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Phd Accounting Profile Evaluation


ProspectPhd

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Education/Background

Top 5 UG Accounting Program

B.S. Accounting (3.3 GPA)

B.A. Mathematics (3.6 GPA)

Cumulative GPA: 3.41

Practice GMAT: 720-740 (I will take in 3 months)

 

Calc 1 (B), Calc 2 (B+), Calc 3 (A), Linear Algebara (A), Differentail Equations (A)

Calc Based Probability Theory (B+), Calc Based Statistics Theory (B+), Discrete

Mathematics (A-), Abstract Algebra (A-), UG Real Analysis 1 (B).

 

State School

Coursework in Economics

Cumulative GPA: 3.75

 

Mathematical Econ (A-), Intermediate Macro (A-), Intermediate Micro (A), UG

Econometrics (A), Graduate Macro (A-), Graduate Econometrics (A), Graduate

Micro (B).

 

Top 20 Graduate Program from Top Public School in California

M.S. Computational Statistics

Cumulative GPA: 3.85

 

Expariment Design (B+), Non-linear Optimization (A-), Intro Computation Statistics

and programming (A), Graduate Probability (A), Graduate Statistics (A-), Graduate

Regression Analysis (A-), Statistical Models in Finance (A-), Graduate Introduction

to SAS programming (A).

 

Research Interest: Capital Markets (Reading Surveys and Papers)

 

TA Experience: 3 years (2 years at UG level and 1 year at Graduate level)

 

Work Experience: Summer graduate intern at federal agency within Operations Research division

 

Age: 29 at time of admission

 

Computer Code: SAS, R, and SQL

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Well, I think it is a nice profile. The GMAT would be nice to have definitive. Your undergrad GPA in accounting could be better. However, I think it is rare to see so much coursework. I will admit that you are quite old for not having work experience. One potential concern I could see is them asking you why you want to do an accounting phd instead of math, economics, or statistics. All in all, I think you have a good shot at T15-30 if you apply to a good number of schools. (This isn't to say that you shouldn't apply to top schools, it is just my opinion of where you will end up)
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Well, I think it is a nice profile. The GMAT would be nice to have definitive. Your undergrad GPA in accounting could be better. However, I think it is rare to see so much coursework. I will admit that you are quite old for not having work experience. One potential concern I could see is them asking you why you want to do an accounting phd instead of math, economics, or statistics. All in all, I think you have a good shot at T15-30 if you apply to a good number of schools. (This isn't to say that you shouldn't apply to top schools, it is just my opinion of where you will end up)

 

Do you think I have a shot at 1 to 15 rank school? I am looking to apply to MIT, UCLA, LSE, Stanford, and UCB. I have seen some students in their program with two masters that are generally older. The coursework I have amounts to about 2 years worth of work. The degrees I have are from schools in the Top 20 overall rank.

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Also, how many schools should I apply to? Which schools do you recommend? I have a few ideas based on research interests, but the rankings are so

different across the board that I am open to suggestions from experienced graduate students. I apologize for the double post and any errors.

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I think if you can hit 720+ on the GMAT then you are competitive at top schools.

 

Your prep in terms of math/econ/stats background will be top notch I would think. In addition the prior familiarity with coding puts you at an advantage once you start a program.

 

Like PhdHope said....age could be a bit of a concern, especially with no substantive work experience, and an admission's committee could potentially ask about motivation to pursue an accounting PhD versus maybe economics or statistics. However, you at least have an undergraduate degree in accounting, and most people with your math/stats background will not have an accounting background at all.

 

Overall.....I agree with PhDHope, I think you are quite competitive at the 15-30 range and could potentially find your way into an elite program. You certainly are not out of the ballpark of consideration for top 10 type programs.

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at top schools you may fall on the spectrum of poor grades (remember we are talking about MIT, Stanford, etc). even though accounting phds may be slightly less prepared in math and stats than finance and econ phds, the gap is marginal at these top institutions. check out profiles of those who go to top schools for these phds.

given that, you probably want to diversity your choices a bit by applying to top 10-30 range schools.

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at top schools you may fall on the spectrum of poor grades (remember we are talking about MIT, Stanford, etc). even though accounting phds may be slightly less prepared in math and stats than finance and econ phds, the gap is marginal at these top institutions. check out profiles of those who go to top schools for these phds.

given that, you probably want to diversity your choices a bit by applying to top 10-30 range schools.

 

Again, thank you everyone for the information and opinions. I am curious, what do you mean by this? Do you mean that I will be competitive at top schools because there is a spectrum of poor grades or do you mean I am not competitive because of my grades? I am confused on which one you are referring to, can you elaborate a bit?

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i meant you should diversify since your profile is not god-like (it is great but you will be competing against flawless applicants.). many applicants with straight a's in advanced math and graduate courses from top institutions will compete for a small number of spots with you at the top schools.
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i meant you should diversify since your profile is not god-like (it is great but you will be competing against flawless applicants.). many applicants with straight a's in advanced math and graduate courses from top institutions will compete for a small number of spots with you at the top schools.

 

I agree with you. I don't intend on applying to only top schools. I am going to certainly diversify. There is no doubt that it is going to be difficult to stand out among all the great applications.

 

However, there are a few things going for me. The first being that there is quite a bit of overlap with applicants in the 1 to 30 range. I have no doubt that at least 50% of applicants for 2012 admission are applying to at least 50% of the same schools I am applying. Furthermore, usually only 60% of applicants have graduate degrees and of this group, how many have a MS in computational statistics? Very few. I have seen most having either a MBA. I know many students with great GPAs that try to get a MS in statistics or mathematics, but believe me, it is not that easy for them. In fact, when I told a accounting faculty at a top institution of my background he was impressed. Additionally, I know how to use R, SAS, SQL, and Latex. I have used Stata, but I am not going to list it.

 

With that being said, I still agree with the assessment of everyone. I am going to only apply to 5 to 6 top schools (1 to 10 rank), maybe even less, and about 10 to 15 (10 to 30 rank). That is my strategy.

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i think your profile is strong. i was just raising a warning on the possible lack of diversification. but you knew that too. good luck.

 

I think your opinion is very important. When an applicants tend to look at their own profile they can't really see the flaws or they see too many flaws! I am very grateful that there are members like yourself that evaluate profiles. Generally, it is good to get your profile looked at by fellow applicants and graduate students. Honestly, I am more confident now then before I posted my profile even though the assesments were not all positive. I am very thankful of everyone's opinion.

 

Additionally, I forgot to mention my LORs. One is from the Chair of the economics department at my former state school, the the other is the Dean of my UG institutions accounting school, and finally, I am going to send in two recs of former mathematics instructors I have had. One instructor is a Associate Professor and the other is academic that lectures full time at the statistics I am in currently. All letters are gleming!

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