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Cartman84 2010:
I made some slight changes in my profile (that is I tried to convert my grades to GPA used by the US universities and explained in further detail my Maths - I was kind of freshman-to-the-forum when posting my profile)
Type of Undergrad: MA (top grade/summa cum laude) in Econometrics from the top Polish business schol, BA (expected June 2010) in Maths, Warsaw University
Undergrad GPA: 4.7/5.5 (this is extremely hard to get on Econometrics, like 3,9 - 3,95/4 GPA) at my MA program, excellent grade on my thesis, rather poor grades at Maths (I study and work part-time as a freelancer so it's hard to be the top student now, GPA like 3,0/4 but I got very good grades on courses that are most closely related to economics)
Grad GPA: I did a 5 year program, consider it equivalent to Undergrad and some Grad courses too
GRE: V-530, Q-790, A-4.0(I think I was too nervous and solved some problems too fast, better use time they give you in 100%)
TOEFL: 112
Math Courses: Linear algebra, Calculus I-IV, Topology, ODE, Probability Theory I-II, Abstract Algebra, Control Theory, Time Series, Measure Theory, Functional Analysis, Computational Maths I-II, Complex Analysis, Statistics I-II, - mostly C and B but I consider the program very demanding as for a BA level, due to the reform of Polish university education system some of them is on the grad level
Econ Courses: Macro (4 semesters), Micro (3 semesters), Econometrics (lots of small lectures, let's say Theory and Applied with good understanding), Growth Theory, Game Theory I-II, Public Finance Theory, Monetary Policy, Mechanism Design
Other Courses: C++,
Letters of Recommendation: One from Economics Professor affiliated at one of the top10 US universities (get to know him during his lectures in Poland), one from my MA thesis supervisor (that's a really great letter, he recommended succesfuly some students to the top US and Europe programs), one from Maths Professor (PhD NYU, currently at Warsaw University, published in top Maths journals)
Research Experience: worked 2 years as a research economist, did some policy analyses for various Polish government agencies, also one paper for OECD/World Bank on pension funds performance; now working for a financial risk consultancy - mostly forecasting and programming
Teaching Experience: 4 years of TA - macro and micro for undergrads (started during my MA program)
Research Interests: Macroeconomics, focus on pension systems, DSGE models, exchange rates
statement of purpose: I aimed at presenting how professional and educational experience made me prepared well for the program, focus on strong mathematical background and teaching experience
Other: 26yr old male, Polish nationality
Concerns: late application to UMN, late reference letters
Applying to: UMN, Tinbergen, Tilburg, Stockholm Uni, Stockholm Sch. of Econ., Goethe, Universidad Carlos 3 Madrid, EUI Florence
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UMN, TI, Tilburg, SU, SSE, Goethe, EUI
Waitlists:
Rejections: UC3M (withdrawn application after being admitted to UMN, never really wanted to go there)
What would you have done differently? Nothing, I guess. Maybe if I had different preferences I would have speeded up my TOEFL/GRE and applied to some more US programs

wright 2012:
Institution: UVa
Program: Econ. Ph.D
Decision: Rejection
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 02/16/2012
Notified through: Email to check web
Posted on GC: No
Comment: Expected but still feeling sad...

gentlewarrior 2012:
Institution: Uppsala University
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: 15K SEK per month
Notification date: March 8
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: -

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.

simonsou 2012:
Institution: Lund University
Program: Ph.D. in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: No
Notification Date: 2/27/2012
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: Yes
Comments: Sad

simonsou 2012: simonsou<

canecon 2008:
School: UBC
Major: Econ (Hons)
GPA: 3.5 (3.98 upper-econ, 3.98 math (excluding failed calc 1))
GRE: 800q 480v 5.0 AWA (despite the awful verbal I am native English speaker / English background)
Courses:
Econ:Hon micro/macro I (A+'s) Game Theory (Hon) A, Hon Macro II A+, + intro metrics I/II (A+) + lots electives (mostly A+)
Math: Calc 1 (F first time then A), Calc 2, linear, multivariable, ODE's, probability(calc based), intro proof A+'s intro analysis A
Now Taking: Honours Thesis, Advanced Macro, Econometrics
Research: Thesis
letter of recommendation: 3 Assistant Profs, I say mediocre since I had no special relationship, just took their classes.
SOP: Pretty bad I think... that might just be me - but I didn't have any professors read it since I thought it was crappy (very bad reason I know - I expect I might have had spelling/grammar errors as well ). But I guess for Master's it doesn't matter that much.
Interests: Macro, Int trade/finance/development.
Schools:
Decided to apply only for Masters:
LSE, UCL, Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick, UPF, UBC, Toronto, Queens, UWO, Stockholm.
My Concerns:
First year really sucked, second year was average. Only have 1.5 years of good grades.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: LSE Msc (1 year, Res), UCL MSc, Warwick MSc, Oxford M.Phil (??), UPF MSc($$), Queen's MA ($$), Toronto Doc. Stream MA ($$), UBC MA ($$), UWO MA ($$),
Still Waiting: Cambridge M.Phil (B), Stockholm University MSc (Research)
Rejections: None (yet)
What would you have done differently?
-known that I was going to go for grad school (in econ) earlier
-started preparing to apply in the summer, or early sept, or early october. (didnt start applications earlier because very math-packed semester. No time in summer though b/c courses and GRE - basically crammed all the math I needed in last 8 mths I would have grades for).
-Looked into scholarship opportunities for study in UK (many seem to have deadlines around sept/oct. ) I started looking the next february/march.
-Basically I did what I could. Maybe should have applied to some PhD straight away, but still not sure what I want to do and I didn't really have time to put together good apps.