Profile Evaluation and Uni Recommendations for PhD in Economics or Finance

[oceanBlue14]

hey guys, firstly thank you so much for taking the time to read my application.

im just hoping to get a fair idea of where my profile stands and what unis i can target (north america) for a phd in econ or a phd in finance.

undergrad: irrelevant degree in media and communication from india, gpa: 8.3 (top 2% of the class)

grad: dual degree - masters in management and msc in finance from france's 6th best business school. the msc degree is rated 3rd in the entire world for pre-experience masters. gpa: 4.0

research experience:

1) two master's thesis/theses.

2)attended and presented at multiple conferences

3) over 10 working papers (all in finance and economics). i can promise you they are of good quality, i worked my butt off on these things like crazy. unfortunately and obviously i couldnt publish them because the top journals dont even consider our papers, and i dont want to start my academia career with a subpar journal. i also focused on healthcare economics and lgbtq+ economics and finance which are very niche topics as far as i know (i could be wrong)

4)im also a member of beta alpha psi from ncsu (my school has its campus on the ncsu campus so i am a non degree seeking student at ncsu)

5) i did work under multiple professors assisting them with their research, some of them fairly well known in their field (again, econ and fin)

gmat/gre: i have given both these exams multiple times before and have got almost perfect scores (780 in gmat and 335 on the gre) so im fairly certain i can get the same, if not a better score on these.

LORs: I am pretty sure that my finance professors (some fairly well known, as i said) would give me stellar recommendations. i have not only been in their good books but also gone above my stations to impress them)

Courses:

1. Calculus 3 (A)

2. Real Analysis (A)

3. Linear Algebra (A)

4. Differential Equations (A)

5. Stochastic Calculus and Stats (A)

6. Econometrics (A)

7. Graduate Economics (A)

 

please do let me know where i stand, if i can do anything to improve my profile further and what my target and safety unis can be.

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!!

Edited April 5, 2022 by oceanBlue14

[SwissEconomist]

To be honest I think it will definitely be a disadvantage that you don't have an Economics degree if you would try to apply for a PhD in Economics. However you could still give it a try, especially at Business Schools you still might have a fair shoot (for instance LBS, St. Gallen, HEC Paris are Business Schools with decent Economics PhD).

For a PhD in Finance you're Profile already looks much better, however I don't know that much about PhD Admissions in this field.

Edited April 12, 2022 by SwissEconomist

[startz]

2 hours ago, SwissEconomist said:

To be honest I think it will definitely be a disadvantage that you don't have an Economics degree if you would try to apply for a PhD in Economics.

Nobody cares if your degree is in economics so long as you've had some minimal number of economics courses. In fact, a math degree may even work better. An "irrelevant" major, such as stated by the OP, won't help though.

[annsteele]

guys could you check also my profile? thanks!

[SwissEconomist]

18 hours ago, startz said:

Nobody cares if your degree is in economics so long as you've had some minimal number of economics courses. In fact, a math degree may even work better. An "irrelevant" major, such as stated by the OP, won't help though.

That is true for the US but not for most European Universities. Yes a Math Major with a Minor in Economics would also be fine, but a Master in Economics is highly prefered to a Master in Finance and Management by most European Universities. Some programs (such as Oxford) will not even consider you for direct entry, because a degree in Economics is a necessary requirement for them.

[startz]

5 hours ago, SwissEconomist said:

That is true for the US but not for most European Universities. Yes a Math Major with a Minor in Economics would also be fine, but a Master in Economics is highly prefered to a Master in Finance and Management by most European Universities. Some programs (such as Oxford) will not even consider you for direct entry, because a degree in Economics is a necessary requirement for them.

Fair enough.