Roll call! Fall 2007 applicants

[MzSunshine]

Time to stop lurking around and post my profile. Hopefully it'll be useful for someone in the future...

Undergrad: Decent LAC in the Northeast. Econ/International Studies Major, didn't do almost any math while there (just intro to math for economists). Enrolled in math classes on the side while working full time in NYC for the past few years to beef up the profile.

Undergrad GPA: 3.75/4
GRE: 790Q, 650V, 5.5A

Math Courses: Intro to math for economists during undergrad (A+) and Intro to Probability and Stats, undergrad level (A+), , but nothing else. At Columbia U School of Continuing Education - Calc II and III (B+/A), Linear Algebra (A-), Intro to Probability, grad level (B+). Rather skimpy preparation compared to most of the TMians...

Econ Courses: Took a whole bunch of upper level classes on offer in my college, including econometrics, and thoroughly enjoyed them all, doing reasonably well. Unfortunately B+ in both micro and macro theory.

Letters of Recommendation: Two from my profs from college, enthusiastic I think, but neither of them publish much since they're at a teaching college. One from my boss at work (economic consulting firm) who is an economist by training, but also doesn't publish in academia.

Research Experience: Independent research project senior year, but nothing published.

Teaching Experience: TA for a principles course sophomore year, tutor for 3 years for micro and macro principles.

Research Interests: Macro, development, international finance...
SOP: Typical "why I want to do an Econ PhD and how I think I'm prepared for it".

Concerns: Recommenders aren't well known, from top institutions, and haven't done much research. No real analysis or any math higher than that.

Goals: IMF/World Bank/etc. Might have been a little dumb to mention this in the SOP, since a lot of the schools care about their placement.

Applying to: UVA (admit - money?), UCSB (admit - money?), Duke (reject), Northwestern, Boston University, GWU, Georgetown, NYU, Columbia, Princeton (MPA), Yale (MA).

Other: I applied last year before taking Linear Algebra and the grad Probability. Got admits to UVA and Penn State, but no funding. Got full funding at Fordham but decided not to go cause of personal financial reasons and cause they've never placed anyone at either the IMF or World Bank. Also got an admit at GWU, but they offered funding only on April 30th, by which time I'd already renewed my lease, told my boss I'm staying another year, etc etc and couldn't really up and go anymore. Fingers crossed for better luck this year with the money!!! The admits without money to me are just a more torturous way of rejection...

[redskins]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: leading school in asian country.
Undergrad GPA: 3.79 overall, 3.92 in econ, 4.0 in math.
GRE: 800Q, 730V, 4.5 AW.
Math Courses: full year calculus, full year math analysis, lin algebra, diff eq, topology, real analysis, math stat, reg analysis (all A+).
Econ Courses: econ major.
LoR: 1 econ, 1 stat, 1 math.
Research Experience: RA experience on issues related to macro.
Teaching Experience: macro.
Research Interests: monetary, metrics.

Concerns: no critical research experience.

Applied to: Berkeley, Stanford, Northwestern, Upenn, NYU, Columbia, UW-Madison (admitted), UCSD, UCLA, Cornell, Caltech.

[economicsphd008]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 5 Private US University
Undergrad GPA: 3.79 overall, 3.79 in econ.
GRE: 800Q, 530V, 5.0 AW.
Math Courses: Vector Calculus, Linear Algebra, Real Analysis, Stochastic Processes, Computational Finance.
Econ Courses: Advanced Micro Theory, Advanced Macro Theory, PhD levels Econometrics I and II, Mathematical Game Theory, Financial Theory, General Equilibrium Theory, American Economic History, Development Economics, Economics of Poverty, 2 Semester Senior Thesis.
LoR: 3 econ, all from famous, senior professors.
Research Experience: RA for 1 year, Senior Thesis for 1 year. Prize for outstanding thesis.
Teaching Experience: Tutored Economics, Physics, and Math.
Research Interests: Labor, Health, Political Economy, Econometrics.
Concerns: I guess my GPA could be a little higher.

Applied to: Harvard, MIT, Yale(Admitted $$$), Princeton, NYU (Admitted $$$), Columbia, Chicago, Northwestern, Stanford, Berkeley.

[israelecon]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top Israeli University (Israel is an anomaly in that it is a tiny country but the universities are extremely strong in economics). I was in this university only from the 2006/7 academic year, before that i did a year in the openu in israel because i was in the army and wasn't allowed to enroll in normal universities.
Undergrad GPA: double major in math and economics. 90% math average, 97% economics average in openu
96% math and 97% economics in my present university.
GRE: 800Q, 800V, 6.0 AW.
Math Courses: Calculus 1,2, Linear algebra 1,2,(took those in openu, the rest are from wher i am studying now) Intro to Probability, Set Theory, Combinatorics and Graph Theory, Complex Analysis, Cooperative game theory (but still taking 6 more math courses this year to finish my degree)
Econ Courses: Intro to Micro, Intro to Macro, Intermediate micro 1, 2, 3, Intermediate macro 1,2, econometrics, Theories of distributive justice (currently taking graduate micro instead of electives to finish of my undergraduate degree)
LoR: 2 from economists (one of whom has a joint appointment in my university and NWU) 1 from mathematical game theorist. all pretty well known in their fields , none know me well beyond the grades i got in their class. i don't think they were overly enthusiastic, but i think thats good, because the adcoms are probably very suspicious of overly enthusiastic recommenders.
Research Experience: none
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: micro and games
Concerns: i have only completed 2 years of university before applying.
Comments: i think the most important part of my application is that i received the provost award in my university which is basically an award they give to one person per department in my university, so i got the dean of the faculty to write me a letter that i was chosen out of 1200 people studying economics. I think this is the most important because everyone here has great grades and great gre scores, but the adcoms want something besides that that signals that you are special. just my opinion.

Applied to: Harvard, MIT, Yale, Princeton, NYU (Admitted $$$), Columbia, Chicago, Northwestern, Stanford, Berkeley.

[mogelsworth]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: top 30 Econ program, state university, B.S. Econ w/minor in math
Undergrad GPA: 3.7, 3.8 econ
Type of Grad:
Grad GPA:
GRE: 720/ 510/ 5.0
Math Courses: Calc series, advanced multivariable calc, differential equations, matrix algebra, linear algebra, real analysis, math stats
Econ Courses: lots- including advanced micro and macro
Other Courses:
Letters of Recommendation: 2 from well known grad profs, 1 from boss at econ consulting firm. I know 1 prof and ref from boss were strong, unsure about the second prof.
Research Experience: 2 years at research intense econ consulting firm
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: international econ, development
SOP: ok- a little too sappy and possibly coming off as naive
Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Virginia
Waitlists:
Rejections:
Other: Cornell, UW, UBC, UT, Penn State, Syracuse, BU
What would you have done differently? Taken the GRE earlier so that I could retake and get higher scores in Q and V. Not taken math stats, which was grad level and taught absolutely horribly (new prof, grade scale changed 3 times after class failed each exam), my only C.

[okcash]

Type of Undergrad: Mathematics-Economics (2 in 1 -LSE External@Istanbul)
Undergrad GPA: 3.62
GRE: 790Q, 360V, 3.5 AW.
Math Courses: Adv. Calculus, Adv Lin. Algebra, Abstract Math, Adv Mathematical Analysis, Mathematics of Finance and Valuation, Mathematical Economics,
Econ Courses: Interm. Micro, Adv. Micro, Interm Macro, Optimisation Theory, Game Theory, Interm Econometrics
LoR: in the pool; 4 econ, 1 math, all nice people
SoP: A good but longer one
Research Experience: none
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: micro, games, choice
Concerns: no research experience
Comments: Most of advisors(!) told me not to apply just after the undergrad, but I want it now.

Applied to: Cornell, Duke(reject), UVa(admit), Rice, Rochester, Pittsburgh, UNC-CH, UCIrvine, USCalifornia, BostonU,

[Internationalstudent08]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 5 private U.S. university
Undergrad GPA: 3.74
GRE: 800q, 670v, 4.5w
Math Courses: multivariable calculus, linear algebra, topology, advanced probability, optimization, real analysis (this semester)
Econ Courses: ...many...
Other Courses: ...not too many..
Letters of Recommendation: 1 famous economist, 1 well-known economist, 1 from humanities prof.
Research Experience: 2 summers + thesis
Teaching Experience: I've got some...
Research Interests: macro, pol. economy
SOP: I've been told that it's quite good, not that it matters though

Applying to: 8 out of the top 15 schools + 2 more

Goal: Happiness

Concerns. math and bad selection of schools. I should have applied to more schools between 15 and 40. I played risky

[jnkorama]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 liberal arts school
Undergrad GPA: 3.62 (3.69 Econ)
GRE: 790q, 610v, 5w
Math Courses: multivariable calculus, linear algebra, probability, differential equations, statistics, intro analysis
Econ Courses: 13 classes, including 7 at the highest undergrad level and math for econ
Letters of Recommendation: 3 economists, none well-known
Research Experience: R.A. at fed and consulting
Teaching Experience: Tutor for economics
Research Interests: economics, but my SOP says macro
SOP: Elaborated on my research experience and interests. Some of them I mentioned profs at the schools, some of them I didn't.
Applying to: 13 top 30 schools, NSF
Admitted: Austin, Davis

Concerns: GPA, lack of something interesting to say to distinguish myself from everyone else.

[friendlyskies]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small, not very well-known LAC
Undergrad GPA: 3.99 Business admin major, Econ minor
GRE: 780q, 620v, 5.0w
Math Courses: multivariable calculus, linear algebra, diff eq, real analysis (2 sem.), math stats (2 sem. w/ Casella&Berger)
Econ Courses: intro micro/macro, intermediate micro/macro, IO, statistical analysis for econ
Letters of Recommendation: 2 fed economists, 1 undergrad finance prof.
Research Experience: 2.5 yrs as Fed RA, a couple undergrad publications in crummy journals
Teaching Experience: TA for a couple semesters in UG
Research Interests: macro, int'l trade and finance
SOP: pretty standard...try to explain away the weaknesses and accentuate the positive

Applying to: WUSTL, Maryland, UVA (admit), Boston College, Boston U, UNC, Duke (reject), UT Austin, Arizona State (admit), Brown, Vanderbilt (admit), Georgetown

Goal: Research univ. or a good LAC
Concerns. Business undergrad degree instead of econ, math, or something else looked favorably upon

[econometrician]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Small University in Europe
Undergrad GPA: 9 / 10 (which only around 1% of all students got during the last years)
Type of Grad: same school
Grad GPA: 9 / 10 (at time of application)

GRE: 790Q, 360V, 5.0AW (I know my GRE verbal score really sucks)
IBT: 113/120 (my English is not that bad after all)

Math Courses: Linear Algebra, Analysis I and II, Probability Theory, Mathematical Statistics, Operations Research, Optimization, Differential Equations, Stochastic Processes, Programming
Econ Courses: Econometric Methods, Time Series, Panel Data, (Intermediate) Micro, (Intermediate) Macro, Game Theory, Auctions, Mathematical Econ, Monetary Econ, Finance, Asset Pricing
(those are all I can think of)

Letters of Recommendation: 3 profs I had several classes with, 2 mathematical econ, 1 econometrics. I am currently working as a RA for the metrics prof. I am pretty sure that they are very good.
Research Experience: Research assistant during the last year, undergrad thesis (which I will present at a conference in April, and hopefully publish afterwards), grad thesis
Teaching Experience: Tutor
Research Interests: (Time Series) Econometrics, Macro

Concerns: I was really worried about my GRE verbal score. At least my Toefl and AW scores are decent.

Applied to: Harvard, MIT, Yale, Northwestern, UPenn, NYU, BC, Berkeley, Brown, JHU, Maryland, Toronto