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VGC 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Good Latin American university
Undergrad GPA: 5.9/7
Type of Grad: Same Latin American university as undergrad.
Ggrad GPA: 6.4/7
GRE: 790Q 510V 3.0AWA
TOEFL: 108/120
Math Courses (undergrad and grad): Calculus I & II, Algebra I & II, Probability, Mathematical Statistics, Analysis, Mathematical Economics (dynamic systems and optimal control)
Econ Courses(grad): Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Game Theory, Industrial Organization, Econometrics, Aplied Econometrics, Financial Econometrics, Financial Economics, Enviorenmental Economics.
Letters of Recommendation: Strong letter of recommendation from economics professor who know me well.
Research Experience: Master's Thesis, Working Paper, and several research assistanships. Mostly theoretical.
Teaching Experience: Undergraduate Principles of finance.
Research Interests: finance, auction theory.
SOP: I invested a lot of time in it.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Stanford GSB (finance)($$), MIT Sloan (Financial Economics)($$), Harvard (Business Economics)($$), Northwestern Kellogg (Finance)($$), NYU Stern(Finance)($$), Princeton (Economics)($$), Chicago (Economics)($$).
Waitlists: Berkeley Haas (Finance).
Rejections: Harvard (Economics), Wharton (Finance), Columbia GSB (Finance), Duke Fuqua (Finance).
Pending: MIT (Economics), Chicago GSB (Finance).
What would you have done differently?
I really have applied to fewer places.

asianecon 2008:
I'll just be following my friend econphilomath...
Type of Undergrad: B.A. in Economics from a top institution in Southeast Asia.
Type of Grad: M.A. in Economic Theory and Metrics from France
GPA: Graduated 1st in my class for undergrad and 2nd for masters
GRE: 800Q, 610V, 4.5AWA
TOFEL: 114/120
Courses: Tons of econ, some math, no formal real analysis (only audited)
TA: None
Teaching: None
Research: 1 published in IJIO; Honours and MA thesis
RA: RA during undergrad; RA right now for profs in a top 5 program
LORS: 1 really senior (Econometric Society Fellow), 2 junior but quite famous, 1 from undergrad (co-author)
Interests: Microeconometrics + (Statistical) Decision Theory + (a little bit of) Mechanism Design/Game Theory --> IO applications
SOP: Not so good I guess. Not focused enough and all over the place. Kinda sounded like I didn't know what I wanted to do.
Schools: Shooting for the top 10 schools.
Other: Male, 25
RESULTS:
Attending: Northwestern ($$$$)
Acceptances: Yale ($$$$$$$....), Chicago GSB ($$$), Stanford ($$), UChicago ($)
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Harvard, HBS (interviewed) MIT, Princeton, UCSD
Never heard anything: Berkeley
What would you have done differently?
Made my SOP tighter. Maybe tried to impress my current RA bosses more, but I'm not really an applied/Stata guy so that won't be fun. An adcom head told me that they would've accepted me even without the current RA job so I don't know if it really helped (a friend of mine even speculates that it might have hurt me since it's not aligned w/ my interests).
Contrary to econphilomath, don't put too much weight on the flyout. Try to visit the school on an ordinary day and see what goes on. I didn't go to a real flyout at NWU (not even the special TM day) but I decided to go there nonetheless, after visiting thrice and attending classes and seminars.