How are audit courses treated by Adcoms?

[eternalnit]

Hi,

 

I am currently pursuing MS Finance and I am planning on applying to PhD in Finance in the future. My quant background is not up to par (I have multivariate calculus and Master's level Linear Algebra). By the end of my Masters I will have taken courses in Differential equations, Mathematical Finance, Econometrics, Numerical and Statistical Methods in Finance, to name a few.

 

I was planning on taking upper level Statistics courses and now my advisor tells me that I can simply audit the courses without earning credit for it. I will sit for the classes, attend the courses and the courses will appear on my transcript but there will be no credit reflected on it. My main reason is cost (I will be saving almost $6500).

 

I was wondering how are audit courses evaluated by admissions for PhD? Do they even take these into consideration? Is this even a good idea or should I just register for the classes normally?

 

Thanks!

[tm_associate]

Audit courses are not going to benefit in front of adcoms directly. Indirectly, it may signal that you have interest in getting some higher level stats courses under your belt. I think an audit would be better for yourself, in terms of firming up your statistical knowledge. But I would think that you should only audit if the course is completely extra to completing your current degree.

[eternalnit]

Oh the courses are completely extra to my degree. These are going to taken to beef up my Stats and quant background in my application. I merely wanted to know if taking them as audits would be sufficient to show my intent to learn them or whether my expertise in these courses should be proved by taking the courses normally and getting graded.