Davidxugg

This is a great description of life in academia. I am just curious how you managed to start working in the office that early? When do you get home and how many hours do you sleep every night?

I got an offer from Indiana quickly after the interview in Feb. I declined it since I got some better offers. As for NYU, I was neither interviewed nor rejected. I tried to call them, but nobody answered the phone. Really bad application experience.

Did anyone here get an offer from Michigan? I am on their waitlist. I got 3 offers from other top 20 programs who are pushing me for a decision, but I marginally prefer Michigan because my good friend is there, and it seems Ross is a richer business school. GradCafe says that Michigan sent out 8 offers and a bunch of waitlists. If it is true, that's crazy.

Thanks YaSvoboden! Yes, I have noted how good the accounting market is. If I join a finance program, it is much less likely that I will be eventually placed into schools as good as what I could reach if I do accounting instead. By 2nd tier, I mean schools like USC, Rochester, Indiana, Michigan... and some other excellent but non-top schools.

Hi lseltzer , which school did you eventually choose? I am curious LOL.

Thanks for your information! I am interested in applying microeconomic theory in finance topics. Now I feel confused because it is hard to rank the several programs that are interested in me when an accounting program kicks into these finance programs. I can see obviously that the accounting job market is much better than finance. This is definitely attractive to me. But given that I prefer research in finance topics, how good is CMU accounting program for me, compared with some 2nd tier finance programs?

I applied to their Finance program, but chose "yes" for consideration of their joint finance+econ PhD program. I got rejection email two days ago.

I applied to Financial Economics at CMU Tepper, but got contacted by their Accounting department.They seem to be interested in me, but are not sure whether I would join their program as an accounting track student. I have only finance undergraduate and master education background and no idea about accounting research.

I don't think a letter from your local faculty who graduated from Ross will significantly improve your chance to be admitted into Ross. No offense, but you should know that if he/she among the best students of the PhD program, it is more likely that he/she would have been placed into better schools. You can check the placement record on their website to figure out what I mean.

Is this statement true: If the professors want you, they will ask whether you have interviews or offers from other schools, in order to know whether you will accept their offer. I was asked a lot about my past research, but no such questions in the interview for my target school. A bit disappointed.

I am starting to be worried about this issue now. I have already one physical long-term illness to fight for my life, and I don't want one more psychological disease.

Fixed attrition rate is a good policy for schools to avoid moral hazard for first year students, and also alleviates adverse selection in the admission process. Moreover, survivors in the program have a higher average quality and a degree from that school signals a better ability. So I think it is rational for schools to adopt it. However, it inevitably deters some promising but risk averse students. The best situation for schools is to have this policy in place, but keep it as a secret for prospective students. This reasoning tells me it might be really hard to identify such programs as an outsider. P.S.I wish to know them, too.

Hi all, I am considering about Econ programs while applying for finance. I plan to do theoretical works in financial economics. It would be great if I can work with professors in both econ and finance departments. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Still waiting for replies but nothing yet.

Hello everyone, I am in the application season for 2016 Fall entry. My primary targets are PhD programs in finance. Below are my background: Education: Undergraduate: BA Econ with finance emphasis from a non-top school in Asia. But I think the school is going up since we have professors published in econ top 5 and finance top 3 journals in recent years. GPA 3.77/4.00, top of the class. Master: a research based master program in finance in a good Asian school. ranked top 15% among peers in GPA. Math: Advanced Mathematics I&II (equivalent to calculus I~III), linear algebra, probability theory, advanced probability theory, stochastic processes (all A) Graduate Coursework:Advanced Microeconomics I&II, Advanced Macroeconomics I&II, Advanced Econometrics I&II, Mathematical Economics I&II, Asset Pricing, Corporate Finance II (all A- or A) Standardized Tests: GRE: Q168(96%) V158(79%) AW4.0(56%) TOEFL: 110 (R:30 L:26 S:24 W:30) Research Experience: 1 coauthored working paper with professors. I worked on the theory part in detail (with regular discussions with coauthors), and wrote lemmas, propositions and proofs in the draft. 1 solo working project. Wish to push it out as a short paper and shoot for journals like Economic Letters. 1 RA experience: mainly data work with SAS. Processed huge datasets and learned some skills for empirical works. Recommendations: 1 from a local professor who I coauthored with. He was tenured in a top 20 school in the US before back to Asia. 1 from the professor who I did my RA work for. He is a chair professor in a low-ranked school(beyond 100) in the US. I expect these two letters to be strong. I am not sure about the third letter. I have several options in my current school but I don't think it will help a lot. Interests: asset pricing, mutual fund, microstructure Finance programs in my current list: top 10: NYU, Wharton, Columbia 10~20: Michigan, UCLA, UT Austin, USC, LSE, LBS, Maryland, Cornell, Yale 20~30: Indiana Bloomington, Toronto, Minnesota, CMU 30~50: Utah, UC Irvine, UCSD, Rice Are they too good for me? Is there any other school that I should also give a try? And I plan to apply for several PhD in Econ programs: those that Econ students can choose finance professors as committee members. In my mind Cornell is one of them. Any suggestion will be appreciated.

Hi there. I will apply for B-school PhD programs this year. I have prepared my GRE, letters from established professors and my working paper. But my concern is that I was diagnosed with a serious chronical disease several years ago(and this why I delayed application), and I need really good medical insurance/service to help me remain healthy and productive. Should I ask interviewers for health-related questions, such as insurance and hospitals near campus? Thanks.

I faced the same problem as yours two years ago, when I was diagnosed with a serious chronical disease after several months of symptoms. I entered a local master program and plan do my application again this year.

Are you in Simon? I heard that they kick out more than half PhD students.

Thanks for sharing this info. Is there such research fellow program that are open for non-US citizens?

Dear all, I took GRE in 2011, when the new revised GRE just replaced the old version. I got 158(V), 168(Q) and 4.0 (AW). Do these suffice to apply for finance PhD programs? Besides, I think there are 2 alternatives: 1. spend 2-3 months in preparation and take GRE for the second time. 2. take GMAT and see if I get a good result. Which one is optimal do you think, given the binding time and energy constraints? (I will apply in 2015)