finance1989

Admissions are a gamble, but my guess would be that you don't have enough math to be competitive at top 20. Don't be discouraged though... one option is to take some courses as a non-degree seeking student, and apply next year. Many top 20 departments like to see at least one semester of Real Analysis, Linear Algebra, Multivariate Calculus, Theory of Probability, and Theory of Statistics. I would post this in the Econ PhD forum to get more (and perhaps more informed) responses. Good luck!

You have quite a bit of math under your belt, so you should also try LSE EME. The program is one of the hardest to get into at LSE, but you could give it a try! Good luck

I am not sure what your plans are, but keep in mind that most Mathematical Finance/Financial Engineering PhDs get placed in Mathematics Departments, and take an enormous pay cut relative to "pure" Finance PhDs who are placed in Finance Departments.

Tom Lehrer - There is a Delta for Every Epsilon - YouTube :)

A Finance PhD requires a lot more math, so unless you want to take 1-2 years of math before applying, I would recommend going for the Accounting PhD. Some Accounting and Finance research overlap, so you will be able to keep your research interests (although I would suggest thinking about what actually interests you, Capital Markets is about as vague as it gets).

If you want a PhD and want to study an England, an MPhil in Economics might be more fitting. These are offered by many schools (Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, etc), and are aimed at preparing you for PhD programs.

If you're truly interested in Math, I have an idea that might work. Most Master's in Mathematics programs require you to submit the scores from the General GRE exam and the Math Subject GRE exam. If you study hard and do exceptionally well on the Math Subject test, this will help you a tremendous amount! Keep pursuing your dreams, and don't let your history stop you! Good luck :)

Hello, and thank you in advance for helping me out! :) I went to school at a top 20 undergrad business school. Just finished four majors (Finance, Mathematics, Accounting, Business Economics; CGPA 3.95) in five years including each summer and winter term (and many sleepless nights :sleeping:). I now hold an offer to the Financial Engineering track of MPhil in Finance 2012-2013. Here are the core courses, and here are the electives for this specific track. This degree is 9 months, and I am hoping to start a Finance PhD in the US in 2013. This summer I will take Advanced Econometrics at LSE. About me: Some general resume/interesting highlights: Attended Harvard's SVMP program Passed first level of CFA Gates Scholarship finalist Accounting Honors Thesis on Stock Options/Disclosure Policy (40 pages, lacking strong results, and not good enough to publish) Russian immigrant (came to US at 11..will probably include some of the hardship stories in my PS) Professional table tennis player Aside from a bunch of general education courses, I have taken the following: Finance: Quant. Financial Mgmt., Bloomberg Certification (Equities, Fixed Income, and Foreign Exchange), Corporate Finance, Investments, Real Estate Finance, Applied Investment Management (2 semester course, managing $1m) Mathematics: Calculus (1,2,3), Linear Algebra, Matrix Analysis, Analysis of Ordinary Differential Equations, Intro to Mathematics of Investing, Introduction to Proof, Real Analysis (Audit), Theory of Probability, Theory of Statistics, Mathematical Modeling, Advanced Applied Analysis Business Economics: Int. Micro, Int. Macro, Game Theory, Experimental Economics, Economics of Strategy, Quantitative Methods in Economics, Intro to Econometrics (and will take advanced at LSE this summer) Accounting: Intro to Financial Acct, Intro to Managerial Acct, Intermediate Financial Acct (all 3 semesters, one of which was applied to Finance), Intermediate Cost & Managerial Acct., Analysis of Financial Statements, Accounting Information Systems, Audit, Federal Taxation Other: Python Programming, C Programming, Stat. Inference in Mgmt., Organizational Behavior, Intro to Marketing, Business Communication, Management Information Systems, Basic Operations Management MORE BELOW...

Did you decide to go for the MPhil? I'll be doing an MPhil in Finance myself, it would be good to keep in touch!

LSE summer school is pretty highly regarded. In fact, I am personally going to take Advanced Econometrics there in a few weeks! I am going to the UK for an MPhil and found a lot of help on The Student Room, so you might want to check this out considering it specifically targets UK students. Finally, if coming to the US is an option, consider Stanford and Harvard, they both have fantastic summer schools programs. Good luck! :)

I think the MPhil in Economics from The University of Cambridge/Oxford are highly regarded. Might want to look into those!

If the courses are at the same level (as measured by course numbers or something similar) and both have a pre-requisite of Intro to Linear Algebra , Matrix Analysis/Algebra is the applied version of Linear Algebra. Linear Algebra uses proofs (this might be your determining factor if you haven't taken an Intro to Proofs course), while Matrix Analysis teaches you how to use Linear Algebra in an applied sense. Hope this helps!