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Profile Evaluation Phd Econ or Finance


studywell

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(I posted in econ forum but I think it makes sense to post it here as well)

 

Hi all,

 

I am in my senior year and will be working in finance after I graduate (due to family reason), but eventually I would like to apply for phd in econ or finance in a year or two, and I would like to post my profile for evaluation

 

Undergraduate: Top 10 US university, major in applied math and minor in econ

Undergraduate GPA: 3.87 overall, 3.98 in applied math/econ

GRE: 332 (170 quant + 162 verbal + 4.0 writing)

 

Econ course: intermediate micro (A-), intermediate macro (A+), intro econometrics (A), game theory (A+), behavioral finance (A), time series (A+), corporate finance (A), advanced macro (A-), advanced econometrics (A-), three econ seminars (all A+)

 

Math course: multivariable calculus (A), linear algebra (A), ODE (A), PDE (B), dynamical system (A), real analysis (A-), complex functions (A+), probability theory (A+), statistics (A), stochastic processes (A), optimization (A+), financial engineering (A-), simulation (A+), numerical methods (A-), discrete math (A)

 

LOR: one from econ professor I RAed for, one from econ professor I took seminar with and wrote research paper. These two from my university. Another one from finance professor in top 10 business school where I RAed for summer. All of them know me very well and expect the letters to be strong.

 

Research experience: 1.5 year RA for one of my letter writer, coauthoring a paper which we aim for top journal. 1 year RA for another econ professor. Summer research at top 10 business school. Two econ seminars with research papers, with one presented at an undergraduate econ conference.

 

Working experience: will be working in a quant hedge fund doing research related to empirical asset pricing

 

Research interest: asset pricing, macro-finance, econometrics

 

Aim to apply for top 10 econ programs as well as some top finance programs in business school

 

Questions and concerns:

(1). I am expecting my profs to write strong letters as they all indicated. However, the professors I worked for are all assistant professors without tenure. Would this be a concern and if so should I swap one with a full professor but may not be very familiar with me?

(2). I understand many applicants nowadays have taken phd level econ classes during undergrad. However due to institutional reason my university does not allow me to take. Would this affect my chance of applying for top programs, especially when I only got A- for advanced macro and metrics?

(3). How should one keep in contact with professors after working in industry? I am afraid right now they know me very well but maybe after some time such memory will fade away if I don't keep in contact with them.

(4). Related to (3), as I will be working in a research division of a hedge fund, where many coworkers have phds in finance and econ from top programs, does it make sense to get LOR from my supervisor who have phds from top places but are not in academia?

 

And I also appreciate any other advice. Do you think I have any chance for top 10 programs (or maybe top 5 just to dream bigger)?

 

Thanks.

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