Sweaty, need a shower

Type of Undergrad: US News Top 30 Undergrad GPA: 3.98 GRE: 169Q 163V Math Courses: (all A except B+ in analysis) calc I-III, diff. eq., linear algebra, intro proofs, real analysis, intro stats, data analysis in R. Econ Courses: (all A) intermediate micro and macro, intro and applied econometrics, labor, thesis sequence. Research Experience: 2 independent research projects as an undergrad including a senior thesis. 6 months of a pre-doc, 6 months industry research work. Letters of Recommendation: 2 from the advisors of my undergrad research, 1 from an econ professor who taught me twice. They were great advocates for me, and also kind. I know this helped. Research Interests: applied micro, IO, labor SOP: the usual, though letter writers said this was probably a strength of my application. Acceptances: UCLA Waitlists: UVA (eventually admitted, but declined) Rejections: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia, Northwestern, Penn, NYU Stern, Michigan, Duke, Brown, Cornell, UMN Pending: NYU, UCSD, USC (I'm sure I'll be rejected, but they haven't actually told me so) Attending: UCLA! Comments: I was advised to apply to as many schools as I could and then more to play the numbers game. I think this was great advice. You really do only need one admit. What would you have done differently? I would have prevented a global pandemic, prevented every unpredictable road block, and given myself infinite money and capacity for more math courses. In all seriousness, things have been tough the past couple years, things haven't gone perfectly, but I did my best given the circumstances and I can't ask more of myself. I am very lucky and very happy with how things worked out for me. I hope future applicants reading this can feel proud of everything they have accomplished, not obsess over every way their profile was imperfect, and not compare themselves to other people even when schools do this for us.