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Is it a downside if the professors you are most interested in working with at a program are young and recently hired? I feel like plus side is they're actively engaged in research, at the edge of the field, and probably interested in working together, which all seem like huge advantages. But, if they have little experience advising and no history placing advisees in good positions is that a big risk?

What are the best practices when asking a professor at another institution to potentially become one of your dissertation advisors? What are the norms when it comes to working with a professor at another institution? Are there limits on what they can or should have to do? Thanks!

Hi all, I am torn between two departments. First is good with professors who are working in the same line of research I want to work on, but they are mostly old (60 to 65+). Not sure if they would be around for too long. I don't find the research profiles of the younger professors very interesting.... yet! Second is slightly lower-ranked department but I really LOVE the work of two people working there, and who are renowned in the field. They aren't young and aren't old either... say, around 40-year-old associate professors. However, they have the reputation of not giving a ton of time to their students and expecting way too much from them. Considering these two factors only, do you think the latter program would be worth it?

Hi everyone, this is my first time posting in this forum. The level of support available from folks in this chatroom is so high, so I decided to post a thread to see if I could ask for some guidance/ advice from folks! Thank you in advance for your support! :) Long story short, after working for a few years in the financial sector, I have decided to apply for a PhD program and embark on an academic career. I have always wanted to be an academic, but due to financial reasons (supporting family etc), I couldn't take five years out of my life to be a grad student, and had to stay in the industry in order to make money. Now that I have some money saved up, I have decided to give PhD a shot! Because I'm away from academia for awhile now, I feel like I want to give myself about 2-3 years to improve my profile. Turning 32 this year and will be 34 when I submit my application. I am thinking that I might retake some calculus, maybe linear algebra courses to refresh my math skills. I also want to also start reading journal articles and try to get involved in research to get some research experience, and hopefully a good letter, but I don't know how best to approach this. My question to folks is, if you have had 2 additional years to make your application stronger, while you're working full-time, what would you have done? Here is a profile to give folks a better sense of my background: Test Scores (GMAT/GRE): (Expired, used this to apply for policy masters awhile back) Q 167, V 160, AW 5.0 Undegrad GPA: Big 10 Pure Mathematics & Economics, 3.64. Couple of Cs but they were difficult math classes. Graduate GPA: HYPS Public Policy (concentration in Economics), 3.64. Research Experience: 2 years working in an economic research think tank focusing on consumer finance Teaching Experience: taught an advanced microeconomics course for a summer program at HYPS couple of years ago Work Experience: Prior role as a financial regulator in a developing country (for three years). Currently a data scientist at a large US bank working on payment technology Concentration Applying to: Still deciding. Seems like Applied Economics is the best fit for now. Outside of that, I have been reading journal articles from professors in Innovation & Technology, and can see myself involved in the topics there (as a result of my current job i'm now deep in the world of payment technology, fintech, cryptocurrency etc) Number of programs planned to apply to: Undecided. Will likely cast a wide-net. I will try to shoot for the moon but am happy with a mid-low tier admission as long as placement into universities is good Dream Schools: the usual ones What made you want to pursue a PhD? If I apply at 35, I most likely will graduate when I am 40. I am now quite certain that I want to live next 20 - 30 years of my life as an academic Questions or concerns you have about your profile? I don't have any academic reference letter/ recommendation letter at the moment, hence I am giving myself some time (2-3 years) to get connected with universities, but not sure how best to approach this... Any additional specific questions you may have: How can I best use these two to three years to prepare for an application Thank you folks for your thoughts and suggestions!!

As a PhD applicant, I am working while taking a PhD level course part-time. I am getting a B and I don't have time to improve my grade due to working. The school I am applying to only requires me to include schools that I attended for more than a year, not every single course that I took from any university. The course is a hardcore course with B as average. If I am applying to top 5 programs, would this grade help me or hurt me? My whole profile is here: https://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-economics/161313-profile-evaluation-help-needed-non-traditional-applicant-weak-coursework.html

I'm going to try and be brief. I just graduated with a BA in math and econ, and though I got into some upper-30s PhD programs I would have been *very* happy attending, my partner got into the top MA program in her field so I am moving with her and putting off grad school a bit. I have applied to a LOT of academic RA positions over the last 2 months, but I haven't received anything positive back. I have had more success in private sector/consulting positions, but I've actually ended up accepting a position working for the state government as an Economist (that's the position title) working on forecasting models for one of the state programs (mostly maintenance, but also developing one new model). My understanding was that doing an academic RAship after grad school boosts your competitiveness, and that doing consulting/private-sector research keeps it about the same. Where does this kind of government work/research that I'll be doing fall? My profile in a nutshell: 3.96 GPA, 169 GRE Quant, really strong letters of recommendation, but from a low-ranked LAC with little research experience. I would love insight as to what reapplying for PhD programs for fall 2021 will look like for me -- can I assume I'll get similar results? Worse? Better? My letters should stay just about as strong, and I am hoping to take a class or two at a nearby university while I'm working.

Hi all, I am in my senior year and will be working in finance after I graduate (due to family reason), but eventually I would like to apply for phd in econ or finance in a year or two, and I would like to post my profile for evaluation Undergraduate: Top 10 US university, major in applied math and minor in econ Undergraduate GPA: 3.87 overall, 3.98 in applied math/econ GRE: 332 (170 quant + 162 verbal + 4.0 writing) Econ course: intermediate micro (A-), intermediate macro (A+), intro econometrics (A), game theory (A+), behavioral finance (A), time series (A+), corporate finance (A), advanced macro (A-), advanced econometrics (A-), three econ seminars (all A+) Math course: multivariable calculus (A), linear algebra (A), ODE (A), PDE (B), dynamical system (A), real analysis (A-), complex functions (A+), probability theory (A+), statistics (A), stochastic processes (A), optimization (A+), financial engineering (A-), simulation (A+), numerical methods (A-), discrete math (A) LOR: one from econ professor I RAed for, one from econ professor I took seminar with and wrote research paper. These two from my university. Another one from finance professor in top 10 business school where I RAed for summer. All of them know me very well and expect the letters to be strong. Research experience: 1.5 year RA for one of my letter writer, coauthoring a paper which we aim for top journal. 1 year RA for another econ professor. Summer research at top 10 business school. Two econ seminars with research papers, with one presented at an undergraduate econ conference. Working experience: will be working in a quant hedge fund doing research related to empirical asset pricing Research interest: asset pricing, macro-finance, econometrics Aim to apply for top 10 econ programs as well as some top finance programs in business school Questions and concerns: (1). I am expecting my profs to write strong letters as they all indicated. However, the professors I worked for are all assistant professors without tenure. Would this be a concern and if so should I swap one with a full professor but may not be very familiar with me? (2). I understand many applicants nowadays have taken phd level econ classes during undergrad. However due to institutional reason my university does not allow me to take. Would this affect my chance of applying for top programs, especially when I only got A- for advanced macro and metrics? (3). How should one keep in contact with professors after working in industry? I am afraid right now they know me very well but maybe after some time such memory will fade away if I don't keep in contact with them. (4). Related to (3), as I will be working in a research division of a hedge fund, where many coworkers have phds in finance and econ from top programs, does it make sense to get LOR from my supervisor who have phds from top places but are not in academia? And I also appreciate any other advice. Do you think I have any chance for top 10 programs (or maybe top 5 just to dream bigger)? Thanks.

(I posted in econ forum but I think it makes sense to post it here as well) Hi all, I am in my senior year and will be working in finance after I graduate (due to family reason), but eventually I would like to apply for phd in econ or finance in a year or two, and I would like to post my profile for evaluation Undergraduate: Top 10 US university, major in applied math and minor in econ Undergraduate GPA: 3.87 overall, 3.98 in applied math/econ GRE: 332 (170 quant + 162 verbal + 4.0 writing) Econ course: intermediate micro (A-), intermediate macro (A+), intro econometrics (A), game theory (A+), behavioral finance (A), time series (A+), corporate finance (A), advanced macro (A-), advanced econometrics (A-), three econ seminars (all A+) Math course: multivariable calculus (A), linear algebra (A), ODE (A), PDE (B), dynamical system (A), real analysis (A-), complex functions (A+), probability theory (A+), statistics (A), stochastic processes (A), optimization (A+), financial engineering (A-), simulation (A+), numerical methods (A-), discrete math (A) LOR: one from econ professor I RAed for, one from econ professor I took seminar with and wrote research paper. These two from my university. Another one from finance professor in top 10 business school where I RAed for summer. All of them know me very well and expect the letters to be strong. Research experience: 1.5 year RA for one of my letter writer, coauthoring a paper which we aim for top journal. 1 year RA for another econ professor. Summer research at top 10 business school. Two econ seminars with research papers, with one presented at an undergraduate econ conference. Working experience: will be working in a quant hedge fund doing research related to empirical asset pricing Research interest: asset pricing, macro-finance, econometrics Aim to apply for top 10 econ programs as well as some top finance programs in business school Questions and concerns: (1). I am expecting my profs to write strong letters as they all indicated. However, the professors I worked for are all assistant professors without tenure. Would this be a concern and if so should I swap one with a full professor but may not be very familiar with me? (2). I understand many applicants nowadays have taken phd level econ classes during undergrad. However due to institutional reason my university does not allow me to take. Would this affect my chance of applying for top programs, especially when I only got A- for advanced macro and metrics? (3). How should one keep in contact with professors after working in industry? I am afraid right now they know me very well but maybe after some time such memory will fade away if I don't keep in contact with them. (4). Related to (3), as I will be working in a research division of a hedge fund, where many coworkers have phds in finance and econ from top programs, does it make sense to get LOR from my supervisor who have phds from top places but are not in academia? And I also appreciate any other advice. Do you think I have any chance for top 10 programs (or maybe top 5 just to dream bigger)? Thanks.

Hello, I am an international student and have an undergraduate degree in economics from India, a master's degree in economics from UK, and have been working in economics research as a Research associate at an independent think tank for last 3 years. My query is whether it is okay to have my 3 recommendations from professors from my masters only? 1. My undergrad professor will give an average recommendation most probably (it's been a lot of years now since I've graduated + she doesn't herself conduct any research. Only teaches) 2. While I have been working as a researcher, my professional recommendation, although great, would be from non-phds. Any advise is most appreciated. Thank you!

I'm currently working on my senior thesis and my advisor finds my research worthy of publication. I plan on working for two years or so upon graduating, and so I might look into publishing during that time period. But I am aware that publishing before PhD is extremely difficult, but say that I managed to do so at a decent journal - will it be a significant factor (more than other factors) that will help me during the application process for top schools? I'm trying to see if it's even worth putting the efforts in publishing before PhD, as the majority of people say it's virtually impossible. Thanks!

I'm a rising sophomore at a top 10 US school, and I've been lucky enough to score an RA position with a great professor who works in my field of interest too. How do I make the best of it? I would ideally like to continue to work for this professor in the near future and have them be the faculty mentor for my independent research. What can I do to foster a good working relationship?

Hello, I am a newbie and this is my second attempt to post this. I'm a slightly older applicant for a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior. Age: 36 GMAT: 750 (V 42, Q49) Undergraduate: Lahore University of Management Sciences. Undergrad GPA: 3.59/4 Graduate: Masters in Management from Oxford University Grad GPA: Upper second class Graduate: MBA from Emory University Grad GPA: No grades. Research experience: 1 year working as a researcher in an economic think tank. 3 months in 2018 working with an OB researcher at Oxford University. Practical experience: 5 years in financial industry both in Pakistan and on Wall Street in the United States Target: UoT, McGill, UBC, Queens, HEC Montreal, York, and Simon Fraser. My dream schools are UoT, McGill, and UBC but I guess those may not be an option due to my age and the fact that I have been in the industry too long? I have tried to rectify that by currently working as a research assistant for a professor in OB in the UK. Any advice? Does anyone have the essay questions for UoT, York, and Queens? I can't find them online and I guess the application portal isn't open yet. Any good links for writing the research objectives and letter of intent?

Hello everyone, Im preparing my documents to send to FPGEC and looking at taking the April 2018 exam. Anyone here from Algeria who has gone through this process or currently working towards FPGEC? Just need general advices on the ECE and NABP documentations. best regards

Hello, As one of my options after I graduate from my university, I was thinking about working as an RA for about a year under a professor or two professors. They are certainly very well known in the field and I personally know them, and they told me that they are willing to work with me upon me graduating, although I would not be paid. I will certainly apply to other RA positions (nber, etc.), but if I were to work with the former two, will it not be as impactful as I would be with working in the jobs posted in nber, siepr, etc.? That is, as long as I gain research experience along with great letters from them, would it matter at the end, right? (Assuming money is not an issue) (Sorry, this question may seem a bit weird and trivial but I just wanted to make sure:) ).

Accounting hopeful here, I'm trying to finish up my personalized portion of my SOPs for a few schools that I really want to go to, like these are my dream schools. Upon reviewing the department websites there are a few professors whose research really interests me but I have no way of knowing if they are involved with the Phd program. Should I mention my interest in their research specifically or will that hurt me if they aren't working with the program? Also there are multiple professors at one program that in interested in so could I mention maybe 2 of them in hopes that at least one is working with PhD students? I have no research experience so I want my SOP to drive home that I at least kinda know what research is and what I'm interested in without being too specific and I figure showing I read a few articles from current professors may help but I could be wrong.

Hello guys! I heard from some past ph.d students and professors that accounting emphasizes more on full-time working experience than finance. I wonder is not having any full-time working experience but just a few internships a critical weakness? I do see statements like "most successful applicants have several years of working experience" on some programs' websites, while others don't. Could someone shed some light on this please