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Finance PhD Profile Evaluation


tjc8822

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Undergrad GPA: 3.50/4.0, one of the top universities in China

GRE: Quant 800, Verbal 520; Writing = 4

Grad Major: Graduate from M.S. Operations Research and Financial Engineering, top Ivy league university in U.S.

Grad GPA: 4.0/4.0

Grad Courses: Stochastic Process, Stochastic Process (PhD Level), Real Analysis,Linear Optimization, Simulation, Financial Engineering, Quant. Risk Management, Micro Enonomic Analysis, etc.

Research experience: 1. For the past six months, I have been working with an assistant professor from finance department, school of business. Probably. we will have a working paper before this December.

2. A term project paper on Statistical Arbitrage technique.

 

Reference letter: One from business school, assistant professor. But he knows me well since I have been working with him for a long time. It will be a very strong reference letter.

 

I want to apply for a PhD in finance because my background in Financial Engineering makes me think about the relationship between volatility and people's ambiguity or uncertainty about the financial market.

I hope to understand volatility or uncertainty from a macro economic perspective rather than from typical local, global volatility models.

 

I know it is hard to get admitted into a Finance PhD program. Can anybody help evaluate my chance to get into one of the Finance PhD programs?

 

Thanks!

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  • 2 weeks later...

IMO your GRE verbal is a non-issue.

 

Things that might hold you back:

Low undergrad GPA? Not sure how Chinese GPAs work. Your masters GPA is less meaningful as masters GPAs are hugely inflated.

Language skills

Not having an established professor go to bat for you

 

I think you will get into a top 20 school. Whether you get into a top 5 school depends on what your LORs say and how well you can express a passion for research in English.

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Thanks imadeit!

I appreciate your comments.

To be honest, during undergraduate study, we have to take lots of compulsory but irrelevant courses which I do not like at all. I got bad grades on these courses. But if we consider math, or major courses only, I have a 3.8 around GPA. I am not sure if the committee will ignore those irrelevant courses or not.

As for the LORs, my "boss" promises that it will be a very strong recommendation. He also mentions that he will write the LOR to someone he knows in other schools. I am not sure what this means but this is what he told me.

Thanks again, imadeit!

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  • 2 weeks later...

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