Profile Evalutation for upcoming cycle

[genericname]

Hey everyone, I'm planning on applying to graduate programs in Econ and Finance this upcoming cycle. Could you comment on my profile and let me know what range of programs I should be applying for.


PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BBA – Finance Major, Econ Minor at state flagship, low-non ranked econ department with PhD program
Undergrad GPA: 3.9
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q/600V/3.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc 1-4(A’s), Intro to Linear Algebra (A-), Intro. to Advanced Math (B+), Intro to Real Analysis (A), Probability (A-), Statistics (A), PDE’s (A), will take or currently taking Intro to Abstract Algebra, Advanced Calc, and higher probability and stats courses
Econ Courses: Principles Micro/Macro (A, A-), Inter. Micro/Macro (A+, A+), Game Theory (A+), Econometrics (A), Math. Econ (A+), will be taking grad micro and grad math econ
Relevant Finance Courses: Investments (A), Options & Derivatives (A+), Risk Management (A)
Other Courses: Business courses from business major(Mostly A’s), Programming courses from a previous life (A’s)
Letters of Recommendation: (1) Inter. Micro/Game Theory professor, also have been working on a research project under them for the past year, (2) Math Econ professor, will be my grad micro professor in the fall, (3) Another professor that is involved with the research project, will be grad math econ professor in the fall, (4) Risk Management Professor, wrote a paper for the class that they suggested collaborating on and trying to develop into something publishable. All should range from good to great, all are probably not so well-known, all received their PhD’s from schools in the 10-30 range
Research Experience: Research assistant for the past year on a project that is sort of being wrapped up, will be a co-author if a paper is published, term papers for other classes
Teaching Experience: N/A, worked for a year as a tutor for a private company
Research Interests: Finance – market microstructure, risk management, game theory applied to corporate finance
Economics – IO, information economics, mechanism design, applied game theory
SOP: Should be ok, planning on having one general section and one section for each school
Other: I’m planning on applying to Finance and Econ PhD programs as well as some of the international Masters programs (the programs that offer funding), I also posted my profile in the business PhD sub-forum

Concerns: Undergrad prestige, lack of math given my research interests, low AWA, the list goes on…

Edit: Added a rough list of programs I'm looking at
Applying to: UW-Seattle, USC, UCSD, UCSB, CMU, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Caltech, NorthwesternMasters: UBC, U of Toronto, Toulouse (if I can without an econ degree), Singapore Management University (MS Finance), Tinbergen

How does that list look? Can anyone recommend more safety programs, it seems like I have a bunch of hail mary applications. Sorry that this was added so late

[Elliephant]

I don't have any smart advice to offer except that you look like solid top 30 material, and I'd wager top 20. Your math background is actually about as strong as it gets for non-math minors. As usual, it will hinge on your LORs and how well you do in your grad courses.

You probably knew all that already, but you won't get actually useful commentary unless someone bumps this thread up

[genericname]

Thanks for the reply (and for the bump)

About the non-math minor, I actually graduated this past may. I'm not sure if that makes a difference in my profile evaluation. So at the time of graduation, I was one class short of a minor. The classes I'll be taking this fall and spring will put me way over the minor and close to the major but I'll be an unclassified student so it won't lead to anything official.

[Elliephant]

Ah. Well since you've graduated and are concerned about UG prestige, have you considered picking up a few courses at a stronger school? Geographic constraints are obviously an issue here, but it may be worth looking into if you're not confident about the reputation of your home institution. You still have time before September to figure it out.

[genericname]

Good idea, but unfortunately not possible in my situation.

Also, I think my letter of recommendation's will be stronger taking the grad classes where I'm at.

[_nanashi]

Apply to masters programs (canada/ UK) and a mix of graduate school. Your in the running for top 30. Top 20 is a reach, but doable. I might also try Wisconson and Minnesota (15 and top 10) which have awful locations and a tad bit less competition compared to other top schools, and large class sizes.

[tsimonoce]

Nanashi,

I'm curious why you think top-20 would be a reach? The only 2 negatives are not having completed RA and coming from a somewhat unknown school. From my limited knowledge, that probably means no top-10. But I would have guessed >%50 chance at top-20. I am much newer at this guessing game than you are though, so if you could explain, that would be helpful.

[_nanashi]

I'm curious why you think top-20 would be a reach? The only 2 negatives are not having completed RA and coming from a somewhat unknown school. From my limited knowledge, that probably means no top-10. But I would have guessed >%50 chance at top-20. I am much newer at this guessing game than you are though, so if you could explain, that would be helpful.

My guesses are just simply on the outcomes of friends, and peers. I have friends with slightly better profiles from schools without PhD programs that simply couldn't break into top 20 after applying to almost all of them, and having the best LORs that was possible. I also have classmates at a top 25 that had excellent marks, credible letters and little R.A. that had a hard time getting funding from top 10-15 bracket. Though they got admission offers from 5 to 15.

All that being said in my mind there isn't a big difference from comming from a top 30 and a top 20. The placements of 16-30 are similar. Its just departments in the 30 tend to specialize into fields a bit more than at 20. I also think that students at test magic don't spend enough time researching schools that are strong in their areas. A school strong in an area can place like a department that is higher ranked overall.


I think a lot of is going to depend on who sends the letters, and how strong they are. You should focus on tenured professors that will give you strongest letters. Whether those professors are on the radar of schools your applying to. I'm sure one or two of the professors in the econ or finance department are on the radar. Also I would not necessarily discount getting letters from Finance Professors.

[dreck]

Have a look at the profiles and results thread if you haven't already.
I think your chances at a top 20 are better than a reach, but this too is based solely on the experience of myself and my acquaintances. I suggest you read Jeeves thread on coming from a lower ranked school, as well as a few of the other threads on UG prestige. It's a topic we see a lot, and there's a lot of heterogeneity between schools on how they handle applicants from lower-ranked UG schools. Nevertheless, I did my UG at a top 100 econ program, and we've had people get into Michigan, Wisconsin, and Duke recently, so I know it's not impossible.
I would also ask your letter-writers if they have suggestions for where you should apply, and where they have gotten students admitted in the past.

[genericname]

Thanks for all the responses.

I've checked the profiles and results thread...and got discouraged. I tried to focus on the most recent admissions cycle. I also read the NSF thread by Jeeves and I'll probably apply for it.