Accounting/Finance PhD Profile Evaluation

[Faker]

Hello,

I am wondering how I should navigate my Ph.D. application. Any help is welcomed! I will apply for accounting and finance PhD programs this fall.

Now studying in a top-ten statistics master's program in the US, which also has a great business Ph.D. program, I am anxious about how to boost my profile. I have been doing RAs with two professors from the business school, and I took accounting and finance classes as an undergrad(the top 1 school in a non-US country). Before coming to the US, I worked in a buy-side firm for four years.

Most posts here suggest that reference letters are more critical than quant classes, test scores and others. However, the two professors I am working with are from the business school's statistics department, not the accounting department. Another concern is that I'm mainly getting Bs out of statistics classes.

I think my best bet is to work with an accounting professor, get their reference letter, improve my grad school GPAs, and possibly get a TA for an accounting class.

Any thoughts? Thank you so much for your help.

 

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Sharing from my experience as PhD student in accounting:

The PhD coordinator is looking for 1) somebody who knows what accounting research is and 2) somebody who can credibly signal they are interested in doing accounting research. This is why working as a RA for accounting professor and having a letter from an accounting prof would be incredibly important otherwise how can you show that you know what accounting research is and you are applying to these programs because you want to do it not because it is easier.

Some things I recommend you do: Either have professors you know refer you to accounting professors that can help you or you can directly reach out to the PhD coordinator and just have a conversation with them asap. Tell them you are interested in accounting Phd and want to learn more and ask them for their advice. Also ask them if you can sit it on workshops where people present their working papers to  get a sense of what accounting research is and figure out if you are interested in it or not. If you do this combined with RA'ing for accounting professor your profile will be a lot stronger and you will have more things to talk about in your statement of purpose. If you are inclined you can also reach out to current PhD students at your school and talk to them as well.

The TA for accounting class doesn't really matter imo so don't waste your time there.