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Most Recently Selected profile:

The data below comes from testmagic forums and shows accepted, waitlisted, and rejected applicants for 2007-2009 for economics graduate school. Clicking on the graph above will make the most recent profile appear to the right of the graph.

All profiles:

Acceptances:
wobo82 2007:
PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Top 25 research university per USNWR
Undergrad GPA: 3.33 (electrical engineering BS)
Type of Grad: Top 100-ish research university without an econ PhD program
Grad GPA: 3.87 (economics MA)
GRE: 790Q/670V/5.0A
Math Courses: Calc I through III, Diff Eq, Matrix/Linear Algebra, Math Stats, Stochastic Proc, Analysis

Econ Courses: Micro Theory, Applied Econometrics, bunch of field courses
Other Courses: Bunch of undergrad EE courses (lots of Matlab, some C++)
Letters of Recommendation: Three from econ profs at grad school. (They were not alumni of the schools I applied to so where they got their PhDs was of no consequence.)
Research Experience: Very insignficant.
Teaching Experience: None.
Research Interests: Development, broadly speaking.

SOP: I liked it.
Other: Male, international

RESULTS:
Acceptances: USC (fellowship), UMD AREC (RA), UMN APEC (fellowship), UVA (w*itlisted for aid), GWU (w*itlisted for aid), UW-Seattle (no aid)
No news as of Apr 3rd (not that I care anymore): UNC-CH, Pitt, Purdue
Rejections: Berkeley ARE, Brown, Georgetown, Vanderbilt


What would you have done differently?
Nothing. (Well, perhaps tried the PowerPrep tests.) My personal circumstances were such that I couldn't have done things differently. I do feel that I had overestimated the difficulty of getting in (to the departments I chose) but underestimated the difficulty of getting funding. But hindsight is 20-20. The biggest holes in my profile going in were: unknown grad school, bad undergrad record, lack of research experience, complete absence of a macro course (taking my first one right now). I feared the lack of macro would shut me out from the straight econ depts. All in all I am happy with my acceptance tally. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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 w*itlisted 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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
ockam 2007:
hey, I just heard about this forum a couple weeks ago. wish I had know about it earlier, but I hope somebody else might find my info useful

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: large "top-ten" public research university w/ top 15ish econ dept

Undergrad GPA: 3.95 overall, 3.97 math
GRE: 800Q/610V/5.0
Math Courses: majored in math, with rigorous year-long sequences in analysis, stats, and abstract algebra. upper div electives included applied linear algebra and mathematical modeling. note to future applicants: the admissions director at princeton seemed to take very seriously the fact that i had taken the more rigorous math courses
Econ Courses: very few: intro to micro, mathematical econ, grad-level micro. After applying, some macro and behavioral (and said I would do so on application)
Other Courses: lots of philosophy including grad-level coursework in philosophy of science.

Letters of Recommendation: These were probably the strongest part of my application. One from a full professor each of: econ, math, phil departments. Math letter came from my real analysis prof who is also a college provost. Phil letter was from my honors thesis advisor. I took a grad course with the econ prof. I know all my letter writers quite well, so there were lots of very specific things they could say about me.
Research Experience: none in economics. Assisted research in epidemiology (with a sociologist) and genomics. Independent research in philosophy of science and sabermetrics.
Teaching Experience: tutor/TA for the computer science dept (java)
Research Interests: very broad. mostly micro and metrics, both theory and applied

SOP: 700 words, nothing fancy. described how my background in math and phil led me to economics. said my interests in econ were broad and described a couple specific topics that interest me. Used mostly the same statement at every school, changing just the last two sentences for each application
Other: Residential advisor, phil club president, and undergrad phil journal editor.

RESULTS:
Acceptances:
full funding:
Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, UPenn, Columbia, Northwestern Wisc-Madison, UBC

no $: UCSD
Waitlists:
Yale, MIT
Rejections:
Harvard, Berkeley
What would you have done differently?
absolutely nothing. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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!
vbrep_register("442973") Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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 wud 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 wud probably stick to my original decision of going to rochester
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Skipper 2007:
Top 20 private undergrad (with top 40 econ dept)
3.90 GPA, double-major in math and econ.

Selected Math courses:

Multivariable Calc: A-
Probability: A-
Mathematical stats: A
Matrix Algebra (not proof-based): A+
Intro to proofs: A
Intro to analysis (taken at a local public school): A

GRE: 690 V, 800 Q, 5.0 AWA


Results: Accepted with funding
WUSTL
Texas-Austin

without funding
Northwestern (off w*itlist)
Wisconsin-Madison
Duke (tuition waiver)


Rejected
Harvard
MIT
Michigan

Waitlisted
Chicago


What I would do differently: I would have taken a rigorous 2-semester analysis sequence and written a senior thesis. I wouldn't have wasted money applying to Harvard and MIT. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
dorothy 2007:
Profile:

Gre: 790 Q, 700 V, 5.0 A
GPA: Overall: 4.0 Double Major: Econ and Math (BA's)
Classes: (all undergrad)
Math: Calc I through III, Linear Algebra, Modern Algebra, Real Analysis, Intro Probability & Statistics, two semester sequence in Probability and Statistics (current). Econ: Int Micro, Int Macro, Math Econ, Labor Econ, Public Finance, Welfare Econ, and a really cool economic history class all about Adam Smith

Type of Undergrad: big public university in the midwest
Research Experience: departmental honors thesis...unfinished as of application time. so not much.
Teaching Experience: taught college algebra for 1 yr, this year TA'ing for introductory economics (the kind for basketball and piano majors). Head TA for the spring semester.
LORs: One math prof that has known me since I was a freshman (Phd Yale) Two econ profs, one who has been my mentor but isn't publishing much anymore (Phd Minnesota) and one who is definitely publishing and is advising me for my honors thesis (Phd UW-Madison). They should all be very strong.
SoP & Interests: my SOP was nothing special. i'm interested in labor and public finance right now, but i want options.

Other: Female american. Numerous deparmental scholarships and honors over the years from both the math and econ departments. Graduating with college and departmental honors. National Merit back in the day, not that it probably matters anymore. Applying as a senior in college.


Admissions Decision Results
Admitted w/funding: Wisconsin, Maryland
Admitted w/o funding: Northwestern (w*itlisted for funding but I turned them down before I found out), Michigan
Rejected: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Berkeley, Yale

I'm going to Wisconsin.


What would I have done differently? Well...I couldn't have gotten better grades. I really think the weakness of my profile was my undergrad university. If I was starting over, I would have gone somewhere else. I could have taken an extra year and taken the PhD sequence here, or worked for a couple years, but I'm not even sure how much those would have mattered. Undergrads don't get to RA (I tried...) Who knows? I'm learning the UW drinking songs :) Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
forkie 2007:
GRE: 780 Q, 630 V, 5.5
Type of Undergrad: Big Midwestern State School , Econ and Math Major
Undergrad GPA: 3.95 All A's or A-'s in all math/econ major classes
Classes: Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Math Stats, etc
Research Experience: Worked for 1 prof, 1 grad student, had an honors thesis, worked for big journal

Teaching experience: tutored econ for 2+ years
LOR: Good, all chicago economists, all know me really well
Interests: Applied Micro
Results Admitted w/ Funding: Maryland, Wisconsin, Duke, Cornell, BC, UVA, Georgetown
w/o funding:Michigan
Rejected: Chicago, Northwestern, Princeton, Brown

Going to: University of Maryland

What I learned: make sure your applications are in AND complete. I realized a few weeks before I got my chicago and northwestern rejections that they hadn't gotten everything....i felt like an idiot! Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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 w*iting, 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 Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
TruDog 2007:
PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Top-five public LAC
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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
JAlfredPrufrock 2007:
Profile:
Gre: 770 Q, 560 V, 5.0 A
LSAT: 156

GPA: Overall: 3.51, Econ: 3.85, Math: 3.61, Majors: Economics and Mathematics
Classes: (all undergrad- highest grade is A)
Math: Calc II(B+) Calc III (B-), Calc IV (B+), Dif EQ's (B), Foundations of Math (A), Mathematical Statistics I (A-), Math Stats II (A), Math Stats III (A-), Math Modeling and Optimzation (A-), Statistical Computing (A), Matrix Theory (A), Linear Algebra (B), Advanced Calc I (A), Advanced Calc II (A), Elementary Point Set Topology (A-)
Econ: Intro Macro (A), Intro Micro (A), Intermed Macro (A), Intermed Micro (A), Advanced Micro (A-), Advanced Macro (A-), Econ Stats (A-), Econometrics (A-), Public Finance (A-), Game Theory (A), Economics of Heath Care (A), Environmental Economics (A).
Type of Undergrad: Medium Sized Mid-West State University
Research Experience: One year Research Assistanship for Econ Faculty memeber, 1 year+ Research Assistanship for small think tank with ties to econ department (ongoing)

Teaching Experience: University hired tutor in Math (2 years), Supplemental Instruction for Principles of Micro and Macro (3 yrs)
LORs: Econ professor (PhD Florida State) who taught me Public Finance and Econometrics. Econ Prof (PhD Rochester), who taught me Econ Stats, Game Theory, and Health Care Economics. Math Prof (PhD Bowling Green) who taught me Math Stats I, II, III and Statistical Computing.
SoP: Mentioned my research interests and how each school was a good match.
Interests: Econometrics, Law and Economics, Applied Micro, I/O.

Admissions Decision Results

Admitted: UVA (no funding), UW-Seattle (No Funding), George Mason (No Funding), Florida State (Generous Funding)
Waitlisted: Boston College
Rejected: MIT, NYU, Duke, Vanderbilt (Law & Econ), UCSD, UC-Berkeley, UI-UC, Brown.
Never Heard Back From: WUSTL

Heading to: Florida State.

What would I have done differently? I would have gone to a more prestigious undergrad institution if I had realized what a handicap not going to one would be. Also I would have started caring about my grades a lot earlier, and studied for the GRE and LSAT. Also I would have applied to more mid-level schools. I knowingly applied to alot of reaches, just on a lark. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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 r*jected
Rejections: Princeton, Yale, Penn, Northwestern, Columbia, Duke, Toronto, NYU

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 Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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! Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
gbt321 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 Liberal Arts
Undergrad GPA: 3.9 overall, 3.9 Econ major

Type of Grad: n/a.
Grad GPA: n/a.
GRE: 770/610/5.5 (taken as an undergrad, never bothered retaking it).
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Linear Alg, Complex Analysis, Real Analysis, Math Econ, Stats
Econ Courses: All undergrad required for the major, including econometrics

Letters of Recommendation: 1 undergrad advisor, 2 economists from my consulting firm. All are PhD economists, none extremely well known, but all know my abilities very well and they write convincingly.
Research Experience: undergrad research assistant, 3 years with an economic consulting firm doing applied micro
Teaching Experience: undergrad TA
Research Interests: environmental economics
SOP: stressed research experience, quantitative abilities, and research interests
Other: experience in SAS and Stata programming.


RESULTS:
Acceptances: MSU Ag Econ ($RA), Wisconsin AAE ($RA), Maryland AREC ($RA), Oregon State ARE ($RA), Penn State AERS ($RA), NC State Ag Econ
Waitlists: for funding at NC State
Rejections: None
What would you have done differently? Retake GRE. I would have applied to Berkeley or a traditional econ program to get my letter writers off my back about going the ag econ route ;). Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
octavio 2008:
Type of Undergrad: Large US state university, econ program ranked very low
Undergrad GPA: 4.0
Type of Grad: Currently enrolled in econ masters at a US public university

Grad GPA: 4.0 through first semester
GRE: 800Q, 690V, 6.0 AW
Math Courses: Undergrad: Calc 1-4, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Real Analysis; Grad: Topology, Optimization (IP)
Econ Courses: Undergrad: All the standard intro/intermediate, econometrics, electives; Grad: Micro, Macro, Econometrics

Letters of Recommendation: All three were from economists and should be very positive. Nobody famous, that I know of... but I get the impression that they were very specific.
Research Experience: Summer RA for econometrics professor, currently an RA for a couple of professors working in applied micro
Teaching Experience: None, except some grading
Research Interests: Development, trade, applied micro

SOP: It was very conservative, about a page long, talking about what I had done as a research assistant, what my general research interests were, and my desire to work in academia after graduation. For the AREC programs, I added a short paragraph about my experiences studying abroad in a developing country and my eagerness to do field work (without sounding naive).

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Berkeley ARE ($, will be attending), UCSD ($), Maryland ($), Michigan (no $), Wisconsin AAE ($), Michigan State ($), UC Davis ($)
Waitlists: Brown
Rejections: Stanford, Yale


What would you have done differently? Things worked out well given that my pedigree was so poor. I got into Berkeley ARE, which is a perfect match for my interests, so I can't think of much to do differently. Probably shouldn't have applied to Stanford and chosen a different reach instead, not that I would have gotten in. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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). Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
yayflipflops 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small LAC
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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
desimba 2008:
PROFILE:
Field you are applying to: Business Economics-type departments in business schools & conventional Economics departments as well
Type of Undergrad: Chemical Engineering (IIT)
Undergrad GPA: 3.88
Type of Grad: Business Adminstration

Grad GPA: 4.0
GMAT: 750
Math Courses: Vector Calculus; Linear Algebra with Applications (Graduate); Mathematics – I , II & III; Transform Calculus & PDE (Undergraduate: Topics covered include Complex Analysis, Multivariable Calculus, Numerical Methods, and Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations) (No real analysis)
Econ Courses: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Game Theory (Graduate-at the MBA level); Economics (Undergraduate)

Relevant Finance Courses: N/A
Other Courses: N/A
Letters of Recommendation: 3-4 from professors at my graduate institution
Research Experience: RA in Engineering during my graduate studies; some experience during my consulting job at our firm's economic think tank
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Institutions; trade; development; transitional economies

SOP: 2-3 page SOP talking about why I am qualified; what got me interested in these topics; why interested in the school and briefly on future plans of joining academia. Provided citations to some academic papers which had kindled my interest on these topics
Other: GRE-800 Q; 580 V; 5.5 AWA; TOEFL:116

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Economics @ Wisconsin-Madison (without funding for 1st year); University of Michigan Ross School's International Business & Business Economics; Global Economics & Management at UCLA Anderson; Economics @ U. of Iowa; Business Economics & Public Policy at Kelley (Indiana) (all with funding)

Waitlists: None
Rejections: Stanford GSB Economic Analysis & Policy; Chicago GSB Economics; Economics @ University of Maryland; Economics @ Arizona State University; Economics & Public Policy at Tepper & Heinz, CMU
What would I have done differently? Nothing during the application phase; from a long term stand-point though, I would have tried to get my senior year thesis published & also during my MBA studies, I would have probably tried to get involved in research with faculty members at my institute Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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
LOR: 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 :p

-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.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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 Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Luckykid 2008:
Undergrad Institution: UW-Milwaukee
Major: Economics/Math Minor

GPA: 3.4 (3.6 Econ) (3.6 Math)(3.6, 3.75, 3.8 The last 3 semesters)
GRE: 770q 460v 4AWA
Tofel: I am an American but my verbal suggests otherwise...
Courses:
301 Int. Micro B
302 Int. Macro A

325 Money B
353 Devlop A
413 Stats B
351 Intro Int A
447 Labor A
513 Econometrics B

454 Trade A
404 Game Theory B
506 Math Econ I A-
Spring: Math Econ II

Math:
Business Calc A

Calc I B
Calc II A
Intro to Proofs B+
Spring: Calc III, Linear Algebra

Research: Working on undergrad research two semesters...nothing special.
LOR: 1 should be stellar Associate prof(U-Mich)., 2 others pretty good-good one assoc. one tenured.


Interests: Experimental, Applied Micro, Labor

Results: Admissions:
Michigan State University ($0)
University of Arizona ($0)
University of Kentucky ($12+3)
Florida State University ($16+3)
University of Georgia ($p*nding)

University of Houston ($9.5+6)
University of Tennessee ($14)
University of Connecticut (MA)
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (MA-spring)

Rejections:
University of Michigan Ann-Arbor
University of Virginia
University of Iowa

Pennsylvania State University
University of Indiana-Bloomington
Vanderbilt
Arizona State University
Iowa State University
North Carolina State University
Rice University
University of Oregon
University of Massachusetts


Waiting:
Ohio State University (Long Shot)
Texas A&M University (Perhaps)
Purdue University (Probable)
Virginia Polytechnic and State University (Probable)

Goals: Tenure track at a Ph.D. Granting research institution. To live comfortably(upper middle), like my job, and be able to spend ample time with my family.


What I Learned: Applying to all of these school was worth it by far; if I was not getting married I would go to MSU in a heart beat. I think my profile is weak for that institution but the probability jump of many applications has paid off in the upper level schools. Almost all if not all of the schools I got accepted to are top in the areas I mentioned in my sop. I strongly believe that your SOP is a YES OR NO qualifier in the admissions process. It is hard to gauge what schools are good in what field so I think I should have asked my professors before I applied to better position my SOP and eliminate schools that are not fits and add schools that are. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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 (w*it 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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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 LOR
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 Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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 Q 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 (w*it-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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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 (list), Vanderbilt (list)

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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
2008applicant 2008:
Undergrad: Top three LAC in US

GPA: 3.75/4.0 Econ (Econ major)
Math:Calc I-III, Linear Algebra
GRE: 790Q/710V/5.5AW
Teaching experience: TA in college for Intermediate Macro and Econometrics
Research experience: Senior thesis, since turned into co-authored paper w/ advisors, submitted for publication. RA job since college (3 years) supervising big field experiment in Latin America. Started (no results yet) small independent field/lab experiment here.

LOR: 2 from my current bosses and the other from my thesis advisor.
Interests: development, demography, experimental
What I learned: I did very well except at the very top schools and it was obviously my weak math background that hurt me there, but it was my choice not to take those classes. It was a really hard choice between Michigan and Berkeley ARE.
Accepted: Michigan ($), Wisconsin (AAE) ($), Davis (ARE) ($), Berkeley (ARE) ($), Brown ($), UCSD ($), UCLA ($), Duke ($), Penn (Demography) ($)
Rejected: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale, NYU

Other: NSF Honorable Mention Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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)
LOR: 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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Streetmage 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 Liberal Arts
Undergrad GPA: 3.9 overall, 3.9 Econ major
Type of Grad: n/a.
Grad GPA: n/a.
GRE: 770/610/5.5 (taken as an undergrad, never bothered retaking it).

Math Courses: Calc I-III, Linear Alg, Complex Analysis, Real Analysis, Math Econ, Stats
Econ Courses: All undergrad required for the major, including econometrics
Letters of Recommendation: 1 undergrad advisor, 2 economists from my consulting firm. All are PhD economists, none extremely well known, but all know my abilities very well and they write convincingly.
Research Experience: undergrad research assistant, 3 years with an economic consulting firm doing applied micro
Teaching Experience: undergrad TA

Research Interests: environmental economics
SOP: stressed research experience, quantitative abilities, and research interests
Other: experience in SAS and Stata programming.

RESULTS:
Acceptances: MSU Ag Econ ($RA), Wisconsin AAE ($RA), Maryland AREC ($RA), Oregon State ARE ($RA), Penn State AERS ($RA), NC State Ag Econ
Waitlists: w*itlisted for funding at NC State

Rejections: None
What would you have done differently? Retake GRE. I would have applied to Berkeley or a traditional econ program to get my letter writers off my back about going the ag econ route ;). Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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! Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Econtastic 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Econ/Math from U of Oregon
Undergrad GPA: 3.07/4
Type of Grad: M.A. Econ

Grad GPA: 3.8/4
GRE: 760Q, 610V, 4.5AWA
Math Courses: Multivariable Calc (x2), Linear Algebra (x2), Differential Eqns, Statistics (x3), Real Analysis
Econ Courses (PhD-level): Micro (A), Macro (B+), Econometrics (B+,B,A-) Game Theory(A), Time Series(B+), IO(Winter), Monetary (Winter)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Just about every one offered, mostly As

Other Courses: 2 finances classes
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors (MIT, Chicago, Wisconsin), should be pretty solid
Research Experience: None to speak of outside of term papers
Teaching Experience: None, though I did grade for math and econ

Research Interests: Financial/Monetary Econometrics, IO and Public Policy
SOP: Not too long, but fairly good I think
Concerns: Bad undergrad GPA, which is when I took all my math. Low Q on GRE. Lack of teaching/research may have hurt my chances of getting $
Other: This whole application process was fairly miserable, I'm glad I never have to do it again

RESULTS:

Acceptances: UW-Seattle ($0), UC Riverside ($$)
Waitlists: None
Rejections: UC Davis, U Arizona, Arizona St
Pending: None

What would you have done differently? Besides work much harder as an undergrad? Maybe take more math (topology and such), and definitely retake the GRE. Also, my little piece of advice, ask for LoRs with plenty of time before the deadline! Having to bug your recommenders every day to make sure they submit them on time is no fun, and a bit nerve-racking Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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?" Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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, LOR 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! Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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.
RESULTS:
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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
baconos 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Econ/Math from good LAC (~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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
boiboi1986 2009:
PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Top 10 LAC
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 LOR 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! Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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! Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
rvalchev 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small private school. First tier according to US News but dead last in that tier :p
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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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!). Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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! Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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. Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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 LOR, 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, Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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.
LOR: 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! Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
irancontra 2009:
PROFILE:
Type of Grad: BS in Economics Liberal Arts University
Grad GPA: Summa Cum Laude
GRE: 770Q, 630V, 5.0 AWA
Letters of Recommendation: 3 undergraduate econ professors (1 well known)
Research Experience: None
Teaching Experience: Undergraduate TA
Research Interests: development, resource economics, remittances.
SOP: pretty standard
Concerns: I have been out of academics for 5 years.
Two spent working abroad in development, not the Peace Corps, and 3 in business.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UCSB, UCSC
Rejections: ASU
Waiting: Stanford, U Washington, U Oregon, UCLA, UC Irvine, UC Riverside (Masters), USC (Masters), UCSD, U Arizona Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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 shit-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 Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Rejections:
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 Decision (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 (r*jected later), Illinois (r*jected later),Boston College, Pitt
Rejections: UWashington, UTexas, UNC, Illinois
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.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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 LAC 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 w*iting on Purdue :doh:
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.:)
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
dorothy 2007: Profile:

Gre: 790 Q, 700 V, 5.0 A
GPA: Overall: 4.0 Double Major: Econ and Math (BA's)
Classes: (all undergrad)
Math: Calc I through III, Linear Algebra, Modern Algebra, Real Analysis, Intro Probability & Statistics, two semester sequence in Probability and Statistics (current). Econ: Int Micro, Int Macro, Math Econ, Labor Econ, Public Finance, Welfare Econ, and a really cool economic history class all about Adam Smith

Type of Undergrad: big public university in the midwest
Research Experience: departmental honors thesis...unfinished as of application time. so not much.
Teaching Experience: taught college algebra for 1 yr, this year TA'ing for introductory economics (the kind for basketball and piano majors). Head TA for the spring semester.
LORs: One math prof that has known me since I was a freshman (Phd Yale) Two econ profs, one who has been my mentor but isn't publishing much anymore (Phd Minnesota) and one who is definitely publishing and is advising me for my honors thesis (Phd UW-Madison). They should all be very strong.
SoP & Interests: my SOP was nothing special. i'm interested in labor and public finance right now, but i want options.

Other: Female american. Numerous deparmental scholarships and honors over the years from both the math and econ departments. Graduating with college and departmental honors. National Merit back in the day, not that it probably matters anymore. Applying as a senior in college.


Admissions Decision Results
Admitted w/funding: Wisconsin, Maryland
Admitted w/o funding: Northwestern (w*itlisted for funding but I turned them down before I found out), Michigan
Rejected: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Berkeley, Yale

I'm going to Wisconsin.


What would I have done differently? Well...I couldn't have gotten better grades. I really think the weakness of my profile was my undergrad university. If I was starting over, I would have gone somewhere else. I could have taken an extra year and taken the PhD sequence here, or worked for a couple years, but I'm not even sure how much those would have mattered. Undergrads don't get to RA (I tried...) Who knows? I'm learning the UW drinking songs :)
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
ptm 2007: Profile:

Gre: 800 Q, 720 V, 4.0 W - I write like an engineer.

Type of Undergrad: Top 5 national university - physics + computer science double major. unmatriculated econ coursework at a 3rd-tier local university
GPA: Overall: 3.3, math ~ 3.0, majors ~ 3.3, econ 3.9
Classes:
Math: Calc, diff eq's, linear algebra, probability
Econ: junior/senior macro, micro, econometrics, resource + environmental, US income policy, history of thought; grad field course in resource + environmental
Physics + Computer Science: lots

Research Experience: Minimal - tech on various things, a couple REU's and similar programs, don't think that was in my application
Teaching Experience: TA'd and taught as an undergrad, don't think that was in my application
LORs: Three from the econ professors, all quite complimentary. One from a guy in my field, but in a different niche than me or my potential advisors.
SoP & Interests: Probably pretty mediocre - see my GRE Writing score. Discussed my professional background and academic interests.
Other: Five years of experience as a computational scientist, programmer, etc.



Admissions Decision Results

My list is a bit different as I'm just looking at environmental/resource programs.

Going to:
Duke (env program)

Admitted with funding:
Duke (env program
UCSB (env program)
Calgary
Withdrew applications:
Davis ARE
Oregon State ARE
Berkeley ARE

Rejected:
Wisconsin AAE


What I learned: At no point did I really feel comfortable that I understood the process.

While you can always do more research, I got into the programs that fit me best (Duke and UCSB env). I'm okay with that.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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...
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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:grad: , V650, A4.5 :yuck:

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 PhD’s 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 Bank’s 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 you’re going to be doing field work for months on end, might as well do it in a nice place.:D


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.:p

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”. Don’t 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 RA’s 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 didn’t think likely at the time of application. 2 of my reco’s were most likely weak to indifferent, but there’s nothing much I could do about that.

2. Would erase my last paragraph in my SOP describing in a shallow manner why I’m applying to that particular school. I would say, only if there are very strong reasons why you think you’d fit with the dept (such as a strong correlation with your research work and some prof’s 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, don’t 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 don’t know how much weight an SOP carries, but write it objectively please.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Dannyb19 2007: Sorry, I thought I already posted this, hope its helpful to someone!:D

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 LAC 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!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
cjw10 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: LAC – Economics, BA (with honors) + English minor
Undergrad GPA: 3.65
Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 760Q, 540V, 4.5AWA
Math Courses: (3.73 average) Calc I-III, Discrete Math, Linear Algebra, Stats, Differential Equations (Audit), Real Analysis (spring 09).
Econ Courses: (4.0 average) Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Public Finance, Environmental Econ, Market Experiments, International Econ, Money and Banking, Econometrics I, Senior Thesis
Other Courses: English minor, Env. Studies, Scuba Diving.

Letters of Recommendation: 4 Econ profs -- exceptional. 1 well known.
Research Experience: REU at top 50 econ Program. Research internship at consulting firm in London. Honors Thesis.
Teaching Experience: TA for Prin. Micro + Market Experiments; Academic Tutor (Micro + Macro)
Research Interests: Environmental/Resource, Experimental, Development, Applied Econometrics
SOP: Why I want a PhD + career goals + research experience + research interests matched with faculty. 2.25 pages, 1.5 spaced.

Other: 1 conference presentation + internship at investment bank
Post-doc goals: Academia.


RESULTS:
Acceptances:
NC State (RA 17k + 5k fellowship + tuition + health insurance)
UC Santa Barbara (TA 16.6k + 5k fellowship + tuition + health insurance)

Iowa State (TA 14.4k + 2.5k scholarship + in-state tuition + health insurance)
Oregon State AE (RA 12.6k + tuition + health insurance)
UC Davis ARE MS (readership)
Washington-Seattle (waitlisted for funding)
Colorado-Boulder (waitlisted for funding)
Oregon (no funding)
Rejections: Berkeley ARE, Maryland AREc, Wisconsin AAE


Will be attending: North Carolina State University

What would you have done differently? I’m satisfied.
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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 don’t 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, I’m 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, Queen’s 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 I’m happy.

Attending:
Boston University
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
z109620 2009: PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: B.A. Economics with Minor in Math and Philosophy from a mediocre state school which does have an Econ and Math PhD (NIU)
Undergrad GPA: 3.76/4.00 (Econ: 3.93/4.00 Math: 4.0/4.0)
Type of Grad: Just two masters course Econometrics and Math for Econ
Grad GPA: 3.5
GRE: 750Q, 470V, 4.0AW
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Linear Algebra, Diff Eqs, Undergrad Analysis I, and Prob. & Stats (also Undergrad Analysis II (W))

Econ Courses: Typical stuff, plus Grad Math for Econ (B) and Grad Econometrics (A)
Other Courses: A couple proof based logic courses (B,A)
Letters of Recommendation: 1 really good letter (Senior Prof., Wisconsin), 1 good letter (Visiting Prof., Penn) and 1 ok letter (Chair, London)
Research Experience: Senior Paper
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: My main focus is Applied Micro Development, however, within the above field I am interested in Agriculture, Trade, Behavioral, Public and Political Economics

SOP: I think it is ok, talked about my Senior Paper, my passion for research and my goals for the future.
Other: I did not get into econ until junior year

RESULTS: (all masters programs)
Acceptances: UC Davis ARE (partial tuition and job as grader), UBC (partial tuition), UPF (no$), Cornell AEM (no $), Purdue ag econ (no $), UIC (no $), U York, U Bristol, U Sussex, USF (20k over two years)
Rejections: Wisconsin AAE and Toronto Doctoral Stream

Pending: Queen’s MA

What would you have done differently?
Well I wish I would have known that I wanted to do Econ earlier, as well as gone to a more prestigious undergrad. However, besides that I feel that I did very well, especially considering the tough year. I am very happy with UC Davis ARE, I plan to work really hard and advance to their PhD, seeing as there program is probably one of the best in the world given my prefers.

Attending:
UC Davis ARE masters
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
DreamFactory 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BBA (minor Econ), International applicant, not top but one of the best schools in my country.
Undergrad GPA: 3.83/4.00 after rescale, summa cum laude (within 2% of the graduates, but the transcripts doesn't offer the rank anymore)

Type of Grad: Same school, MA econ - major:Economic theory (expected aug. 2009)
Grad GPA: 4.0/4.0 after rescale
GRE: 800Q, 670V, 4.0AWA
Math/Stat Courses:
Calculus I (B+),II (A), Intro to Probability (A+), Differential Equations I (B+), Linear Algebra I (Aced all exams, A+), II (A+), Analysis I (A+), II(A+), Topology I (A+), Stochastic Processes (A+), grad Real Analysis I (A)
Econ Courses: undergraduate - Principles I (A+),II (A), Biz Econ (A), Monetary (A), Financial (B+), Micro (A+), Macro (A), Metrics (B+)/ graduate - Micro I (A+) II (A), Macro I (A), II (A+), Metrics I (A+), Financial Economics (A), Micro Seminar (A+), Public Sector Economics II (A+)

Other Courses: Bunch in biz. especially in finance (mostly A's or A+'s in finance)
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ (both micro), 2 biz (both finance), 1 math (analysis 1,2, topology 1), all very strong but not so famous
Research Experience: RA for 2 semesters (participated in a project), 1 working paper, conference participation etc.
Teaching Experience: grad Micro I (MWG) - 2 semesters
Research Interests: Behavioral Finance/Economics/Experimental, Market Microstructure, various topics in Micro Theory......actually almost everything in Finance and Economics since most of them are interesting (I'll choose them after I get to know more)

SOP: no idea how it look like to the adcoms.
Other: External fellowship.(5 years of tuition+health+18k)

RESULTS:
Acceptances/Attending: U of Chicago (Econ, very late admission!)
Waitlists: none

Rejections: 4 econ (actually I was rejected from Chicago econ in March) - Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia
17 finance - Booth, Kellogg, Wharton, Stanford GSB, Sloan, Stern, Haas, Fuqua, Tepper, Simon, Anderson, UIUC, OSU, UMinn-TC, Eli Broad, Wisc-Madison, Johnson
Pending: LSE MSc Finance and Economics (Applied after all those dings)

What would you have done differently?
I would've concentrated more on my SOPs. Should've had different major in my undergrad (changing major is not allowed in my alma mater, and Biz major had toooooooo many required courses back then). Also, I should have gone for exchange student in the U.S. when young...get some LORs from famous faculties there...BUT I DON'T CARE ex-post, I got into one of my favorite school!
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
averageaverage 2009: PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad:
B.A. (Economics + General Math + Sociology)
150th-ish ranked Econ PhD Program.
Undergrad GPA: 3.9/4.0
GRE: not taken yet (worried so much)
Undergrad Courses:
Calc I - III, Linear Algebra, and Math Reasoning (All As)
Diff Eq (In Prog); Real Analysis, and Probability Theory (this Fall)
Intermediate Mico and Macro (Both As)
Grad Courses:
Master's Micro + Econometrics (this Fall)
Letters of Recommendation: 3 professors (Not well known...)
Research Experience: Summer Research (Not going well...)
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Development Economics and Public Policy
Concerns: Academic background is too poor to hit top 20... Want to get into top 50 at least...
Applying to: U. Maryland, Johns Hopkins, U. of Washington, and Lower Ranked Schools...
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
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
Accepts: Rejects: Waitlists:
Waitlists: