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LazyStudent 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.Sc. in Math, Economics and Humanities honors program, from a top 50 or so university (international)
Undergrad GPA: 95.4/100 (cum laude)
Type of Grad: M.A. in Economics and Game Theory, same university
Grad GPA: 98.1/100 (cum laude)
GRE: 800Q, 620V, 5.0AWA
Math Courses: Lots of undergrad courses (most of them A+, some A), auditing grad courses.
Econ Courses: Many undergrad courses (all A+), micro, macro, econometrics, and many game theory courses at grad level (all A+)
Other Courses: A lot of humanities undergrad courses, some in social sciences
Letters of Recommendation: All from well-known professors, and according to what I was told, they were all stellar.
Research Experience: Lots of algorithms research in Hi-Tech industry, two unpublished papers (MA thesis and another one) in microeconomics.
Teaching Experience: TA for Microeconomics and Game Theory (grad level) and for Math for economics (undergrad level)
Research Interests: Microeconomics, Game theory
Statement of purpose: Pretty standard, almost non-customized.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Harvard (HBS and Economics), NWU, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Stanford (GSB and Economics), Berkeley, Chicago.
Rejections: None.
What would you have done differently?
In retrospect, I might have applied only to my top 5 places (like I was advised by one of my recommendation letter writers), but I guess there was no way to really predict how much impact the recommendations would have.

saucyapples 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 liberal arts college, majored in Math and Econ (class of 2008)
Undergrad GPA: 3.69
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 630V, 5.5AW
Math Courses: The usual , plus some high level statistics classes. Mostly As, some B's.
Econ Courses: 12 or so, mostly A's and some A-'s.
Other Courses: Some random classes, several about law since when I got to college I wanted to be a lawyer. A's and B's.
Letters of Recommendation: Only from people who know me well and (I think) like me. Two from econ professors with PhD's from top-5 places and one from a reasonably famous math prof.
Research Experience: Undergrad thesis (won an award), RAed for two summers including once abroad, and did field research in Latin America for almost two years after graduation
Teaching Experience: TAed and tutored a couple of math and econ courses. I've also tutored at an underachieving elementary school near my house (which is remarkably similar to tutoring underachieving college students, actually)
Research Interests: Development, IO, Game Theory, Education
SOP: Had it vetted by various economists, they said that it was fine. I wrote about three pages and then for each school only kept the 1-1.5 pages that were most relevant to that program. I'm not really sure how much it matters
Concerns: Had no idea what my LORs actually said.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: HBS($$$, pretty sure that I'm going to take it), Harvard ($$), Cal($$), Michigan ($), BU($), Maryland()
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Duke, Yale, Northwestern, Stanford GSB, Columbia, NYU, Stanford, MIT
What would you have done differently? I got into my dream school, so I'm ecstatic.

econslave 2010:
Type of Undergrad: BA in Economics from top 15 liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.7ish
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q / 630V / 5.0AWA
Math Courses: Calculus I/II, Intro to Statistics, Probability Theory, Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Discrete Math, Ordinary Differential Equations, Real Analysis (Note: Some grades were good, but most were not.)
Econ Courses (Undergraduate): A lot of basic field courses, but also econometrics and advanced theoretical econometrics
Econ Courses (Graduate): N/A
Letters of Recommendation: (1) RA-ed for 2.5 years; (2) RA-ed for, co-authored decent article with, advised for thesis, and took two courses with; (3) Took an advanced economics course with as an undergraduate and did very well in the class (Note: None of the letter-writers are well-known, but all went to top 10 PhD programs.)
Research Experience: 2.5 years RA for one professor, 1 year RA for another professor, undergraduate thesis (ranked best), summer RA at prestigious policy think-tanks, 1 year full-time RA position with top 10 school professor
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Behavioral/experimental, decision theory, micro theory, applied micro
Concerns: Lacking in math (not many classes and less-than-stellar grades). Didn’t graduate with any honors or anything.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UCSD (TA $), Michigan (no $), Boston University (no $)
Waitlist: Minnesota
Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Northwestern, Penn, Columbia, NYU, UCLA, Wisconsin, Caltech, Brown, Cornell, Duke, CMU, Maryland, Texas, PSU, Stanford GSB, Chicago Booth
What would you have done differently? Besides getting better grades as an undergraduate, not much. I applied to all of the top 20 and several others, and got into a few great schools. Perhaps I would’ve taken a different RA position, but it seems to have worked out anyway.

chin_music 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 Public, top 15 Econ. B.A. Math & Economics, B.A. Political Science.
Undergrad GPA: 3.78
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 760Q, 600V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc, Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (A), Mathematical Reasoning (B), Ordinary Differential Equations (B), Advanced Linear Algebra (A), Game Theory (A), Cryptography (A+), Analysis I (B-), Linear Programming (A+)
Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro (A,A,A-), Intermediate Macro (A,A), Econometrics (A+,A+,A+), Non-linear Optimization (Pass), Economics of Immigration (A)
Other Courses: Political Science Coursework (All A's and a few A-'s)
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Caltech (political science), 1 UCLA (political science), 1 UW (econ)
Research Experience: Won departmental and college award for economics thesis. Won departmental award for political science thesis. 1 year in economic consulting.
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Political Economy, Development, Public Policy
SOP: Standard
Other: I wasn't sure how my admissions would turn out. I had 2 letters of rec from political science faculty, a B- in real analysis, no stats in a math department and 760 GRE quant. It appears that my two theses and presumably excellent recommendations as a result, were very beneficial. I am quite pleased with my results.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: UCSD ($), UCLA($), UVA(?), UCI($), UCSB($), BU(no $), Princeton WWS-political economy ($$), RAND Pardee ($), UCSD Political Science ($$), NYU Political Science ($$), Rochester Political Science ($$)
Waitlists: Johns Hopkins
Rejections: Stanford GSB (political economics), Berkeley Hass BPP, MIT political science, Harvard KSG, Chicago Harris
What would you have done differently? I would apply to Harvard PEG instead of Harvard KSG and Stanford Political Science instead of Stanford Political-Economics as I believe that both are better fits for me.

freakout2010 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.Sc. Economics at Top10 South American university.
Undergrad GPA: 8.5/10 (Top 5%)
Type of Grad: MA Economics at Top10 South American university (not the same as undergrad).
Grad GPA: 9.6/10 (1st in class)
GRE: 800q/500v/3.0a
Math Courses (undergrad): Calculus I to III, Linear Algebra, Introductory Real Analysis.
Math Courses (grad): Real Analysis, Measure Theory.
Econ Courses (undergrad): a bunch of them!
Econ Courses (grad): Micro Theory I to IV (entire MWG), Macro Theory I to III, Econometrics, Microeconometrics, (New Dynamic) Public Finance, Corporate Finance, Mathematical Economics I and II (some chapters of Stokey&Lucas).
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: A total of 5 letters, all from MA professors. Strong letter from my advisor which I sent to all universities (rotated among the other recommenders). Two strong letters from micro theory guys (with PhD outside US but good recent publications); one good letter from a professor at top10 US university; and one fair letter from well-known general equilibrium guy.
Research Experience: My MA Dissertation.
Teaching Experience: TA for Microeconomic Theory I and II at the graduate level.
Research Interests: macroeconomics, mechanism design, economics of information.
SOP: pretty standard
Other: Ranked the first (out of 800 candidates) on a national selection process for economics MA in my country.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Princeton($$$), Yale($$$$), Northwestern($$), Columbia($$), UCLA(no $)
Waitlists: MIT (then rejected)
Rejections: Chicago Booth (Econ), Stanford GSB (EA&P), Berkeley, HBS (BusEc), Harvard.
What would you have done differently? Not applied for to many business schools. Also I think I should have studied more for the analytical section of the GRE. I am pretty sure my application was dropped off on some schools because of my weak score.

keano 2010:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Econ, top 5 UK university
Undergrad GPA: First (not sure how this translates)
Type of Grad: MSc in Competition Economics, part-time UK university
Grad GPA: On course for distinction
GRE: 800Q, 790V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses: Maths for economists courses: calculus, linear algebra etc
Econ Courses (Ma-level): A lot of micro-based + econometrics: mostly As
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Lots
Letters of Recommendation: 2/3 econ professors (not well known) Current Employer (Economic consultant with Econ PhD). Hopefully v.positive but names probably won't be known in US.
Research Experience: 3.5 years in economic consultancy
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Micro theory, IO
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Caltech (from waitlist), EUI, LSE (MSc), Oxford (MPhil), BGSE (MSc), Toulouse (M2)
Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Stanford GSB, Kellogg, Wharton (Applied Econ), MIT, UCSD, Berkeley, Wisconsin-M, PSU, Chicago, NYU
What would you have done differently? At the time of the applications process not sure I could done have lot a lot more. Looking at my results, I was a lot more successful in Europe which I would speculate is due to a lack of formal maths courses. So going back a few years, I would have tried to address that somehow.

Hammer456 2010:
Institution: Stanford GSB
Program: PhD Economic Analysis and Policy
Decision: Rejected
Notification date: mid February
Notified through: email to check website
Posted on GF:Nope
Institution: Northwestern (Kellogg)
Program: PhD Managerial Economics Decisions Sciences
Decision: Rejected
Notification date: late February
Notified through: checked website
Posted on GF:Nope
Institution: Chicago (Booth)
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Notification date: early March
Notified through: email
Posted on GF:Nope
Institution: Berkeley
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Notification date: March 2
Notified through: email
Posted on GF:Nope

keano 2010: keano<