Been free riding this forum too long. Perhaps this could be useful for someone as it has been for me.
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: industrial engineering major from top school in small, developing latin american country
Undergrad GPA: 6.3/7.0
GRE: 800q, 650v, 5.0w
Math Courses: Calculus, Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations, Elements of Vector Analysis, Functions of C in C, Numerical Methods, Probabilities, Statistics, Cue Theory, Optimization, Operations Research
Econ Courses: Micro, Macro, IO, Finance Theory, Derivatives Pricing
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from a finance professor from MIT-Sloan who I'm working with as an RA, 1 from a locally well known econ prof with whom I co-authored a paper, 1 from a locally well known OR prof from my university
Research Experience: RA on two empirical finance projects for an MIT prof, co-authored 3 pol econ paper (not very relevant except for the fact that I got to work with my future recommender)
Teaching Experience: I work as a junior faculty member at my former univeristy. I've instructed Finance Theory I and II several times and have extensive experience as a TA
Research Interests: Corporate Finance, slightly biased to empirical
statement of purpose: I highlighted the fact that I worked at an investment bank prior to my academic interest, found some interesting questions that this experience had given me
Other: International student,
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Columbia GSB Finance & Economics (attending), UCLA Anderson, CMU Tepper, London Business School, Yale SOM, Boston College (interview), UBC Sauder
Waitlists:
Rejections: MIT Sloan, Chicago GSB, Stanford GSB, Kellogg, Berkeley Haas, NYU Stern, Duke Fuqua
Pending: Harvard GSB
What would you have done differently? Nothing really, this was by far the best outcome I could have dreamt of