Sample Profiles of people who got into top PhD programs When I was applying for undergrad, I could find a lot of profiles of people (with their educational backgrounds, grades, etc) who had got into top universities (like Harvard, Princeton, etc) and that gave me a good idea of what it took to get into an institution of that caliber. 

I'm interested in applying for a PhD in economics, and while chances of getting in are extremely slim, I'm still curious to know more about what it takes to be a PhD student in a place like Princeton, Harvard, Chicago, Berkeley, etc. Can I find profiles of people who have got into these places somewhere, or has anyone here got into such a place for grad school?
Lots of departments list their Graduate students on their websites. Web search for their personal website, find their CV, and what research projects they worked on as undergraduates. Do this over and over again and you should start to get a good idea what a successful candidate looks like.