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Thank you guys so much for the advice. I also figured out that behavioral accounting might sound interesting but it's not the popular or coming trend in the coming years. I also think that my background would align more with financial accounting with analytical or archival method. So I guess it should be what I need to focus more. The thing is that it's quite tricky since I got shined in my profile for the undergraduate tax accounting but not much with any finance stuff besides the fact that I took all the finance courses available in my school. I'm not sure if it's okay to say that i'm open with either tax or financial accounting for my study. Your comment is quite a new fact to me since MIT is not ranked in top 5 accounting in any ranking list I found online. My impression at first is that the school with high ranking in business and economics might not be the one with high ranking when it comes to accounting. But it also seems that things are changing. High ranked schools are focusing on their accounting phd program and it might be tricky to decide which schools to apply as a good fit. Right now after weighing all options, I think my school list should include Harvard, Columbia, MIT, Cornell, UNC, NYU, USC, Duke, Northwestern, Florida State University, Boston Uni, Boston College, USouth Carolina, Yale, Indiana, Wisconsin-Madison, and UC Berkeley. And honestly, I'm still worried that I might not get any admission into any school in the list. Any thoughts or critics would be really appreciated.

not harsh at all. what you said is definitely my concern from the beginning. i think what sets me apart from the impression of switching for the benefits of career can be my background in accounting since i did minor in accounting with advanced courses in tax sequence in college. so at least i can justify my decision to switch into accounting research compared to a person who had no background in accounting. i'm quite interested in tax and behavioral research but would like to keep open options for archival finance accounting research. the reason i'm putting those schools on the list is also the placement record beside the mba ranking. i already looked at BYU ranking and ASU public accounting ranking, plus their current students and alumni from the program have more research background and economics/finance degree compared to other programs, which clearly only take ms accounting and public accountant students. i would definitely add UNC to the wish list but would think it is very selective to get in. further, i feel that i have no chances for schools like uni of arizona or ut austin or texas a&m so i can skip all of them. (i know stanford is impossible too but well, just a little bit hope would not kill us, i guess. :D) its quite late for me to prepare for GMAT though so i guess i will stick to GRE. i only plan to apply to schools accepting GRE and did not state that they prefer GMAT.

Test Scores (GRE): 157 Verbal - 165 Quant - 4.0 AWA Undegrad GPA: BA Economics with minor in Math and Accounting from a small liberal art college GPA 3.9 Graduate GPA: MA Economics from a Phd program in Economics from a state university GPA 3.8 Research Experience: I'm currently a research assistant at a university outside USA. I'm working on a economics policy paper and plan to submit with my mentor at the end of this year. I'm also working with my professor from my phd Economics program for another paper with a plan to submit at the end this year. Teaching Experience: Mostly just from my phd Econ program as teaching assistant. Work Experience: Only a few internship when I was in college. Concentration Applying to: Accounting Number of programs planned to apply to: i'm thinking of 17. Dream Schools: Cornell, Stanford, MIT, NYU, Columbia, Harvard. Other Questions: What made you want to pursue a PhD? My minor in accounting is quite different since i took the accounting tax sequence when I was in sophomore while all other students in class are seniors. I also got the best prize in tax accounting that year. However, I just did not feel that I want to become public accountant in the future. I want more research and teaching, being a college professor is what I wish to do. Thus, I went ahead and got into a phd program in economics after college. I stayed there, passed the qualifying exam, got MA but then decided to stop to get research experience since i'm not happy with the program as well as the field of economics. And even with my RA job at this moment, I have a feeling that a PhD economics is not what I want to follow. I can do math well but definitely not up to the advanced level to do macroeconomics models or econometrics. I'm actually planning to work with applied micro but did not feel the passion. I took a lot of finance elective courses during my college, besides my minor in mathematics and accounting but I did not feel that I would work with a PhD finance either. I want something more relevant to business life, something more realistic. And at this moment, I just realize that PhD in accounting is really suitable for me. I want to work with financial information, business decisions, more with accounting sides instead of finance or economic sides. Questions or concerns you have about your profile? I have several questions: 1. Would it make sense for my school list? I know that a lot of accounting program have students with MS accounting but I feel like my background should signal that I can be a good candidate even though I don't have accounting major or ms in accounting. Further, given my background in economics and my research experience, I think I should be qualified enough to apply for those schools. I might be wrong though. Thoughts? 2. Is the GRe too low? I'm thinking of retaking it to get 160 verbal and 168 quant. 3. Can you suggest a few other schools for me?

thank you for your comment. would you mind suggestin' a few schools in the 50-70 range that focus on economic history? I couldn't find more schools doing economic history in the range except uni of arizona, which is my best bet. and again, really appreciate your comment. i do understand my academic constraints and thats why i want to ask for advice to find out where i should apply to maximize my chances and not wastin' money and time.

thank you. really appreciate this.

thank you for your encouragement. people in this forum have taken so many advanced math classes so i'm kinda afraid that i don't meet the standards they require. i started to take math classes quite late. not so sure if i should emphasize my efforts of takin' other finance-related courses. and yes, i'm only applying 7 schools. i'm thinkin' of maybe dropping vanderbilt and uni of virginia. i'm kinda struggling to find the best range. my choice starts with some rankings, mostly econphd, eh.net and ideas ranking. the uc system seems to be the best ones among schools that offers history economics. however i'm sure they are out of my league. right now i think uni of arizona should be the best fit for my academic record but acceptance to rutgers definitely can change the whole game. i'm still looking for more choices but not much hope given my interest in economic history.

I'm pretty sure that my profile would not be awesome as the other guys on urch forum but hopefully there will be some comments on my chances of getting PhD. I do know my situation and given my only best interest in attending an OKAY PhD Econ program to become an OKAY Econ prof, I would say I don't dare to dream of any schools in top 20 or top 30 or even top 50 (though I think I still try to apply for 1 or 2). Thank you so much for spendin' time on this post. Type of Undergrad: Low ranking liberal arts college in PA, major in Quant Econ and minor in Math, Accounting. Undergrad GPA: 3.95 Type of Grad: None Grad GPA: None GRE: 167Q, 155V, 4AWA Math Courses: Calculus 1-3 (all As), Theory of Interest - an Actuarial Math class (A), Intro to Linear Algebra (A), Math Stats 1 (A) - gotta take Math Stats 2 in Spring 2014, Foundations of Mathematics - kind of Intro to Proof Writing (A), Math Methods of Physics - a class for my natural science distribution but there are a broad range of materials in this including differential equation and complex analysis (A). Econ Courses: Intro to Micro (A), Intro to Macro (A), Money and Banking (A), Game Theory (A), Econometrics (A), Intermediate Macro (A), Managerial Econ - my schools call this as an Intermedia Micro, even though I think the math in this course is not that rigorous (A). Other Relevant Courses: in my first 2 years at college, I took a strong interest in Finance so I tried to take any course that is relevant to finance, including business and accounting course. I'm an accounting minor. I took Financial Management (A), Corporate Finance (A), Investments (A), Financial Statment Analysis (A), Financial Accounting (A), Managerial Accounting (A), Federal Taxation 1 and 2 - this is an advanced accounting series for senior accounting students only but I did take it in my sophomore year and get the prize for doing the best in the class (all As). I also plan to take Nonlinear Dynamics in the Spring 2014. My professor told me that this physics class could help a lot for anyone interested in doing financial economics. Letters of Recommendation: one from an Econ professor who supervises my senior independent study, one from Finance professor, one from my Math professor and probably one from the Physics professor. Research Experience: this is the part that I feel most ashamed of. I tried to apply for a few research programs in the summer but no success. the Econ program in my college is pretty small (only 3 professor) so they don't offer any research opportunities at all. (believe me, I did try to transfer in my junior year to seek more chances with researchs but no success). I did try to get experience in the summer in a financial media companies and an international bank (both abroad cuz I'm an international student). Right now I'm working on my Independent Study about the initial impact of the financial crisis in 2007-2009 on the health care expenditure in 50 states. I also did an in-class research paper in my Econometrics class about the Housing Investment during 1947-1988 period. Teaching Experience: As an undergrad I TA for Intro to Micro, Macro and Financial Management. Research Interests: I take a strong interest in history economics and financial economics. In fact, my school selection only goes around the schools that can offer both fiels, especially history economics. I also have interest in health economics and public economics. SOP: I think my biggest challenge would be to show that I'm 100% committed to the Econ Phd program given my efforts to achieve math knowledge and research experience. I think I should admit that I understand what I lacks of, which is more math knowledge like Real Analysis and research experience. Concerns: I'm kinda worried about my chances of being accepted. Honestly, I can try to pay the tuition as long as I get accepted but I'm not sure if my profiles can compete with other amazing students on this forum and in the real life to be accepted into the school. I would appreciate if you guys could tell me about my chances of being accepted. Thinking of: Rutgers, Vanderbilt, Uni of Virginia (I do understand that these 3 are like impossible to reach but I guess I still try to apply cuz in the end, at least I've tried my best), Uni of Arizona (my dream school), University of Houston, American University and SUNY Binghamton. My safe choice is that if I won't hear anything from these schools, I will apply to Uni of Colorado in Denver for their Econ master program and then reapply for PhD program after 2 years. Any reply will be a valuable advice for me. Hope that I don't bother you guys a lot. This is my first time posting here. I've followed this site for 2 years and your advice, stories really inspires me a lot. Hope that I could go through well with my own journey this year.