Great to finally be a part of this traditional thread!
Here goes:
I would consider myself an international student from a small developing country.
School: Top public university of my country
Major: Economics and Masters in Economics.
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: Lotsof undergrad macro courses and some graduate macro courses.
Teaching: I teach undergrad macro.
Research: A few applied papers.
RA: Current job is as an RA at Central Bank and lecturer at my university.
LOR: Two senior, 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 in general. Applied computational economics and income distribution in particular.
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 15 schools in macro.
My Concerns: The enormous randomness involved in the whole process in general.