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

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

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.

shubhamk 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B. Tech. from IIT Kanpur (Best Techno-Managerial school in India)
Undergrad GPA: 3.0/4
Type of Grad: MBA also from IIT Kanpur
Grad GPA: 3.2/4
GRE: 800Q, 660V, 4.0AWA
Math Courses: All quantitative courses for Electrical Engineering (Communication Systems specialization). That also means related courses on probability, calculus and Linear Algebra
Econ Courses (MBA-level): Micro, Macro and International business economics
Other Courses: 4 Sociology courses (during undergrad). 1 Development Economics course (during MBA)
Letters of Recommendation: 1 econ Prof (IIT Kanpur), 2 other Prof (IIT Kanpur)
Research Experience: 1 research case study was done for UNICEF while I was UN intern for 3 months in India itself. This was published for internal UN circulation. I have been working on development field for 3 years with small IIT Kanpur reports being published internally.
Research Interests: Development Economics, Labor Economics and Public Policy
Results
Will be attending: Penn State ($$, Economics)
Rejections: Wharton (Applied Economics), UCLA (Economics), Columbia GSB (Economics), Cornell (Applied Economics)
Pending: CMU Tepper (Econ and Public Policy), ERIM (Labor Econ)
What would you have done differently?
Nothing!!! I am happy that I am finally going to do research in Economics which is more important than many other parameters we try to judge our acceptances and rejections on.

zshfryoh1 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Math and Econ (double major), large public college in Northeast
Undergrad GPA: 3.78
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 770Q/630V/5.5A
Math Courses (Undergrad level): Calc I&II (A, A-), Multivar Calc (B+), Lin Alg (B+), Intro to Prob and Stats (B-), ODEs (C), PDEs (A-)
Math Courses (Grad - Masters level): Non-Measure Prob Theory (C-/A on retake), Numerical Analysis I&II - Proof based (B, A-), Stochastic Methods in Operations Research (A-)
Econ Courses (Undergrad level): Intro Macro (A), Intro Micro (A+), Mathematical Intermediate Micro (A+), Mathematical Intermediate Macro (A-), Money and Banking (A-), Investment Analysis (B+), Financial Markets (A+), Independent Study & Research Paper on Real Options (A), Computational Finance (A+)
Econ Courses (PhD level): Econometrics I (B-)
Other Courses: Algorithmic Programming I (A+), Algorithmic and OOP II (A+), Full Science Honors Research sequence including three research presentations (all A or A+)
Letters of Recommendation: One excellent from a Econ Prof who is fairly well known. One excellent from an Econ Asst Prof that I RA'd and TA'd for. One Excellent from CS prof I took for Computational Finance.
Research Experience: A lot.Three years as an RA for a prof doing research into financial markets, and as part of this research I am in the process of developing a new method of programming simulations of financial markets for market microstructure research. Currently working in paper explaining new method, which I hope to submit to journals before September. Project for the Independent Study course on an application of Real Options to labor bargaining in sports. Will be submitted to a journal in May or June. Honor's thesis on applications of real options to natural resource and agricultural investment.
Teaching Experience: One Semester as TA for Intermediate Micro. Subbed multiple times for professor in Options and Futures class
Research Interests: Financial Econ (specifically Market Microstructure and Real Options Analysis), Micro Theory, Mathematical and Computational Methods, secondary interests in everything but monetary macro.
SOP: Decent and pretty standard. Customized it for each grad school and explained some extenuating circumstances.
Other: Full time student (35+ hours per week) at a school for the advanced study of Talmudic Law, simultaneous with my college schedule. Six student seminar presentations of original research in Talmudic Law. Five publications of original research in Talmudic Law. Two semester of extenuating circumstances (taking care of ill grandmother). Applied for NSF, did not receive.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: A number math/stats/FE masters programs
Waitlists: UPenn
Rejections: NYU, NYU Stern Econ, NYU Stern Finance, Columbia, Columbia GSB, Wharton Applied Econ, Wharton Finance
Pending: None
Attending: MA Stat, same as UG
What would you have done differently? Nothing really. All my profs told me that with 20 more points on my GREQ I would have an excellent shot at 15-30 range schools and a chance at top 15's. However, my plan from the start was to only apply to a few top 15 programs, and if as expected I didn't get in, to go for a math/stat/FE masters and re-apply next year. I did not have the time to study to re-take the GRE anyway. Getting the UPenn WL this year is a good sign for next year's apps. Anyway, I will now have a chance to study for and re-take the GRE, take grad real analysis, a couple more PhD level econ classes and a few more stat classes. It is a one year MA with very flexible electives. I also hope to have two papers submitted to journals for publication as well as at least one conference presentation before application season next fall.

urray 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA, Major Economics, Minor Mathematics one of the top schools in Middle East
Undergrad GPA: 3.7/4
Type of Grad: MA Economics, same university
Grad GPA: 3.85 /4
GRE: 790Q, 600V, 4.5AW
TOEFL:116/120
Math Courses: UG Level: Calculus Sequence, Linear Algebra, Probability, Statistics, Discrete Mathematics
Grad Level: Real Analysis, Measure Theory, Stochastic Calculus, Abstract Algebra
Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro I-II (Taken at senior year in UG), Matching and Auction Theory (Taken at senior year in UG), Macro I-II, Metrics I-II, Advanced Topics in Macro Theory, Advanced Topics in Game Theory
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Way too many to list.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Minnesota PhD, 1 Rochester PhD, 1 BU PhD, all should be very good,
Research Experience: Co-authoring a paper with one of the letter of recommendation writers, which had incredibly good feedback from a few conferences, going to submit it pretty soon.
Teaching Experience: 8 semester of TA for a variety of classes, (intro to Micro, intro to Game Theory, etc.) Instructed the math camp for incoming graduate students at our university.
Research Interests: Game Theory
SOP: Pretty standard, I actually forgot to change the phrase "university X" to the name of the university in a few cases
Concerns: My GPA in the first two-years in undergrad where I took the majority of the ug level math courses was lowish (around 3.4) Got a C+ plus from linear algebra as I had to skip an exam due to a medical condition(did not mention the reason in my sop), 790Q in GRE
RESULTS:
Acceptances: NYU, Kellogg Mecs, Minnesota, Michigan, Caltech, CMU, Boston U, Rochester, JHU, WL from WUSTL
Rejections: Yale, Brown, Columbia GSB
COMMENTS:
I decided to do a PhD only around my junior year or so, I wasn't even actually planning to study economics when I entered university. I did pretty stupid things in my first two years, I think my overall attendance was around %10 or so of the classes, entered some exams after night-outs without sleeping etc. On the other hand I took quite a bit of grad courses in my last two years as an undergraduate, as a result I had a chance focus on research on my masters. I actually came up with my own idea for the current paper we are writing pretty early in my masters. Then again due to a death in the family I couldn't get it published before the admission season started, hence didn't bother to apply to top 5. In retrospect, I think I should have given it a shot. And if I had the opportunity I would slap my younger self for my behavior in my first two-years.

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!

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!