mohamed8

Congratulations man for getting offers from such two great schools :) Please would you mind posting your profile so we can benefit from it in our preparation for the future.

Thank daffodil5435 for your reply. It's a dream to get into T60. It's highly competitive.

Thanks frayed for your reply: I can say that my target is T40-T60. In addition, the master will be from a good university in UK but not a top tier one. I got an offer from Lancaster where there are faculty who publish in top 4 journals, but I may not attend it due to financial issues as I am a self-funded student :( . As a result I will attend another school which costs less. I am afraid if this can harm me in the future.

Hi everyone, I am a big fan of this forum and I appreciate helping me. I am an International student from Egypt. I am planning to apply for finance PhD in USA after 3 or 4 years. Age: 24 Undergraduate:Bachelor of Commerce, Major: Management from one of the leading universities in my country but is not known worldwide in the field of Business (4 years program), Grade: 88.7% (Very Good, Honor) Ranked #1 Relevant Undergraduate courses: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Money and Banking, International Trade, Economic evolution and Resources Analysis, Public Finance, Economic development and Planning, Financial institutions and Markets, Financial Management, Contemporary Economic problems. Mathematics courses: Business Mathematics, Statistics, Applied Statistics and Operations Research.(Our system looks like the British one as I don't have the freedom to choose courses). But I will be taking mathematics courses (2014:2016) at American University in Cairo as a non-degree student which are: Cal 1, Cal 2, Cal 3, Linear Algebra, Differential equations, Applied Probability. Graduate: I will start MSc in Finance next Fall in UK. I got offers from many universities like Lancaster and Strathclyde. Relevant Courses that I will study: Principles of Finance, Accounting and Financial Analysis, Quantitative methods for Finance, International Financial Markets and Banking, Advanced Corporate Finance, Derivatives, Portfolio theory and Management, Econometrics. In addition, there will be dissertation in the last three months. Work Experience: I have three years of work experience at the Faculty of commerce where I graduated from (Full-time job). It will 6 years by the time I apply for the program. I am a TA at Business Administration department. The main courses I teach are Financial Management, Financial institutions and markets. GMAT: I will be taking the exam after one month. I expect around 710 Letters of Recommendation: I can get good letters from professors in my university but they are unknown. But I am hoping to get letters from professors in UK by working hard with them during the Master. Note: I know that the Master may be to some extent professional. But I must take a master in Finance to continue in my job. If it's not required from me, I would go and begin taking the math courses I mentioned above right now rather than begenning them in Fall 2014 and then I may enroll in MSc statistics. If you know a master program in UK that can help me better or its courses are more relevant to PhD courses, I will be grateful to you. After taking the Master and the mathematics courses I mentioned, what are the range of Finance programs that may accept me? What is your advice to me If I want to get admitted at Top 60 programs? Higher GMAT score, Anything to do during the master.......... Thank you for your help.

Thanks MountainKing for your reply

I am an international student from Egypt. I hold a Bachelor of commerce with grade 88.7% with honor (Concentration: Business Administration) Ranked #1 I am working as a Teaching assistant in the school I graduated from. I want to apply for PhD in finance after two years. I will take GMAT after two months. I have two main problems: math background and our rigid system. 1- Math courses I took only Business mathematics, Investment mathematics, and two statistics courses 2-Our rigid system: It's required from me to take master degree in a business related field or I will lose my job. So I am planning to take msc finance next fall in UK. In addition I will be self-funded and I am going to spend all what I have ( I can't afford top business schools tuition fees). If it's up to me, I will try to get a msc mathematics but to continue in academic career in my country, they will ask for a master in a business related field. If I took my msc in finance from UK and went back to Egypt, I will be broke and there will be no money with me to get mathematics courses in the American University in Cairo as preparation for PhD in USA. And I know that msc in finance may not help me in applying for PhD Finance in USA I need your advice what to do to make my profile attractive to top 75-100 finance programs. If there is any quantitative finance program which is affordable and may admit one like me who don't have proper qualifications. What are your suggestions? Please help me in this bad situation.