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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!

Big Tuna 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Highly ranked US public university with top 25 econ phd program. Majors in economics/philosophy, minor in math.
Undergrad GPA: 4.0
Type of Grad: No masters program; just 1 course while in undergrad.
Grad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 800V/800Q/4.5AW
Math Courses: Calculus I, I, III, linear algebra, real analysis, mathematical modeling, ordinary differential equations, currently enrolled in numerical methods and complex variables.
Econ Courses: intro/intermediate micro/macro, stat for economists, undergrad econometrics, 3 thesis/independent study courses, a bunch of undergrad field courses, and PhD econometrics I.
Other Courses: Mostly a lot of philosophy.
Letters of Recommendation: Three from good people, all of whom have supervised an independent project I've done.
Research Experience: The aforementioned thesis projects, plus 2 years as a research assistant and one empirical paper submitted to a decent (though not top tier) journal. I received an undergraduate research grant from my school to do this paper.
Teaching Experience: Just tutoring.
Research Interests: Applied micro, public finance, maybe econometrics
SOP: I guess it was fine.
Other: I had one withdrawal (W) on my transcript because I dropped abstract algebra; the professor was more boring than anyone else I'd ever had.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT, Stanford, Yale, UChicago, Northwestern, NYU, Columbia, Duke, UMaryland.
Waitlists: Harvard.
Rejections: None.
Pending: None.
What would you have done differently? Probably nothing. I guess Harvard might have let me in instead of waitlisting me if I'd taken more advanced math or gone to an Ivy, but that's hard to tell and I wouldn't have wanted to do too much more work as an undergrad than I actually did; you have to leave time to have some fun.

gregobad 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Research university w/ top 5 econ program
Undergrad GPA: 4.9/5
Type of Grad: none.
GRE: 770V/800Q/5.5AW
Math Courses: calc I & II, differential equations, linear algebra, probability, linear programming / optimization
Econ Courses: intermediate micro and macro, econometrics, game theory, various field courses
Other Courses: Minor in physics
Letters of Recommendation: Two from econ profs, neither of whom are well-known but both know me well (one was my thesis advisor, another my undergrad advisor). One from a manager at my job (econ consulting firm). Pretty sure all three are very strong recs, but the third probably doesn't count for much because it's non-academic.
Research Experience: Was an RA for a summer in a physics lab. Did an undergrad thesis. Worked for 1.5 years doing semi-relevant stuff at an economic consulting firm - I have a lot of experience with Stata, Matlab, other programming languages
Teaching Experience: tutored undergrads in physics and econ
Research Interests: Game theory, political economy, behavioral economics
SOP: talked about possible research interests and what I had worked on
RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT, Stanford GSB (political economy), Princeton, Caltech, Berkeley, Northwestern, Chicago
Waitlists: Harvard
Rejections: Stanford economics
What would you have done differently? Not much, really. Maybe taken an academic RA job instead of working in economic consulting, and applied for last year instead of this year. Although, there's nothing like having a boring job to motivate you to get back to school.

Julius 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad&Grad: BA in Econ and 2 semesters in MA course, Both in the top university in my country (East Asia)
Undergrad GPA: 4.13/4.30
Grad GPA: 4.18/4.30 (At the time of application, 4.10/4.30)
Honors : Top in my graduating class (1/201)
2 Grand prizes in paper contests (one in my school, one nationwide)
GRE: 740V 800Q 4.0AW
Math Courses: Calculus 2, Linear Algebra, Mathematical Analysis, Real Analysis, Topology, Mathematical Statistics, Theory of Statistics 1 & 2 (Grad level) , Probability Theory (Grad level) - All A+ except Probability(A0)
Econ Courses: Bunch of them. Some highlights are: Grad Micro, Grad Macro, Grad Stat in Econ dept, Grad Advanced Micro, Grad Advanced Time series, Game theory, Some finance related courses,... (All A+ except Grad Macro(A0) for aforementioned courses)
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: Four LoRs, three from econ and one from stat. I was ranked on the top(or near the top) in at least one class of each professor. Two of them knows me very well and probably wrote their letters enthusiastically.
Research Experience: RA for a macro paper of my adviser, programming for cointegration analysis and stuff.
Teaching Experience: TA for Econometrics, Statistics and Time Series Econometrics. Instructed regular TA sessions.
Research Interests: Applied Micro, Econometrics
SOP: Devoted a lot of space for my motivation and my preparation.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT, Princeton, U of Chicago, Yale
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Stanford GSB, Harvard(99&#37, Stanford(99%), Berkeley, NYU(??)
Others: UPenn, NWU - Stopped the review process before decisions.
What would you have done differently?
Maybe more math.
I really appreciate all the supports and infos from fellow TMers and I think this is the best service I can do for the TM next generation Good luck to everyone!

wednesday 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: UC Berkeley
Undergrad GPA: 3.76ish
Type of Grad:
Grad GPA:
GRE: 800/680/4.0
Math Courses: 9 upper division undergrad, 5 grad
Econ Courses: 6 upper div undergrad, 11 grad
Other Courses: misc
Letters of Recommendation: 1 junior guy, 1 senior guy, 1 Nobel laureate
Research Experience: 4 RA gigs, generalizing vNM for my thesis
Teaching Experience: currently teaching intermediate micro
Research Interests: micro theory, finance, PF
SOP: boiler plate
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale
Waitlists: None
Rejections: None
Pending: NSF
What would you have done differently? I'd haveworked harder freshman year and not ruined my GPA.

Sammy6 2008:
Type of Undergrad: Top 25 Econ
Undergrad GPA: 4.0/4.0
Type of Grad: MA, Top 25 Econ
Grad GPA: 4.0/4.0
GRE: 800Q, 650V, 5.0 AW
Math Courses: calc 1-3, diff eq, linear algebra, stochastic processes, optimization theory, adv. prob/stat (all A's), audit topology, self-study real analysis
Econ Courses: Micro, Macro and Metrics (Intermed, Master's and 1st semester PhD), Health (MA), Trade(MA and PhD), Internat'l Finance (MA), Game Theory (MA)
Letters of Recommendation: 5 very strong (1 Harvard, 1 Chicago, 2 MIT, 1 Michigan). 4 of the professors are very well known. 4 I took classes from, and 2 I worked with.
Research Experience: RA for one year, about to submit co-authored paper with supervisor
Teaching Experience: private tutoring
Research Interests: no f***'in clue
SOP: pretty good, my adviser took a look
Other: female, 21 years old, transfer
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Harvard($$), MIT(waiting on NSF), Stanford($$), Yale($$), UPenn($$, declined), Northwestern($$), Chicago($$)
Waitlists: NYU, Berkeley (declined)
Rejections: Princeton
Pending: NSF/Javits
What would you have done differently? Relaxed during the waiting game

Elly 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small liberal arts college (women's college)
Undergrad GPA: 3.91
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 720V/790Q/5.0A
Math Courses: Math Major: Linear, Advanced Linear, Multivariate, Differential Equations, Probability and Statistics, Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra I and II, Grad Analysis and Topology
Econ Courses: Econ Major: Micro, Macro, Int'l Trade, Int'l Finance, Econometrics.. etc.
Other Courses: Intermediate Programming
Letters of Recommendation: all strong- one from my math advisor, one from my econ advisor (who I also did research with and TA'd for), one from a respected economist at a top department at which I took classes
Research Experience: Summer REU in Game Theory, Senior Thesis
Teaching Experience: TA'd for Calculus, Linear Algebra, Intro to Econ, Macro, MBA Micro Theory, MBA Statistics and Econometrics
Research Interests: Development, Micro Theory
SOP: I took it seriously but it wasn't too long
[B] Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT($), NYU(off of waitlist), UCLA ($), LSE (MRes/PhD Track 1, $), Toronto (Research MA, $), NSF
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, Princeton, Stanford, Columbia, Brown
What would you have done differently? Nothing! I will be attending MIT.

almagro 2008:
Type of Undergrad: Economics - Top institution in my country
Type of Grad: M.A. in Economics - Same institution
Grad GPA: 1st
GRE: 800Q/500V/4.5W
Math Courses: 3 Basic courses + 2 Statistics + 2 advanced courses
Econ Courses: 16 during undergrad + 9 during grad
Other Courses: from art to political science
Letters of Recommendation: very strong
Research Experience: undergrad and grad thesis + co-authoring a paper w/prof + RA to 2 professors
Teaching Experience: 9 undergrad courses (some twice)
Research Interests: microeconometrics
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Harvard ($), Stanford ($)
Rejections: MIT
Pending: Princeton and other top-10

representative_agent 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Economics, ranked 12/189 in my year
Type of Grad: MSc (econ) in Europe
GRE: Q 790, V 580, AW 4.0
Math Courses: Everything my undergrad school had to offer, but no real analysis (didn't have much choice).
Econ Courses (Graduate level): Micro (1+2), Macro (1+2), Econometrics, Incentives, Auction Theory, Several courses in public econ, Growth, ...
Other Courses: Several undergrad statistics courses
Letters of Recommendation: 1 well-known, 3 known in their field, 1 thesis advisor (relatively unknown)
Research Experience: undergrad thesis
Teaching Experience: undergrad macro
Research Interests: game theory, information econ, applied micro
SOP: hard to judge - does anybody read it?
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Chicago ($$), NWU ($$), NYU($$), UPENN($$), UCL($$)
Waitlists: Minnesota
Rejections: Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton

jcash 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: top ten U.S. liberal arts
Undergrad GPA: 3.95
Type of Grad: none.
GRE: 670V/800Q/6.0AW
Math Courses: real analysis(A+), differential equations (A+), math logic (A), linear algebra and multivariable calculus in high school
Econ Courses: core courses in micro and macro, math econ and econometrics, some electives
Other Courses: lots of random stuff
Letters of Recommendation: 2 good econ ones, but not from well-known professors. 1 from a more well-known professor, but who didn't know me as well. 1 really good one from a political science professor.
Research Experience: Undergrad thesis in philosophy of economics, empirical and theoretical term papers.
Teaching Experience: TA for intermediate macro.
Research Interests: Public finance, econometrics
SOP: talked about possible research interests and what I had worked on
Other: applying for a j.d.-ph.d. Also: I meant to apply to Berkeley, but found out after the fact that I had never finished submitting my online application...oh well...
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Yale, Princeton, Columbia
Waitlists: Harvard
Rejections: MIT
Assumed Rejections: NYU, Chicago
What would you have done differently? Taken a grad level math course

nergal 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA in Econ and BS in Math, Double Major in top university in my country
Undergrad GPA: 3.77/4.00 (at the time of application)
Type of Grad: na
Grad GPA: na
GRE: 700V 800Q 5.0AW
Math Courses: Too many :P Highlights: Real Analysis I&II (BA&pending), Complex Analysis I (The GRE Big Book), Calculus of Variations (BA), Mathematics of Finance (graduate math course, AA), Number Theory (CC), Algebra I&II (CB&AA), Differential Equations (AA), Linear Algebra (AA)
Econ Courses: Graduate level Econometrics (AA), Advanced Micro (AA), Public Finance (AA), (Undergrad) Econometrics I&II (AA), Mathematical Statistics I&II (AA), Intermediate Micro and Macro (AA), Game Theory (AA) among other things ...
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: Four LoRs, three from econ professors with whom I studied as RA, and one from a senior math professor. Two of the econ professors are senior and one of them is pretty famous. Submitted three LoRs in each application.
Research Experience: RA for two years in two different projects.
Teaching Experience: TA for Intermediate Micro for one term.
Research Interests: Micro Theory, Game Theory, Political Economy
SOP: Delineated my research interests, talked about my motivation for a phd degree in economics, detailed my research experience
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Caltech ($$), Michigan-Ann Arbor (??), Northwestern ($$), UPenn ($$), Yale ($$)
Waitlists: none
Rejections: Duke, MIT, Stanford
Pending: Princeton, Harvard (most likely rejected)
What would you have done differently?
I would not have taken the elective Number Theory Maybe would have taken the graduate level Topology course.
One problem with our Math department is that the faculty is really stingy with grades! For instance, I was the second ranked student out of some 100+ people in the Complex Analysis I course and I still got The GRE Big Book. The first guy got BA. No AA to no one, no sirrie. The mean of the cumulative grades was 35 (out of 100). This is just one case among many. I hope one of my professors managed to communicate this issue.

Antonio 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Good Italian University (not Bocconi, but good)
Undergrad GPA: 28/30
Type of Grad: Italian School of Excellence (oooooh)
Ggrad GPA: 30/30
GRE: 800Q 540V 2.5AWA
TOEFL: 107/120
Math Courses (undergrad and grad): Mathematical Methods, Mathematics for Economics I&II, Statistics I&II, Advanced Statistics, Generalised Linear Models.
Econ Courses(undergrad and grad): Advanced Micro/Macro, Game Theory, IO, Advanced Econometrics I&II, Public Finance, Corporate Finance, Applied Econometrics, Financial Economics, Experimental Economics, Advanced Topics in Macro (PhD Course).
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from Economics professors, my graduate academic tutor and a guy from LSE (summer school). The others changed with respect to the target. However they were all economists but one (math).
Research Experience: Undergrad Thesis, one Working Paper and visiting researhcer at ENS-PSE for my grad thesis.
Teaching Experience: Undergraduate Micro.
Research Interests: Applied Micro, IO and Applied Econometrics.
SOP: Pretty good...I think.
Other: GMAT; LSE Summer school (A+); Visiting for 6 months at University of Southampton in UK. Italian, 22 (almost 23).
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Berkeley ($$), Northwestern ($$), BC ($), Toulouse (M2).
Waitlists: NYU.
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, UChicago, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, UCSD, Brown, Duke, UPenn.
Pending: BU.
What would you have done differently?
I really have not understood almost anything!
My results show a lot of randomness (i.e. MIT was wrong in rejecting me) and/or luck (i.e. Berkeley was wrong in accepting me).
On one hand I think that waiting another year, with another master from a well reputed European University and with two more well known LORs I could have had some better shots for Cambridge MA or Princeton.
On the other hand, I could say that I have been very lucky and that I must take this opportunity as soon as possible.
Just some advices for European and, more in dept, Italian guys since this forum is too American-oriented: there is always a trade off between time (apply just during my last year of school) and odds (wait one year in order to improve my chances). And only you can decide upon this. You can speak with your profs and they will suggest you. But in the end it is just a matter of your own preferences.
However I have learnt two things:
1) Getting accepted in a very good US School (Berkeley or Northwestern) is less difficult than I used to think.
2) Getting accepted in a TOP US School (MIT or Princeton) is more difficult than I used to think.

Mirk83 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Maths degree in a good Italian university (and student of its honor college)
Undergrad GPA: 3.0/3.0
Type of Grad: Maths degree (student of a program jointly organized with the best scientific research center of the country, that is also a doctoral school) and attending a one year master in economics
Grad GPA: 3.0/3.0
GRE: 700 V, 800 Q, 5.0 AWA
Math Courses: everything you can think about (seriously, in five year of Maths I've attended at least 30-40 Maths courses, some of which at PhD level)
Econ Courses: very very few courses, and just during this year: the basic Micro, Macro and Econometrics (at the level of MWG, Blanchard-Fisher, Hayashi - but of course not all the topics)
Other Courses: a bit of physics and informatics down the road and a bit of neurobiology (my master thesis was about building a kinetic model for a class of ion channels!)
Letters of Recommendation: my weak point. A good, but maybe a bit standard, letter from my thesis advisor, who is a very well known mathematician (who knows me well, since the thesis was partly of research). A very good letter from an economist who taught at the honor college I was in but with whom I took just that small course, a few years ago. And a letter from another well known mathematician whose course I attended during an international summer school - I really have no idea of what he could have written.
Research Experience: just for the thesis - and in maths applied to neurobiology...
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: behavioural models, game theory; but my interests are now moving a bit more towards Macro topics
SOP: just tried to explain why I have been moving from Pure Maths to Applied Maths and then from applications to biology to economics...
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Caltech ($$), LSE (MRes/Phd track 1) ($$), Oxford MPhil (?)
Waitlists: NYU
Rejections: Chicago, MIT
What would you have done differently?
Hard to say. Given my erratic background and the not-so-strong LORs, I think I have calibrated well the applications (my estimate was to have good possibilities from the bottom of the top ten - just like NYU and LSE - downward). Of course I could have waited one more year, finished the economics master in order to use the grades as an additional signal and obtained better LORs... but I'm already 24 and I have already two masters, so I think it's time to move as quickly as possible towards real research.

eqtisadi 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Econ,Philosophy,Politics from an Israeli university
Undergrad GPA: 94%
Type of Grad: Econ in the same university
Grad GPA: 96%
GRE: Q800, V450, A5.0
Math Courses: Calculus, (simple and calculus-based) Statistics, Linear algebra and advanced calculus, as well as two advanced logic courses by the department of philosophy (all 90+). I took Real Analysis too but I am not going to do the test. It was much more fun doing it without the pressure.
Econ Courses: All around: undergrad: intro to econ I & II, price theory I & II, macro I & II, development, econ history, intro to econometrics, honors students seminar. MA: micro, macro I & II, industrial organization, econometrics I-III, econ history. All 90+
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from a very known professor, 2 from professors who are pretty known in their respective fields and 1 from a pretty young professor
Research Experience: RA for the first professor mentioned above
Teaching Experience: quite a few econ courses for BA, but I don't think it mattered.
Research Interests: Too many. I have to narrow them down.
SOP: 500 words (or whatever was the limitation) about why I want to do research in economics and how I decided that.
Other: Nice set of teeth.
RESULTS:
Admitted: Berkeley, NYU, Yale, Columbia, Northwestern, Chicago, Stanford, Princeton
Waitlisted: Harvard
Rejected: MIT
What would I have done differently? Nothing. Maybe get an American citizenship and apply for the NSF, but seriously, I'm very very happy with the choices I have.

ForTheWin!_08 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: International, best in South Africa (University of Cape Town for those in the know)
Undergrad GPA: We don't use the GPA system. About 80%, which is 4.0 according to the WES conversion scale.
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 5.0 A, 670 V
Math Courses: A year and a half of calculus, Linear Algebra, Algebra I and II, Real Analysis, Metric Spaces, Complex Analysis, Measure Theory, Functional Analysis I + II, Differential Geometry, Topology I + II. All above 75%, so I guess A- to A+ range.
Undergrad thesis: Explained the Delbaen-Schachermayer version of the "Fundamental Theorem of Asset Pricing" (basically, a financial market satisfies No Arbitrage iff there exists an equvalent martingale ["risk-neutral"] probability measure). Essentially, it was just a whole lot of functional analysis and a little bit of stochastic integration.
Econ Courses: Intro macro/micro/game theory, Intermediate Macro/Micro, Honours Macro/Micro (i.e. 4th-yr level - we used adult Varian for micro, to give you an idea of the level), Undergrad Metrics and Quantitative Methods, Computational Political Economy (4th-yr elective on simulation methods and behavioural econ), Masters Econometrics, Masters/PhD Microeconometrics. All A- to A+ range.
Other Courses: 3 years of Mathematical Statistics, including stuff on: basic probability theory, regression analysis, stochastic processes/time series (not that I remember much of it!), Bayesian statistics, generalised linear models/qualitative regression models. Some basic applied math courses on ordinary differential equations (A's).
Letters of Recommendation: One should be very enthusiastic, from the one of the country's most hardcore empirical microeconomists (though his PhD is local)... another is likely to be good (I mean, I'm certain the guy thinks I'm smart, I got the second-best grade in his class), from quite a big-shot macro guy (PhD Cambridge, and he's co-authored some stuff with Phillip Aghion), but he's only taught me once. I'll probably use my honours thesis supervisor for the third one.
Research Experience: Not a lot... I've ostensibly been an RA for one professor for a summer, but I'm not sure how much work you should do to say this of yourself... I attempted to solve this game theory problem for him (he kind of gave me a half-finished paper of his and said "Can you fix this up?"... I couldn't). So not so impressive on this front I think.
Teaching Experience: Tutor for intermediate micro for two years, rewrote some of the problem sets for the same course.
Research Interests: Development micro, game theory, criminology
SOP: Decent, I thought. I posed a few questions that I thought were interesting and tried to show how my personal background led me to be interested in them. Customised one paragraph to mention which fields at the respective schools were strong, and why I thought they should want me.
Weaknesses: No research experience, from a relatively unknown university; no money to live off of if financial aid is denied.
Results:
Admissions: Michigan ($16k + tuition + health insurance), Chicago ($20k + tuition + health insurance) [attending]
Waitlists:Northwestern, Pennsylvania, Princeton
Rejections:Yale, MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard
No Reply:NYU
What would I have done differently: Not much. I wish I had gotten my undergraduate degree from a more prestigious place. Other than that, I'm not sure there was much that I could have done differently. But I'm not at all unhappy with what I got...

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.

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

touchwood08 2008:
PROFILE
Type of Undergrad: Good European university (Political Science)
Undergrad GPA: 4.00/4.00
Type of Grad (3 years program): Good European University (Economics)
Ggrad GPA: 4.00/4.00
GRE: 780Q 610V 4.5AWA
TOEFL: 102/100
Math Courses (grad): Probability, Statistics, Mathematical Economics (calculus and static optimization), Dynamic Optimization
Econ Courses (grad): Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Econometrics, Various Fields.
Letters of Recommendation: 4 strong letters. One letter from a very well known professor.
Research Experience: Undergraduate honor thesis (applied econometrics. awarded a national price) + working paper on more theoretical stuff (not so polished at the time of applications). Research assistant for the very well known professor.
Teaching Experience: TA in Introduction to Economics (undergraduate) and in Econometrics I (graduate)
Research Interests: Macro-Finance; Corporate Finance; Applied Econometrics.
SOP: ...not enough time to write a good one.
Other info: male, 25 y/o
RESULTS:
Acceptances (waitlist): UPenn ($$ attending), Northwestern ($$, declined), LSE Mrs./track 2 ($$, declined), BU (no $$, declined), NYU (waitlisted, declined).
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Yale, UCLA, LBS,
What would you have done differently?
My greatest regret is to not have applied to Princeton. I was informed I ended up at the border at Chicago so I could have taken a chance there. Maybe I would have spent more time polishing my research paper and writing a good SOP. Anyway, I am very pleased with my outcomes and I believe Penn is a very good match with my interests.

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.

tm0 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: 3yrs, unfinished first degree in Europe, Business/Econ, at **** school.
Undergrad GPA: good
Type of Grad: Top 5 UK Master in Econ
Grad GPA: high
GRE: 800q, 670v, 4.5w (two years before that: 780q, 630,v, 4.5w)
Math Courses: one term of math for soc science in 1st year undergrad, one term of math for econ during masters.
Econ Courses: Enough though not too extensive either.
Letters of Recommendation: grad prof, thesis supervisor, undergrad prof.
Research Experience: 1 year part-time RA during UG, 6 month RA in research institution in Washington DC, one working paper (=master thesis)
Teaching Experience: TA micro & econometrics one semester each in UG
Research Interests: dev econ, applied micro, microeconometrics
SOP: Ok
RESULTS:
Attending: UMich
Acceptances: Duke ($ but no 1st year stipend), Brown ($$), Cornell (no $), UMich ($$), LSE (no $), UCL ($$), Oxford ($?)
Rejections: Yale, MIT, Stanford, UCLA
Other: Never heard from Boston U
What would you have done differently?
Dunno. Work harder. Make connections to get good recomm from more well-known people.
More math before surely wouldn't have hurt. But when? Given the little I had, the marginal benefit should have been high.
Think about location harder before applying.
Spend more time (>> 3 days of reading plus 1 night of writing) on Res Proposal at LSE to get funding.
Alternatively: Relax. Not try to get into good schools. Be happy with less.

2008applicant 2008:
Undergrad: Top three liberal arts college 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.
letter of recommendation: 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

nash12 2008:
Undergrad: B.A. in Mathematics (2006) from a well known college/university in my country (South-East Asia). Grades: 84&#37;
Graduate: M.A. in Economics from a well known school of economics in my country. It is a two year course and I only had the grades of the first year or two semesters when I applied. Grades for the first year: 70%
GRE: 800Q, 530V, 5.0AWA. TOEFL: 117/120
Math Courses: Since I'm a math undergrad so lots. Real Analysis, Basic Algebra, Topology, Ordinary Differential Equations, Partial Differential Equations, Probability and Statistics, Linear Algebra, Group Theory, Ring Theory, Mechanics, Multivariable Calculus, Numerical Analysis, Number Theory, etc.
Econ Courses: All Grad Level. On my transcript with grades when I applied- Microeconomic Theory, Macroeconomic Theory, Introductory Econometrics, Mathematical Economics and two more. On my transcript without grades when I applied- Topics in Economic Theory, Game Theory-I, Topics in Macroeconomic Theory and Econometric Methods.
Research Experience: Was a visiting research scholar in a European Institute during the summer of 2007. Wrote two papers there. Both were selected for decent conferences which I mentioned in my application. Sent one of the papers in all the applications.
LORs: One a well published and reasonably well known econ theory professor at University of Warwick. One econ professor in my grad school, phd from Princeton. Another econ associate professor in my grad school, phd from Yale. I think all of them were strong.
SOP: Talked about my interests- Micro and Game Theory. Talked about some of the papers that I've really liked. Also, about my motivation to do economic theory.
Teaching Experience: None.
Other: Male, 22 years old.
Results
Acceptances: NYU($), Columbia($), University of Chicago($), LSE MRes/PhD($), Cornell($), Brown($), Penn State($).
Waitlisted and finally Accepted: Yale($) and Princeton($).
Rejected: Harvard, MIT, Northwestern, UPenn and Stanford.
Attending: Princeton. Yuhoooo..
What would have I done differently? Nothing in particular. Well I don't really know if I would have ever made it to Harvard and MIT. None have made from my school in the past 10 years. As an aspiring economic theorist, Princeton was really my dream school and I'm over the moon to have got it.. My suggestion to all the future applicants, esp the International Students is guys dream big and work hard. Dreams do come true..

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.

Chess is life 2008:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Public University BA
Undergrad GPA: 3.94/ 4.0 Math/ Economics
Type of Grad: Public University MA
Grad GPA: 4.0/ 4.0 Economics
GRE: 670 V 800 M 5.0 Writing (I took it when I was 19 to get a job at Kaplan and it worked!)
Math Courses: Topology, Real Analysis, Linear Algebra, Calculus 1-3, Differential Equations, Probability and Statistics, Numerical Analysis, Econ Courses: International Economics I and II (MA), Math for Economists (MA and PhD), Microeconomics (MA and PhD), Urban Economics (MA), Econometrics (MA and PhD), Health Economics (MA), Macroeconomics (MA), Intro. to Econometrics, Statistical Methods, Intermediate Micro and Macro, Industrial Organization (Best Class ever), Seminar in economics, Money and Banking, several independent studies,
Other Courses: Physics 1 and 2 (I seriously considered majoring in it). Computer science 1.Letters of Recommendation: Math and Economics professors. I did research with the economics professors.
Research Experience: A lot. Washington, DC think tank work for almost a year now, mainly immigration and trade issues. However, I am currently doing research on state policies that effect economic growth and presented at the CATO Institute on microcredit. I also have done research on child abuse, social capital, fed policy and housing prices, a senior thesis on NAFTA's effects on Mexico, municipal government efficiency (Global Perspective), and the fed challenge (Rutgers won our district).
Teaching Experience: Tutor for my University 2 years and tutor/teacher for Kaplan test and prep.
Research Interests: Probably Microeconomics, most likely something very game theoretical. This is subject to change given that I have yet to take a PhD level economics course in Macroeconomics.
SOP: General but adapted to each university I applied to.
Other: I think being affiliated with the CATO Institute (libertarian think tank) hurt me. Also, Rutgers has a tendency of sending students to programs and watching them promptly fail the qualifier. This couldn’t have helped me.[/font]
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Rochester (24k Fellowship), Duke (17k fellowship), Washington University, St. Louis (TA/ RA 20k), Rutgers (30k Presidential Fellowship), Michigan (Nada), UCLA (Nada), Wisconsin (Nada), Georgetown (Wait-list for funding), UCSD (TA and after a complicated formula 7k), Cornell (Nada)
Waitlists: Minnesota, NYU (High whatever that means), MIT (later rejected)
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Chicago, Columbia, UPenn, Brown, Stanford, Berkeley, Northwestern,
Pending: Nothing
Concerns: My letter writers are not very well-known
What would you have done differently?
Maybe take more math? I really don’t know what else I could have done. I think I will regret not taking more computer science courses.

econphilomath 2008:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. in Economics from top institution in my country.
Type of Grad: M.A. in Economics from the same institution
GPA: Graduated 1st in my class, both programs.
GRE: 800Q, 730V, 4.5AWA
TOFEL: 118/120
Courses: Tons of econ, some math, no formal real analysis.
TA: Lots of undergrad macro courses and some graduate macro courses.
Teaching: I teach undergrad macro.
Research: Several published papers. All applied. (average to low/mediocre national and international journals)
RA: Current job is as an RA at Central Bank and lecturer at my university.
LORS: One senior, one semi-senior and one junior. I know them all really well (for over two years) and with all I have co-authored different research.
Interests: Macroeconomics, Labor and Development.
SOP: Tried to be serious, signal I know what I'm getting into. No BS, no talking about whats in my CV, no naming professors and not very long.
Schools: Shooting for the top 10 schools.
Other: Male, 27
RESULTS:
Attending: Yale ($$)
Acceptances: NorthWestern ($$), Columbia ($$), UMinn ($$), UPenn (), UChicago ()
Waitlists: Harvard and MIT. Later rejected.
Rejections: Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford, NYU.
What would you have done differently?
Applied earlier. Would not have stressed so much and spent less time on TM! The extra stuff on your CV doesn't make all that much of a difference. Past decent grades and GRE, basic math requirements, its all LORs. Its how you get the LORS that differs among applicants. Randomness that I was worried about was confirmed but its not that big once you know the underlying decision making structure.
Also I would have gone with more famous professors LORs who didn't know me as well, but who were willing to write beaming letters, instead of my junior professor/coauthor.
ALSO wait-lists suck. They do move around (not for me) but the wait is terrible.
Last Recommendation: Try as hard as you can to go to fly-outs. It can make a huge difference when you have to choose on the margin. Talk with professors and students as much as you can. It helped me a lot.
EDIT: See my buddy asianecon's next post. To avoid confusion, I recommend visiting (something usually done at fly-outs). However as asianecon suggests, it might be more informative to go on a regular day and sit in at classes talk with people etc as he has done and skip the marketing. Either way try and go get a feel for the program in person.