The chart will appear within this DIV. This text will be replaced by the chart.

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.

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