: On to the next one...
  • Institution: Stanford GSB EAP PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification date: 02/23 Notified through: Checked website (no e-mail) Posted on GC: No Comments: Expected after all the admits were notified last Friday.
  • Institution: UPenn Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification 2/24/12 Notified through: e-mail to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: I don't like Philadelphia anyways.
  • Institution: UC-Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification 2/24/12 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: 0 for 4 - starting to freak out.
  • Institution: Chicago-Booth Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification Date: 2/28 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Sad face emoticon.
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification Date: 2/29 Notified Through: Checked website at 1:30 a.m. EST Posted on GC: No Comments: Sincerely, thanks for the heads up gemmy.
  • Institution: UChicago Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification date: February 29 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: 0 for 7...
  • Institution: MIT Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification date: February 29 Notified through: Email to check website. Posted on GC: No Comments: ...0 for 8.
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification Date: 03/02/12 Notified Through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: Used to it by now...
  • Institution: Duke Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification Date: 03/02/12 Notified Through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: Coach Krysheckweiskschki was one of my letter writers, wtf?
  • Institution: Minnesota Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification Date: 03/02/12 Notified Through: Website Posted on GC: No Comments: Darn it! I loved the first Mighty Ducks movies and wanted to reshoot it with my fellow Twin City dwellers.
  • Institution: Princeton University Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification Date: 3/8/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Columbia Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notified: 3/13 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: Absolutely not.
  • Institution: Harvard Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification Date: 3/16/2012 Notified Through: Mail Posted to GC: No Comments: Had plenty of time to prepare for the inevitable.
  • Institution: Harvard Business School Business Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification Date: 3/16/2012 Notified Through: Mail Posted to GC: No Comments: Letter dated March 9, 2012
  • Institution: NYU Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification Date: 3/19/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Glad this is my last post in the Admissions and Rejections thread.
Waitlists:
    waiting on
  • Institution: University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: 18K stipend + health/dental insurance if admitted Notification Date: 3/9/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Want this soo bad!

chatlunatique 2012:
Type of undergrad: BA in Econ, minor in Math, from large public school in the midwest (top 60 econ)
Undergrad GPA: 3.85/4.00
GRE: 170 Q /160 V /6.0 AWA
Math courses: Multivariate calc (A), Vector calc (A), Diff EQ (A), Linear Algebra (A), Real Analysis (A+; taken at Ivy)
Econ courses: Econometrics I-II (A,A), Honors thesis (A), Financial econ (A), Trade (A), Development (A), Seminar in Monetary econ (A), Seminar in trade/devo (A), Statistical analysis (A), Intermediate Macro/Micro (A,C+), Intro Macro/Micro (A,A+)
Other courses: Some African studies, some French, others from across the humanities/social science spectrum
Letters of recommendation: 2 from professors who I have managed field research projects for in the past 2 years (I am co-authoring a paper with one; both are junior but fairly well known in their sub-fields and earned their PhDs from top programs). 1 from undergrad professor who I took two classes with and excelled.
Research experience: UG thesis; 6 months RA at a regional Fed; 2 years RA managing research projects in an African country; co-authoring paper with one of my current bosses.
Teaching experience: 2 semesters TA for Intro to Micro
Research interest: Development, IO, Personnel, Micro
SOP: Talked about my research interests and how they developed, and explained my grade trajectory.
Other: Phi Beta Kappa, Summa cum laude, econ departmental honors
RESULTS:
Acceptances: NSF ($$$$), HBS Bus-Ec ($$$$), Stanford ($$$$), LSE ($$$), Northwestern ($$$), UCSD ($$$), UCLA ($$$), Duke ($$), Michigan ($$), Maryland ($$)
Rejections: Harvard econ, MIT, Princeton, Yale, Stanford GSB, Chicago, Chicago GSB, Columbia, Columbia GSB, NYU, NYU Stern, Penn, Penn Wharton, UCL, Berkeley, Brown
Attending: HBS!
What would you have done differently?
Nothing? I’m thrilled with my acceptances, and managed to get into my top 2 choices, even with such high variance in outcomes. Above all else my results show that even with a shaky and unfocused first couple years of undergrad, it is possible to get into good programs. I did not take any math or serious econ courses until my fourth year of university, and ended up overcoming some poor early grades (including a C+ in intermediate micro) to finish strong in my last two years, and then go on to earn RA positions where I was able to work with top economists on research that fascinated me. Should be a fun few years ahead!
Accepts:
    Acceptances: NSF ($$$$), HBS Bus-Ec ($$$$), Stanford ($$$$), LSE ($$$), Northwestern ($$$), UCSD ($$$), UCLA ($$$), Duke ($$), Michigan ($$), Maryland ($$)
  • Institution: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Decision: Accepted Funding: Standard NSF package Notification date: 3/30 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Pretty awesome.
Rejects:
    Rejections: Harvard econ, MIT, Princeton, Yale, Stanford GSB, Chicago, Chicago GSB, Columbia, Columbia GSB, NYU, NYU Stern, Penn, Penn Wharton, UCL, Berkeley, Brown
Waitlists:

wantchi 2012:
Type of Undergrad: Top 5, Top 5 Econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.58
Type of Grad: A few courses at a top 5 program while working
Grad GPA: 3.33
GRE: 800Q, 700V, 4.0W
Math Courses: Real Analysis (B+,A,A-), Abstract Algebra (A,B), Complex Analysis (B+)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Econometrics (B,B) Microeconometrics (A), Game Theory (B-)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro (B,A-), Intermediate Macro (B,B+), Game Theory (A)
Other Courses: Stat Methods and Applications (A), Stat Theory and Methods (A-, A-), Mathematical Probability (A-), Applied Linear Statistical Methods (Grad Course, B+), Categorical Data (A), Probability Models (Grad Course, A)
Letters of Recommendation: Best from Professor in Top 20f IDEAS rankings, 2 very strong letters from well published economists at a regional Fed (each program received only one of these), 1 decent letter ("He got an A in my class which was a tough class") from a Very Famous economist ("just" top 50n IDEAS but a big name)
Research Experience: Lots. Undergrad Honors Thesis Paper, 2 Years as an undergrad, 2+ years at a regional Fed. Coauthored paper accepted at a good journal and several other coauthored projects in the works.
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Inequality, Labor, Econometrics, Public
SOP: Individualized to each school. Mentioned a few professors whose research I'm interested in.
Concerns: Grades (obviously!).
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: NWU (Fellowship starting 2nd year), Wisconsin ($$), Harris School of Public Policy ($$), UCL MSc
Waitlists: Penn (Rejected), UCLA (Withdrew), Maryland (Withdrew), Washington (Withdrew)
Rejections: Chicago, Booth, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, NYU, Berkeley, Michigan, UCSD
Attending: Harris School of Public Policy
What would you have done differently?
I'm actually quite happy with how things worked out. The Harris School is a perfect fit for my research interests. I am really excited about every aspect of the program. It is more flexible than most econ programs, so they are letting me take whichever Econ department courses I want, but I can skip the one's I'm not interested in (i.e. Macro). Now, I just need to prove that you can get a job coming out of a policy school!
I probably would have done better for myself by taking 2nd year courses while working instead of the core econometrics courses. The grading would have been less brutal (decently high above median = B) and I would have been able to talk to the professors more and maybe gotten a better letter.
Accepts:
    Acceptances: NWU (Fellowship starting 2nd year), Wisconsin ($$), Harris School of Public Policy ($$), UCL MSc
  • Institution: University of Wisconsin Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Fellowship first two years + guaranteed funding for 2 more Notification Date: 2/14/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: Yes (Grad School Admissions Results, Discussions, Tips, Forums, Help &bull; thegradcafe.com for people who don't know) Comment: First admit! Super excited! I was freaking out about Yale today and definitely wasn't expecting to hear from Wisconsin!
  • Institution: Harris School of Public Policy at Chicago Public Policy PhD Decision: Admitted Funding: around 19k Notification Date: 3/2/12 Notified Through: Unofficial e-mail from professor Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Not an econ phd, but the faculty includes economists so I'll post it.
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Waitlist Notification Date: 3/19/2012 Notified Through: e-mail Posted to GC: yes Comments: Soooo happy!
  • Institution: University College of London Economics MSc Decision: Accepted Funding: -17500 pounds Notification date: 04/13/2012 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: Yes Comments: So much for letting me know 6 weeks after I submitted the application. Declined already.
Rejects:
    Rejected), UCLA (Withdrew), Maryland (Withdrew), Washington (Withdrew) Rejections: Chicago, Booth, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, NYU, Berkeley, Michigan, UCSD
  • Institution: Yale Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 2/22/2012 (11:51 am Eastern Time) Notified through: Email to check website. Posted on GC: Yes
  • Institution: Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification 2/24/12 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: yes Comments:
  • Institution: Booth Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification Date: 2/28 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: Yep Comments: Depressing.
  • Institution: UChicago Econ PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification Date: 2/29/12 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Really, really sad about this one.
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification Date: March 2 Notified Through: Website Posted on GC: Yep. Comments:
  • Institution: Princeton Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/8/2012 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: UC San Diego Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/9/2012 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Columbia Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notified: 3/13 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC: yes Comments:
  • Institution: Michigan Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/16/12 Notified through: E-mail Comments: I wish they'd just send out a batch e-mail.
  • Institution: NYU Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification Date: 3/21/2012 Notified Through: E-mail Posted to GC: Yes Comments: Wanted to be in Chicago anyway!
  • Institution: Penn Economics PhD Decision: Rejected off waitlist Funding: N/A Notification date: 04/10/12 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: Penn (
  • Institution: University of Pennsylvania Decision: Waitlist Funding: Notification date: 2/27/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: Yes Comments:
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Waitlisted Funding: A weekly kick in the face after my 1st year Notification Date: 3/2/12 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments: I responded to the e-mail and asked to be removed from the waitlist.
  • Institution: University of Maryland Ph.D. Economics Decision: Waitlist Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/8/2012 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:

emanuele 2012:
Institution: California Institute of Technology
Program: Social Sciences PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Tuition waiver + 28k Stipend
Notification date: 1/28/2012
Notified through: Phone
Posted on GC: No
Comments: ​​
Accepts:
  • Institution: California Institute of Technology Social Sciences PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Tuition waiver + 28k Stipend Notification date: 1/28/2012 Notified through: Phone Posted on GC: No Comments: ​​
  • Institution: University of Chicago Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: 26k Notification Date: February 29 Notified Through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: University of Minnesota Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: 22k Notification Date: February 29 Notified Through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Stanford Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: 34k Notification Date: March 2 Notified Through: Website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Will come by email soon Notification Date: March 2 Notified Through: Website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: LSE Economics (Track 1) Decision: Accepted Funding: 18590 Notification date: 5 March 2012 Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: 21k (but more if I decide to go) Notification date: 3 March 2012 Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: NYU Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: 24k + summer fellowship Notification date: 3/5/2012 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: no TA/RA duties for five years
  • Institution: UC San Diego Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: later by email Notified: 13 March Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments:
Rejects:
  • Institution: Yale Econ PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification date: 02/22 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Stanford GSB EAP PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification date: 02/23 Notified through: checked website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: MIT Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification Date: February 29 Notified Through: E-mail to check website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification Date: February 24 Notified Through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Penn Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification Date: February 24 Notified Through: E-mail to check website Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification Date: February 28 Notified Through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: NYU Stern Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notified: 12 March Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments:
  • Institution: Princeton Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notified: 8 March Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments:
Waitlists:

lessgiraffe 2012:
Institution: Vanderbilt
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N.A.
Notification Date: 2/10/2012
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: No
Comments: -
Accepts:
Rejects:
  • Institution: Vanderbilt Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 2/10/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: University of Virginia Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 2/17/2012 Notified through: E-mail to check application status Posted on GC: No Comments: E-mail sent at 12:44 a.m. U.S. central
  • Institution: University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 2/24/2012 Notified through: E-mail to check Web site Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: California Institute of Technology Ph.D. Social Science Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 2/24/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: University of Chicago Booth School of Business Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 2/28/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: University of Chicago Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 2/29/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: Northwestern University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 2/29/2012 Notified through: Application Web site Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: Duke University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/2/2012 Notified through: E-mail to check Web site Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: University of California, Los Angeles Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/2/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: University of Minnesota Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/5/2012 Notified through: Checked Web site Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/7/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: Johns Hopkins University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/7/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: University of Texas at Austin Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/8/2012 Notified through: E-mail to check Web site Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: University of California, San Diego Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/9/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/12/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: Boston University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/19/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: -
  • Institution: Harvard University Ph.D. Business Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/19/2012 Notified through: Post mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Letter dated 3/9/2012
  • Institution: The Ohio State University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/20/2012 Notified through: Checked Web site Posted on GC: No Comments: -
Waitlists:


Waitlists:

mindlessme 2010: Type of Undergrad: Bachelor of Economics from the top school in Russia
Undergrad GPA: 4.9/5.0 (basically one 4 in Int. Taxation, all the rest are 5), rank 4/160
Type of Grad: MSc Finance and Economics at LSE in progress
Grad GPA: not available till June 2010
GRE: Q 790, V 460, AWA 4.5; TOEFL 117
Math Courses: undergrad - Calculus, Linear Algebra, Diff Equations, Probability and Statistics, Discrete Math, Optimization Theory, Stochastic Calculus; grad - LSE math camp for MSc Econ students and Stochastic Calculus (preparatory course for Asset Pricing)
Econ Courses: undergrad Micro, Macro, Econometrics, Game Theory, IO, Public Economics, Institutional Economics, Regional Economics, a whole bunch of Finance courses (had a specialization in Finance); grad - Advanced Micro, Financial Econometrics, Fin Economics, Fin Time Series, Corporate Finance
Other Courses: a bunch of humanities necessary to graduate from my Russian undergrad
Letters of Recommendation: 3 from LSE (2 senior econ professors - PhDs from Stanford and MIT, 1 junior econ prof with PhD from Berkeley), should be good, but I'm not 100ure; may be not very specific
Research Experience: undergrad thesis and 2 research papers (during 2nd and 3rd years of the undergrad); plus I'll have a Master's dissertation in Time Series this year
Teaching Experience: taught the very basic Micro as a volunteering teacher for high school seniors for 3 semesters, if that counts
Research Interests: Applied Micro, Behavioral Economics and Finance, Financial Economics
statement of purpose: I guess, pretty standard.
Other: had a semester abroad at Turku School of Economics, Finland
Concerns: a lot - reputation of my undergrad program; no transcripts from LSE so far; pretty low GRE; no Real Analysis
Applying to: Economics - Chicago, Princeton, Stanford, Harvard, Northwestern; Finance - NYU Stern, Chicago Booth, LBS, LSE
I'll be fine reapplying next year, if this time it doesn't work out, so no safeties on the list
Accepts:
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics Decision: Accepted Notification date: 2/24/10 Notified through: Website/Email Funding for 5 years
  • Institution: LBS Finance Decision: Accepted Notification date: 2/26/10 Notified through: Email
Rejects:
  • Institution: Chicago Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: 3/5/10 Notified through: Email
  • Institution: Harvard Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: Notified through: I guess it's coming in the mail
  • Institution: Harvard Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: Notified through: I guess it's coming in the mail
Waitlists:
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Finance Decision: Waitlisted Notification date: 2/26/10 Notified through: Email

publicecon 2010:
Institution: Duke
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Tuition + 18k
Notification date: 2/18
Notified through: email
Posted on grad cafe: No
Comments: Excited!
Institution: Johns Hopkins
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: tuition waver + stipend if I "decide to attend"
Notification date: 2/26
Notified through: email
Posted on grad cafe: No
Comments: don't know much about JHU
Institution: Minnesota
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Waitlist
Funding:
Notification date: 2/25
Notified through: email
Posted on grad cafe: No
Comments: They said I am on a "short" waitlist. Seemed legit because they provided information on potential funding
Institution: Chicago Booth
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Waitlist
Funding:
Notification date: 2/24
Notified through: email
Posted on grad cafe: No
Comments: email didn't seem too enthusiastic compared to minnesota
Accepts:
  • Institution: UC Davis Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: before end of march Notification date: 02/04/10 Notified through: Email Posted on Gradcafe: (yes or no) no Date of Gradcafe post: (if yes) Comments: good luck to everyone, doesn't seem like a lot of people on TM applied to Davis.
  • Institution: University of Virginia Economics PHD Decision: Accepted Funding: no info Notification date: 02/17 Notified through: Website Posted on Gradcafe: (yes or no) No Comments: Randomly checked out the website. I hope I get an email about funding!!
  • Institution: Duke Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Tuition + 18k Notification date: 2/18 Notified through: email Posted on grad cafe: No Comments: Excited!
  • Institution: Johns Hopkins Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: tuition waver + stipend if I "decide to attend" Notification date: 2/26 Notified through: email Posted on grad cafe: No Comments: don't know much about JHU
  • Institution: Wisconsin-Madison Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Tuition waiver + $12.5K TAship 1st year, something guaranteed for 3 more years Notification date: 2/27 Notified through: Email Posted on grad cafe: No Comments: Just got the same email as thesparky. Sat night emails. crazy!
  • Institution: Michigan Ph.D. Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Don't know Notification date: 3/1 Notified through: Checked website Posted on GF: No Comments: REALLY EXCITED!!! considering I am into public econ
  • Institution: Wisconsin-Madison Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Tuition waiver + $12.5K TAship 1st year, something guaranteed for 3 more years Notification date: 2/27 Notified through: Email Posted on grad cafe: No Comments: Just got the same email as thesparky. Sat night emails. crazy!
  • Institution: Michigan Ph.D. Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Don't know Notification date: 3/1 Notified through: Checked website Posted on GF: No Comments: REALLY EXCITED!!! considering I am into public econ
  • Institution: Cornell Economics Decision: Admitted Notified through: e-mail Date: March 8
Rejects:
Waitlists:
  • Institution: Minnesota Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: Notification date: 2/25 Notified through: email Posted on grad cafe: No Comments: They said I am on a "short" waitlist. Seemed legit because they provided information on potential funding
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: Notification date: 2/24 Notified through: email Posted on grad cafe: No Comments: email didn't seem too enthusiastic compared to minnesota
  • Institution: Columbia University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Waitlisted Funding: Notification date: 1st March Notified through: Email (Mass email) Posted on GF: No Comments: "We have made fewer than usual funded offers of admission this year, so it could be that we will have a few more offers to make" Invitation to open house.. hmmm....
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: Notification date: 2/24 Notified through: email Posted on grad cafe: No Comments: email didn't seem too enthusiastic compared to minnesota
  • Institution: Columbia University Ph.D. Economics Decision: Waitlisted Funding: Notification date: 1st March Notified through: Email (Mass email) Posted on GF: No Comments: "We have made fewer than usual funded offers of admission this year, so it could be that we will have a few more offers to make" Invitation to open house.. hmmm....
  • Institution: Brown Economics Decision: Wait Listed for Funding Notified through: e-mail Date: March 8 Notes: They want me to enroll in the masters program

econpeace 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Double Math / Econ major - Top 15 for Econ.
Undergrad GPA: 3.75 Cumulative, 3.8 in Econ, 3.72 in Math.
Type of Grad: n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800q / 710v / 5 awa
Math Courses: LOWER DIV: Calc (A/A-). UPPER DIV: Analysis (A- avg), Algebra (A-), Ord Diff Eq (A-), Complex (B-), Probability, Stat Theory (A-)
Econ Courses: Micro/Macro (As), Honors Metrics (B+), Honors Game Theory (A), assorted econ electives (A/A-), Grad Micro (IP),
Letters of Recommendation: One from RA job, famous, should be strong, two from classes, hopefully of some value.
Research Experience: Senior Thesis and RA job (1 year during junior year and still at it currently).
Teaching Experience: None at College level
Research Interests: Labor
Concerns: Less than stellar math grades.
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Maryland, BU, UCLA, Cornell
Waitlists: NU, Booth
Rejections: Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Michigan, Berkeley, NYU
Pending: -
What would you have done differently?
Worked harder in math class!!!
Accepts:
    Acceptances: Maryland, BU, UCLA, Cornell
  • Institution: UCLA Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: No Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Need funding! But grateful for the admit.
  • Institution: Maryland Economics, PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes Notification date: 3/03/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: I'm glad I have at least one funded offer!
  • Institution: Boston U Phd Decision: Accepted Funding: Full funding Notification date: Notified through: Email Posted on GC: no Comment: ok
Rejects:
    Rejections: Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Michigan, Berkeley, NYU
  • 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: UPenn Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: No Notification date: 2/24/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments:...
  • Institution: Michigan Economics, PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: No Notification date: 3/03/2011 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Pah.
  • Institution: Princeton Phd Decision: Reject Funding: Notification date: Notified through: Email Posted on GC: no Comment: ...
Waitlists:
    Waitlists: NU, Booth
  • Institution: Northwestern Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: N/A Notification date: Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comments: not bad!
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: N/A Notification date: Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comments: two waitlists

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

SubEffect 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 5 US liberal arts college.
Undergrad GPA: overall 3.89, with about the same in econ/math and a strong upwards trend since freshman year
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 800 Q 720V 5.5 AWA
Math Courses: Modeling (A), Math Stats I (A), Math Stats II (A), Differential Equations (A), Data Analysis (A), Real Analysis (B+), Topics in Analysis: Dynamical Systems (A+), Senior Research Project (A) [freshman year: Honors Linear Algebra (P), Honors Multivariable Calc (B)]
Econ Courses (PhD-level): NA
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro (A), Advanced Micro (A/A-), Intermediate Econometrics (B+), Adv Econometrics (A), Polit Econ of Africa (A), Economic Development (A+/A), Public Policy Evaluation (A), Experimental Economics (A+), Behavioral Economics (A), Senior Research Project (A+), [freshman year: Int. Macro (A-), International Polit Econ. (A-)]
Other Courses: Nothing too useful, except for Comp Sci (A+).
Letters of Recommendation: 1) prof with MIT PhD, took two high level classes with and talked a lot about research ideas; 2) assistant prof with Berkeley PhD, did independent research and took three classes with; 3) prof at top policy school who I worked for. From my NSF feedback, it sounds like they were all good, though the ones from my undergrad profs were probably stronger.
Research Experience: JPAL field RA for a year; RA for a prof at a top 5 econ for a summer; did independent research project with a prof at my school; thesis for my math major, which won best paper award in department; separate thesis-like econ paper, which won best paper award in my department
Teaching Experience: TA for Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Econometrics
Research Interests: Development, Behavioral, Auctions, tons of different applied micro topics
Statement of purpose: Probably fine.
Other: Can't think of anything
RESULTS:
Attending: Yale
Acceptances: NSF, Yale ($$, off waitlist), Berkeley ($, off waitlist), Cornell ($), Brown ($)
Waitlists: MIT, Chicago Booth, Columbia
Rejections: Harvard, Princeton, NYU
What would you have done differently? I spent a long time thinking about this, especially the painful stretch between the first wait list and getting the NSF. My school has had really good placement in the past, and my profs had been pretty excited about my chances at top 5 schools, so letting them down was a bit of a bummer. With another year at JPAL, especially at the Cambridge office, or taking real analysis 2 to get the A , maybe I could have been a contender at M/H? Still, I'm pretty eager to start working on my own research, so wouldn't have wanted to take more time off beforehand; this also lets me be near my girlfriend, which is a high priority. The one thing I would change is to apply to more business PhD programs, but Yale was my third choice behind the Cambridge schools, so I am very happy to be going there. Since they do a lot of behavioral/dev combined, it might even be a better fit for my interests than the others.
A couple of people have asked for advice on the NSF. It didn't end up helping me too much with admission (since Yale would have worked out anyway), so I feel kind of bad getting it when it might have helped someone else, but it did get me into Berkeley. Jeeves and others have a lot of good things to say, so I'll just focus on three things.
First, working at JPAL/doing a proposal on development topics is clearly a huge advantage. JPAL produced at least 200f the NSF's this year, which is just absurd. All three my reviewers mentioned it, and two included it in their comments on both intellectual merit and broader impacts. Second, don't be bashful about multiple applications. I put out feelers in a proposal last year, and the comments were extremely helpful in succeeding this time around. Even if you're rushing to finish it, you'll be able to get a sense of what they think of your idea. Third, just follow their criteria for broader impacts. In your personal statement, you can dedicate a paragraph to each one individually; make their lives easier in checking off excellent for each one. Non-econ related things, such as tutoring or mentoring other students is looked upon favorably, especially if you plan to continue doing so. Also, make sure to devote some substantial part of your research proposal to broader impacts, they look for that too: I had the final half page be just about ways that my proposal could be broadly applied. If you can tie in broader impacts in any way, do it.
Accepts:
    Attending: Yale Acceptances: NSF, Yale ($$, off
  • Institution: UCSD Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Letter coming later Notification Date: 3/10/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Wooooooooo first acceptance! Though they say that funding details won't come out until later, so a little nervous about that...
  • 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: First fully funded offer (except maybe USCD?)! So pretty happy. Email came at around 9:25am EST, last initial is W.
  • Institution: Cornell Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Sage Fellowship: 22.25k stipend +4.7k summer stipend + tuition waiver, health insurance, etc. Notification date: 3/18/11 Notified through: Personalized email, including a follow-up email from one of the professors with whom I'd be interested in working. Posted on GC: No Comments: What a weird (great) day: two fully funded offers after months of wait lists/nothing. I'm guessing the Cornell offers might be rolling out slowly because they seem to be quite personalized...good luck to everyone else who applied!
  • Institution: NSF cash money Decision: Accepted Notification date: 4/5 Notified through: email from the director, results are available here: https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/grfp/Aw...oadAwardeeList Posted on GC: no Comments: I almost teared up in the office, just so so happy after all of this uncertainty (and surprised to get it at such a late hour). Congrats to all the other winners!
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Accepted, off of the waitlist Funding: NSF covers first three, Berkeley gives tuition + 16k in the fourth and TA/RA in the fifth. Notification date: 04/05 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Praise God. I'm pretty ecstatic, best of luck to those still waiting...
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: It's coming, but should be the full 37k a year Notification date: April 13 Notified through: E-mail, he would have called but knew I was asleep Posted on GC: No Comments: So, so, so happy, I definitely plan on attending.
Rejects:
    Rejections: Harvard, Princeton, NYU
  • Institution: MIT Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Rejected off of waitlist Funding: n/a Notification date: 04/15/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: Cool, now I can accept at Yale and not have to stay up too late.
Waitlists:
    waitlist), Berkeley ($, off waitlist), Cornell ($), Brown ($) Waitlists: MIT, Chicago Booth, Columbia
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Waitlist Funding: ....? Notification date: Feb 16 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: My heart was beating out of my chest when I got the email, but still not too unhappy to get this... but I guess it means the regular admission may be over . Sorry gals/guys....
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Wait List Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail around 3:15 pm in Berkeley Posted on GC: No Comments: I should probably be happy, but kind of feel like always a bridegroom, never a bride: my only official replies have both been wait lists, and last time I applied, I was also put on lots of wait lists! Please be mine, econ grad school, and make me the happiest boy in the world.....
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Economics Decision: Waitlist Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No. Comments: At this point, the number of waitlists I am on is pretty absurd (3/3 for schools that have contacted me + 1 implicit rejection). However, I'm not "highly ranked", so this is probably an eventual rejection...
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Wait List Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: Now I'm 4-4, no admits or rejects, but only wait lists.... starting to wonder if there is some conspiracy to wait list me everywhere?
  • 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: My fifth wait list... out of five notifications. Let's see if I can get a perfect record!

frozenchip 2011:
PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Top 10 University (Overall, Econ, Math) (top 5 depending on the ranking system)
Undergrad GPA: 3.8 Math + Econ
GRE: 780M/750V/5.5A
Math Courses: Calculus (honors), Analysis (real and complex), Algebra (honors), ODE (mostly A's, couple A-/B+), some other logic type stuff
Econ Courses: Micro (Intermediate), Macro (Intermediate and Advanced), Econometrics (Honors, Topics, Advanced), some random joke topic classes (Population economics, econ of crime, etc) (mostly A's, couple A-)
Other Courses: Statistical Modeling, Probability Theory, Intermediate level CS courses
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Stanford PhD, 1 Harvard PhD, 1 Berkeley PhD (All both supervisors and professors, 2 well known, the 3rd very very well known)
Research Experience: Undergrad Thesis, 3 years as an U-Grad RA, 1.5 year econ consulting (I've heard others complain about this, but I actually run regressions, plan pricing surveys, etc...)
Teaching Experience: Math TA (3 years) for Calculus
Research Interests: IO/Micro/Dev
SOP: Generic (was told to make it as bland as possible by my profs)
Concerns: the couple B+ grades; spent waaay too much time on non-academic activities in college (but I did have a blast)
Other: Facing the academic two-body problem.
Applying to: Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Chicago, Chicago(Booth), Northwestern(Kellogg), Berkeley, NYU, UPenn(Wharton), NYU(Stern)
Accepts:
  • Institution: Yale Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: To be announced Notification date: Feb 15 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments: First notification, first acceptance!
  • Institution: Northwestern - Kellogg Managerial Economics and Strategy (PhD) Decision: Accepted Funding: TBA Notification date: 2/21/2011 Notified through: phone (unofficial) Posted on GF: no Comments: two acceptances, no rejections yet...
  • Institution: NYU Stern Phd Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: $$$ Notification date: 3/2 Notified through: Call Posted on GC: No Comments:
Rejects:
  • Institution: UC Berkeley Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments: First Rejection.
Waitlists:
  • Institution: UPenn Wharton Phd Applied Economics Decision: Waitlisted Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/2 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments:
  • Institution: Chicago Booth Economics Decision: Waitlist Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/3/2011 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No. Comments: "Please note that you are highly ranked on the Economics waitlist."
  • Institution: MIT Economics PhD Decision: Waitlist Funding: N/A Notification date: 3/7/2011 Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC : no Comments: Is this one of those, "You are in if you get the NSF 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 : no Comments: My fifth wait list too. Thank god Yale accepted me, otherwise I'd be on complete edge!

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
Admit summary statistics:
As submitted and recoreded from Test Magic:
There were 5 accepted out of 38 applicants.Of those accepted, average GPA was 3.79, average GREQ was 796.0.
No link to department posted statistics has been added, please let me know if these exist and I will add them.

Links:
Test Magic Econ Forums
econphd.econwiki.com
Last Updated: 14:58:27, Fri May 11, 2012