Profiles and Results 2008

[Fatrapa]

Type of Undergrad: None (French system of Grandes Ecoles)
Type of Grad: Business School + Paris School of Economics
Grad GPA: 1st / 60
GRE: 800/610/4.0
Math Courses: french system
Econ Courses: 3 "undergrad", 20 grad
Other Courses: business
Letters of Recommendation: 3 well-know economists, 2 less-well-known but who know me well
Research Experience: Master thesis
Teaching Experience: TA
Research Interests: Political decision (Roemer, etc.) / political economy
statement of purpose: spoke about my research
Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Chicago
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Columbia, NYU (99%), Harvard (99%)
Pending:
What would you have done differently? I would have described my math credentials more precisely. This is an advice for all French future applicants: explain how the system works and how good you are in maths in your letter.

[jeeves0923]

:: deleted ::

[jeeves0923]

Oops, accidentally posted this on the 2007 thread... here you go anyway.

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Math, B.A. Econ from top 30 U.S. institution
Undergrad GPA: 3.9/4, Summa Cum Laude, In Honors
Type of Grad: M.S. Math
Grad GPA: 3.8/4
GRE: 800Q, 610V, 4.5AWA
Math Courses: All required courses for math degree + Real Analysis I and II, Math for Economists, Graph Theory (graduate), Abstract Algebra (graduate), Measure Theory (graduate)
Econ Courses (PhD-level): PhD Micro, PhD Labor
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): IO, Public, Econ of China, Environmental and Natural Resource Econ, Game Theory, Micro and Macro Theory
Other Courses: History minor, about half of an engineering degree
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors (1 Chicago PhD, 1 UMN PhD, 1 UCSD PhD), 1 math prof (Princeton PhD, NSF winner), all extremely solid, though they are all quite old.
Research Experience: RA for Econ prof, Theoretical math thesis, Economics thesis, one paper submitted to journal
Teaching Experience: GTA for University Writing Coaching Center, Intermediate Micro, and an Honors Colloquium on Game Theory
Research Interests: Public Finance, Education, Labor, Theory
statement of purpose: Sure
Other: I applied only to Princeton, Harvard and MIT, because they are the only ones that can pull me away from my current MS program. I love it here, and will cast a wider net next year once my Master's in math is completed(if MIT ends up saying no).

RESULTS:
Acceptances: none
Keep Your Pants On: MIT
Rejections: Princeton, Harvard(for certain now)
What would you have done differently? Maybe more statistics. However, I think I have a pretty good shot next year after having PhD metrics, Stochastics, Optimal Control Theory and a Master's Thesis under my belt

Concerns: Being rejected isn't fun, even if the process is "random" and I only applied to top programs.

[bojangles42124]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Public university with a top 20 econ program.
Math & Econ double degree
Undergrad GPA: Overall 3.2 (3.7 my final two years); Econ 3.9; Math 3.2
GRE: 800Q, 550V, 4.5 AW
Research Experience: Undergraduate honors thesis (which I think is stellar), currently a statistician for Dept. of Commerce since graduating in May
LORs: Two of them great (my thesis advisors) and one probably mediocre, all from senior econ faculty
Concerns: Math grades are all over the place...

RESULTS:
Acceptances: UVa, George Washington U
Rejections: Johns Hopkins
What would you have done differently? I originally got a 740 on my GRE, so I was sure I would have to reapply next year. Because I didn't want to put my recommenders through two rounds of 10 applications, I applied to just three schools. I retook the GRE a month later (in January) and got an 800, but it was too late to start applications to more schools. Also, I probably should have studied more than 30 seconds before the test for the verbal and AWS, if only for my own vanity. But one thing to keep in mind is that after an entire college career, there is only so much that is within my control.

Most importantly, I would have spent more time on this forum before applying.

[Sammy6]

Type of Undergrad: Top 25 Econ
Undergrad GPA: 4.0/4.0
Type of Grad: MA, Top 25 Econ
Grad GPA: 4.0/4.0
GRE: 800Q, 650V, 5.0 AW
Math Courses: calc 1-3, diff eq, linear algebra, stochastic processes, optimization theory, adv. prob/stat (all A's), audit topology, self-study real analysis
Econ Courses: Micro, Macro and Metrics (Intermed, Master's and 1st semester PhD), Health (MA), Trade(MA and PhD), Internat'l Finance (MA), Game Theory (MA)
Letters of Recommendation: 5 very strong (1 Harvard, 1 Chicago, 2 MIT, 1 Michigan). 4 of the professors are very well known. 4 I took classes from, and 2 I worked with.
Research Experience: RA for one year, about to submit co-authored paper with supervisor
Teaching Experience: private tutoring
Research Interests: no f***'in clue
statement of purpose: pretty good, my adviser took a look
Other: female, 21 years old, transfer

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Harvard($$), MIT(waiting on NSF), Stanford($$), Yale($$), UPenn($$, declined), Northwestern($$), Chicago($$)
Waitlists: NYU, Berkeley (declined)
Rejections: Princeton
Pending: NSF/Javits
What would you have done differently? Relaxed during the waiting game

[tangsiuje]

Type of Undergrad: UK (top 5 in Economics), 3-year PPE degree (not from Oxford), economics major, second year on exchange in Canada.
Undergrad GPA: "First" (70+) in all first year modules; 91.2/100 overall (all A) in Canada; third-year results in June/July.
GRE: 790Q, 520V, 6.0AWA (<--that's why you should do philosophy: philosophers average 5.0 on AWA)
Math Courses: quantitative techniques in economics (first-year course in economics department on constrained optimization and some matrix algebra), Analysis I+II, Linear Algebra (first-year courses in the maths department, taken as overload courses this year: in progress)
Econ Courses: more micro than macro, one-year econometrics course (in progress), the usual hotchpotch of field courses.
Letters of Recommendation: One from Canada, one from the UK. I think that both are very good economists, but I just took their classes and letters cannot possibly have been that amazing/personalized.
Research Experience: Nil.
Teaching Experience: Nil. (Or, I've actually done quite a bit in the private sector, but I never mentioned that in my applications.)
Other: female, 23, non-native English speaker

Results
Acceptance: Toronto doctoral stream MA (funding with TA/RA duties) <-- attending
Waiting: Queen's MA

What would you have done differently? Not stressed out as much. Had a bit more faith in myself. Been a little less obsessed with what people on TM say.
Comment: I suppose Toronto had not filled their quota for females from insignificant Scandinavian countries.

[no_time]

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

[gbt321]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Top 10 Liberal Arts
Undergrad GPA: 3.9 overall, 3.9 Econ major
Type of Grad: n/a.
Grad GPA: n/a.
GRE: 770/610/5.5 (taken as an undergrad, never bothered retaking it).
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Linear Alg, Complex Analysis, Real Analysis, Math Econ, Stats
Econ Courses: All undergrad required for the major, including econometrics
Letters of Recommendation: 1 undergrad advisor, 2 economists from my consulting firm. All are PhD economists, none extremely well known, but all know my abilities very well and they write convincingly.
Research Experience: undergrad research assistant, 3 years with an economic consulting firm doing applied micro
Teaching Experience: undergrad TA
Research Interests: environmental economics
statement of purpose: stressed research experience, quantitative abilities, and research interests
Other: experience in SAS and Stata programming.

RESULTS:
Acceptances: MSU Ag Econ ($RA), Wisconsin AAE ($RA), Maryland AREC ($RA), Oregon State ARE ($RA), Penn State AERS ($RA), NC State Ag Econ
Waitlists: waitlisted for funding at NC State
Rejections: None
What would you have done differently? Retake GRE. I would have applied to Berkeley or a traditional econ program to get my letter writers off my back about going the ag econ route .

[octavio]

Type of Undergrad: Large US state university, econ program ranked very low
Undergrad GPA: 4.0
Type of Grad: Currently enrolled in econ masters at a US public university
Grad GPA: 4.0 through first semester
GRE: 800Q, 690V, 6.0 AW
Math Courses: Undergrad: Calc 1-4, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Real Analysis; Grad: Topology, Optimization (IP)
Econ Courses: Undergrad: All the standard intro/intermediate, econometrics, electives; Grad: Micro, Macro, Econometrics
Letters of Recommendation: All three were from economists and should be very positive. Nobody famous, that I know of... but I get the impression that they were very specific.
Research Experience: Summer RA for econometrics professor, currently an RA for a couple of professors working in applied micro
Teaching Experience: None, except some grading
Research Interests: Development, trade, applied micro
statement of purpose: It was very conservative, about a page long, talking about what I had done as a research assistant, what my general research interests were, and my desire to work in academia after graduation. For the AREC programs, I added a short paragraph about my experiences studying abroad in a developing country and my eagerness to do field work (without sounding naive).

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Berkeley ARE ($, will be attending), UCSD ($), Maryland ($), Michigan (no $), Wisconsin AAE ($), Michigan State ($), UC Davis ($)
Waitlists: Brown
Rejections: Stanford, Yale

What would you have done differently? Things worked out well given that my pedigree was so poor. I got into Berkeley ARE, which is a perfect match for my interests, so I can't think of much to do differently. Probably shouldn't have applied to Stanford and chosen a different reach instead, not that I would have gotten in.

[Valhalla]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA in economics in continental europe, huge public university but internationally not very well known I'd say.

Undergrad GPA: 3.72/4 (using WES-conversion table), top 5% in my university

Type of Grad: MA Economics (I'm currently in the second year)

Grad GPA: 3.77/4 until now

GRE: 790 Q, 600 V, 4.5 AWA

Math Courses:

(90% of those courses were not required in the economics-track (BA and MA) but I did those courses additionally as offered by the math department for math-students)

UG-Level: Mathematics I,II, III (dealing basically with integral calculus, differential equation systems, vector calculus...), Real analysis I, II, III, Functional Analysis I, II, Probability theory I,II,III, Linear Algebra I, II, III, Topology I, II, Differential Topology, Measure Theory, Optimization Theory,


Graduate Level: Real Analysis, Topology, Linear Algebra, Operator Theory, Recursive Methods/ Dynamic programming, Statistics I (using Casella and Berger), Statistics II (using Davidson's Stochastic limit theory)


Econ Courses: That's just an endless list... but some highlights:

UG Level: Micro I,II,III, Macro I,II,III, Game theory I, II, Evolutionary Game Theory, Cooperative Game Theory, Industrial Organization I, II, International Trade I, II, III, Monetary Economics I, II, ...

Graduate level: Micro I,II, (using MWG) Macro I,II, (using Ljungquvist and Sargent/ Stokey and Lucas), General Equilibrium Theory, Incomplete markets, Asset pricing, Public choice theory, Auction theory, Game theory, Voting theory, Industrial Organization

Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ profs, 2 are well known

Teaching Experience: TA UG Level for elementary economics, TA Graduate level in math and macro

Awards: 2 merit based awards from my UG - university, scholarship from my graduate institution, award from our central bank for my diploma thesis,

Research Interests: Micro-theory

statement of purpose: talked about personal interests/ hobbys and connected it with some papers I read... but I don't think someone cared about it

Schools I applied to:

NW
UPenn
UCSD
Tilburg
UIUC
JHU
Purdue
U Arizona
BC
UC Davis
Toronto
IUB


RESULTS:

Acceptances:

UPenn (nada $)
Tilburg ($)
UIUC ($$)
U Arizona ($$)
BC ($$)
IUB ($$)
UC Davis (?)

Rejections:

NW... (I'm still shocked)

Pending:

Toronto, Purdue, JHU, UCSD

What would you have done differently?

A lot! I wouldn't underestimate me anymore and I would apply for some top ten universities. My tip: aim as high as possible otherwise you get a lot of acceptances from middle-ranked universities and what can you buy with that?