shinoda90

Have you made your decision yet? I got admitted to Simon finance PhD program and can't decide

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Hi wittmic, Hi wittmic, Many many thanks for you suggestions. I wish I could have got your advice earlier:) I would definitely start do some research soon on each area. I would like to write a summary of each field based on my personal understanding. Hopefully I can get some comments from you and then post it on this forum to help other students a little bit who are thinking about getting a PhD in finance but not sure about their research interest.

Hi wittmic, Thank you so much for providing me such useful information. I really appreciate. I'm surprised that you know Hank:) He is still the director of the Phd program in Utah. You may know Elena Asprohouva as well. It seems that they have similar research interests. I had a meeting with him two years ago when I decided to become a faculty member. He gave me a general feeling about what Phd program looks like and what adcom expects from a applicant. Do you think it is appropriate to talk to him again to get some advice about how I should proceed now? As for my research interest, to be honest, although I have a general feeling about all fields, I don't actually know too much about each of them. Do you have some classical papers or journals to recommend? So I can get a deeper understanding of what each field is actually doing right now. Also, is it important to decide your research interest before you enter into the Phd program or is it looking good to know what you are going to do when you're having a interview with school? Thanks.

Hi Rohny, Do you mean that even if I study hard it's still very difficult to improve AWA or AWA is not worth extra time and extra $250? And if I don't retake GMAT, would a good SOP remedy? Thank you so much for your advice.

Hi guys, I'm currently a undergraduate student double-majoring in finance and math with a minor in economics at University of Utah. I plan to apply for finance PhD next fall (October or November). Below are some basic information of mine: 1. GPA in Utah: 3.9/4.0 (4.0 in finance and 3.9 in math) 2. TA for three classes(Financial Management, Business Statistics I and II) 3. RA for two Professors doing data analysis using Stata(One in finance department and the other in Econ department) 4. One conference presentation 4. Math classes: Two basic analysis classes, Real Analysis, Probability, Statistical Inference I and II, Applied Statistics I and II, Differential equation, Linear Algebra 5. GMAT: 730 (Q51 V37) with IR 7 and AWA 4 6. No intern or working experience Two things may hurt me are my low GPA (1.8) in China and low AWA score (4). I transferred from a Chinese university to Utah 3 years ago and changed my major ( I used to major in Public Administration in China). Although I've been doing well since I got Utah, I'm still wondering whether my history will hurt me. As for low AWA score, should I retake GMAT to improve it? In addition, what range of school's ranking I should aim for( top 20 - 50)? Any advice or suggestion would be extremely appreciated? Thanks.

Hi guys, I got total score 730 (Q51 V37) with IR 7. But I just got my AWA score today, which is 4 (22 percentile). I'm in a big dilemma right now. Should I retake it to improve my AWA or just move on to focus on other parts of application. I'm going to apply fall 2015 Phd in finance. I'm afraid that a low AWA score would send a signal to adcom that I'm not a good writer since phd program is highly involved with writing. Any advice or suggestion would be extremely appreciated.

Many congratulations to you! I'm currently an undergraduate student majoring in both math and finance at University of Utah. I'm going to apply for finance Phd in the coming fall. Since you're such a successful applicant, I'm wondering whether you can give me some advice or suggestions? Any opinion would be extremely appreciated! Thank you so much in advance! Zhao

Thank you so much for your prompt reply! That's a relief. But I'm still a little bit worried about my GPA because I've heard that when graduate schools receive the transcripts, they will re-compute your GPA. The way to do that is to include all your undergraduate classes. If so, my overall GPA will drop dramatically. Do you think this is going to have an impact on me? And what kind of quantitive skills are more important from your perspective? Analysis? PDE? or Statistics? In addition, is programming skill helpful to increase the chance to get into the program. Thank you again!

Are you Chinese? If so, can I have your qq? Thank you so much!

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. That's a relief. But I'm still a little bit worried about my GPA since I heard that when graduate schools receive the transcripts, they will re-compute your GPA. The way to do that is to include all your undergraduate classes. If so, my overall GPA will drop dramatically. Do you think this is going to have an impact on me? And what kind of quantitative skills are more important from your perspective? Analysis? PDE? or Statistics? In addition, is programming skill helpful to get a bigger chance to get into the program? Thank you again!

Hi everyone, I'm currently a undergraduate student double-majoring in finance and math with a minor in economics in University of Utah. I plan to apply for finance PhD next fall (October or November). Below are some basic information of mine: 1. GPA in Utah: 3.9/40 (3.8 in finance and 3.9 in math) 2. TA for three classes(Financial Management, Business Statistics I and II) 3. RA for two Professors doing data analysis using Stata(One in finance department and the other in Econ department) 4. Will take Real Analysis next semester. 5. Haven't taken GMAT but will take in May. 6. No intern or working experience My biggest problem is my "extremely low" GPA (1.8) in China. I transferred from a Chinese university to Utah three years ago and completely changed my major ( I used to major in Public Administration in China). The reason I had a so low GPA is simply because I had no idea what I was going to do when I was in China. After I got Utah, I finally found out what kind of career and which field is suitable for me, which is to become a finance professor. Although I've been doing well since I transferred here, I'm still wondering whether my history will hurt me. In addition, what kind of business schools I should aim for ( top 20 - 50)? Thanks for any advice or suggestion in advance! Happy new year to everyone! My best regards, Zhao