Could Steve Levitt Get Into a Top Ph.d. Program Today?

Tyler Cowen says:

Read the debate. Steve says U. Chicago would nix him for lack of undergraduate mathematics classes. He believes that Harvard or MIT "might still take a chance on me today."

I am a strong believer in having at least one top school -- Chicago once played this role -- which accepts virtually everybody and lets competition sort them out in brutal fashion. I am also a strong believer in having more graduate students at top schools know economic history than real analysis. I don't expect either of these wishes to come true anytime soon.

This is sad commentary that most top economics schools today would not admit the 2003 winner of the John Bates Clark Medal:

The John Bates Clark Medal is awarded biannually by the American Economic Association to "that American economist under the age of forty who is adjudged to have made a significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge". Named after the American Neoclassical economist John Bates Clark (1847-1938), it is considered one of the two most prestigious awards in the field of economics, along with the Nobel Prize. Around 50% of past Medal winners have gone on to win the more frequently-awarded Nobel, following an average wait of over 20 years.

On a positive note, what does this say about me not getting into U.Chichago?

P.S. -- For those of you who don't know, Steven Levitt is the author of the best-selling book, "Freakonomics":

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: if morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.