Please help evaluate my profile

[nicolewickey]

Is research experience really important? Is it likely for top tier schools to accept people who hasnt published any paper? I thought it is unlikely for a undergrad, and even most grad(european system) to publish any papers...But after I checked the 09 profile, god, so many people have really formal research experience. I still want to go to a top tier school, but seems like there are so many people who have more experience. Please find me some safe schools that I should apply to. I made a list of 10, but all of them are top tier...Maybe I should swap some of them with second-tier ones, any ideas?

Program: PhD Finance
Age: 23
Sex: Female
Undergrad: Business and Economics
GPA: 3.90 (cum laude)
College: University of Amsterdam; finished one year in advance
TOEFL: 113
Grad: Finance
Grad School: University of Amsterdam; Boston College (exchange)
Current GPA: 4.0
Scholarships: Got a prestigious full scholarship from Dutch government for my grad study; CFA Netherlands Society Scholarship
GMAT: Gonna take it next week. Pretty sure I can get 780-800 in Math, but the verbal part is my weakness. Probably end up 700 overall.
Work Experience: Summer Internship in an investment Bank
Research Experience: 2+years as RA, sometimes tagged along in finance department's seminars
Teaching Exp: Tutor for MBA students in finance courses for 3 months; TA for MBA course Financial Modeling
Recommendations: One from my RA professor,he supervised my thesis and I got A+ in both undergrad and grad thesis, should be very good. One from a professor who teaches Micro, in which I got full score, so the rec is pretty standard. Another one from an adjunct faculty in BC.
SOP: I am trying my best...
Other: Graduated from high school with top 1% score in my home city, and top0.2% score in math; finished high school one year in advance; represented my university to participate a few student academic conferences in Europe (but no publications involved, just some essays); a lot of extracurricular activities such as being board member on student council, member in the debate clubs etc, and participated in many international debate contests.

So this is my profile. Not very bad, but I don't think it is really good enough for me to easily get into a top school like some of the people here. What shall I do? Get my GMAT score as high as possible. What else?

[rhuelu]

you are leaving out one of the most important pieces of information...what math classes have you taken? If you are interested in finance you will need the calculus sequence, ODE, linear algebra, and a calculus based stats course at a minimum. I think to improve chances it would be good to have real analysis, PDE, maybe stochastic processes as well.

[possible_phd]

Agreed with rhuelu. So if you have the math courses and score in the mid-to-high 700's on the GMAT (btw, math is scored to 51, not the 700-800 scale as on GRE), then you look pretty good to me! But what do I know? I'm just an applicant. :-P

Good luck! You look like you'll do fine.

[nicolewickey]

Here is the list of stats courses I have taken

Statistics 1 got 9/10
Statistics 2 got 9/10
Econometrics 8/10
Simple and multiple regression, least-square estimation, goodness-of-fit, Gauss-Markov theorem, coefficient-tests and confidence intervals; Multicollinearity, (nonlinear) variable transformations, nonlinear regression, dummy variables, slope dummies, test on structural change; Mispecification, proxy variables, test of a linear restriction; Heteroscedasticity (test and estimation); Stochastic regressors, measurement errrors, instrumental variables; simultaneous equations; Dynamic models, forecasting, stability test; Autocorrelation (test and estimation). The theory is treated in the lectures and exercises are discussed in the tutorials. In the practicals, applications of the theory are worked through, using the software programme Eviews.

I have also taken other difficult grad courses(Advanced Econometrics and General Equilibrium), but I didn't take the exam and get the credit. Is it helpful to mention that?

I also took two PhD courses (math and micro) in Boston College, but I don't think I can get A. So I had better not mention that in my application...

All I wanna know, do I have a shot at the top tier schools like NYU and Northwestern? If not, I don't want to waste my application fees...

[nicolewickey]

Here is the list of math courses I have taken
Mathematics 1 (easy easy) got 10/10
Mathematics 2 got 10/10
-Integral calculus:
The indefinite integral, anti-derivatives. The definite integral. Integration by substitution. Areas. Economic applications Differential equations:
-Separation of variables. Linear differential equations of the first and second order. Applications Difference equations:
-Discrete functions. Linear difference equations of the first and second order. Applications in dynamic market models and macro- models Matrix algebra:
-Systems of linear equations. Square matrices. Inverse matrix. Determinants. Input-output analysis. Extreme values of multi-variable functions with the Hessian matrix
Mathematics 3 got 9/10

• Part 1. Optimization techniques in a setting with constraints. Extensions of the theory presented in the course Mathematics 1. Connection between the primal and the dual problem, (in)direct utility functions, (quasi)-concave functions, compensated and uncompensated demand functions, Slutsky relations, the elasticity of substitution, production functions and homothetic functions.
• Part 2. Extension of the theory of Linear Algebra presented in the course Mathematics 2. Systems of difference equations. Parameter analysis and Stability of equilibrium in dynamic models. Application of the theory in micro- and macro-economic models.
• Part 3. Solving dynamic models by use of the software package Mathematica.

I got the description from the course catalogue, so a bit long...

[nicolewickey]

Just got the news that I got B for both Micro(phd) and Math for Econ....
Guess I don't have a good chance of getting in NYU anymore...

[ljh96251]

1. Your math and stat background looks weaker than your overall
GPA.

2. Try to spread your application to low tier school. (for example, top 30)
The difference between top and the other in business schools is
smaller than that in other fields. And finance and economics is highly
competitive. Regarding top 10, only super gpa and preparation can
guarantee nothing. You need more to be distinguished from the other
super-qualified applicants like exceptional recommendation from
exceptional people. If you really like it, you can do almost same thing even
though you are not admitted in top school, at least, in this field.

[nicolewickey]

Actually 8/10 is already equivalent to A in the American grading system, in terms normal distribution of the scores.

[DreamFactory]

I believe ljh96251 meant that you took relatively less mathematics subjects than the really strong Finance PhD applicants. I see your courses...in my school just the level that sophomore students might take. (Any analysis?) Your math courses will probably won't get you disqualified not meeting the prereq, but you won't have the competitive advantage in that area (rather, it's highly likely that you'll have some disadvantages in math).

I totally agree with ljh96251, that you should consider applying to relatively lower ranked schools (although I believe that 'ranking' is hard to measure). Or how about economics PhD programs as well? I'm also an applicant seeking for a PhD finance, and I'm applying to 5 econ schools as well as applying to a lot of biz schools. (You can check profiles at Economics PhD forum, Roll Call 2009...where there are some guys seeking financial economics or finance...including me)

On the other hand, I see that you do have a very nice profile. I've heard that your alma mater is really a nice school, and you seem to have very nice grades. However, I believe that there aren't many people who can be guaranteed in Finance PhD programs. You do have a shot, but remember, there are guys with jesus profiles, and the number of admission isn't that large.

[nicolewickey]

Yeah. I agree I am not taking many math courses. But our system is quite different. All the undergrad courses except for Economics are taught in Dutch-not something I can take. So they finally combined everything a economics student needs to know into a integral course.

I actually also took 2 years of advanced math courses in China, designed for science students(like physics major) But it is again an integrated course which covers a lot of things like Advanced Calculus, Real Analysis, Multivariate Differentiation, Optimization, Double Integrals, Unlimited Progression, (second order) Difference and Differential Equations and Space Geometry. All of these material is under one course name. So things are not taught separately.

Actually I do not believe I am incredibly less qualified in math skills than others, considering that I learned almost everything mentioned. But it is indeed not very impressive just to say "i took one course called advanced math" instead of saying "I took SDE, Real Analysis...", even though the material is the same.... I don't know how to deal with it...

Yeah, actually I am already setting out to find some top 50 schools. I think even with these schools, I am not guranteed to get in... Guess I will just get my fingers crossed for myself...

Thanks for the advice, guys.