The Viking

I've only heard back from 7 out of 16 programs so I guess a number of programs haven't interviewed yet.

Nearly all finance programs accept GRE, but many say that they prefer GMAT. However, since economics programs only accept GRE (as far as I know), you should stick with the GRE to apply to both programs.

And I believe Florida State is corporate finance as well.

You need a decent math background to get into a PhD program in finance. I don't think you need real analysis specifically (as they often do in economics), but you need the calculus series and linear algebra as a minimum - even at the lowest ranked universities.

It takes time to improve your language skills. You can, however, make some small changes that can have major impacts on your score. In the writing section, it could be to be more aware of the transitions between paragraphs and having a logical order in the text as a whole. The reading section has a lot of technical, boring stuff in it. I remember one of mine that was about geology that almost put me to sleep. The key is to catch the most important points of the text instead of trying to understand and remember the whole thing. You don't have to know all the terminology of the subject in the text (I don't know anything about geology). Ask yourself: why did the author write this paragraph? (or: what is the point of the paragraph?) I don't think you need a great vocabulary to get a good score on the TOEFL. I didn't study for the test - or even know what was on it - when I entered the testing centre and I would say that my vocabulary is pretty mediocre.

Yes, I scored 105, which was sufficient to get accepted to the university I applied to. You only need to improve your score by 2 points, which isn't a far reach at all. I don't think a higher TOEFL score will improve your application by much; it's more about passing the minimum. Reading and writing were clearly your weak areas so you should focus on those. Are there passages in the guide book that you can use as practise?

What scores did you get in the individual sections?

You need the GMAT (some also accept GRE) for all MBA programs that I know of. You don't need experience to take the test. However, most decent programs require you to have at least some work experience.

I thought J1 visas were given to exchange students (at least that's what I had). Shouldn't you get an F1 visa?

Sorry for going off topic, but how is 3.54 GPA low? It's not great, but pretty good in my opinion. The average GPA at my university is ~2.8...

That's how I understand it. So does Journal of Banking and Finance (A- journal): "The journal charges submission fees of USD 250 for unsolicited new manuscripts and USD 150 for revisions." I think the reason they can do this is because most researchers have research grants that cover it. https://www.elsevier.com/journals/journal-of-banking-and-finance/0378-4266/guide-for-authors#3501

This is where I get confused; don't most journals ask for money? For example, Journal of Finance, which is an A+ journal, charges $250 for submissions.

What journals are considered "pay to publish"? Anything below B journals? Edit: Thanks for replying, AppInfo & rsaylors!

Hi Urchers, What is considered decent to good research experience when applying to a PhD program? 1. Do you have to be published in an A, A-, or B+ journal? 2. Do you have to be the sole author of the paper? Thanks!

170 is the highest you can get as far as I know. It just happens to be the 98th percentile in quant and 99th percentile in verbal. Hence, you couldn't have performed any better on it.