This is surely more than enough to identify me, but since I probably wouldn't have gotten into grad school if I didn't learn of this forum when I started college, I will repay the favor and imbue unbearable anxiety on future generations the same way this did to me.
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: top 2 Canadian (the better one ;))
Undergrad GPA: 3.9
Type of Grad: none, do grad courses count?
Grad GPA: if grad courses count then 4.0, otherwise none
GRE: 168Q
Math Courses: grad real analysis, grad functional analysis, and all the analysis courses up to those; graph theory, nonlinear optimization, topology, linear algebra (B+), measure theoretic probability theory, stats I © and II (all A's and A-'s except for noted)
Econ Courses: phd metrics at top 5, phd micro sequence at undergrad, phd education econ, two thesis-courses, development, urban, empirical IO, and core courses up to advanced level (all A's)
Other Courses: basically none.
Letters of Recommendation: top 5 prof (leader in field) who I work for as an RA for two years, prof from undergrad who taught me a field course and we discussed a lot of research, prof from undergrad who I worked for as an RA for 2.5 years (see below). All of them are young and recently-tenured and probably think that I'm halfway decent (that's my posterior anyway).
Research Experience: second year project over at the school of the environment, 2.5 years with J-PAL/IPA affiliated project during undergrad, 2 years at a top 5 full-time RA. Two work-in-progress projects that definitely made it into my rec letters.
Teaching Experience: none
Research Interests: IO, political, development
SOP: basically the abstract of my undergrad thesis and the abstract of one of my current projects back to back
Other:
RESULTS: I applied to basically everything on Earth
Acceptances: Princeton, Berkeley (partial), Northwestern, Columbia, NYU, UBC, Michigan, Wisconsin-Madison, Duke, Maryland, Toronto MA
Waitlists: Chicago, NYU Stern, UCSD, Chicago Booth, UCLA
Rejections: MIT, Harvard, HBS bus ec, Yale, Chicago Harris, Stanford GSB, Stanford, Wharton AE (declined to interview), Brown, Sloan sociology (lol), Columbia management (lol^2), Fuqua decision sciences (withdrew), Penn
Comments:
What would you have done differently?
Probably not get a C in first year stats?
I should have started my own research earlier instead of riding on coat-tails for a couple of years in undergrad.
I should have gone out of my way more to talk to professors at my undergrad and at the top 5 I'm currently at --- that way I would have had a wider advising network for both my own work and different research opportunities (although I've gotten my ideal RA-position each time I've had to apply for one).
To any undergrad at my alma mater: feel free to send me a message or email if you know who I am, I'm more than happy to advise!