The chart will appear within this DIV. This text will be replaced by the chart.

ockam 2007:
hey, I just heard about this forum a couple weeks ago. wish I had know about it earlier, but I hope somebody else might find my info useful
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: large "top-ten" public research university w/ top 15ish econ dept
Undergrad GPA: 3.95 overall, 3.97 math
GRE: 800Q/610V/5.0
Math Courses: majored in math, with rigorous year-long sequences in analysis, stats, and abstract algebra. upper div electives included applied linear algebra and mathematical modeling. note to future applicants: the admissions director at princeton seemed to take very seriously the fact that i had taken the more rigorous math courses
Econ Courses: very few: intro to micro, mathematical econ, grad-level micro. After applying, some macro and behavioral (and said I would do so on application)
Other Courses: lots of philosophy including grad-level coursework in philosophy of science.
Letters of Recommendation: These were probably the strongest part of my application. One from a full professor each of: econ, math, phil departments. Math letter came from my real analysis prof who is also a college provost. Phil letter was from my honors thesis advisor. I took a grad course with the econ prof. I know all my letter writers quite well, so there were lots of very specific things they could say about me.
Research Experience: none in economics. Assisted research in epidemiology (with a sociologist) and genomics. Independent research in philosophy of science and sabermetrics.
Teaching Experience: tutor/TA for the computer science dept (java)
Research Interests: very broad. mostly micro and metrics, both theory and applied
SOP: 700 words, nothing fancy. described how my background in math and phil led me to economics. said my interests in econ were broad and described a couple specific topics that interest me. Used mostly the same statement at every school, changing just the last two sentences for each application
Other: Residential advisor, phil club president, and undergrad phil journal editor.
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
full funding:
Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, UPenn, Columbia, Northwestern Wisc-Madison, UBC
no $: UCSD
Waitlists:
Yale, MIT
Rejections:
Harvard, Berkeley
What would you have done differently?
absolutely nothing.

econchick06 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Large, not highly ranked public university
Major: Economics Minor: Mathematics
Undergrad GPA: Overall: 3.96, Econ: 3.98, Math: 3.85
GRE: 780 Q, 600 V, 5.0 A
Math Courses: Calc I through III, Diff Equations (A+), Discrete Math (A+), Foundations of Math (Intro to Proofs) (A-), Matrix Algebra (A+), Linear Algebra (A), Probability (A), Advanced Calc (A, only A in the class)
Econ Courses: Undergrad:
Int Micro (A+), Int Macro (A), IO (A+), Urban/Regional (A+), Public Choice (A+), Math Econ (A), Econometrics (A+), Development Econ (A), International Economics (A), Money and Banking (A+)
Grad (taken as an undergrad):
Macroeconomic Theory (A), Mathematical Economics I (A-)
Other Courses: Intro Stats I and II (A+, A+), Intro to Comp Statistical Packags (SAS) (A+)
Letters of Recommendation:3 econ profs- 1 who I RA'd for and co-authored w/, 1 from grad macro prof, 1 from department chair.
Research Experience: RA for 1 year for one of my professors/TA this
Two sort-of publications (co-authored with professor,1 empirical paper in non-peer reviewed journal, and one study funded by a think tank)
Completed a thesis-type paper (we don't have a formal thesis program), will be submitting for publication shortly (and I did submit this paper to the schools I applied to as evidence of my research aptitude)
Teaching Experience: TA one semester
Research Interests: mostly applied micro
SOP: talked about my experiences with and passion for research, first para was tailored to each school
Other: founded economics club
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
full funding:
Chicago (Will be attending )
Rochester
Duke
University of Maryland
University of Virginia
Johns Hopkins
no funding:
UCLA
University of Pennsylvania (accepted off waitlist)
Waitlists:
Stanford
Rejections:
Harvard, Berkeley, UCSD, Michigan, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, NYU, Northwestern, MIT
What would you have done differently?
Hmm.. I think it turned out pretty well, I probably applied to too many schools but I am happy with the outcome and wouldn't really change anything. At least I don't have any "what ifs"!

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.

Big Tuna 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Highly ranked US public university with top 25 econ phd program. Majors in economics/philosophy, minor in math.
Undergrad GPA: 4.0
Type of Grad: No masters program; just 1 course while in undergrad.
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 800V/800Q/4.5AW
Math Courses: Calculus I, I, III, linear algebra, real analysis, mathematical modeling, ordinary differential equations, currently enrolled in numerical methods and complex variables.
Econ Courses: intro/intermediate micro/macro, stat for economists, undergrad econometrics, 3 thesis/independent study courses, a bunch of undergrad field courses, and PhD econometrics I.
Other Courses: Mostly a lot of philosophy.
Letters of Recommendation: Three from good people, all of whom have supervised an independent project I've done.
Research Experience: The aforementioned thesis projects, plus 2 years as a research assistant and one empirical paper submitted to a decent (though not top tier) journal. I received an undergraduate research grant from my school to do this paper.
Teaching Experience: Just tutoring.
Research Interests: Applied micro, public finance, maybe econometrics
SOP: I guess it was fine.
Other: I had one withdrawal (W) on my transcript because I dropped abstract algebra; the professor was more boring than anyone else I'd ever had.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT, Stanford, Yale, UChicago, Northwestern, NYU, Columbia, Duke, UMaryland.
Waitlists: Harvard.
Rejections: None.
Pending: None.
What would you have done differently? Probably nothing. I guess Harvard might have let me in instead of waitlisting me if I'd taken more advanced math or gone to an Ivy, but that's hard to tell and I wouldn't have wanted to do too much more work as an undergrad than I actually did; you have to leave time to have some fun.

representative_agent 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Economics, ranked 12/189 in my year
Type of Grad: MSc (econ) in Europe
GRE: Q 790, V 580, AW 4.0
Math Courses: Everything my undergrad school had to offer, but no real analysis (didn't have much choice).
Econ Courses (Graduate level): Micro (1+2), Macro (1+2), Econometrics, Incentives, Auction Theory, Several courses in public econ, Growth, ...
Other Courses: Several undergrad statistics courses
Letters of Recommendation: 1 well-known, 3 known in their field, 1 thesis advisor (relatively unknown)
Research Experience: undergrad thesis
Teaching Experience: undergrad macro
Research Interests: game theory, information econ, applied micro
SOP: hard to judge - does anybody read it?
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Chicago ($$), NWU ($$), NYU($$), UPENN($$), UCL($$)
Waitlists: Minnesota
Rejections: Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton

gregobad 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Research university w/ top 5 econ program
Undergrad GPA: 4.9/5
Type of Grad: none.
GRE: 770V/800Q/5.5AW
Math Courses: calc I & II, differential equations, linear algebra, probability, linear programming / optimization
Econ Courses: intermediate micro and macro, econometrics, game theory, various field courses
Other Courses: Minor in physics
Letters of Recommendation: Two from econ profs, neither of whom are well-known but both know me well (one was my thesis advisor, another my undergrad advisor). One from a manager at my job (econ consulting firm). Pretty sure all three are very strong recs, but the third probably doesn't count for much because it's non-academic.
Research Experience: Was an RA for a summer in a physics lab. Did an undergrad thesis. Worked for 1.5 years doing semi-relevant stuff at an economic consulting firm - I have a lot of experience with Stata, Matlab, other programming languages
Teaching Experience: tutored undergrads in physics and econ
Research Interests: Game theory, political economy, behavioral economics
SOP: talked about possible research interests and what I had worked on
RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT, Stanford GSB (political economy), Princeton, Caltech, Berkeley, Northwestern, Chicago
Waitlists: Harvard
Rejections: Stanford economics
What would you have done differently? Not much, really. Maybe taken an academic RA job instead of working in economic consulting, and applied for last year instead of this year. Although, there's nothing like having a boring job to motivate you to get back to school.

Julius 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad&Grad: BA in Econ and 2 semesters in MA course, Both in the top university in my country (East Asia)
Undergrad GPA: 4.13/4.30
Grad GPA: 4.18/4.30 (At the time of application, 4.10/4.30)
Honors : Top in my graduating class (1/201)
2 Grand prizes in paper contests (one in my school, one nationwide)
GRE: 740V 800Q 4.0AW
Math Courses: Calculus 2, Linear Algebra, Mathematical Analysis, Real Analysis, Topology, Mathematical Statistics, Theory of Statistics 1 & 2 (Grad level) , Probability Theory (Grad level) - All A+ except Probability(A0)
Econ Courses: Bunch of them. Some highlights are: Grad Micro, Grad Macro, Grad Stat in Econ dept, Grad Advanced Micro, Grad Advanced Time series, Game theory, Some finance related courses,... (All A+ except Grad Macro(A0) for aforementioned courses)
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: Four LoRs, three from econ and one from stat. I was ranked on the top(or near the top) in at least one class of each professor. Two of them knows me very well and probably wrote their letters enthusiastically.
Research Experience: RA for a macro paper of my adviser, programming for cointegration analysis and stuff.
Teaching Experience: TA for Econometrics, Statistics and Time Series Econometrics. Instructed regular TA sessions.
Research Interests: Applied Micro, Econometrics
SOP: Devoted a lot of space for my motivation and my preparation.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT, Princeton, U of Chicago, Yale
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Stanford GSB, Harvard(99&#37, Stanford(99%), Berkeley, NYU(??)
Others: UPenn, NWU - Stopped the review process before decisions.
What would you have done differently?
Maybe more math.
I really appreciate all the supports and infos from fellow TMers and I think this is the best service I can do for the TM next generation Good luck to everyone!

wednesday 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: UC Berkeley
Undergrad GPA: 3.76ish
Type of Grad:
Grad GPA:
GRE: 800/680/4.0
Math Courses: 9 upper division undergrad, 5 grad
Econ Courses: 6 upper div undergrad, 11 grad
Other Courses: misc
Letters of Recommendation: 1 junior guy, 1 senior guy, 1 Nobel laureate
Research Experience: 4 RA gigs, generalizing vNM for my thesis
Teaching Experience: currently teaching intermediate micro
Research Interests: micro theory, finance, PF
SOP: boiler plate
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale
Waitlists: None
Rejections: None
Pending: NSF
What would you have done differently? I'd haveworked harder freshman year and not ruined my GPA.

Fatrapa 2008:
Type of Undergrad: None (French system of Grandes Ecoles)
Type of Grad: Business School + Paris School of Economics
Grad GPA: 1st / 60
GRE: 800/610/4.0
Math Courses: french system
Econ Courses: 3 "undergrad", 20 grad
Other Courses: business
Letters of Recommendation: 3 well-know economists, 2 less-well-known but who know me well
Research Experience: Master thesis
Teaching Experience: TA
Research Interests: Political decision (Roemer, etc.) / political economy
SOP: spoke about my research
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Chicago
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Columbia, NYU (99%), Harvard (99%)
Pending:
What would you have done differently? I would have described my math credentials more precisely. This is an advice for all French future applicants: explain how the system works and how good you are in maths in your letter.

VGC 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Good Latin American university
Undergrad GPA: 5.9/7
Type of Grad: Same Latin American university as undergrad.
Ggrad GPA: 6.4/7
GRE: 790Q 510V 3.0AWA
TOEFL: 108/120
Math Courses (undergrad and grad): Calculus I & II, Algebra I & II, Probability, Mathematical Statistics, Analysis, Mathematical Economics (dynamic systems and optimal control)
Econ Courses(grad): Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Game Theory, Industrial Organization, Econometrics, Aplied Econometrics, Financial Econometrics, Financial Economics, Enviorenmental Economics.
Letters of Recommendation: Strong letter of recommendation from economics professor who know me well.
Research Experience: Master's Thesis, Working Paper, and several research assistanships. Mostly theoretical.
Teaching Experience: Undergraduate Principles of finance.
Research Interests: finance, auction theory.
SOP: I invested a lot of time in it.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Stanford GSB (finance)($$), MIT Sloan (Financial Economics)($$), Harvard (Business Economics)($$), Northwestern Kellogg (Finance)($$), NYU Stern(Finance)($$), Princeton (Economics)($$), Chicago (Economics)($$).
Waitlists: Berkeley Haas (Finance).
Rejections: Harvard (Economics), Wharton (Finance), Columbia GSB (Finance), Duke Fuqua (Finance).
Pending: MIT (Economics), Chicago GSB (Finance).
What would you have done differently?
I really have applied to fewer places.

eqtisadi 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Econ,Philosophy,Politics from an Israeli university
Undergrad GPA: 94%
Type of Grad: Econ in the same university
Grad GPA: 96%
GRE: Q800, V450, A5.0
Math Courses: Calculus, (simple and calculus-based) Statistics, Linear algebra and advanced calculus, as well as two advanced logic courses by the department of philosophy (all 90+). I took Real Analysis too but I am not going to do the test. It was much more fun doing it without the pressure.
Econ Courses: All around: undergrad: intro to econ I & II, price theory I & II, macro I & II, development, econ history, intro to econometrics, honors students seminar. MA: micro, macro I & II, industrial organization, econometrics I-III, econ history. All 90+
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from a very known professor, 2 from professors who are pretty known in their respective fields and 1 from a pretty young professor
Research Experience: RA for the first professor mentioned above
Teaching Experience: quite a few econ courses for BA, but I don't think it mattered.
Research Interests: Too many. I have to narrow them down.
SOP: 500 words (or whatever was the limitation) about why I want to do research in economics and how I decided that.
Other: Nice set of teeth.
RESULTS:
Admitted: Berkeley, NYU, Yale, Columbia, Northwestern, Chicago, Stanford, Princeton
Waitlisted: Harvard
Rejected: MIT
What would I have done differently? Nothing. Maybe get an American citizenship and apply for the NSF, but seriously, I'm very very happy with the choices I have.

ForTheWin!_08 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: International, best in South Africa (University of Cape Town for those in the know)
Undergrad GPA: We don't use the GPA system. About 80%, which is 4.0 according to the WES conversion scale.
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 5.0 A, 670 V
Math Courses: A year and a half of calculus, Linear Algebra, Algebra I and II, Real Analysis, Metric Spaces, Complex Analysis, Measure Theory, Functional Analysis I + II, Differential Geometry, Topology I + II. All above 75%, so I guess A- to A+ range.
Undergrad thesis: Explained the Delbaen-Schachermayer version of the "Fundamental Theorem of Asset Pricing" (basically, a financial market satisfies No Arbitrage iff there exists an equvalent martingale ["risk-neutral"] probability measure). Essentially, it was just a whole lot of functional analysis and a little bit of stochastic integration.
Econ Courses: Intro macro/micro/game theory, Intermediate Macro/Micro, Honours Macro/Micro (i.e. 4th-yr level - we used adult Varian for micro, to give you an idea of the level), Undergrad Metrics and Quantitative Methods, Computational Political Economy (4th-yr elective on simulation methods and behavioural econ), Masters Econometrics, Masters/PhD Microeconometrics. All A- to A+ range.
Other Courses: 3 years of Mathematical Statistics, including stuff on: basic probability theory, regression analysis, stochastic processes/time series (not that I remember much of it!), Bayesian statistics, generalised linear models/qualitative regression models. Some basic applied math courses on ordinary differential equations (A's).
Letters of Recommendation: One should be very enthusiastic, from the one of the country's most hardcore empirical microeconomists (though his PhD is local)... another is likely to be good (I mean, I'm certain the guy thinks I'm smart, I got the second-best grade in his class), from quite a big-shot macro guy (PhD Cambridge, and he's co-authored some stuff with Phillip Aghion), but he's only taught me once. I'll probably use my honours thesis supervisor for the third one.
Research Experience: Not a lot... I've ostensibly been an RA for one professor for a summer, but I'm not sure how much work you should do to say this of yourself... I attempted to solve this game theory problem for him (he kind of gave me a half-finished paper of his and said "Can you fix this up?"... I couldn't). So not so impressive on this front I think.
Teaching Experience: Tutor for intermediate micro for two years, rewrote some of the problem sets for the same course.
Research Interests: Development micro, game theory, criminology
SOP: Decent, I thought. I posed a few questions that I thought were interesting and tried to show how my personal background led me to be interested in them. Customised one paragraph to mention which fields at the respective schools were strong, and why I thought they should want me.
Weaknesses: No research experience, from a relatively unknown university; no money to live off of if financial aid is denied.
Results:
Admissions: Michigan ($16k + tuition + health insurance), Chicago ($20k + tuition + health insurance) [attending]
Waitlists:Northwestern, Pennsylvania, Princeton
Rejections:Yale, MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard
No Reply:NYU
What would I have done differently: Not much. I wish I had gotten my undergraduate degree from a more prestigious place. Other than that, I'm not sure there was much that I could have done differently. But I'm not at all unhappy with what I got...

crutchboy3 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 20 Private University
Undergrad GPA: 3.81
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q/600V/5 A
Math Courses: Honors Calculus I-IV (A's), Honors Linear Algebra I,II (B+,A-), Intro to Probability (A), Honors Algebra III (A), Honors Analysis I (A-), Graduate Topology (A-), Graduate Optimization (A), Measure Theory (B), Functional Analysis (B+), Galois Theory (B+), Number Theory (A)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro/Macro (A), Game Theory (A), Econometrics (A), Graduate Econ Prob and Stats (A), Grad Micro I (A),
Letters of Recommendation: Two professors that had taken several classes from and had done research with, One that had just taken classes from, all econ
Research Experience: Math REU, Summer REU to begin work on thesis project, Honors thesis, 2 years of RA
Teaching Experience: Some tutoring
Research Interests: Micro theory, game theory
SOP: Nothing Special
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Northwestern ($)(Attending), NYU ($), Duke ($), UIUC ($), Caltech($), Chicago (Tuition Waiver + Health), Wisconsin (No $), Penn (No $)
Waitlists: Penn (Eventually Accepted, no $)
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Princeton

nash12 2008:
Undergrad: B.A. in Mathematics (2006) from a well known college/university in my country (South-East Asia). Grades: 84%
Graduate: M.A. in Economics from a well known school of economics in my country. It is a two year course and I only had the grades of the first year or two semesters when I applied. Grades for the first year: 70%
GRE: 800Q, 530V, 5.0AWA. TOEFL: 117/120
Math Courses: Since I'm a math undergrad so lots. Real Analysis, Basic Algebra, Topology, Ordinary Differential Equations, Partial Differential Equations, Probability and Statistics, Linear Algebra, Group Theory, Ring Theory, Mechanics, Multivariable Calculus, Numerical Analysis, Number Theory, etc.
Econ Courses: All Grad Level. On my transcript with grades when I applied- Microeconomic Theory, Macroeconomic Theory, Introductory Econometrics, Mathematical Economics and two more. On my transcript without grades when I applied- Topics in Economic Theory, Game Theory-I, Topics in Macroeconomic Theory and Econometric Methods.
Research Experience: Was a visiting research scholar in a European Institute during the summer of 2007. Wrote two papers there. Both were selected for decent conferences which I mentioned in my application. Sent one of the papers in all the applications.
LORs: One a well published and reasonably well known econ theory professor at University of Warwick. One econ professor in my grad school, phd from Princeton. Another econ associate professor in my grad school, phd from Yale. I think all of them were strong.
SOP: Talked about my interests- Micro and Game Theory. Talked about some of the papers that I've really liked. Also, about my motivation to do economic theory.
Teaching Experience: None.
Other: Male, 22 years old.
Results
Acceptances: NYU($), Columbia($), University of Chicago($), LSE MRes/PhD($), Cornell($), Brown($), Penn State($).
Waitlisted and finally Accepted: Yale($) and Princeton($).
Rejected: Harvard, MIT, Northwestern, UPenn and Stanford.
Attending: Princeton. Yuhoooo..
What would have I done differently? Nothing in particular. Well I don't really know if I would have ever made it to Harvard and MIT. None have made from my school in the past 10 years. As an aspiring economic theorist, Princeton was really my dream school and I'm over the moon to have got it.. My suggestion to all the future applicants, esp the International Students is guys dream big and work hard. Dreams do come true..

econphilomath 2008:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. in Economics from top institution in my country.
Type of Grad: M.A. in Economics from the same institution
GPA: Graduated 1st in my class, both programs.
GRE: 800Q, 730V, 4.5AWA
TOFEL: 118/120
Courses: Tons of econ, some math, no formal real analysis.
TA: Lots of undergrad macro courses and some graduate macro courses.
Teaching: I teach undergrad macro.
Research: Several published papers. All applied. (average to low/mediocre national and international journals)
RA: Current job is as an RA at Central Bank and lecturer at my university.
LORS: One senior, one semi-senior and one junior. I know them all really well (for over two years) and with all I have co-authored different research.
Interests: Macroeconomics, Labor and Development.
SOP: Tried to be serious, signal I know what I'm getting into. No BS, no talking about whats in my CV, no naming professors and not very long.
Schools: Shooting for the top 10 schools.
Other: Male, 27
RESULTS:
Attending: Yale ($$)
Acceptances: NorthWestern ($$), Columbia ($$), UMinn ($$), UPenn (), UChicago ()
Waitlists: Harvard and MIT. Later rejected.
Rejections: Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford, NYU.
What would you have done differently?
Applied earlier. Would not have stressed so much and spent less time on TM! The extra stuff on your CV doesn't make all that much of a difference. Past decent grades and GRE, basic math requirements, its all LORs. Its how you get the LORS that differs among applicants. Randomness that I was worried about was confirmed but its not that big once you know the underlying decision making structure.
Also I would have gone with more famous professors LORs who didn't know me as well, but who were willing to write beaming letters, instead of my junior professor/coauthor.
ALSO wait-lists suck. They do move around (not for me) but the wait is terrible.
Last Recommendation: Try as hard as you can to go to fly-outs. It can make a huge difference when you have to choose on the margin. Talk with professors and students as much as you can. It helped me a lot.
EDIT: See my buddy asianecon's next post. To avoid confusion, I recommend visiting (something usually done at fly-outs). However as asianecon suggests, it might be more informative to go on a regular day and sit in at classes talk with people etc as he has done and skip the marketing. Either way try and go get a feel for the program in person.

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.

Internationalstudent08 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top-5
Undergrad GPA: 3.7
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: Q800, V670, A4.5
Math Courses: Real Analysis, Optimization (As)
Econ Courses: Typical undergrad courses, intro+field courses
Letters of Recommendation: 3 good ones
Research Experience: 1 year RA (+2 summers as an undergrad)
Teaching Experience: Some tutoring
Research Interests: Mostly applied micro
SOP: Must have been good
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UChicago (waiting to hear about funding), UMaryland (18k), Penn State (25k)
Waitlists: Wharton AE
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Northwestern, Columbia, NYU, Brown
Total Score: 10-1-3
Pending: None
What would you have done differently?
I really didn't take advantage of my undergrad school as I should have. I should have started RAing earlier, and I should have taken graduate-level courses as an undergrad, instead of being a chicken. Also, I made some bad thesis-related choices hehe
However, since last year's admission cycle, I did everything that I could to improve my profile, and ended up working with some great people. I learned a lot- perhaps more than what I'm going to learn in grad school.
The only significant econ-phd-related mistake I made was to apply to all top-10 schools and almost none of the schools between 10 and 20 (except for UMaryland). I rejected most of the schools in that range based on location preferences. Since my profile was not clear-cut top10, I should have been more careful.
Anyway, I'm glad I made it!!!!!

scrobles 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Econ and Math, MIT
Undergrad GPA: 4.7/5.0 (equivalent to 3.7)
Type of Grad: none
GRE: 800Q/740V/5.5W
Math Courses: Calc 1&2, Linear Algebra, Probability, Statistics, Real Analysis, Intro to Discrete Math, Modern Algebra, Intro to Stochastic Modeling (Grad course). About half As and half Bs, with more As in the later years.
Econ Courses: Intro and Intermediate Micro and Macro, Econometrics, Education, Development, Behavioral, Public Policy, Environmental, Econ research class. Mostly As.
Other Courses: Chinese
Letters of Recommendation: 3 profs with PhDs from MIT. The first was my development teacher and I RA'd for her a couple of semesters. I worked for the second two doing field research for 2 years after graduating.
Research Experience: Working at a econ research NGO for 2 years after college. RA for a bit in college.
Teaching Experience: Tutoring probability course in university, and general tutoring stuff.
Research Interests: Development, Behavioral, applied micro
SOP: My experiences and my interests. Why I like econ.
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UCSD, UCLA, UC Davis ARE, Northwestern, Chicago, Duke, USC, Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford
Waitlists: nope
Rejections: MIT, Columbia, Brown
What would you have done differently?
My results were great, I think mostly because of my LORs so I think my after-college job really saved me. If I had to do it again, I would get As in key courses (mostly math) and do an economics thesis, but this is just theoretical since it wasn't necessary.

mermel 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Math, B.S. Econ honors from top 40 public school, Math semester abroad at strong Russian math program
Undergrad GPA: 3.94, Econ 4.0, Math 3.93
GRE: 800Q, 600V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Multivar Calc, DiffEq, Number Theory, Matrices (Linear Algebra), Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Probability, Topology, Complex Analysis, Computability and Complexity (all A's), Combinatorics (B), Integer Partitions (B+)
Econ Courses: All those required for undergrad econ, was in Honors Economics program my senior year
Letters of Recommendation: 3 from econ professors, one from Econ PhD partner at the firm where I work, PhD's from Chicago, Princeton, Harvard, and Berkeley, 2 I am sure are very strong, and others are probably strong as well
Research Experience: Not any good research experience undergrad. Have been working in econ consulting since, so that sort of counts.
Teaching Experience: just tutoring
Research Interests: Micro theory, game theory, decision theory
SOP: I'm not really sure how to judge my SOP, I think it told a good story of why I want to get econ PhD.
Concerns: Lack of research experience, I had a withdrawal passing from graduate level analysis when I decided to do a second major in econ rather than doing a masters in math. I stated this in many of my essays, so hopefully that's ok.
Other: Working for past 2.5 years in economics litigation consulting
RESULTS:
Attending: Northwestern
Admitted, Declined: UPenn
Waitlists: Princeton(eventually rejected), Chicago(Admitted without funding for first 2 years)
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, NYU, Berkeley, Stanford, NSF
What would you have done differently?
I think some RA'ing as an undergraduate would have helped, but I am very happy with Northwestern and don't really have any regrets.

jeeves0923 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Math, B.A. Economics (Both Honors), Virginia Tech
Undergrad GPA: 3.90
Type of Grad: M.S. Math, Virginia Tech
Grad GPA: 3.90
GRE: 800Q, 610V, 4.5AWA
Math Courses(undergrad): through Real Analysis I & II.
Math Courses(PhD): Abstract Algebra, Stochastic Processes, Measure Theory, Matrix Theory
Econ Courses: Lots of electives + PhD Micro, Metrics, Labor.
Other Courses: Half an engineering degree, history minor.
Letters of Recommendation: 3 Econ Profs (didn't end up using the math prof). All extremely good (at least that's what a couple adcoms told me)
Research Experience: A couple of papers, 4 semesters of econ research, one math theory paper, a bunch of presentations
Teaching Experience:Quite a lot- Calculus, Vector Geometry, Writing Coach, Micro Econ Theory, and some tutoring
Research Interests: Micro Theory, Political Economy, IO... maybe some other applied micro
SOP: I think it was too long, and I would have done a bit differently (see the link below)
Other: I fly airplanes and cook, but not at the same time
RESULTS:
Attending: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Accepted: NSF, MIT($$), Kellogg (MEcS) ($$), UChicago ($$), Minnesota($$), Duke ($$), Michigan(no $), Berkeley Law School
Wait List: Princeton, not eventually admitted
Rejections: Stanford GSB, Yale, NYU, Columbia, Penn, Harvard, Berkeley
What would you have done differently? http://www.urch.com/forums/phd-econo...te-school.html (And What A Strange Ride It's Been- Advice if you Come from an Unknown State School) I did better than I expected
Nothing too drastic. I'm so happy!

Visible Hand 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Applicant: International, big continental european country.
Type of Undergrad: Good public university but with a very bad school of Economics. Student of the university honor college (more selective than Ivy) which offers courses on its own, including in heterodox Economics.
Undergrad GPA: Overall: ~3.9/4.0; Economics: 4.0(+)/4.0; Math/Stat: 4.0(++)/4.0.
(+), (++) and ~ are due to different conversion methods that can be applied.
Type of Grad: Two-years Master in Economics (attending 2nd year), best public university of the country, 2nd department of Economics in the country, best in my fields. Enrolled in the first year of run of the program: it was brand new! Also student of the university honor college (less selective and prestigious than undergraduate's).
Grad GPA: 4.0-ε/4.0 or 4.0(+)/4.0 according to different conversion methods.
GRE: 790Q 530V 5.0AWA - TOEFL: 110
Math Courses: Several courses in Math and Stat covering all the basic Calculus/Analysis/Linear Algebra/ODE/Optimization/Measure stuff up to Simon-Blume (Vol. 2) and De La Fuente level, as well as Probability/Inference/Multivariate Stats up to Casella-Berger.
All full grades with mention.
Econ Courses: All the basic undergraduate Micro/Macro/Metrics stuff plus some applied/heterodox/history/quantitative courses. At Master Level, Micro I/Macro I/Metrics I (taking II for each in the fall) plus: Topics in Economic Theory, Economics of Innovation, Competition Policy.
All full grades, often with mention, apart from graduate Macro I (~A).
Other Courses: Undergraduate courses in Accounting, Management and Law; graduate Corporate Finance. I have lower grades on these on average.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 MIT, 1 Toulouse, 1 Louvain (from the Master program), 1 Sussex (from my undergraduate honor college). I know ex-post, they were good but not too informative (apart from the Toulouse one maybe); the Sussex one was maybe not very good in the "fill the form" part. They were not always all of them four on every place I applied to.
Research Experience: Started to work on Master Thesis in theoretical I.O.; some short dissertations and empirical projects in the past (none of them valuable).
Teaching Experience: In line of principle, not possible in my country before Master graduation. Starting this march, however, I have assisted my MIT Ph.D. recommender in the graduate course in Econometrics taught by him.
Research Interests: Industrial Organization, Behavioral Economics, Microeconometrics.
Statement of Purpose: A synthetic overview of my academic life and interests.
Other: I obtained full scholarships from both honor colleges I have been student of. Moreover, I have been awarded 2-years full funding (tuition+stipend) to attend a top PhD in Economics, by a board of economists from a prestigious private foundation in my country; most schools I applied to knew this. So basically I would have had ($$$$) in every school had admitted me, at least for the start.
RESULTS:
Attending: Berkeley
Acceptances, declined: Northwestern, Chicago, Stern, UWM, LSE, TSE
Waitlists, eventually rejected: MIT
Rejections: Princeton, Stanford, Yale, UCSD, NYU, CMU, HBS, Wharton (Mgmt), Caltech, EUI
General Comments: If you are an international applicant and the institutions you come from are not so well known, luck and connections really matter alot, even if you have good LoRs from famous economists and a brilliant CV. I know that MIT, for instance, preferred two other students with external funding from my country over me, and they both just came from the two institutions with more reputation in sending students to top Ph.D. programs (but one of them I know, she is really a genius, 780Q). External funding might help, but it depends on the school: for some it really does (MIT, Chicago) but for others it does not (Stanford, Yale). It's not easy to decline Northwestern offer! But, in the end, I am happy with Berkeley.
What would you have done differently? Definitely, attended another undergraduate institution, the best in my country, which is very well established in sending students to top Ph.D. programs. I would have not been funded as I was, at least for the first years, but ex-post I would have had definitely very good shots for Cambridge, MA. My parents had the money, I had been admitted, so I really regret it. I should have also tried to do more research with my recommenders in the first Master year: it hurted me, they did not know me enough well (they also more or less directly told it to me). Perhaps I should have worked more in the final undergraduate years to produce a good analytical working paper to be sent as a writing sample: it may help in some schools, I think; but there was not much I could do as my undergraduate institution was a mostly empirical/heterodox place (not fitting too bad with Berkeley!).

calgrad08 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: UC Berkeley, double major in Economics and Applied Math (with high honors)
Undergrad GPA: 3.9
GRE: 800Q, 710V, 5.5A
Math Courses (Undergrad level): multivariable calc, linear algebra (2 semesters), abstract algebra, numerical analysis, real analysis, complex analysis
Econ Courses (Undergrad level): micro, advanced micro, macro, metrics, applied metrics, game theory, development, psych & econ
Econ Courses (PhD level): metrics (2 semesters)
Other Courses: probability theory; operations research courses for applied math concentration
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from prof for whom I’d worked for years as an RA, 1 from advanced micro prof, and 1 from grad metrics prof
Research Experience: 3 years (including summers) working for Berkeley profs; 1 summer at Treasury Dept; 1 year at Federal Reserve Bank
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: metrics, applied micro
SOP: nothing special, and I didn't customize it at all for the different schools
Other: submitted NSF app but didn’t win
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Berkeley, Chicago, Michigan, Northwestern, Penn, Princeton, Stanford, UCSD, Wisconsin
Waitlists: Brown
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Yale
Pending: none
Attending: Princeton
What would you have done differently?
--Senior honors thesis, both for the sake of submitting it along with my apps and being able to say that I'd done one, and for the good practice it would have been to have done my own research. I also would have tried to coauthor something with my profs, or at least get more involved in the analysis/writing of their papers rather than the (mostly) data-prep work I did for them as an RA.
--Attend office hours. I got quite good letters from my recommenders, but I can't help but think it would have been good to get to know them (and other professors) better.
--Grad-level micro. Metrics was great and I would certainly take it again if I was doing things over, but it would have been nice to have had micro under my belt as well.
But honestly I've had great luck in the admissions process and I'm thrilled to be heading to Princeton this fall. These "things I would have done differently" are really minor in the grand scheme of things, and with so much noise in the process anyway, would hardly have made much of a difference. The admissions game is as much a mystery to me now as it was before I applied!

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!

dancerdf 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Econ from top-ranked university in the Netherlands
Undergrad GPA: 3.9, Summa Cum Laude
Type of Grad: M.S. Econ, LSE
Grad GPA: -
GRE: 790Q, 550V, 5AWA
Math Courses: Standard, although no separate courses, everything included into quantitative methods 1-3
Econ Courses (Master-level): Micro, Macro, Metrics, Development
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Public, International Economics, Micro, Macro, Competition Policy, Growth Theory, Financial Economics, Development Economics, History of Economic Thought, Auction Theory
Other Courses: Finance, Strategy, Marketing, Sociology
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors (2 from Maastricht, 1 from LSE)
Teaching Experience: Tutor for microeconomics at student association in cooperation with the university
Research Interests: Development
SOP: Standard
Concerns: 790Q GRE, no course in real-analysis
Applying to: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Northwestern, Chicago, UPenn, Stanford, Berkeley, NYU, Columbia, Brown
Can't wait for the results!!!

knickerbocker 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. in Economics, Math, Applied Math, Top 7 econ program, Minor Japanese Language and Culture
Undergrad GPA: 3.94/4.0 PBK, Econ 4.0/4.0, Math 4.0/4.0
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: Q 790; V 620; AW 5.5
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Linear Algebra, Math Stats, Real Analysis I,II, Higher Level Math
Econ Courses: A lot
Other Courses: Mostly Japanese
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ full professors, no nobel prize winners, but know my work well
Research Experience: NONE
Teaching Experience: None.
Research Interests: Economic History, Macro
SOP: Sub par, I fear
Other: Good summer jobs the past three summers
Applying to: Columbia, Yale, Harvard, MIT, Penn, Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, Chicago
Worried I didn't apply to any safeties. Low GRE. Reassurances greatly appreciated.

softsquirrel 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: France's top Grandes Ecoles(2 years in a top "Classe Princeton Reviewépa" if anyone knows it)
Undergrad GPA: 4.35/4.4, 1st out of 500 (Our school thinks its students merit a 10% bonus on GPA and that's why they add that, which made me some trouble as I always have to explain that)
Type of Grad: Same school(The system is weird in France, basically it's 2+3 years after high school and they deliver a somewhat Master-equivalent degree at the end)
Grad GPA: FALL
GRE: 800Q, 720V, 4.5AWA
TOEFL IBT: 115(27Speaking and 28Writing)
Math Courses: basically everything, almost like a math majoring student
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): baby micro+macro+corporate finance
Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro, Macro, Econometrics, Development , Growth, Game Theory, Financial Economics etc.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from a well-known French prof teaching economics in US top universities, 1 Oxford Phd (eco), 1 School prof(eco), another 1 schoolprof(math)
Research Experience: only one team-based research on auction theory
Teaching Experience: 2 years TA on maths for 2nd-year math students (the so-called "colle" in our argot)
Research Interests: macro+international
SOP: quitewell-written, I think
Applying to: Princeton, Yale, Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Stanford, NYU, UPenn, Columbia
Commnet: little research experience, but it's the problem for all candidates from French Grandes Ecoles

phd09 2009:
Institution: OSU
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Have no idea
Notification date: 2/18/09
Notified through: Website(status changed today)
Comments:

Econ_TCC 2009:
Institution: Northwestern
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Waitlisted
Notification date: 2/26
Notified through: E-mail from Mercedes
Comments: Really hope to get funding!
Institution: U Penn
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: High on waitlist
Notification date: 3/4
Notified through: E-mail
Comments: -
Institution: WUSTL
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: 18,000, possibly 30,000
Notification date: 3/5
Notified through: E-mail
Comments: -
Institution: NYU
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Waitlisted
Funding: ?
Notification date: 3/5
Notified through: E-mail
Comments:-
Institution: Columbia, UCLA, Princeton, Yale, Berkeley
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Rejected
Funding: yeah, right!
Notification date:
Notified through: E-mail
Comments:

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

Pedxs 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 liberal arts college (It used to be top 5!!) - Double Major Math & Econ - Graduated in 3 years
Undergrad GPA: 3.96/4.00
GRE: 800Q/650V/4.5AWA
Math Courses: lots of statistic courses + a few applied math + Calc + RA + Abstract Algebra
Econ Courses: the usual undergrad with emphasis on finance courses
Other Courses: two years equivalent of undergrad physics
Letters of Recommendation: 1 each from home institution econ prof and math prof + 1 from prof at top econ phd program
Research Experience: College Math Thesis + College Econ Thesis + 0.5 year at economic consulting (I think this is meaningless) + 1.5 years RA at top econ phd program
Teaching Experience: TA for lots of math and econ classes in college
Research Interests: Finance, Development
SOP: Quite long -my full version was 1500 word. It was necessary for me because I was out of school for 2 years. I felt that I was able to make my SOP interesting enough that they will spend the time to read the entirety. I talked about what inspired me to become interested in finance/development. What I did to gain exposure to these fields and to prepare myself for grad school.
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT, Chicago, Minnesota, Cornell, Brown, JHU, BU
Waitlists: Harvard
Rejections: a couple in the top 5
Pending:
What would you have done differently?
Nothing much. I got into my top choice.

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

Morxjez 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: University of Chicago
Undergrad GPA: 3.83
Type of Grad: n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: Q800 V540 W4.0
Math Courses: Analysis in Rn 1,2,3 , Abstract Algebra 1,2 , Numerical Analysis, Complex Analysis, Theory of ODE (involved use of complex variable) All A's except complex analysis (A-)
Stat Courses: Mathematical Statistics (A-), and mathematical probability (A)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro and Macro (all A's), International trade and finance (A-,A), Econometrics (intro and advance) (A, B+,A), Advanced Macro 1, 2 (A+,A+), Auction Theory (A), Game Theory (A), a graduate class in numerical methods in economics (A)
Other Courses: Computer Science (A,A)
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Harvard, 1 Minnesota, 1 Princeton (They are all pretty strong)
Research Experience: 1 Year part time RA, 1 Summer RA at central bank in my country
Teaching Experience: TA for math and econ
Research Interests: Asset pricing and macro
SOP: normal with customized to each program
Other: I am currently a junior year student.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Chicago($), Northwestern (WL), UPenn ($$), Columbia($$), Minnesota ($$), Wisconsin($$), Boston U($$)
Waitlists: MIT
Rejections: Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Berkeley, UMich
Pending: nothing
What would you have done differently? I should not apply this year. I should instead work as an RA for a year or two and then apply. I think then I would have a clear shot at top 5 schools. But well, graduating in three years save me 50,000US worth of tuition fee and now I am happy with Penn, which is very good at Asset Pricing.

slightlyconfused1 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 overall, top 20 econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.99/4.00
GRE: 800Q, 740V, 5.5 AW
Math Courses: Topology (A), Algebra I (A), Analysis II (A+), Math Modeling (A+)
Math Courses (Grad): Ordinary Differential Equations (A+), Real Analysis (A), Functional Analysis (A), Complex Analysis (A+), Algebraic Topology (A)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro (A+), Intermediate Macro (A+), Econometrics (A+), Random Field Course (A+), Research Seminars (A+ and A)
Econ Courses (Grad): Micro I (A), Micro II (A+), Macro I (A+), Macro II (A-), Econometrics I (A), Econometrics II (A)
Other Courses: 4 additional PhD courses in compsci and physics. (A+s and As)
Letters of Recommendation: One from very well-known prof (research), one from decently well-known prof (research + did an independent study with him), one with younger associate prof (took a 2nd year grad module with him + unofficial adviser)
Research Experience: Financial econometrics research for senior thesis; micro theory + cs research earlier. Nothing too extraordinary, although my advisors want me to submit the financial econometrics work to a top field journal.
Teaching Experience: Various TA gigs over the years.
Research Interests: Everything. Applied micro and econometrics if I had to narrow down a little.
Statement of Purpose: Pretty bland (except for the Berkeley SOP, which was the first one I wrote and included lots of details about papers I liked, etc.). Narrated my interest in econ, advanced coursework, research, etc.
Other: Various awards in math/programming contests. Some "best academics in university" awards given to 2-3 students.
Concerns: Undergrad research was not focused and had little to do with my actual interests?
RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT ($$), Harvard ($$), Yale ($$$), Princeton ($$), Stanford ($$), Berkeley ($$), Chicago ($$), Northwestern ($$), Duke ($$)
Rejections: None

dale_albo 2010:
Type of Undergrad: Economics, Top South American University.
Undergrad GPA: 6.02/7 (Highest in my Class)
Type of Grad: MSc, Economics, Top South American University.
Grad GPA: 6.5/7 (Highest in my Class)
GRE/TOEFL: 790Q/780V/5.5AWA. 120 TOEFL.
Math Courses: Calculus I-III, Algebra, Probability and Statistics, Inference, Mathematics for Economists (Linear Algebra, some Dynamic Optimization), Advanced Calculus (Should be Real Analysis I), Real Analysis. All A's, except for Calculus I.
Econ Courses (u/g): Intro Micro, Intro Macro, Micro I-II, Macro I-II, Industrial Organization, International Economics, Econometrics. All equivalent to A's or A+
Grad courses: Macro Theory I, Micro Theory I-II, Econometric Theory I-II-III. In my university, I is a joint M.Sc. and Ph.D. course, while the others are Ph.D. courses. Also, Industrial Organization, Public Economics, Enviromental Economics. All equivalent to A's or A+, except for IO, B+.
Letters of Recommendation: All strong, I believe/hope. I moved them around according to the program, but the summary is 2 MIT, 2 Chicago,1 Harvard, 1 UCLA, 1 Georgetown.
Research Experience: Honors thesis, won the poster contest in the annual meeting of my country's economic society. A co-authored working paper, with a classmate, that I have presented a few times and has been submitted for publication. Also, a couple of other co-authored working papers, including one with a professor from my university. Also, a year and a half of being a research assistant for that professor.
Teaching Experience: Been a TA since 2nd year of undergrad for a bunch of courses. Of note, TA for a core Ph.D. econometrics course and for a graduate enviromental economics course. Also, have been teaching Introduction to Economics for a year.
Research Interests: IO, mostly empirical work.
Statement of Purpose: The usual, I talk about my research, what I have done and what I want to do.
Concerns:
No published or in the pipeline research. Just submitted one working paper to a journal, but I haven't heard back from them so I decided not to mention that I had submitted it.
Applying to: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, Berkeley, Columbia, NYU, UPenn, Northwestern, UCLA, Yale.
RESULTS:
Will Attend: MIT.
Acceptances: Chicago, Northwestern ($?), UPenn ($$), UCLA. All declined.
Waitlists: Yale, declined.
Rejections: Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford, NYU.
What would you have done differently? Wouldve tried harder to get published last year. Still, I got into my top choice, which is all that matters.

sperner's lemma 2010:
Type of Undergrad: Top 3 Canadian University (in economics)
Undergrad GPA: 95 cumulative, ~97 for math/econ courses
Type of Grad: Taking first year PhD Micro
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: Q800,V730,W5.5
Math Courses: Calc I-IV , Lin Alg I-III, Differential Eq, Metric Topology, General Topology, Real Analysis I-II, Intro. to Probability and Stats
Econ Courses: standard honors sequence in Micro/Macro/Metrics, and some Math of Econ
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: One well known in his field, Two semi-known. I have taken classes from the two semi-known ones. I have RAed for the well-known one for the summer. They all know me well.
Research Experience: RAed during third year summer. Did matching/social network stuff.
Teaching Experience: N/A
Research Interests: Applied Game theory, IO
SOP: Spent a lot of time on it. Looking back now, it was probably too much (I didn't know about TM back then). But I think it may have helped, especially for getting me admission from Chicago since I mentioned I am a Libertarian and big fan of Friedman (both are true statements).
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: (Full funding): Stanford, NWU, UPenn, NYU, UMN, UMichigan (Partial Funding)Chicago
Waitlists: MIT
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Berkeley
What would you have done differently?
Nothing really, other than taking more math courses (especially in Probability theory). I am very surprised by my result. My letter of recommendation writers must have gone all the way for me. I am very very grateful for their help.

bluebucket 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 2 Econ PhD program
Undergrad GPA: 4.4/5
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 790Q, 630V, 4.0AWA
Math Courses: multi-var calc, diff eq, linear alg, real analysis
Econ Courses: I was an econ major so alot
Letters of Recommendation: 1 very well known, 1 known within field, 1 senior lecturer, 1 math prof
Research Experience: interned at regional fed
statement of purpose: explained why I want a phd in econ, what my research interests are, and more in depth description of research and other experience
Concerns: grades
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Berkeley ($), U Chicago($)
Waitlists: none
Rejections: Michigan, Brown, Yale, Harvard, MIT, Brown
Attending: U Chicago
What would you have done differently?
Applied to schools where more of my letter writers would be recognized. I didn't apply to Stanford and one of my letter writers got his phd there. But I probably would have chosen Chicago regardless.

Team3 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BS, English
Undergrad GPA: Decent, as I recall
Type of Grad: MA, French
Grad GPA: 3.85
GRE: 780/800/5.5 (x2)
Math Courses: Calc I-III, ODE, Real Analysis, Harmonic Analysis, Probability Theory, Statistics
Econ Courses: Intermediate-level sequence, Metrics
Other Courses: Lots of engineering (core at our institution...thus the science degree)
Letters of Recommendation: Macro professor, analysis professor, think tank director, former employer
Research Experience: 1 sole-author journal, 2 co-author policy (all non-econ), unpublished grad thesis in political economy
Teaching Experience: tutoring only
Research Interests: diverse
Other: 10+ years work experience
Attending: UChicago (external/departmental funding).
What would you have done differently? I felt very fortunate in my offers, but in an environment like this you want to have more preparation than this profile. (To take it a step further, I don't think this is a good profile from which to make comparisons so I deliberatly kept it sparse.) If it hadn't worked out, I'd have continued preparing and would have applied during the subsequent cycle, but I did compile a number of lessons learned...see http://www.urch.com/forums/phd-econo...pplicants.html (Advice for Older Applicants)

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

wobuffet 2010:
Profile
Type of Undergrad: top 15-ish US national university, econ PhD program is top 20-30
Undergrad GPA: 4.00 (easier to attain than at other schools)
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 790V, 5.0AW
Math Courses: Honors Multivariable Calculus (pass/fail option); Essential Stats; Honors Linear Algebra; Statistical Inference I; Abstract Algebra; Probabilistic Models; Real Analysis (single-variable)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Macro; Intermediate Micro; a bunch of field courses (Int'l Finance; Public Econ; Econ Growth; Health Econ; Econ Analysis of Institutions; Econ and Psychology; Theory of Econ Growth; Labor Economics); Econometrics I; Econometrics II; Game Theory; grad core Micro I (mandatory pass/fail); grad core Micro II (mandatory pass/fail); grad applied econometric methods course (graded, in progress when I applied); grad class on economic theories of inequality (graded, in progress when I applied)
Other Courses: two intro comp sci classes
Letters of Recommendation: one reasonably well-known prof I RA'd for, took 2 classes with (1 undergrad, 1 grad), and planned to write a thesis under; one somewhat less-known prof I had an undergrad class with and planned to TA for; one well-known prof I took two grad-level courses with (including Micro II, in which I internally got an A); and another well-known prof I RA'd for for a year or so. [I mixed and matched somewhat for schools that only accepted 3 LORs]
Research Experience: RA'd for 2 semesters + 2 summers (under 2 diff profs)
Publications: Nah.
Teaching Experience: none at time of application, although I was planning to in the spring
Research Interests: applied micro (especially public and labor)
Statement of purpose: Tried to be honest; it probably ended up sort of dry.
Comments: Going in, I had basically no idea how most of my letters were going to turn out; I was only reasonably confident about one of them.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Berkeley ($$, attending), Stanford ($$$), Yale ($$$$), UMich (no $), Chicago (waitlisted for $), Northwestern ($$), NYU ($$$)
Waitlists: MIT (eventually rejected), Princeton (eventually rejected)
Rejections: Harvard, UPenn, Columbia
What would you have done differently? On the margin, I guess having done some research on my own would have done the most good, or perhaps getting to know a few professors better. (But ex post, I wouldn't change a thing! In particular, attending a well-regarded private research university for my undergraduate studies definitely worked out well for me.)

greeneggs 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Triple Major (Econ, Math, Stat - all B.S.) from UMN
Undergrad GPA: 3.75/4
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 570V, 4.5AWA
Math Courses: Calculus I-IV, (HS,HS, B+, B+), Intro to Stat I-II (A,A-), Linear Algebra (A-), Intro to Proofs (A-), Real Analysis I-II (A-,A), Prob & Stat I-II (A,A), Math Modeling (A), Prediction & Filtering (A), Multivariate Stat (A-), Numerical Methods (A-), phd Real Analysis (B,B), phd Time Series (A-), phd Probability & Measure theory (B), phd Commutative and Homological Algebra (A)
Econ Courses: Principles of Micro (A), Principles of Macro (A), Game Theory (A-), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), Econometrics (A-), International Trade (A), Macro Policy (A), Mathematical Econ (A), phd Micro I-IV (A,B,B,A-), phd Macro (A-,Spring), phd Trade (A,Spring)
Other Courses: C/C++ (A-), Algorithms & Data Structures (A-)
Letters of Recommendation: 1 amazing letter from a very well known researcher, 1 really good from a newer tenure track prof, and 1 not sure from a decently well known researcher - may change this last one though; I have a lot of options and I haven't talked to him for 2 years...
Research Experience:
Summer research and honors thesis in international trade (working with the Melitz model)
Teaching Experience:
None
Research Interests: Trade, Macro, Growth
SOP: Standard
RESULTS:
Attending: University of Minnesota ($20k)
Acceptances: NYU ($23k+), Princeton ($28.5k), Chicago ($21k), Northwestern ($21k), Stanford ($32k)
Waitlist: Yale (Accepted - $37.5k), MIT (rejected)
Rejections: Harvard, Berkeley
What would you have done differently?
Not sure. People are going to think I'm crazy but I'm confident I made the right decision. Mind you it wasn't easy; I gave up going to a school with a fancy name (my family is taking it surprisingly well), I gave up thousands of dollars in funding, I gave up living with my girlfriend (she's got into a school near Stanford and one near Chicago - and we don't plan on breaking up), and I gave up seeing someplace new; but at the end of the day I know that Minnesota is the place for me. I still think it was important that I visited all of the departments of the schools I got into, so I don't feel like I just wasted my time and money staying where I am.
One thing I would have done differently is I wish I hadn't started slacking off after I got my decisions now that I'm going to take the prelims right away this spring...

heraclitus_junior 2010:
It won't let me edit my previous post (on page 3), so I'm reposting this. My profile isn't coming up on untitled's website though. I don't know how to get it to be picked up.
Profile
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Double Major in Math/Econ. Top 3 university in a very small, isolated country. (<300 in the world)
Undergrad GPA: 3.94 out of 4.00 (converted)
Type of Grad: 1st class honors degree
Grad GPA: 3.92 out of 4.00 (converted)
GRE: 780Q, 750V, 4.5AWA (only took once)
Math Courses: First year math, second year multivariate calculus and differential equations, second year linear algebra, second year inference, second year probability, second year real analysis, third year dynamical systems, third year complex variables, third year matrix algebra, third year analysis, third year multivariate stats, honours measure theory, honours probability theory, honours mathematical economics, honours combinatorics (matroids), honours topology (point set topology).
Econ Courses: second year macro, second year micro, third year micro, third year econometrics, third year game theory, honours macro, honours welfare economics, honours empirical macroeconomics.
Other Courses: first year computer science done informally.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 professor of pure mathematics (chaired), 1 econ senior lecturer (associate professor) from my uni. They knew me very well, so their letters should've been good. 1 world-renowned economist who isn't from my university and didn't know me as well as the others.
Research Experience: Paid summer math project. Paid summer internship at my country's central bank with their research team. An honours dissertation on mathematical economics.
Publications: one single author publication in a mid-tier North American Journal (accepted for publication mid-feb 2010). one working single author paper on cooperative game theory.
Teaching Experience: Tutor for first year math and third year microeconomics.
Research Interests: Economic theory (Micro and macro).
Statement of purpose: I talked about my research experience and my goals.
Concerns: My GRE score was a real worry; I was concerned my application would not even be looked at. Also, I did a 4 year degree in 3 years so I didn't have any breadth. I also applied straight out of undergrad at a relatively young age.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Princeton, Berkeley, Chicago, Northwestern, Stanford, San Diego, Harvard (After waitlist).
Rejections: Yale, NYU, MIT (after waitlist), UPenn (withdrawn).

nobigdeal 2010:
Type of Undergrad: B.F.A (!) dbl major in acting and economics (from one of the top acting programs, and a top (15) econ department.
Undergrad GPA: 3.85/4 over all, 3.9 econ; received the senior year econ dept. award.
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 800Q, 650V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-II (AP). Only linear algebra (A) in undergrad. Since then, calc III (A), real analysis (A+), math stats (A+), probability (A)
Econ Courses (undergraduate): two intro classes plus micro, macro, international trade, labor, public, development, statistics, econometrics, thesis. All A's, except an A- in my first intro course.
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ professors (worked for one over a summer, co authored a paper with the other -- top marks in their classes), one economist at a fed (he does more academic research than policy work).
Research Experience: A senior thesis, which grew into a paper that was recently accepted into a top (sub)field journal. Over 2 years at a fed working pretty closely with an economist with who I coauthored a paper we submitted to an interdisciplinary policy journal.
Teaching Experience: Very little. Worked in a statistics lab in college where I gave a lesson on STATA.
Research Interests: Labor, behavioral
Statement of Purpose: Discussed my background and research experiences. Also wrote two paragraphs outlining my research interests in applied microeconomics, labor, and behavioral. So, fairly specific. Hardly addressed the school's strengths at all--only mentioned the school's name once, in the last paragraph.
Concerns: I have a B.F.A, and I didn't take much math in college.
Applying to: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, UC Berkeley, Columbia, Yale, Penn, Duke, Cornel, NYU, Brown, Northwestern, Stanford, U Chicago, U Michigan

peepo 2010: Type of Undergrad: Maths. From top-2 UK school
Undergrad GPA: Not sure how to convert from UK grades, but reckon about 3.9ish
Type of Grad: MSc LSE Econometrics and Math Econ
Grad GPA: See above, but 3.8-3.9 I think
GRE: 790Q, 690V, 5 AWA
Math Courses: real and complex analysis, multivariate calculus, linear algebra, probability and statistics, measure theory, integration, martingales, and financial option pricing, plus some other non-econ related ones (all A/A+)
Econ Courses (undergraduate): Micro, Macro, Metrics (all A+)
Econ Courses (graduate): Macro, Monetary Econ (both As), Metrics, Time series (A+)
Work Experience: Three years as an economist in a central bank
Letters of Recommendation: 1 maths prof, two econ profs (one MIT PhD, likely to be best letter)
Research Experience: Bits and pieces. Nothing published
Statement of purpose: First draft done. Thinking about how to cut 100 words or so.
Research Interests: Monetary Policy, asset pricing, computational economics
Concerns: Two of the letters could be a bit lukewarm. Not sure if the other will make up for it. Also just general fear. Oh, and that I really can't go anywhere without funding.
Applying to: MIT, Chicago, Harvard, Princeton, NYU, Minnesota, Stanford, UCLA

divikid 2010:
Institution: Oxford
Program: DPhil in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 2/22
Notified through: Post
Posted on GF: No
Comments: At least wasn't in my top 5 choices
Institution: Northwestern
Program: Ph.D in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 2/27
Notified through: Website (randomly checked it, did not received any emails)
Posted on GF: No
Comments: That was too bad, thought I had some chance of getting at least waitlisted
Waiting: MIT, Chicago, Princeton, Cornell, Texas at Austin, Brown, London Business School

Thorstein 2010:
Institution: University of Chicago
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Admit
Funding:
Notification date: 3/9
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: Yes
Comment: um... woot? I'll be there on April 2.

jackie21 2010:
Institution: UCLA
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: being considered for fellowship
Notification date: feb 2010
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: no
Institution: Michigan
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: none
Notification date: march 2010
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: no
Institution: LSE
Program: MSc Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: none
Notification date: feb 2010
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: no
Institution: University of Toronto
Program: MA
Decision: Accepted
Funding: 25000
Notification date: march 2010
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: no
Institution: Cornell
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: 22000
Notification date: 08/03/2010
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: no
Institution: Stanford
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: 32000!!
Notification date: 11/03/2010
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: no
Rejected: Yale, Princeton, Chicago, Berkeley

DeaDEyeS 2010:
Institution: U Chicago
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Admitted
Funding: Yes!
Notification date: 3/11/10
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GF:
Comments: Great !!

testacct 2010:
Institution: University of Chicago
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notification date: 04/03
Notified through: E-mail
Funding: Tuition waiver (stipend yrs 3-5)
Comments: Accepted off of the wait list. Originally was told that I was a long shot to get off the wait list.

econchef 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small Liberal Arts University, Atlantic Canada (Honors Econ, Minor Math)
Undergrad GPA: 3.95 (4.0 Econ) (4.0 Math) (Converted) (top graduate in Econ)
Type of Grad: MA Econ, Queen's University
Grad GPA: 4.0 (Converted) (top graduate)
GRE: 800Q 570V 5.5AW
Math Courses: calculus (I,II,III), linear algebra, ODE, Discrete, Intro Stats, History of Math, Intro to Game Theory (All A or higher)
Econ Courses (grad): Micro, Macro , Econometrics, Resource, Applied Econometrics, Research Problems and Methodology, Empirical Micro (All 90%+)
Econ Courses (u/g): Adv Micro, Adv Macro, Uncertainty and Strategy (Adv Micro II), Econometrics (full-year), All intermediates and Intros, a bunch field courses (All A or Higher)
Letters of Recommendation: All positive, 2 full professors (1 resource econ, very well established; 1 applied time series), 1 associate professor (gaining a big rep in time series), I supplement with three other profs who know me well at universities where they have contacts.
Research Experience: master's essay, summer research paper in u/g, Internship at Inter-American Development Bank (Poverty Research / HH Exp'd Surveys), 3 applied metrics courses in Grad, very strong STATA programming skills and LATEX knowledge
Teaching Experience: Taught tutorials for principles (Micro and Macro) for 2 years in u/g; environmental econ and principles macro at Queen's
Research Interests: Econometrics, Labor, Education
Concerns: Could have taken more math; Small unknown undergrad
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Berkeley ($$$), Princeton ($$$), BU ($$), U Toronto ($$$), Queen's ($$$), Chicago (3rd year)
Waitlists: MIT, U Penn, U Mich
Rejections: Harvard, Northwestern, Stanford, NYU, Yale, Columbia
What would you have done differently? Well if I had a time machine, I would have gone back to the start of first year and convinced myself not to take any political science courses in second year and instead replace them all with math courses. I also might have convinced myself that I should have taken more math in fourth year instead of taking basic sciences for med school (I applied and got in but decided to continue with econ grad school). The only other thing I might have changed regarding my record with said time machine would have been to write my MA essay on a time series theory topic as opposed to one in applied micro but I'll be honest these wouldn't be the first things I would do with a time machine. Perhaps with those changes I might have had a better shot at Harvard but there's always some noise in the dgp so who knows. Overall, I'm very excited by my results and can't wait to visit my top two offers.

SASsy 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small Public U (~12K UG & G) comparable to liberal arts college; top 5 party school
Undergrad GPA: 3.38 overall, 3.81 econ, 3.76 Spanish, 3.35 intl studies
Type of Grad: same as UG
Grad GPA: 3.50
GRE: 800Q/760V/4.5W (12/2010)...but 700Q/700V/3.5W (11/2010 - obviously I had to study harder)
Math Courses: Cal I (B), Cal II-IV (As), Foundations (B), Linear Algebra I (B), Intro to Stat Methods (B), Differential Equations I (A), Intro to Math Stats (A), Advanced Cal I-II (As)
Econ Courses: Honors Principles Micro (A), Honors Principles Macro (A), Int Micro (A), Int Macro (B), Honors Global Econ (A), International Trade (A), Game Theory (A), Managerial (A), Econ for Engineers (B), Econ Stats II (A)
Grad Econ Courses: all taken with PhD students, Micro I (A), Macro I (B), Econometrics I (A), Price Theory (A), Managerial (A), IO (A), Math Econ (A), Econ History (A), Math Methods for Econ (B), Stat Methods for Econ and Business (B), three Econ seminars, and a course that I failed 5 years ago due to very odd circumstances...hence the low grad GPA.
Other Courses: 6 senior history courses, 2 senior sociology courses, 1 law school course, several heterodox courses (polisci/history/sociology/philosophy/law) for intl studies; lots of language courses, including graduate level spanish (but other languages as well)
Letters of Recommendation: I used a mix of 5 professors, to reduce the burden on them. 1 prof recommended me to all schools with what I assume was a very strong letter of recommendation. I asked all of my grad-level theory professors (micro, macro, metrics) plus the two professors I had written research papers for (and who had taught many electives to me). None were extraordinarily well-known (to my knowledge) but knew me very well and knew my understanding of applications of econ.
Research Experience: My Formal experience was very limited; At time of application I had just accepted RA job at a university, in an unfamiliar field. Otherwise, had collected my own data for papers and had done all research independently.
Teaching Experience: TA for campus-wide service during MA, more like a math tutor; tutored for 8 years
Research Interests: micro/labor/health, IO, public finance, behavioral, development...isn't it all related on some level?
SOP: It was ever-evolving. The "best" SOP (the one that yielded my Chicago acceptance) was very professional, very direct, and discussed all research papers I had written previously. The others talked more about my one big idea. I also took a more "persuasive" tone in them. All mentioned that I want to teach.
Other: I have won several scholarships and fellowships in the past, for which I think I provided a pretty good ROR on the investment. I also worked 40 hours/week for the last 3 years while bringing my grades up significantly. During this time I made sure to be one of the top, if not the top, students in each class. (Except macro. Damn.) Also my Chicago writing sample was a paper in which I disproved my undergraduate thesis.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Chicago with level one fellowship
Waitlists: Rice
Rejections: Harvard, NYU, Princeton, Northwestern, UT-Austin, Rochester, Georgetown, Duke, Maryland, Cornell, Brown, UVA and LSE
Incomplete: Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Melon, American, George Mason
What would you have done differently?
This is a difficult topic. Obviously I did something right. I also did many things wrong. Points (1) and (2) are changes that would've made me an entirely different person. These are more like life lessons, that required trial and error with my own life to discover. On the other hand, I like to think that if I had only enacted (3) and (4) from below, I would have had a much better application season in spite of my past.
(1) I would have taken my academic destiny into my own hands years ago. I let my course load and academic interests be chosen by well-meaning advisers instead of determining what I actually wanted to learn. Thus I was disinterested in many of my courses, and I underperformed. I also let exogenous factors affect my grades too much. I would have been more mature about accepting life's hardships rather than taking a few semesters to mope about it. I would not have partied so much.
(2) I would have been proactive about research with professors. This problem started with my undergrad thesis. I continually chose "interesting" rather than "executable" topics. My adviser at the time encouraged me to be intellectually curious. I should have asked to continue research under his specialty so the paper would have been easier. Instead, I spent the past 6 years chasing down data about a seemingly irrelevant topic. It makes me unique to have this expertise, but it also makes me OLD.
(3) I would not have experimented with my SOP. Really, what the hell was I thinking? I could've been shut out entirely this year. Clearly I am a strong candidate, but I really shot myself in the foot with the changes I made to my SOP at the end of December. While the SOP may not help an applicant, it surely can hurt him/her; I am a good example. I should've been professional, straightforward, and commanding in all of the SOPs.
(4) I would have planned to rock the GRE by mid fall. I cut it really close by taking the GRE in November and then again in mid December. If I had given myself a little more study time between the two exams, I think I could've aced the verbal and significantly improved my AWA. I took the exam late because I didn't expect to do so well, preventing myself from the possibility of applying to many excellent schools. I applied to Harvard at the last minute, and it was the only Dec. 15 deadline I met. I like to think that if I had taken more time to prepare that application, I'd be going to Cambridge in the fall.
Note: I would not have changed my initial course of study or UG institution. I believe that my background gives me a true appreciation for economics, and without it, I'd be a physicist (true story). I tried out the other social sciences first, as I chased down my interests in foreign cultures and varying governance systems. Writing research papers for other social science courses left me utterly frustrated because I could never prove what I said. My senior thesis left me utterly dissatisfied. Enter economics. It was a natural fit for my data and research. I am proud to say that I am passionate about economics.

kipfilet 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Economics, top school in small European country
Undergrad GPA: 18/20, converted to 4.0/4.0, top of my class
Type of Grad: MPhil in Economics in progress (2 year Masters including 1st year PhD coursework)
Grad GPA: 19/20, converted to 4.0/4.0
GRE: Q800, V710, AWA 5.0
Math Courses: Calc I (already includes some intro real analysis and lots of proofs), Calc II (multivariate calc, topology, lots of optimisation), Linear Algebra, Math I (difference eqns, dynamic programming, discrete-time optimization), Math II (differential eqns, optimal control), Advanced Math (advanced topology and real analysis, measure theory, correspondence theory). All A's
Econ Courses (grad-level): Full Macro and Micro sequences, lots of random trimester courses (game theory I and II, time series, microeconometrics, energy economics, etc), all A's.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Lots of them. In my country, programs are not flexible at all. We spend 3 years being bombed with economics courses just about everything.
Other Courses: some Law, Finance and History courses. Two seminars on European Union institutions.
Letters of Recommendation: My thesis advisor and three assistant professors who know me well I guess (was a student and worked/working in projects with all of them).
Research Experience: Summer internship at a Ministry, applied macro research; lots of minor projects; macroeconometric paper with two colleagues; co-authoring an empirical paper; my MPhil thesis (in progress) is supposed to be one of the three papers one usually writes for a PhD.
Teaching Experience: twice TA (lecturer) for Multivariate Calc, twice TA (lecturer) for intermediate macro (all undergrad)
Research Interests: Macro: monetary economics, DSGE's, asset pricing. Also interested in behavioural.
SOP: Pretty standard, not customised at all. I actually sent the same SOP to ALL schools, only changing their name.
Concerns: Coming from a school that is virtually unknown in the US (and better known as a business school in Europe), no letter of recommendation from a senior professor.
Other: TOEFL 119, Erasmus in a well-known university in the Netherlands.
RESULTS
Acceptances: Minnesota ($$$), UPenn ($$$), LSE (), Oxford (MPhil, no ), Columbia ($$$), Chicago (no $), Northwestern (no$ 1st year), NYU($$$)
Waitlists: UCLA (rej), MIT (rej), Northwestern (acc), NYU (acc)
Rejections: Yale, Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, UCLA, MIT.
Attending: NYU
What would you have done differently?
Not much, I think. I regret not having asked a letter of recommendation from a well-known professor at my university whom I later discovered to be rather willing to write it (I had never worked for him). Not asking any senior prof for a letter of recommendation was a huge risk I took, and I only discovered the value of seniority much later (i.e. after having discovered TM). My 2nd year MPhil grades (1st year PhD courses) have been rather good so far, and my thesis is going really well (my apologies for not being very humble in this aspect), so I guess I could have a stronger profile if I decided to apply next year. Anyway, I'm not going to cry over it, as I'm already ecstatic with my outcome! This was an extremely long and stressful process, and I'm really glad that it has come to a happy ending. See you all in the job market!

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

eds 2011:
PROFILE
Type of Undergrad: South Italian University. Graduate in 2004.Major in Economics
Undergrad GPA: 110/110 cum laude (say equivalent to 4 )
Type of Grad: MSc in economics form a top 5 UK department in 2007,
Grad GPA: Master 90+%,
GRE: 800Q, 590V, 3.0AWA. I will be retaking it next month. Do not consider this result when evaluating my profile.
Math Courses: (UG)General Mathematics, Financial Mathematics, Linear Algebra, Real Analysis Multivariable Analysis(should be calculus) , Statistics I and I. ‐ All equivalent to A's or A+.
Math Courses: (Master): introductory to math and stats 90%+
Econ Courses (masters-level): Micro, Macro, monetary economics ,international monetary economics, Econometrics ,Trade theory All 90%+
Econ Courses (PhD level) About 13 course in macro fields with famous profs at PhD level. All passed with As
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro and Macro Theory, Labor, International economics, monetary economics, Industrial econ. Development economics, economic history, History of economic thought theory, econometrics, Public economics, Regional Economics, Applied economics, Economic Policy‐ All equivalent to A's or A+
Other Courses: Summer school at UPF
Letters of Recommendation: ) 1 stellar letters from a NYU PhD undergraduate thesis supervisor well connected 2) Form a guy with PhD Michigan well known in his field. I got A in his graduate course. I am now looking for the third letter.
Research Experience: A working paper in progress with one of my a letter of recommendation writers and we are talking to start working on a paper with my second letter of recommendation writer. Not sure If I will have something concrete by December 2010 . I won special merit from the evaluation committee for the quality of my u/g thesis work, presentation skills and academic performance. I also won the prize for the best u/g thesis for that year. My MSc thesis was marked (90%+) as the best among MSc students in my year. Visitor Researcher at a well know institute .Visitor Scholar at a top 20 US department (research only) for fall 2009. I have served as a visitor scholar at the research division of the ECB
Teaching Experience: TA for intro to micro (In the USA) and for Monetary economics
Research Interests: Monetary economics , International macro, .
SOP: Should be strong.
Concerns: AGE!!!! I am, currently 33. I will been turned 34 and a half by fall 2011 .. I need to get new letters of recommendation from people I currently work with . I cannot ask for a letter from my MSc because of other personal reasons nor from the US department.
Other: Applying for the usual fellowships.
Applying to: In many programs. In the US and Europe. Suggestions are welcome !

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

zorro12 2011:
Type of Undergrad: Group of 8 Australia
Double Major: Economics / Mathematics
Undergrad GPA: 3.79 (converted)
Exchange GPA: 3.33 (top 10 economics)
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 790Q 660V 4.0AW; 770Q 690V 4.0AW
Math Courses: calculus, linear algebra, optimisation theory, discrete mathematics, ODEs, PDEs, applied mathematics
Econ Courses: micro (up to 4th yr), macro (up to 4th yr), econometrics (up to 4th yr), game theory, law and economics, industrial org, international finance
Letters of Recommendation: I assume they will be positive
Research Experience: honours thesis
Teaching Experience: 1st year micro and macro
Research Interests: micro, game theory
Concerns: (1) If I'd seen the results forums from last year before I'd applied I would have applied to some lower ranked universities. (2) Exchange GPA. (3) 770 on the quant section of my 2nd attempt at the GRE.
Applying to: Berkeley, Brown, CalTech, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Maryland, MIT, Northwestern, NYU, Princeton, Stanford, UCSD, UIllinois, UPenn, WUSTL, Yale
Comments: Implicit rejection from CalTech

2011applicant 2011:
Type of Undergrad: Top 5 US liberal arts college (Economics and Political Science double major). Graduated more than 2 years ago.
Undergrad GPA: 3.87 (3.9 in majors)
Type of Grad: Math Certificate Program
Grad GPA: 3.6
GRE: 790 Quant. 800 Ver. 5.5 Writing
Math Courses: Linear Algebra (Pass), Multi-Var (Pass), Real Analysis I (A-), Real Analysis II (A-), ODE (A-), Masters Level Math Stat I (B+), taking Masters Level Math Stat II
Econ Courses (grad-level):n/a
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): all the basics, except only intro to econometrics. Took advanced IO seminar (A) and advanced Micro theory seminar (B+/A-)
Other Courses: Lots of Political Science, History, and Philosophy courses.
Letters of Recommendation: Professors: One MIT graduate and UMD graduate, who both know me well, but only from classes. One Penn State professor who doesn't know me well. Supervisor at work (economic consulting firm) who has a PhD in Econ from UVA.
Research Experience: research position at think tank, analyst/associate position doing antitrust work at economic consulting firm, 1.5 years doing non-quant research for political science professor.
Teaching Experience: TAed three economics classes.
Research Interests: Industrial organization and Public Finance. Plan to do joint JD/PhD.
Concerns: Letters of Recommendation, Lack of academic research experience, inadequate econometrics background.
Decided to apply to no safeties for PhD programs (all schools I would definitely want to go) and Masters programs as my backups. I also may consider taking econometrics and doing research over the summer and going to a law program next year (since I want to get the law degree too), and then reapply next year from law school.
Applying to: Berkeley, Stanford GSB (Political Economics), Harvard Political Economy, Yale, Michigan, Maryland, Duke, Minnesota, Northwestern, Chicago; Cambridge MPhil, Oxford Mphil, LSE Msc EME, U Toronto Mphil (Doctoral track), UPF/Barcelona GSE + many associated law schools.

mcsokrates 2011:
Institution: University of Oregon
Program: Phd Economics
Decision: Admission
Funding: Will find out in March
Notification date: January 14 (PDF dated 1/6/2011)
Notified through: email
Posted on GF: No
Comments: Oregon's deadline is like February 15, so I was completely surprised.

ypdm 2011:
Institution: Yale
Program: Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: A letter containing the details of our offer has been sent via mail.
Notification date: Feb 15
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GF: Yes
Comments: Feeling very happy and relieved.

Exodus 2011:
Institution: Yale
Program: Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: yeah, right..
Notification date: Feb 16
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: nope
Comments: Nothing surprising... I never had a date with a supermodel either..
11 more to go!!

julio 2011:
Institution: Minnesota
Program: Economics (PhD)
Decision: accepted
Funding: yes (TAship)
Notification date: 2/22/2011
Notified through: email with formal acceptance (pdf)
Posted on GF: yes
Comments: two reject one offer, 12 more to go!

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.

mamisakura 2011:
Institution: Chicago
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Some
Notification date: 3/7/2011
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC : no
Comments: oh my god, I couldn't believe my eyes.

motto 2011:
Institution: Chicago
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: accepted
Funding: no funding for the first two years
Notification date: 3/8/2011
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: No
Comments: First acceptance!! Extremely happy!!

qwx 2011:
Institution: U Chicago
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: None for first two years
Notification Date: 3/08/2011
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: No
Comments: $$!?

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

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!

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)

revilo 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top Australasian University, BA/BE(Hons) in Economics and Engineering Science (Operations Research)
Undergrad GPA: 7.8/9 on my university’s scale (about 3.8 on US scale)
Type of Grad: Same university, BA(Hons) in Economics, MA in Economics
Grad GPA: 8.25/9 on my university’s scale (about 3.88 on US scale)
GRE: V 164, Q 167, AWA 5 (on third attempt...)
Math Courses: Engineering Maths 1-3, Real Analysis 1-2, Measure Theory, Functional Analysis
Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro Theory 1-2, Macro, Econometrics, Energy Economics
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro, Macro, Econometrics, Trade, Game theory, Environmental, Financial Economics
Other Courses: 4 Grad operations research courses, 3 grad statistics course (inc time series and probability theory), Some other engineering stuff
Letters of Recommendation: Emeritus Professor at Northwestern, Head of Department, Thesis Supervisor
Research Experience: 1.5 years of RA work on electricity markets for two different professors includes co-authoring two papers. One summer of RA work on nutrient trading schemes. Honours Dissertation on climate change IAM modelling.
Teaching Experience: Two semesters introductory micro, Three semesters introductory macro, One semester introductory programming for engineers
Research Interests: Applied Micro, IO
SOP: full of typos!
Concerns: a smattering of crappy grades
Other: Semester on exchange to Hong Kong
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UChicago (attending), Columbia, UC Berkeley ARE, U British Columbia, U Toronto
Rejections: Stanford, Yale, Northwestern, NYU, Penn, Michigan, Duke, Maryland

Aha 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: University in Australia; B Ec/LLB
Undergrad GPA: N/A; first class honours
Type of Grad:
Grad GPA:
GRE: 790 Q; 610 V; 5.0
Math Courses: Linear algebra, vector calculus, real analysis
Econ Courses: Grad equivalent courses, particularly micro theory and econometrics
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: probably strong
Research Experience: undergraduate honours thesis, published paper in a low ranked journal; various small research projects from work
Teaching Experience: Taught intro micro, macro; various econometrics courses
Research Interests: various
SOP: nothing special
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, NYU, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Cambridge, Oxford, Toulouse, UBC, Penn
Attending: Harvard
What would you have done differently? Nothing really...

EconHopeful2012 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 liberal arts, LSE General Course
Undergrad GPA: 3.55 under grade deflation policy
Type of Grad: 2 semesters of Mathematical Statistics
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 168Q, 169V, 5.5W
Math Courses: Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Probability and Statistics, Real Analysis
Econ Courses: Intro Micro, Macro; Intermediate Micro, Macro, Metrics; Personal Finance; Public Economics; Economic Integration of the EU; Monetary Economics; Comparative Economic Development; Urban Economics; Advanced Health Economics; Finance Theory & Applications
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: Chicago PhD, Harvard PhD, Michigan PhD. Good mix of well-connected and well-known.
Research Experience: Thesis, Fed Intern, Fed RA 3 years, coauthoring 2 papers
Teaching Experience:
Research Interests: Applied Micro, Micro Theory, Urban
SOP: Generally standard, tried to tailor to different schools and mentioned professors I would like to work with.
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Chicago Harris ($), USC Price ($), Wisconsin ($), UVA ($), Wharton AE ($)
Waitlists: Michigan (withdrawn), Minnesota (withdrawn)
Attending: Wharton !!
What would you have done differently?
There's a lot I could say here and I have often thought to myself that it's too bad that most of us only do this once because you learn so much by doing. (1) I would like to have As in some of the classes where I got Bs. I wasn't remotely aware of how competitive this process is while I was in undergrad. Just assumed that as long as I was one of the top dogs at my undergrad I would be competitive anywhere. (2) I wish I had done more research ahead of time about where I really was a great fit since this turned out to be a strong predictor of where I got in. There were some schools that I probably should have applied to and didn't. (3) I wish I could have found a way to break my addiction to this forum. Although there's lots of great advice and support to be had, checking for updates every 5 minutes during the months of February and March probably just made me super stressed out and unfocused.
Despite these lessons, Wharton was a top choice for me going in and there's a good chance I would have gone even if I had gotten into some other highly ranked schools. I can't wait to get started in the fall!

george 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Double major: Math/Econ from a top 50 us.
Undergrad GPA: 3.95 (4.0 Math/Econ)
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: Q: 170 V: 166 AWA: 4.5
Math Courses: Calc I-III high school, Real Analysis 1-2 (A), Linear Algebra 1-2 (A), Abstract Algebra 1-2 (A), (A), Combinatorics (A), Number Theory (A), Topology (A), Graph Theory (A), Algebraic Topology grad (A), Combinatorics grad (A), Functional Analysis grad (A)
Econ Courses (grad-level): MicroTheory 1-3 (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro(A), Macro (A), Principles Micro (A), Principles Macro (A), Labor Economics (A), Crime Economics (A), Game Theory (A), International Econ (A), Research seminar (A), Econometrics (A).
Other Courses: Symbolic Logic (A).
Letters of Recommendation: 2 that are very well known, and 1 that is brilliant, all very strong.
Research Experience: Did research in both math and econ
Teaching Experience: TA for a math course
Research Interests: Micro, applied micro, risk
SOP: awesome.
Concerns: Strength of undergrad institution
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Brown, Penn off wl, Chicago off wl, UCSD, Columbia.
WL: Chicago, Duke, Penn
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Northwestern, Berkeley, Princeton
What would you have done differently?
I got brought in and told the reasons for my poor results at one of the schools, and he said it was all institution. All you have to do though is take a couple years off and ra with someone famous, if youre in this position but I want to head straight to grad school plus new york is pretty swanky.
Attending: Columbia

ptf 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Economics (Minor: Mathematics) from an unknown SE Asian university (Top 2 in my unknown country)
Undergrad GPA: 3.83 (Econ: 3.76, Math: 3.81)
Type of Grad: MSc Economics from a Top 3 UK university
Grad GPA: Pass (Average: 58.5%)
GRE: 800Q/320V/3.5AW, 800Q/500V/3.0AW
Math Courses (Undergrad): Calculus 1-3 (A, B+, A), Logic and Set Theory (A), Abstract Algebra (B+), Linear Algebra (A), Ordinary Differential Equation (A), Partial Differential Equation (A), Mathematical Analysis (B+), Vector Analysis (A), Statistics 1-2 (A, B+)
Econ Courses (Undergrad): Principles of Microeconomics (A), Principles of Macroeconomics (A), Microeconomic Theory (A), Macroeconomic Theory (B+), Mathematical Economics 1-2 (B, A), Econometrics 1-2 (B, B+), Public Economics 1-2 (A, B+), Seminar in Public Economics (A), International Economics 1-2 (B+, A), Seminar in International Economics (A), Monetary Economics 1-2 (A, A), Industrial Organization (A), Agricultural Marketing (B+)
Econ Courses (Grad): Microeconomics (Merit), Macroeconomics (Merit), Econometrics (Pass), Public Economics (Pass)
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from senior lecturer at my grad program (PhD Harvard) + 1 from assistant professor at my undergrad program (PhD ANU) + 1 from lecturer at my undergrad program (PhD Indiana)
Research Experience: 2 years of part-time RA in public economics and international economics during my undergrad
Teaching Experience: 2 semesters of TA in microeconomics during my undergrad
Research Interests: public finance, education, inequality, macroeconomics
SOP: Standard statement talking about my preparations, explaining bad grades in my master's degree, and describing my research interests with some (minor) modifications for each school (Not so specific in terms of research topics and hardly mentioned any particular names)
Other: (1) Participated in a summer internship at the central bank (2) Got funding for my graduate studies from the government scholarship (3) Had a second bachelors in political science and is currently doing a second masters in political theory
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Chicago
Waitlists: Pennsylvania, UC-Davis, Washington
Rejections: UC-Berkeley, Northwestern, Columbia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, UCLA, UCSD, Duke, CMU, Marryland, Rochester, UT-Austin, Oxford, UCL
Pending: UIUC
Attending: Chicago
What would you have done differently?
Well, I've always thought that my life would be much easier if I did my undergrad in the US. Anyway, I'm more than happy -- and very surprised -- with this bizarre result.
Some advices from my experience!
If you're from an unknown country, a master's degree from a well-known program does help a lot! Coming from a university outside the US, you'll get more chance if there've been some students from that university in a program to which you are apllying. Also, things get easier if you've got external funding. Another important thing is to note that all this process is extremely subjective; therefore, you should apply to quite a wide range of schools. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, pray hard... I think it helps!

BScMAPhD 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Bachelor of Science in Math(With Honors)
Undergrad GPA: 3.78 (ranked 1)
Type of Grad: MA Economics
Grad GPA: 3.9 (ranked 1)
GRE: 170Q, 146V, 3.5
Math Courses: Calculus(Mathematical Analyses) I- III (A), Linear Algebra I&II (A), Probability Theory I & II (A), Diff. Equations I & II (A), Numerical Analysis I & II (A)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Macro, Micro, Econometrics, Econ Growth, Time Series I & II, Advanced Micro, Advanced Econometrics (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): none
Other Courses: None relevant.
Letters of Recommendation: 1) Well-known Mathematician (I served as TA),
2) Professor, my MA Thesis Advisor ( well-known person in Academia)
3) Professor of Econometrics (should be very strong letter)
Research Experience: Published math paper
Teaching Experience: TA for Macro, Math, Econometrics.
Research Interests: Macro, Econ Growth.
SOP: Standard
Concerns: Low GRE verbal, TOEFL 94.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: NYU, Chicago, Cornell, Ohio ( all with $$)
Waitlists: None
Rejections:Princeton, Columbia, Yale, U of Michigan, UC Berkley, UCLA, Brown, Boston U, Northwestern U, Carnegie Mellon (Tepper), U of Wisconsin Madison, Duke.
Pending: None
Attending: NYU!!! !!! !

highlyconfused1 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 20 math, Top 15 econ, dual honors degrees.
Undergrad GPA: 3.94 Overall, 3.99 Math, 4.00 Econ
GRE: 690+800+4.0
Math Courses(Undergrad): CalcI,III,IV(Waived), CalcII(A), Kind of Intro Proof(A), Applied Linear Algebra(A), Topology(A), ODE(A), Differential Geometry(A), Probability(A)
Math Courses(Grad): Graduate Algebra I,II(A,A), Real Analysis I,II(A,A), Complex Analysis(B), Numerical Analysis(A), Methods of Applied Math I,II(A,A), Functional Analysis I,II(A,A), Probability and Measure (A), Stochastic Processes(A), Algebraic Geometry(A)
Econ Courses(Undergrad): Intro Micro,Macro(A,A), Intermediate Micro,Macro(A,A), A random field course(A)
Econ Courses(Grad,each is half-semester): Micro TheoryI,II,III,IV(A,A,A,A), Math Econ(A), IO(A), EconometricsI,II(A,A), a few others in the spring.
Other Courses:C++(A), Phd Asset Pricing(B+), a trivial statatistics(A), PhysI,II,III(A,A,A)
Letters of Recommendation: One Math, Two Econ. Well known within their fields I think. Very nice people.
Research Experience: Attended an NSF math REU and had a peer-coauthored publication in algebraic combinatorics. A math honors thesis, and some sort of research assistant experience in econ. Currently doing an econ thesis.
Teaching Experience: N/A (does grader count?)
Research Interests: None in particular. Pretty much open to everything: Theory, macro, IO, finance, metrics, political economy, international.
SOP: Pretty bland and short. Just stated my experience and career goal.
Concerns: Lack of econ research. LORs may not be as strong as people from top 5. I am a lazy person.
Other: A couple first places in regional math contests, top100n putnam a couple times (not that well I guess). International student. I skipped undergrad real analysis.
Applying to: Top 10 and several business schools (all econ).

econobot 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. in Economics at a top LA University
Undergrad GPA: 3.7
Type of Grad: M.A. in Economics, same institution
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: Q: 800, V: 480, AW: 3.5
Math Courses: Calc. I-III, Algebra, Probabilities, Statistics, ODE, Introductory Real Analysis.
Econ Courses (grad-level): Microeconomic Theory I, Macroeconomic Theory I, Econometric Theory I-II, Asset Pricing, Financial Economics, Financial Econometrics, Applied Macroeconomics.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro. Micro., Micro. I-II, IO, Intro. Macro, Macro. I-II, International Economics.
Other Courses: Finance I-II, Seminar of Finance.
Letters of Recommendation: Should be very strong. Several Professors from Chicago, MIT, UCLA, Cornell.
Research Experience: 1 year as R.A. in different projects + 1.5 year doing applied research in the public sector.
Teaching Experience: Several years as T.A. (grad and undergrad. courses), two semesters teaching Introductory Microeconomics.
Research Interests: Behavioral Finance, Financial Economics, Asset Pricing.
SOP: Partially tailored for each school.
Concerns: GRE: low Verbal and AW scores (although a pretty decent TOEFL), solid but not stellar grades.
Other: Unpublished co-authored paper.
Applying to: Ph.D. Econ: Top 10 + BU, UCLA, Cornell, Duke, Brown, JHU. Master Econ: Toulouse, LSE, Toulouse, PSE

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: ​​

sba 2012:
Institution: Caltech
Program: Social Sciences PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: fee waiver +28k $ stipend
Notification date: 1/29/2012
Notified through: email, then phone
Posted on GC: no
Comments:

lebatin 2012:
Institution: Washington University in St. Louis
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Full Tuition Scholarship with Fellowship (26K stipend)
Notification Date:2/15/2012
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: no
Comments: Thank You.

bperry12 2012:
Institution: Yale
Program: Econ PhD
Decision: Rejected
Funding: -
Notification date: 02/22
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: No

partyschool 2012:
Institution: University of Chicago
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: ... they really do not seem to be generous to internationals ... :/
Notification Date: February 29
Notified Through: E-mail with pdf
Posted on GC: No
Comments: Well, what should I say? Money matters ... but at least a good feeling

anothereconstudent 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 50 research University with unknown econ dept.
Undergrad GPA: 3.97 cumulative
Type of Grad: Straight from undergrad
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 780Q, 690V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses:
Calc I-III (A/A/B+), Linear Algebra (A-), Diff EQ (A), Time Series & Spatial Analysis (A), Prob & stats (A-), Real Analysis (current)
Econ Courses:
Intermediate Micro/Macro, Adv Micro, about 12 subject courses and econometrics. (4.0)
Letters of Recommendation: Econ profs - senior thesis advisor, 2 profs I had TA'd for and had in at least 2 classes. They were pretty strong.
Research Experience: Senior thesis, research assignments at work
Teaching Experience: TA for Intro Micro/Macro
Research Interests: Applied Micro, applied IO
SOP: Fairly generic
Other: Won award for best thesis, best econ student. Extensive programming experience in SAS and stata. Economics-related job.
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
UIUC (attending)
OSU
Georgetown
all funded
Rejections:
MIT
Berkeley
Chicago
Columbia
Northwestern
Maryland
UT Austin
What would you have done differently?
Applied to more schools, especially schools in the 5-20 range. Taken real analysis sooner.

SMH 2007:
Type of Undergrad: No one knows my university outside my country (which is a third world country).
Undergrad GPA: 3.78; Econ:3.81, Math:4.0
GRE: Quant : 800, Verbal : 570, AWA : 5.0
Math Courses: Cal 1-3 (A/A+/A), linear(A),prob(A),stats(A), ODEs(A), numerical solutions to ODEs (A+), Partial diff eqs (A+), Discrete Maths (A+), Quantitative and Computational finance(A)
Econ Courses: inter'l finance, monetary econ., dynamic econ,dev econ,IPE,econometrics1-2, Applied econ, macroeconomic analysis, public econ, (apart from all the regular micros and macros and a couple more)
Recommendation: 2 econ people and one math prof, no big names. i know all of them were full of praise for me in their letters like they are for everyone else
Research Experience: RA for a year
Teaching Experience: TA for ODEs, stats, elementary formal logic, microeconomic-II, econometrics & research methodology (grad level course)
Research Interests: econometrics
SOP: nothing special
Other: a substantial part of my CV and personal statement was only to show my achievements in sports, i know it doesnt count much but i cudnt just leave it out
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UVA, Rice, Rochester, Wisconsin-Madison, UNC (UNC funded from univ, rest funded via a scholarship)
Waitlists:
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Chicago
(did not hear from U florida and ohio state)
What would you have done differently? if the econ dep at my univ had not made it mendatory for us to take stupid univ core courses (50 units of that) in SS like politics and sociology then i would have taken courses like real analysis and functional analysis
overall it was pretty difficult to choose between wisconsin and rochester first and then after that i got a funded offer from UNC so another difficult decision, but i would probably stick to my original decision of going to rochester

EconCandidate 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small, relatively unknown private university in the northeast.
Undergrad GPA: 3.65 (3.83 in Econ and Math)
GRE: 800Q/550V/4.0A
Math Courses: Intro Calc (A), Calc of Single Variable I (A-), Calc of Single Variable II (A-), Calc of Several Variables (A-), Integral Calc and Differential Equations (A), Linear Algebra (A-), Numerical Analysis (A-), Advanced Calculus (A), Intro to Real Analysis (A), Math Stats and Probability I (A), Math Stats and Probability II (In Progress)
Econ Courses: Honors Principles of Micro (A), Honors Principles of Macro (A), International (B+), Money & Banking (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), Law & Economics (B+), Public Finance (A-), Game Theory (A), Econometrics (In Progress), Advanced Public Policy Thesis (In Progress)
Letters of Recommendation: From 3 professors who knew me extremely well. I can't imagine they could have been any stronger.
Research Experience: Completed a summer research project about the term structure of interest rates. Currently working on a senior thesis about funding for public education.
Teaching Experience: Certified Level III Tutor. Math and Econ tutoring experience. Teaching Assistant for Intro Calc and Calculus of a Single Variable II.
Research Interests: Public Finance, Game Theory, Applied Micro.
SOP: Discussed my math preparation, research project, teaching/tutoring experience and my goals.
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
University of Wisconsin-Madison ($) (Attending)
University of Virginia ($)
Waitlists:
Boston College
Rejections:
University of Chicago
Yale University
Northwestern University
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
University of Rochester
Duke University
University of Maryland-College Park
Brown University
The Ohio State University
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
What would you have done differently?
My experience suggests that this process is incredibly random. I ended up with funding at a program that is clearly top 12- top 15, and got rejected outright by many programs that were not ranked as highly. Don't rule out any programs that you have been admitted to, because you never know what can happen, even at the last minute! Overall, I should have tried to improve my overall undergradaute GPA and scores on the other sections of the GRE, because coming from an unknown university probably hurt my applications some. Additionally, I would have tried to complete more research as an undergrad. A combination of these factors might have made my applications considerably less random. The best advice I can give people is that a high GPA, high GRE Math, and an extensive math background are the norm for applicants, and they are minimum preparation to be an appealing candidate. These do not seperate you from the pack any more. In the end though, no regrets at all.

grahamcoxon 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. in Economics from top university in my country (who has always placed students in top US PhDs)
Undergrad GPA: Econ 28.73 / 30 (= 3.83 / 4.0 ); Overall 28.27 / 30 ( = 3.77 / 4.0 )
Type of Grad: 2 years long MSc in Economics from the same university
Grad GPA: Econ 28.73 / 30 (= 3.83 / 4.0 ); Overall 28.73 / 30 (= 3.83 / 4.0 )
GRE: 790 Q, 520 V, 4.0 A
Math Courses:
Undergraduate: Mathematics (29/30; one year long course), Statistics and Probability (30/30), Econometrics (30/30)
Graduate: Multivariate Analysis (30/30), Microeconometrics (28/30)
Econ Courses:
Undergraduate: Industrial History (30/30); Microeconomics (27/30); Industrial Organization (30/30); Macroeconomics (29/30); Organization Theory (28/30); International Trade (29/30); Innovation and Industrial Dynamics (27/30); Economic Policy (28/30); Technology and Economic Development (28/30); International Monetary Economics (30 cum laude / 30)
Graduate:International Trade (30/30); Industiral Organization (29/30); Theory of the Firm and Corporate Governance (27/30); Business History (30/30); Economics of Innovation (29/30); Labour Economics (27/30); Public Economics (29/30).
Other Courses: Undergraduate: German Language, International Financial Markets, Innovation Management, … ; Graduate: Knowledge and Innovation Management, Comparative Politics, Spanish Language, …
Letters of Recommendation: associate econ professor and MSc thesis advisor (PhD UCLA); full econ professor and teacher of graduate labour econ (PhD NYU); associate econ professor and RA supervisor (PhD Northwestern); at least two of them are very very strong letters from people who know me well; two letter-writers are well-known economists and all publish on top economics journals.
Research Experience: Honors MSc thesis; started to work on co-authored paper with my MSc thesis advisor (I don’t mention it in my application but he probably talked about it in his letter of recommendation); 3 months RA at Dept of Quantitative Methods of my undergrad/grad university; 1 year RA at CHILD (Center for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics);
Teaching Experience: 1 semester of Multivariate Analysis (graduate)
Research Interests: Political Economy, Behavioral Economics, Microeconomic Theory
SOP: nothing special, talked about reasons to pursue graduate studies in economics, research experience, research interests and future plans; used almost the same text for all universities; 2 pages research proposal outline added for European programs who asked for it (LSE, UCL, Oxford, UPF)
Other: international applicant; TOEFL: 107/120; no application for external funding; honor roll student in both years of MSc; submitted everywhere MSc thesis as writing sample; at least other 10 (very very strong) students applied this same year for almost the same US top programs from my university (in this sense, this was a strong year for applicants from my country/university)
RESULTS:
Admitted : Caltech (w/ funding), BU (w/out funding), LSE MSc (w/out funding), Oxford MPhil (w/out funding)
Waitlisted: Yale (not admitted in the end)
Rejected: UCSD, Columbia, Berkeley, MIT, Princeton, Northwestern, Stanford, NYU, Chicago, Harvard, LSE MRes/PhD, UPenn, Oxford Dphil, Stokcholm School of Economics, Stockholm U
Never got an answer : UPF, UCL
What would you have done differently? I would say the standard “taken more math classes” or try the alternative version “taken more graduate econ theory classes”, but since I decided to try the path of an Econ PhD less than 12 months ago (when I had already taken all classes needed to graduate) this wasn’t an option. Maybe I should have applied to a more diverse set of schools (no European at all; some Business School or some lower-ranked school with programs/faculty in line with my interests like Stanford GSB, Northwestern MEDS, Rochester or Carnegie Mellon), because I acted clearly as a risk-loving individual (I didn’t overestimated my profile, though…I know my chances at top15 schools were thin, but just wanted to come all the way to the U.S. only if it was really worth). Anyway, in this case, it worked.

phdphd 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Business Administration
Undergrad GPA: 7.5/10
Type of Grad: MSc Business Administration
Grad GPA: -
GRE: 790Q / 580V / 3.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III / Operations Research I-II / Stats I-II / Linear Algebra / Advanced Probability (Grad)
Econ Courses: Econometrics I, II, IV (Grad), Stochastic Economics I-II (Grad) (kind of asset pricing courses, devoted specially to derivative pricing).
Other Courses: Micro I, Macro I, Mathematical Analysis - First year PhD courses, I didn't have the grades at the time of the application
Letters of Recommendation: One supposed to be strong, finance PhD from Stanford GSB; the other two good ones I think (PhD North Carolina, local)
Research Experience: Two papers presented at a National Conference in Finance, MSc dissertation thesis.
Teaching Experience: TA for the MBA courses in my university.
Research Interests: Finance, applied micro, political economy.
SOP: I did the following: first I explained my interest in finance, second why pursuing a PhD in economics and not in business, third I mentioned three professors that I would like to work with at the university that I was applying.
Other: Male, 26, Latin America.
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
University of Southern California ($)
UNC ($)
Minnesota (no $)
Penn State (no $)
Boston University (no $)
UC Davis (no $)
Waitlists:
Cornell (I suppose) - rejected in the end
Rejections:
MIT
Princeton
Stanford
Chicago
Columbia
Northwestern
UCLA - Anderson
Rochester
Maryland
Wisconsin
Caltech
Going to: University of Southern California
What would you have done differently?
First of all, a good MSc in economics, not only because it would increase my chances of being admitted at better places but to feel more comfortable with the courses in the first year; second, I should have participated more in this forum, I remember that I asked for the evaluation of profile stuff but only this. I should have gathered more information about the places that I would fit better with the TM's; I'm happy with the school that I'm going to but a little bit frustrated being rejected in all the top 15 schools. What I mean is that the idea of applying to a lot schools can hurt a lot. Now I have kind of mixed feelings about all of this: should I wait one more year, finish the PhD core couses sequence in my program right now and apply again? Or this is just a dream? I don't know...

TruDog 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top-five public liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.69, cum laude and with general honors
Type of Grad: None
GRE: Q800, V610, A5.0
Math Courses: Calc I/II/III (B/A/C), differential equations (pass), linear algebra (C?), nonparametric stats (B), two semesters of graduate probability (C/C?)
Econ Courses: Intermediate micro/macro (A/A), mathematical economics (B), econometrics (B), numerous electives (3.7 major GPA)
Letters of Recommendation: Strong, but from unknown professors (one each in economics, finance, and statistics--all familiar with my research)
Research Experience: Presented finance research at American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences' annual conference, also submitted to professional journals. Also interned at US Treasury's Office of Economic Policy in Washington.
Research Interests: Public (higher education, pensions)
SOP: Fairly general--highlighted my writing and research experiences
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Wisconsin (no $), Ohio State (deferred one quarter)
Rejections: Minnesota, Michigan, Northwestern, Chicago, Emory, Duke, WUSTL, Iowa, Virginia
What would you have done differently?
My problem was that my institution never emphasized the quantitative aspects of economics, so I had to overload on math courses late in the game after discovering econphd.net. That hurt my GPA, which certainly hurt the strength of my application.
Advice: Take math courses early on, and do lots of research and writing. My writing background was the only reason why I got accepted anywhere.

Dannyb19 2007:
Sorry, I thought I already posted this, hope its helpful to someone!
Background: After undergrad I worked for18 months for a boutique investment consulting firm doing financial analysis, decided I was unfulfilled, spent 11 months beefing up my math, and applied for Fall 2007 admission.
GRE: 760Q, 510V, 6.0AWA (hurt me I’m sure).
GPA (undergrad): 3.72 (cum laude), 3.87(Econ), 3.92(Math)
GPA (grad): 3.90 (math & econ)
Undergrad Insitution: Lewis and Clark College (small liberal arts college in Pacific NW)
Graduate/Post-Bac Institution: Portland State University
Honors/Awards (all undergraduate): Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Mu Delta (equivalent to departmental honors in Business-Economics major), 2003 Northwest Conference Scholar Athlete Award.
Econ Courses (All at L&C): Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), International Econ (A), Money and Banking (A), Management and Organization (A-), Econ History (B+), Corporate Finance (A), Competitive Strategies (A), Radical Economic Systems (B), Micro Computer Applications in Business (A), Intro to Statistics (A-), Econometrics (A-), Financial Analysis (A), Managerial Analysis (A), Financial Decision Making (A).
Math Courses (All at PSU other than Calc I): Calc I (B+), Calc II-Calc IV (A/A/A-), Intro to Linear Algebra (A), Applied Linear Algebra (A), Applied Diff. Equations (A), Advanced Calculus (A), Mathematical Statistics (A-).
Graduate Level Courses (All at PSU): Real Analysis (A), Set Theory/Topology (A-), Public Economics (A).
Letters of Recommendation: Two from undergraduate econ professors (PhD’s from Michigan State and Chicago) and one from graduate level Real Analysis Professor (PhD Rutgers). All letters should be strong since I worked closely with each of them and performed well in their classes.
Research Experience: None. Did not write a senior thesis, did not work as a research assistant. Wrote a few term papers building on the work of my professors, but I doubt it would count as any significant field work.
Results
Admitted: Johns Hopkins ($), Virginia (no-$), U. Washington (no-$)
Rejected: Chicago, Yale, LSE, UCLA, Carnegie Mellon, Wisconsin, and Cornell
Waitlisted: N/A
What I would have done differently: I wish I had applied to more schools, namely: Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland, Duke, and Rochester. I am certainly not assuming I would have been admitted to any of these, since all are very strong programs, but based on the randomness I’ve observed on TM alone, I think I may have had at least a shot at these schools. I also should have studied harder for my GRE’s, who knows how different my outcomes would have been had I scored 600V and 800Q or something like that. Anyway, hope this helps others!

jcash 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: top ten U.S. liberal arts
Undergrad GPA: 3.95
Type of Grad: none.
GRE: 670V/800Q/6.0AW
Math Courses: real analysis(A+), differential equations (A+), math logic (A), linear algebra and multivariable calculus in high school
Econ Courses: core courses in micro and macro, math econ and econometrics, some electives
Other Courses: lots of random stuff
Letters of Recommendation: 2 good econ ones, but not from well-known professors. 1 from a more well-known professor, but who didn't know me as well. 1 really good one from a political science professor.
Research Experience: Undergrad thesis in philosophy of economics, empirical and theoretical term papers.
Teaching Experience: TA for intermediate macro.
Research Interests: Public finance, econometrics
SOP: talked about possible research interests and what I had worked on
Other: applying for a j.d.-ph.d. Also: I meant to apply to Berkeley, but found out after the fact that I had never finished submitting my online application...oh well...
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Yale, Princeton, Columbia
Waitlists: Harvard
Rejections: MIT
Assumed Rejections: NYU, Chicago
What would you have done differently? Taken a grad level math course

Antonio 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Good Italian University (not Bocconi, but good)
Undergrad GPA: 28/30
Type of Grad: Italian School of Excellence (oooooh)
Ggrad GPA: 30/30
GRE: 800Q 540V 2.5AWA
TOEFL: 107/120
Math Courses (undergrad and grad): Mathematical Methods, Mathematics for Economics I&II, Statistics I&II, Advanced Statistics, Generalised Linear Models.
Econ Courses(undergrad and grad): Advanced Micro/Macro, Game Theory, IO, Advanced Econometrics I&II, Public Finance, Corporate Finance, Applied Econometrics, Financial Economics, Experimental Economics, Advanced Topics in Macro (PhD Course).
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from Economics professors, my graduate academic tutor and a guy from LSE (summer school). The others changed with respect to the target. However they were all economists but one (math).
Research Experience: Undergrad Thesis, one Working Paper and visiting researhcer at ENS-PSE for my grad thesis.
Teaching Experience: Undergraduate Micro.
Research Interests: Applied Micro, IO and Applied Econometrics.
SOP: Pretty good...I think.
Other: GMAT; LSE Summer school (A+); Visiting for 6 months at University of Southampton in UK. Italian, 22 (almost 23).
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Berkeley ($$), Northwestern ($$), BC ($), Toulouse (M2).
Waitlists: NYU.
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, UChicago, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, UCSD, Brown, Duke, UPenn.
Pending: BU.
What would you have done differently?
I really have not understood almost anything!
My results show a lot of randomness (i.e. MIT was wrong in rejecting me) and/or luck (i.e. Berkeley was wrong in accepting me).
On one hand I think that waiting another year, with another master from a well reputed European University and with two more well known LORs I could have had some better shots for Cambridge MA or Princeton.
On the other hand, I could say that I have been very lucky and that I must take this opportunity as soon as possible.
Just some advices for European and, more in dept, Italian guys since this forum is too American-oriented: there is always a trade off between time (apply just during my last year of school) and odds (wait one year in order to improve my chances). And only you can decide upon this. You can speak with your profs and they will suggest you. But in the end it is just a matter of your own preferences.
However I have learnt two things:
1) Getting accepted in a very good US School (Berkeley or Northwestern) is less difficult than I used to think.
2) Getting accepted in a TOP US School (MIT or Princeton) is more difficult than I used to think.

Mirk83 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Maths degree in a good Italian university (and student of its honor college)
Undergrad GPA: 3.0/3.0
Type of Grad: Maths degree (student of a program jointly organized with the best scientific research center of the country, that is also a doctoral school) and attending a one year master in economics
Grad GPA: 3.0/3.0
GRE: 700 V, 800 Q, 5.0 AWA
Math Courses: everything you can think about (seriously, in five year of Maths I've attended at least 30-40 Maths courses, some of which at PhD level)
Econ Courses: very very few courses, and just during this year: the basic Micro, Macro and Econometrics (at the level of MWG, Blanchard-Fisher, Hayashi - but of course not all the topics)
Other Courses: a bit of physics and informatics down the road and a bit of neurobiology (my master thesis was about building a kinetic model for a class of ion channels!)
Letters of Recommendation: my weak point. A good, but maybe a bit standard, letter from my thesis advisor, who is a very well known mathematician (who knows me well, since the thesis was partly of research). A very good letter from an economist who taught at the honor college I was in but with whom I took just that small course, a few years ago. And a letter from another well known mathematician whose course I attended during an international summer school - I really have no idea of what he could have written.
Research Experience: just for the thesis - and in maths applied to neurobiology...
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: behavioural models, game theory; but my interests are now moving a bit more towards Macro topics
SOP: just tried to explain why I have been moving from Pure Maths to Applied Maths and then from applications to biology to economics...
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Caltech ($$), LSE (MRes/Phd track 1) ($$), Oxford MPhil (?)
Waitlists: NYU
Rejections: Chicago, MIT
What would you have done differently?
Hard to say. Given my erratic background and the not-so-strong LORs, I think I have calibrated well the applications (my estimate was to have good possibilities from the bottom of the top ten - just like NYU and LSE - downward). Of course I could have waited one more year, finished the economics master in order to use the grades as an additional signal and obtained better LORs... but I'm already 24 and I have already two masters, so I think it's time to move as quickly as possible towards real research.

486hunter 2008:
I actually applied to Ph.D. programs in Public Policy but for a course of study that is very applied micro-focused (taking first yr sequence in micro theory and econometrics in econ dept). So I will post my results here for anyone considering the same path in the future. Hope that's OK!
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: top 10-15 university in the US
Undergrad GPA: 3.72 (3.9+ in Econ courses, ~ 3.7 in Math courses, 4.0 in last two years of UG study)
Type of Grad: terminals master's degree in Econ (top-10 dept in the US). Not taught at Ph.D. level but has a good record of sending people on to Ph.D. programs nevertheless.
Grad GPA: did not receive letter grades
GRE: Q 740/V 660/ AW 5.5
Math Courses: two semesters of Statistics, Calculus, Multivariate Calculus, Linear Algebra
Econ Courses: lots of UG courses including standard fare intermediate micro/macro and econometrics (all As). Master's-level courses in micro, macro, econometrics + others
Other Courses: Took graduate course in microeconometrics (grade = A)
Letters of Recommendation: one from econ professor (medicore), two truly excellent LORs from policy researchers (one of whom is very well known in my substantive field of interest) at well-known econ/social policy organization, describing my contributions to empirical research
Research Experience: 2+ yrs experience in heavily empirical policy research
Teaching Experience: UG TA in International Trade Theory
Research Interests: economics of crime and education, labor market policy
SOP: I think it was very good but have no basis for comparison.
Other: Four publications in solid (but not top) journals in substantive field related to my interests. Plus a number of working papers.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Berkeley Public Policy (funded), Duke Public Policy & Econ (funded), Maryland Public Policy (not funded)
Rejections: Chicago Public Policy, Princeton WWS
Withdrawn: Carnegie Mellon Econ & Public Policy
What would you have done differently?
1. My GRE Q score (740) was quite low (took it 5 yrs ago and really should have re-taken) As it turns out, at least some policy depts are substantially more forgiving with regard to a low Q GRE score than econ so it worked out in the end.
2. When I was in school I did pretty well but didn't talk much to my professors and, as such, I did not have many choices to get good recommendations -- I think it would have been helpful if I had another solid rec from a professor from either my UG or grad program. My recommenders in policy research are both academics (one has been a prof) so I think they were taken seriously but I still think it would have helped to have another top letter from a faculty member.

touchwood08 2008:
PROFILE
Type of Undergrad: Good European university (Political Science)
Undergrad GPA: 4.00/4.00
Type of Grad (3 years program): Good European University (Economics)
Ggrad GPA: 4.00/4.00
GRE: 780Q 610V 4.5AWA
TOEFL: 102/100
Math Courses (grad): Probability, Statistics, Mathematical Economics (calculus and static optimization), Dynamic Optimization
Econ Courses (grad): Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Econometrics, Various Fields.
Letters of Recommendation: 4 strong letters. One letter from a very well known professor.
Research Experience: Undergraduate honor thesis (applied econometrics. awarded a national price) + working paper on more theoretical stuff (not so polished at the time of applications). Research assistant for the very well known professor.
Teaching Experience: TA in Introduction to Economics (undergraduate) and in Econometrics I (graduate)
Research Interests: Macro-Finance; Corporate Finance; Applied Econometrics.
SOP: ...not enough time to write a good one.
Other info: male, 25 y/o
RESULTS:
Acceptances (waitlist): UPenn ($$ attending), Northwestern ($$, declined), LSE Mrs./track 2 ($$, declined), BU (no $$, declined), NYU (waitlisted, declined).
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Yale, UCLA, LBS,
What would you have done differently?
My greatest regret is to not have applied to Princeton. I was informed I ended up at the border at Chicago so I could have taken a chance there. Maybe I would have spent more time polishing my research paper and writing a good SOP. Anyway, I am very pleased with my outcomes and I believe Penn is a very good match with my interests.

ephyou 2008:
Type of Undergrad: top 10 liberal arts
Undergrad GPA: 3.5
Type of Grad: none
GRE: 790/630/6.0
Math Courses: multi, linear alg, real & complex analysis, diff-e-q, stat+prob
Econ Courses: metrics, math-econ, history of thought
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ profs, 1 math prof from top 10 uni's
Research Experience: RA at university, govt agency, private sector
Teaching Experience: TA, math/stats/econ/stata&sas tutor
Research Interests: "inequality," metrics
SOP: spent 5 min on it
RESULTS:
Acceptances: osu, virginia, jhu, ucsd (attending), boston uni, brown
Rejections: chicago, berkeley, mich, columbia
What would you have done differently? i graduated in '07 and took a year off. would have tried to do one of those full-time academic research assistanships

Chess is life 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Public University BA
Undergrad GPA: 3.94/ 4.0 Math/ Economics
Type of Grad: Public University MA
Grad GPA: 4.0/ 4.0 Economics
GRE: 670 V 800 M 5.0 Writing (I took it when I was 19 to get a job at Kaplan and it worked!)
Math Courses: Topology, Real Analysis, Linear Algebra, Calculus 1-3, Differential Equations, Probability and Statistics, Numerical Analysis, Econ Courses: International Economics I and II (MA), Math for Economists (MA and PhD), Microeconomics (MA and PhD), Urban Economics (MA), Econometrics (MA and PhD), Health Economics (MA), Macroeconomics (MA), Intro. to Econometrics, Statistical Methods, Intermediate Micro and Macro, Industrial Organization (Best Class ever), Seminar in economics, Money and Banking, several independent studies,
Other Courses: Physics 1 and 2 (I seriously considered majoring in it). Computer science 1.Letters of Recommendation: Math and Economics professors. I did research with the economics professors.
Research Experience: A lot. Washington, DC think tank work for almost a year now, mainly immigration and trade issues. However, I am currently doing research on state policies that effect economic growth and presented at the CATO Institute on microcredit. I also have done research on child abuse, social capital, fed policy and housing prices, a senior thesis on NAFTA's effects on Mexico, municipal government efficiency (Global Perspective), and the fed challenge (Rutgers won our district).
Teaching Experience: Tutor for my University 2 years and tutor/teacher for Kaplan test and prep.
Research Interests: Probably Microeconomics, most likely something very game theoretical. This is subject to change given that I have yet to take a PhD level economics course in Macroeconomics.
SOP: General but adapted to each university I applied to.
Other: I think being affiliated with the CATO Institute (libertarian think tank) hurt me. Also, Rutgers has a tendency of sending students to programs and watching them promptly fail the qualifier. This couldn’t have helped me.[/font]
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Rochester (24k Fellowship), Duke (17k fellowship), Washington University, St. Louis (TA/ RA 20k), Rutgers (30k Presidential Fellowship), Michigan (Nada), UCLA (Nada), Wisconsin (Nada), Georgetown (Wait-list for funding), UCSD (TA and after a complicated formula 7k), Cornell (Nada)
Waitlists: Minnesota, NYU (High whatever that means), MIT (later rejected)
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Chicago, Columbia, UPenn, Brown, Stanford, Berkeley, Northwestern,
Pending: Nothing
Concerns: My letter writers are not very well-known
What would you have done differently?
Maybe take more math? I really don’t know what else I could have done. I think I will regret not taking more computer science courses.

jazzcon 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Econ major at a US state university with top 200 Econ grad program (ie not very strong).
Undergrad GPA: overall GPA: 3.6; econ: 3.9 ; math:3.7.
GRE: 800Q, 520V,AWA 5.5
Math Courses: Calc sequence (A), Differential equations (B+), Linear Algebra (B+), Probability Theory (B), MathEcon w/ S&B (A)
Econ Courses: The basic sequence of things.
Grad classes: MathStats w/ Casella (A), Econometrics sequence (A)
Letters of Recommendation: thesis advisor, econ prof I graded for, 2 Economists from work.
Research Experience: Undergraduate thesis, 2 years RA at the Fed.
Teaching Experience: Grader
Research Interests: IO, public, applied micro.
SOP: didnt really spend much time on it.
Concerns: Not stellar pedigree. Not great grades. No Analysis.
RESULTS:
Attending: Virginia($$)
Acceptances: Virginia($$), Boston U.(no $$)
Rejects: Berkeley, Yale, Chicago, NWU, UMD, UMich, Brown, Duke
What would you have done differently? Went to a better undergrad? Taken more math. Better grades in Math. I am very happy with my Virginia($$) admit though.

ImProcrastinating 2009:
Profile:
Type of Undergrad: Top 25 with a top 40ish econ program. BA in econ.
Undergrad GPA: Overall: 3.74, Econ: 3.8ish, Math: bad.
Type of Grad: Not highly ranked, top 100ish. MS in applied math.
Grad GPA (at application time...): 3.9
GRE: 790Q / 740V / 5.0 AWA.
Math Courses:
Undergrad: Calc III (B+), ODE (C- (Ouch...)), Real Analysis (A-), Linear Algebra (A).
Grad: Analysis (A-) (taken at the summer school of a top 10), Measure Theory (A-), Math Stats (A), ODE (A), Functional Analysis (A), General Topology (In progress at application time...)
Econ Courses:
Undergrad: Intro. Micro (A), Intro. Macro (A), Money and Banking (A), Economy of China (A-), Intro to Econ Stats (B+), Mathematical Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (B+), Econometrics (A), International Trade (A), Distinguished Majors Seminar (A), Independent Study (A)
Grad: PhD Micro I (A-), PhD Micro II (A), PhD Micro III (IP)
Letters of Recommendation:
1 from an undergraduate econ professor, not well known.
1 from a graduate math prof, very well known among mathematicians but I don't know if that counts...
1 from a graduate econ prof, very well known.
Research Experience: Summer at the Fed, senior thesis, 1 year + 1 summer as an RA for a professor, RAing at the IMF while applying.
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Micro Theory, I/O, International Finance
Results:
Acceptances: NYU ($$$)
Waitlists: None
Rejections: A lot, Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Yale, Berkeley, Stanford, Columbia, and UPenn.
Pending: None.
What would you have done differently? If I could do it ALL over again, I'd probably go to an undergrad that was stronger in econ, take more math courses earlier on, and work as hard my first couple years in college as I did my last couple. But I was expecting to get rejected everywhere I applied this time around, so I'm ecstatic to be going to a dream school like NYU.

MorgieLilly 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A in Econ-Phil and Math. Ivy League, top 10ish in economics Uni.
Undergrad GPA: 3.85, summa cum laude.
GRE: 780Q, 510V, 3.0W
Math Courses (undergrad):
Cal I, Calc III, Linear Algebra, Real Analysis, Analysis and Optimization, Probability and Induction (P/F), Probability and Statistics, Advanced Logic, Independent Reading Course, (all As)
Econ Courses (PhD-level): Micro-econometrics (A-)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro/Macro(A-,B+), Advanced Econometrics (B+), Advanced Macro (A), Economic History (A-), International (C, took abroad in Ghana.)
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ, both well known. 1 math, well known in math. 1 philosophy, well known in the philosophy of science.
Research Experience: REU Intern in geophysics at Lamont Earth Observatory, summer 2007 (My paper was accepted to the 2008 ASLO Conference). Full-time economics RA this year.
Research Interests: Development, Economic History, Alternative Theories in Economics, Econometrics.
SOP: Talked about why I chose interdisciplinary study, my work abroad in Ghana and my experience this year as a research assistant. I stated that I expected to change my mind about my specialization anyway, so I didn't want to state a particular one.
Applied to: LSE, MIT, NYU, Harvard, UCSD, UC Berkeley, Chicago, Stanford, Columbia, UMich, Princeton, Yale
Rejected: Everywhere
Waitlisted/Accepted: Nada
What would you have done differently? I dunno. Feedback from my home institutions admissions committee (where I was also rejected) says that I should have taken more econ (at the expense of my philosophy and science courses) but I would not give that knowledge and my resulting world outlook up for an admit to this discipline, because I feel that this will inform my research abilities more so than having taken much more economics. I have to do a lot of thinking now about whether I belong in this discipline, seeing as the adcoms don't seem to think so. Today is sad.

fhk 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A Economics, Yale
Undergrad GPA: 3.20
Type of Grad: Masters of Economics, ANU
Grad GPA: 73/100 (Upper Second Class or 2.1 as they call it in UK)
GRE: 800Q/660V/6A
Math Courses: Multi Variable Calc, Linear Algebra, Probablity and statistics, Optimisation, Math for Economists 1 and 2 (Masters)
Econ Courses: Masters Micro, Macro, Applied Econometrics, Econometric Techniques, Quantitative International Economics, Development Economics (all masters) plus a bunch of courses in undergrad.
Other Courses: Nothing relevant
Letters of Recommendation: One Professor (really famous), one lecturer, and an Associate Professor.
Research Experience: Masters Thesis
Teaching Experience: Teaching introductory economics at a Management Sciences Department in Pakistan
Research Interests: Trade and Development
SOP: Ok. Tried to explain my terrible undergraduate record and point out the improvement since. Didn't really work
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: ANU (already attending)
Waitlists:
Rejections: U Chicago, Tepper School of Business, Pen State, Oxford, Brown, UCSD
Pending: Boston, UBC
What would you have done differantly? Performed much better in my undergrad obviously. And applied to much lower ranked schools. Also should have been more careful about whom to ask for LORs.

Canuckonomist 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A (Hons.) Economics, Math Minor with Distinction, Queen's University
Undergrad GPA: Overall: 3.75/4.0, Econ: 4.0/4.0, Math: 3.65/4.0
Type of Grad: M.A Economics, Queen's University
Grad GPA: 3.9/4.0
GRE: 790Q 530V 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calculus I-III (A+/A+/B), Linear Algebra (B), Differential Equations (B), Probability (C), Abstract Algebra (B), Statistics (A+), Analysis I & II (B+/B), Stochastic Models in Operations Research (A+)
Econ Courses (MA/PhD-level): Micro (A-), Metrics (A), Money and the Macroeconomy (A), Mathematical Economics (A+), Finance Theory (A+) Continuous-Time Finance (A+), Risk Management (Audit), Cost-Benefit Analysis (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro (A), Macro (A+), Metrics I & II (A/B+), Finance (A+), History (B+), Corporate Finance (A),
Letters of Recommendation: 1 ANU, 1 JHU, 1 Harvard, 1 BU
Research Experience: R.A for three semesters. Co-authoured paper published in REE, 2008. Working paper with same author
Teaching Experience: UG Finance (fall), Tutor for department in mathematics for economists, Micro and stats.
Research Interests: Financial Economics, Micro, Credit
SOP: Working on it all summer
RESULTS:
Attending: University of Toronto ($$$)
Acceptances: Queen's University ($$), BU (no $)
Rejections: Chicago, NWU, Yale, Columbia, NYU, Rochester, Michigan, Minnesota
Pending: Cornell (will withdraw)
What would you have done differently? The only things I could have done differently would have been to start liking math before second year, and to know economics was the thing for me before second year. So really, outside of changing the fabric of my very being earlier in life, all the decisions on the equilibrium path were correct. Very happy to be attending UToronto. Would I be a true Canuckonomist if I didn't do a Ph.D in Canada? I like to think not.

veryshuai 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Nicely ranked midwest LA
Undergrad GPA: 3.62
Type of Grad:Econ
Grad GPA: ~85/100
GRE: 800/700/4.5
Math Courses: Calc 1-3 (A,A,A-), Stats (A), Real Analysis (A)
Econ Courses: Grad series Macro, Micro, and Econometrics and some other stuff...A's except Micro 1 (B) and Time Series (B) (no pluses or minuses in our program)
Other Courses: Nothing that should matter
Letters of Recommendation: UCLA (thesis advisor), Brown, U Mich
Research Experience: RA for a semester, Master's Thesis
Teaching Experience: Nope
Research Interests: Development, Applied Macro Theory, not sure...goal to work in the research dept. of international organization
SOP: Spent a lot of time on it, but who knows...
Other: Fulbright fellowship and some other money awards...
RESULTS:
Acceptances:Penn State ($$),BU (no$), UW Madison(no$)
Waitlists: none
Rejections:Michigan, Minnesota, Brown, Harvard, U Chicago, NYU, Columbia, UPenn, Berkeley, UCLA,
Pending:Georgetown
What would you have done differently? Applied to a few more mid-ranked schools...it would be nice to have another funded option or two. Having said that, I am glad that I got firm rejections from all the top 20's, so that I don't have to wonder "What if?"

wind up bird 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Large Public University, Top 50 Econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.82
Type of Grad: Masters in Statistics at same school
Grad GPA: 3.75
GRE: 800Q, 700V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc Sequence, Linear Algebra, Intro to Abstract Math (Baby proofs), Cryptology (Baby Number Theory), Real Analysis I & II, Algebra I, Lots of probability and stats.
Econ Courses: Intro, Intermediate sequences, Econometrics, Public econ, Game Theory, Asymmetric Info, Economic Anthropology, Economic History (graduate), Empirical Methods (graduate), Math camp
Other Courses: Sociology of Sexuality
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Berkeley, 1 UCSD, 1 Stanford. All apparently pretty strong.
Research Experience: 2+ Years of RAing, summer research internship at Fed, crappy honors thesis and undergrad presentations
Teaching Experience: Tutoring for intermdiate micror, TA-ing for stats (only made it to my Cornell application)
Research Interests: Micro theory, decision theory, game theory, mech. design, experimental, economic history, social choice, public economics, etc etc. Short answer is "not macro"
SOP: It was kind of bad, I'm not going to lie. Mostly I tried to demonstrate how I have been gearing myself up for research. Then the last paragraph was tailored for each school; I dropped names at all of them.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Caltech($$$), Northwestern(WL$), UCSD(No$), BU($$$), University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign($$), UNC-Chapel Hill (?$), Boston College($$), UW-Seatte(WL$)
Waitlists: None! Awesome.
Rejections: Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Chicago, UCLA, Cornell
What would you have done differently? Besides working harder in school? Probably nothing. I have an acceptance with funding at my dream school and have some other ego-boosting admits as well.
Comments: Italos is right, letter of recommendation is everything
Might as well document some of my weird admissions cycle happenings as well:
- Boston College sends me an email saying I am not being offered admission because I will get into "superior" schools.
- UW-Seattle pulls the same thing
- Northwestern rejects me, then admits me a week and a half later. Looks like my one top 10 admit really did involve a clerical error.
Attending: Caltech!

FierceEconDR 2009:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Math & Econ from the Poor's people Harvard aka CUNY
Undergrad GPA: 3.92/4, Summa Cum Laude
Type of Grad: M.S. Economics courses
Grad GPA: ?
GRE: 790Q, 540V, 5 AWA
Math Courses: All required courses for math degree, Calc I-III + Real Analysis I (B), Abstract Algebra, Linear Algebra 1 and 2, Probability Theory(B+), Statistics (Theory) (A+) All others A's
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro and Macro Theory, Labor, International Finance(Macro), Development theory- All A's Advanced econ stats (A+)
Grad courses: Took the Macro, Micro, Econometrics, and some other stuff at a masters in europe. Not in my applications.
Letters of Recommendation: 4 econ professors=1 Berkeley ('semi-known') + 1 Harvard + 1 Kansas/NBER +1 Queen's ('Known'), I am confident they were solid and very enthusiastic.
Research Experience: AEA Summer Training Program, some development research in Paris IX
Teaching Experience: Macro & Micro, Math Tutor
Research Interests: Labor, Development, Applied Micro-econometrics
SOP: I think it was ok, I did it alla S. Athey: Why I want it (duh research!) what research have I done, what papers did i like, some questions I would like to answer, why U X is good. Name dropped in all of them (2 names).
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Maryland ($),Texas ($)
Withdrawn: UC Davis
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Yale, Chicago, UPenn, Berkeley, Michigan, NYU, Cornell, Northwestern, UCSD, Brown, Penn State
ATTENDING: Maryland
What could I have done differently?
In terms of the application process: not apply to PSU and apply to Columbia for my NY Bias (not that I would've gotten into!). I have to second: stayed away from TM/Gradcafe during admissions season!
I am extremely happy with UMD so in the end it payed off.

mermel 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Math, B.S. Econ honors from top 40 public school, Math semester abroad at strong Russian math program
Undergrad GPA: 3.94, Econ 4.0, Math 3.93
GRE: 800Q, 600V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Multivar Calc, DiffEq, Number Theory, Matrices (Linear Algebra), Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Probability, Topology, Complex Analysis, Computability and Complexity (all A's), Combinatorics (B), Integer Partitions (B+)
Econ Courses: All those required for undergrad econ, was in Honors Economics program my senior year
Letters of Recommendation: 3 from econ professors, one from Econ PhD partner at the firm where I work, PhD's from Chicago, Princeton, Harvard, and Berkeley, 2 I am sure are very strong, and others are probably strong as well
Research Experience: Not any good research experience undergrad. Have been working in econ consulting since, so that sort of counts.
Teaching Experience: just tutoring
Research Interests: Micro theory, game theory, decision theory
SOP: I'm not really sure how to judge my SOP, I think it told a good story of why I want to get econ PhD.
Concerns: Lack of research experience, I had a withdrawal passing from graduate level analysis when I decided to do a second major in econ rather than doing a masters in math. I stated this in many of my essays, so hopefully that's ok.
Other: Working for past 2.5 years in economics litigation consulting
RESULTS:
Attending: Northwestern
Admitted, Declined: UPenn
Waitlists: Princeton(eventually rejected), Chicago(Admitted without funding for first 2 years)
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, NYU, Berkeley, Stanford, NSF
What would you have done differently?
I think some RA'ing as an undergraduate would have helped, but I am very happy with Northwestern and don't really have any regrets.

bigleaguechew 2009:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Econ / B.S. Math from a top 100 econphd.net public school
Undergrad GPA: 3.5 Overall, 4.0 Econ, 4.0 Math
GRE: 790Q, 610V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: One year of real analysis (A+'s); two quarters each of theoretical linear algebra (A+'s), numerical analysis (A+'s), math prob stat, nonlinear dynamics and chaos; one quarter each of PDE's, abstract algebra and complex analysis
Econ Courses: applied metrics (A+'s), public finance (A+'s), labor, game theory (A+), and a few others in addition to intermediate micro/macro
Letters of Recommendation: It seems as though I had one very respected letter writer, and other letters were more or less ignored at many schools (just what I gathered from my conversations with grad directors where I was accepted)
Research Experience: Virtually none. Started an undergrad research project that was never finished
Work Experience: 2 years in consulting (business, but not econ)
Research Interests: Applied micro, IO
SOP: Talked about how my experiences and coursework have influenced my research interests. Tailored last paragraph to each school I applied to. I cannot say this with enough emphasis... THE STATEMENT OF PURPOSE DEFINITELY MATTERS AT SCHOOLS OUTSIDE OF THE TOP 10. IF YOU DO NOT COME FROM AN IVY AND YOU DON'T HAVE A SPOTLESS MATH/ECON RECORD WITH SOLID RESEARCH EXPERIENCE, I WOULD ADVISE YOU TO SPEND SOME TIME ON YOUR SOP AND START WORKING ON IT EARLY!
Concerns: I had about a year straight of abysmal grades (yes, we're talking about F's and W's here people) in my sophomore year of college due to some family issues. I think it was important that this occurred when I was an english major, and I made up for it by excelling in all of my econ and math courses. So, if you have screwed up and permanently marred your transcript like I did, HOPE IS NOT LOST! It just means that you have to work extra hard to outperform your classmates from here on out.
RESULTS:
Attending: UCSD ($)
Admitted, Declined: Stanford GSB Marketing ($$$$$$$$), Penn State ($$), WUSTL ($), UNC ($/2), UVA ($), Texas ($$), ASU ($$), Arizona ($$), Pittsburgh ($), Ohio State ($), U of Washinton ($), Maryland (stiffed me)
Waitlists: Minnesota, BU
Rejections: Top 10, NYU, Columbia, UCLA, Michigan, JHU, Wharton (but it doesn't count in my mind cuz I hardly showed up for the interview)
Never heard back from: USC (not that I care anymore, but seriously WTF?)
What would you have done differently?
Nothing really. I had a huge black spot on my record with that one atrocious year, and nobody knew how that would affect me. My letter writers were extremely supportive in helping me apply to as many places as I could afford, and cover a broad spectrum of programs. I thought UCSD was a long shot heading into this process, and I am thrilled to be going there. I can honestly say that I would have been happy at just about any of the programs that I was accepted to, and it was incredibly difficult for me to turn down so many attractive offers. Obviously, this is a problem that I am happy to have, but you'd be surprised how gut wrenching it is to turn down a fellowship offer from a school that you had been day-dreaming about attending just a few weeks earlier. Still, I would advise everyone who isn't a superstar with stellar letter of recommendation's to adopt a similar strategy and apply to as many places as you can afford.

Cricketer 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Economics - Top British Uni
Undergrad GPA: First Class
Type of Grad: MA Economics - Top Brit. Uni
Grad GPA: (Exp. Distinction)
GRE: 780Q, 600V, 5.5AWA
Econ Courses: Lots of courses + Grad Micro, Macro, Metrics, Networks.
Letters of Recommendation: 3 economic professors. All know me pretty well
Research Experience: Not much - only undergrad dissertation
Teaching Experience:None
Research Interests: Micro Theory, Development
SOP: Wrote what I am interested in and who I would like to work with. Why that uni
Other: Cricket.
RESULTS:
Attending: MIT
Accepted: MIT($$) - after waitlist, LSE ($$$), Cambridge ($$$)
Rejections: Stanford, Chicago, Harvard
Comments: Was apparently very close at Stanford.
What would you have done differently? Nothing much, except apply to a few more places perhaps. Twas a tad risky only applying to four US places I guess

Nebuchadrezzar 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: european, gpa scale
Undergrad GPA: 3.8/4.0
Type of Grad: european masters
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800 q, 440 verbal, 4.0 awa
Math Courses: calculus 1, 2, 3, diff eq, real analysis 1 2, topology, lin alg
Econ Courses: int mic, int mac, labor, game theory, io, phd micro 1 2, phd macro 1,2 , phd metrics 1, 2, optimization
Other Courses: -
Letters of Recommendation: 3 from home inst, at least 2 of them should be good
Research Experience: term paper, honors thesis
Teaching Experience: ta in several courses
Research Interests: micro-macro theory, game theory
SOP: standard sop summarizing my profle
Other: -
RESULTS:
Acceptances: rochester($), wisconsin(no $), michigan($)
Waitlists: wustl
Rejections: harvard, mit, chicago, nw, upenn, nyu, columbia, stanford, berkeley, caltech, cornell, yale, princeton...!!
Pending: -
going to: university of michigan
What would you have done differently?
i could study more in masters and send my transcript and get a letter of recommendation from there maybe. i don't know if that would help with the top 10. but i am happy to go to michigan!

Mankins 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Very large US public university
Undergrad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 800Q, 600V, 4.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Mathematical Structures, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Probability, Advanced Calculus I, and Intermediate Real Analysis I (all A or A+). Topology and Mathematical Statistics (Spring 2009).
Econ Courses: The usual, plus Econometrics , Advanced Honors Micro (uncertainty), Advanced Honors Macro (taught by Nobel Laureate). All A or A+, except Econometrics where I got an A-. Game Theory (Spring 2009).
Letters of Recommendation: One from a Nobel Laureate (not sure how solid it was). One from a well-known economist in micro theory and information (probably knows me better than any of my other professors). One from my Advanced Calc professor.
Teaching Experience: N/A
Research Experience: Some preliminary work on an undergraduate thesis (never finished), Econometrics paper co-authored with two other students
Research Interests: micro theory, advertising, economics of information, behavioral/neuro/experimental, IO, development
SOP: Standard
Concerns: Very little research experience, no graduate courses
Applying to: Yale, Duke, Stanford, MIT, Northwestern, Chicago, Illinois Urbana, Berkeley, Texas, Minnesota, Arizona State, Carnegie Mellon, and Duke Decision Sciences
RESULTS:
Attending: Minnesota ($$)
Acceptances, declined: Carnegie Mellon ($$$), U Texas at Austin ($), U Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ($$), Arizona State ($$)
Rejections: MIT, Berkeley, Yale, Stanford, U Penn, U Chicago, Northwestern (on the waiting list, briefly), Duke Economics, Duke Decision Sciences
What would you have done differently? There's not much more I could have realistically done. Maybe I could have gone to more office hours and talked to professors more outside of class. I think I may have had better results if I had taken PhD Micro, but I don't know where I would have fit that into my schedule. I transferred schools and switched majors halfway through my junior year, and it took 5 years to finish my Bachelor's degree because of it. I hadn't finished Calc I until the summer of 2007, so I had to catch up quickly on the math required for graduate economics. Considering what a tough year it was, things could have turned out much worse.

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&#37; 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!

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

canecon 2009:
U-grad: UBC, Econ (Hons)
Grad: Queen's, Econ
Ugrad GPA: 3.5 (3.98 upper-econ, 3.98 math (excluding failed calc 1))
Grad GPA: 4.0? (Not sure how it works here)
GRE: 800q 480v 5.0 AWA (despite the awful verbal I am native English speaker / English background)
Courses:
Grad:
PhD Micro I (A), Econometrics MA (A), Public MA (A)
Ugrad:
Econ:
Hon micro/macro I (A+'s) Game Theory (Hon) A, Hon Macro II A+, + intro metrics I/II (A+) + lots electives (mostly A+)
Honours Thesis, Advanced Macro, Econometrics - A+'s
Math:
Calc 1 (F first time then A), Calc 2, linear, multivariable, ODE's, probability(calc based), intro proof A+'s, real analysis A
Research:
Thesis, which is being developed into a paper with Advisor (not in a publishable state yet though)
Was RA for one summer.
letter of recommendation:
2 Assistant Profs, Should be good since one is advisor/co-author, the other I took multiple classes with and was RA for.
1 Professor for PhD Micro class - 1/2 the letters will be mediocre, other half should be decent (final grades were available).
SOP: Decent?
Interests:
Political Economy, Development (Micro)
Applying To:
MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Pennsylvania, Berkeley, UCLA, Columbia, NYU, Chicago, Northwestern, LSE, Oxford
My Concerns:
My first 2 years of undergrad are poor, failed calc 1.

italos 2009:
In this thread please post only your results.For further comments please refer to other threads in the forum
Institution:
Program:
Decision:
Funding:
Notification date:
Notified through:
Comments:

jnaecker 2009:
Institution: Caltech
Program: Social Science Ph.D.
Decision: Accepted
Funding: 28k plus tuition and fees
Notification date: Feb 5, 4 pm PST
Notified through: Email
Comments:
Institution: UCLA
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Tuition and fees totaling 10,000 in year 1, plus eligible for department supplementary fellowship. Tuition, fees, and living expenses in years 2-4.
Notification date: 2/10/09, 1 pm PST
Notified through: email
Notes: 2 for 2!

sappy 2009:
Institution: Yale University
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 2/20/09
Notified through: Website
Comments: first rejection...

Jaktu 2009:
Institution: Caltech
Program: Social Science, Ph.D
Decision: Rejected
Funding:
Notification date: 02/27
Notified through: Email
Institution: Penn State
Program: Economics, Ph.D
Decision: Rejected
Funding:
Notification date: 02/25
Notified through: Email
Institution: Minnesota
Program: Economics, Ph.D
Decision: Rejected
Funding:
Notification date: 02/25
Notified through: Email
I miss the days when I was applying to engineering schools. I felt like a king with all the funded offers and flyouts.

Arinamay 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.96
Type of Grad: MA in Economics
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 780Q, 610V, 5.0
Math Courses: Calculus I (A+), self taught other applicable math concepts
Econ Courses: Many, all A's.
Grad Econ Courses (MA level): Micro I (A+), Macro I (A), Micro II (A), Macro II (A), Advanced Statistics (A), Econometrics (A)
Other Courses: A wide variety of courses, including a semester abroad
Letters of Recommendation: One from a very well known professor, one from my MA thesis adviser, one from another strong professor. I asked my letter writers to emphasize that, while I don't have a lot of formal math I did quite well in the math-heavy MA program.
Research Experience: Undergrad thesis(presented at a regional conference), collaborative research project with undergrad adviser, MA thesis
Teaching Experience: TAed for an intro course
Research Interests: Economics of the family, feminist economics, labor economics
SOP: Very specific to my research interests
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Duke ($$, public policy concentration in economics), UMass Amherst ($, economics)
Waitlists:
Rejections: Harvard (public policy), Chicago (public policy)
Pending: Cornell (economics)
What would you have done differently? I had a family crisis that prevented me from taking any math courses during the second year of my MA program. However, Duke was my top choice so really there was nothing lost by not taking more math courses.

triple_sec 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: MA in Econ in a small country in Eastern Europe; univ is among the best in the country but has little, if any, international renown
Undergrad GPA: 4.92/5.00, 1st out of 182
Type of Grad: MPhil Econ at another, English-speaking, univ in the same country
Grad GPA: 3.94/4.00
GRE: 800Q, 660V, 4.0AWA (Nov 2007); 800Q, 630V, 4.0AWA (Nov 2009)
TOEFL: 112/120 (30R, 27S, 27L, 28W)
Math Courses: Calculus (actually, it was more like real analysis; 5/5), Linear Algebra, Linear Programming, Multivariate Analysis (4/5, the last three went under the same course), Probability Theory (5/5), Operations Research (5/5), Advanced Math (A, actually Measure Theory)
Econ Courses: Micro (A,A,A), Macro (A,A), Metrics (A,A,A-,5/5), Monetary Theory (5/5), Recursive Macro (5/5), Time Series Analysis (A,5/5), Intl Macro (5/5), Game Theory (5/5), Public Econ (A), Behavioral (A), Metrics Intro (5/5), Public Econ (5/5), Labor (5/5,4/5), IO (5/5), Micro (5/5,5/5), Macro (5/5,5/5), Corporate Finance (5/5)
Other Courses: Statistics minor, plus some Political Science, Accounting, Law (the first two years of my undergrad were rather a joint social sciences—business—econ program before specialization to econ)
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ professors (1 MIT PhD, 1 Harvard PhD), 1 math prof; I guess they were solid
Research Experience: MA thesis (mainly a survey but contains also a standalone RBC model) plus a preliminary project for a series of research seminars
Teaching Experience: a lot, TA for 7 courses altogether (4 math, 1 grad macro, 1 undergrad micro, 1 undergrad macro) and much, much tutoring
Research Interests: econ of information, mechanism design, macro
SOP: Enthusiastic as it should be, emphasizes eagerness for research
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Yale, Berkeley, NYU, Northwestern, Duke (declined)
Waitlists: Princeton, UPenn (asked them to take me off)
Rejections: MIT, MIT Operations Research, Harvard, Chicago, Columbia, Stanford
What would you have done differently? I don't know. What could I have done differently to get into my absolute, unsurpassable dream school, MIT? Probably nothing. I have to come to terms with the fact that either I'm not *that* good or this year has been unusually competitive (or both). Anyways, I'm extremely delighted with my actual offers—I would be a moron if I weren't, of course.

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.

whoisdg 2010:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Math and Economics, Tufts U
Undergrad GPA: 3.8 Math, 4.0 Econ (Summa/PBK)
GRE: 800Q 780V 5.0 AWA
Math Courses (UG): Standard lower level curriculum, all A/A+; Real Analysis (A); Abstract Alg (B+); Complex Variables (A-); Probability (B – explained in SOP); Math Stats (A)
Econ Courses (UG): Principles of Economics (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Quant. Intermediate Macro (A), Advanced Econometrics (A), Financial Economics (A), International Trade (A), Quant. International Finance (A), State and Local Public Finance (A)
Letters of Recommendation: Michigan PhD, Stanford PhD, Duke Math PhD (two were advisors, both of whom know me very well; none are especially well known)
Research Experience: Theoretical-Empirical term paper in international trade; RA at policy research organization. **No THESIS. No academic RA.**
Research Interests: Diverse. Mostly applied micro.
Statement of purpose: Don’t have any standard for comparison...but I actually think it mattered, contrary to popular opinion. More on that below.
Other: Worked in management consulting for six months after college; a couple of national scholarships in college (e.g. NMSP); solid programming background.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Berkeley ($$), Michigan ($$), Penn (Waitlisted “very high” for $$), UCSD ($$), Wisconsin (withdrew before funding offer made), UT (withdrew before funding offer made)
Waitlists: MIT, awaiting rejection
Rejections: Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Chicago, Yale, NWU
NSF: Honorable mention (Intellectual Merit: 2 Excellent, 1 Good; Broader Impacts: 2 Excellent, 1 Very Good. Argh!)
What would you have done differently? Lots to say here. First of all, a THESIS. The one reviewer that submarined my NSF proposal clearly wanted to see more independent research experience. I’m pretty sure that was the deal breaker. Even though undergraduate theses (or “first papers”, more generally) are usually pretty bad, they are (1) an important signal of interest in and ability to do independent research, and (2) a significant learning experience. It might have been useful to take grad-level core courses, but I don’t think they’re necessary – the math courses convey the necessary skill set. Similarly, it might have been useful to RA as an undergrad, but again, from what I understand those roles are usually menial unless you have good programming/data skills.
I've also spent two years in the working world. For me, this experience was incredibly valuable. It's not for everyone, but I think it has a lot to offer - exposure to lots of interesting situations and questions, confirmation of your interest in research career, personal growth, big dollar.
Important note: I think the adcoms took the SOP more seriously than I had anticipated. Several possible explanations for this observation. The increase in applications probably leaves marginally admissible candidates indistinguishable from one another, and the statement might therefore be used as a second- or third-order criterion. Or maybe they really do sort applicants according to fit. Or maybe I’m just imagining things! In any case – I called out my interests in applied fields more than theory, and in some more specific topics that interest me (e.g. tournaments, peer effects, evaluation), and the decisions I got seemed to sort themselves accordingly. If I could change anything, I'd probably shift a little weight from applied to theoretical micro.
Overall, I’m thrilled with Berkeley. Ex-post,it’s my third-most desired program, behind the Cambridge contingent. My only disappointment is NSF – I really thought I could snag it. In any case, I now have a well-developed idea to embark upon this summer, so the process is valuable in and of itself.
Good luck to all future applicants. I hope this information is helpful!

backtotheUS 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.Sc. Economics and Mathematics, non-Oxbridge/LSE UK university; exchange year at top-20 US university
Undergrad GPA: 18.2/20.0 (top 1%), GPA 3.87 during exchange year
GRE: 800Q, 490V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Mathematical Methods & Calculus (20.0, 19.0), Statistics (18.0, 16.6), Algebra (19.0, 19.0, A+), Real Analysis (16.9, A at graduate level), Game Theory (A), Elementary School Teaching (P), Linear Algebra (A), Topology (B+), ODEs & PDEs (16.3), Number Theory (17.2), FORTRAN Programming (17.5), Dissertation (?)
Econ Courses: Microeconomics (16.9, 18.8, 19.0), Macroeconomics (19.6, 16.7, ?), Mathematical Finance (A), Probabilistic Models (A+), Rationality (A+), Game Theory (B+ at graduate level), Econometrics (A+), Econometrics Seminar (A+)
Other Courses: 2 Management, 1 Political Science
Letters of Recommendation: 1x junior UK professor and co-author, 1x senior UK RA-supervisor, 1x junior US professor and independent research supervisor, 1x senior US professor
Research Experience: 1.5 years RA at the LSE, independent research project, co-authoring journal article (work in progress), mathematics dissertation
Teaching Experience: 1 year (Mathematical Methods for Economists)
Research Interests: Contract theory, auctions, rationality
SOP: focused on research experience
Other: assisted in editing an article for the Royal Economic Society, co-founded and organized national economic forum
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Princeton ($), LSE MRes/PhD ($), Oxford ($?), Munich University ($)
Rejections: NYU, Northwestern, Berkeley, Chicago, Yale, Stanford, Harvard, MIT
What would you have done differently?
Ex-post: not much, since I am extremely happy with this outcome. I was warmly welcome at Europe's top places. Princeton appears to be a lucky outlier. I am not sure if I would trade the amazing experience I have had as an undergraduate for the more rigorous education offered at Oxbridge/LSE.
I should have placed more emphasis on grad coursework during my exchange year and secured a stellar reference from that.

chin_music 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 Public, top 15 Econ. B.A. Math & Economics, B.A. Political Science.
Undergrad GPA: 3.78
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 760Q, 600V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc, Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (A), Mathematical Reasoning (B), Ordinary Differential Equations (B), Advanced Linear Algebra (A), Game Theory (A), Cryptography (A+), Analysis I (B-), Linear Programming (A+)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro (A,A,A-), Intermediate Macro (A,A), Econometrics (A+,A+,A+), Non-linear Optimization (Pass), Economics of Immigration (A)
Other Courses: Political Science Coursework (All A's and a few A-'s)
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Caltech (political science), 1 UCLA (political science), 1 UW (econ)
Research Experience: Won departmental and college award for economics thesis. Won departmental award for political science thesis. 1 year in economic consulting.
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Political Economy, Development, Public Policy
SOP: Standard
Other: I wasn't sure how my admissions would turn out. I had 2 letters of rec from political science faculty, a B- in real analysis, no stats in a math department and 760 GRE quant. It appears that my two theses and presumably excellent recommendations as a result, were very beneficial. I am quite pleased with my results.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UCSD ($), UCLA($), UVA(?), UCI($), UCSB($), BU(no $), Princeton WWS-political economy ($$), RAND Pardee ($), UCSD Political Science ($$), NYU Political Science ($$), Rochester Political Science ($$)
Waitlists: Johns Hopkins
Rejections: Stanford GSB (political economics), Berkeley Hass BPP, MIT political science, Harvard KSG, Chicago Harris
What would you have done differently? I would apply to Harvard PEG instead of Harvard KSG and Stanford Political Science instead of Stanford Political-Economics as I believe that both are better fits for me.

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

Springsteen 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.Sc. Management, European university
Undergrad GPA: 17/20 - ranked 2nd out of 116
Type of Grad: M.Sc. Economics, same university
Undergrad GPA: 17/20
GRE: 800Q, 410V, 3.5AWA
Math Courses(undergrad): Mathematics I, Mathematics II, Mathematics III, Statistics I, Statistics II (covers linear algebra, calculus, ODE, probability theory, etc...)
Econ Courses(undergrad): Microeconomics I, Macroeconomics I, Microeconomics II, Econometrics
Math Courses(grad): Advanced Mathematics (covers topology and optimization theory)
Econ Courses(grad): Microeconomic Theory, Advanced Macroeconomics, Advanced Econometrics, IO, Regulation, International Money and Finance, Game Theory, Information and Uncertainty, Microeconometrics
Other Courses: Some Management courses that I hated
Letters of Recommendation: 1 senior econ (phd MIT), 1 senior econ (phd Chicago), 1 junior econ (phd MIT)
Research Experience: graduate thesis (completing)
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: Micro theory: Game Theory, Contract theory, Mechanism Design, Auctions
SOP: standard
Concerns: Low AWA,
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: NW (waitlisted for first year funding), UPenn (waitlisted for first year funding)
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, Yale, Berkeley, Columbia, NYU, UW-M, UMichigan, LSE, Cornell
Comments: I am extremely happy with this outcome!! But, since I have been rejected at 13 universities out of 15, and many universities ranked lower than NW rejected me, I guess I was lucky to ge in NW!
What would you have done differently? Take real analysis (although it was not offered at my university...), RA to get stronger LORs
Attending: Northwestern University!

ilikefreefood 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Econ major from a top 5-10 Midwestern liberal arts college.
Undergrad GPA: 3.73/4, magna cum laude, distinction in major for senior thesis research.
Type of Grad: first semester of PhD microeconomics at Maryland
Grad GPA: 3.00/4.00 (B+)
GRE: 800Q 640V 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc II-III (A,B+), Linear Algebra (Pass), Statistics (A), Mathematical Structures (A-), Real Analysis (B, taken as a non-degree student at a local school Fall 2008), Probability (A, taken as a non-degree student at a local school Summer 2009)
Econ Courses: Principles Micro/Macro (A-,A), Intermediate Micro (A) Intermediate Macro (B), Econometrics (B+), PhD Micro Theory I (B+), pre-thesis seminar (A-), Ag. & Food Econ. (A), Development Econ. (B+), Econ. of Inequality (A), Econ. of Water Policy (B+), British Econ. history (B+)
Other Courses: A pass/fail seminar on game theory, a Poli. Sci. course on agent-based computer modeling (A)
Letters of Recommendation: 2 Econ. professors (liberal arts college profs but with Chicago/Stanford PhDs), including my thesis adviser who has previously stated that my thesis was one of the best he's ever advised. 1 Partner at my Econ. consulting firm with whom I've worked extensively on econometric analyses (PhD Cornell).
Where possible, a third Econ. professor (PhD Chicago).
Research Experience: ~3.5 years as an RA in a major Econ. consulting firm; I specialize in statistical and econometric analysis within my office.
Awards: Thesis award from state Economics association, thesis presentation award from state science association, college fellowship
for (non-research) work in development related to microfinance.
Research Interests: Development, environmental/resource economics, urban economics, general applied micro.
Statement of Purpose: Well-written but fairly standard; mentioned specifically my interest in development and applied micro fields.
Other: This is my second time applying, and I am reapplying to several schools with the additional Probability and PhD micro courses and a new letter of recommendation. I am deferred at Minnesota ARE from last year.
Applying to: Maryland, Maryland AREC, Duke, UC Berkeley ARE, Washington, Wharton Applied Economics, Michigan, Penn, Yale, Chicago, Michigan State, Northwestern, WUSTL, Georgetown, Texas, Boston University, UCSD, Cornell, Brown, UC Davis ARE, Illinois, Penn State, Virginia
RESULTS:
Attending: Boston University
Acceptances: Boston University (no $), U. of Washington ($), Michigan State ($ waitlist), Illinois ($), UC Davis ARE ($), Maryland AREC ($).
Rejections: Maryland Econ., Duke, UC Berkeley ARE, Wharton Applied Economics, Michigan, Penn, Yale, Chicago, Northwestern, Washington U. in St. Louis, Texas, UCSD, Cornell, Brown, Penn State, Virginia
No Response: Georgetown
What would you have done differently?
I would have taken more care to keep my grades in key courses consistently high in college to avoid a few potential red flags. I would have started my math education earlier and taken more classes as an undergrad. I would have worked only 2 years as an economic consultant and timed the business cycle to avoid applying in 2009 and 2010. I would have applied last year to a few schools that just missed my 2009 list (BU, Washington, and Illinois were all nearly on it), and potentially avoided the annoyance of waiting another year. I would have done more research to discount the advice of my advisors who said I would definitely get into schools on my 2009 list. All those things said, i feel that BU is really a fabulous program for my interests, and I am very, very excited to be headed there.

kimbanator 2010:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. in Business Economics, B.A. in History from top 50 overall undergrad, top 40ish econ phd program
Undergrad GPA: 3.96/4.00 (same for both majors)
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 670V, 5.0 AWA
Math Courses: Calculus I (A), Calculus II (A-), Intro Stats (A+), Applied Stats for Econ (A+), Linear Programming (A), Calc III (taken in fall, A), Vector Analysis (winter), Linear Algebra (winter), Intro Proofs (winter), Advanced. Calc (i.e. RA I) (spring), Probability Theory (spring)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Principles Micro (A+), Principles Macro (A+), Intermediate Micro I (A+), Intermediate Micro II (A+), Econometrics (A+), Intermediate Macro (A+), Corporate Finance I (A), Corporate Finance II (A+), International Trade (fall, A), Applied Econometrics (Master's level, fall; A)l
Other Courses: Financial Accounting (A+), Managerial Accounting (A+), Federal Tax Accounting (A+), Operations Management (B+), Business Law (A+); lots of history courses; primarily modern US/Europe, some Latin American
Letters of Recommendation: 3-5 per school; at least 2 were very strong; others strong. one letter of recommendation is very well known but he didn't know me that well at the time.
Research Experience: Senior Thesis (International Trade), RA beginning in fall
Teaching Experience: None.
Research Interests: International Trade, Industrial Organization, Economic History, applied micro in general...
Statement of Purpose: Probably a bit long. Justified the history degree and explained I'd have all the requisite math done.
Work Experience: Two summers of work in treasury (private sector), one summer in corporate finance.
Applying to: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford, Chicago, UCLA, UCSD.
Other: Lots of awards/scholarships won within the department. Applied to NSF unsuccessfully.
RESULTS:
Attending: {}
Acceptances: {}
Waitlist: MIT
Rejections: everywhere
What would you have done differently?
At the time of my application, I only had completed Calc II. That's it. My advisors pressured me to apply in this cycle, and with a great job offer in my pocket, I could afford to be very risky. And it didn't pan out, as expected. Interestingly, MIT waitlisted me and I received very positive feedback from their adcom. Yes, the lack of math killed me. I imagine my argument for my history background might have been a bit polarizing too, I don't know (but NSF liked the diversity, and I think MIT did, too). The bottom line is that I will apply next fall to a much broader portfolio of schools with the math all done and I'm confident the results will be much better.

ctown2009 2010:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. in Psuedo-Econ at Cornell
Undergrad GPA: 3.87
Type of Grad: Master's Applied Statistics Cornell
Grad GPA: N/A at admission time; a couple of schools saw a low 3's GPA because of one bizarre grade
GRE: 800Q, 680V, 5.0 AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-II (HS), Multivar Calc (B), Linear Alg (A), Analysis (A), Linear Optimization (B), Stochastic Calc (spring semester)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): A bunch all in micro and applied micro, econometrics, stats, all A's
Econ Courses (PhD): Econometrics I & II (B+'s), Cross-Sectional Econometrics (A-), Micro I (B), Micro II (spring semester)
Letters of Recommendation: 3 which I think were all strong
Research Experience: A lot: summer intern at a think tank, RA for well-known behavioral economist and a well-known public finance prof, senior thesis, co-authored paper submitted to a good journal
Teaching Experience: TA 1 class, not too demanding
Research Interests: Empirical micro, IO, law & econ, regulation, a little public finance
Statement of Purpose: Does it really matter
Work Experience: Good Econ consulting firm for about a year
Applying to: Chicago, Columbia, Wharton Applied Econ, Michigan Business Econ, NYU, Berkeley Haas BPP, Harvard Kennedy, Yale, Duke, Maryland, Brown, JHU...not Cornell
Other: Very uncertain given my hybrid degree from a top school and mixed grades in the toughest classes, but I challenged myself and took the hardest ones
RESULTS:
Attending: Michigan Business Econ PhD ($$$)
Acceptances: Michigan Business Econ PhD ($$$)
Waitlist: JHU, Wharton
Rejections: everywhere else, only surprised about Berkeley and bummed about Wharton, dream school was Chicago
What would you have done differently?
Hmm, not too much, I did well in my undergrad classes and put myself thru the grinder once I realized I wanted to try for the PhD. I should have taken more diverse econ courses, especially theory, but it was tough given time constraints. Should've done more reading outside the classroom on cutting edge research instead of the articles from the 1960's we read in class. I should have had at least one rec with a big Prof from the Econ department, that's my biggest regret. Happy to go to UMich fully funded as it's a great research fit. Hopefully future TM applicants will find this thread as useful as I've found previous versions.

PerfectMarkets 2010:
Profile
Type of Undergrad: BS in Econ, minor in math at MIT
Undergrad GPA: 4.7/5.0
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 790V, 5.5AW
Math Courses (+/- grades aren't recorded): Multivariable Calculus (Pass) Probability/Statistics (B); Differential Equations (B); Linear Algebra (B); Advanced Statistics (A); Real Analysis (A); Discrete Applied Math (A)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Macro (B); Intermediate Micro(A) ; a bunch of field courses (all A's); Econometrics (A); Economics Research/ Paper writing (A); Game Theory(B); grad labor (A);
Other Courses: Some computer science classes, some finance
Letters of Recommendation: 1 senior lecturer who had worked on a project with me, 1 senior prof who I RA's for back in freshman year, 1 senior prof who I took grad labor with, 1 senior prof who I took two classes with.
Research Experience: RA'd for freshman summer and 2 semesters in junior year
Publications: None.
Teaching Experience: None.
Research Interests: Applied micro and central bank policy
Statement of purpose: Uninteresting, talked about how I like applied micro and was good at Stata. Didn't really mention the macro interest at all.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Northwestern ($$) (Attending), Cornell ($$$), NSF fellowship
Waitlists: MIT (eventually rejected, got so close)
Rejections: Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, Chicago, Michigan, NYU, Princeton
What would you have done differently? Ouch, lots of rejections. I would have done better on my math classes, and moved the order I took them around. I should have taken analysis earlier and linear algebra later to free up my schedule. I could maybe have taken some of the intro grad sequence, but I feel like I would've just gotten a B against the grad students here and it would just look worse, so hard to say. My recommenders were very well known, and I think the letters should have been solid, if not completely glowing. I don't know if this helped or hurt me; certainly they have been very supportive throughout this process, but maybe I would have been better off working with a junior faculty and getting a very effusive review. I pinned a lot of hope on the NSF award, but it didn't reverse any decisions, even though it got me much closer to getting off the MIT waitlist. So, the NSF isn't magical. Though money is nice. I also spent two summers working in consulting, which was bad in terms of apps but good in making me realize that I wanted to apply to grad school. I have to chalk up my results to an insanely competitive year and spotty math grades in important classes.

keano 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Econ, top 5 UK university
Undergrad GPA: First (not sure how this translates)
Type of Grad: MSc in Competition Economics, part-time UK university
Grad GPA: On course for distinction
GRE: 800Q, 790V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Maths for economists courses: calculus, linear algebra etc
Econ Courses (Ma-level): A lot of micro-based + econometrics: mostly As
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Lots
Letters of Recommendation: 2/3 econ professors (not well known) Current Employer (Economic consultant with Econ PhD). Hopefully v.positive but names probably won't be known in US.
Research Experience: 3.5 years in economic consultancy
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Micro theory, IO
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Caltech (from waitlist), EUI, LSE (MSc), Oxford (MPhil), BGSE (MSc), Toulouse (M2)
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Stanford GSB, Kellogg, Wharton (Applied Econ), MIT, UCSD, Berkeley, Wisconsin-M, PSU, Chicago, NYU
What would you have done differently? At the time of the applications process not sure I could done have lot a lot more. Looking at my results, I was a lot more successful in Europe which I would speculate is due to a lack of formal maths courses. So going back a few years, I would have tried to address that somehow.

asdfjkl 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Economics from a Public University, top 10 Economics Department
Undergrad GPA: 3.77 overall, 3.94 Economics GPA
Type of Grad: 1 second-year field sequence in the Economics Department
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: Q: 800, V:640, AWA:4.5
Math Courses: Analysis (B), Linear Algebra (Pass), Multivariable Calculus (A-)
Econ Courses: Advanced Micro (A), Advanced Macro (A+), Game Theory (A), Auction Theory (A-), Advanced Econometrics (A-), along with Econ History, International Monetary Economics, Research Economics (all As), also Psych and Econ, Behavioral Corporate Finance
Letters of Recommendation: 2 very strong letters from Professors from the Economics Department at my undergraduate university (with a history of sending undergraduates to top Economics departments), 1 from the Business School, 1 from the Federal Reserve Board
Research Experience: Summer RA/Intern at the Federal Reserve Board, RA for a Professor at the Business School and RA to another professor in the Economics Department at my university, also worked for a graduate student in the Economics Department
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: Applied Micro - beyond that Labor? IO? Development? Psych and Econ?
SOP: nothing special and I did not bother making it specific to the schools I applied to
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UMichigan (attending! no funding initially, $$$$$ at the end), Northwestern (waitlist for funding, ultimately would've received a tuition waiver), UCSD ($$), UCLA ($$)
Waitlists: UPenn Wharton - Applied Economics (would've been accepted to the program off the waitlist with $$)
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Berkeley, UPenn, NYU, Columbia, Yale, ChicagoWhat would you have done differently? A LOT more math. My letter writers had told me I had sufficient math to competitive at all schools; however I think that my lack of strong math background really hurt me on the margin. I think I may have gotten into better schools if I'd taken more math and done better, but I preferred to work on research projects for professors and graduate students throughout my undergrad - so I can't say I regret my decision for get more research experience at the expense of a stronger math background.

hotfuss 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: 4 year Honours degree in economics at a major Australian university
Undergrad GPA: First Class Honours (ranked first in Honours class)
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q
Math Courses: First and second year advanced maths courses, differential calculus, integral calculus, discrete mathematics, first and second year linear algebra, vector calculus, PDEs
Econ Courses: Game Theory, Advanced Microeconomics, Advanced Macroeconomics, International Trade, Applied Economics, Industrial Organisation, Mathematical Economics
Other Courses: First year psychology
Letters of Recommendation: One Fellow of the Econometric Society and two other economics professors with US PhDs (these LORs knew me very well; two of these had marked my thesis, including one who was my adviser, and I had taken one course with one letter of recommendation and two courses with another letter of recommendation (coming first in everything (including thesis), except one course))
Research Experience: Honours thesis and one other game theory paper
Teaching Experience: TA for undergrad economics courses, including intermediate microeconomics
Research Interests: Microeconomic theory and its applications, behavioural economics
SOP: Standard
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Northwestern ($$), Wisconsin Madison ($$), Penn State ($$), Maryland (?), Oxford (MPhil in Economics), LSE (MSc in Economics (Research))
Waitlists: Boston
Rejections: Yale, Princeton, Stanford, UCSD and many other places
Attending: Northwestern
What would you have done differently? Not much. I think I should have applied earlier (I worked for a few years after my undergraduate degree) or done more maths courses at university. I would have also applied for a few business schools and a couple more top 10 places.

Amun Ra 2010:
Type of Undergrad: Economics, South Italian University.Graduate in 2004.Major in Economics
Undergrad GPA: 110/110,Cum Laude (average 28.90 out of 30)
GRE/TOEFL: 800Q/590V/3.5AWA.TOEFL waived
Math Courses: General Mathematics, Financial Mathematics, Linear Algebra, Real Analysis Multivariable Analysis(should be calculus) , Statistics I and I. ‐ All equivalent to A's or A+
Econ Courses (u/g): Micro and Macro Theory, Labour, International economics, monetary economics, Industrial econ. Development economics, economic history, History of economic thought theory, econometrics, Public economics, Regional Economics, Applied economics, Economic Policy‐ All equivalent to A's or A+
Grad courses: LOTs macro based at PhD level courses with very well know scholars all with A.I am currently in the first year of a top 20 US PhD program where I am taking the first year of micro/macro/metrics sequence.I am aiming to get transferred
Other Courses: Summer school at UPF.
Letters of Recommendation: Till now 1) stellar letters from a NYU PhD thesis supervisor and co-author well connected 2)A stellar letter from a guy with UChicago PhD whom I have been his TA for 3 years 3)Form a guy with PhD Michigan well know in his field. I got A in his graduate course and we will start co-authoring a parer together in late spring 2010.4) a standard if not excellent one form my u/g international economics prof with a PhD Michigan
Research Experience: I have written 3-4 working papers till now .One of them is co-authored with a letter of recommendation writer(see above)and I will start writing another one with another letter of recommendation writer(see above again). Another paper is co-authored with a Oxford prof and another one is single authored. Senior undergraduate thesis back in 2004 . I won special merit from the evaluation committee for the quality of thesis work, presentation skills and academic performance.II also won the prize for the best u/g thesis for that year. I have servred as a visitor scholar at the research division of one of the most important central bank of the world and as an economist in a reseach institute
Teaching Experience: 3 years TA for monetary economics and many other courses at my current institution
Research Interests: Monetary economics (mostly monetary policy),DSGE models ,Central Banking, Macroeconomics
Statement of Purpose: Strong .I talk about my papers
Other: Participant in several conferences including invitations from BIS, CEPR, ECB, and various national central Banks.Acquittance with many top economists in the field .
Concerns:
While this experience has been very enjoyable and satisfying, in discussing my research interests with faculty members at my current university I realized that our interests are mismatched. Therefore, I have decided to apply again knowing that I might start from the first year again
I am also having personal reasons I want to get out of here.
Applying to:Harvard , MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, Berkeley , Columbia, NYU,Upenn, Northwester,Minnesota,Maryland ,and 2-3 schools in Europe.

nobigdeal 2010:
Type of Undergrad: B.F.A (!) dbl major in acting and economics (from one of the top acting programs, and a top (15) econ department.
Undergrad GPA: 3.85/4 over all, 3.9 econ; received the senior year econ dept. award.
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 800Q, 650V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-II (AP). Only linear algebra (A) in undergrad. Since then, calc III (A), real analysis (A+), math stats (A+), probability (A)
Econ Courses (undergraduate): two intro classes plus micro, macro, international trade, labor, public, development, statistics, econometrics, thesis. All A's, except an A- in my first intro course.
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ professors (worked for one over a summer, co authored a paper with the other -- top marks in their classes), one economist at a fed (he does more academic research than policy work).
Research Experience: A senior thesis, which grew into a paper that was recently accepted into a top (sub)field journal. Over 2 years at a fed working pretty closely with an economist with who I coauthored a paper we submitted to an interdisciplinary policy journal.
Teaching Experience: Very little. Worked in a statistics lab in college where I gave a lesson on STATA.
Research Interests: Labor, behavioral
Statement of Purpose: Discussed my background and research experiences. Also wrote two paragraphs outlining my research interests in applied microeconomics, labor, and behavioral. So, fairly specific. Hardly addressed the school's strengths at all--only mentioned the school's name once, in the last paragraph.
Concerns: I have a B.F.A, and I didn't take much math in college.
Applying to: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, UC Berkeley, Columbia, Yale, Penn, Duke, Cornel, NYU, Brown, Northwestern, Stanford, U Chicago, U Michigan

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

golden_bears 2010: Type of Undergrad: B.A. Double Major: Economics & Applied Mathematics from, well, the best public research university in the world (as we say here) :), also a junior transfer from community coolege
Undergrad GPA: 3.45/4.00 (UC GPA), 3.95/4.00 (Community College GPA), 3.74 Cumulative GPA
Type of Grad: A summer course at LSE that could be considered a grad course
Grad GPA: 4.00
GRE: 790Q, 540V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calculus I-III (A), UG Real Analysis, Linear Algebra, Numerical Analysis, Complex Analysis, Abstract Algebra, etc...
Econ Courses (Undergrad-level): Mostly took macro and econ history courses.
Statistics Courses: Probability (IP), Computing Stats (for the statistical package R), not much here really
Letters of Recommendation: 3, 1 of which was submitted today; Two have the potential to be very strong and one neutral or slightly positive at best. I doubt any would be negative -- my gpa does enough for that.
Research/Teaching Experience:
1. Created, developed, and taught a course here. In its fourth semester. Wrote a paper for my faculty sponsor/LoR provider (non-Econ department)
2. Doing my honors thesis right now (LoR provider - Econ department)
Teaching Experience:
1. Self-taught course -- see above.
Research Interests: Political Economy of NE Asia, Developmental, Transitional Economics
Statement of purpose: Picked a topic I was interested in
Diversity Statement: Mostly my background, but focus was still on what I wanted to do.
Concerns: Haha, where should i begin? :crazy:
-Nontraditional student
My professor and LoR provider said, "You know, ..., it'll be interesting to see where you get into considering your background." I think he was thinking out loud, but, I guess that sums up my concerns. He also said, "You'll get in somewhere."
Applying to: UCLA, UCSD, Northwestern, Harvard (yep, lol), Yale, Columbia, Chicago, NYU, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Virginia, Caltech, UC Davis, Duke, Johns Hokpins, Maryland... all econ ph.d (i'm just hoping they all have my material)...

confusedgrad 2010: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. in Economics (one of the best universities in the country but not known extremely all over the world. still, it is recognized at some schools).
Undergrad GPA: 3.98/4 - 1st rank among 145 students.
Type of Grad: M.S. in Economics from the same university.
Grad GPA: 3.95/4.0 - 2nd rank
GRE: Took it three times: Q:800, 800, 800, V:430, 350, 390, AWA: 5.5, 3.5, 4.5,
TOEFL: IBT:110 (R:29, L:29, S:24, W:28)
Math Courses: allmost no math. Calculus I and II, Linear Algebra, Mathematics for Economists, Mathematical Statistics I and II, Econometrics I and II, Econometric Theory I an II, Time Series Econometrics and only auditing RG Real Analysis this semester. All AAs (no grade for real anal.)
Econ Courses (PhD-level): Microeconomic Theory I and II, Macroeconomic Theory I and II,, International Macroconomics. All AA except for one BA.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): A lot of courses with straight AAs.
Letters of Recommendation: 4 econ professors (mostly 3 or only 2 of them were used). All from my university. They tried to write strong letters but none of them are knon actually.
Research Experience: Several years in Research department of the Central Bank. However, nothing published in good journals. Only some empirical work.
Teaching Experience: TAship at my ug university for the Statistics courses.
Research Interests: Macro including Int'l macro, monetary economics...
Statement of purpose: Not well tailored for each university. A standard one for all.
Concerns: 1. Almost no math. No advanced calculus, no differential equations, no real analysis. 2. letters from unknown profs and no special efforts from the referees, 3. not enough research experience, 4. age (i'll be 29) 5. that stupid visa issue.
Other: One positive concern: My employee might support 1st year expenditures so I can go with an unfonded offer for the first year.
Applying to: 3 types in US: 1) The ones I got accepted before: UMN, BC, BU, UCLA, UMD. 2) The ones I got rejected last year: Columbia, NYU, Northwestern, UCSD, 3) The ones I am applying for the first time (mostly dream school, just a fantasy): MIT, Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, Brown. Also some European schools in case the visa becomes a problem again: LSE, LBS, Oxford, TI, UPF, CEMFI, EUI. Seems like I am a professional applicant. I made 51 applications so far. (6 in 2003, 23 in 2009, 22 in 2010). God, so much money, so much effort. Best luck, everyone...

77rus 2010:
itution: UC Berkeley
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Reject
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 03/02/2010
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GF: No
Comments: expected

yichen426 2010:
Institution: Michigan
Program:Phd Economics
Decision: REJ
Funding:
Notification date: 03/03
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: Yes
Comments:
Institution: Maryland
Program:Phd Economics
Decision: Waitlist
Funding: Economics
Notification date: 03/04
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: Yes
Comments:
Institution: Columbia
Program:Phd Economics
Decision: REJ
Funding: Economics
Notification date: 03/04
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: Yes
Comments: Sad!! Uppertown Manhatten is so cute....
Institution: Chicago
Program:Phd Economics
Decision: REJ
Funding: Economics
Notification date: 03/05
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: Yes
Comments: Sad!! Got my heart broken by UChicago and Columbia, esp. considering NYC and Chicago have the best pizza of america...!
Institution: Maryland
Program:Phd Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Economics
Notification date: 03/15
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: Yes
Comments: (@,@) (>,<) (!,!) Suburb of DC!

keano 2010: keano<

Cinzia 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BSc Economics & Math from large Canadian university
Undergrad GPA: 3.95 (not finished yet)
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 620V, 800Q, 4.5AW
Math Courses: Calculus (A+), Advanced Calculus (A+), Linear Algebra II (A+), Nonlinear Optimization (A+), Real Analysis -- undergrad (A), Real Analysis -- grad (A+), Advanced ODE (A-), Concepts in Abstract Math (A), Intro Math Logic (A+); Prob & Stats I (A+), Prob & Stats II (B), Probability -- no measure theory (A+), Mathematical Stats (A+). (all undregrad except "grad real analysis")
Econ Courses: Intro Econ (A), Intermediate Micro (A+), Intermediate Macro (A+), Advanced Micro -- game theory (A+), Advanced Macro (A), Econometrics I (A+), Econometrics II (A), Economic Analysis of Law (A+), Political Economy (in progress); graduate courses: PhD Micro Theory II -- game theory, contract theory (A), Advanced Micro Theory (in progress).
Other Courses: 1st year bio + chem + physics (I wanted to study molecular biology), Italian language courses.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from a well-known prof who taught me graduate game theory and supervised a summer research project; 1 from a young prof who taught me intermediate micro and undergrad game theory; 1 from a law & econ prof who taught me economic analysis of law.
Research Experience: summer research project in game theory --> uninteresting small paper.
Teaching Experience: none.
Research Interests: micro theory, political economy.
SOP: talked about how I got interested in economics, in particular micro theory, what I learned from my courses and research, and my own interests (not very well-defined interests); didn't mention any specific faculty.
Other: Note: the Canadian grading system is a bit different from the American one: here 90-100 ~ A+, 85-89 ~ A, 80-84 ~ A- etc., and 85-100 ~ 4.0 GPA, so it seems easier to get high GPA, but my friend told me the grades aren't inflated as much as in the States (which I don't know, but it is true that in my school, a large public school, they try to keep the course average low).
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Stanford, NYU, UPenn (waitlisted for funding), Wisconsin, UCSD (they didn't talk about funding), Toronto MA(doctoral), Toulouse M2.
Waitlists: MIT.
Rejections: Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, Yale, Berkeley.
Pending: Northwestern (what happened to my application???)
What would you have done differently?
I wouldn't say doing sth. could get me into better schools (e.g. Harvard, MIT), but some things could certainly prepare me better for a PhD program, e.g. taking "analysis" instead of "calculus" courses, graduate probability, and more econ courses.

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

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).

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.

bassmantin 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Accounting/Finance at a Big 10 school
Undergrad GPA: 3.97
Type of Grad: M.B.A. Accounting/Finance
Grad GPA: 3.91
GRE: 800Q, 700V, 5.0AW
Math Courses: Calculus I, II, II, Linear Algebra, Intro to Advanced Math (all A) After submission of application: Differential Equations, Real Analysis (all A expected)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Econometrics, lots of grad level business school classes that overlap somewhat: managerial econ, real options, valuation, corporate finance, international monetary systems and hedging (all A) after submission: History of Economic Thought, Monetary Theory (all A expected)
Other Courses: Lots of business
Letters of Recommendation: Accounting professor, math instructor, former employer
Research Experience: N/A
Teaching Experience: two semesters intro to managerial accounting
Research Interests: macro/monetary
SOP: addressed my somewhat unique situation
Concerns: no econ prof letter of recommendation, not too much math before submitting app
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Vanderbilt, Indiana, Michigan State, Purdue, Iowa State, George Mason, Missouri
Waitlists: WUSTL (eventually accepted), Minnesota (withdrew)
Rejections: Chicago, Northwestern, Michigan, Wisconsin, Notre Dame
Attending: WUSTL
What would you have done differently? Take more math. Get letter of recommendation from economists. Get a mentor to guide me through the process.

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.

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

kevinp123 2011:
Type of Undergrad: BS Econ; Top 30 public, not highly ranked in econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.94
Type of Grad: MA Econ, same school as undergrad
Grad GPA: 3.92
GRE: 780Q, 610V, 4.5AW
Math Courses: Multivar Calc (A), Math for Econ (A), Adv. Calc I (A), Lin. Algebra (A), Probability (A)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro/Macro, Development, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Econometrics I,II, Game Theory (A), Corp. Finance (B)
Grad Econ Courses: Micro I,II, Public Finance (A), IO (B)
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Chicago, 1 Princeton, 1 Stanford; 1 somewhat famous
Research Experience: Master's Thesis
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UT-Austin, Maryland
Waitlists: Initially Maryland
Rejections: Harvard, Chicago, UPenn, Northwestern, Yale, NYU, Stern, UCLA, Michigan, Duke, CMU-Tepper, UVA, VanderbiltWhat would you have done differently? I would have started taking math courses before my junior (and mostly senior) year, especially statistics courses. I think not having any calculus based statistics courses really hurt me (other than probability). I also would not have withdrawn from an honors research course to take and LSAT prep class.

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

ggoofer 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Econ, Math at Non-HYP Ivy
Undergrad GPA: 3.89 overall, 3.94 Math, 3.97 Econ (out of 4)
GRE: 790 Q, 660 V, 4.5 AWA
Math Courses (undergrad level): Baby Linear Algebra (A+), Multivariable Calc (A), Honors Analysis (A), Linear Algebra (A-), Honors Algebra (A-), Topology (A), Stochastic Processes (A+)
Math Courses (grad level): Measure Theory (A+), Applied Functional Analysis (A), Algebra (A), Probability (A), Topics in Group Theory (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad level): Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), Prob & Stat (A+), Intro to Econometrics (A+), Money and Banking (A-), Financial Economics (A+), Game Theory (A), Intertemporal Economics (A+), Trade (A+)
Econ Courses (grad level): Micro I (A), Micro II (A), Decision Theory II (A+), Contract Theory (in prog)
Other Courses: Stochastic Calculus for Finance (A-)
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ, 1 math. I know these people well. Expecting strong letters.
Research Experience: Econ, none worth mentioning. Spent a summer working on finite group theory with a math prof here. Learned how much I hate group theory.
Teaching Experience: TAing is not allowed. I have done a lot of tutoring for the department since sophomore year.
Research Interests: Micro theory topics
SOP: Weak. Did not spend much time.
RESULTS:
Attending: Northwestern
Acceptances: Northwestern ($$$$), Berkeley ($$), Princeton ($$$), Yale ($$$$), UMN ($), Cornell ($$$)
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Penn, Chicago
What would you have done differently? Not much really. Very happy with my results. I should have spent more time on my SOP probably. Wish I could have gotten econ research in somehow, but it is borderline impossible to get anything that is not applied/data monkey work (and any theory stuff you do yourself e.g. for thesis most likely sucks). Also would have stopped taking undergrad econ courses a lot sooner. Most are a waste of time.

huxleyms 2011:
Type of Undergrad: Economics + Applied Math, top15 econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.77/4.00
GRE: 800Q 620V 4.0AW
Math Courses: Calc(B+,A-,A+), Vector Calc (A+), Linear Algebra(A), Applied Linear Algebra(B), ODE(B+), PDE(B), Complex Analysis(B), Probability(B), Math Reasoning(A), Real Analysis(B+,A-), Numerical Analysis(A,A,A)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Microeconomics(A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro Environmental Economics(A, different uni), Intro Microeconomics (A+), Intro Macroeconomics(A), Intermediate Microeconomics (A,A-,B+), Intermediate Macroeconomics(A,A-), Enterprise Finance(A), Financial Markets(A), Econometrics(A,A), Economic Growth(A), Decisions Under Uncertainty(A+)
Other Courses: C/C++(A), Java(A-), honors sections(all A's)
Letters of Recommendation: 1 MIT PhD (took small classes, honors section), 1 Yale PhD (comp. econometrics project), 1 UCLA math PhD (ODE/LA tutor, took classes w/projects )
Research Experience: nothing formal, just independent work in honors sections
Teaching Experience: matlab tutor, mock trial captain?
Research Interests: everything
SOP: long
Concerns: Lots of B's in math, wondering how many an A in grad micro can outweigh, low AWA score. Lack of research experience.
Other: Expect high variance
Results:
Rejected: Chicago, Yale, UPenn, Columbia, NYU, Caltech, Brown, Cornell, Johns Hopkins
Accepted: UCSD, Carnegie Mellon, UTexas, UVA
Would do differently: I would have taken fewer math classes and tried to do more economic research. Also, I should have gotten better grades. Overall, I am very happy with my outcome.

mallikagarg 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Economics from top Indian University
Undergrad GPA: N/A
Major GPA: N/A
Type of Grad: MA Economics from mid ranked Indian University
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: Q 790 V 640 A 3.5;
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Math for economists, Linear Algebra, Real Analysis, Statistical methods and probability, Differential Equations, Advanced multi-variable calculus.
Econ Courses (grad-level): Advanced Micro, Advanced Macro, Econometrics, Game Theory, International Trade, Industrial economics and investment analysis, International Banking and Finance, Development Economics
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro I & II, Macro, Public Finance, Money and Baning, Economic History, Comparitive economic development, Development Economics, Economic Systems
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from grad quant prof, 1 from grad econometric prof, 1 from a well known economist i've RAd with.
Research Experience: one year's experience as an RA
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: Applied Microeconomics, Industrial Organisation
SOP: Nothing out of the world
Concerns: Inadequate research experience, no publications, inadequate math courses, unknown Graduate university, unknown recommenders.
Applied to: MIT, stanford GSB, Chicago, Texas (Austin), Texas A&M, UIUC, Rice, Vanderbilt, USC, MSU, UCR, UVA, Clemson, Colorado at Boulder
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Clemson ($$); Colorado (Without funding)
Rejections: MIT, stanford GSB, Chicago, Texas (Austin), Texas A&M, UIUC, Rice, Vanderbilt, USC, MSU, UCR, UVA
Attending: Clemson
What would you have done differently?
With my kind of background, I am happy to have made it to where I did. Though, I guess I should not have targeted so high. I could have got better results had I applied to more schools in the 30-60 range and completely skipped the top 15.

Aznkaz 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Economics, BS Math, and BA Physics at a small liberal arts school.
Undergrad GPA: 3.85/4.0
GRE: 790 quant, 440 verbal, have not received AWA score yet
Math Courses: Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Abstract Algebra, Real Analysis, Grad Level Probability, Intro to Proofs All A's besides a B in Differential Equations.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level):Intermediate Micro Macro, Econometrics, Mathematical Economics, Readings in Economics (some of Mas Colell) All A's
Other Courses: A CS class, many physics classes, some stat classes
Letters of Recommendation: I think my letters will be pretty good, but since I go to a small liberal arts school I'm not sure how much weight they will hold.
Research Experience: Physics REU one summer at University Arkansas. Then a REU in finance at my school. Also two semesters of acoustics physics research.
Teaching Experience: Tutored introductory physics classes for 2 semesters
Research Interests: Non-cooperative game theory, and general equilibrium.
SOP: Still working on it.
Concerns: The fact that I go to a small lesser known liberal arts college and that my recommendations will not be from well known people. Also my verbal GRE is pretty low.
Applying to:
Reach Schools: U Chicago, Berkeley
Other: Cal Tech, UCLA, UC San Diego, U Texas Austin, Washington, Washington University in St. Louis MO, University Illinois, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara.
This list is not for sure. Recommendations on school would be great!

tsimonoce 2011:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Joint (not double) Math / Econ major - Top 15 for Econ.
Undergrad GPA: 3.70 Cumulative, 3.96 in Econ, 3.63 in Math.
Type of Grad: n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800q / 610v / 4.5awa
Math Courses: LOWER DIV: Calc 1-3 and DiffEq taken in HS. Vector Calc (B), Linear Algebra (B). UPPER DIV: Probability (B), Stochastic Processes (B), Statistics (A-), Math Reasoning (A-), Analysis 1 (A+), Analysis 2 (A+), Applied Linear Algebra (A).
Econ Courses: Micro 1 (A+), Micro 2 (A), Micro 3 (A+), Macro 1 (A+), Macro 2 (A-), Metrics (A), Game Theory (A+), Micro Research Class (A), Grad Micro (IP), Senior Thesis (IP).
Letters of Recommendation: All three got PhDs from Stanford and I did research with. 2 really well-known and one assistant prof.
Research Experience: Small Micro class research, independent research project over summer (with a prof), and Senior Thesis.
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Micro - especially Game Theory / Contract Theory
Concerns: Feeling pretty good
Other: All 3 letter of recommendation writers think I will crack top 5.
Applying to: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford GSB, Stanford Econ, Berkeley, Chicago, Northwestern, Yale, U Penn, NYU, Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, Wisconsin, NSF.

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

JG0626 2011:
Type of Undergrad: Private, Liberal Arts University (U.S. News Top 15 – Regional Universities South)
Undergrad GPA: Overall 3.93; Econ 3.92; Math 4.00
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 780Q 630V 4.0AW
Math Courses: Calc I (A+), Calc II (A+), Linear Algebra (A+), Probability (A+), Intro to Math Reasoning (A+), Calc III (In-Progress), Math Stats (In-Progress), Ordinary Differential Equations (In-Progress)
Econ Courses (grad-level): N/A
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): International (A+), Money and Banking (A+), Investment Theory (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A-), Econometrics (A+)
Other Courses: Business Administration second major
Letters of Recommendation: Two econ professors, 1 math professor
Research Experience: Nothing past a term research paper for my econometrics class
Teaching Experience: N/A
Research Interests: Two broad areas: Macro/Financial Economics and Austrian/New Institutional
SOP: I feel confident in the main body of my statement, but I put most of the customized effort into GMU, WUStL, IU, and FSU.
Concerns: The analytic writing score from my GRE is embarrassing. I’m also concerned about my hiatus from academia; I received my B.A. in economics in December 2006 and worked for a brokerage firm for a few years. I have, however, returned to school for what will amount to a math minor equivalent. Hopefully, this signals my commitment to PhD programs.
Other:
Applying to: George Mason, IU-Bloomington, Washington U – St. Louis, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, UVA, UChicago, Boston U, Florida State

riskaverse 2011:
Type of Undergrad: B.Sc. Economics at Top10 South American university; B.A. International Relations (not the same university as Economics)
Undergrad GPA: 7.5/10 for Economics (Top 5%); 8.46/10 for International Relations
Type of Grad: M.A. Economics at Top10 South American university (not the same as undergrad).
Grad GPA: 7.98/10
GRE: 800Q/540V/4.0A (2nd try)
Math Courses (undergrad): Calculus I and II
Math Courses (grad): Real Analysis, Measure Theory, Linear Algebra (audit)
Econ Courses (undergrad): a lot of them
Econ Courses (grad): Micro Theory I to IV (entire MWG), Macro Theory I to III, Econometrics, Microeconometrics, Corporate Finance, Empirical Microeconomics, Mathematical Economics I and II (some chapters of Stokey&Lucas).
Other Courses: lots of them too because of International Relations
Letters of Recommendation: A total of 4 letters, all from my MA professors. I think all of them like me, but I'm pretty unsure about the strenght of the letters. Two of them are somewhat well known, specially in their fields. I sent the letter from my advisor to all universities and rotated among the other recommenders.
Research Experience: My MA Dissertation. I have some works from undergrad published (co-authored), but not in academic journals (they were mainly directed to policy makers in my country - only one of them written in English).
Teaching Experience: TA for Microeconomic Theory II and Statistics II at the graduate level; TA for International Finance and IO in MBA courses; TA for Micro and Trade for undergrads.
Research Interests: Microeconomics, Contract Theory, Corporate Finance
SOP: very honest. I liked it in the end.
Other: TOEFL 106, but a low grade in the speaking portion. Although I applied to all parts of the US, I have very strong personal reasons for wanting to be in the East Coast.
Concerns: my first GRE try was a disaster, the second try was in December 2010, which made me really afraid of my results getting to the universities very late. My profile seems sometimes a Frankstein for me and I'm really concerned about my letters of recommendation. I don't have the minimum score for the TOEFL speaking portion that many universities require. I'm not the strongest applicant from my country this year, which makes me very pessimist about my dream schools. Also, I worked some time before entering my MA, so I'm kind of older I think... well, lots of concerns!

skysky 2011:
Type of Undergrad: A hopefully well-known school in Asia. One-semester visiting student experience in a top econ dept in U.S.
Undergrad GPA: 90+/100
Type of Grad: n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800 Q / 720 V / 4.5 W
Math Courses: Mathematical Analysis, Linear Algebra, Probability theory, Mathematical Statistics, Real Analysis, Stochastic Process, Mathematical Modelling, all with decent scores. Abstract Algebra, Differential Equations, finished after application. Complex Analysis, in progress.
Econ Courses (grad-level): PhD-level Micro.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Regular courses like intermediate micro/macro, econometrics, game theory etc.
Letters of Recommendation: 3 from Berkeley professors. 2 from my home institution.
Research Experience: One semester RA in the US school.
Teaching Experience: none.
Research Interests: No idea, really.
SOP: Just so-so. Not in a good mood when writing this stuff, so did not put much effort in it. Emphasized my interest in math, though. Wierd, but that was all in my mind then.
Applying to: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Northwestern, Upenn, Columbia, NYU, UCSD

llama 2011:
Institution: Barcelona GSE
Program: Masters in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Partial tuition waiver
Notification date: 01/17/2011
Notified through: email
Posted on GF: ???
Comments: They want an anwser to their admission offer within a month.

birchtbarlow 2011:
Institution: North Carolina State University
Program: Economics- Management - PhD
Decision: Admitted
Funding: Pending
Notification date: 1/28/2011
Notified through: Online status
Posted on GF: ???
Comments: First admit

thirty 2011:
Institution: Yale
Program: Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: Feb 16
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: no
Comments: Started thinking about applying next year if I don't get any offer.

ahasuerus 2011:
Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Program: Ph.D. in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: n/a
Notification date: February 24, 2011
Notified through: website - I checked after seeing the rejections on this forum
Posted on GC: no

onetime 2011:
Institution: UPenn
Program: Phd in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 02/24/2011
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: No
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

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.

econfin2011 2011:
Institution: Yale
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: n/a
Notification date: 02/16/2011
Notified through: email to check letter on the website
Posted on GC: no
Comment: First result. First rejection. This hurts!
Institution: UC Davis
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: to be decided before the end of march.
Notification date: 02/17/2011 (unofficial) and 02/28/2011 (official)
Notified through: unnoficial email (at first) and then email to check letter on the website
Posted on GC: no
Comment: First acceptance! Feels good not to be rejected...
Institution: Arizona State University
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: 5-year Assistantship (TA/RA) + insurance
Notification date: 02/22/2011
Notified through: email
Posted on GC: no
Comment: My two safeties worked out. Hoping for a TOP 20 offer now...
Institution: U Penn
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: n/a
Notification date: 02/24/2011
Notified through: email to check letter on the website
Posted on GC: no
Comment:
Institution: Duke
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: n/a
Notification date: 02/28/2011
Notified through: email to check letter on the website
Posted on GC: no
Comment: Hurts so much! I really liked their department...
Waiting for more 14 results...

LSLP 2011:
Institution: UPenn
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Waitlisted
Notification date: 2/28
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GF: no
Funding: N/A
Comments: Waitlisted? I wanted　a result...

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?

delimitless 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 60 Economics UG
Undergrad GPA: 3.75 (3.85 math & econ)
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 790Q/640V/5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc series; Linear Algebra; UG Analysis; Grad Analysis I; Grad Topology I-II; Dynamical Systems
Econ Courses: Grad Macro; Grad Micro; Grad Metrics; standard UG classes
Other Courses: Philosophy minor
Letters of Recommendation: Grad Macro Professor; two economists at regional fed where I worked
Research Experience: 2 Years at Regional Fed. Couple co-authored papers in the works. Felt this was instrumental to my intent/results
Teaching Experience: Tutoring and Grading at UG
Research Interests: Macro, Labor, Computational
SOP: Customized for a little while then just got lazy and sent the same one
Other: good to be moving on
RESULTS:
Acceptances: NSF; UPenn(after NSF); UCLA($); Ohio State($$)
Waitlists: Maryland (Accepted after NSF); WUSTL
Rejections: Yale; Northwestern; NYU; Chicago; Stanford; Minnesota; Columbia; Duke
Pending:
Attending: U Penn
What would you have done differently? Probably would have customized my SOP a bit more. It just got so dull. Second-guessing the past is easy...I guess work harder in UG is the easy answer; but I wasn't so sure that I wanted a PhD at that time.

Blerg 2012:
Thanks, TM community for being such a valuable resource. I was a lurker, but I'll submit my results for posterity and such. All of the results below are what was put on my applications, i.e. the first 6 semesters of college.
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Flagship Public (Top 5 math, Top 10 econ)
Undergrad GPA: 3.63
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q/680V/5AWA
Math Courses: Intro Bus. Stats (A-)/Calc III (B+)/Linear Algebra (B)/Discrete Math (A-)/Numerical Analysis (B)/Probability (A)/Intro to Analysis (B)/Linear Algebra (B+)/Stochastic Processes (A)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro (A-)/Intermediate Macro (A)/Transition Economics (B-)/Mathematical Economics (A-)/Econometrics (A)/International Trade (A-)/Advanced Microeconomics (A)/Development (In Progress as of Fall)/International Monetary Econ (IP as of Fall)/Thesis (IP as of fall)
Other Courses: N/A
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from the guy who taught me mathematical economics/1 from a guy I was a RA for/ 1 from the guy who taught advanced micro, with whom I also wrote my thesis. All are well respected Microeconomists who are still publishing
Research Experience: Several semesters as RA for various profs, Was writing my thesis while applying
Teaching Experience: N/A
Research Interests: Development, Micro
SOP: Cookie cutter, nothing special at all
Other: I had been worried about that 1 really bad grade on an econ class, as well as my rather average grades in math classes
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UCSD (ATTENDING!) (full tuition, 25% TAship first year, 50% after), BU (Nothing first year, full tuition and ~18k TAship years 2-5)
Waitlists: UCLA (I asked to be removed)
Rejections: NYU, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Michigan, Penn, NW, Chicago, UCB, Columbia, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Cornell, Brown
Pending: N/A
What would you have done differently?
Let me count the ways...The main point would have just been doing better in classes. I don't know that I could have gotten A's in all of those classes, as the math department is very competitive and very bright, but I'm sure I could have bumped Bs up to B+s, etc. Writing a thesis was key, as I think it got my by far my best letter of rec. I also would have lowered my expectations, and applied to some lower ranked schools.
Regardless, I am ecstatic with my outcome. La Jolla is going to be glorious.

backtowork 2012:
Type of undergrad: BA in Econ and Math from non-HYP Ivy
Undergrad GPA: 3.94/4.00
GRE: 800Q/710V/5.0W
Math courses: honors calc (B), honors linear (A), honors ODE I and II (A, A), operations research (A), statistical inference (B), information theory (A), real analysis (A+), grad stochastic processes (A-)
Econ courses (all undergrad): intro (A), micro (A), macro (A), health (A), int'l (A), financial institutions (A), corp finance (A), honors econometrics (A), economic growth (A), theory of general equilibrium (A), public econ (A), Labor (1st-taken at an oxbridge), Political Econ (1st-taken at an oxbridge)
Other courses: mostly random poli-sci
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from my thesis adviser (not well known). 1 from my former boss as an intern at the Fed Board (pretty well known, but I only worked there for a couple months and he didn't know me all that well). 1 from my current boss at regional fed who is somewhat well known and knows me quite well.
Research Experience: thesis, a little RA work in UG, internship at the Fed BoG, currently an RA at a Fed Bank. No publications.
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interest: Macro, labor, IO, pretty much open to anything
SOP: eh
Other: elected phi beta kappa junior year, magna cum laude, honors;
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Penn (wl for funding, asked to be removed), UCLA ($$$), Princeton($$$)
Waitlists: Minnesota (asked to be removed)
Rejections: NYU, Harvard, HBS, MIT, Stanford, Stanford GSB, UC Berkeley, Yale, Northwestern, Chicago, Columbia,
Attending: Princeton!
What would you have done differently?
I would have decided during college that this is what I wanted to do and made an effort to work with some of the big name professors at my UG institution. I was very fortunate to get such favorable results without having done so. After going through the whole admissions process, it has become abundantly clear that it's all about the letters; not just what's in them, but also who writes them. Not that your letter writers have to be famous or anything, but they need to be well-connected. Looking at my admissions results, the process looks almost random (rejected from Columbia, accepted at Princeton?), but in fact my results were quite predictable; if one of my letter writers personally knew someone on the admissions committee, I was accepted. If they did not, I wasn't. Simple as that. So my advice to the next generation of applicants is the same that has been given all over this board: LETTERS ARE EVERYTHING! If I had followed that advice a little earlier, I might have cracked the Harvard/MIT barrier, but Im certainly not complaining!

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!

octane90 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Econ, BS Physics, Math minor (Large Top 25 Public)
Undergrad GPA: 3.92
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 780 Q 630 V 4.5 AW
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Diff Eq, Intro Stat, Linear Algebra, Probability Theory, Stochastic Methods, Financial Mathematics, Math Methods for Theoretical Physics I & II (all A’s)
Econ Courses: Intro Micro, Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Game Theory, Intro Econometrics, Antitrust Policy, Public Choice, International Trade, 2 Honors Seminars, Honors Thesis, Environmental Economics(@LSE Summer School) (all A’s)
Other Courses: Physics Major
Letters of Recommendation: Honors Thesis Advisor(well known, old guy), Econ Professor(Chicago grad), Physics Professor
Research Experience: Honors Thesis on empirical micro, some minor physics/material science co-authored publications
Teaching Experience: N/A
Research Interests: Applied Econometrics, Sports Economics, Political Economy
SOP: standard I guess?
Other: Phi Beta Kappa
RESULTS:
Acceptances: BU($$)
Waitlists: none
Rejections: MIT, Chicago, Princeton, LSE, Duke, NSF
Pending: none
What would you have done differently? I would have applied to more programs in the 10-20 range. I also would have got a 3rd letter from an econ professor, taken Real Analysis, and perhaps retaken GRE for a perfect Q score.

Pburg 2012:
Type of Undergrad: US, top 30
Undergrad GPA: 3.8 (3.9 econ, 3.6 math)
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: Q 167 V 161 AWA 5.5
Math Courses: Calc II and III (A-, B+), Lin Alg (B+), Intro to Proofs (B), Math Stats (A-), Applied Stats (A), Bayesian Stats (B+), Diff Eq (A-), Nonlinear ODE (A), Abstract Algebra (A), Analysis (A)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro I (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Principles of Micro, Macro (A-, A), Hon Intermediate Micro, Macro (A, A-), History (A), Intro & Intermediate Econometrics (A-, A), IO (A), Math for Econ (A), Information (A), Regulation/Antitrust (A)
Letters of Recommendation: good to great, from Stanford, Michigan, and UCLA econ PhDs
Research Experience: summer RA, kind of light
Teaching Experience: TA 4 semesters
Research Interests: applied micro
SOP: average
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Wisconsin ($), Vanderbilt ($$)
Waitlists: UVA (withdrawn)
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, Yale, Northwestern, UCSD, Cornell, Duke, Penn State, UC Berkeley ARE
Attending: Wisconsin
What would you have done differently? Better math grades. If I had developed an interest in econ sooner, I might have avoided some mediocre grades and snagged a couple more research opportunities.

dbeef 2012:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 US University, econ + math double major.
Undergrad GPA: 3.82 (3.83 econ, 3.58 math)
Type of Grad: 3 math field courses, and a masters/advanced undergrad micro theory course; additional econ field course at a top 10 program while working.
Grad GPA: 3.62
GRE: 163Q, 163V, 5.5AW
Math Courses: Random undergrad (calc, odes, etc... mostly As), Analysis (B), Algebra (B-), Probability theory (B+), Grad complex w/ some functional (A-), Other grad math (A,A-)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Labor (A), Micro(B-), Asset pricing (A-)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate micro and macro (A+,A+,A), metrics (A-), some other honors courses (As)
Other Courses: Some chem and physics + some businessy CS courses (As)
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from a well known econ professor I took a grad course with (top 1 0EAS ranking), 2 additional strong (hopefully?), detailed letters from fairly well known economists who observed me in a research setting (one regional fed economist and one thesis advisor), a 4th letter from a math professor I took grad courses from.
Research Experience: A ton. In econ: a few undergrad RAships (over 3.5 years), a solid undergrad honors paper, and 1.5 years as an RA at a regional Fed... a couple of published papers as a coauthor in decent field journals plus a few coauthored working papers, some policy papers, and a couple self-authored (under the guidance of my letter writers) working papers. Other: was part of a math/theoretical physics research team for a while and also did some material chemistry research as an undergrad.
Research Interests: Lots, but mainly labor, health, and theory.
SOP: Standard-ish with some sections individualized for each school.
Concerns: bad math grades and a marginal GRE score
Applying to: Chicago, Harvard, MIT, Northwestern, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Berkeley, Columbia, NYU, Penn, Wisconsin, Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, NSF
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Northwestern (wl $), Wisconsin ($$$$), Michigan ($$$$), NSF($$$$$), Penn (off wl post NSF)
Waitlists: Penn
Rejections: Chicago, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Berkeley, Columbia, NYU, Carnegie Mellon
Attending: Northwestern

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.

Pho 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A in Economics (major), Maths & East Asian Studies (minors) from top 20 LA college
Undergrad GPA: 3.8/4.0
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 790Q (91%), 580V (79%), 4.0 AWA (wanted to retake the GRE but did not have time to study)
Math Courses: Calc II-III (A,A), Linear Algebra (A), Intro. to Prob. and Stats. (A-), Real Analysis (A-), ODE (A)
Econ Courses (grad-level): N/A
Math Courses (grad-level): Mathematical Statistics
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): The usual, mostly A, a few A-
Other Courses: Many
Letters of Recommendation: PhD OSU (very strong), PhD Michigan (strong), 2 Math Professors (strong, strong), 1 PhD MIT (work supervisor)
Research Experience: Senior research project
Teaching Experience: TA/tutor for Intro to Stats & Probability, Metrics, and Intermediate Macro
Research Interests: Monetary as of now, might change later
SOP: Decent, I think. I tried to tailor for each school (specific research topics of the faculty that I am interested in working with, but not mentioning names, research centers...)
Other: I studied abroad for a year in London. Have been working for 2 years at an economic consulting firm. As an undergrad, I never thought I would want to pursue a PhD, so I filled my summers and work study assignments with banking and consulting gigs in the private sector.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: MA: Duke ($$), Oxford MPhil (???) PhD: WUSTL ($$$), JHU (off the waitlist - tuition waiver, but no 1st year stipend)
Waitlists: PhD: JHU (later off the waitlist), MA: Columbia Statistics
Rejections: Chicago, Princeton, Stanford, NYU, Columbia, Northwestern, Georgetown, Maryland, OSU
Pending:
Attending: Duke for Masters
What would you have done differently?
- Once I realized that I wanted to do a PhD, I should have actively sought out for RA positions, instead of staying in the private sector (even though the visa issue might complicate this).
- Took more Math classes in undergrad. Maths never hurts, regardless of what direction/sector I would go later. Also, majoring in Maths would give me extra OPT months, hence solving the visa issue.
- Took Econ classes with more professors (I took more than half of my classes with the PhD OSU professors), so that I didn't have such a hard time asking for recs.
Anyway, happy that I got such choices and I am excited to head to Duke!

The Blueprint 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: U.S. Public University Top 50 Econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.94 (4.0 Math, 4.0 Econ)
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 790Q 800V 6.0 (first time) / 170Q 170V 6.0 (retake)
Math Courses: Calc I-II (exam), Intro. Computer Science (A), Linear Algebra (A), Calc III (A-), ODE (A+), UG Real Analysis (A+), Prob. and Stats (A), Grad Analysis I (A), Numerical Analysis (A), Math. Stats I (A)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro I (A+)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro. Micro (A+) & Macro, Intermediate Micro & Macro, Public Sector Economics, Game Theory, Industrial Organization (A+), Intro. Econometrics, Labor Economics (A+)
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: 2 well known senior faculty who advised me on research, 1 AP who taught the grad micro course
Research Experience: One year as RA, senior thesis
Teaching Experience: Math tutor
Research Interests: Theory or applied micro
SOP: Standard, but well-written
Other:
Concerns: Reputation of institution, strength of rec. letters (explained below)
Applying to: All Top 10, Some Top 20
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Penn ($$), Minnesota ($$), Duke ($), Princeton ($$$, from WL)
WL: Princeton
Rejections: Stanford, Northwestern, S. GSB, Chicago, Harvard, MIT, Yale, Berkeley, NYU, Columbia, Wisconsin, Michigan
Attending: Princeton
THOUGHTS:
First of all, I am over the moon to be attending Princeton given my background. I think that for students who come from lesser-known U.S. schools, it's incredibly important to apply to a broad range of programs; I could not have predicted, when the process began, that Michigan and Wisconsin would reject me. I was unsure that my rec. letters would be strong enough to crack the Top 10not because the content was weak, but because my recommenders (who are wonderful) might not have as much influence or credibility as "famous" people from top institutions who write many letters. However, if your recommenders are willing to go to bat for you, I think that you will have a shot at most programs.
If I had realized my ambitions in economics earlier, I would have made sure to serve as an RA for a famous professor at a top department (during a summer or academic term). I had no desire to spend time after my bachelor's researching for a top professor or for a Fed in order to dress up my resume for future application cycleswhich I am sure would have helpedbut that is personal preference.
Finally, a thought about the Princeton waitlist. I kept in good touch with the department and sent them notes intended to demonstrate (1) that the program was an excellent fit for me, and (2) my writing style, which, while trivial compared to "real" qualifications for the PhD in economics, should at least set me apart from the field of candidates. While I am sure that many waitlisted candidates send notes explaining point (1), I would encourage them also to pick out some aspect about their candidacy which is unique or different, and express that as well. It just might make a small but material difference.
Also, I should have applied for the NSF. What was I thinking?

csalriv 2012:
PROFILE
Type of Undergrad: BA in Economics of a Chilean university (best in Chile, top-3 in Latin America).
Undergrad GPA: 6.1/7.0, Maximum Distinction and Highest Honors (ranked 1st).
Type of Grad: MA in Economics of the same Chilean university (top-3 MA Economics Program in LatAm, probably best).
Grad GPA: 6.5/7.0, Maximum Distinction and Highest Honors (ranked T-1st).
GRE: Q 170 (99%); V 148 (40%); AW 4.0 (48%).
TOEFL: 112 overall. 30 R, 30 L, 23 S, 29 W.
Math Courses: Calculus I-II, Algebra I-II, Statistics I-II, Operations Research + 4 Grad School courses + 1 courses in a Summer Exchange in a top Math Grad School in Brazil.
Econ Courses (grad-level): Microeconomics I-II, Macroeconomics I-II, Econometrics I-II, Financial Economics.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): All usual.
Other Courses: Accounting and Management stuff.
Letters of Recommendation: 6 Recommenders total: 4 professors at my University (2 outstanding letters, 1 very good, 1 quite good) + 2 other research economists (1 quite good letter plus a standard one).
Research Experience: RA for a top Chilean economist (known worldwide) and for a young University economist. MA Thesis approved with honors. Currently working at the Econ Research Dept. of a top Chilean facility.
Teaching Experience: Professor of Microeconomics I at the best Chilean university, plus over 10 TAs in Undergrad School and 1 Grad School TA.
Research Interests: Game and Contract Theory, Financial Economics.
SOP: Bloody long.
Concerns: Almost no own research (but MA Thesis). Disperse interests and experience. Few years ‘lost’ working. Being Chilean.
Other: Useless but cool stuff: political leadership, a second foreign language and Math Olympics honors, among others.
Applying to: Econ PhD at 9 of the top-15 places. Social Sciences PhD at Caltech. PhD in Economic Analysis and Policy at Stanford GSB. MEDS PhD at Kellogg.
RESULTS
Acceptances: NYU, UCLA, Penn. Finance PhD at Kellogg (redirected from MEDS). Caltech (off the waitlist). All fully-funded with stipend, luckily.
Waitlists: Caltech.
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Chicago, Stanford GSB.
Attending: NYU!
Random Thoughts
I am really happy with my decision, though I had a hard time deciding between NYU and Caltech. I appreciate weather a lot (and being from the Pacific coast of South America, California's climate conditions are quite similar), even more than living in THE big city. Besides, Caltech's Social Science Program is outstanding, specialized in my main Econ interests, with good placement records and close interaction between (the few) students and Faculty. Nevertheless, NYU is quite good as well and their placements are improving constantly... but most importantly, there is a rich interaction between Theory and Macro and I can have a close link to Finance just by crossing the street to Courant or Stern. Besides, I really loved the Faculty-students relationship. And all students I met were really nice and easygoing, with high social skills (maybe that's because they're living in NYC!).
My advice for all admitted, if possible: go to the visit days, without any doubt you'll have a good time and you'll collect relevant information for your decision (eventually unknown before).
What would I have done differently?
- Applying 1 or 2 years earlier instead of losing time working (in a Research unit, but still).
- Taking more time to apply: I just took the GRE by mid-October and wrote my SOP in late-November!
- Because of the latter, writing an specific SOP. I am totally sure that some features of my profile were cons in some places. You don't need (want) to lie, but sometimes you should hide some (potentially irrelevant) information. It could be misleading.
- Apply to UC Berkeley and to more Business Schools.

michicon 2012:
Have benefitted a lot from this forum, finally time to contribute
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top-10 Liberal Arts College, BA in Economics
Undergrad GPA: 3.4/4.0, Major GPA 3.5/4.0
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 166Q, 151V, 4.5 AW
Math Courses: Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, Math Models
Econ Courses: Micro Theory, Macro Theory, Econ Stats, Regression, Applied Econometrics, Econ Development, Public Finance
Other Courses: Some Sociology courses
Letters of Recommendation: Should have been pretty strong, fairly well known economists in their fields. Have publications in the pipeline with all of them
Research Experience: Honors in undergraduate thesis, three papers in the works, (almost) three years of full time RA experience in development economics, one summer of research internship.
Teaching Experience: TA/grader for undergraduate regression class
Research Interests: Development (Health, Education, Migration), Labor, Public Finance
SOP: Fairly standard. Talked about field experience from a developing country
Other: A fair bit of volunteer experience
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Michigan ($, attending), BU ($ 2nd year onwards, declined)
Waitlists: Maryland (rejected)
Rejections: Chicago, Northwestern, Harvard, Princeton, NYU, Columbia, Berkeley ARE, LSE, Brown, Duke
Pending: None
What would you have done differently?
I wished I realized earlier in my undergrad that I wanted to do a PhD. Until junior year, I thought I wanted to be a development practitioner and not a researcher. Would have worked much harder and taken more Math courses. Given my credentials, I aimed a bit too high, but then I was betting on a strong set of LoRs. Fortunately, it paid off.
Advice for future applicants with similar profile(s): Get an RA job for a few years, work hard and get some solid recommendations out of it

TA89 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Dual Major in Economics/Mathematics from Top 10 liberal arts college. Transfer from a top public after one year, Summer Coursework at an ivy, top 15 national university, and another top public.
Undergrad GPA: 3.85 (Math: 3.90, Economics: 3.85)
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: Q:780 V:570 AWA:6.0 (second attempt)
Math Courses: Calculus I (A+), Calculus II (B+), Calculus III (A), Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (A-), Introduction to Analysis (A), Analysis & Optimization (A), Probability (Fall 2011), Principles of Real Analysis I (Fall 2011)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Advanced Microeconomics I (A), Advanced Microeconomics II (A): The first semester course used MWG and covered consumer theory/producer theory/GE topics. The second semester course used half the class to cover Gibbons' Game Theory, and the second half covered Contract Theory using Bolton and Dewatripont, as well as Berkeley lecture notes. Both were Ph.D. level courses.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Principles of Microeconomics (A), Principles of Macroeconomics (A), Experimental Economics (B+), Intermediate Microeconomics (A-), Intermediate Macroeconomics (A-), Economics Statistics (A), Econometrics (A-), International Trade (A),
Other Courses: Not sure what to say here, but I took a year of Chinese (A/A), and a Philosophy Seminar/Tutorial double course (A-/A-)
Letters of Recommendation:
1. Adviser. TA'd his UG Advanced Microeconomics class. I will be doing my thesis under him and have spent this summer working on a research project for him.
2. Advanced Microeconomics I-II Professor. Took both my Ph.D. Micro classes and have discussed my graduate school plans with him.
3. Analysis Professor: I took intro Analysis and Principles of Real Analysis I with him.
All should have been very good.
Research Experience: Summer research project in Health Economics for adviser. Will continue this project as my senior thesis. The plan is to submit as a co-author.
Teaching Experience: TA'd undergraduate Advanced Microeconomics.
Research Interests: Micro Theory, International Trade, Applied Micro (very open)
SOP: I haven't written in yet, but will be good.
Concerns: Typical concerns of a liberal arts applicant. Not really sure what to think or expect.
Other: Again, not really sure what to put here. Unlikely it's relevant, but President of Model UN for two years, and lots of Model UN awards.
RESULTS:
Accepted: Duke Fuqua School of Business: Decision Sciences ($$$), Wisconsin ($$), Cornell ($$$), WUSTL ($$$), UT-Austin (?), LSE MsC Econ (-)
Waitlists: Michigan (high on WL, but withdrew), UCLA (rejected), Penn (rejected), UVA (withdrew)
Rejected: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Stanford GSB, Chicago, Yale, Northwestern MEDS, Columbia, NYU, Caltech, UCSD, Duke Econ, Brown, LSE MsC EME
Attending: Duke Fuqua School of Business: Decision Sciences
What would you have done differently?
Nothing. I could not be happier with the way the process turned out. I am so fortunate to have been presented with so many great offers. Thanks TM for all the guidance along the way.

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.

vcb 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.Sc. in Economics in one of the best universities in a small EU country
Undergrad GPA: 3.7
Type of Grad: research masters in economics in the same university
Grad GPA: 3.7
GRE: Q: 170, V: 159, AW: 4.5
Math Courses: Calculus I and II, Linear Algebra, Mathematics I and II, Advanced Mathematics, Probabilities, Statistics
Econ Courses (grad-level): - Microeconomics, Microeconomic Theory I and II, Game Theory I and II, Macroeconomics, Macroeconomic Theory, Macro Theory I and II, Development Economics, Tools for Applied Policy Analysis.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro I-III, Macro I-III, Global Economy, Information and Games, European Economic Policy, Comparative Political Economics
Other Courses: -
Letters of Recommendation: Should be strong.
Research Experience: R.A. for 3 professors.
Teaching Experience: 3 years as T.A.
Research Interests: "Applied" Macroeconomics, Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Debt Management and Internacional Finance (pretty much open to everything).
SOP: Standard.
Other: -
Results:
Accepted: Duke ($), Rochester($$), LSE (EME Program, no funding)
Waitlisted: JHU (declined)
Rejected: Harvard, MIT, NYU, Chicago, Northwestern, Yale, Michigan
Attending: Duke!
What I would have done differently?
I would have taken a B.Sc. in Mathematics and I would have gone for a masters in economics (research track) in a major european program such as the Barcelona GSE or LSE.

to2012 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Above-average state school (flagship)
Undergrad GPA: 3.0 econ / 3.0 overall
Type of Grad: US MA that has placed a couple students in top fives and regularly in top 15 - 20
Grad GPA: 3.9+
GRE: 800Q/790V/5.0 AWA
Math Courses: Calc I (HS), Calc II-III, Linear Algebra, ODE, Proofs, Numerical Analysis I (Grad.), Probability Theory (Grad.). PDE (grad) and Intro to Real Analysis I in progress. 4.0 math gpa.
Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro, Macro, Metrics I (A-), Metrics II (A-), Forecasting, Math Econ. (B+), Literature-oriented electives (2). MA Thesis (in progress). A except where noted.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Not going to list. 3.0 gpa here. Not a stellar record.
Other Courses: None relevant.
Letters of Recommendation: One from professor I have served as an RA for and know very well. Should be stellar. Not a famous economist, but actively publishes in his field.
Second from another professor I worked with and took grad micro from. Should be very positive.
Third undecided -- have a few options. Should be strong.
Research Experience: At the time of application, will be three semesters and a summer of RA work. MA thesis will be completed in time to submit a writing sample for schools that request them.
Teaching Experience: TA Math. Econ, Micro, Macro, Stats.
Research Interests: Macro, finance. No more specific at this time. Not interested in hard-headed uncompromising DSGE macro because I have little faith in the value of its contributions.
SOP: Haven't started. Obviously I need to address my abysmal undergrad grades; they aren't an accurate reflection of my ability. Highlight success in math courses and upward trends in academic performance. I would like to avoid making excuses but I still feel it is in my best interest to make some remarks about my shortcomings.
Concerns: Bad undergrad grades. Institutional prestige. Will discuss B+ in grad math econ in SOP (took it first semester of grad school before necessary math requirements. 890ncurved wasn't good enough for an A- I guess) and contrast to grades in math courses.
Other:
Applying to: Undecided. A handful of 6-15s and some schools ranked slightly below that range with strong placement records. Perhaps Chicago as well and Stanford only because it is my dream school (obviously, my chance for acceptance there is very, very low). I am also applying to fin.math. and fin.eng. programs as a fallback. I am not naive about my chances at top schools; I will apply for econ phds knowing that my chance of getting admitted even to one is perhaps 50-50. This is fine with me. While econ phd is my first choice, I have interests in fields other than academic economics and I am not willing to spend 5+ years of my life in a phd program if I am unlikely to ultimately land a decent academic job. I know many disagree with this outlook on phd applications, but I have decided that in order for the investment of 5+ years of my 20s to be worth it, I must have a reasonable expectation of a good job at the end of the road. This is why I am not applying to "safety schools".
I am also considering applying to some Finance phd programs if I can get a handle on what range of schools is appropriate for me to apply to. I will more strongly consider relatively-lower-ranked finance programs than Econ.

mdecon 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BS Basic Medical Sciences (in the top medical school in our country [SE Asia])
Undergrad GPA: I'm not sure how to convert it but I graduated cum laude and the 2nd in our batch
Type of Postgrad: Doctor of Medicine (yes I'm a doctor)
Grad GPA: Again, not sure how to convert it but I'm in the top 250f my class
Type of Grad: MA Economics (top Econ department in our country, not strongly ranked in Asia though)
Grad GPA: Unsure how to convert it (maybe B+/A- level)
GRE: 160 V (around 600 in the old scheme based on a comparison of the percentiles), 164 Q (around 790 in the old scheme based on a comparison of the percentiles), 5.5 AW
TOEFL: 118/120
Math Courses: Calculus/Elementary Analysis I-III, Linear Algebra, Elementary Differential Equations, Elementary Statistics, Intro to Proving (all taken alongside by grad econ courses)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Microeconomic Analysis I-III, Macroeconomic Analysis I-III, Math Econ I-II, Econ Statistics, Econometrics I-II, Health, Labor, International I-II, Monetary, Environmental
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Elementary Macro, Math Econ, Introductory Econometrics
Other Courses: Lots of sciences (bio, chem, physics), medicine
Letters of Recommendation: PhD from Yale, PhD from Northwestern, PhD from Columbia and PhD from my university
Research Experience: Did some scientific research (unpublished) in physiology, pharmacology and biochemistry during med school, RA in the Asian Development Bank's Economics and Research Department
Teaching Experience: 2 sems TA (Intro to Econ, Intro to Micro), 2 1/2 years in the Health Sciences Program of the country's second-ranked university
Research Interests: Health, Health and Development, Behavioral, Experimental, Neuroeconomics
SOP: Addressed my not so stellar math grades, highlighted my unique background, discussed my potential strength in health, experimental and neuroeconomics research because of my MD
Concerns: Not so stellar math grades (only around ~B+), lack of economic research papers, admissions committees might see me as better off in a public health PhD or a health policy/health econ PhD rather than an econ PhD program
Other: Got awarded as an outstanding student in my country in 2008
Applying to: Many of the top 25 schools (especially those with Neuroeconomics labs like NYU, Duke, Berkeley, Stanford), some in the 30-60 like UCSB, UCR, USC, Georgetown, WUSTL, Claremont (because of their neuroecon program), some MPP programs in public policy schools (Princeton, Chicago), Harvard PhD Health Policy

superman0916 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Major in Math and Econ at a Large State University. Top 40 Econ. Program
Undergrad GPA: 3.94, 4 for math
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: Q800/V650/AW3.0
Math Courses: Cal I，II,III; LA(I,II); ODE; Real Analysis(I,II); Statistic(I, II); Discrete math; Abstract Algebra; All 4.0 for these courses
Econ Courses: Advanced Micro(4.0), Macro(4.0) two Econometric courses(4.0) some other basic undergrad econ classes
Other Courses: Math for Econ. PhD (Right now); PhD Micro(Right now) Phd Econometrics(Right now)
Letters of Recommendation:
One from a famous Economist(I'm doing a research with him), strong be stroong;
Professor for PhD econometrics class, very famous, I did well on the first midterm, talked about my current research with him couple times, not sure how strong it is;
Professor for the PhD micro class
Math Professor I'm TAing for. I also took one class with her two years ago, and I think I was the top student...
Research Experience: RA this summer.(with funding) We are writing a program for STATA. Still doing it now, but it seems like noting will be published before the end of the year.
Teaching Experience: TA for the Math department for almost two years. TAing Linear Algebra now.
Research Interests: Econometrics, Time series analysis
SOP: I would say its just ok...
Applying: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, U of Chicago, Berkely, Yale, Northwestern, Columbia, NYU, UCLA, UCSD, Wisconsin, Cornell, Brown, Duke, BU, OSU, U of Maryland.
Good luck for everyone!

Hubble 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA in economics and BS in mathematics from top undergraduate institution in my country (Double degree)
Undergrad GPA: 3.98/4.0 (ranked first in my class)
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: 4.0/4.0 (just took a few classes)
GRE: 690V, 800Q, 4.0AW
Math Courses(undergrad-level): Cal, Vector Cal(A+,A), Linear Algebra 1,2(A+,A+), Abstract Algebra 1,2(A+,A+), Applied Algebra(A+), Real Analysis 1,2,3(A,A+,A), Topology(A+), Intro/Diff eq,Ordinary Diff eq1,2, Partial Diff eq1(A+,A+,A+,A), Probability theory(A+), Stochastic Processes(A), Set theory(A+), Mathematical Reasoning(A+), Scientific Computing(A+)
Math Courses(grad-level): Stochastic Processes(A), Mathematical Statistics(A+)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Macro1(A+), Topics in Macro(A+)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): a whole bunch
Other Courses: a few programming classes with all A+
Letters of Recommendation: 4 econ professors
Research Experience: summer research internship at top 15 Econ program in the U.S., 2 working papers
Teaching Experience: TA for an undergraduate math class
Research Interests: applied macro, time-series analysis
SOP: standard. I talked about how my previous research experience led me to have current research interest.
Concerns: didn't take graduate micro classes
Other:
Applying to: MIT, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley, Chicago, Northwestern, Upenn, NYU, UCLA, UCSD, Wisconsin-Madison, Brown

MojiMoji 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA in Economics with minor in Mathematics at a "Public Ivy" with no graduate level Economics program.
Undergrad GPA: 3.4
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 164Q 165V 4.5A
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Proof Theory, Linear Algebra, Applied Statistics, Operations Research
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro Micro (B), Intro Macro (A-), Intermediate Micro (B-), Intermediate Macro (B+), Econometrics (B-), Time-Series Econometrics (A), Cross-Section Econometrics (A-), Trade Theory (A), Labor Economics (A), Game Theory (A-), Development & Industrialization (A), Open Macro (A-), Advanced Micro (A), History of Economic Thought (A).
Letters of Recommendation:
1- Professor Emeritus, who I've worked with for almost two years & the former graduate dean at my university. More known for his public policy research than economic research.
2- Assistant Professor who taught Labor Economics, very fresh out of (a top 5) grad school, so not super well published yet.
3- Professor who taught Trade Theory, pretty well known among development economists and well published in development journals.
Research Experience: Two years with letter of recommendation writer #1. Unfortunately, because he's more of a public policy person, this work has mostly yielded government reports for various agencies, though some have been submitted for publication in public policy journals.
Teaching Experience: None.
Research Interests: International Labor Migration, Game Theory, Microeconomics.
SOP: I was told it was very strong by my letter of recommendation writers, but I didn't mention who I wanted to work with at specific schools, which has now started to worry me.
Concerns: I had a rough first two years of undergraduate, and it shows in my Intro/Intermediate grades. Also, most of my math courses were taken in my first two years and as such are almost all B/B- grades. Also, I got a C+ in Linear Algebra, but I'm hoping that the advanced econometrics classes cancel that out. I haven't done any original research outside of term papers, and most of the research I've done as an RA has been public policy related. Also, my school is fairly well known for having less grade inflation than most schools, but I'm nervous that some adcoms may not know of this reputation.
Other: I'm starting to think that it would be better to go to one of my MA programs for a gap year and reapply, since most of my schools didn't get to see my Advanced Micro, Cross-Section and Game Theory grades. Also, I'm pretty sure I could now get better/more well known LORs in place of #2 and #3, because at the time I didn't have great relations with many professors (I'm rather introverted).
Applying to: Wisconsin, NYU, UPenn, Chicago, U-Washington, UT Austin, UNC-Chapel Hill, UI-Chicago, BC, UBC [MA], U Toronto [MA], SSE, UCD [MA], U-Edinburgh [MA]

nickilla 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BSc. in Economics at Top 3 German University, 2 semesters exchange at Top 2 Canadian University.
Undergrad GPA: 1.2 ~ 3.9 (if counted by ECTS grades); 94% avg in Canada.
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 170Q 162V 4.5A
Math Courses: Probability and Statistics I and II (A, A), Linear Algebra I (A), Analysis I (B), Differential Eqs. (A), Maths for Economists (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro (A), Advanced Micro (A) Intermediate Macro (A), Advanced Macro (A), Econometrics (A), Advanced Econometrics (B), Trade Theory (A), Labor Economics (A), Game Theory (A), Development Economics (A), Capital Market Theory (A), History of Economic Thought (A), Optimization and Economics Theory (A), Public Finance (A), Taxation (B), Political Economics (A).
Econ Courses (grad-level): Advanced Game Theory (A), Experimental and Behavioral Econ (A), Advanced Maths for Economists (A)
Other Courses (undergrad): Bunch of Commerce classes (compulsory for my degree - mostly As, one B), some soft skills stuff (also compulsory, A and C).
Letters of Recommendation:
1 - Advanced GT Prof. Worked for him for almost 2 years, also had im in undergrad advanced micro. Well known in his field, some top 5 pubs.
2 - Behavioral Econ Prof. Started working for him this fall. (Well) known in his field, some top 5 pubs.
3 - Theory of Capital Markets Prof. Relatively unknown, was post-doc at #1's chair.
Research Experience: Two years with letter of recommendation writer 1, 6 mths with letter of recommendation writer 2. I work however almost exclusively with their PhD students. Wrote a long seminar thesis and recently a honors thesis.
Teaching Experience: Two semesters Intermediate Macro.
Research Interests: Information Economics, Game Theory, Networks, Labour, Experimental.
SOP: Solid, slightly adjusted for different schools (whom I would like to work with, which courses interest me).
Concerns: Coming from Europe w/o MA, B in Analysis I (first semester at uni) and Advanced Econometrics; don't know how well letter of recommendation writers are connected at US universities.
Other: Grad courses don't show on transcript (university policy), however hope that the letter of recommendation writers whom I took the courses with mentioned my relative performance.
Applying to: Harvard, MIT, Yale, UCBerkeley, UCLA, Stanford, Northwestern, Michigan, Wisconsin, NYU, NYU Stern, Columbia, UPenn, Chicago, Princeton, Caltech, U Toronto [MA], UPF (BGSE) [MA], BonnGSE

umeconapplicant 2012:
PROFILE: umeconapplicant
Type of Undergrad: Top 20 US, in the Big Ten
Undergrad GPA: 3.83
Type of Grad: n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800 Q, 650 V, 5.0 A
Math Courses: Calc I, II, III (A's), Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (B+), Probability (A), Advanced Theoretical Statistics (A), Abstract Algebra (B+), Real Analysis (A-), Grad-level General and Differential Topology (W for Early Withdraw)
Econ Courses (grad-level): none
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Standard major requirements (all A's), Econometrics (B+), Honors Seminar in Microeconomic Modeling (A), Honors Thesis Research (A)
Other Courses: Minor/Fluency in German
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Very Strong from UPenn Prof, very well known, 1 Average from thesis advisor from Stanford (younger professor), 1 Average from Real Analysis professor who probably wrote a very enthusiastic letter
Research Experience: 1 year of writing undergraduate honors thesis; very well-liked by my econ letter writers
Teaching Experience: n/a
Research Interests: Microeconomics, Industrial Organization, Energy/Natural Resource Economics
SOP: Not sure about... my thesis advisor told me it was fine
Concerns: W in Topology, B+ in Econometrics, letter of recommendation from a math professor, limited research experience
Other:
Applying to: U Chicago, MIT, Princeton, Northwestern, U Penn, Columbia, NYU, U Wisconsin, Carnegie Mellon, U Maryland, Johns Hopkins

ededo 2012:
Institution: Ohio State
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: ??? needs to find out
Notification date: 02/08/2012
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: No
Comments: I need to send GAO some financial forms follow on. This makes the following weeks much easier ^_^.

Anexpor 2012:
Institution: Vanderbilt
Program: Economics, PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: First year fellowship followed by TAing
Notification date: 2/9/2012
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: Yes
Comments: Yay, cool to know that after all this time/effort I really will be going to grad school!

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: -

salatariov 2012:

Institution: LSE
Program: MSc in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 02/17/2012
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: Yes
Comment:.... Unexpected... waiting for 16 more...

gobigorgohome 2012:
Institution: Yale
Program: Econ PhD
Decision: Rejected
Funding: -
Notification date: 02/22
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: No

wbuelow 2012:
Institution: Yale
Program: Econ PhD
Decision: Rejected
Funding: -
Notification date: 02/22
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: No
Comments: First decision. 12 more to go. Too bad, I wanted to do metrics.

ohwhy 2012:
Institution: Yale
Program: Econ PhD
Decision: Rejected
Funding: -
Notification date: 02/22
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: No
Comments:

douglasxu 2012:
Institution: Yale
Program: Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: NA
Notification date: February 22
Notified through: Email to check webpage
Posted on GC: No
Comments:
Institution: Penn
Program: Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: NA
Notification date: February 24
Notified through: Email to check webpage
Posted on GC: No
Comments:
Institution: Chicago
Program: Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: NA
Notification date: February 29
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: No
Comments:

Sammy6 2008:
Type of Undergrad: Top 25 Econ
Undergrad GPA: 4.0/4.0
Type of Grad: MA, Top 25 Econ
Grad GPA: 4.0/4.0
GRE: 800Q, 650V, 5.0 AW
Math Courses: calc 1-3, diff eq, linear algebra, stochastic processes, optimization theory, adv. prob/stat (all A's), audit topology, self-study real analysis
Econ Courses: Micro, Macro and Metrics (Intermed, Master's and 1st semester PhD), Health (MA), Trade(MA and PhD), Internat'l Finance (MA), Game Theory (MA)
Letters of Recommendation: 5 very strong (1 Harvard, 1 Chicago, 2 MIT, 1 Michigan). 4 of the professors are very well known. 4 I took classes from, and 2 I worked with.
Research Experience: RA for one year, about to submit co-authored paper with supervisor
Teaching Experience: private tutoring
Research Interests: no f***'in clue
SOP: pretty good, my adviser took a look
Other: female, 21 years old, transfer
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Harvard($$), MIT(waiting on NSF), Stanford($$), Yale($$), UPenn($$, declined), Northwestern($$), Chicago($$)
Waitlists: NYU, Berkeley (declined)
Rejections: Princeton
Pending: NSF/Javits
What would you have done differently? Relaxed during the waiting game

wcd123 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 25 American research University
Undergrad GPA: 3.97
Type of Grad: none
Grad GPA: none
GRE: 800/510/6.0
Math Courses: Calc I-III (A's), Linear Algebra (A), Probability and Statistics (A), Introduction to Math Reasoning (A)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), Econometrics (A), Game Theory (A), Math for Economists (A--graduate course), Public Economics (A), Health Economics (A), and a bunch more
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: 1 assistant prof that I RA for, 2 senior faculty that I was in class with. All 3 are actively publishing, and both senior faculty are well established in their fields
Research Experience: 1 year RA, Honors essay
Teaching Experience: Tutoring
Research Interests: Applied micro--more towards public/labor/health than IO, but I generally like empirical research and applied econometrics.
SOP: I thought it was pretty good. Don't know if it helped or not. Talked about why I like empirical work, some current research I'm working on, and tried to signal that I know what I'm getting into.
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Yale (going there), Michigan, Columbia, Duke, Brown, Maryland, Wisconsin
Waitlists: Chicago
Rejections: MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley
Pending: none
What would you have done differently? Not much. I would have liked to have gotten in to Princeton or MIT, but I am extremely happy with my outcomes.

mermel 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Math, B.S. Econ honors from top 40 public school, Math semester abroad at strong Russian math program
Undergrad GPA: 3.94, Econ 4.0, Math 3.93
GRE: 800Q, 600V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Multivar Calc, DiffEq, Number Theory, Matrices (Linear Algebra), Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Probability, Topology, Complex Analysis, Computability and Complexity (all A's), Combinatorics (B), Integer Partitions (B+)
Econ Courses: All those required for undergrad econ, was in Honors Economics program my senior year
Letters of Recommendation: 3 from econ professors, one from Econ PhD partner at the firm where I work, PhD's from Chicago, Princeton, Harvard, and Berkeley, 2 I am sure are very strong, and others are probably strong as well
Research Experience: Not any good research experience undergrad. Have been working in econ consulting since, so that sort of counts.
Teaching Experience: just tutoring
Research Interests: Micro theory, game theory, decision theory
SOP: I'm not really sure how to judge my SOP, I think it told a good story of why I want to get econ PhD.
Concerns: Lack of research experience, I had a withdrawal passing from graduate level analysis when I decided to do a second major in econ rather than doing a masters in math. I stated this in many of my essays, so hopefully that's ok.
Other: Working for past 2.5 years in economics litigation consulting
RESULTS:
Attending: Northwestern
Admitted, Declined: UPenn
Waitlists: Princeton(eventually rejected), Chicago(Admitted without funding for first 2 years)
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, NYU, Berkeley, Stanford, NSF
What would you have done differently?
I think some RA'ing as an undergraduate would have helped, but I am very happy with Northwestern and don't really have any regrets.

dancerdf 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Econ from top-ranked university in the Netherlands
Undergrad GPA: 3.9, Summa Cum Laude
Type of Grad: M.S. Econ, LSE
Grad GPA: -
GRE: 790Q, 550V, 5AWA
Math Courses: Standard, although no separate courses, everything included into quantitative methods 1-3
Econ Courses (Master-level): Micro, Macro, Metrics, Development
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Public, International Economics, Micro, Macro, Competition Policy, Growth Theory, Financial Economics, Development Economics, History of Economic Thought, Auction Theory
Other Courses: Finance, Strategy, Marketing, Sociology
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors (2 from Maastricht, 1 from LSE)
Teaching Experience: Tutor for microeconomics at student association in cooperation with the university
Research Interests: Development
SOP: Standard
Concerns: 790Q GRE, no course in real-analysis
Applying to: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Northwestern, Chicago, UPenn, Stanford, Berkeley, NYU, Columbia, Brown
Can't wait for the results!!!

canadaaplly 2009:
Institution: Duke
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Rejected
Funding:
Notification date: Feb 18
Notified through: Email
Comments: Who do they think they are?

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

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)

smartcookie 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA in Quantitative Economics (summa cum laude) with minors in Mathematics and Political Science from a large state university (top 100 university)
Undergrad GPA: 3.7 (overall), 3.9 (econ), 3.5 (math)
Type of Grad: PhD- and MA-level non-degree-seeking coursework
Grad GPA: 3.7
GRE: Q800/V570/A5.5
Math Courses: Calc I, II, and III, Linear Algebra, Probability Theory, Statistics, Abstract Math, Real Analysis; 1 semester of MA-level Statistics (Casella and Berger) for credit (A-)
Econ Courses (grad-level): PhD-level Microeconomic Theory (MasColell, Whinston and Green) for credit (A-)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro Micro and Macro, Intermediate Micro and Macro, International Finance, International Trade, Development Economics, Mathematics for Economists, Econometrics (I & II), Honors Thesis Seminar (I & II)
Other Courses: lots of Political Science (honors) and Spanish
Letters of Recommendation:
1. Department chair and honors thesis advisor;
2. PhD-level Microeconomic Theory professor;
3. Current employer (prominent health economist).
Research Experience: Senior honors thesis (summa cum laude), 6 m as an undergraduate RA for NBER project, 3 yr as Senior Research Assistant for the federal government, and 1.5 yr as Research Associate for health economics think tank
Teaching Experience: undergraduate tutor in Economics and Mathematics
Research Interests: Applied micro with an emphasis on behavioral economics, health & nutrition, and agricultural economics
SOP: need to write my SOP
Concerns: I graduated from university 4 years ago and will be somewhat older (27) than most applicants; relatively low GRE Verbal score; could have taken a few more math courses (Topology, Differential Equations, Number Theory, etc.)
Other: Economics publications (including some under review at peer-reviewed journals)
Applying to: Yale, Stanford, Berkeley & Berkeley ARE, Harvard, Cornell, Maryland, Michigan, Johns Hopkins, Chicago, and others (likely 15-18 programs)

ppl 2012:
Institution: UChicago
Program: Economics
Decision: Waitlisted
Funding: NA
Notification date: February 29
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: Yes
Comments: I guess the hope for it to become an offer is slim.