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

Potica 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA econ and psych from top 10 liberal arts college. Post-BA math classes in continuing studies program at top 20 University
Undergrad GPA: 3.5 (overall), 3.4 (BA institution), 3.8 (post-BA), 3.6 (econ classes), 3.6 (final two years of UG at liberal arts college)
Type of Grad: None
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: Q780, V650, AWA 5.0
Math Courses: Calc I-III (C, A, A), Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (A-), Game Theory (A-), Probability I-III (A, A, A-), Real Analysis I-III (B+, A, A-), Math Stats I (B-). All but Calc I taken post BA.
Econ Courses: Intro Micro (B+), Intro Macro (B+), Intermediate Micro (A-), Intermediate Macro (A), Econometrics (B+), IO (A), Decision Making (A-), IO Seminar (A), Trade (B+), Managerial Econ (A-), Law and Econ (P)
Other Courses: lots of psychology courses, a few history classes.
Letters of Recommendation: Two young (well known) economists at top 10 econ PhD program for whom I had a 1.5 year RA job. One economist who previously had a senior position at the FTC who supervised me at a consulting firm for 5 years. Letters were clearly strong.
Research Experience: Undergrad thesis (both econ and psych), work at econ consulting firm (5 years), full time RA job at top 10 university (1.5 years), co-authored working paper with supervisors at RA job, and a little bit of very preliminary work on a couple of my own ideas
Teaching Experience: TA for 2 quarters of intro micro and 2 quarters of intro macro
Research Interests: Applied micro (changed the fields a bit from school to school)
SOP: Probably strong. Good argument for why I want to study econ and why I am prepared. Wrote extensively about two research ideas. Customization varied from school to school.
Concerns: Relatively old, weak undergraduate grades, no grad classes.
Other: Presented co-authored paper as a poster at a conference in late March (a mention that the paper was accepted for the conference made it onto about half of my apps)
RESULTS
Acceptances: UW Madison ($), Cornell ($), UT Austin ($), UVA ($), OSU (unclear), Vanderbilt ($), UC Davis ($), UC Irvine ($), Notre Dame ($)
Waitlists: U Chicago Booth econ (accepted), U Michigan Ross econ (accepted), Brown (accepted), U Maryland (accepted, no $), U Michigan (withdrawn, prob could have gotten in at last minute), UNC (withdrawn), U Minnesota (rejected)
Rejections: Yale, Harvard PEG, Berkeley ARE, Stanford, Princeton, UPenn, Wharton Applied Econ, U Chicago, Northwestern, Columbia, NYU, CMU, Duke, JHU, Rochester, University of British Columbia, UCSD, Wash U
Attending: U Chicago Booth econ
What would you have done differently?
Not much. Would have changed my mix of schools slightly and not applied to UBC (with its $150 application fee). Obviously I could have done better as an undergrad, but at the time I had no interest in graduate school. I think the RA job was hugely beneficial (for a number of reason). My results would have been much worse without it. The last five months have been very busy and stressful, so I'm happy it's done even, especially given how well it turned out.

LoveFinEcon 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Economics at top university in my country
Undergrad GPA: 4.0/4.0
Type of Grad: MSc Economics from UK
Grad GPA: About 3.9 equivalent
GRE: 800Q, 480V, 4.5AWA
Math Courses: Few, just math econ I & II and statistics
Econ Courses: Lots of both intermediate and advanced economic courses
Other Courses: Lots of finance courses
Letters of Recommendation: 2 undergrad profs and 1 master prof
Research Experience: RA after my master and 2 independent projects (undergrad and grad)
Teaching Experience: Lots
Research Interests: macro-finance, applied econometrics
SOP: standard - just my goal, academic experiences, research interests, and fitness to the school
Concerns: very very few math courses, unknown LORs
RESULTS:
Acceptances: OSU, UNC
Waitlists: WUSTL (eventually accepted)
Rejections: 11 US schools (within top 30) and 2 Canadian schools
Attending: WUSTL
What would you have done differently? Take more math. Get LORs from more famous people. And read this thread before pursuing my master.

guins 2011:
Profile PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Econ, U Chicago
Undergrad GPA: 3.0 overall, even lower in math / econ / stat
Type of Grad: Currently taking grad micro at Yale
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q, 660V, 4.5 AWA
Math Courses: I took Real Analysis this summer at Columbia and got an A. As an undergrad, I took Calc 3 (B-), Real Analysis (F), Math for Social Sciences (B, A) Statistical Theory (B-).
Econ Courses (grad-level): None
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro I and II (B- and D), Macro I and II (B and A-) Econometrics (B) Public Finance (B) Development (B+) Regulation of Vice (A-) Latin American Econ (B)
Other Courses: As a middle / high schooler at a local tech college I took Calc 1-3 (B-, B, B+) and Linear Algebra (A-), and programming 1 and 2 (A , A)
Letters of Recommendation: 4 econ profs, all development stars (2 MIT, 2 other Ivies). I've worked directly for all of these profs for 2+ years, doing data analysis and study design/management, ended up coauthoring with 2 on a paper that will eventually be submitted to a top-tier econ/political economy journal. I think these will be quite strong.
Research Experience: Worked as an RA for 3 years at J-PAL. Spent two years in India running field experiments, and for the last year have been at Yale doing data analysis for the academic papers based on these experiments.
Teaching Experience: TAd a brief course on program evaluation
Research Interests: Development, Political Economy, Empirical Micro/IO, Applied Econometrics, Behavioral
SOP: Acknowledging my checkered past, describing my bright future
Concerns: Terrible undergrad GPA. I dicked around completely in college, and rarely did more than the bare minimum amount of work until my last year. Not sure if great research experience + stellar references + A in real analysis + (hopefully decent grade in grad micro) is a strong enough signal to adcoms that I am truly serious.
Applying to: Top 20 + a couple public policy programs
Do I have a chance?

Cognazor 2011:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Economics
Undergrad GPA: 3.5
Type of Grad: Geography
Grad GPA: 3.92
GRE: Q-760 V-640 A-4.0
Math Courses: Calc 1-3, Linear Algebra
Econ Courses (grad-level): 0
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Tons
Other Courses: Lots of GIS/spatial analysis stuff
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from Geography MS (including thesis advisor), 1 from Econ BA. Pretty good I hope
Research Experience: RA during master's, RA for Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), graduate thesis
Teaching Experience: TA during MS
Research Interests: Applied Research in Development/Environmental/Regional Economics
SOP: Yes
Concerns: Low undergrad GPA, Low GRE analytical.
Other: I have been out of school for a few years, am probably a little older than most applicants. Hoping my work experience will be beneficial.
Applying to: Berkeley ARE, Davis ARE, Maryland ARE, Oregon St applied, Cornell Applied, Wisconsin Applied, Michigan St AFR, Ohio State AED, Minnesota Applied (MS), George Washington University, Clark

donhunz 2011:
Institution: Ohio State University
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: ?
Notification date: Feb 04
Notified through: email
Comments: not bad

Bobo46901244 2011:
Institution: Ohio State University
Program: Economics PhD
Decision: Accepted
Funding: ?
Notification date: Feb 08
Notified through: email
Comments: very excited, my first offer, still waiting for 20+ more schools to respond

Mellow13 2011:
Type of Undergrad: Top university in the Middle East
Undergrad GPA: 3.5
Type of Grad: MA Econ
Grad GPA: 3.88
GRE: 770Q 530V 5AW
Math Courses: calculus (I,II,III), linear algebra, ODE, Stat
Econ Courses (grad): Econometrics, Macro, Price Theory, etc....
Econ Courses (u/g): Too many
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Princeton (very personal), 1 UCSB (also personal), 1 from Chairman of department (good)
Research Experience: 2 conference presentations (also in conference proceedings), RA for 3 teachers, Undergrad and MA theses
Teaching Experience: Graduate assistant (TA) for intermediate macro, taught intro to macro at local university
Research Interests: Development, Labor, Growth
Concerns: low undergrad GPA and GRE
Applying to: MA: BGSE, Queen's, Tillburg, Tinbergen, PhD: UCSB, USC, UT Austin, Duke, OSU, UW-Seattle, UVA, Georgetown, Syracuse, UC Irvine, McGill, ASU

kekecib 2011:
Institution: Rice
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: NA
Notification date: Feb 13
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: No
Comments: Terrible news for me. 1st decision I got. It was one of my safeties. I do know what is wrong with my profile according to their ad. committee's view.
Institution: UIUC
Program: PhD in Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding: NA
Notification date: Feb 17
Notified through: E-mail
Posted on GC: No
Comments: I started to freak out. I am wondering what will happen to the rest of my applications. This one did hurt and made me pretty sad.
In: None Out: Rice, UIUC Waiting: 19 Econ PhD

Abibler 2011:
Institution: Oregon, Michigan State
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Accepted
Funding: Waiting to hear from Oregon, not likely from MSU unless more funds become available
Notification Date: Oregon - January, MSU 3/8
Posted on GF:
Comments: Oregon grants admission on a rolling basis and decides on funding in March and April according to the website. No funding yet, still waiting to hear from 8 schools
Institution: Rice, Ohio State, Georgetown, Penn State
Program: PhD Economics
Decision: Rejected
Funding:
Notification Date: End of February, beginning of March
Posted on GF:
Comments: Nothing too surprising, only need funding from one school

econm 2011:
PROFILE: econm
Type of Undergrad: Double major math (top 20) economics (top 30)
Undergrad GPA: 3
GRE: 800, 590, 4.5
Math Courses: all of them
Econ Courses: intermediates + urban, international, game theory, policy, development
Other Courses: year of bio & chem, 2 CS courses (matlab, java, C++, some unix), Thermal Physics & Statistical Mechanics
Letters of Recommendation: 1 semi-famous, 1 young rising star, 1 visiting, 1 emeritus
Research Experience: None
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Varied
SOP: Bad, just really not good
Other: Rejected by Oregon, accepted by MSU for a difference in ranking of about 30
RESULTS:
Acceptances: MSU ($$), Illinois (MS)
Waitlists: OSU (rejected on 14th after emailing), Purdue (withdrew)
Rejections: Virginia, Washington, Penn St, Oregon, BC, Cornell AEM, Iowa St
Attending: Michigan State University
What would you have done differently?
1) Taken less math
2) Taken math in the right order
3) Drank more milk
4) Not applied to Iowa St, Cornell AEM, Penn State, BC
5) Applied to UC Davis, UBC, Toronto, Texas, UNC