klaziki

I can add an alternative perspective to the one shared above: I thought the visit day went quite well and actually had a really good impression of the program, especially talking to the current grad students. That being said, many of the admitted students had dominating offers and there were not many initial offers given out to begin with, so I would expect a decent amount of WL movement (of course, this is just my guess and I cannot say for sure).

I can confirm - received an email to check the portal. This was the first time they contacted me, I did not receive an earlier "pre-offer" that others had discussed in the past week or so.

For admissions purposes only, in your case I would strongly recommend a pre-doc (includes RA, e.g. Fed RA positions) over a masters. In general, it seems to me that it is extremely difficult to secure admissions to top programs if you're coming straight from an undergrad institution outside the T50 (or even T20/T10 for that matter), regardless of your academic record or grades. If you're looking for a pre-doc/RA position, you should look for one with economists who have a record of placing past RAs at top programs.

This is how some schools (e.g NYU) give out offers: they basically reach out and first ask to see if you're even still interested. It's essentially equivalent to an acceptance, if you are interested.

I can confirm the Princeton calls on Friday were legit, as can others who have already posted in this thread. My guess would be that WLs are soon to come, followed by rejections, although I don't know that for sure.

Also waitlisted at Chicago, it seems to be pretty crowded, but that's just my guess based on several people I know also getting WLs.

I know NY, Chicago have moved on to interviews, not sure about the rest

I haven't heard back either (applied in early/mid-October). I have no idea what the timeline for interviews is though.