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I was curious if you had any idea how to rank Universities and their PhD programs based on their Behavioral Finance department? I saw an old post that discussed the topic (but it was really old). I was especially interested in good behavioral finance programs from schools outside of the top 20. Thanks in advance!!

Hello everyone, any help on my profile evaluation & targeting of schools would be much appreciated! I will try to keep my bio as concise as possible, but am happy to provide additional pertinent details if I have left anything out. I am interested in behavioral econ/finance, so I have been looking at programs that range across several business PhD concentrations. My main questions: Do the programs listed below seem in line with my research/career interests? Are there additional programs or professors that I should investigate further? What are similar but less competitive programs to apply to? Interests: My ideal career in 15-20 years would be to write books & lecture about behavioral econ/finance and personal finance. (think Thaler, Bernatzi & Ariely’s books) My research interests are in household/behavioral finance (why we invest/save the way we do, and how that can be altered, such as with the SMarT program), and behavioral economics (the space between theoretical models of humans as rational utility-maximizers vs. reality and the psychological factors that influence our decisions). GRE Stats: 800 Quant, 5 Analytical Writing, 620 Verbal Undergrad (general): Attended Top 20 university, studied econ& math, minored in computational finance and creative writing, graduated recently with GPA of 3.6 Undergrad (research): Designed & conducted field experiment on consumer spending(had 5 RAs, spent hundred of hours collecting data), won best undergrad econ thesis presentation Undergrad (specifics): I have taken a LOT of math and econ classes, with As in Stats & Prob II, Computational Finance (pricing through replication), Continuous Time Finance (stochastic calculus), Econometrics, DiffEq, Matrix Algebra, Algebraic Structures. My big weakness is that I have a C in Real Analysis I and a D in Real Analysis II. I will admit that though I love math, extremely theoretical proof-based math is not my strong suit. I was also a TA for a semester for Multivariate (holding recitations, office hours, grading), and graded for Matrix Algebra for 3 semesters. Other (work & interests): Extensive knowledge of SQL through work, blog about personal finance from a behavioral perspective, read Kiplinger’s and Money magazine for fun. Programs I am considering: Carnegie Mellon: Social and Decision Science PhD Columbia: Economics and Finance PhD Yale SOM: Financial Economics PhD Penn Wharton: Finance PhD CalTech: Social Science PhD Thanks in advance! My main questions: Do the programs listed above seem in line with my research/career interests? Are there additional programs or professors that I should investigate further? What are similar but less competitive programs to apply to? (AKA Please give me a reality check, obviously the programs I listed are extremely competitive)