Hi,
I really appreciate your interest
I really don't know what I want to do in the financial sector. I just don't want to work in the academia. What are the prospects of getting into the industry with a PhD?
I read all these articles saying that getting a PhD is only for academicians, that if you want to get in the industry you need less education and more real-life experience. The question is: Is getting a PhD just "too much specialization" for getting into the industry?
My background:
-BA in Physics from Havana University, Cuba (June 2015).
-All grades between A+ and B+, in all math subjects I got straight A's
-1 scientific paper (Physics) published in a British journal with 3.798 impact factor.
-the paper got cited in Nature Physics (sort of a big deal in the Physics world).
-1 presentation in an international conference.
-Work experience <1year working for an IB school, in a prestigious Mexican university.
-I can only get recommendation letters from Cuban professors with a limited visibility in the US (they are excellent, it's just they aren't very well known).
-I'll take the GRE general and the subject before Jan 2017.
I have two more questions:
-Given my weak application, how "good" my grades in the GRE general/subject need to be? I know that it depends, but do you have an estimate?
-By the time I'll finish with my application I'll be 26/27 years old, is that a problem for getting funding?
Though I graduated only 1 year ago, Cuban males hold back 1 year because of military service and my major was 5 years long (equivalent to an MsC by some standards).
I'll appreciate any further comments. I'm a little bit overwhelmed by all the info.
Kind regards,
Rogelio