hedgequant

lh, do you mind if I ask your profile?

agreed....relax....if you havent heard anything in 45 more days, you can let your head explode.

Yes, please offer something to make this tangible...also, did you "hear" that all sub-disciplines (bus econ, marketing, etc etc) were sent out, or just your area of study?

You are kind to say I have an amazing profile...I can definitely only see the weaknesses in it myself. I have not received any interview requests yet, but a professor who is the head of the adcom at a top 30 program in the northeast extended an offer to come by and chat, and I took him up on it last week. I felt good about things after speaking with him, and it really got me even more excited to get started somewhere (anywhere!). He did communicate that the committee wouldn't be doing much by way of review until the first week of Feb (this program had a Jan 1 deadline, for reference). I also wanted to say that this forum is much nicer and more supportive than urch...over there, everyone just picks everything apart and there is a lot of hearsay with respect to status updates and such...always "i heard a friend of a friend..." type of stuff. Best of luck to you too Lawrence...

What type of work did you do? I have 2 academic LORs and 1 industry (not an employer, but someone in my industry) and was encouraged to do so by the ad comm at UC Berkeley because my work was 6 years of investment research, so for my desired PhD in Finance it works rather well. If your work experience is not related to your academic research interests, they need to focus on your skills as an "athlete" per se...analytics, research capabilities, dedication, attention to detail, problem solving, etc etc etc

BBA top 10 undergrad some masters work at University of London 4.0 GPA, graduated #1/265 6-years as a research analyst and eventually Director of Research for a multi-billion dollar asset management company GRE: Quant 800, Verbal 570, AWA 5.0 I think a very strong SOP Good LORs (raving reviews I'm told...but from professors that are good, just not internationally renowned or anything) My work did not allow for papers to be published, but I did present one paper and lead a seminar in London at an international derivatives conference Official math coursework in calculus, econometrics, econ theory, etc. Ran my own hedge fund dealing in equity derivatives, and learned more advanced maths, linear algebra, PDE/SDEs, etc. Research interests are game theory applications to derivative pricing and other asymmetric information games To be honest, I'm scared out of my mind. Any comments are welcome, good or bad.

I used to travel to NE all the time for work, and the main thing I can say is that whatever shoes you bring, be prepared (if it is wintry mix/snow/sleet/rain weather) to have them beat up or ruined by the slush...i/e I wouldnt buy a brand new pair of shoes in anticipation If you plan on walking around yourself, in a casual manner...good gloves and a beanie/toboggan will work wonders for your ears and fingers

I wish you the best of luck, and I hope this doesn't come off too harsh but you are walking on dangerous ground if you try and update everyone for a second time. However unlikely, there are times when adcomms begin reviewing things once you have submitted them, and if you go back and try to update, it's going to look scattered and unprepared. The school name is a different issue, as it's pretty easy to say that you had 5 of them and accidentally uploaded the wrong one, for example. One thing you should be careful of is creating extra work for the admin staff, because unless you have a good rapport with them, they may not bend the rules. Just something to think about.

I've lost my mind already, and most of my deadlines haven't even passed, although I've completed my applications....just to increase the time of insanity to the max. Anyway, if you want to pass the time, download the free "words with friends" app...it's basically scrabble for your phone and it does help pass the time.

Ok...so, here is the set-up: I'm going to be in Boston and one of the professors I've been in contact with said it would be nice if I could stop by and 'chat', and I am going to (obviously) make sure that happens. My question is, given that this is not a formal interview per se, should I do the full suit-and-tie routine, or sport coat, or what makes the most sense?

losing my mind already and half of my submitted apps' deadlines have yet to even pass.

Hi folks... I have no idea if I will be attending school in Boston next year or not, but I have an interview at one school and feel good about my chances. Here is my question- My wife has a good job, which means we have more than just a grad school stipend for a budget. Nothing jaw-dropping, but it does open up some options. A co-worker of my wife commutes from Cambridge to Methuen and says it is not too bad, and my wife would be working in Methuen as well. I'm looking for more information on the commute from Boston, as well as some good places that would work for housing in between the two locations. Our bias is to be close to Boston, perhaps no further north than Medford, but we are open to learning more. Thanks!

Not sure if I am typical, but I have completed 14 applications, and may add 2-3 more with Feb deadlines. Hope this helps, and gl.

I can only speak to the Georgia Tech application, as it was the only PhD app that was co-mingled with the MBA app. There were 3 or 4 additional essays, and one of them was "if you could invite any 4 people to dinner, who would you invite, and what would you want to discuss." I had a similar question on an undergrad app years ago, but have not seen one anywhere else.

Just wanted to say that I am enjoying reading through this forum. I have completed most, if not all, of my applications for 2011 PhD admittance, and now I'm in the horrible wait and wait and wait mode. Hope to contribute to the discussions, and good luck to everyone this year. My schools are in my signature. Here's hoping!

I can think of no better first post than a complaint, no? How very 'academic' of me Anyway, having looked at (not necessarily applied to) about 30 applications, my 'worst' list is: 1- Ga Tech- 4 pages, terrible interface/navigation, and all the MBA essays (who would you invite to dinner, etc...) are in the same application, confusing the issue) 2- Stanford- although I have to assume they are laughing all the way to the bank 3- U Texas- I live in Austin, went to school for undergrad there, and it's still the biggest pain in the rear...different due dates for the grad school and the individual department, etc. 4- Boston College- I love the 'Apply Yourself' format, but BC will not allow .pdf uploads, which requires literally scanning a transcript, opening the file in MS Paint, saving as a .jpeg, pasting into word and then uploading the .docx file...not to mention the ridiculously TINY max file sizes...sheesh