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. So far, 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: Extrapolating slightly to the end of the year (since our year is February-November): 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, Algebraic Topology. Almost 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 (in progress). 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: Haven't written it yet. I'll probably say something about the kinds of phenomena I find interesting, mention some papers I've read and liked, and hope for the best.
Weaknesses: No research experience, from a relatively unknown university; no money to live off of if financial aid is denied.
Applying to top 10 and Michigan, possibly Oxford and LSE too (several people from my university have gotten in at Michigan and Oxford before, so they're the somewhat safer options). If I get denied everywhere, I'll take a year to work as an RA and apply again next year, lower down the ranks.