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Prometheus_Econ 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 50 public university
Undergrad GPA: 4.0 GRE: 800Q, 610V, 5.0AWA
Math Courses (all As):
Undergrad Math: 3 semesters Calculus, two semesters proof-based Linear Algebra, Intro to Statistics, Probability Theory, Differential Equations, Intro to Topology, Analysis 1, Game Theory and Math. Programming, Proof Writing, Stochastic Processes (IP), Analysis 2 (IP)
Econ Courses (all As):
Undergrad Econ: Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Intro Econometrics, Game Theory, Experimental Economics
Grad Econ: Quantitative Methods, Micro 1, 2nd year seminar in behavioral economics
Letters of Recommendation: 1 math professor, 2 econ professors, from 3 different universities, all advised me on research, only one I took classes with
Research Experience: Summer REU program, independent research in mathematical finance, honors thesis, gave 2 seminar presentations and 1 poster presentation
Teaching Experience: Calculus 1 (undergraduate TA), lots of tutoring
Research Interests: Microeconomic Theory, Financial Economics
SOP: emphasized research experience, and explained how I became interested in economics, customized last paragraph
Other: Applied for NSF (got honorable mention), got several departmental scholarships and awards in mathematics
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
(with fellowship)
NYU
Caltech
UPenn (after being waitlisted for funding about 2 weeks)
Carnegie Mellon Tepper
Johns Hopkins
University of Michigan (external funding)
Boston University
(with TAship)
Penn State
UT Austin
(without funding first year)
Wisconsin
UCSD
Rejections:
Princeton
Stanford GSB
Harvard
Harvard Business School
Northwestern
Berkeley
Waitlisted:
MIT
Stanford
What would you have done differently?
I would have applied to Yale as well, and perhaps applied to less safety schools.

anukriti 2007:
Type of Undergrad: Masters in Economics from the best economics department in my country...history of students being accepted to Top 10 universities every year.
Undergrad GPA: 69%. Ranked 3rd in my class.
GRE: 800Q, 570V, 4.5 W
Math Courses:
Undergrad Math: Linear Algebra , Differential Equations, Topology, Real Analysis, Statistics, Partial Differential Equations, Game Theory, Calculus
Econ Courses:
M.A.Econ: Microeconomic Theory, Advanced Macroeconomic Theory, Basic and advanced Econometrics, Public Economics, International Trade, Forecasting Methods and applications, Economics of Regulation, Applied Consumption Analysis, Comparative Development
Letters of Recommendation: All economics professors with Ph.D.'s from Yale, Cornell, Princeton. One of them working in a leading research institute in the US now.
Research Experience: One year research with an international research organization in DC.
Teaching Experience: Undergraduate Statistics for one year.
Research Interests: Development, Health, Education
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
Columbia
Rochester
Maryland
Brown
Wisconsin
Waitlisted
NYU
Rejections:
Princeton
Harvard
MIT
Yale
Cornell
UPENN
What would you have done differently?
Nothing actually. I tried my best!
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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.

whitewinghk 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: A School in HK, statistics major, no analysis
Undergrad GPA: 3.66, first class honors
Type of Grad: A school in HK, MA (Econ)
Grad GPA: Grade A average
GRE: Q800, V570, A5.5
Math Courses: no rigorous math courses, but some hard statistics courses, e.g. Statistical Inference A+, Stochastic Inference A+, Nonparametric testing (A+), linear model and forecasting (A-), Stochastic calculus (A-), Risk theory (A)
Econ Courses: Intermediate macro (A+), Micro theory I, II (A+), Macro analysis (A+), Econometircs (A), International trade (B+)
Letters of Recommendation: all strong, two from econ and one from statistics
Research Experience: 2 year RA experience, working on trade and economic development of Mainland China
Research Interests: Development and micro theory
SOP: very general indicated my research interest and RA experience at university and United Nations
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
Wisconsin ($), Boston University ($), MSU (no $), PSU (no $), UC Davis (no $)
Waitlists: ever waiting, Uni. of Toronto and UBC
Rejections: A long list, Minnesota, UCLA, NYU, Columbia, Maryland, Brown, OSU, Cornell
What would you have done differently?
I think I have tried my best or may be I should have applied to some applied econ programs as I have strong interest in development. Yet, I am happy with the results.
Advice: Apart from Math, RA exp really helps a lot, it may make up weak math background. There would be lots of RA opp at any university. The job may be very simple like formulting Excel sheets, collecting data or plotting charts, yet it shines in your application.
For international students, the process can be quite random especially for some are from unknown schools like me. Try to apply as many as possible, certainly you need to take into account money and how willing your referees are to write so many letters for you. Yet, if you can, try to apply as many as possible and do have a super safe one as a back up. I have seen a lot of Chinese students transfer to another school in one to two years.
All the best and good luck

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.

chappl 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: small university in Switzerland, 215th on econphd.net
Undergrad GPA: not easy to compute
Type of Grad: same as undergrad
Grad GPA: 5.73/6
GRE: 800Q, 610V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III, LinAlgebra, Mathematical econ (undergrad), Mathematical methods in finance (undergrad), Math and Statistics (MA-level), Stochastic Processes (MA-level)
Econ Courses (MA-level): Adv. Macro I-II, Adv. Micro, Game theory, Public econ, Empirical Macro, Experimental econ, Econometrics (general), Time Series econometrics, Microeconometrics, Applied Econometrics, Theory of Finance I-II
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Macro I-IV, Micro I-IV, 3 Development econ courses, Labor, Trade, Monetary, Public, 2 metrics courses
Other Courses: lots of undergrad management and law courses (compulsory in my school)
Letters of Recommendation: 3 professors (1 Princeton PhD, 1 Swiss PhD, 1 German PhD), 1 head of research dept at central bank; all probably very positive
Research Experience: 1 year RA at central bank
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: modern macro, international finance
SOP: stated my background and research interests
Other: I have no BA, only an MA, as a consequence of the transition of my school to the Bologna system. My MA transcript only contains grades for MA courses, translation of undergrad level transcripts all sent as individual sheets of paper. This might have confused some adcoms.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Michigan (no $), Wisconsin (no $), Maryland ($), Rochester ($), JHU ($), BU ($), Virginia ($), UBC ($)
Waitlists: NYU, ultimately rejected
Rejections: Princeton, Yale, Penn, Northwestern, Columbia, Duke, Toronto
What would you have done differently? I would have taken advanced math classes, like real analysis, topology, etc. As my school had no math dept, I would have had to take these at another school. I shouldn't have applied to my supposedly safety school (MA & PhD): Toronto; and should have applied to 2 more top 10 schools instead

Chicunomics 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Honours bachelor's degree at a big international university (econphd.net top 100)
Undergrad GPA: 89/100-ish, 1st of 149
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q 700V 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Advanced streams of first year linear algebra, calculus, also core undergrad probability, statistics subjects (As in subjects completed so far). For semester before I start: vector analysis, real & complex analysis.
Econ Courses: up to grad level micro, macro, econometrics, auction theory, search theory, industrial organization (all As)
Other Courses: Nothing any adcom would care about.
Letters of Recommendation: 2 full professors, quite senior and relatively well known, 1 junior academic (honours thesis advisor) -- all economics.
Research Experience: Thesis prize; theoretical IO paper (to be submitted to Information Economics and Policy soon co-authored with advisor), co-author on another paper to be submitted to Journal of Labour Economics soon. RA since 2004 - both empirical and theoretical stuff.
Teaching Experience: TA in intro Micro and Macro, advanced undergrad IO and micro.
Research Interests: IO and micro theory.
SOP: Nothing special, just discussed my interests and research.
RESULTS:
Attending: Northwestern University
Acceptances: Northwestern ($$), NYU ($$), Wisconsin ($$), MIT (No $), UCLA (No $)
Waitlists: Yale ($$), Pennsylvania (No $), Princeton ($$)
Rejections: Stanford GSB (EAP), Columbia, Maryland, Harvard, Stanford Economics, Berkeley
What would you have done differently? Nothing really. I did the best I could. I can't help but feel that with another year's math preparation, I would have gotten admits to a better selection of schools. However, NWU was a really high personal preference, so it was worth cutting the math short a year!

Legatus 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Tucked away Canadian university
Undergrad GPA: 3.7
Type of Grad: None
GRE: Haven't taken
Math Courses: Calculus I,II,III, Intro ODE,Intermediate ODE, PDE (why oh why am I still taking DE's...?), Matrix Algebra, Real Analysis I, Math Stats I/II, Bayesian Stats
Econ Courses: Advanced Micro/Macro, Game Theory, Information and Incentives, Econometrics I/II, Grad Econometrics, Public Finance, some econ history classes (my favourite econ classes)
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from Economics professors, my advisor and a teacher I TA'd for
Research Experience: Undergrad Thesis
Teaching Experience: Lab instructor for Econometrics I
Research Interests: Econometrics, Labour, Macro??
SOP: Only UBC required a SOP, talked about my research interests, that I wanted to do a PhD eventually
Other: I'm a Canadian, 23, applying to the best my country has to offer. Not sure if I'll end up south or not, but for now I'm happy up here.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UWO($$), Queen's($$)
Waitlists:
Rejections:
Pending: UBC(?), UofT
What would you have done differently? Probably wouldn't have applied to UBC if I had known they would lose parts of my application and then be impossible to get in touch with. I kind of wish I had written the GRE and had applied to programs in the states, but I am really happy with my results. Also, grades are important but I really think the decisions are made off of only a few key courses. Plus awesome recommenders doesn't hurt either (not in the famous way but in the 1000ehind you way).

yayflipflops 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.6/4
GRE: 770Q 710V 5.0W
Math Courses: Calculus I,II,III, Algebra I & II, Analysis I & II
Letters of Recommendation: economics professor, math professor, and staff economists at Fed. should be strong.
Research Experience: Undergrad Thesis and research assistantship.
Research Interests: financial economics
SOP: I invested a lot of time in it.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Hopkins ($), Wisconsin, Cornell
Rejections: Berkeley, Columbia, Yale, Michigan, Maryland, UCLA
What would you have done differently?
Try to do some presentations, publish during RA-ship.

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

ward 2008:
PROFILE:
School: Oklahoma State University
Type of Undergrad: Economics (Honors) and Mathematics
Undergrad GPA: 3.9 (4.0 Econ, ~3.8 Math)
Type of Grad: none
GRE: V 530, Q 790, A 5.0
Math Courses: Calculus 1-3, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Calc. of Several Variables, Intro. to Modern Algebra, Intro. to Modern Analysis, Mathematical Statistics 1 & 2, Mathematical Modeling, Advanced Calc 1.
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Public Finance, History of Economic Thought, Econ Development, Econometrics (undergrad), Grad Micro Theory, Grad Math Econ.
Other Courses: Computer Science I, SAS Programming
Letters of Recommendation: not from well known professors but must have been fairly strong. Two tenured Econ professors and my Intro. to Analysis prof
Research Experience: honors thesis, but nothing substantial
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: Applied Micro, Micro Theory, Behavioral and Experimental
SOP: I put some time into it but it was essentially the same for each school; I just changed a few sentences here and there.
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances:
Duke($$) <attending>
Wisconsin (no$)
Ohio State ($$)
UIUC ($$)
Arizona ($$)
Waitlists:
NYU
Rejections:
Harvard
M.I.T.
Northwestern
UCSD
Penn State
RA position at NYC Fed
What would you have done differently?
I would have tried to pick programs that fit my interests better and probably would have applied to more schools - especially in the 10-25 range. That's really about all I would have changed.

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.

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

bertthepuppy 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 50 private university by US News
Undergrad GPA: 3.61
Type of Grad: a couple semesters of non-degree courses, medium-sized, well-ranked state school
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 790/500/5.5
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Lin Alg, Real Analysis, 3 semesters of Stats
Econ Courses: Int Micro & Macro, Money and Banking, Public Finance, Int'l Trade, Int'l Finance, Thesis Course, Econometrics...
Other Courses: many policy-related analytical courses
Letters of Recommendation: solid, all knew me very well one Yale, one Johns Hopkins, one Berkeley, and one Northeastern (but ironically, probably the most well-known)
Research Experience: RA in undergrad and currently RA for one of my letter writers
Teaching Experience: TA for Econ for Public Affairs and Macro
Research Interests: Labor, Applied micro
SOP: well-tailored to each school, and given emphasis on my drive, with comparisons to running the two marathons I did
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Wisconsin (short list for $), Texas (wait list for $), UNC-CH($), Ohio State (no $), Iowa ($), Colorado (?), Illinois ($), Cornell (no $), Vanderbilt ($), Kentucky ($)
Waitlists: Georgetown (then given fellowship)
Rejections: Duke, Michigan, MarylandWhat would you have done differently? I wish I would have realized that April 15th seems like this magical day when everything will be done. However, this is not always the case, especially if you are near the middle of the pack at some good programs. Even though I've been formulating preferences for months, I feel like they have all changed within the past week. I'll probably go to Wisconsin if I get off the wait list for $, otherwise I think I will go to Texas, perhaps unfunded. Ask me tomorrow and I will change my mind again.

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.

mamama 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Engineering-best university in my country
Undergrad GPA: 3.31/4.00
Grad GPA: 3.7/4.00 same university economics department
GRE: 800q, 400v, 3.5w
Math Courses: Calculus I,II linear algebra, differential eq. real analysis
Econ Courses: master courses and many micro courses
Letters of Recommendation: from economics department/ applied to some without master thesis advisors letter of recommendation
Research Experience: 2 years, a published article in native language and 2 ongoing
Teaching Experience: TA for a couple semesters in UG and G
Research Interests: micro,io
SOP: standard
RESULTS:
Attending: Austin
Acceptances: Austin ($$), Boston College ($$), Duke ($$), Rochester ($$), Rutgers ($$), UIUC ($$),Pompeu Fabra($$), Tinbergen ($$), Tilburg($$), Wisconsin Madison
Rejects: Upenn,Nyu,Columbia,NW
What would you have done differently? have chose another university for master

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.

zwicker 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Econ Major, Private not well known University (US)
Undergrad GPA: overall GPA: 3.9; econ: 4.0 ; math:4.0.
GRE: 800Q, 510V,AWA 5.0
Math Courses: Calc sequence (A), Differential equations (A), Linear Algebra (A), Probability & Stats (A), Adv. Stats (A), Discrete Math (A)
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ, 1 math; all were strong (but not MIT, Harvard, etc.)
Research Experience: Very little.
Teaching Experience: Graded and have taught occasional undergrad classes.
Research Interests: IO, micro.
SOP: I thought it was good.
Concerns: No grad level classes. No analysis. No research. Not from well known school.
RESULTS:
Attending: Arizona ($$$)
Acceptances: Wisconsin (none 1st year), Virginia($$), UNC ($$), Kentucky ($$), Arizona ($$), Texas A&M ($$), Clemson ($$),
Rejects: Yale, Brown, BC, Caltech
Pending: WUSTL (waitlist), Vanderbilt (waitlist)
What would you have done differently? Nothing really. I am happy with arizona. I will be a good fit there. If I was shooting for a top 10 school then I should have done a masters program in stats first and/or finished my math major. I shouldn't have applied to so many lower ranked schools. I wish I would have applied to UIUC.

MNGoon 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Economics and Political Science with a Math Minor from large state University top 25ish in general, top 20 in Econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.07/4.0
Type of Grad: Master of Regional Planning
Grad GPA: 3.8/4
GRE: 780Q, 710V, 800A
Math Courses: Calculus (multi variate), Linear Algebra, Differential Equations
Econ Courses (PhD-level): None
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Public, Input-Output, IO, Urban, Housing, Game Theory, Micro and Macro Theory
Other Courses: A whole pile of Economic Development and GIS courses for Masters
Letters of Recommendation: 3 economic develoment professors (1 UC-Berkely PhD, 1 Cornell PhD, 1 Rutgers PhD), all extremely solid.
Research Experience: RA for Econ Development Prof, thesis, and cited extension work
Teaching Experience TA for Masters level Urban and Spatial Econ
Research Interests: Public Finance, Urban Econ, Spatial Modeling, Community Economic Development, Extension
SOP: Critiqued by Econ Profs
Other: Been out of school for a while, Former Peace Corps Volunteer, Currently working for a non-profit loan fund
RESULTS:
Attending: UW-Madison (Agricultural and Applied Economics)
Acceptances: Applied/Ag Econ Programs: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio State, Penn State, Georgia State, Clemson
Waitlists:
Rejections: Econ Programs: Brown, BU, UMass-Amherst, UConn Applied: Cornell, Wharton, UNC
What would you have done differently? Maybe not have waited until I turned 30 to accept an offer. In all seriousness, as far as the application process goes, I would not have done anything differently. I spent last summer talking to former professors and asked them to introduce me to the people they know in departments that they thought would be a good fit for me. I also talked to them extensively about my interests and the work I had done with them in the past so that they would have more information to draw upon when writing the LORs. As a result, I got into more, and better programs than my profile may have suggested. I am though going to get my *** handed to me at Madison.

kevinomic 2008:
Undergrad: Small private university (Loyola University New Orleans) majored in Accounting and Finance
GPA: 4.0
Grad: MA Economics University of Colorado Denver
GPA: 3.98
Math:Calc I-III (As), Linear Algebra (A), Diff Eq (A), Abstract Math (A), Real Analysis I (A)
GRE: 790Q/530V/5.5AW
Teaching experience: Principles of Macro Instructor, Stats Lab Instructor, TA for Econometrics (Grad), Research Methodology (Grad), Intermediate Macro / Micro, Principles of Macro/Micro
Research experience: Masters thesis, turned into co-authored paper w/ advisor, submitted for publication. Blogged about on Freakonomics! (College Football and Crime). RA job during MA program (2.5 years)
letter of recommendation: 3 from professors. I think they were really good.
Interests: labor, education, health, applied metrics
What I learned: I'm very pleased with my results
Accepted: UCSB ($$$), Cornell - PAM ($$), UC Irvine ($$), MSU ($), Washington ($), CUNY ($$), Oregon ($$), CU Boulder ($$), Michigan (no $), Wisconsin (no $), UT Austin (no $)
Rejected: Berkeley, Princeton, Maryland, Wharton (Applied Econ)
Attending: UC Santa Barbara, very excited. Not the best program I got into, but great faculty to work with, great location, great fellowship package. I know a lot of people (especially in this forum) stress going to the best ranked school you get into, but I'm a little older and location and fit were very important to me. I'm very happy about my decision.
Other: I don't have any of the pedigree (top undergrad, grad, etc.), but feel that I did very well. I got to know my professors in grad school very well and got lots of research and teaching experience. I think my LORs pushed me up a few notches and allowed me to get really good funding packages from lower ranked programs (30-70) and got in with no funding to some 10-20 ranked programs.
Although I didn't contribute, I found this forum very helpful and a little addicting. Good luck to all you future applicants.

myrrh 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: University of Maryland - Environmental Economics w/ Math minor
Undergrad GPA: 3.77, magna cum laude
Type of Grad: none
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 770Q 540V 4.0AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III (A-,B,A), Linear Algebra (A-), Differential Equations (A-), Number Theory (B), Advanced Calculus I (B), Probability Theory (B), Mathematical Statistics (TBD)
Econ Courses: Intro Micro and Macro (A,B+), Intermediate Micro (B+), Economic Statistics (A+), Intro Econ & Environment (A), Econ of Nat'l Resources (A), Econ of Land Use (A), Public Finance (A+), Game Theory (A+), Econometrics I (A), Intermediate Macro (TBD), Econ of Climate Change (TBD)
Other Courses: Environmental Policy and Philosophy courses, all A's
Letters of Recommendation: 2 AREC and 1 ECON professor, well known and respected in their fields, should have been solid
Research Experience: ~2-3 years as an undergrad RA in the AREC department. Currently and at time of application, working on honors thesis that has been described as "ambitious," hope to have a publishable version this summer.
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Environmental/resource economics, computational economics, applied micro
SOP: Tried to make it engaging, explained why I wanted to be an econimist (environmental research!), talked about my own research and what I wanted to in the future, etc.
Other: n/a
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UC Davis ARE Ph.D. ($), UW Madison AAE MS (no$), Cornell AEM (no$)
Waitlists: none
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Michigan, UT Austin, UC Berkeley ARE, UW Madison AAE Ph.D., Cornell AEM Ph.D.
Pending: none
What would you have done differently? On hand I would have done nothing differently: you really only need one good admit and I am more than satisfied with UC Davis. On the other hand, if I had to do it all over again I would have made sure to have a 4.0 Econ GPA (because I'm sure those 2 B+'s set off red flags), got at least ONE A in my upper level math and found the time/energy to take the graduate micro series. My QGRE was also at the lower bound of what I would have liked it to have been, but I do not think taking the GRE again would have been worth it. I also would have applied to more mid-range top 20-25 ECON schools instead of Harvard and Yale.
All in all, I feel pretty good about how the whole thing went. I'll be attending UC Davis ARE in the fall!

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!

IrrationalActor 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small private research university, USNWR undergrad ranking around 70, econ PhD program not highly ranked
Undergrad GPA: 3.9, 3.99 in econ, 3.85 in math
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 790Q 560V 5.5 AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-IV, Linear Algebra, Advanced Calculus, Probability, Math Stats, Regression, Grad Math Stats I II (In Progress), Real Analysis. A's in everything except Calc III and IV.
Econ Courses: Many
"Important" Courses: Intermediate Micro, Advanced Macro, Mathematical Economics, Econometrics. Also a Masters level research seminar in transition economies. All A's except for an A- in advanced macro
Letters of Recommendation: I used 4 letters: the Department Chair, I wrote an independent research paper for his class (PhD Stanford), an econometrician I'm doing research with (PhD Berkeley), a statistics professor, and my thesis supervisor. All are full professors, and the econometrician is very well known, though in a somewhat esoteric subfield of econometric theory.
Research Experience: RA on an applied econometrics project, wrote a senior thesis.
Teaching Experience: One semester as a TA for principles of microeconomics
Research Interests: Applied Micro (Labor, Urban, Education), Econometrics
SOP: Not really sure how to judge. I spent a decent amount of time on it and used the same basic outline for each school and changed the last paragraph.
Other: Transferred from a very low-ranked school after my freshman year.
Attending: Wisconsin ($)
Admitted, Declined: UVA (No$), UT-Austin (No$), OSU($$), MSU($)
Rejected: Maryland, Michigan, Yale, Duke, WUSTL, Berkeley ARE, UCSD, UChicago
Never Heard From: Cornell
What I would have done differently: I would have attended a more well-known undergrad and built stronger relationships with my letter-writers. I was also considering taking an additional year of courses like PhD Micro, Econometrics, and Measure theory and shooting for the top 10s, but I am quite happy with Wisconsin.

baconos 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Econ/Math from good liberal arts college (~50)
Undergrad GPA: 3.71, 3.90 math, 3.80 econ
Type of Grad: -
Grad GPA: -
GRE: 800Q, 600V, 5.0AWA
Math Courses: Calculus I-II (A-), Discrete(A), Probability and Statistics I-II (A,A), Lin Alg (A), Diff Eq (A), Abstract Algebra (A-), Real Analysis (A-), Real Functions and Measures(B), Complex Functions (A), Financial Mathematics (A), etc.
Econ Courses (PhD-level): -
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Macro (A), Micro (A-), Statistics, Econometrics(A), American Economic History (B+), Ind. Study on Criticisms of Economic Thought (A)
Other Courses: some philosophy, history and religion
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors, all full professors - 2 from Chicago, 1 PSU - solid but nothing too spectacular
Research Experience: Best econometrics paper of the semester, some research on financial mathematics published in undergrad math journal
Teaching Experience: TA for Calculus I-II, Principles of Micro, Macro for a couple semesters
Research Interests: Anything and everything, Applied Micro, Development, International trade, and some political economy
SOP: it's an SOP, not looked into too much
Concerns: Lack of research, undergrad reputation/connections
Other:
RESULTS:
Attending: UColorado!!!
Acceptances: UWisc (no$ first year), UWashington (no$), UColorado ($$)
Waitlists:
Rejections: UMich, Cornell, OSU, PSU
Pending: None
What would you have done differently? Not really sure. I definitely did not make a huge effort to get to know professors (skipped classes a lot, no participation or visiting office hours too much) but I did well in their classes and they liked me, so that could've been better. Recommendations matter! I also applied when I was in a different country away from my home institution so I don't really recommend that - it's hard to get things done. Maybe applied a year earlier? hah.

boiboi1986 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: Overall 3.91; Math 4.0; Econ 3.92
Type of Grad: -
Grad GPA: -
GRE: 800Q, 690V, 6.0AWA
Math Courses(undergrad): Multi, Diff Eq, Probability, Statistics, Stochastic Processes, Real Analysis I (Taking while applying in the fall), Taking in the spring: Measure Theory + Abstract algebra
Math Courses(PhD): -
Econ Courses: Standard sequence, Public Finance, Experimental Econ, History Econ Thought, Honors Thesis
Other Courses: Liberal artsy stuff
Letters of Recommendation: 2 Econ (MIT, Yale, both young assistant profs), 1 Math (Stanford fairly senior profs). The math one didn't know me much (took 2 classes with him). The other two I'd done research for, so should've been fairly good.
Research Experience: 2 summers
Teaching Experience: 2 semesters at homework tutoring sessions.
Research Interests: broad
SOP: terrible, i picked a bad topic to write about.
Other:
RESULTS:
Attending: UMich (Ann arbor)
Accepted: UMich ($$ on apr 15th!), Wisconsin (TA$ on apr 15th too!), UC Davis (TA$+Fellow$, but with only a approx 1/2-tuition reduction) [not sure what one $ =?]
Wait List: Upenn, presumably rejected in the end.
Rejections: "Almost everywhere" (top 10 + a few other top 11-20's)
What would you have done differently? a lot. i messed up my applications cuz i did it very last minute, i pretty much did it all over 3 very intense nights before the collective deadline (dec 15). so my SOP was a disaster, apparently i picked the completely wrong topic to write about. and also my letter of recommendation writers didn't have too much time to write it.
In any case, while i was initially quite disappointed, im now very happy to be going to michigan!

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!

rvalchev 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small private school. First tier according to US News but dead last in that tier
Undergrad GPA: 4.0 - I have another 2 weeks till graduation but hopefully it'll stay this way
Type of Grad: n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800Q, 530V, 5.0 AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Linear Algebra, Optimization, Real Analysis, Topology, Probability Theory, Computational Statistics, Differential Equations
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro and Macro, Econometrics and Forecasting, Game Theory, Money and Banking, Public Economics
Other Courses: Assortment of Business core classes.
Letters of Recommendation: 2 Letters from Econ Profs and 1 from a math prof. I think letters will be good to great, math professor has taught me for 2 years and I've conducted research for an year together with one of my econ profs.
Research Experience: Honors Thesis, RA for two summers but I wasted those summers so nothing really came out of it.
Research Interests: Metrics, applied metrics ... i am open to anything
SOP: It was weak, unfocused and not customized for schools
RESULTS:
Attending: Duke ($$$)
Acceptances, declined: Wisconsin ($$$), Cornell ($$$), Ohio State( $$$), UNC -Chapel Hill ($$$), Michigan State ($$$), Pitt ($$$), Tinbergen Institute ($$$), LSE EME (Research), Oxford MPhil, Michigan (no $), Texas(no $), USC ($$$),
Waitlists: Duke funding waitlist, BU funding waitlist, Princeton Waitlist, Texas Waitlist, Michigan waitlist
Rejections: MIT, Princeton (rejected from waitlist), Berkeley, Yale, Harvard, UPenn, Chicago, UCSD, Penn State, Boston College, Cambridge
What would you have done differently? First, read jeeve's thread about suggestions for people from less known undergrads (it was impossible since it was not written until a couple of days ago, but that's what future people should do). Second, apply to NYU, Columbia and Northwestern (but most probably I would have only taken Northwestern over Duke. But still, my portfolio of schools was a little unbalanced). Third, write a much, much better SOPs that would be much better tailored to different schools. You'll be surprised how much SOPs matter (heard it directly from admissions directors at TOP10 and TOP20 schools).Fourth, don't get RA positions that are in the network of your schools and professors because you are already part of this network, so it doesn't add much to your profile. Go out and work for somebody different.

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!

mathy backpack 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Large Public University, BA Economics
Undergrad GPA: 3.75 Overall, 3.9 Econ, 4.0 Math
Type of Grad: MA Economics (1/2 of credits were math though)
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 800Q, 690V, 5.0AWA
Math Courses: Calc I, Calc II, Vector Calc, Linear Algebra, Logic, Probability/Statistics (multivar calc), Real Analysis, Linear Algebra(grad), Probability Theory(grad)...All A's Taking: Statistical Theory(grad)
Econ Courses (grad): Micro(MA), Macro(MA), Econometrics(MA), Labor(MA), Public Finance(MA), GameTheory(MA), Optimization I(PhD)...All A's Taking: Adv Macro(PhD), Optimization II(PhD)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermed. Micro & Macro, plus 12 other Junior/Senior semester courses for the major...All A's in these, but with a spicy little B and a C in intro Micro and Macro(101 and 102) as a Freshman
Other: English Minor, Drum & Bass show on student radio
Letters of Recommendation: Different combos of 5 Econ profs from master's program
Research Interests: Micro Theory, Game Theory, Behavioral, Micro-ish Development
SOP: Spent way too much time, 1 1/2 pages, standard I'm sure
Concerns: Picked a great year to apply!?!
Other: Despite the random attacks of anxiety, I am pretty excited. Trying to prepare myself to not take the rejections too personally. I have faith that I will end up exactly where I am supposed to be.
Applying to: The usual suspects...Princeton, Yale, Berkeley, Chicago, Northwestern, NYU, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Penn, WUSTL, Duke, Carnegie Mellon.... hopefully enough!
Fingers: crossed
Good Luck to everyone.

zulkfal 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Not highly Ranked UK School
Undergrad GPA: 2:1 UK (B+ in US and CAN Terms)
Type of Grad: MA Finance and Econometrics - University of London Top 10 Econ Department
Grad GPA: 69% (A- in US and CAN Terms)
GRE: NO GRE
Math Courses: Just Mathematics for Economics
Econ Courses (grad): Micro(A), Time Series Analysis(A+), Econometrics I + II (B), Labor(A-), Financial Econometrics (B), Game Theory(B), Macro (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): 24 Economics Courses
Letters of Recommendation: 3 letter of recommendation, 1 from Undergrad Dissertation supervisor, 1 from MSc dissertation supervisor, 1 MSc Supervisor
Research Interests: Time Series Analysis, Monetary policy
Experience: Working as economist in UAE government, 1 RA experience.
2 term undergraduate teaching assistant.
Papers : BSc dissertation on Market Microstructure, MSc dissertation on Nonparametric methods
SOP: 1 1/2 pages, standard I'm sure
Applied : UWO, York, Waterloo, Australian National University, Dalhousie, Concordia, McMaster, U Guelph, Ottawa,

red333 2009:
Hi! I'm applying to both finance and economics P.h.D." I posted on the business forum, but a friend told me you guys were much more talkative
Program: Finance Ph.D, Economics Ph.D. depending on the school
Age: 23
Sex: Female
Nationality: US citizen
GRE:800 Quant, 670 Verbal, 5.5 writing
Undergrad: B.S. Finance at a large, reputable state school. I graduated in three years with high honors and as a member of our two honors program.
Grad: M.S. Applied Mathematics, M.S. Statistics. I completed both concurrently. Three of my classes from undergrad carried over, and I took a lot of classes!
Work experience: Two consulting internships, experience working for an established online math program, and being a TA.
Teaching experience: Four semesters TAing for online math program. I had experience teaching Calculus I-III, Advanced Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Probability Theory. During grad school, I TAed over 90 students each semester for four semesters in graduate level statistics courses.
Research experience: One summer working on legal and gambling issues for a professor. Honestly, I didn't do that much in this position.
letter of recommendation: Well, I have three from teachers who LIKE me a lot, but none of them do much research or are very well-known outside of my school. Two are from statistics professors, and my third is from a finance professor. From reading this forum, it looks like this will probably hurt me...
Research interests: Risk Management, Public Finance, Social Security, Health Care, Portfolio structuring,
Schools in consideration: Minnesota (finance), Wisconsin (finance), Michigan (economics), UIUC (finance), UChicago (Econometrics and Statistics), Northwestern (finance), Harvard (economics), Stanford (economics), Columbia (biostatistics), Wharton (applied economics).
Hopefully, I'll get in somewhere! I'm really nervous about this whole process. Honestly, I would be thrilled if I got in any one of these schools.
I've been told that because I'm not a conventional applicant this could either really help or really hurt me, especially with the increase in applications this year. If you have any thoughts about my profile, please let me know!

SF_Haole 2009:
I've been pretty nervous about my chances, and rightly so thus far: 1 admit, 1 waitlist, 3 official rejections and 4 schools that haven't rejected me but appear to have admitted everyone already.
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Stanford
GPA: 3.7
Major: Physics (BS), International Relations (BA)
Type of Grad: Stanford
GPA: 3.9
Major: International Policy Studies (MA)
GRE: 800Q, 690V, 6.0 writing
Math Courses: Multivariate Calculus: Differential (A) & Integral (A), Linear Algebra: Basic (A) & Advanced (A), Honors Diff Eqns w/proofs (B). Also a ****-ton of physics classes.
Econ Courses (undergrad): Basic micro/macro (A) intermediate micro (B+,A-) intermediate macro(B+), economic history (A), env. econ(A), public policy analysis(A+), stats for econ(A-), metrics(B+).
Econ Courses (grad): None, but I took grad-level courses in international macro (A-), and development (A) through my masters program and the political science dept's Ph.D-level game theory class (A).
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from fairly famous econ professors. I do research for one of them and took a class from the other (and worked for his colleague). 1 from a very famous political scientist (has his own wikipedia article) who taught my game theory class. Kinda nervous about the polisci rec but my options were limited.
Research Experience: lots of physics research; worked as an RA for the RBI (Indian Central Bank) for 1 summer; currently work in applied econ & policy analysis for one of my recommenders (past 2 years).
Teaching Experience: 1 year as a TA for intro to economics.
Research Interests: econometrics, development
SOP: Decent, I might have explained my research more but I built off my NSF essay, which had a separate previous research essay.
Applying to: 21 schools, including the top 10 overall, top 10 econometrics, and top 10 in development. Also UW-Seattle

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:

Econ_applicant 2009:
Institution: UCLA
Program: EconomicsPh.D.
Decision: Accepted
Funding: No stipend or tuition waiver for now, it seems.
Notification date: Feb. 13
Notified through: e-mail
Comments: Financial aid is very important for me, so let`s see how it goes.

chencheng1983613 2009:
Institution: PSU
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: 20k per year (TA)
Notification date: 2/12/2009
Notified through: E-mail
Comments: It is my first offer.

lizette 2009:
Institution: Wisconsin-Madison
Program: PhD in economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Fellowship for the first year (20k) + tuition + health
Notification date: 2/22/09
Notified through: Email
Comments: My first offer on a sunday afternoon! 13 fellowships announced in this email, and I'm glad to see fellow TM'ers on the list...

zappa22 2009:
Institution: Northwestern
Program: Ph.D. Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Wait-listed for first year funding (funding for subsequent year assured).
Notification date: 2/26/09
Notified through: E-mail
Comments: Received the e-mail half an hour ago.

econominee 2009:
Institution: Columbia
Program:Economics PhD
Decision:Extreme unwillingness to accept
Funding:-Application Fee
Notification date:March 5
Notified through:E-Mail
Comments: I have no idea why I applied to Columbia. I wish I had used the application fee to apply to somewhere else. This is the second rejection which further brought me down. I also contacted Rice and they told me that they already made the first rounds and they would wait till April 15th for the second round. In short, two official and one unofficial rejections so far!

aril 2009:
Institution: UIUC
Program: Economics, PhD
Decision: Admitted with fellowship for 3 semesters and TAship afterwards
Notification date: 3/19
Notified through: I emailed the secretary, formal mail posted out.
Institution: Wisconsin-Madison
Program: Economics, PhD
Decision: Admitted, no first year funding
Notification date: 3/13
Notified through: email
Comment: Hard to choose.

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.

DerPumuckl 2010:
Undergrad: Top 3 in Germany, BA in Economics
Undergrad GPA: 1.45/5.00 (the nearer to 1, the better)
Exchange: UW, Seattle
Exchange GPA: 3.86/4.00
GRE: 800Q/560V/4.5AWA
Math Courses: 2 Math courses for Economists, 2 Statistics Classes, Game Theory
Econ Courses: A lot including Micro I & II, Macro I & II as well as Econometrics I & II.
Grad courses: None - even though advanced German courses are well above Econ 400 level.
Letters of Recommendation: 3 from Profs with PhDs from Columbia, Chicago and Harvard. All should be strong.
Research Experience: RA for one Semester (for one of my letter of recommendation writers).
Teaching Experience: TA for one Semester.
Research Interests: International Macroeconomics, Finance.
Statement of Purpose: Good.
Other: Applying for Masters.
Concerns: Maybe not good enough grades.
RESULTS (Masters only):
Acceptances: Cambridge, UCL, Tinbergen ($$$) and Warwick
Still waiting for response: SSE, UBC
Rejections: LSE, Oxford
What would you have done differently? I'm attending Cambridge for my MPhil - very happy!

askua 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. (honours)-Econ and Math, large Canadian University
Undergrad GPA: Overall: 3.85, excluding first year: 4.0
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 780Q 580V 6.0AWA
Math Courses (undergrad-level): Calc 1-4, Math stats 1-2, analysis 1-2, linear 1-2, analysis for econ, math for econ 1-2 (if this counts?); All A's or A+
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro 1-4, macro 1-4, econometrics 1-2, IO 1-2, international trade 1-2, money and banking; All A's or A+
Econ Courses (PhD-level): IO (A)
Other Courses: a few German courses
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ profs (1 Berkeley, 1 Minnesota, 1 Toronto) ... all taught me one or more courses.
Research Experience: Barely any ... just one paper for the grad IO.
Teaching Experience: tutor for 4 years
Research Interests: applied micro (health, IO)
statement of purpose: Preparation, goals, research interests
Concerns: reputation of undergrad
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UC Davis (no first year funding), UW Madison (no first year funding), UBC (PhD, $$) Toronto MA (doctoral stream, $$)
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Yale, Columbia, Michigan, Berkeley, Stanford, UCSD
Pending: None
What would you have done differently? I would have only gone to a different undergrad if I had known four years ago that I wanted to do a PhD in Economics. However, in retrospect, I might have tried to get more RA experience and done a double degree in Math and Econ rather than just a minor in math. Although I am pretty happy with my results given what type of a student I was in high school (not good). I am very lucky and not complaining. I think out of most of the top 20s, UBC and Madison are the best two fits for me so I think I was appropriately placed. Good luck to everyone in future cycles!

decision09 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 overall, top 15 econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.75/4.00 Graduated High Honors Economics
GRE: 760Q, 580V, 5.0 AW (last year 740Q)
Math Courses: Analysis I (B)(blew first 2 exams but aced final to save myself), Modern Algebra (B+), Probability Theory (A-), Ord Diff Eq (A), Combinatorics(Winter 2010), CalcI,II,II,LA(A)
Math Courses (Grad): Intro Topology (Winter 2010)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), Econometrics (A-), Random Field Courses (A), Research Seminars (B+(due to ULWriting) and A), Game Theory (A), Time series Analysis (A-)
Econ Courses (Grad): Micro I (B+), Micro II (B), Econometrics I (B), Math for Economists (B)
Letters of Recommendation: Well-known senior professor from research seminar
The other from a younger associate prof, said he wrote me an A+ letter (took game theory with him + unofficial adviser)
Research Experience: Financial econometrics research for senior thesis(publication: in process); experimental micro theory research. Labor research paper that will likely become my third year paper for my PhD, it caught the interest of a Senior person at my undergrad institution.
Teaching Experience: None.
Research Interests: Everything but Theoretical Econometrics.
Statement of Purpose: Much better the second time around but still about 1800 words, I had a few things to write about my career outside of econ and how it will influence my research.
Other:
Concerns: Poor performance in critical math classes, test jitters!
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Wisconsin Madison, Cornell
Rejections: Umich, Penn, Yale, Texas, Penn State, BU, Maryland, Mich State, Princeton, Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, CalTech, Stanford, Northwestern, Duke

rob59404 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: State University with unheard of econ department
Undergrad GPA: 3.99
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA:
GRE: 760 Q 640 V 5.5 AWA
Math Courses: Cal I-III(A,A,A), Linear Algebra(A),Probabilty/stat(A), ODE(A), Probability theory(A), math stats, intro analysis/proofs
Econ Courses: Intro micro/macro, intermediate micro/macro, development, adv. development, trade, history of thought, econometrics, graduate econometrics, graduate micro and macro. All A's
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: thesis advisor, department chair, other econ professor
Research Experience: Senior thesis
Teaching Experience: Some math and econ tutoring
Research Interests: Growth, political economy, applied micro
SOP: Standard
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Missouri($$), kentucky($$), Oregon($$), Colorado(no $), UW(no $), Virginia, GMU, Notre Dame ($$$ Attending)
Waitlists:
Rejections: NYU, BC, UIUC, Rochester
Pending: OSU (implicit rejection at this point)
What would you have done differently?
1) More math earlier
2) Should have got a math professor to write letter of recommendation
3) Get an 800Q

hecka88 2010:
PROFILE:
(at the time of application)
Type of Undergrad: B.S. in Mathematics and Finance, Minor in Economics from a large public school in Midwest, overall top 80 by USNEWS
Undergrad GPA: overall 3.794/4, Econ 4.0, Math 4.0
GRE: 800Q 360V 3.5AWA
Math Courses: Calculus 1-4, Liner Algebra, Differential Equations 1-2, Probability Theory 1-2, PDE 1, Numerical Analysis 1, Real Analysis 1, Honor Real Analysis 1 (in progress), and Intro to Statistical Theory, all A/A+
Econ Courses (PhD-level): Econometrics 1
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro to Micro, Intro to Macro, Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Development Economics, all A/A+
Other Courses: intro to programming, java, some finance and accounting courses, and some physics and astrophysics courses as GE.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 finance assistant professor (WUSTL) and 2 math full professor (NYU and MIT)
Research Experience: senior honor thesis on executive compensation
Teaching Experience: TA for one semester for an honor business technology class
Research Interests: Development Economics, Macroeconomics, and Financial Economics
RESULTS:
Acceptances: LSE Msc Economics (1 year), UCL Msc Economics, Warwick Msc Economics (2 years), UWO direct entry PhD (18000 plus tuition)
Waitlists: none
Rejections: (all PhD) Northwestern, Brown, John Hopkins, Cornell
Pending: Toronto MA (Don’t care anymore)
What would you have done differently?
I have decided to attend LSE and apply again next year. Overall, I think I should apply to more schools and retake the GRE for higher verbal score. And I should have taken more Econ classes and obtain at least one recommendation from Econ professor. Anyway I’m quite satisfied with my LSE offer.

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

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!

roadvirusss 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 Liberal Arts College.
Majors: BA Math, BA Economics
Undergrad GPA: 3.93/4 (3.93 math, 3.97 econ)
GRE: 800 Q, 610 V, 6 AW
Mathematical 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), Deterministic Ops Research (Spring), Topology (Spring)
Econ Courses: Intro Macro (A-), Intro Micro (A), Empirical Methods (A), Econ Stats (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), International Econ (A), Energy Economics (A), Econometrics (A), Game Theory (A), Advanced Micro (Spring)
Other Courses: Took five semesters of Chinese (didn't have time for the minor), though I doubt this will help.
Letters of Recommendation: One econ prof (did research with, took three classes with), chair of math department (took several classes with, academic advisor), math professor who was director at summer REU (worked with for two months). None are particularly reputable, but all three I know fairly well and will write solid recs.
Research Experience: Summer grant for econ research, math REU in graph theory (I'm continuing both projects for senior theses right now)
Teaching Experience: None aside from grading
Research Interests: Micro Theory
Concerns: No graduate level courses offered at my school, lack of big-name recs.
Work Experience: "Head Statistician" for the school's football and basketball teams, tutoring calculus, four semesters of grading (calc, multivariable, prob theory, real analysis), and those two research positions.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: BU($$), UW($), Cornell(no$)
Rejections: Yale, Kellogg, Berkeley, Princeton, NYU-Stern, Stanford, Harvard, Penn, Caltech, UCSD
Waitlists: UCLA (rejected)
Attending: None. A tough decision, but for a number of reason's I'm going to take a year off. Has just as much to do with wanting to make certain of what I want to do with my life, as with increasing the number of options.
Done differently?: Perhaps I could have spent more time researching schools and individualizing my essays. Going way back, I should have been more active finding research opportunities, or maybe chosen to attend a more prestigious school

Mpianatra 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 20 econ program
Undergrad GPA: 3.56/4
Type of Grad: MS in same major/university
Grad GPA: none at time of application
GRE: 780/580/5.5
Math Courses: Calc I/II (A-), Real Analysis (in progress during app), Calc III (A+), Linear Algebra (A), Ord. Diff. Eq. (A) [last three courses taken as non-degree student at state school w/o econ phd]
Econ Courses: Intro Micro/Macro (A), Inter Micro (B+), Inter Macro (A), Labor Economics (B), Income Distribution (A), Developing Country Labor Markets (A-), Applied Econometrics (A-), Econ Dev't (A-), Public Finance (A-), Economic Data (B), Grad Micro Theory I (in progress), Grad Econ of Education (in progress)
Other Courses: Intro Stats (A-)
Letters of Recommendation: Thesis Adviser- known for a long time (pretty strong), Second Thesis Adviser-mostly knew from a course (positive but probably pretty generic), RA prof (also probably pretty generic)
Research Experience: Master's thesis but hadn't done much for it at time of application
Teaching Experience: Just short of teaching credential
Research Interests: Development, Political Economy, Labor
SOP: Nothing special. Run of the mill about why I like econ, why I was qualified, and why I liked the school.
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: American ($?), BU (no $), CUNY (Fellowship), Fordham ($?), Colorado ($$$), UI-Chicago ($?), Washington (no $), Wisconsin ($$)
Waitlists: BC
Rejections: Columbia, Duke, Emory, Georgetown, George Washington, Minnesota, Michigan, NYU, Northwestern, UCLA, Maryland, UNC, Notre Dame, USC, Texas,
Attending: Wisconsin
What would you have done differently?
What I wouldn't have done differently was apply to so many schools. I had a lot of reach schools on my list and all it takes is one of them to accept you. Some rejections from very lowly-ranked schools with some acceptances from relatively high-ranked so it can be hard to predict. Obviously getting better grades would always help but I'm very satisfied with the overall results.

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.

2010app9357 2010: Profile:
Type of Undergrad: BA in Econ, Politics top 15 US LAC
Undergrad GPA: 3.92 = probably top 2 or 3 % at my school
Type of Grad: None
GRE: 800Q, 740V, 6.0 AWA
Math Courses (undergrad-level): Real I, Real II, Linear, Calc 1-3, ODE, Probability Theory (calc based) ~ all A or better
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro and Inter Micro and Macro, Trade, M+B, Comparative Labor, Mathematical Econ (simon + blume), Game Theory (gibbons), IO, Honors Thesis, ~ all A or better. Econometrics B+
Letters of Recommendation:3 econ professors from LAC, all actively researching, popular probably only in select circles but they know me well and will probably say nice things
Research Experience: RA one year during undergrad, honors thesis (the department liked it & was impressed), currently RA at regional fed
Teaching Experience: volunteered as peer tutor for econ, stats, politics
Research Interests: micro theory, political theory
Statement of Purpose: Working on one.
Concerns: No graduate courses, average amounts of math, from LAC
Schools: mit, princeton, stanford, berkley, yale, NW, UCSD, U Mich, caltech,wisconsin, duke, MD, rochester, UVA, ohio, UC-Irvine

kniwor 2010: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Bachelor of Statistics and Master of Statistics from top Indian university
Major: Statistics
Undergrad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 560V, 4.0AWA
Math Courses: Real Analysis I-III, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra I&II, Probability I-III, Stochatic Processes I&II, Graph Theory, Multivariate Analysis, Abstract Algebra ... a lot of Statistics.
Econ Courses: Game Theory I&II, Macroeconomics I
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ PhDs working in Game Theory, two of them recommend students to grad schools regularly.
Research Experience: 6 months in Game theory, a thesis (incomplete).
Teaching Experience: none
Work Experience: part-time over 1 year, Market Research.
Research Interests: Game Theory, Econometrics.
statement of purpose: Standard
Concerns: No Economics Background.
Applying to: Princeton, Yale, NYU, Wisconsin, Rochester, Penn-State, Kellogs, LSE

thesparky 2010: PM me if you want it.

devtron 2010: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A Econ/BS Commerce, top 25 university
Undergrad GPA: 3.80/4
Type of Grad: Math, non-degree
Grad GPA: 4/4
GRE: 800Q, 690V, 5.0AWA
Math Courses: Undergrad: Multivar. Calc (A-), Intro Analysis (A), Diff EQ (A), Linear Algebra (B+); Grad: Real Analysis II (A), Advanced Linear Algebra (A), Math Stat I (A) and II (In progress), Stochastic Processes (In progress)
Econ Courses (PhD-level): NA
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro/Macro, Corporate Finance, Econ of Advertising (A-), Econ of China, Econometrics, International Trade - All A's and A+'s, except advertising
Other Courses: a lot of business/finance courses, probably only marginally helpful
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ phd's, 1 econ professor, 1 math professor
Research Experience: 2 years at a federal reserve bank as an RA, 2 publications in an internally reviewed journal
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: macro and IO
statement of purpose: Pretty standard, made some changes for each school to talk about whose research I am interested in... I talked mostly about my experience, in more detail than elsewhere on the application - only briefly about my future plans
Concerns: no graduate econ, could have taken more math.
Applying to: UVA, Duke, UPenn, Minnesota, Wisconsin-Madison, NYU, Northwestern, Princeton, BU, BC, OSU, Wash U in St. Louis, Georgetown, Penn State, ASU, Maryland

publicecon 2010:
Institution: Duke
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Tuition + 18k
Notification date: 2/18
Notified through: email
Posted on grad cafe: No
Comments: Excited!
Institution: Johns Hopkins
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: tuition waver + stipend if I "decide to attend"
Notification date: 2/26
Notified through: email
Posted on grad cafe: No
Comments: don't know much about JHU
Institution: Minnesota
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Waitlist
Funding:
Notification date: 2/25
Notified through: email
Posted on grad cafe: No
Comments: They said I am on a "short" waitlist. Seemed legit because they provided information on potential funding
Institution: Chicago Booth
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Waitlist
Funding:
Notification date: 2/24
Notified through: email
Posted on grad cafe: No
Comments: email didn't seem too enthusiastic compared to minnesota

blinks112 2010:
Institution: UPenn
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notification date: March 3, 2010
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: Yes
Comments: "Very high" on waitlist for fellowship
Institution:Northwestern
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Notification date: Feb. 27, 2010
Notified through: Website
Posted on GF: Yes
Comments: Wasn't too surprised
Institution:Minnesota
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Waitlist
Notification date: Feb. 25, 2010
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: Yes
Comments: On the longer waitlist
Institution:Wisconsin
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Accepted
Notification date: Feb. 27, 2010
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: Yes
Comments: Waitlist for funding

monks 2010:
Institution: Wisconsin-Madison
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Admitted
Funding: TA, guaranteed for 5 yrs
Notification date: 03/01/2010
Notified through: Email
Comment: Yay!
Institution: Michigan
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Waitlist for 1st year, guaranteed after that
Notification date: 03/03/2010
Notified through: Online site + emaill
Comment: With first year funding I wouldn't blink - but now I have to think about it ...
Institution: Minnesota
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Waitlist
Funding: ?
Notification date: 02/27/2010
Notified through: email .
Comment:
Program: Yale / Columbia / Northwestern
Decision: Rejected
Funding:
Notification date: 02/26/2010, 03/04/2010, 03/01/2010
Notified through: email to check site
Comment: Gutted.

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.

burkaru 2011:
Type of Undergrad: Computer Science
Undergrad GPA: 3.33
Type of Grad: Economics
Grad GPA: 3.4 (when applied, now 3.6)
GRE: Q 800, V 340, AW 3.0
Math Courses:
undergrad: Calculus (C), Linear Algebra (C), Probability Theory (C), Discrete Math (C), Methods of Optimization (C), Advanced probability (A), Advanced statistics (A), Stochastic processes (A), Applied probability theory (A), Advanced discrete math (A), Differential eq's (B), Eq's of math physics (B), Introductory calculus of approximations (C), Advanced calculus of approximations (B), Game theory (A), Econometrics (A), Methods of univariate statistical analysis (A)
grad: probability (B), statistics (A-), econometrics (1 B, 2 B-, 3 B+, 4 B-), math for economists (1 B, 2 B+), game theory (A)
Econ Courses:
undergrad: Economics (A), Macromodels (1 A, 2 A)
grad: Macroeconomics (1 A-, 2 B, 3 A-, 4 B+, 5 A-, 6 A-), Microeconomics (1 B-, 2 A-, 3 A, 4 A, 5 A), Financial markets (B+), Derivatives (A-), World Economic History (A+)
Other Courses: a lot of computer science stuff (grades A and B), sociology (A), history (A), philosophy (B)
Letters of Recommendation: from 2 scientific advisors (good?), strong from economic history professor, one from professor in microeconomics (probably weak?)
Research Experience: no
Teaching Experience: no when applied (yes right now)
Research Interests: macro, political science
SOP: why I love economics, my strong side, research interests, current research
Other: TOEFL 91, IELTS 7.5
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UCLA, BU, Wisconsin-Madison
Rejections: UPenn, Columbia, NYU, Brown, Cornell
What would you have done differently? instead of professor in microeconomics asked about recommendation well-known professor in political science

valelee 2011:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Economics, minor history and arts from Peking University, No.1 in China
Undergrad GPA: 86%
Type of Grad: M.S. Agricultural and Resource Economics from a flagship state university
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 780Q, 530V, 3.5AWA
Math Courses: Calculus and intro statistics were taught in high school; in college, adv mathematical analysis 1 2, topo, linear algebra, prob theory, adv stats, dynamic programming, things like that (a total of about 30 hours); in grad school, adv stat, topo, real analysis
Econ Courses: In college: pretty much standard as in U.S. schools, and mostly taught by profs with U.S. PhDs (econ 101/102 was taught by a UC Berkeley prof when he was on sabbatical). In grad school: adv micro, two adv metrics, adv environmental field classes
Other Courses: My history and western arts minor classes. Some environmental science classes in grad school.
Letters of Recommendation: four very solid letters
Research Experience: A lot. Undergrad RA since sophomore year, post-undergrad full time RA (10 months), RA in grad school, etc. Have several papers published/accepted in U.S. and in China.
Teaching Experience: In undergrad, TA for intro environmental econ and micro. In grad, econ 101 sort of things for one semester.
Research Interests: Environmental economics and policies, but had also been involved in health, energy and public policies.
SOP: Nothing special, but emphasized my consistent interests and experiences in environmental economics and policies.
Concerns: GRE not so great. Not really solid GPA.
Other: It's my second application cycle. Oh, and I am sort of a writer while in China (I published about 50 articles, prose, short novels, etc., and was editor in chief of a student publication for three years )
RESULTS:
Attending: North Carolina State University
Acceptances: UC Davis ARE (waitlist $), UNC Econ (waitlist $), NCSU Econ ($$$), Wisconsin AAE ($$), Purdue ARE ($$), UMN Applied Econ ($$, declined), Oregon State Applied Econ ($$, declined), Texas A&M AgEcon ($$, declined), VT ARE ($$, declined), Iowa State Econ (waitlist $, declined), Oklahoma State AgEcon ($$$, declined), Washington State Econ ($$, declined)
Rejections: Berkeley ARE, Cornell AEM, UCSD Econ, UCSB Econ
Withdrawn: MSU ARE, Ohio State ARE
No news so far: UFL Econ

Rehan 2011:
Type of Undergrad: BS Mathematics, top Asian university
Undergrad GPA: 4.0/5
Type of Grad: MA Economics, European university. Not well-known.
Grad GPA: 3.65/4
GRE: 800Q, 640V, 4.5 AWA
Math Courses (UG): Real Analysis (B+), Complex Variables (A-), Operations Research (A-), Game Theory (A), tons of others not relevant to Econ
(Grad): Statistics, Real Analysis, Optimization (A/A+), Econometrics (C+)
Econ Courses (Grad): usual 1st year Macro, Micro (all A/A+ except for first-sem Macro, got C+.)
LORs: 2 Math, 2 Econ/Finance. None particularly well known.
Teaching Experience: None.
Research Experience: wrote undergrad independent research paper and honors thesis, both in abstract algebra. Now working on MA thesis, which is really more math than it is econ.
Research Interests: Public econ, game theory, micro theory. But still learning, so everything but Metrics (hate it!) is fair game.
SOP: Not strong content-wise, but I like the way I write .
Concerns: bad grades in certain subjects, letter of recommendation writers don’t know me well.
RESULTS:
Accepted: Michigan($), UWO($, declined), UAB($$, declined).
Waitlists: None
Rejected: Maryland, UIUC.
What would you have done differently?
I definitely should have applied to more places. Applying to just 5 was a big risk, and an unnecessary one in retrospect.
I also really should have thought more about where I was applying. At the time I my only considerations were: schools that had late deadlines, accepted GRE >2yrs, and was willing to waive my TOEFL (I’m not from a country where TOEFL is normally waived). I ended up with a very short list of schools. Also did not take into consideration the strengths of the universities, so my letter of recommendation writers all think that I applied to random places. (One told me bluntly that it was obvious from where I was applying that I had no idea what I wanted to do, and recommended that I take a year off to think about it instead of accepting any offers.)
Overall, I’m pretty happy with what I got. Now choosing between going to Michigan or staying back a year to soul-search.

goose88 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 15 undergrad, Top 30 Econ PhD
Undergrad GPA: 3.5/3.76 for econ
Type of Grad:n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800Q, 620V, 4AW
Math Courses: Calc(I-III: B+,B-,B-), Linear Algebra(B+), Intro to proofs(A-), Real Analysis(A), Lebesgue Integration (In progress with an A so far)
Econ Courses (grad-level):
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro and Macro, IO, Property Rights, Intro and Applied Econometrics, Game Theory etc. (all A-/A's except for one B)
Other Courses: MATLAB(in progress)
Letters of Recommendation: All econ PhDs...2 well Known professors (one Stanford and another from Rochester), and one ok recommendation (Stanford)
Research Experience: Award winning Honors thesis, summer fellowship
Teaching Experience: Teaching Assistant for a intro level macro class
Research Interests: Development econ, Applied Micro/IO
SOP: Good but didn't bother to customize it for each school...highlighted my diverse background
Concerns: Weak GPA and Math grades...I was not the best student for the first two years of my college career and my grades suffered...hopefully they can also see the radical change in my grades from B's to A's
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Northwestern($$), WUSTL($$), ASU($$), UWO-PhD stream MA($$)
Rejections: Brown, Duke, Georgetown, Michigan, NYU, Queens, Rochester, Stanford, U Minnesota, UC-Berkeley, UCLA, U Wisconsin, Yale
Withdrawn: Columbia, Purdue
Attending: Northwestern
What would you have done differently? So, so many things. I think I was ridiculously lucky given how marginal my profile looks (but I promise, I am not as bad as I look on paper)
i) I would have started out as an Econ major instead of waiting till junior year to switch out of the Business school (no offense to business majors but that place drained my soul and made me super lazy)
ii) I would have taken my Calculus classes seriously or at the very least attended them for more than the first week
iii) I would have taken some more stats classes than the basic courses such as Stochastic Processes or Probability Theory
iv) I would have done more research/get to know more professors but then again, this is tied to (i)

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.

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.

nat_resource 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BS environmental science with chemistry minor from a public master's granting university
Undergrad GPA: 3.55
Type of Grad: master's in an environmental field from a well recognized program
Grad GPA: 3.8
GRE: 780Q 590V 4.0W
Math Courses: Calculus I & II, Vector Calculus I, Linear Algebra and Differential Equations I (B+ average)
Econ Courses (undergrad): intermediate micro (A)
Econ Courses (master's level): Micro I & II (B+, A), Intro Econometrics (A), Econometrics (A-), Environmental Economics (A-), Natural Resources Economics (A)
Other Courses: a lot of chemistry and environmental science, some biology
Letters of Recommendation: Two very strong letters from economists, one from an ecologist. All three are well known in their fields.
Research Experience: EPA graduate research fellowship, master's thesis
Research Interests: Natural resources and environmental, interdisciplinary environmental economics.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UC Davis ARE ($$$), Maryland AREc ($$), Wisconsin AAE ($$), UCSB (none), U Washington (none), NCSU (none)
Waitlists:
Rejections: Yale School of Forestry, Cornell AEM, UCB ARE
What would you have done differently? Not applied to NCSU. Should have thrown an application to UCSD and Michigan as reaches. Overall I did okay for someone with a limited economics background.

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!

notafraid 2011:
Institution: UC Irvine
Program: Econ PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: fellowship/taship/no details
Notification date: Feb 09
Notified through:Email
Comments: happy happy joy joy

nigritude 2011:
Institution: Yale
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding:
Notification date: 16 February
Notified through: Email to check website
Posted on GC: no
Comments: lawls.. makes me wish i applied to more schools

johndoe12 2011:
Institution: University of Minnesota
Program: Applied Economics PhD
Decision: admitted
Funding: no information
Notification date: 2/10/2011
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GF: no
Comments: apparently funding decision to be made in a few weeks
Institution: Cornell University
Program: Applied Economics and Management AEM PhD
Decision: wait list
Funding:
Notification date: 2/23/2011
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: no
Comments: apparently high on the list, not sure if this is meaningful

Regularity 2011:
Institution: Vanderbilt
Program: Economics (PhD)
Decision: accepted
Funding: yes (1st year fellowship + tuition + insurance)
Notification date: 2/23/2011
Notified through: email with formal acceptance from DGS
Posted on GF: to be posted
Comments: !!!So Happy! First Offer!

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.

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...

Peot 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Math/Econ double major at a Top 40 Econ, top something US News... too lazy to check. We like experimental econ and college basketball.
Undergrad GPA: 3.9
Type of Grad: Just classes
Grad GPA: 3.9
GRE: 760Q/640V/4.0 Attempt #1, 165Q/161V/5.0 Attempt #2
Math Courses: Calc 1-3, Intro to Analysis I-II, Abstract Algebra, Honors Linear Alg, Honors ODEs, Applied Stat, Probability Theory, Math Stat, Stochastic Processes, Grad Analysis I, Topology, Combinatorics, Number Theory. All A's except an A- in ODEs and a B in Grad Analysis
Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro I, Micro II, Political Economy, Topics in Micro Theory. All A's except an A- in Micro II
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): A whole bunch
Other Courses: A bunch of English classes
Letters of Recommendation: 1 extremely well known (multiple publications in AER/'metrica/JET), 1 very well known (publications in AER, 'metrica, JET), 1 not as well known. All 3 are micro theorists and have had me for at least one grad Econ class and at least two are advising me with my thesis/research projects.
Research Experience: 2 summer research grants from my university to work on independent projects in micro theory/game theory, another grant to work on that same project during this academic year, some independent studies over the years, all of which will be aggregated into a special degree/honors thesis
Teaching Experience:
Research Interests: Game Theory, Mechanism Design, Formal Political Theory, Algorithmic Game Theory. How information affects games and how mechanisms can incentivize information acquisition.
SOP: Cookie cutter with one paragraph tailored to each place.
Other: Varsity letterman/spent 4 years on a perennial top 15-25 Division I team in my sport. That made this all so much harder than it needed to be!
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Caltech, Wisconsin, Kellogg MECS, UT-Austin, UCLA, NYU, Berkeley (no first year fellowship), Penn (wl for first year funding)
Waitlists:
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Stanford GSB Econ Analysis + Policy
Attending: Caltech
What would you have done differently?
Can't say I could have changed anything drastically. Maybe done marginally better in a course or two, or not messed up my first GRE. But those are ninth or tenth order concerns. RA or a Masters wouldn't have done anything for me. I'm thrilled and fortunate to be where I am!

Econfan 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Economics from a top 10 liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.53 (3.1 freshman year, 3.8 sophomore-senior years)
Type of Grad: Non-degree math coursework at a top 10 math department
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 790 Q, 670 V, 4.5 AW (New Scoring: 164 Q, 164 V)
Math Courses: Undergrad: Calc II electives (C+/B), Linear Algebra (B), Calc III (A), Diff Eq (A), Analysis (B), Bridge to Advanced Math (A-), Probability (B+) Grad: Probability (A-), Linear Algebra (B)
Econ Courses: Econ Principals (A-), Intro Macro (A), Intermediate Macro (A-), Econ Stats (A-), Intermediate Micro (A), Intro Econometrics (A), International Econ (A), Advanced Macro (A), Thesis (A-/A), Advanced Econometrics (A), Advanced Micro (W)
Letters of Recommendation: 2 economics professors from undergrad, one of whom I was very close with (RAed, TAed, thesis adviser); economics professor at a top 50 econ department who's active in research (top 50r something on IDEAS)
Research Experience: RA for two summers for a professor in college doing labor research; senior thesis; worked for 3 years at a top econ consulting firm after graduation
Teaching Experience: TAed for Intro Macro and Intro Econometrics during undergrad
Research Interests: IO, ???
SOP: Pretty standard; I didn't personalize it by department.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Wisconsin ($), UT-Austin ($)
Waitlists: UVA (withdrew)
Rejections: Penn, Northwestern, Duke, NYU, Columbia, Maryland, Brown, Michigan, Wharton (after interview), Cornell
Attending: Wisconsin!!
There were plenty of things I would have done differently (not withdrawing from advanced micro, not taking analysis while taking 5 classes, working 2 jobs, and interviewing for jobs senior year), but there is one thing I definitely wouldn't have done differently. I made the decision to take a consulting job over a job at the Fed after college, knowing that it wouldn't be as good for my application, because it felt like a better fit. It turned out to in fact be a great fit for me, and I've grown from the experience in a lot of ways that have made me better prepared for grad school. My advice from this is that you should definitely make sure you have everything you need to get into grad school (math, research, etc.), but you shouldn't base all of your decisions on getting into grad school, because it may be the thing you do that doesn't help your resume that may indirectly make you better a better student in grad school or a better researcher later in life.
Despite the painfulness of the process, I'm very happy with the end result. I can't say there weren't times when I wished I'd never heard of this forum (for example, when I was neurotically checking posts at 2 am), but I'm glad this great group of people was hear to take away some of the pain from the horror that is economics phd applications.

resource 2012:
Type of Undergrad: BA, Economics, English -- liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.6
Type of Grad: MS, Economics -- Top 50 Econ
Grad GPA: 3.1
GRE: 166Q / 165V / 5.5A
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Discrete Math, Linear Algebra, Intro Stat, Math Stat I-II.
Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro I-II (PhD), Macro I-II (PhD), Econometric Theory I (PhD), Applied Microeconometrics (PhD), Env. & Resource Econ (PhD), Agri. Prod & Supply (PhD)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): All of them.
Letters of Recommendation:
(1) Exceptional, MS thesis co-adviser, very well-published in Env Econ.
(2) Exceptional, MS thesis co-adviser, among top students in his Env Econ course, very well-published in Env Econ.
(3) Exceptional, UG adviser, served as his TA, took 3 courses with him, not well-known.
Research Experience: 3 working papers, 1 paper published in conference proceedings, MS Thesis (will be submitted to field journal co-authored with letter of recommendation writers 1&2), Summer RAship with well-known environmental economist at mediocre econ department, UG honors thesis. Several presentations (1 of them at a good field conference). Co-investigator on $40k grant for applied work in my field.
Teaching Experience: TA in UG for Principles of Micro, Environmental Econ, and Market Experiments.
Research Interests: Environmental and Resource Economics, Applied Econometrics.
SOP: Discussed research and faculty with whom I'd like to work.
Concerns: C+ in Ph.D. Macro. Failed macro prelim.
Other: Fellowship at graduate institution. MS Thesis won interdisciplinary award.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Maryland AREC ($$ -- originally waitlisted for funding), Wisconsin AAE ($$), Georgia State ($$)
Rejections: Duke, Duke UPEP, Berkeley ARE, Davis ARE, Cornell AEM, Yale FES, Oregon
Attending: Maryland AREC
What would you have done differently? Nuthin' -- I had fun.

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!

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.

gamecock 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BS in Economics, flagship state university
Undergrad GPA: 3.986GRE: 800Q, 720V, 5.0W
Math Courses: Differential Equations (A), Vector Calculus (A), Linear Algebra (A), Applications of Complex Variables (A), Statistical Analysis I and II(A)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Microeconomic Theory (A), Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory (A), Industrial Organization (A), Game Theory (A), Econometrics (B+), International Monetary Economics (A)
Other Courses: Politics of Taxing and Spending (A), International Political Economy (A), Comparative Economics of Third World Countries (A)
Letters of Recommendation: Chairman of Economic deparment at my school, prof I TA'ed for, prof out of Georgetown I interned with in a White House agency
Research Experience: Honors Thesis, RA for a summer to an economics prof, internship at the CEA
Teaching Experience: TA for Principles of Microeconomics for a year
Research Interests: Public Economics and Macroeconomics
SOP: Modified for every school
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UNC(?), UWash (?), UVA ($$$, fellowship)
Waitlists: Michigan, Duke
Rejections: Let's not dwell on the past...
Attending: UVA ($$$)
What would you have done differently?
- My undergrad university is seen as very weak
- I should've taken more math/stat courses, maybe even some more computer science
- Should've done better in econometrics
- Applied to too many high tiered schools, should've applied to lower ranked schools
All things considered, I am pleased with my results. UVA has really started committing a ton of resources to economics and I expect it to become a much program while I am there. Above all else, they have good placements, sending a lot of students to the Federal Reserve and other governmental agencies. Love the location, Charlottesville is just pleasant.

fina 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top Canadian School
Undergrad GPA: 4.25/4.33
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: Q800/V770/AW5.0
Math Courses:Calculus I (A level), Calculus II (A+), Advanced Calculus I(aka honours vector calculus, A), Vector Calculus II(A), Matrix Algebra (A+), ODE (A+), RA I (A), Number Theory (A)
Econ Courses: Intro Micro&Macro (A level), Honours Intermediate Micro I&II (both A+), Honours Inter Macro I&II (A, A+), Maths for Econ (A+), Intro Econometrics (A), International Finance (A+), Environ Econ (A), Econ Transition (A-), Grad Econometrics (A+), Game Theory (A+), International Macro (A-), Trade Theory (A-), Market Structure [aka IO] (A+), Tax (A+)Other Courses: languages, literature classes, all A+
Letters of Recommendation: One from a young professor, one from well-known labour economist, one from well-know micro theorist, all know me well personally
Research Experience: Honours Thesis, senior research
Teaching Experience: tutor for intro and intermediate econ contracted by department; grader for maths
Research Interests: micro theory/IO/Policy
SOP: Standard
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Wisconsin($), UT Austin($), UCSD($), Minnesota($), Cornell($), Brown
Waitlists: Michigan, UPenn, CMU, NYU
Rejections: Yale, Princeton, Northwestern, Columbia
Pending: Toronto (what the hell....)
Attending: Wisconsin!!!

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

hebe 2012:
Type of Undergrad: Top Canada Research University
Undergrad GPA: 4.0/4.0 (We have 4.0 for 85-100 and 3.7 for 80-85)
Type of Grad: Same University DSMA
Grad GPA: All A/A+
GRE: Q168/V152/AWA 3.5
Math Courses: Calculus I (98), Calculus II (96), First-year Real Analysis (93), Linear Programming (96), Probability (98), Mathematical Stats (100), Linear Algebra I & II (89, 96), Grad Stochastic Processes (A+)
Econ Courses (grad-level): MA Micro, Econometrics,Financial Economics, Macro-econometrics, all A+, PHD macro (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Specialist in Econ, with intermediate Macro/Micro/Econometrics, Game Theory, Advanced Macro, I.O, Contract Theory, Empirical IO, Risk mgt, financial economics...etc...All 90+
Other Courses: French, Geography, Anthropology, Classics....(All A/A+..)
Letters of Recommendation: One from Chair of the department (very famous economist), One NBER fellow and One thesis supervisor
Research Experience: Almost zero except for undergrad thesis + Master thesis. Doing my first RA now with well-known macro professor
Teaching Experience: TA for numerous stats/econ courses for more than two years
Research Interests: I.O, Micro theory/Contract Theory
SOP: Pretty Standard, but customized for each school and spent a lottt time writing them
Concerns: No advanced Math courses. No ODE, Topology, upper year real analysis. Letter is not strong enough for Top 5. No research experience! Low GRE verbal and writing.
Other: Finish my undergrad in three years. Not Canadian...
RESULTS
Acceptances: Wisconsin ($), Minnesota($), Toronto($), NYU($)
Waitlists: Upenn (ask to be removed), Cornell (rejected from waitlist)
Rejections: Yale, Chicago, Northwestern, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Michigan, Brown
Attending: NYU
What would you have done differently?
I have lurked in this forum for a couple of months and recerived a lot useful info from TMers! I would like to thank you all first. Also, since a lot of TMers would like to know the placement result for my master program, I think it is useful to post my result for you guys/future TMers. What would I have done differently, maybe slow down my undergraduate a bit, taking more advanced math/stats courses and doing some RESEARCH!!! Also, I would not complain too much about the GRE, as an international (non-native English speaker), I prepared almost 3 months for the revised GRE verbal and writing part but still received low grade...at least I tried. I would say NYU is my top choice without a doubt, I am planning to take more advanced math in the summer and prepare for the new chapter of my life at NYU!! Good luck all TMers, all the best!!

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.

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.

snowyday 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA magna cum laude in Econ and History from top 30 US undergrad, top 30 econ dept
Undergrad GPA: 3.8
Type of Grad: n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800Q / 800V / 6.0 AWA
Math Courses: AP BC Calculus 5, AP Statistics 5, online courses in Linear Algebra and Multivariate Calculus, both As
Econ Courses: Honors Micro Theory A-, Honors Macro Theory A-, Econometrics B+, Game Theory A, Money Banking & Financial Markets A-, Capital Markets A-, Monetary Theory & Policy B+, Senior Thesis A
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: Thesis adviser (econ professor, not well known), director of economics honors program for undergraduates (economics professor), senior administrator at another University (PhD in social work)
Research Experience: Received thesis prize for best economics thesis senior year
Teaching Experience:
Research Interests: Various, capital markets, Monetary Theory, Macro - subject to change
SOP: Discussed my current situation, and how I came to be seriously interested too late in my undergrad career to pursue more math
Other: Working for last two years in finance job.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Duke (tuition remission for 1st year), Brown (MA offer w/ no funding), Wisconsin (no funding 1st year), UCSB (waitlist for funding), BU (no funding 1st year)
Waitlists: Minnesota
Rejections: Yale, MIT, Berkeley, UCSD, Stanford, Caltech, WUSTL, UVA, Michigan
Pending:
What would you have done differently? No regrets, and am extremely pleased with my results all things considered. I had been thinking about applying to RA jobs to beef up the profile, but am not sure with offers from some top 20 schools if it would be worth another 2 years of my life. If I had been thinking of this possibility during my formative years in undergrad, I would definitely have taken more math, and probably some grad econ classes / pursued other research opportunities, but I didn't really become interested in econ until my junior year. Take heart all those with little formal math preparation! Some admissions committees will be willing to take a chance!
Attending: Duke (!!)

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!

huneba 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: International bachelor (me and the degree)
Undergrad GPA: ~3.7
Type of Grad: Masters
Grad GPA: ~3.9
GRE: 166Q, 156V, 4.5 AWA
Math Courses: Calculus II (A)
Econ Courses (grad-level): ​Microeconomics I (A), II (B), Macroeconomics I (A), II (A), Econometrics I (A-), II (A), Thesis (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Microeconomics (A), Macroeconomics (A-), Econometrics (B-), Advanced Microeconomics (B), Advanced Macroeconomics (B), Advanced Econometrics (A-), Time Series (A), Microeconometrics (A), Maths Econ (A)
Other Courses: N/A
Letters of Recommendation: Thesis advisor and a couple of other professors that taught me (reasonably well-known)
Research Experience: Research assistant
Teaching Experience: N/A
Research Interests: Microeconomics, industrial organization, econometrics
SOP: 2 pages -- mainly discussed my research experience and interests
Concerns: Isn't it obvious? The only maths on my transcript is calc 2!
Applying to: Chicago, Northwestern, Yale, Penn, NYU, Columbia, UCSD, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Duke, Maryland, Boston, Cornell, Brown, Penn State

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

Anon1 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: 1st BA in French (Minors in Russian and Spanish) from Top 10 US Liberal Arts College; 2nd BA in Economics and Management from Oxford
Undergrad GPA: 3.87/4 in US. Formal Oxford examinations in May/June.
Type of Grad:
Grad GPA:
GRE: 760Q, 690V, 6AW
Math Courses: Mathematical Methods (covers Lin Al., Differential Equations, Probability and Multivariable Calculus - not Real Analysis or Proofs)
Econ Courses (grad-level):
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro, Macro, Game Theory, Quantitative Econ, Econometrics, Microeconomic Theory
Other Courses: Typical liberal arts stuff; a ton of languages in my first degree
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from Oxford professors (not super well-known, but quite respectable), 1 from US Liberal Arts Professor/Thesis Advisor in French Department
Research Experience: Independent Research Fellowship in Mali on Literary Topic. Published translation. Nothing in economics.
Teaching Experience: TA in French and Tutor in Russian
Research Interests: Game Theory, Time Inconsistency, Bounded Rationality
SOP: Short and direct. Research focused, with some customization for each program.
Concerns: 760Q was done a couple of years ago, and I'm confident I'd do better now. That said, it might hurt. Lack of research in Econ another big issue. Can they be sure that I have the mathematics and passion necessary for economics PhD? I do, but that might not be self-evident from the application.
Other: I thought I was a pretty atypical candidate, but looking at other profiles, I've noticed that many have non-standard paths to PhD in Econ
Applying to: PhD: Carnegie Mellon (SDS), Caltech (Social Science), MIT, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan; MA: Queen's, UBC, UWO

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

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 ^_^.

GreenMan 2012:
Institution: Western University (UWO)
Program: M.A. Economics
Decision: Acceptance
Notification date: 02/15/2012 (9:00 EST)
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: No
Comments: First Acceptance, I'm aware of another that was sent this evening as well. Not sure about funding- hope this contributes.
Yay ^.^

chengchengjia 2012:
Institution: University of Wisconsin - Madison
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Waiting for first year funding, TA or RA in 2-4 years
Notification date: 2/22/2012
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: No
Comments: This one makes me feel better after Yale's rejection...

jsebastian 2012:
Institution: Tinbergen Institute
Program: MPhil in Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: full funding for first year.
Notification date: 2/24/12
Notified through: Email
Posted on GC: no
Comments: first school i heard back from!

marcelo71 2012:
Institution: Wisconsin
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: TAship
Notification: 2/26/12
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: No
Comments: Unexpected!

econ2007 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: medium (roughly 30,000 students) public university
Undergrad GPA: 3.55 overall, 3.83 economics GPA
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q / 580V/ 6.0AW
Math Courses: Calc I (A), Calc II (B+), Calc III (C+), Applied Linear Algebra (C+), Numbers and Polynomials (D+), Elementary Differential Equations (C), proof-based Linear Algebra (B)
Econ Courses: Honors Principles of Microeconomics (A), Honors Principles of Macroeconomics (A), Banking Financial Markets and Monetary Theory (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (B), Games and Decisions (B), International Trade (A), Economics of State and Local Govt (A-), Intro to Econometrics (A)
Other Courses: audited PhD Macro I
Letters of Recommendation: undergraduate advisor and professor in two classes (PhD from UNC-CH), econ prof for intermediate micro and macro (PhD from Carnegie Mellon), econ prof for econometrics (PhD from Carnegie Mellon), math prof for proof-based LA (PhD from NYU)
Research Experience: started a senior thesis, but not completed.
Teaching Experience: tutored all four years of undergrad
Research Interests: micro theory, applied micro, labor, environmental, bioeconomics
SOP: started with a template, and tailored each SOP to each schools interests and strengths (as long as there was some intersection in interests). THEY DO READ YOUR SOP.
Other: out of school for 2 years
RESULTS:
Acceptances: FSU, UGA, Colorado at Boulder, UC Irvine
Waitlists: UNC (rejected later), Illinois (rejected later),Boston College, Pitt
Rejections: UWashington, UTexas
What would you have done differently?
Let me preface by saying that my original plan was to go to law school. I didn't seriously start thinking about economics PhD until late junior year. Take as much math as possible, with good grades.

indyecon 2007:
I've been avoiding posting my profile because of slight paranoia (and the fact that I do not compete with most of these profiles), but I guess now that I know where I'll be next year what is there to lose?
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: small liberal arts college no one has heard of (unless you're from Indiana - and even then it's a stretch). Majors: Economics, Math Education (I'm licensed to teach 5-12...basically a math degree plus student teaching)
Undergrad GPA: 3.85 (overall), 3.95 (Econ), 3.75 (Math Ed), summa cum laude, top 10%
GRE: 800Q/570V/4.5A
Math Courses: Calc I (high school), Calc II & III, Linear Algebra, Math Models, College Geometry, Discrete Math, Abstract Algebra, Real Analysis
Econ Courses: Intro to Micro, Intro to Macro, International, Intermediate Micro, Money & Banking, Topics in Contemporary Econ (focused on corporate tax policy)
Letters of Recommendation: two from professors (one math and one econ) - I'm pretty sure they were good and spoke very highly of me - they're just from lesser-known profs, and one from my boss at my current job (consulting) - also good, and I know because he asked me to proof it
Research Experience: none to speak of, other than a research paper (junior year) on none other than...college admissions
Teaching Experience: only tutoring at the college level (math and econ), but LOTS if you include middle and high school (math and history). I also taught linear algebra when I student taught (at an IB school in Australia).
Research Interests: mainly economics of education, lots of areas of public economics
SOP: I think it was good, but who knows? I tailored it for every school (for the most part)
Other: I'm a white female from the states, which I've heard is rare and might help, although I don't think it did. I was awarded the top econ student of my class and graduated with honors in math ed. I've been working for three years, but not in the field of econ.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Georgia State ($26K + tuition), Indiana (no money at first...then$13K...then it was $15K...then $17K)
Waitlists: well, I'm waiting on Purdue
Rejections: Iowa, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Stanford (School of Education - Economics of Education PhD)
I'll be attending Georgia State in the fall!
What would you have done differently? I probably would have branched out of the 'I want to go to a Big 10 school' mentality. It just so happens that the Big 10 is more competitive than I had considered, which I didn't realize until the rejections started rolling in. I think I got caught up in reading posts on this site and the idea of a 'safety' for many on here is just not realistic for those of us who went to no-name schools and have little research experience. I probably would apply to more schools, but I'm happy with my final result, so I guess the money I saved can go towards moving to Atlanta.

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...

kanishka 2007:
Type of Undergrad: International India, Top in country (I mean the college, not my performance)
Undergrad GPA: 3.6 (using the WES conversion guide)
Type of Grad: International India, Top in country (ditto qualification as above)
Grad GPA: 4.0 (using the WES conversion guide)
Note most students perform better in the undergrad than the grad. I ran the other way.
GRE: Q800 , V650, A4.5
Math(s) courses: Real analysis, concepts in linear algebra and calculus: linear independence; bases and dimension; subspaces and vector spaces; eigenvalues, continuity; differentiability; implicit function theorem, static optimization: unconstrained optimization; optimization with equality and inequality constraints; Envelope Theorem, dynamics and dynamic optimization: difference and differential equations, optimal control theory.
Econ Courses: My undergrad was wholly an economics course, as was my grad degree. Took the introductory micro, macro, econometrics (trix) courses in my grad. The material covered in these intro courses is pretty similar to what is done as introductory coursework in the US.
Significant electives: Game Theory, Law and Economics, Environmental Economics, Environment and Development. Also took an advanced macro course Open Economy Macroeconomics, but I wont be doing any more macro. I enjoyed this course, though it was very hard.
Letter of Recommendations: 4 in total. One has a phd from an (arguably) Top 10 US school. The next two were PhDs from LSE; the last is an Indian Phd, with loads of work experience and masters degree from a Top-20 to 25ish US school.
Research experience: One year as a Research Analyst with the Institute of Economic Growth, the leading research institute in environmental economics in India. Also wrote two papers during my masters, which were okay. Not really worth being published, but who knows? I never really tried. A couple of internships during previous summers also one with ICICI Banks Social Initiatives Group (this involved significant field work) and the other with the National Council of Applied Economic Research.
Also worked a year in General Electric Money, the consumer finance division. It taught me two things (a) handling huge databases; and (b) the private sector is not for me.
Research interests: Environment and development; applied work in this area. Would love it if I could do something in India, somewhere in the Himalayas where the scenery is spectacular. If youre going to be doing field work for months on end, might as well do it in a nice place.
SOP: Focused only on a very business-like description of the work I was doing in the Institute of Economic Growth and what I had done in GE; described my term papers and wrote a paragraph on what I would like to do. Did not claim to be touched by the hand of Adam Smith.
Results:
Accepted by: University of Maryland AREC (20K$ first four years) , University of Wyoming Econ (15K$ five years) and University of Minnesota APEC (no funding). Received a note from the Nicholas School of Duke University saying there was interest in my file but not enough funding. Dont know where to place this. Logically I got rejected but my vanity will not allow this.
Rejected by: UCSD, UCSB, Yale, ASU, Wisconsin Madison.
Ignored by: UIUC ACES program.
What would I have done differently?
1. Yale and UCSD were poor fits to my profile + interests. Probably was an immediate reject at these schools, and their apps were expensive, so it was a waste of time and money, which RAs have in limited amounts. Would apply to UC Davis and maybe OSU. That said I got into the program I was aiming for, so it turned out well, which I didnt think likely at the time of application. 2 of my recos were most likely weak to indifferent, but theres nothing much I could do about that.
2. Would erase my last paragraph in my SOP describing in a shallow manner why Im applying to that particular school. I would say, only if there are very strong reasons why you think youd fit with the dept (such as a strong correlation with your research work and some profs main area of research), then include such a paragraph.
Advice:
1. Please get some research experience if you want to do applied work. It helps immensely, apart from adding to your application.
2. For any Indians who are reading this, since we tend to do this when writing SOP, dont describe your love of economics, just say what you have done so far in life in a very objective manner. No phrases like I believe economics to be the true saviour of mankind. I cannot stress this enough. I dont know how much weight an SOP carries, but write it objectively please.

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!

myrrh 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: University of Maryland - Environmental Economics w/ Math minor
Undergrad GPA: 3.77, magna cum laude
Type of Grad: none
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 770Q 540V 4.0AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III (A-,B,A), Linear Algebra (A-), Differential Equations (A-), Number Theory (B), Advanced Calculus I (B), Probability Theory (B), Mathematical Statistics (TBD)
Econ Courses: Intro Micro and Macro (A,B+), Intermediate Micro (B+), Economic Statistics (A+), Intro Econ & Environment (A), Econ of Nat'l Resources (A), Econ of Land Use (A), Public Finance (A+), Game Theory (A+), Econometrics I (A), Intermediate Macro (TBD), Econ of Climate Change (TBD)
Other Courses: Environmental Policy and Philosophy courses, all A's
Letters of Recommendation: 2 AREC and 1 ECON professor, well known and respected in their fields, should have been solid
Research Experience: ~2-3 years as an undergrad RA in the AREC department. Currently and at time of application, working on honors thesis that has been described as "ambitious," hope to have a publishable version this summer.
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Environmental/resource economics, computational economics, applied micro
SOP: Tried to make it engaging, explained why I wanted to be an econimist (environmental research!), talked about my own research and what I wanted to in the future, etc.
Other: n/a
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UC Davis ARE Ph.D. ($), UW Madison AAE MS (no$), Cornell AEM (no$)
Waitlists: none
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Michigan, UT Austin, UC Berkeley ARE, UW Madison AAE Ph.D., Cornell AEM Ph.D.
Pending: none
What would you have done differently? On hand I would have done nothing differently: you really only need one good admit and I am more than satisfied with UC Davis. On the other hand, if I had to do it all over again I would have made sure to have a 4.0 Econ GPA (because I'm sure those 2 B+'s set off red flags), got at least ONE A in my upper level math and found the time/energy to take the graduate micro series. My QGRE was also at the lower bound of what I would have liked it to have been, but I do not think taking the GRE again would have been worth it. I also would have applied to more mid-range top 20-25 ECON schools instead of Harvard and Yale.
All in all, I feel pretty good about how the whole thing went. I'll be attending UC Davis ARE in the fall!

Zmoney 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Large U.S. Public University ranked 40-55 (best in state) typically known for Football not Economics
Undergrad GPA: 3.93 overall 4.0 in Econ 3.69 in Math Graduating Summa
GRE: 800 Q 540 V 5.0 AWA
Math Courses: Calc 1-3 1,2 tested out 3(B+), Differential Equations(B), Stat 1(A), Probability(A) Lin Alg (A) Math Stats 2 in Spring
Econ Courses: Intros, Intermediates, Public Econ, Sports Econ, Empirical Research, Independent Study (for research) Labor, Empirical Public Econ I (PhD field) All A's
Other Courses: Minors in Food and Resource Economics, and History
Letters of Recommendation: 3 LORS 2 excellent letters from pretty well known Econ faculty in their concentrations (one Phd Chicago the other Wisconsin) and 1 very good letter from a senior member of the Ag Econ Department (Purdue well known in Ag econ)
Research Experience: 2 written empirical papers one for the class in research and the other (to be my thesis) I want to get published. Database work and research at Fed
Teaching Experience: N/A
Research Interests: Public Econ, Public Choice, Taxation Policy, Political Economy
SOP: Solid i think, had multiple profs say they wouldn't change a thing
Other: Internship at the Federal Reserve, Strong Undergraduate leadership positions
Concerns: My B in Diffy Q, Coming from a big public school, No Real Analysis.
RESULTS:
Attending: Virginia
Admitted, Declined: Michigan State, Boston College, Florida
Waitlists: none
Rejections: Northwestern, NYU, Penn, Wisconsin, Michigan, Maryland, Texas-Austin, Cornell, Duke
What would you have done differently?
Started taking math freshman year as opposed to junior year. Double majored in Stats

tmdruie 2009:
So I can get on the shiny charts!
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Physics and Economics from a top 10 liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.14/4.0
Type of Grad: One stats class
Grad GPA: 3.3
GRE: 790Q, 600V, 5.0AW
Math Courses: Calc I-III(I took them in high school, I really dont remember and nor do my transcripts), Linear Algebra (B), Mathematical Probability and Statistics (B-, B), Real Analyst(A, at a different school then my undergrad), Stochastic Processes (B+, grad course, at a different school then my undergrad)
Econ Courses: AP Micro and Macro (A, in high school), European Economic History (B+), Law and Economics (B), Intermediate Price Theory (B), Intermediate Macro Theory (B), Econometrics (B), Contemporary British Economy (B), Industrial Revolution-Britain (A-), Econ of Multinational Corps (A-), Thesis (labor econ)
Other Courses: Physics, which I put in my math lists. Quantum Mechanics I, Partial Differential Equations (B+), etc. I only did the bare minimum for a liberal arts major
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ professors (my thesis advisor and the person who led my study abroad), 1 physics professor (thesis advisor), 1 economist who is my supervisor
Research Experience: RA for 2.5 years at a central bank
Teaching Experience: Tutored, graded and lab assisted for two years for physics in college
Research Interests: All over the place. Labor, policy, experimental, applied micro, development, etc.
SOP: Intro, I did physics I can do math!, I wrote a thesis in economic and liked doing research, Im working as an RA and like doing research, I took extra math and can write proofs, I was part of an econ paper reading group and like reading papers, interests (changed a bit depending on what the school had, and more policy oriented for ag econ schools). Also a few sentences about things I did that I removed or added depending on the school. The 500 word schools were hard, the 1000 word schools were easy. I also had a Personal History Statement about being a female doing math for the schools that wanted it.
Other: Applied for the NSF. I tried not to say anything to risky, and not say much about interest in policy to non policy/ ag econ schools. I like Aikido.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Boston University (waitlist for $), Michigan State(no $), University of Essex (ISER), Ohio State (Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics) ($-Fellowship), Indiana University ($-TA), Iowa State University ($-TA)
Waitlists: University of Minnesota
Rejections: MIT, Harvard (Econ and Political Economy and Government), Yale, Berkeley (Agricultural & Resource Economics), Northwestern, NYU, U Penn (Econ and Wharton), University of Wisconsin Madison (Econ and Agricultural and Applied Economics ), Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Caltech, University of British Columbia , Ohio State, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (Econ and Public Policy and Economics), University of Maryland (Econ and Agricultural Economics), Boston College, Johns Hopkins, University of Minnesota (Applied Economics), University of California Davis (Econ and Agricultural Economics), Duke, University of Essex, Vanderbilt, Rutgers, Carnegie Mellon (Econ, Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Public Policy and Economics)
Pending: Toronto MA, Queens MA
What would you have done differently?
Gotten better grades in undergrad. When I really started understanding what the things I need to do for a PhD I think I did the best I could, took real analysis, applied for the NSF (if only to write a SoP for them), read papers etc. I probably could have gotten more research experience at my job (co-author), and I defiantly could have gotten better grades and taken more math as an undergrad. But over all Im happy.
Attending:
Boston University

bellman 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: top uni in my country in south asia, unknown outside. BSc Economics
Undergrad GPA: 3.87 Overall, 3.97 Econ, 3.82 Math
Type of Grad: MA Economics (on-going, top prog in Canada)
Grad GPA: Average 85%
GRE: 790Q, 730V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc I (A-), Calc II (A), Vector Calc (A-), Linear Algebra (A), Probability (A), Statistics (A), Adv Stats (A) , Real Analysis (B+), Functional Analysis (B+), Set Theory (A-), ODEs (A), Number Theory (A-), OR-I (A)
Econ Courses (grad institute): Micro(MA) (B+) (this is gonna hurt me alotttt), Macro(MA) (A+), Econometrics(MA) (A+), Math for Econ(MA) (A),
Econ Courses (undergrad institute): Micro-I, II, grad (A+, A, A), Macro I, II, grad (A+,A, A), Econometrics I,II,grad (A+,A, A+), Adv Game Theory (A), Adv Math Econ (A) and various other courses of undergrad level.
Letters of Recommendation: diff combo of profs 2 from masters and 2 from undergrad prog.
Research Interests: Applied Econometrics, Labor, IO
SOP: Was told to not exceed one page by my referee. standard I'm sure
Teaching Experience: TA for econometrics for an entire year at my undergrad institute. currently TAing at my grad school but wasnt able to include this in my app file.
Concerns: My B+s in real and functional plus esp my B+ in grad Micro are gonna hurt me big time. its strange how one bad day can jeopardize things so badly.
Applying to: Yale, Michigan, Austin, Cornell, Wisconsin, Duke, Virginia, WUSTL, Rochester, Vanderbilt, Queens, UWO, Maryland, Minnesota
Rejections: Cornell, Duke, Yale

mike_banana 2009:
Institution: Duke U
Program: Economics Ph.D
Decision: Rejected
Funding: no
Notification date: 02/17/2009
Notified through: Email
Comments: check the status on "applyyourself" website. There is a notification letter.

onlylady 2009:
Institution: Wisconsin,
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Rejected
Notification date: 3/5
Notified through: E-mail

Sundin 2009:
Institution: UWO
Programme: PHD
Decision: Rejected (e-mail)
Notification Date: 04/02/2009
Comments: i had already given up and accepted queens

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.

nnweconphd 2010:
Type of Undergrad: BS in Mathematics and Economics, Top 80ish public university
Undergrad GPA: 3.5-3.6
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 350V, 4.0AWA
Math Courses: Calculus Sequence(A/A+), Linear Algebra(A), Discrete Math(A), Abstract Algebra(B), Geometry(A), Real Analysis(A), Graph Theory(A), Intro to Statistics(A-), Probability Theory(B), Differential Equations(In progress), Optimization(In progress)
Econ Courses (Undergraduate): Intro Micro(A-), Intro Macro(B), Intermediate Micro(A-), Intermediate Macro(A), Econometrics(A-), some others, grades vary, two A+, one B+, and one C+(sigh), three in progress
Econ Courses (Graduate): None
Letters of Recommendation: I don't think any of them is really well known and I actually have no idea how the letters are.
Research Experience: None
Teaching Experience: Tutor math and hold review sessions
Research Interests: Micro theory, econometrics, international
Concern:
1.Bad GRE Verbal and writing grade. I am international and graduating in three years with double major so I didn't have time preparing for the test. I might have been better off taking a TOFEL test at least to show that I don't have trouble with English.
2.Bad Econ grades. My econ gpa should be around 3.5, very bad. I even got a C+ in one course. I was too aggressive and took too many courses each semester which resulted in bad grade.
3.LORs. I had a hard time finding professors that can write me good letters. I rarely talked with econ professors but spent more time in the math department. So I don't think the letters were good.
4.No research experience, not even senior thesis
RESULTS:
Acceptances:None
Rejections: Cornell, Brown, UW-Madison, UPitt, BU,UW-Seattle, UCI(they said my GRE Verbal was too low and it's not likely that I be accepted)
Pending: Purdue
What would you have done differently?
Except for the listings above under Concern, I would have done some more research before choosing schools, say, at least wouldn't have put UCI on the list since they are strict with students' verbal and TOFEL grades. I would also have applied to a larger number of schools and put some more safeties.
It's a very disappointing result but I am not despair. I am not waiting for Purdue and I've decided to stay at school for one more year to take some graduate level econ courses to convince adcoms that I can do well in economics. Hopefully with the grades of current semester and next fall, my GPA can go up a little bit. And my summer might mostly be contributed to GRE Verbal and AWA.

njskatchmo 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Large State School with Ranked PhD Program
Undergrad GPA: 3.71 Overall, 3.93 Econ
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 660V, 4.5
Math Courses: Calc I - III (A,A, B+), Intro Lin. Alg (A), Proof Writing (B+), Linear Algebra (proof based) (Current), Real Analysis (Current), Math Theory of Probability(Current), Diff Eq(Current)
Econ Courses: Intro Micro/Macro (A,A), Intermediate Micro/Macro (B+, A), Econometrics and Advanced econometrics (B+, A) 8 or 9 econ electives (All A's except for B+ in Financial Economics)
Grad Econ Courses N/A
Other Courses: Complete Political Science Major
Letters of Recommendation: One from Thesis Advisor, One from Professor who knows me very well, One from Advanced Econometrics Prof. (All come from Top 10 programs)
Research Experience: Undergrad thesis
Teaching Experience: Tutored Economics, Calculus, and, Statistics at the campus learning center
Research Interests: Environmental Economics , Developmental Economics
SOP: Spoke of how I got into economics and my long term goals
Other: Took challenging course loads. 4 upper division math classes at once, 21 credits in one semester.
Some interesting work experience and volunteer around the world and with NGO's.
My GPA is low from freshman year when I didn't care and had a 3.1 for the year.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Nowhere
Waitlists: Nowhere
Rejections: Pretty much every school in the top 20 rejected me plus UC Davis and Cambridge (Minus Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Tepper)
Pending: Nowhere
What would you have done differently? Started my math as early as possible so I didn't have to have a killer senior year. Taken RA with easy classes. Gotten one more point or so that would have given me an A in Econometrics and Intermediate Micro. I believe that the lack of math completed at the time of application was the reason for my rejection.

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!

dsdoodle 2010:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Econ/B.A. Math from large state/30ish ranked Econ PhD program in US
Undergrad GPA: 3.72/4
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 760Q, 500V, 6.0AWA
Math Courses: Calc I, II, III, Multivariate Calc I, II, Linear algebra, Differential equations, Math reasoning, Linear analysis, Real analysis (I, II), Linear optimization, discrete modeling (avg gpa 3.71, upper level classes 3.9)
Econ Courses (PhD-level): Micro I, II (B) (skipped undergrad version of micro theory and first micro class since Freshman year... which is somewhat of an excuse for the poor grade)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Monetary (2 classes), Econometrics, Biological resources, International trade, International macro, Applied econometrics.. all As
Letters of Recommendation: My honors thesis adviser (Harvard PhD), prof whom I am RAing for right now (Harvard PhD), prof whom I took two monetary classes from who thinks I'm one of his best student in the last few years (Rochester PhD), prof whom I took an applied econometric class and will be RAing for starting in January (Yale PhD)
Research Experience: Summer internship at non-profit economic research organization, Honors thesis that won an award, RAing with a professor in macro - did work on two papers and coauthoring on a third, RA'd for two professors in labor, editing a macroeconomics textbook for a new edition
Teaching Experience: Grader for econometrics and international trade classes
Research Interests: Environmental, monetary, macro
Statement of purpose: Discussed how I'm taking a year off to do research, made a slight mention of my lower GRE score but high math grades
Concerns: Too much competition!! And maybe the fact that I didn't do well in my grad level micro classes.
Other: Thy will be done.
Applying to: Stanford, Berkeley, Northwestern, Columbia, NYU, Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas, Minnesota, UCSD, UC-Irvine, Washington, WUSTL, Hong Kong University, Boston College, Virginia
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Hong Kong University, UC-Irvine, Texas-Austin, Minnesota (off the long waitlist)
Rejections: Everywhere else (was withdrawn at UW because I work there and the DGS found out I got a better offer and thus withdrew me..oh well)
Attending: University of Minnesota (TA-ship funding)
What would you have done differently?
Section in bold is my updated response after getting an offer from Minnesota on 4/20.
Wow! I am so, so thankful and am so blessed to have a chance to go to my first choice school. I think what made a huge impact was getting the top professor at my school to send a quick note about me to the department and Minnesota. Why do I think this? Because the DGS actually responded and thanked him for recommending me! It's amazing... so if you are in a similar situation as I am where you are on a long waitlist, there are things you can do to get a shot at the incoming class. These things are (these are things that I did):
1) Have a few professors vouch for you. In my case, I had a lot more stuff going on with research after I've applied... and the professors I was working for could send in a note about what I'm doing now or have done for them. Let them know about the waitlist situation and see if they can email or call the department on your behalf. Anything for them to look at your profile again is good.
2) Visit the school. They probably won't pay for your visit, but going there is helpful to first see whether this is the place you want to go and to show that your interest is more than just talk. Obviously anyone can say a school is their first choice school but not everyone will back that up with the money and time it takes to make a visit.
3) Keep in close contact with the school. Don't overdo this... I wouldn't send one email everyday but keep the contact going. I sent two emails that were not responded to asking about the waitlist, but I sent one today (the 20th, so it was after the deadline) and I think it made the DGS look at my application one more time - because he mentioned that he looked at my application again and their situation this year and decided to make me an offer.
4) Pray! I don't presume everyone to believe in the Christian God as I do, so this may not apply to you. But from the beginning, I've prayed that God will send me where I can be best used. Honestly, the morning I got the email accepting me to the program, I thought to myself that everything so far has seemed like God is calling me to Minnesota... from my interests, things I was doing in my RAships, talks with current students, and so on... everything pointed to UMN. Like I said, I trusted that God will bring me where He wanted me to be... and whether that's Texas or Minnesota, I was completely at peace with it. In fact, my interest in Minnesota started out with the reason that there's a pastor, whom I respect very much, who had a church very close to the UMN campus. But I can't stress the importance of prayer and can't fully comprehend God's grace in all of this.
I'm not positive about this, but I may have jumped over some people on the short waitlist (or maybe they all already got offers to come, who knows?). Regardless... I'm very happy to have a chance to get my PhD at Minnesota. Please PM me if you are in a similar situation and need some help.
Now below is the stuff I wrote before I got into UMN... which I'm going to keep here since there are still some good (I hope) information in there.
I am pretty pleased with the results. I think my GRE score and a low grad micro score probably kept me out of most places, as people in the forum said. I don't think a GRE score of 760 will mean you are automatically out, but because there are many others with the exact same grades and research experience (and even better) than you, you really don't want to have a disadvantage in anything. So I guess I may have tried to do better on the GRE (I did, but got the same score) and probably either not take grad micro or know that it was a bad idea to take grad micro when the last micro class you had was 3 years ago in freshman year.
I also may have looked into applying to more target schools instead of reaches.
My first choice was Minnesota, so I am grateful to have been waitlisted and I actually went to visit and had a few professors contact the department to vouch for me. Texas is a great place as well so I am blessed to have that as my "backup", when having it as a first choice would have been more than exciting.
I would also want to repeat what my professor said about applying for econ phd programs - that it's a random process and the only way to increase your chances is to increase the number of trials. Apply to more schools! If you are thinking about applying to less schools to save like 500-1000 dollars, then think about this: $1000 is nothing compared to getting full funding from a school for 5 years. You really, really don't want to miss out on a school that might have given you full funding just because you wanted to save $100. I would recommend everyone to apply to at least 12 programs - 2 reaches, 8 targets, 2 safeties... but it's probably better to apply to 4 reaches, 8 targets, and 4 safeties.
Don't be shocked if a safety school rejects you. It happens.. and in my case those schools were probably very borderline safety schools.
And the most important advice: There's still time to network with professors. It goes a long way if you have good connections with the professors at your school. They are willing to help those they know and think is capable. So look for research opportunities and attend departmental events!
In the end, God provided me with a great place to go and a great experience visiting schools... I'm very happy with the results.

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.

Gecko 2010: Roll Call Fall 2010 
For all applicants gunning for the 2010 Fall admissions :D
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Econ from university in Southeast Asia
Undergrad GPA: 3.75/4
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 790Q, 500V, 5.0AWA
Math Courses: Real Analysis I and II, III (in progress) , Linear Algebra Math for Economists, Measure Theory (in progress), Mixture of A and B
Econ Courses (PhD-level): Micro (B+)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): IO, Development, Econometrics, Monetary, Labour, Information Economics Game Theory, Micro and Macro Theory- All A's and A+
Other Courses: Irrelevant.
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors (1 Princeton PhD, 1 Columbia PhD) 3rd one pending
Research Experience: Except for term papers and thesis, none.
Teaching Experience: Intermediate Micro, Introduction to statistical theory, developmental economics
Research Interests: Institutional economics and decisions making under uncertainty.
SOP: Standard format - refer to a thread by Italos.
Concerns: My math sucks.
Other: Praying awfully hard.
Applying to: MIT, Princeton, Yale, Northwestern, Stanford, Berkeley, Michigan, NYU, Columbia, Maryland, WUSTL, and others.

yougotaparabola 2010: PROFILE:
type of undergrad: B.A. Econ top 10 public university, no grad econ
undergrad GPA: 3.69/4, econ 3.95, math 3.74
type of grad: NA
grad GPA: NA
GRE: 800Q, 650V, 5.0AWA
math courses: Calc 3 (A-), ODE (A), Linear Algebra (A-), Probability Theory (B+), Real Analysis I (A), Game Theory (A-)(through the math department)
econ courses (undergrad-level): intermediate micro, advanced micro (economics of incentives), intermediate macro, advanced macro (international finance), econometrics, time series econometrics, mathematical economics (all A)
econ courses (grad-level): sadly, none.
other courses: Irrelevant.
letters of recommendation: 3 econ professors
research experience: Minimal.
teaching experience: None
research interests: The role of micro incentives in development.
statement of purpose: Pretty standard, nothing substantial.
other: on the bright side you really only need one admit.
concerns: Potentially weak recommendations, no idea how I stack up against the competition, no idea how my undergrad will be perceived,
applying to: Princeton, Yale, Northwestern, Stanford, Berkeley, Michigan, NYU, Columbia, Maryland, WUSTL, Rochester, UCLA, UVA, Duke, Wisconsin, BU, BC, etc....

unc_jesse 2010:
Institution: Oregon State
Program: Applied Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: TBD
Notification date: 2/22
Notified through: E-mail & Post
Posted on grad cafe: Unfortunately yes - Had to let you guys know somehow, right?
Comments: Good program, hoping for money.
Institution: Wisconsin Madison
Program: ARE Economics PhD
Decision: Reject
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 2/24
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on grad cafe: Yes
Comments: kind of sad because it's a good program, but seriously wisconsin is cold.
Institution: Texas A&M
Program: ARE Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: 1700 per month = 20,400
Notification date: 2/25
Notified through: Phone
Posted on grad cafe: Yes
Comments: Safety, but still a relatively good program. Up in the air about this one.
Institution: Purdue
Program: ARE Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: $21,000 RA
Notification date: 12/16
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on grad cafe: Yes
Comments: Also a safety, we have a lot of Purdue people in my department. visited, and loved the people there though, but resource is not their strong point.

Tommie Hopeful 2010:
Institution: University Wisconsin - APEC
Program: Masters in Applied Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 2/25
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: No
Comments:
Institution: Vanderbilt
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 2/20
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: No
Comments:
Institution: University of Minnesota - APEC
Program: Masters in Applied Economics
Decision: Admit
Funding: No Decision
Notification date: 3/3
Notified through: Email
Posted on GF: No
Comments: I go to school down the street.

DaveD 2010:
Institutions: Iowa State
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 26/02/2010
Notified through: E-mail
Comments: Disappointed at a straight rejection.
Institutions: Notre Dame
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 11/03/2010
Notified through: E-mail
Comments: Disappointed at a straight rejection.
Institutions: University of Virginia
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 03/03/2010
Notified through: E-mail
Comments: Not to surprised.
Institutions: Wisconsin
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 09/03/2010
Notified through: E-mail
Comments: Fairly disappointed at a straight rejection.
All in all a kick in the balls.

wheretogo1 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Big 10 School - top 50 undergrad
Undergrad GPA: 3.9/4.0
GRE: 800Q/550V/4.5Writing
Math Courses: multivariable calculus, linear algebra, probability theory, real analysis (2 semesters), abstract algebra, topology
Econ Courses: intermediate micro, intermediate macro, econometrics, game theory, labor, international
Other Courses: java programming
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from institution (one advised me during research paper), 1 from current boss (who is a professor at a top 5 program)
Research Experience: junior year research project, 3 years at a public policy thinktank
Teaching Experience: tutored calculus at college.... does that count?
Research Interests: applied micro, labor, public econ, but open to anything really
SOP: Not great, not terrible
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Maryland, Virginia, Texas
Rejections: Berkeley, Yale, nwestern, columbia, mich, wisconsin, cornell, carnegie mellon, penn state, illinois, duke, UCSD
Wait lists: BU, Uwashington, Upenn, Minnesota
What would you have done differently?
Build closer relations with economics faculty at my undergrad institution. My rec letters were not as strong as others.

blinvisible 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BCom/BSc (Hons) Australian university. Honours in maths.
Undergrad GPA: 3.93 equiv - 89% average.
GRE: 800Q, 650V, 4.5AWA
Math Courses: subjects in calculus, linear algebra, real and complex analysis, topology, measure theory, functional analysis, abstract algebra, probability, statistics, stochastic calculus and processes, partial differential equations
Courses (PhD-level): probability, measure theory, functional analysis, statistics
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro to micro/macro, Inter macro/micro, metrics, topics in micro, game theory
Other Courses: operations research, finance, history and philosophy of science
Letters of Recommendation: Maths prof and thesis supervisor, Econ prof (BU), Statistics prof (UMN). All enthusiastic I presume.
Research Experience: Honours thesis in probability/statistics, summer RA work in statistics
Teaching Experience: Calculus and probability for 2 years
Research Interests: Decision theory, mechanism design, market design
SOP: There was one.
Concerns: My application was non-standard in enough dimensions that it was difficult to get comparisons. I had the minimal econ background, unusual LsOR and a few years since completing undergraduate study. I had no idea what to expect.
Other: 3 years working between finishing uni and application
RESULTS:
Attending: Duke-Fuqua (Decision Sciences)
Acceptances: Duke-Fuqua (Decision Sciences)
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, Caltech, Wisconsin-Madison, U Penn, Stanford GSB (EA&P), Kellogg (MECS)
Waitlisted: Minnesota, Princeton
What would you have done differently? During the admissions process not much... This forum is a great resource and lurking here helped me avoid many mistakes I may otherwise have made.
A few years back I would have attempted to forge stronger relationships with professors. This would have helped me both figure out what I wanted to do earlier as well as potentially provided the elusive RA/letter of recommendation opportunity. As it was, I didn't realise that I liked real (as opposed to undergraduate) economics until my final semester and did not take the classes I could have.

goose88 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 15 undergrad, Top 30 Econ PhD
Undergrad GPA: 3.5/3.76 for econ
Type of Grad:n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800Q, 620V, 4AW
Math Courses: Calc(I-III: B+,B-,B-), Linear Algebra(B+), Intro to proofs(A-), Real Analysis(A), Lebesgue Integration (In progress with an A so far)
Econ Courses (grad-level):
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro and Macro, IO, Property Rights, Intro and Applied Econometrics, Game Theory etc. (all A-/A's except for one B)
Other Courses: MATLAB(in progress)
Letters of Recommendation: All econ PhDs...2 well Known professors (one Stanford and another from Rochester), and one ok recommendation (Stanford)
Research Experience: Award winning Honors thesis, summer fellowship
Teaching Experience: Teaching Assistant for a intro level macro class
Research Interests: Development econ, Applied Micro/IO
SOP: Good but didn't bother to customize it for each school...highlighted my diverse background
Concerns: Weak GPA and Math grades...I was not the best student for the first two years of my college career and my grades suffered...hopefully they can also see the radical change in my grades from B's to A's
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Northwestern($$), WUSTL($$), ASU($$), UWO-PhD stream MA($$)
Rejections: Brown, Duke, Georgetown, Michigan, NYU, Queens, Rochester, Stanford, U Minnesota, UC-Berkeley, UCLA, U Wisconsin, Yale
Withdrawn: Columbia, Purdue
Attending: Northwestern
What would you have done differently? So, so many things. I think I was ridiculously lucky given how marginal my profile looks (but I promise, I am not as bad as I look on paper)
i) I would have started out as an Econ major instead of waiting till junior year to switch out of the Business school (no offense to business majors but that place drained my soul and made me super lazy)
ii) I would have taken my Calculus classes seriously or at the very least attended them for more than the first week
iii) I would have taken some more stats classes than the basic courses such as Stochastic Processes or Probability Theory
iv) I would have done more research/get to know more professors but then again, this is tied to (i)

LameDuck 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BS Mathematics, Physics Minor @ state university
Undergrad GPA: 3.24/4.00 (3.8ish Math)
Type of Grad: First year of Mathematics MS @ same university
Grad GPA: 4.0/4.0
GRE: 800Q 700V 3.5AW
Math Courses: Around 20 -- Topology, Grad Analysis Sequence, Grad Algebra Sequence, a few Linear Algebra courses, DiffEQ, Stat Theory, Programming/Applied courses, etc.; mostly A's
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro (A+), Intermediate Macro (A+); both taken as a non-degree student after my BS
Other Courses: Programming (Java), Physics courses (Mechanics, Circuit Design, Math Modeling, etc.)
Letters of Recommendation: Good(great?) letters from 3 math professors who are somewhat known in the math world -- I really had no access to econ letters
Research Experience: Math research (Approximation Theory)
Teaching Experience: One year as a TA for Calc. III, and one year as an Algebra instructor while I was in the MS program
Research Interests: International Macro, Development, Game Theory -- admittedly, I'm not entirely certain which route I'll go.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Iowa($$), Boston U.(MA), Pitt(unfunded) <-- deferred from 2010
Waitlists: U. Washington - Seattle
Rejections: Columbia, Minnesota, UPenn, Boston U. (PhD), Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Maryland, UWO, Wisconsin
What would you have done differently?
This year was my full-court shot at some high ranked programs; I already held a deferred offer from Pitt. In retrospect, I might not have applied to some of the places that weren't really a good fit for me -- live and learn.
If I had it all to do over again? Well, I'd be a less capricious youngster, perform better in the first years of my undergrad, and I'd realize an interest in economics earlier than a few years ago. That being said, I'm happy where I am, but I wouldn't recommend my circuitous route to anyone; the hope is that experience matters, no?
Given my lack of access to econ reference writers and my nontraditional background, I think I did alright for myself. The fact that I missed out on funding at Pitt this year gave me a scare, but I got into another program that I heavily targeted.

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.

petecheese 2011:
Type of Undergrad: BA in Business Finance. Top Univ in middle east
Undergrad GPA: 82/100 (3.4/4.0)
Type of Grad: M.A. in Economics from same university
Grad GPA: 91/100 (4.0/4.0)
GRE: 780Q 470V 4.0AW
Math Courses: Calc 1 (AP), Calc 2 (AP), Calc 3 (98/100), Linear Algebra (87/100), ODE (83/100), Econ Stats (80/100)
Econ Courses: Intermediate micro (87), Intermediate macro (99), Econometrics (80). Lots of grad courses (Micro, Macro, econometrics, monetary, etc...) Almost all 90+
Other Courses: A lot of finance courses (although lost interest in finance as field of study but had them from Ugrad)
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from professor and chair, PHD York (Really good letter), 1 from assistant prof, PHD Princeton (Very enthusiastic), 1 from assistant professor PHD Toulouse (standard), 1 from visiting professor (Should be good)
Research Experience: RA for about a year. Recent conference presentation in Poland (awaiting scientific board for publication in conference proceedings)
Teaching Experience: GA/TA for 2 years (undergrad and grad econometrics)
Research Interests: Development, Applied micro (empirical mostly), and applied econometrics
Concerns: Low Ugrad GPA, No proof based math courses, semi unknown school
RESULTS:
Attending: Texas A&M (TAMU)
Acceptances: Iowa State, Virginia Tech, BGSE (UPF), Tinbergen, Uconn
Rejections: UIUC, PSU, Wisconsin-madison, Rice, Toronto (doctoral Stream), Tilburg, Arizona, BC, UNC (initially wait listed)
Comments:
Honestly, i was really happy with my results and quite surprised. I had a weak-average Undergrad performance to make up, and come from a relatively unknown Middle Eastern school.
I think what did it for me was LORS. I cannot emphasize how important LORs are, and how important it is to build good relations with professors (RA, TA, visit office hours and talk about research, etc...).
Also for some smaller programs (specifically Vtech if anyone is ever interested in that school ), i think what got me in was my SOP. Very tailored to their school. I think people underestimate the role of the SOP. Outside of the top 10, i think it can be a very useful tool and should be taken seriously (ofcourse this does not apply to all schools outside the top10, but for some of the smaller programs, "fit" is very important.
In the end, Thank GOD this whole process is done, and i am more than happy to attend TAMU , although the location i am not so ecstatic about :P.

Cognazor 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Economics
Undergrad GPA: 3.5
Type of Grad: Geography
Grad GPA: 3.92
GRE: Q-760 V-640 A-4.0
Math Courses: Calc 1-3, Linear Algebra
Econ Courses (grad-level): 0
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Tons
Other Courses: Lots of GIS/spatial analysis stuff
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from Geography MS (including thesis advisor), 1 from Econ BA. Pretty good I hope
Research Experience: RA during master's, RA for Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), graduate thesis
Teaching Experience: TA during MS
Research Interests: Applied Research in Development/Environmental/Regional Economics
SOP: Yes
Concerns: Low undergrad GPA, Low GRE analytical.
Other: I have been out of school for a few years, am probably a little older than most applicants. Hoping my work experience will be beneficial.
Applying to: Berkeley ARE, Davis ARE, Maryland ARE, Oregon St applied, Cornell Applied, Wisconsin Applied, Michigan St AFR, Ohio State AED, Minnesota Applied (MS), George Washington University, Clark

ikt 2011:
Type of Undergrad: Double major in Mathematics and Economics.
Undergrad GPA: Top 10%, 3.88 (Econ 4.00), (Math 3.65)
GRE: Q: 760, V: 370, AWA: 3.5
Math Courses: Introduction to Proof (B), Statistics (A), Calculus I-III (A), Linear Algebra (A), Real Analysis I (B), Differential Equations (A), Statistics II (B). Currently enrolled in: more statistics and math classes.
Econ Courses: Intro Macro (A), Intro Micro (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), Econometrics (A), Electives (all A's)
Other Courses:Computer Science (A)
Letters of Recommendation: They should be good, but I don't know if they are glowing.
Research Experience: Senior Thesis project.
Teaching Experience: Almost two years as a tutor in economics, statistics and math.
Research Interests: Development economics at micro level.
Statement of Purpose: Okay
Other:
Concerns: GRE. I get easily nervous and then cant think straight. I'm therefore scared I will not score that well. My university has a good reputation, but are not that known outside the region. My B's have been in math classes.
Applying to: Maryland AREC, Davis ARE, Ohio State AEDE, Cornell applied phd, Michigan State ARE, North Carolina State ARE, University of Wisconsin ARE, University of Washington.

s1391470 2011:
Type of Undergrad: B.Sc. Comp Sci, B.Sc. Mathematics (Average Canadian Uni)
Undergrad GPA: 8.9/10 (Comp Sci), 8.7/10 (Math)
Type of Grad: MBA - Top Canadian Program, M.A. Econ (Average Canadian Uni)
Grad GPA: 3.8/4 (MBA), 4.25/4.33 (Econ).
Other Education: CFA
GRE: 800 Q / 720 V / 6.0 W (native English speaker)
Math Courses: Calc I, II, III (A), Real Analysis (A), ODE (A-), Probability (A), Stats (A), Complex Analysis (B+), Linear Algebra (A)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Macro, Micro, Econometrics, Finance, International Trade, Environment, Public Policy, Labour Economics,
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro, Macro
Other Courses: During MBA, Game Theory and Micro/Macro
Letters of Recommendation: 4 from M.A. econ. 2 Minnesota Grads, 1 Queens Grad, 1 Toronto Grad
Research Experience: Patent, Masters Thesis, R.A. in Econ and Comp. Sci
Teaching Experience: TA'ed bunch of courses
Work Experience: Nearly 10 years in a variety of roles in technology and finance
Research Interests: international trade and development
SOP: Pretty strong, I think.
Concerns: I have some pretty poor grades in upper level math courses (not listed) including several Cs. However, in my SoP I mentioned how I was working full time while completing this degree, and how my patent is directly related to my math degree (it is related to obfuscation/encryption and group theory).
Other: I'll be 35 when I start my PhD, so I'm a bit older than the average grad student.
Applying to: Columbia, NYU, U Penn, Minnesota, University of Michigan, Brown, Cornell, Wisconsin (Missed funding date), Cornell, Queen's, Toronto, Carnegie Mellon

acoustickel 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Business Administration & Public Accounting (tiny liberal arts college in South Dakota)
Undergrad GPA: 3.92
Type of Grad: MS Economics from private Texas school
Grad GPA: 3.96
GRE: Q 750 / V 590 / AW 4.5
Math Courses: Er...Cal I-III, Prob & Stats, Linear Algebra (currently taking)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Econometrics, Micro, Health Econ, Development, Intl Policy, Econ of Information, Macro Analysis, Urban, Thesis
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro, Econ of Religion, Intl Trade
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: None well known. Two are pretty enthusiastic about helping me get in somewhere and the other is supportive but probably didn't write a glowing letter.
Research Experience: RA for 3 semesters, Master's thesis
Teaching Experience: TA for 2 semesters and tutored for 2 semesters
Research Interests: IO, education, labor, maybe behavioral
SOP: I tried to make myself sound interesting even if I may not be all that qualified
Concerns: Obviously math...and my GRE score...
Other: I think I win the least math award
Applying to: Minnesota (Applied), Oregon, Nebraska, Kansas State, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas, Michigan State, Colorado, U of Illinois - Chicago, Vanderbilt, Purdue
In: Minnesota (Applied), Oregon, Nebraska, Kansas State ($), Missouri

kekecib 2011:
Institution: Rice
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: NA
Notification date: Feb 13
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: No
Comments: Terrible news for me. 1st decision I got. It was one of my safeties. I do know what is wrong with my profile according to their ad. committee's view.
Institution: UIUC
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: NA
Notification date: Feb 17
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: No
Comments: I started to freak out. I am wondering what will happen to the rest of my applications. This one did hurt and made me pretty sad.
In: None Out: Rice, UIUC Waiting: 19 Econ PhD

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.

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.

hulk86 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BS Econ (top 25, top 50 econ)
Undergrad GPA: 3.69
Type of Grad: MA Econ (Top 20 econ)
Grad GPA: 3.81
GRE: 800Q 710V 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III (A, A, A), Linear Algebra (A), Real Analysis I-II (A, A-)
Econ Courses (Ph.D.-level): Micro I (A-) Macro I (A-) Metrics I (A)
Econ Courses (MA-level): Time Series (A-), Micro theory (A+), Macro I-II (A, A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Typical undergrad econ major with political economy electives, mostly A-/B+ with some As
Other Courses: (All Stat Ph.D.-level) Probability (A), Stat. Inference (B), Probability and Measure Theory (A)
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from profs that taught me, 1 from prof I RAed for
Research Experience: Undergrad thesis, 2 semesters RA + current full-time RA job
Teaching Experience: Private tutoring in math and econ
Research Interests: Political economy, growth, development, social choice, public economics
SOP: Standard
Other: n/a
RESULTS:
Acceptances: U Virginia ($$), Michigan State ($$$)
Waitlists: Duke, Johns Hopkins
Rejections: Yale, Berkeley, MIT, Wisconsin, Princeton, Maryland, UCSD, Michigan, Brown, Harvard, NYU, Cornell
Attending: Michigan State
What would you have done differently?
I would have been more careful about selecting letter writers. I expected to bag a few more admits (as did my adviser)--especially target schools like Maryland or Wisconsin--and I suspect one reason why I didn't was because one of my letters was weak. I overestimated the signalling power of good grades in hard classes and didn't fully appreciate the primacy of LORs until the process was underway. Nonetheless, I'm very pleased with my great offer from MSU, which became my top choice yesterday (without hearing about my waitlists) due to external, personal/geographic factors. Really excited to get started in August!

econsd 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BSc in Economics with a Business Minor
Undergrad GPA: 3.731
Type of Grad: MSc in Economics from same school
Grad GPA: 4.00
GRE: First try: 740Q,410V,4.5AWA Second try: 158Q,152V,4.0AWA
Math Courses: Intro to Prob and Stats (Calc Based) (A), Cal 1-3 (B,B,A), Differential Equations (B), Elementary Logic and Sets (Intro to Proofs) (A), Matrix Algebra (A), Linear Algebra (B), Real Analysis (A), Statistics 2 (A)
Grad Econ Courses: Marketing Research (A), International Econ (A), Industrial Organization (A), History of Econ Thought (A), Labor Econ (A), Advanced Micro (A), Research Methods (A), Time Series Econometrics(A), Advanced Macro (A), Econometrics (A)
Econ Courses: Principles of Micro (A), Principles of Macro (A), Marketing (A), Money and Banking (B), Inter Micro (A), Inter Macro (A), Public Finance (A), Math Econ (A), Stats II (Econ Department) (B)
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: Grad advisor and 2 from Grad professors. All are from top 50 schools or very close but are not well known in researching or publications. I believe all were very strong.
Research Experience: Graduate Thesis, Co-Author with a professor ( Published ), class: Research Methodology in Applied Econ, Conference Presentation w/ thesis advisor
Teaching Experience:
Research Interests: Health Economics/Applied Micro
SOP: I spent a lot of time on this because of setbacks in my profile and modified it for each school
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UK($), UGA($), FL St. ($), CO(-), NCSU(?), OR(?), Kansas($), WA St($), IUPUI($), OR St.(?), MO(-)
Waitlists:
Rejections: WI-Madison, Duke, VA, Vandy, MSU, AZ, UNC Chapel Hill, Purdue
Pending: 1
Attending: Emory ($)
What would you have done differently? The weaknesses, in my opinion, in my application were my GRE score and my undergraduate/MSc university. I wouldn't have transferred based on friends, relationships, and a co-authorship. The only thing I would have done differently is study more for the GRE instead of taking its impact so lightly. If you would have told me I had a choice between 12 acceptances at the beginning of the cycle I wouldn't have believed it. I'm thrilled with my results and very excited to attend Emory. Thanks for everyone who was there to talk it out in tiny chat for the past few months and good luck with your programs.

unfallible 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 50 State School (flagship), BS Econ, BA Philosophy
Undergrad GPA: 3.9
Type of Grad:N/A
Grad GPA:N/A
GRE: 800Q, 760V, 5.5AW
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Intro Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Intro to Proofs, Linear Algebra, Intro Real Analysis (All As, except for A- in Linear Algebra)
Econ Courses: Intro/Intermediate Micro/Macro, Econometrics, Industrial Organization, Game Theory, Labor (All As); Grad Level: Math for Economists (B+)
Other Courses: Intro Probability
Letters of Recommendation: 2 Economics Professors I had in class + one administrator that I did something significant with (vague to protect anonymity)
Research Experience: Senior Thesis
Teaching Experience: 2 semesters TA (Intermediate Micro and Labor)
Research Interests: Labor, IO
SOP: brief, with a 'cutesy' anecdote about incentives
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UT Austin ($$), Ohio State ($$), UC Davis ($), UC Irvine ($), UArizona($), UNC Chapel Hill (?)
Waitlists: Berkeley(rejected), Georgetown (declined)
Rejections: MIT, Stanford, Northwestern, Michigan, Wisconsin, UCLA,UCSD,Cornell,CMU,Maryland,Penn State
Pending: UIUC(Never responded. Maybe my application didn't fully go through?)
Attending: UTAustin

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?

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!

DGSE 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Public, unranked PhD program
Undergrad GPA: 3.9
Grad: same
GRE: 650V, 800Q, 6.0
Math Courses(undergrad-level): CalcII,III, IV (B+, A+, A), Intro to Proofs (A), Linear Algebra(A+), ODE(A), Probability (B+), Intro to RA (A), Stats (A), Prob. II (A), Stat II (A), RA I (A)
Econ Courses(undergrad-level): Intro Micro,Macro(A,A), Intermediate Micro,Macro(A+,A), intro stats (A+), enviro econ (A+), Labor (A), Math econ (A), Trade I (A+), Trade II (A+), Directed Research (A, A)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro TheoryI,II (A-,A), Math Econ (A-), Metrics(A), Metrics II (A)
Letters of Recommendation: One was my advisor for my thesis, another was my Micro I prof, and the last I RAed with and took graduate classes from
Research Experience: RAed a summer and a semester with one professor. Did a thesis. Not sure if it helped, but I interned under a govt. economist
Research Interests: Development, risk, political economy, labor (my main interest is in development)
SOP: nothing special just communicated my research interests
Results:
Accepted: UPenn (very high waitlist for funding--declined), Berkeley ARE ($, off waitlist), Cornell ($$$), Vanderbilt ($$$$), Maryland ARE ($$$$), Georgetown ($$), USC ($$)
Waitlisted: UVA (declined)
Rejected: MIT, Princeton, JHU, PSU, Maryland Econ, Michigan, Wisconsin
Attending: UC Berkeley ARE
What I would have done differently?
I had way too many safeties (USC, Georgetown, Maryland ARE). I kind of wish I'd applied to Duke, Columbia and NYU. I have the usual, "I wish I knew when I was a freshman", but my results are nothing to complain about, and if I'd really wanted to shoot for the top 10 I could've been more patient and done a European/Canadian masters.
Comments:
My interests also changed even during the short time while I was applying (I lost interest in growth and grew interested in political economy). I was surprised I got into UPenn, but not even a waitlist from places like PSU or Wisconsin, which should be easier than its ranking indicates since it has such a large class size. UPenn apparently with its large class size and tough comps doesn't mind taking chances on people from nowhere like me.

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!!! !!! !

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.

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)

gemmy 2012:

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 50 undergrad, top 40 in Econ, top 30 in Math
Undergrad GPA: 3.84 (Econ 3.85, Math 3.85)
Type of Grad:
Grad GPA:
GRE: 670 V, 800 Q, 4.0 W
Math Courses: Cal I-III (A, A, A-), Differential Equations (B+), Linear Algebra (A-), Linear Analysis (A), Math Reasoning (Intro to Proof) (A-), Multivar Cal I-II (A, A), Real Analysis I (A), Discrete Modeling (A), Statistics (A), Prob Theory I-II (A, A), Stochastic Cal (A-)
Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro I (A-), Macro I (A)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): a lot
Other Courses: Computer Programming (Java)
Letters of Recommendation:
1. Grad Macro Prof: Ph.D from Harvard, very very well-known. I did well in the class, and he knows me well. The letter should be strong.
2. Econ Prof: Ph.D from Chicago, very well-known. I did well in his undergrad class and talked to him a lot about this whole process. Hi is really enthusiastic and supportive. The letter should be very strong.
3. Research Advisor: Assistant Prof, Ph.D from Harvard. I have been working with her for more than a year. She knows me very well. The letter should be strong.
4. Econ Prof: Ph.D from Columbia, well-known. I did well in his undergrad class, but he doesn't know me that well as compared to the other Profs.
Research Experience: RA'd for more than a year.
Teaching Experience:
Research Interests: International Macro (Trade and Finance), Macro
SOP: Standard, about two pages long.
Concerns: I'm not sure how strong the letter from recommender 4 will be. No grad-level Math classes.
Other:
Applying to: Harvard, Chicago, Berkeley, Northwestern, UPenn, Columbia, Minnesota, NYU, Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, Wisconsin, Cornell, Brown, Duke, Maryland, BU, JHU, Penn State.

northpaw 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 40 undergraduate university, not real well known for econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.94 overall/3.88 econ
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA:
GRE: 770Q, 750V, 4.5 AWA
Math Courses: Calculus I-II (A), Multivariate Calculus (A), Linear Algebra (A), Intro to Math Reason (A), Real Analysis (A), Mathematical Statistics I (A), Mathematical Statistics II (Spring)
Econ Courses (grad-level): ​N/A
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Introduction to Microeconomics (A), Introduction to Macroeconomics (A), Advanced Microeconomics (A), Advanced Macroeconomics (A), Econometrics (B), Labor Economics (A), International Economics (A), Development Economics (N/A), Senior Thesis (A)
Other Courses: International Political Economy (A, technically an international affairs course), Spanish minor
Letters of Recommendation: Senior Thesis advisor (International Affairs professor), Fed Economist, Analysis professor (not from my undergraduate institution). On the whole, they should be strong, but not well known. In terms of well written vs. well known references, I am heavily skewed to the well written side (hopefully).
Research Experience: Three years as a research assistant at a regional Fed
Teaching Experience: N/A
Research Interests: macroeconomics, development economics, labor economics...really hoping to crystallize my interests after my first year
SOP:I spent a lot of time on it...does that mean anything? I had some help from people who know a fair amount about the process, so it should be fine.
Concerns: Not enough math, could have had a more rigorous undergraduate experience in econ, recommendations are not well known, less than stellar gre.
Other: I wish I would have taken more math in undergrad. I have learned a lot through this process about how little I know, which is both daunting and exciting
Applying to: Penn, UCLA, Cornell, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Duke, Maryland, UBC, Toronto, Ohio State, Penn State, Boston College, Virginia, Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Arizona State, UWO

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]

tim22 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA in Economics/Mathematics, mid-size us university without econ grad program
Undergrad GPA:3.89
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 170Q, 166V, 4.5AW
Math Courses: 3 quarters calculus, 2 quarters linear algebra, 2 quarters math stats, differential equations (all A- or higher)
Econ Courses (grad-level): NA
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate micro/macro, 2 quarters econometrics
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: All from econ professors, not especially strong
Research Experience: none
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: not sure, possibly development
SOP: Generic
Concerns:
Other:
Applying to: Stanford, Berkeley, U Wisconsin, U Michigan, U Maryland, Davis, Brown, Cornell, Santa Barbara, Irvine

EconNerd 2012:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BS in Business with concentration in Finance and Economics, Minor in Theology from a Midwestern Catholic private institution
Undergrad GPA: 3.97
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q/560V/4.0A
Math Courses: Calc I-III (A), Linear Algebra (A), Discrete Math (A), Applied Probability Models (A), Differential Equations (A), Real Analysis (A)
Econ Courses (grad-level): N/A
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Inter. Micro (A), Inter. Macro (A), International Trade (A), Development Economics (A), Latin American Economics (A), Economics of Immigration (A), Econometrics (A)
Other Courses: Various Finance and Theology courses that have no bearing
Letters of Recommendation: Econ Professor, Finance Professor, Linear Algebra Professor
Research Experience: N/A
Teaching Experience: N/A
Research Interests: Latin American Development, Immigration, Microcredit and Savings, possibly Public Finance or Labor
SOP: Have interesting background after graduation, math courses were taken at various institutions
Concerns: Little-none Research Experience and lower Verbal score
Other:
Applying to: Wisconsin, Northwestern, Michigan State, Cornell, Yale, BC, Duke, Pittsburgh, Texas, UCSD, Berkeley, Colorado, WUSTL

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: -

econphdhopeful2 2012:
Institution: Vanderbilt
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: na
Notification date: 2/10/2012
Notified through: email
Posted on GC: no
Comments: Expected but still a bummer, plenty more to go I suppose

TripleAxel 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: First rejection, not surprised but still sad

kinzaman 2012:
Institution: University Of Minnesota
Program: Econ PhD
Decision: Waitlisted
Funding: N/A
Notification Date: 03/01/12
Notified Through: E-mail
Posted on GC: No
Comments: After four straight rejections, a welcome change.

Marshall 2012:
Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Program: Ph.D. Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: N.A.
Notification Date: 3/7/2012
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: No
Comments: It's a strange world we live in when this rejection actually comforts me. I didn't really want to go there since I'd heard about their attrition, and after getting in with funding elsewhere this only helps set my mind at ease that I didn't apply to too few high ranking schools.

carvallocesar 2012:
Institution: Wisconsin
Program: Economics Ph.D.
Decision: Rejection
Funding: N/A
Notification date: 03/07/2012
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: No
Comments: Is only me or i just saw rejections from WISCONSIN today, i guess the always sent first good news.. LOl

eigenman 2010:
Type of Undergrad: BS Economics/Biochemistry from US R1 school, Top 10 economics
Undergrad GPA: 3.59
Type of Grad: Non-degree math/stats coursework
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 800V/800Q/5.0W
Math Courses: Undergrad-level: calc 1-2; multivariable calc; linear algebra; "applied" linear algebra; differential equations; series, sequences, and foundations (proofs intro). Grad level: stat theory I-II, applied linear regression, analysis II, time series analysis I, advanced linear algebra. Even mix of As and Bs.
Econ Courses: Intermediate macro/micro, econometrics, Latin American economics, + honors in: macro policy, quantitative macro, international trade, game theory, urban economics, money and banking. As and Bs.
Other Courses: lots of biochemistry and cellular/molecular biology, intro physics, physical chemistry, organic chemistry. As and Bs throughout.
Letters of Recommendation: Varied. Two from regional Fed economists, one from Analysis professor were generally used. For more behavioral places had letter from coauthor; for programs requiring a letter from an undergraduate instructor, tapped my quantitative macro graduate instructor. I'm sure they had nice things to say about me but perhaps they were not so influential.
Research Experience: First author on an experimental animal behavior paper published in medium-tier journal. Unpublished undergraduate thesis in behavioral neuroscience. 1.5 years (as of now) RAing at a regional Fed, one publication (another pending) in our in-house journal. Two semeters in a biochemistry lab.
Teaching Experience: Nil
Research Interests: At the time I submitted my applications, behavioral economics and evolutionary game theory, but I'm leaning toward econometrics and computational economics lately
SOP: Mostly addressed my background and suitability for graduate study
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UT-Austin (wl-$), OSU(wl-$), UW-Seattle(wl-$), Duke (MA), NYU (MA)
Waitlists: UMN, UW-Madison (bad waitlists in both cases)
Rejections: UCSD, Cornell, Brown, Northwestern, UPenn, U-Michigan, Caltech, PSU, LSE(MRes/PhD Track 1), CMU-Tepper
Pending: LSE(MSc-Research)
What would you have done differently? I probably should have bothered another Fed economist rather than asking my math prof, but I was worried about my mediocre math GPA. I also ought've interacted more with professors as an undergraduate, but nearly all of my economics courses were taught by graduates, and I made a decision to go to econ school fairly close to graduation. All of this considered I'm perfectly satisficed and looking forward to relaxing over the summer before putting my shoulder to the wheel in September.

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!

2pm 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.B.A, Econ concentration from large state university with no PhD program
Undergrad GPA: 4.0
Type of Grad: M.A. Econ, same school
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 790Q, 640V, 4.0AWA
Math Courses: Cal I (AP test), II (Community College), III, Intro to Proofs, Matrices and Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Real Analysis I
Econ Courses (master level): Macro, Micro, Metrics, International Finance, Health Econ, Time Series, Research Methods, Forecasting
Econ Courses (undergrad): Intermediate Macro, Micro, Metrics, Money & Banking, Math for Economist (same class with graduate level)
Other Courses: Mostly in business
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors , been told they are all strong
Research Experience: Honors undergrad thesis & master thesis. Nothing spectacular
Teaching Experience: Tutor in the Econ dept
Research Interests: Applied micro
Statement of purpose: Standard, did not customize
Concern: (somewhat) inadequate math background. Realized I wanted to do a Ph.D. in econ too late & tried to cram as much required math courses as possible while finishing my M.A.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UT Austin ($$) (attending), Houston ($$), Michigan State (no $), BU (no $), UVA (no info on $ yet)
Waitlists: BC, UW-M long waitlist -> rejection
Rejections: let me count the way…Yale, Berkeley, Columbia, NYU, Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, UMN, Duke, PSU, Maryland, WUSTL
Pending: Ohio State (the earliest deadline, still nothing yet. Oh the irony!)
What would you have done differently? Hard to say, since I know beforehand there will be lots of noise in my results anyway. Probably take more math and get 800Q in GRE? Perhaps spend more time on my SOP, although I don’t feel comfortable discussing my research goals & ideas in details since I don’t even know which field I am interested in at the time of the application process. One thing I won’t regret is not transferring. I have made some fantastic friends and built tremendous relationship w/ the faculty at my current university. Overall, I’m extremely happy. 2 years ago when I decided to go for a Ph.D. in economics I didn’t think I could even make it to a mid-rank program, so UT is definitely a step up from my expectations.

wheretogo1 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Big 10 School - top 50 undergrad
Undergrad GPA: 3.9/4.0
GRE: 800Q/550V/4.5Writing
Math Courses: multivariable calculus, linear algebra, probability theory, real analysis (2 semesters), abstract algebra, topology
Econ Courses: intermediate micro, intermediate macro, econometrics, game theory, labor, international
Other Courses: java programming
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from institution (one advised me during research paper), 1 from current boss (who is a professor at a top 5 program)
Research Experience: junior year research project, 3 years at a public policy thinktank
Teaching Experience: tutored calculus at college.... does that count?
Research Interests: applied micro, labor, public econ, but open to anything really
SOP: Not great, not terrible
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Maryland, Virginia, Texas
Rejections: Berkeley, Yale, nwestern, columbia, mich, wisconsin, cornell, carnegie mellon, penn state, illinois, duke, UCSD
Wait lists: BU, Uwashington, Upenn, Minnesota
What would you have done differently?
Build closer relations with economics faculty at my undergrad institution. My rec letters were not as strong as others.

Integral 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Math & Econ, top-30 US undergrad
Undergrad GPA: 3.7 overall; 3.5 in math; 4.0 in econ, or near enough
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 790Q 640V 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-II-III, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Probability, Advanced Calculus, Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Topology
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Econometrics, lots of field courses, PhD Micro I
Other Courses: nothing special; a few programming classes
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from thesis advisor; 1 from honors director & RA supervisor; 1 from a course instructor. All quite good, I think. Two of the three are reasonably well-known.
Research Experience: Honors thesis (money/macro), RA for one summer (trade), RA for a private research firm for one summer
Teaching Experience: Six semesters of teaching Intro Micro, Intro Macro, and Intro Stats.
Research Interests: Social Choice Theory, Mechanism Design, Monetary Economics, Macroeconometrics, Nonparametric Econometrics (it's a weird combo, I admit)
SOP: Nothing special.
Other: Some schools got my grades for Micro I, Algebra, and Topology; others didn't. I took those three in the fall.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Iowa State ($$), UC-Davis, Boston College ($$)
Waitlists: Wisconsin-Madison
Rejections: Columbia, NYU, NWU, Penn, Brown, Duke, WUSTL, Penn State, Carnegie-Mellon
Attending: Boston College
What would you have done differently?
Two things stand out:
1) Gotten better grades in math. I had B's in several key math courses which I'm sure torpedoed my chances at more than one school. On the other hand, I am fortunate enough to have a control: a friend of mine, at the same institution, who had a far better math record than me, was rejected across the board at the top 10. So who knows?
2) Taken the GRE earlier and gotten an 800Q. I doubt it would have made much of a difference, but I think the GRE cutoff is near 800, if not exactly 800, at the very top. At the very least, getting an 800Q would have put off one dimension of uncertainty.
In terms of undergrad institution and letters, I did about as well as I possibly could have. I started teaching very early; while that didn't affect admissions one iota, teaching was one of the things that opened doors for me in the department and got me the letters of rec I needed. I did all the research I could within the constraints that I had.
It's been a wild ride; I have no true regrets about any of it. I'm incredibly excited to join BC in the fall.

mgou 2011:
Type of Undergrad: Top 50 U.S. Institution
Major: Quantitative Economics
Minors: Math, Statistics
Undergrad GPA: Cumulative 3.47/ Econ GPA 3.8
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA:None
GRE: First take 760Q/450V 4writing…Retake 740Q/480V TBAwriting
Math Courses: Calc I-II(A,A) Math for Economists(Linear Algebra and Multi-variable Calculus) (A),Intro to Linear Algebra (C+), Linear Algebra (B+), Real Analysis II(A),Analysis of Several Variables (B), Intro Prob&StatsI-II-III (A-,B,A-), Stat Method in Finance (A-)
Econ Courses:
Basic EconI-II(B+,A), IntermedEconI-II-III(A,A,B+), Global Econ (A), Intl Trade (A-), Industrl Econ (D), Math Econ (C+), EconometricsI-II-III(B+,A,A-), Game theory (B), Labor Econ (B+), Finance Econ (A), Econ Honors thesisI-II(A-,A), 6 terms of Research (all A's)
Grad Level: (Stats Dept)Stats Methodology I-II(A-,A-), Survey Data and Analysis (IP), (Econ Dept)Business Cycle History(A)
Letters of Recommendation: A great letter from my advisor (Berkeley) whom I worked with for 8 terms. A good letter from the econ honors director (UCLA) who helped guide my thesis and is aware of the research I do. I've taken courses from both econ professors and done well. A good letter from a statistics professor (Washington) whose grad stats class I've taken that can comment on my ability to analyze and interpret data and is also aware of my research I do.
Research Experience: Undergraduate honors thesis. I am coauthoring a paper with my advisor. I have applied for 3 research grants and received three research grants. I presented my work at my university's undergraduate research symposium.
Teaching Experience: Tutored undergraduate calculus for two terms
Research Interests: Economic History, Empirical Macroeconomics.
SOP: tailored for each school I applied to.
Concerns: I studied abroad for a quarter and did poorly in Ind Econ, and Math Econ due to many reasons. I couldn't retake those courses at my home university since I took them abroad...unless I studied abroad again. Instead I decided to take harder math, econ and stat courses to try to compensate for those poor grades. Also, nowhere in my transcript does it formally say I've taken multivariable calculus. My GRE scores also aren't the best. So there is a lot I have to explain in my SOP.
Results:
Acceptances: UC Irvine($) Rutgers(no $)
Waitlists: UW
Rejections: UCB, NWU, GMU, Vanderbilt, BC, UofA, UVA, WUSTL, Emory
Attending: UCI
What would you have done differently?
Ummm...I don't know. I got bad grades when I studied abroad, but I don't regret that at all. GRE probably couldn't have been much better(actually did worse on the retake). Im happy to be going to UCI. As stated in the previous posts, you only need one good admit

barkles 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. double major in Mathematics and Economics from large public US university (top 15 econ)
Undergrad GPA: 3.80 - will graduate summa cum laude
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA:
GRE: 770Q/630V/4.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Lin. Algebra and Diff. Eqs. Applied Linear Algebra, Real Analysis I & II, Abstract Algebra I & II, Probability and Statistics I & II, Topology, Stochastic Processes (gpa ~ 3.80)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): 4 intro courses, International Trade, Financial Economics, Econometrics, Game Theory, Industrial Organization, Cost-Benefit Analysis (IP), Macroeconomic Policy (IP) (gpa = 4.00)
Other Courses: 1 class in C++ programming
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ profs, one senior faculty who I took a course with and one junior faculty who I'm doing research with right now, plus a math professor who is my adviser for my honors thesis and who I did a bunch of research for.
Research Experience: Did research in the math department (at first just to do it, ended up being the material for my honors thesis) for a professor at my school. We will try to get the work published eventually; we're working on a draft right now. Also am an RA for an economics professor which began right before I started applying.
Teaching Experience: Just some tutoring, nothing major. Didn't mention it on any apps
Research Interests: Macro (?) Really don't know actually.
SOP: Pretty standard I think. I didn't feel that great about it, but my letter of recommendation writers said they thought it was strong FWIW
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Carnegie Mellon ($$$), UCSD($), UIUC ($$), Iowa ($$), UPitt($$)
Waitlists: Wisconsin*, Princeton (later rejected)
Rejections: MIT, Yale, Northwestern, NYU, Michigan, Rochester
Attending: Carnegie Mellon University
*Based on my short email conversations with the department, I believe I would have been made an offer if I had still been interested. However, I was pretty set on CMU at that point and asked them to withdraw me from their waitlist.
What would you have done differently?
I think there are two main things that hindered me from breaking the top 10. The first was my relatively low GRE quant score of 770. I only took the test once, and by the time I realized that the median accepted student had an 800 GRE Q score at basically every school I was applying to it was too late to try to retake it. The second thing was a couple of mediocre math scores that could easily have been higher: a B in topology and a B+ in Abstract Algebra II. I took both of these spring semester of my junior year, and for some reason I decided to go into mega-slacking mode right before finals. Here's a continuous bijection for you: finals: A -> B. Wah wah. Those were the two biggest "warning flags" on my transcript I think; if I could go back and change any two grades, those would be the ones.
I also wish I would have taken a couple of grad school classes, either in math or in econ. Undergraduate econ classes are for the most part mind-numbingly boring in my experience, with only precious few exceptions.
Overall, though, I'm perfectly happy with my results and with the prospect of attending Carnegie Mellon in the fall.

Refused 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 5 undergrad, top 10 econ - Physics and Economics
Undergrad GPA: 3.4
Type of Grad: Top 10 math, non-degree
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 800q 680v 5.0aw
Math Courses: Real analysis, ODE, PDE, stats, probability (grad)
Econ Courses (grad-level):
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Advanced micro, econometrics, &c.
Other Courses: physics
Letters of Recommendation: 2 top 10 profs and one 1 top 5 PhD now in industry
Research Experience: RA one summer, economics research group at investment bank since college, 1 working paper
Teaching Experience: no
Research Interests: Macro
SOP: yes
Concerns: B- in real analysis
Other:
Applying to: NYU, NYU Stern, Wisconsin, UCLA, UCSD, Boston University, Duke, Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Washington University in St. Louis, Johns Hopkins, UC Davis, Georgetown, Boston College, Penn State, UC Santa Barbara, University of Southern California, University of Washington, Virginia, Duke MA, UBC MA, Oxford MSc in Economics for Development

kekecib 2011:
Institution: Rice
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: NA
Notification date: Feb 13
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: No
Comments: Terrible news for me. 1st decision I got. It was one of my safeties. I do know what is wrong with my profile according to their ad. committee's view.
Institution: UIUC
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: NA
Notification date: Feb 17
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: No
Comments: I started to freak out. I am wondering what will happen to the rest of my applications. This one did hurt and made me pretty sad.
In: None Out: Rice, UIUC Waiting: 19 Econ PhD

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...

littletotoro 2012:
PROFILE
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 Liberal Arts College
Undergrad GPA: Economics Major - 3.72; Cumulative - 3.69; double Philosophy and Mathematics minor
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 660V, 5.0 AW
Math Courses: Calc 1 (A+), Calc 2 (A), Vector Calculus (B+), Linear Algebra (B), ODE (A), Probability Theory (B-), Intro to Analysis (A-), Operations Research (A-), Combinatorics (A)
Econ Courses: Principles of Micro/Macro (A,A); Intermediate Micro/Macro (A-,A-); International Economics (A), Technology and Growth (A), Game Theory (B), Econometrics (A+), Labor Economics (A), Senior Seminar (B)
Other Courses: N/A
Letters of Recommendation: 3 Econ professors, 1 whom I co-authored a political economy paper with in a 4th tier journal
Research Experience: RA for environmental economist over a summer, co-author as mentioned above
Teaching Experience: N/A
Research Interests: Behavioral Economics, Political Economy, Economics of Education, Labor Economics (Economics of Family, Unemployment)
SOP: In retrospect, not very well written, lacked direction.
Results:
Acceptances (Master's): Duke, Tufts($), UBC
Rejections: PhD - Michigan, MIT, Princeton, Yale, Minnesota, Johns Hopkins, Boston University, Cornell, Rochester, Brown, Maryland, Master's - Queen's, Toronto
Waitlists: Wisconsin (rejected)
Attending: Duke
What would I have done differently?
I really should not have been afraid of taking advanced math courses earlier, even though my comparative advantage is not in Math (because I was too obsessed with my GPA). So I should have taken Real Analysis and the Probability-Statistics sequence earlier. If I didn't do well in those courses, then it would have given me a better signal into my comparative advantage. As it stands, I'm still not sure. Should not have taken so many economics elective courses. I should also have done a computer science course (because nowadays facility with computing languages seems to be becoming more crucial for cutting edge economics research). Two words for all applicants: Mathematical Maturity. Build that up in your undergrad, while you have friends and faculty around you to help, as much as you can.
Having said that, I'm happy I got into Duke and I'm going to put myself through as many math, statistics and PhD courses as I can stomach (in the words of Greg Mankiw). My GPA has a high likelihood of tanking. But if an Econ PhD is meant to be, then taking all these technical courses will be the best preparation that I can hope for. If not, then at least I would have challenged myself and learned valuable quantitative skills in the process before heading into the private sector.