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tunedradio 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.89
Type of Grad: audited 1st year micro, 2nd year development
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q/700V/6.0A
Math Courses: Multivariate Calc (A-) Linear Algebra (A), Real Analysis (currently taking), Statistics (A), Diff Eq. in High School
Econ Courses: lots, A's throughout, A+'s in intermediate micro and macro
Other Courses: lots of political science / development / policy
Letters of Recommendation: one very famous, one very good one (coauthor) but junior, another junior
Research Experience: substantial; senior honor's thesis, presentations at four conferences, year of RA full-time, co-authored (yet to be published) less-technical papers with two professors (one very famous)
Teaching Experience: TA for three semesters (one at graduate level)
Research Interests: devo / trade
SOP: good (but it doesn't really matter)
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: NSF, Yale ($), Berkeley ARE ($), Michigan Econ/Public Policy ($), USSD ($), Penn State ($), Brown (waitlisted $), Duke ($), UC-Boulder ($), LSE (Msc)
Waitlists: Princeton PolyEc PhD
Rejections: Harvard KSG, Cornell, LSE (PhD), MIT
What would you have done differently? I actually applied last year with substantial less math and research experience and was accepted into two top 20 programs but no top 10 programs (and honorable mentioned on the NSF), so for those who are considering it, I found a year of RAing and a few more classes (and better recs) can really boost your admits.

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 (waitlisted for aid), GWU (waitlisted 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.

peterB 2007:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top public univeristy, excellent econ dept.
Undergrad GPA: 3.1; 3.95 continuing ed. program
Type of Grad:
Grad GPA:
GRE: math 780 verbal 780
Math Courses: stat and probability, real analysis, calc II and III, linear algebra
Econ Courses: inter'l trade, monetary econ., 20th century econ. history, development economics, history of development economics, econometrics
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ people and one poli sci prof, no big names. Two of them knew me very well, and this must have helped a lot.
Research Experience: summer RA
Teaching Experience:
Research Interests: development, IO, applied micro
SOP: explained the circumstances for my low GPA, other than that pretty standard
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UT, BU, Davis, UCLA, Riverside, Penn State
Waitlists:
Rejections: lots, NYU, Columbia, Stanford, Berkeley ARE, UCSD, U Mich, Cornell
What would you have done differently? If I had more time and money, I would have taken a grad-level micro course. Overall I feel really lucky to be in at UCLA; anyone else headed there?