Evaluate my profile for PhD in Finance

[jazzy]

Hey everyone,

I am currently a college senior, interested in admission to a PhD program in Finance or Financial Economics. Please see my profile below, and post your opinion, or any comments, on my chances of admission to a TOP 10 program.

Undergraduate Degrees:
Bachelor's degree in Mathematics - specializing in Statistics (~3.9 GPA)
Bachelor's degree in Business - specializing in Finance (~3.8 GPA)

GRE: 800Q, 640V

Relevant coursework: Calculus I-III, Linear Algebra I-II, Intermediate Macro and Microeconomics, Forecasting, Corporate Finance I-II, Advanced Corporate Finance, Financial & Managerial Accounting, Many Statistics courses... Real analysis this summer

I have lots of experience TAing, but have not done research in the past - I am a research assistant in the coming semester, and will get some very good experience then.

What do you guys think?

[Evil_admiral]

You need the GMAT for b-school admissions, not the GRE. Unless you're going into an Econ Ph.D. that is.

[shootermcgavin7]

Originally Posted by Evil_admiral

You need the GMAT for b-school admissions, not the GRE. Unless you're going into an Econ Ph.D. that is.

That's not necessarily true - most PhD Business programs don't have a preference, and some actually require/prefer the GRE.

Then there are a few schools that do require GMAT for PhD admissions.

It is more of a school-by-school decision.

[Evil_admiral]

Originally Posted by shootermcgavin7

That's not necessarily true - most PhD Business programs don't have a preference, and some actually require/prefer the GRE.

Then there are a few schools that do require GMAT for PhD admissions.

It is more of a school-by-school decision.

Really? AFAIK Ohio State, UGA, Georgia State, and Emory University all require the GMAT and not the GRE for admissions to their Ph.D. programs. I thought that was pretty much the standard. Really the only exception I can think of is at UGA since the Econ program is inside the b-school and requires the GRE and not the GMAT.

[jazzy]

Thanks guys, but I already know that the GRE is fine for all schools in which I am interested. In fact, some of them have stated that the GMAT is acceptable for all disciplines in the Business school EXCEPT Finance.

However, I have seen nothing about what you guys think of my chances... any thoughts?

[shootermcgavin7]

Originally Posted by jazzy

However, I have seen nothing about what you guys think of my chances... any thoughts?

You have a good profile, but admission to Business School PhD programs are a little more of a crapshoot than Econ admissions, specifically when you look at finance.

In Econ programs, many of them shoot for ~20 or so people per entering class, where many schools only take one or two students for a Finance PhD.

Using some schools that eviladmiral mentioned --- Emory, GSU, and UGA tend to range from 20-30 in the rankings:

Emory enrolled 1 student out of 101 applicants;
GSU enrolled 2 students out of 40 applicants;
UGA enrolled 2 students -- I couldn't find the # of applicants but I'd imagine it is at least comparable to Emory's.

Schools like Chicago, MIT, Duke, Ohio State, etc tend to have slightly larger entering classes (I believe Northwestern had 5 people enter this past year?); but the % is similar.

[shootermcgavin7]

Originally Posted by Evil_admiral

Really? AFAIK Ohio State, UGA, Georgia State, and Emory University all require the GMAT and not the GRE for admissions to their Ph.D. programs. I thought that was pretty much the standard. Really the only exception I can think of is at UGA since the Econ program is inside the b-school and requires the GRE and not the GMAT.

UGA:

Should I take the GMAT or the GRE?
We accept either the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) or the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). http://www.terry.uga.edu/finance/phd/faq.html

Emory:
The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is also accepted.
http://www.goizueta.emory.edu/degree...sions_faq.html


GSU definitely strongly prefers the GMAT. That was told directly to me by someone on their adcom. It is a highly unusual case where they'll let you submit your GRE score. I may end up taking the GMAT simply for this reason.


Other schools:

MIT - no preference http://mitsloan.mit.edu/phd/faq.php
Duke - no preference http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/admin/phd/phd_facts.html
UPenn - no preference http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/doctoral/admissions/faq/


etc......

[Evil_admiral]

Originally Posted by shootermcgavin7

UGA:
GSU definitely strongly prefers the GMAT. That was told directly to me by someone on their adcom. It is a highly unusual case where they'll let you submit your GRE score. I may end up taking the GMAT simply for this reason.

etc......

The adcomm I spoke with told me 600 to get in, and at least 650 to be competitive for admissions and financial aid.

As for Emory, I knew they took both. Though the father of a friend of mine who is a professor told me that their Ph.D. program strongly prefers the GMAT to the GRE.

As for grad schools, the poster's initial profile looks fine. I'd suggest just looking at schools which are outside the top 10 and in the top 30 or so just to hedge your bets of getting in somewhere.

There are a ton of good program out there. There are the obvious ones such as Wharton (U-Penn), Florida, and UGA. The University of Michigan supposedly has a strong Finance program to complement their strong Econ program (though it's run by a bunch of Neo-Keynesians). I've heard good things about UC-Berkeley (SP?) and Chicago, though I imagine they are both in the top 10. Stanford would be one that comes to mind.

[tct]

By the way, if you are primarily interested in the markets side of finance (asset pricing models, portfolio optimization theory, etc) you may study finance at an Economics department with an established financial economics program. Some Economics departments also allow you to enroll in their Economics Ph.D. program and then pursue one of your concentrations through the business school at the same university (e.g. Boston College, UC Berkeley, Purdue, etc).

[Christina L]

Originally Posted by tct

By the way, if you are primarily interested in the markets side of finance (asset pricing models, portfolio optimization theory, etc) you may study finance at an Economics department with an established financial economics program. Some Economics departments also allow you to enroll in their Economics Ph.D. program and then pursue one of your concentrations through the business school at the same university (e.g. Boston College, UC Berkeley, Purdue, etc).

You are right. And to be honest, econ department will admit more students (approximately 20 or something like this)than a finance in a busienss school.
But definitely, different environment in econ department and business school