Jump to content
Urch Forums

Accounting profile evaluation


Immaterial

Recommended Posts

Hi, a friend of mine was wondering if you guys could give some feedback on his profile and school selection (just whether his profile is competitive, not on whether they are a good research fit...):

 

31 at matriculation (white, American [CPA and CTP])

GMAT: 730

Ungrad: normal state school, B.S. in Finance and minor in Mandarin Chinese, 3.12

A lot of study abroad experience (proficient in Chinese)

Grad school: Masters in Accounting Science, 3.9. PAR ranked the program in the top 20s

I took calc I, II, III, Linear Algebra, Stats, intermediate micro/macro as a grad student

Work Experience:

3 years at one of the big4 accounting firms after grad school

2 years as a Graduate Assistant (grading/research)

Will have great LOR

Research interest: I want to use archival data and behavioral Science. I want to research IFRS practices and implementations when compared to GAAP in foreign countries, international finance/accounting, financial statement analysis, and M&A

 

Target schools: (1 being my first choice)

1. UIUC

2. University of Michigan

3. Cornell

4. Ohio State University

5. University of Rochester

6. University of Iowa

7. Kellogg

Absolute wish Wharton/HBS/Booth

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Becoming an ADS scholar would definitely open doors for him since schools favor those kids for their pre-funded status.

 

Without ADS, I think Illinois, Michigan, and Cornell will be hard to get into. The applicant's GMAT score is good, but it slightly below what I wonder consider average for these schools. (Note average here would be the average gmat for the last two years in accounting at the above three schools) His age and undergrad GPA are the only other two sources of concern. Since the three schools I mentioned above are so competitive, I can see these issues becoming deal-breakers.

 

That being said, I think he has a shot at the other schools listed. I would even say he should apply to the three, I just wouldn't give him good chances at getting in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Profile-wise, I think there isn't really any glaring weakness in background or metrics. Not sure where things fit chronologically but if those 3 yrs of big 4 experience are recent, the applicant would be really competitive for the ADS program (it would limit program options but UIUC, Cornell, OSU, and Iowa were on the list this year) which would add some funding and help with admissions.

 

I know you wanted to avoid comments on research fit but saying one wants to use behavioral theory and archival data will get some odd looks and probably make someone seem unfamiliar with research unless they are deliberately pursuing that rather unexplored angle. If it is truly meant to imply behavioral in the sense of JDM theory, archival certainly is not the traditional match (though Lisa Koonce has a great paper on how JDM theory can be better integrated with archival methods in research). To that point, the list seems a little odd in that UIUC and Cornell are noted as strong experimental schools and most of the others lack a presence in experimental research to my knowledge. That would be the biggest issue I see in the profile. Good luck!

 

On a side note, Mark DeFond from USC has a great working paper on the comparability benefits from first-time implementation of IFRS - the applican tmay find it to be an interesting read.

SSRN-The Impact of IFRS Adoption on Foreign Mutual Fund Ownership: The Role of Comparability by Mark DeFond, Xuesong Hu, Mingyi Hung, Siqi Li

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...