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Thank you in advance for your advice.

Hi everyone. I am applying for admission into Finance PhD programs starting Fall 2019. Here are my stats. Any thoughts on my chances of admission? Undergrad: 3.7 GPA at state school Masters: 3.6 GPA at state school (still enrolled, GPA likely to increase) GRE: Quant 85th percentile, Verbal 80th percentile Research Experience: planning to do research in Fall 2018/Spring 2019 Letters of Rec: 3 business professors Areas of interest: Investment Behavior, International Finance Planning to apply to a range of school (top 100). If anyone has any advice or comments please let me know!

Hi there, Profile: Indian Student Undergraduate: Business - Not well known outside home country Percentage - 75% - Not great but not so bad. Post Graduate Diploma - Economics - Top 5 Economics depts UK Percentage - Distinction Masters - Economics - Top 5 Economics depts UK Percentage - Distinction Math and Econ Covered - Linear Algebra, Calculus, Advanced Micro, Advanced Macro, Advanced Econometrics. Post Graduate Diploma - Mathematics - Kings College London (Pursuing) Percentage - Distinction (Expecting) Math topics covered - Partial Diff Eq, Real analysis, Complex Analysis, Topology, Probability theory, Stochastic analysis, Non Linear Analysis, Fourier Analysis etc Research Experience - Worked with a Macro professor at the UK uni at which i did my MSc as a summer intern in area of interest. Can get a good reference from him - he did his PhD at one of the top 5 US unis GRE - Q/V/AWA - 166/154/4.5 Research Interests: International Macro, Labour economics, Macroconometrics, Monetary (Still not sure which one i will pursue) My goal is to apply to the top 30 Economics PhD programmes. I am worried that i dont have a solid undergraduate foundation in Economics and have learned all of my basics through post graduate diplomas. Though i have a masters in Economics i am scared that adcoms might see my undergrad major and reject me. Also worried about my GRE Quant. I am planning to do an MSc in Mathematics after the Diploma in Maths, however i am ready to work as an RA for a while if necessary. Is there something i can do to improve my chances of getting into the top30 US Econ programmes. Please guide me.... :eager: Thanks a lot in advance.....

Hello all, I am considering applying to PhD programs in either Economics or Agricultural & Applied economics programs. I am a bit worried about my GPA though. I went to a top 15 ranked undergrad school, doubled in Math and Economics, and came out with a cumulative GPA of 3.5. I am currently working as a research assistant in the NU Economics department. My GRE score is nearly perfect on quantitative. How much does my GPA hurt me with admissions and what tier school is a likely reach for me(if any)? Does working for a highly regarded professor and receiving a rec letter from them help me out with this? Thanks in advance for any responses!

I have a fairly atypical profile. I am 39 and have had a fairly successful Wall Street career working for a few top banks and hedge funds as a proprietary trader and a portfolio manager with a focus on macro strategy. I've thought for a while that I'd like to get back into academia as a second career and finally pulled a trigger this year in applying to most of the top 20 programs in both, Economics and Finance. I haven't given it a ton of thought in the past but now I realize that my age could be a factor in the admissions process. I think that aside from that I have a pretty competitive profile: Ivy League Econ + CompSci minor with 3.5 overall and 3.7 Econ GPA; 163V/167Q/4.5AW GRE; top 15 MBA in Finance; top 3 MS in Math ( all A's after a bad first semester ); I have two solid LORs from a well known Finance prof who is a dept chair in a top 15 school and from my former advisor who is an econ prof with a strong reputation/recognition in his field, the third letter is from a former colleague who is Columbia PhD and worked as an economist at a top ibank and now a CIO at a small hedge fund. So, I think that aside from my age and making academia my second career, I probably have a decent shot at a top 10 program. However, the age factor gives my profile an extra "risk" parameter which not all schools will be willing to accept. I've addressed in my SoP how my experience could be beneficial to the schools I am applying to, as I have spent a number of years pondering some of the relevant questions in macroeconomics, monetary econ, and finance and that I know how to frame those questions and have developed plenty of ideas that i'd like to work on as a practitioner, which makes me more informed than a typical straight out of undergrad candidate. The issue that I am struggling with as to whether there are any other ways to mitigate the "Risk factor" since most programs dont interview candidates and I won't have that forum to address my profile's shortcomings. Would appreciate any feedback from anyone who has either been in my shoes before, has worked or studied with people who have gone to a PhD program later in life, or has been involved with adcoms that have looked at candidates similar to myself. or for that matter, anyone who can share an intelligent opinion or advice - would be highly appreciated! Thanks in advance to all !

Hi, I am applying for economics and finance phd programs. I have been working with a prestigious professor in finance (Ivy) for the past year. We are close to drafting a working paper (probably expect it in Dec.) in which he and I will be co-authors. I intend to submit the paper as a supplementary document after it is finished. He is quite convinced that the paper is significant and believes it will be on a top general interest economics journal. The problem is the paper concerns timing. Even if it becomes accepted and published in a good journal, it won't be done in time to have a major impact on my admissions. I have concentrated much of my effort for the past year in this research and am wondering if I made the right choice solely focusing on this project. For clarifications, I took the usual math courses and did a masters in statistics. Also he is writing a rec letter for me and sent out his recommendation letter and assessments while I was present. Any feedback or opinion would be appreciated.

Hey y'all Can y'all give me advice on what range of schools I should be shooting for? This is my first posting here. I'll keep the intro short and sweet. I am an undergrad student graduating in December with a BS in Economics and a minor in Math. I go to a small private "teaching" university that has some recognition in certain circles, though Economics is not one. In high school, I always did well but had no idea what I wanted to do. I choose my university based off my interest at the time: music. Fortunately, I wised up and fell in love with econ and math. Because not many of our graduates go on to grad school, I really have no idea where I should be shooting, hence this post. I do have two data points though. One of my friends just got accepted in FSU's Ph.D. program. He had a perfect econ GPA and some math classes (calc 1-3, discrete, and diff equ). Also, one graduate just got accepted to Vandy's Ph.D. program after he got a masters from UT Austin. He did not have much math background from my understanding. With that outta the way, my profile. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: US small, private, "teaching" university Undergrad GPA: 3.96 Type of Grad: N/A Grad GPA: N/A GRE: Not yet, getting ready to take it now. Scoring perfects on math practice tests. Math Courses: Calculus I, II, & III (As), Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (A-), Discrete Math (A), Elementary Stats (A), Data Analysis Lab (A), Introduction to Analysis (A, essentially Set Theory & Topology of the Reals up to Continuity), Introduction to Analysis 2 (A, independent study, from Continuity/Uniform Continuity, Derivatives and Integrals, and Series with pointwise convergence). Econ Courses: Micro & Macro, Principles and Intermediate (As), Labor (A), International (A), Forecasting (A), Public Economics (A), Mathematical Economics (A), Managerial Economics (A), and a 1 hour research independent study this fall (almost certain will be A. Other Courses: Nothing that really matters I think. Letters of Recommendation: I do not think my professors are really that well know, however, I have VERY good relationships with all of them. My first will be from a professor that I have the best relationship with. He got his PhD from LSU and is essentially a mentor. I have had him for 3 courses and he is also the professor I am doing my research independent study with. We plan on trying to get it publish via some sort of channel. He will be mentioned a few more times in this post so I will refer to him as Doc from now on. I will probably have my second one by the chair of our department who is also my academic adviser. I have pulled data for one of her papers and will be a co-author when it is published. I had her for Forecasting. Lastly, I am thinking about having my 3rd letter be from my analysis professor who I did the independent study with. She got her PhD from Purdue and is the "analysis expert" in our math department. Research Experience: I have presented a paper at NCUR (the national undergrad research conference) along with two presentations at the Federal Reserve of Dallas's ESP undergrad research conference. I also served on the peer review board for the ESP conference last year. As mentioned above, I have pulled data for one professor and will be a co-author on her paper. As well, I am doing that research independent study with Doc and we hope to present it at a conference and get it published. I have had two research oriented internships: one with the Nashville Mayor's Office (guess that kinda gives away my location, oh well) where I built a model that helped estimate the ROI of various business incentives the city offers and one with a market research firm where I am doing a bunch of stats (both "standard" hypothesis testing of samples and regression analysis) and report writing this summer and in the fall as well. Doc also had me review and evaluate a paper for a journal he peer reviews. Obviously he guided me very carefully along the way and had to approve everything, however, I did a lot of the evaluation by myself. Was not a technical paper or anything outside of my current abilities. Teaching Experience: N/A Research Interests: Definitely micro, I do not like macro that much. However, I have not solidified the exact areas yet. Will be fleshing this out sometime soon. SOP: Not exactly sure what to say here. It will be the best SOP they've ever read? :) Software: Proficient in R, familiar with SAS and SPSS. Obviously Excel haha I am a little worried that since there is no formal Econometrics course on my transcript, they will think I have had no exposure to it. However, I have self taught myself everything that is taught in a standard undergrad Econometrics course, plus a little more. Econometrics hasn't been offered in awhile at my university... I know, strange. I am hoping that since I am have done a lot of activities that require me to know Econometrics, it will signal that I do know Econometrics. Similarly, I do have Forecasting on my transcript, so I guess that helps. That's it. Tell me what you think. Obviously, I'd like to shoot as high as possible. Thanks for any feedback! (Sorry for any typos or bad grammar, kind of tired but want to get this out there)

Hello, I will soon be applying for a finance PhD and would like to have my profile evaluated. I would truly apreciate any help. About me: Male, 24. From Colombia GMAT score: 710 (92nd percentile) Undergrad: B.S. In Business Admin (Finance & Economics emphasis) 3.75 GPA Grad: MBA - GPA 3.9 Recommenders: 2 finance professors and 1 economics professor. Not really strong but decent. I don't have a lot of options here. Research Interests (include but not limited to): Asset pricing, international financial markets, market microstructure, and behavioral finance. Schools I am targeting (I know this is not ideal but I am somewhat limited to the South East for family reasons) - Duke - UNC - GA Tech - University of South Carolina - University of Florida - University of Georgia - Georgia state - Georgetown Univ - George Washington - University of Miami Is Duke a long shot? What are my chances at the others? Any other feedback welcome.

My professor, for whom I was/am working as a research assistant, just submitted the final draft of the paper I was providing her assistance for. This was a short-term project so I have only been working with her for about 6 weeks. I did okay in her class, top 5%. But I wasn't too attentive during the lectures or interact much with her back then. So her acknowledgment said " I am grateful to fatsho for her excellent research assistance." Now, I'm kinda hung up on the adjective there. I know I am micro analysing but I can't help it as I have no idea where my LORs are going to come from and whether or not they will be any good. Can I take this as a sign that a) she will agree to write me an LOR; and b) that she actually liked my work and the LOR might be decent; or is it likely that she is just being polite and sticking to some acknowledgement norm?

HI everyone, This is my first time posting here. Kind of nervous about your replies...and not sure if this kind of post should be presented here. If not, please tell me where to post this. I am applying for Econ PhD and currently revising my SOP for the second version. The previous version was reviewed and it turned out that the first paragraph didn't show my strong intention in studying PhD. And after that I have read some examples. However, I don't know how should I revise it. For example, should i started with an impressive story somewhat relevant to my field of interest (i.e. Applied Economics)? Or, should I simply start with my current job as a RA and the projects I am working on with my professors? (I am not enrolled in any grad school now, just graduated from college, but I manage to get in the research center and now prospecting a paper and several other projects regarding to empirical studies.) It is hard to get the first paragraph right. I need some help please! Thank you:)

Hello All!! So I graduated from a small liberal arts school in the northeast about a year ago... Here are my stats GPA 3.79 Math courses Calc 1 A 2 A 3 C Differential Equations C Linear Alegebra B Logic Set Theory and Proofs B+ GRE 160Q 160V 4AWA Here is a list graduate schools I plan to apply to. Let me know if i have a shot. [TABLE=width: 154] [TR] [TD]NYU[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]UCSD[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Cornell[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Brown[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Maryland College Park[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]University of Arizona[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Univeristy of Pitt[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Vanderbilt[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Santa Barbara[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]USC[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Boulder[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]University of Oregon[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]California Santa Cruz[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Souther Methodist[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Georgia State[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]University of Hawaii[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]University of Toronto[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Hi all, this is my first post, and I would really appreciate any advice. I just graduated an honours math program from McGill University and I applied to the Econometrics and Mathematical Economics program at LSE. I think my chances are pretty good, as I have a 3.88 GPA, including four courses in real analysis (B- in Analysis 1 in second year, but A's in Honours Analysis 2,3,4 so I'm hoping that will make up for my poor mark early on). I also have many calculus, probability/statistics, and a summer project in stochastic processes. My econ might be lacking a bit, but I have intro micro/macro, intermediate micro (year long course, baby varian), money and banking, and intermediate econometrics (Russel/Davidson econometric theory and methods, taught by Davidson). A's in all of the above, except A- in money and banking. The problem I have is that I'm not 100% sure I want to do a Ph.D., I would rather work for a year or two first. Unfortunately I don't have much in the way of work experience, other than an internship with TD in technology. Is the EME program seen as too theoretical for the industry after? Would I be in trouble without work experience? I wouldn't mind doing an internship after if need be. The kinds of work I'm thinking of would be along the lines of economic consulting, work for a central bank/international institution, or work as an applied econometrician or something in a more technical line of work. Any advice would be greatly appreciated .

Hi Friends, Firstly, I would like to thank all the people who contribute to this forum. I have just joined this forum and I am glad that I did. This place has a tremendous database of knowledge that is shared by a set of highly talented intellectuals. So thanks again. I am currently planning to apply for admissions to PhD in business at top 20 schools. My profile is as follows: Education: M.S in Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas Experience: 12 years in multiple industries ( aerospace, oil and gas, consulting and project management) age: 34 I am just wondering whether I am too old to be starting a PhD and will my age affect my admission chances? Your replies and suggestions are much appreciated.

I have been interested in pursuing doctoral studies in Marketing (with a focus on CB) for a few years now and I am getting ready to redo my GMAT and begin prepping my materials. I hope to apply in 2013 (Fall) or 2014 (Fall) for start in 2014 or 2015. I'm not in a rush and want to do things the right way. I wanted to get some feedback on my profile and target schools since many of you have been in my shoes. I appreciate your honest and sincere input. :) My Profile Undergrad: Top 50 Public U.S. Institution Major: Interdisciplinary Concentration: Business + Marketing Relevant Courses: Principles of Marketing, Sociology, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics GPA: 4.0 / 4.0 Rank: Top 1% Graduate: Top 25 Public U.S. Institution Major: Engineering/CS Concentration: Human-Computer Interaction Relevant Courses: Research Methods, Empirical Research, Theoretical Research, Cognitive Psych & Neuroscience GPA: 3.92 / 4.0 Rank: N/A 1st GMAT Attempt (2009): 700 2nd GMAT Attempt (Planned 2013): Goal of 750 * Took first attempt years ago with minimal studying. I am working on MGMAT and Knewton courses to boost my score to 750. Planned Recommendations: 1: Graduate Research Adviser, Department Chair 2: Graduate Teaching Adviser, Professor in Empirical Research 3: Undergraduate Professor & Scholarship Adviser * Not sure if #3 is appropriate but could basically attest that I was a top student at a large R1 school and stood out as an undergrad student Research Experience: Member of HCI-related graduate research group Numerous poster presentations at local conferences Primary author on research project (in progress) -- hope to publish or present at major conference Teaching Experience: Taught 7 sections of coursework as a graduate instructor (I wasn't a TA; I actually taught the courses) Re-developed course curriculum for both of the courses I taught Received top student evaluations for each section taught Work Experience: 4-5 years at a large management consulting firm Rank in the top 5% of performance among peers Focus on retail/eCommerce/user engagement Research Interests: My interests merge elements of marketing, information science, human computer interaction, communications, and design. Research I enjoy tends to be heavily rooted in psychology and neuroscience. Human Behavior and Decision Making Applied Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience eCommerce + Digital Marketing/Advertising Communications ============================================= Target Schools I selected target schools based on: Presence of faculty with related interests Research center(s) of interest at institution Varying rank (primarily top 10/20 with some outliers) Publication in top journals (JCR, JM, etc.) The List: Harvard Stanford Duke USC UCLA Florida Yale Berkeley Michigan Carnegie Mellon Chicago Emory Northwestern Wharton Oxford ============================================= Alright. Let me have it.