Teazer

By the way, there's really no such thing as a true 'safety' school in Finance - the numbers accepted in each one are too small. So, yes, apply to as many as possible and then have a backup plan for the very possible likelihood that even then none accept you.

This subject gets used in finance for asset pricing - specifically in stochastic calculus, the derivation of Ito's lemma, pricing derivatives etc. However, unless you really want to dive into the deep end, there's no need to know the mathematical underpinnings to that level of detail. Or vice versa!

As far as math goes, here's samples of the exam Wharton requires for economics, finance etc phds to pass prior to starting the program. While I'm sure much of the material is covered in the Summer course, it's a good benchmark for their expectations. Penn Econ Math Camp 2007

Many faculty think they are not as good in general, though individual adcom members may have had some experience with decent programs in the past. However, you might want to check what the transcript looks like. It may not even mention that they were online!

To add to the survey my knowledge of the adcoms of one university: depends on the department. about half were all about talking with applicants etc. Some thought it weird & advised against contacting faculty directly. None of them really made it clear on the website. There's usually some faculty member in charge of the phd program, so you can certainly ask questions about the phd program to them, like the statistics info you mentioned. For more you-centric stuff it's good to have some kind of connection already, like a reference suggestion or having lived in that city before etc. Like I mentioned though, some departments are more chatty than others I guess.

That said, accounting programs are a bit less likely to focus on the math part of your application than finance programs in general. Depending on the program, in accounting you should be able to at least audit some finance courses in your 3rd year as required for whatever area of research you're doing, or ask to sit in on such courses earlier. You'd still have to find an accounting program that had some recent publications in that area though otherwise it'll be tricky to get someone to supervise you. The other factor is that over a couple of years of phd courses, peoples' interests often change as they learn what is currently being researched in different fields. Getting in the door somewhere with a passion for research in general is a pretty good start.

1. Apply to at least 12, preferably more, well spread through whatever somewhat dubious rankings you can get hold of. It sucks, but unless you have very good backup plans in case you get rejected by everyone, the cost of a few more apps is well worth it. 2. Apply early. The mail, transcript offices and everything else will be working against you! 3. For Finance PhD's there is no such thing as a certain backup school to apply to. Take comfort in the law of large numbers. 4. For LOR's, I'd recommend asking your references up front if they feel they can give you a glowing recommendation from what they know of you. If not, so long as you're tactful it would be better to know earlier rather than later.

Different individuals on the admissions committee may weigh it differently! Different departments will too. It may be useful to explain a few low scores so long as you have other convincing evidence of ability. They may then shift the weight of their decision away from your previous scores a bit to some other part of your application. However you'd probably want to make it clear that your circumstances in a phd program would be sufficiently changed that you wouldn't think of working on the sly outside the program. You will also, I hope, consider doing a lot of applications not in the top 20 as well!

Not knowing the mind of the admissions commitee, I can only venture a guess, but anything that sets you apart from the large stack of applications with very high quantitative scores is a good thing! It would depend somewhat on the program. If you're looking at departments that do theoretical asset pricing then a background in such things would tie in nicely. In general you're much more likely to end up actually using it in a finance program than in economics. For less theoretical or more corporate places, it's not nearly as likely to be a critical decision maker, but again, having something that makes you stand out would be the thing. On the whole, differences between econ & finance department requirements are probably outweighed by differences due to departmental focus on such things as theory vs empirical focus, as well as idiosyncratic variations due to who comprises the admit commitee that year. Probably if I had to do the application over again & had the time, I'd do a few extra statistical theory classes, pde's or linear analysis, more because they are useful than anything else. I'd also spend more time getting good LOR's and vet my SOP through more people that know what a phd program is like.

I'd agree with that. As unfair as it is, online courses tend to be looked down on by academics. However, if they're from a reputable university near where you live, the fact that they are online might not show up on the transcript. Mine didn't! I'm not sure you'll find much online stuff for advanced calculus/analysis though!

I'm just coming to the end of my first year in a phd finance program, so here's what I've learned so far.... The % admittance to finance vs top econ schools is similar but there's a huge difference in level. Finance programs are much much smaller. That means even if you're really well qualified for a finance program, it is still very likely to get rejected. If you go that route, apply to a lot of schools. I did about 12 & that almost wasn't enough! Once you're in though, they want you to succeed too. Econ departments have less of a random factor in the admittance part - they figure once you're in they'll see if they like you and if not cut you out in the first couple of years. Once you're in, you also need to do better than other students to stay in. Depends on the program, but in mine the first year is basically the same as for first year econ students. They have to do macro in the 1st year, whereas it is an elective for us in the 2nd year & we have some finance seminar courses instead, but pretty much if I & an econ student planned our electives right, we could end up both doing exactly the same courses. The problem is the randomness of the process. To get into finance you need to be good + be very lucky, or apply to a much large number of schools to have a good shot at getting in somewhere. Business schools are more likely to value some pertinent non-academic work experience on the whole, particularly if it gives you inside knowledge of some area of industry. As far as math ability, in econometrics classes, the finance students tended to usually be towards the top of the distribution in such exams. Econ seems fine with a good knowledge of calculus, maybe some ode's for macro, linear algebra & analysis. If the finance program specializes in asset pricing, they'll probably also be looking for more of the wacky math at admittance - other kinds of analysis, stochastic calc. pde's etc as well. Yes, yes & no in that order at least for me! For other data, I had 3 years of academic research + several years banking industry experience.

If you've time to wander passed the department before the interview and look things over, you can get an idea of their definition of 'suitable'. I went with the business casual approach myself, but as mentioned above, nobody'll complain if you're overdressed!

What would be nice is a ranking based on phd placement, but little chance of that ever coming about!

Standard rate is $15/ hour. Still, even if you work for nothing at interesting research, consider the increase in expected future cash flows by getting better reference letters & something else to write on your SOP!

If you get the chance, this'll help. Probably not so much in acceptance/applications, but with the other coursework @ UNCC and in a finance phd. Also, the MF program isn't designed to promote individual research, but its worth asking if you can do an additional individual study course over the Summer to research some econometric aspect under supervision of one of the faculty. What area are you interested in? I've got the feeling that UNC-CH is not particularly endeared to UNCC graduate programs !

You might want to review mathematics/statistics requirements. If necessary, taking a few classes can be a good indicator that you aren't rusty in these areas and will be able to get though the first two years of classes of a phd program comfortably. There are numerous threads here and in the economics forum that detail what specific classes are useful. Also, you'll still need 3 strong academic references and would be good to get involved in some academic focused research experience.

Are you looking at a particular area of business? The requirements vary somewhat between the branches.

I would apply for '08 for a select bunch of schools that you prefer. Given it's Finance there's no guarantee you'll get in, and the practice in writing applications will be helpful for the following year if need be. If a school accepts, great. You might even be able to defer starting till the next year if you have a particularly useful internship or job lined up.

Depending on how badly not getting in anywhere would affect you, I'd apply to between 10 & 20 finance programs, all the way down the spectrum, so long as there's at least a couple of people in the department doing interesting research. Be prepared for managing your applications to be like a part time job! One warning on Wharton - take a look at the exams they make you take through the econ department for the Summer & Fall math courses. Some past ones are online.

Just finish up your MS stats & apply to a business school. You've got time - many older than you have done the same. You might want to start getting practice with financial models so you can relate what you know to the department you're applying to.

... and apply to many, many programs !

Finance programs are always a shot in the dark. Sure, go ahead and apply to top 20 if your research interests are similar, just apply to a lot of lower ranked programs too! Econ programs are a little less random with regard to who gets in, so a few strategic applications would be useful backups.

Tricky to get hold of survey data. For historical forecasts, I'd suggest searching/emailing the OECD site for their historical 6 month forecasts. Or, you could try to get hold of the data used for this paper: SpringerLink - Journal Article.

I agree. One difference between finance & economics programs is that in general, finance filters out all but the top candidates prior to admission. Econ lets in the borderline cases but without funding and lets them order themselves after a year with exams. On the other hand, there is no incentive for finance programs to drop anyone out unless they really screw up. From the stories I've heard it's usually due to "life" and motivational issues rather than educational ones - trying to work a second job, not being able to deal with the academic/research lifestyle etc.

Yes, C++ is still used a lot in Finance though you can usually avoid the object oriented bits. It is also one of the less straight-forward languages to start with. As others have mentioned, I'd go with matlab if you've never done any programming before. Then you can worry about the memory issues later.