Mattfrommorocco

It doesn't seem very common for professors to work at the school where they earned their PhD. Why is that? I apologize if this has already been discussed, I was unable to search for the answer.

Is there anything to worry about when reporting the other PhD programs you are applying to? What do schools do with this information? Will it hurt my application if I do not answer?

Well I am actually a US citizen and a native English speaker. I could see that concerning the adcoms if they think an American should be doing better with his writing, or making them less nervous because they will be confident that I can communicate?

Hey guys, I will be applying for finance PhD programs next year. I took the GMAT for my MBA 2 years ago and was planning on just keeping the same score: Q - 50 (92%) V - 44 (97%) AWA - 5/6 (60%) For an MBA, the writing portion is not important but Blackwell posted an example intake at a top school that had a minimum W score in the 91st percentile. Do I need to re-take so I can get a better writing score? Up until now I was just planning on helping with research projects for professors that I have kept in touch with.

I was wondering if anyone could provide some insight on this for me. I have come across numerous articles that talk about a shortage of PhDs, especially in finance and accounting. But when you read threads on here it seems that admission is SO SELECTIVE. Wouldn't schools want to increase their class sizes if there is a shortage?

From what I have read on here, it seems that the top 15 schools (I'm interested in finance) only notice applicants that have something really special - like experience doing research at the Fed, or a recommendation from Eugene Fama, or already being published, or at least already knowing exactly what type of research they want to do and done some work towards that. How far down the rankings do you need to go if you just have great grades, great test scores, and great recommendations from professors who are not well known?

I finished my math degree in 2010 but I have stayed in touch with the math professor. He is the head of the math department and he really wanted me to get a PhD in math. He would give me a great rec. It's not a well known school though.

Wow, that is not what I expected. Thank you.

I think the 2 best resources were the official GMAT book and 2minuteprep (it sends you about 10 GMAT questions every morning to do), That helped me practice and I would take a practice exam every weekend. As I practiced, my practice scores went up. If you put the work in, it will pay off!! Good luck.

I know there is already a lot written on this subject but I was unable to find many specific posts about my situation. Is it better to have recommendations from professors who can attest to your intellect (because you aced their class) or professors who are in the area that you want to study in your PhD? I am applying to finance programs and have 2 letters so far: - A finance professor who I know very well and will write a great letter about my achievements in his class. - A finance professor who I will be doing research with this spring. For my 3rd letter I have some finance professors (in my current MBA program) who will give me good ones, but I can get excellent letters from a couple Math (undergrad) or Operations (MBA) professors. Any thoughts?

That makes perfect sense, thank you.

My recommendations might be a little tricky. I will get a really good one from a great finance professor. We have already spoken about it. Do the other 2 have to come from finance professors? I could get great recommendations from the head of the math department from undergrad and from my accounting, econ, or ops professors in my MBA. They would speak about my competence in handling difficult quantitative material. There are 2 other finance professors that I could ask. I did very well in their classes but they had TAs grading my work and I didn't get to know them that well. I know the professors above very well. Also, I am very curious about having research experience and even specific research interests. It seems like this is important but I was told by a prof at a top 5 program that they don't expect you to have that when you apply. He said you will develop research skills and interests in the first year and a half.

Thanks! I will definitely do that!

Hello Everyone! I have loved reading things on this forum and would really appreciate some input into my situation. I am interested in applying to Finance PHD programs for fall 2015 but am a little worried about schools responding negatively to my age and very low undergraduate GPA. Here is my profile: B.S. Industrial Management, 2005,GPA - 2.4 B.S. Mathematics 2012, GPA - 4.0 M.B.A. Finance, 2014, GPA - 3.9 (from Vanderbilt University) GMAT - 760, 99th percentile Research interests - Asset Pricing, Game Theory, Derivative Markets I got As in all my math classes (real analysis, linear algebra, statistics, abstract algebra) but my multi-variable calc. grade was a C (because I took that in my first degree). I will be 31 when applying next year, which I know is older than most. I would love to go to a top 15 school but am wondering if I am too old and if my bad GPA in '05 will be a red flag. Thanks!