Profile Evaluation for Finance PhD...Please help!!!!!!!

[abts]

I am a new member on this forum. The following is my background. Please help me to decide what kind of Finance PhD program I should aim for applying. Please add any additional steps I could take at this moment to enhance my chances of admission.

Undergraduate: Bachelor of Business Administration (Majors: Finance & Economics; Minor: Accounting); From a university in a South Asian country (rated top in the country....but low in regional ranking); quant courses: (very few)..Business Statistics, Two business maths, one business research methods...Intermediate level micro and macro, international trade theory....Bunch of courses in finance and accounting.
Valedictorian in the class with GPA: 3.99/4.0

MBA (top university in a country in South asia but low in regional ranking): Major: Finance. Valedictorian in the class with GPA 4/4. Awarded two gold medals by the university.

Now pursuing MSc Finance-thesis based (in a top 10 Canadian School). Course plan of the program is as follows.

Graduate Level Economics courses: Micro Theory, Macro Theory, Research in Econometrics, Applied Econometrics.

Graduate Level Finance courses: Empirical Methods in Finance (financial econometrics), Advanced Corporate Finance, Capital Market Theory, Investment Theory.

Undergrad level math, econ, and stat for making up for poor quant background: Quantitative Analysis for Economics I (Matrix Algebra), Quantitative Analysis for Economics II (Multi-variable calculus), Probability Theory, Probability and Stochastic Processes, Vector Calculus I, Differential Equations.

Industry & Research Experiences:
-Corporate Banking: intern at Citibank, N.A.
-Investment banking research: associate in a new investment bank in my country.
-Research Assistant for a strategy-related project of a professor (under a national agency funding).
-Teaching assistant for Business Research Methods course in the undegrad level.
-Microfinance: research and auditing for an NGO with operations in microfinance and education

Research Outputs:
4 publications in business journals in my country (Bangladesh)
1 publication in a management journal in India
1 publication in a regional management journal in South Asia
1 textbook in Bangla language written for microfinance schools

Professional Degree:
CFA Level I passed and hoping to pass Level II by the time I apply for PhD.

GRE Score:

Quantitative: 790/800;
Verbal: 720/800
Analytical: 5/6

TOEFL ibt: 115/120

Teaching Experience:
-Taught in top two business schools in my country both at undergraduate level and in MBA. The courses were some finance courses and business mathematics courses.

Need your honest advice, folks! Thanking you in advance.

[Hadiran]

What is your reference letter?

[abts]

Thanks for replying. I am expecting very good reference letters from my profs in the Canadian School......Also, I am expecting my master's thesis to be published in some B+ finance journal at least.

[phdhope]

Overall, I would say the application looks pretty good. Since your situation is so unique, I don't know how colleges will consider some of your more unique qualifications on your resume. I am sure you will do fine.

[abts]

dear phdhope, any idea which schools i should target...By unique, i guess you will mean my undegrad and MBA from no-name schools? How do I compensate for them? Doing one more masters in a top 50 school in econ/stats?
Thanks for your feedback.

[phdhope]

Being an accountant, I really don't know enough to recommend finance programs. I don't think a second masters is really necessary. By unique I meant that a lot of your resume isn't really comparable to US applicants. It is hard to compare Asian business schools to US ones. The same with teaching and research output. While I think all of these things are good, it is hard to imagine anyone is the US with the same experiences because the same opportunities for undergraduates or master students simply don't exist. Your GRE is comparable and is a good indicator of your future success.

[Hadiran]

Your profile has some unique things, I do not know how adcom will consider them. What I heard is that since there are so many perfect applications every year, they place a very heavy weight on reference letter. In the top finance programs, since they only enroll 3-5 students every year, sometime they only offer to applicants with reference that has some connections. Why do not you ask your reference and see their idea? I think at least this canadian reference know more rules about the game and can give you some suggestions

[Ancalagon The Black]

Which Indian management journal are you talking about my friend?

[abts]

The journal in India is the following (not something fancy)
Advances in Management

I have an upcoming publication in South Asian Journal of Management (which, I guess, is regionally respected, at least).

Guys, thanks for your feedback..I am picking on your feedback to choose the right pool of schools to apply to for fin PhD.

[Ancalagon The Black]

Who (or which press) publishes this journal might I ask? I found a couple of links on IDEAS but I couldn't find the main publisher's website. I just want to see how this journal is ranked.

I would advice you to send in your paper to a B or C ranked international journal as opposed to a regional or national journal. The impact is better. And do not discount open access journals as worthless or bad. Most of them have very strong peer review.