Chances for admission at Top Phd Business Economics / Finance Program?

[shootermcgavin7]

- Work experience will not matter with regards to admission
- Your GPA will hurt you in admission
- You haven't mentioned your math background

Roughly 40 people, globally, enter Top10 Finance PhDs each year. Unless you have a couple of semesters of Real Analysis and Math Stats and recommendation letters from top professors....I'd say your chances at a top school are slim.

That said, unlike economics, most graduates from schools in the Top 100 tend to do very well on the job market.

[doubtful]

Originally Posted by shootermcgavin7

That said, unlike economics, most graduates from schools in the Top 100 tend to do very well on the job market.

that's why I am going to apply to places where I think there is a good fit (some of them even invited me there before applying) .. don't care too much about ranking... certainly I'd like to be admitted to Wharton but I won't even apply there.

[Hzilla]

What would you qualify as the Top 10 finance programs?
I'll be going to London School of Economics's MSc Finance and Economcis Res. program next year. With any luck, a final grade with distinction in program would automatically place me in their Finance PhD program. However, I'm getting conflicting reads on the quality of LSE's finance group. How would you rank it?

[finance_guy]

As mentioned above here and there, admissions to top programs are never straightforward and you can't really even say that I got into X school so therefore I should also get into Y school because it isn't as good. This year, for example, I interviewed with Indiana Kelley bus school and haven't heard back (they interviewed 10) so I am somewhere on a waiting list, but I got admitted into London Business School (where I accepted) and Carnegie mellon which are both superior.

With regards to your comments about standardized tests, the scores are not really relevant as long as you have above a certain score. This is because they don't look at your ap unless you have a qualifying score. For example at the london interviews everyone systematically, had a perfect quantitative GRE score (800). so you have to kill the standardized tests.

[marcoaraujo]

Can you please evaluate my chances of admission at a top Ph.D. program in economics / business economics?

Profile:

Age: 30;
MSc in electronics engineering and telecommunications;
MBA from a school ranked in FT top 100;
Ph.D. in electrical engineering - doctoral dissertation: economic analysis of telecommunications networks (yes, I already have a Ph.D.);
5 years professional experience, including:
2 years exp in industry;
1 year exp in a large research telecommunications lab;
2 years as an assistant professor;
20 papers published (in engineering and business), most as first author:
12 in international peer-reviewed journals;
8 in conference proceedings;
2 engineering books published (available in bookstores and Amazon.com);

My dream is the Ph.D. in business economics from Harvard, but I’m also applying to Stanford and MIT.

Please comment.
Thank you!

[Hadiran]

Yale is good at behavior finance, and its faculty is small, so it might be weak in other aspect.

Barbaris is in Yale. I think he is now more active than Shirller.(I thougt i spell both of their names wrong, never mind..........)

[sah.nilesh]

Folks please help me evaluate my profile too for PhD in Finance:

My GMAT score is 660 and I took my GMAT on 26/09/2008(dd/mm/yyyy).

• Scaled score of 49 in the Quantitative Section.
• Scaled score of 30 in the Verbal Section.
• Analytical score is 5/6.

I have completed my Master of Business Administration (M.B.A) program (Specialization: Finance) at Symbiosis Center for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD). This college is a constituent of Symbiosis International University. It is one of the elite B-Schools in India and is constantly ranked in the top B-Schools of the country.

I have also completed my Bachelors in Technology (B.Tech.) in Electronics and Telecommunication (June 2007) from College of Engineering, Pune. My alma mater is ranked 1st in the state of Maharashtra and is one of the oldest and finest engineering college in India with a legacy of 150+ years.


I have a few Queries regarding my GPA:


For my Graduation Program in Engineering:


Engineering, my GPA was 7.11 on scale of 10. Now, that is First Class in India and which means that it's almost 4 on 4 as per the USA grading system. I would also like you to bring to your notice that one of my batch-mate who is now studying in Duke University in USA had a GPA of 6.89 on 10 and when they converted it it was taken as 3.7 on 4.


For my Post-Graduation Program(MBA):

My MBA GPA is 2.65. But, for MBA the maximum aggregated GPA for my batch of around 200 students is 3.29 on a scale of 4(I also have a letter in this regard from my School).


Also I would like to mention the grading system in INDIA, also at my college(SCMHRD-Symbiosis International University), is completely different from the grading system in USA. The common scale range of 4 is misleading.

Work Experience:

1. Pramod’s Coaching Classes, Mumbai, India.

Employment Details
Dates of Employment : January 2004 to March 2007.
Job Title : Part-Time Teaching Assistant(At a Coaching Class n not a School/University).
Estimated Employees : 20.
Responsibilities : Conducted Lectures and Seminars in Mathematics for:
¨Grade 10 students : Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry
¨Grades 11 and 12 students : Vectors, Calculus and 3-D Geometry
Average number of Hours worked per week : 12-14 Hrs.

2. Central Bank of India (A Govt. of India Undertaking), Mumbai, India

Employment Details
Dates of Employment : June 2009 till Date.
Job Title : Risk Manager.
Estimated Employees : 35000.
Responsibilities : Placed in the core Research Team for:
¨Development of Tool for Probability of Default (PD), Exposure at Default (EAD) and Loss Given Default (LGD) calculation.
¨Modified Duration Gap Analysis (MDGA) for ALM.
¨BASEL-II Compliance monitoring and adherence.
Average number of Working Hours per week : 50 Hrs.


Internship Details:


HSBC-Global Asset Management, Ahmedabad, India.

The project was on Strategic Management and consisted of mainly two parts:

• Study of mutual fund market in INDIA with focus on HSBC Mutual Funds (Equity products) along with the Competitor analysis.
• Study of the IFA sales and distribution channel and to conduct a market research to find out the requirements and problems of IFA’s with regards to HSBC Mutual Funds (the various financial instruments offered by HSBC investments). Substantiate the research by means of suggesting changes in the existing IFA loyalty program (HSBC Masters).

Certifications / Corporate or Industry Training :

1.Completed the following certifications offered by National Stock Exchange Of India:
·Financial Markets: A Beginners' Module
·Capital Market (Dealers) Module
·AMFI - Mutual Fund (Advisors) Module
2.Completed Six-Sigma Green Belt Certification offered by Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore.
3.Completed a course in Organizational Safety and Health Environment (OSHE).

Research Projects(ONLY AS A PART OF COURSEWORK):

·Impact of American Sub-Prime crisis on Indian Stock Market with emphasis on change of Investor Perception.
·The analysis of financial statements and annual reports of Idea Cellular Limited (A leading GSM operator in India) in order to project its earnings and price of common stock.
·Study of the impact of Foreign Direct Investment on the GDP of India and prediction of the Indian GDP for future.


I have heavy exposure to Mathematics, Quants and Calculus during Engineering as well as MBA.

People, my pool of schools are as follows:

Stockholm School of Economics
University College Dublin
IE Business School
EDHEC
ESSEC
Swiss Finance Institute
University of British Columbia, Sauder
University of Alberta
Univerty of Maryland, Smith
Univerity of Rochester, Simon
University of Wisconsin Maddison
Washington St. Louis
University of Pittsburg, KATZ
Univerity of Missouri
Rutgers University NJ
SFU,USA
SMU,Singapore
NTU,Singapore

Please help me evaluate my chances and also help me to Add/ Delete any schools from my list.