PLEASE HELP: Top Finance/MathFin PhD Applicant

[finance89]

Hello, and thank you in advance for helping me out!

I went to school at a top 20 undergrad business school. Just finished four majors (Finance, Mathematics, Accounting, Business Economics; CGPA 3.95) in five years including each summer and winter term (and many sleepless nights ). I now hold an offer to the Financial Engineering track of MPhil in Finance 2012-2013. Here are the core courses, and here are the electives for this specific track. This degree is 9 months, and I am hoping to start a Finance PhD in the US in 2013. This summer I will take Advanced Econometrics at LSE.

About me:

Some general resume/interesting highlights:

• Attended Harvard's SVMP program
  
• Passed first level of CFA
  
• Gates Scholarship finalist
  
• Accounting Honors Thesis on Stock Options/Disclosure Policy (40 pages, lacking strong results, and not good enough to publish)
  
• Russian immigrant (came to US at 11..will probably include some of the hardship stories in my PS)
  
• Professional table tennis player
  
  
  
  Aside from a bunch of general education courses, I have taken the following:
  
  
  
  Finance
  : Quant. Financial Mgmt., Bloomberg Certification (Equities, Fixed Income, and Foreign Exchange), Corporate Finance, Investments, Real Estate Finance, Applied Investment Management (2 semester course, managing $1m)
  
  
  
  Mathematics
  : Calculus (1,2,3), Linear Algebra, Matrix Analysis, Analysis of Ordinary Differential Equations, Intro to Mathematics of Investing, Introduction to Proof, Real Analysis (Audit), Theory of Probability, Theory of Statistics, Mathematical Modeling, Advanced Applied Analysis
  
  
  
  Business Economics
  : Int. Micro, Int. Macro, Game Theory, Experimental Economics, Economics of Strategy, Quantitative Methods in Economics, Intro to Econometrics (and will take advanced at LSE this summer)
  
  
  
  Accounting
  : Intro to Financial Acct, Intro to Managerial Acct, Intermediate Financial Acct (all 3 semesters, one of which was applied to Finance), Intermediate Cost & Managerial Acct., Analysis of Financial Statements, Accounting Information Systems, Audit, Federal Taxation
  
  
  
  Other
  : Python Programming, C Programming, Stat. Inference in Mgmt., Organizational Behavior, Intro to Marketing, Business Communication, Management Information Systems, Basic Operations Management
  
  
  My list of schools (in a rough order of preference):
  • MIT
    
  • Stanford
    
  • HBS (Business Economics with Finance track)
    
  • Chicago
    
  • Princeton (ORFE)
    
  • Columbia (IOR)
    
  • UPenn
    
  • UCLA
    
  • Yale
    

  Potential Problems/Questions:

  [*]I am very interested in asset pricing, but still not set on anything more specific (this will probably make my Personal Statement less impressive).

  [*]Haven't taken GRE yet, but I am pretty sure 800Q won't be a problem (but verbal will lower since I'm not a native speaker).

  [*]My LORs aren't excellent (very strong, but not from top professors). Would it be risky to ask for a letter from a well known professor at Cambridge even though they will only know me for a several months before I apply (course starts in September, applications due December)

  [*]Am I crazy for applying to these top schools? Do I have a decent chance for the more quant programs such as Princeton's ORFE, Columbia IOR, CMU Math Finance?

  [*]Do I need more research experience?

  [*]Any advice on what I can do at Cambridge to improve my chances of admission?

  [*]Any general advice as far as applications go?

  Thank you all very much!

[rem]

What research experience do you have? I believe this will be crucial. This is a very solid profile in terms of academics (and I don't think you really need more, although would strongly recommend a few stats courses e.g. time series, stochastic processes if you plan to do asset pricing; although econometrics from LSE should be already very good), but you haven't mentioned much about research. If you have good research experience + excellent LORs then yeah, applying to these top schools is reasonable. Where will you be doing the masters? Will you be able to do much research there?

[victor.s.andrei]

Hello, and thank you in advance for helping me out!

I went to school at a top 20 undergrad business school. Just finished four majors (Finance, Mathematics, Accounting, Business Economics; CGPA 3.95) in five years including each summer and winter term (and many sleepless nights ). I now hold an offer to the Financial Engineering track of MPhil in Finance 2012-2013. Here are the core courses, and here are the electives for this specific track. This degree is 9 months, and I am hoping to start a Finance PhD in the US in 2013. This summer I will take Advanced Econometrics at LSE.

About me:

Some general resume/interesting highlights:

• Attended Harvard's SVMP program
  
• Passed first level of CFA
  
• Gates Scholarship finalist
  
• Accounting Honors Thesis on Stock Options/Disclosure Policy (40 pages, lacking strong results, and not good enough to publish)
  
• Russian immigrant (came to US at 11..will probably include some of the hardship stories in my PS)
  
• Professional table tennis player
  
  
  
  Aside from a bunch of general education courses, I have taken the following:
  
  
  
  Finance
  : Quant. Financial Mgmt., Bloomberg Certification (Equities, Fixed Income, and Foreign Exchange), Corporate Finance, Investments, Real Estate Finance, Applied Investment Management (2 semester course, managing $1m)
  
  
  
  Mathematics
  : Calculus (1,2,3), Linear Algebra, Matrix Analysis, Analysis of Ordinary Differential Equations, Intro to Mathematics of Investing, Introduction to Proof, Real Analysis (Audit), Theory of Probability, Theory of Statistics, Mathematical Modeling, Advanced Applied Analysis
  
  
  
  Business Economics
  : Int. Micro, Int. Macro, Game Theory, Experimental Economics, Economics of Strategy, Quantitative Methods in Economics, Intro to Econometrics (and will take advanced at LSE this summer)
  
  
  
  Accounting
  : Intro to Financial Acct, Intro to Managerial Acct, Intermediate Financial Acct (all 3 semesters, one of which was applied to Finance), Intermediate Cost & Managerial Acct., Analysis of Financial Statements, Accounting Information Systems, Audit, Federal Taxation
  
  
  
  Other
  : Python Programming, C Programming, Stat. Inference in Mgmt., Organizational Behavior, Intro to Marketing, Business Communication, Management Information Systems, Basic Operations Management
  
  
  My list of schools (in a rough order of preference):
  • MIT
    
  • Stanford
    
  • HBS (Business Economics with Finance track)
    
  • Chicago
    
  • Princeton (ORFE)
    
  • Columbia (IOR)
    
  • UPenn
    
  • UCLA
    
  • Yale
    

  Potential Problems/Questions:

  [*]I am very interested in asset pricing, but still not set on anything more specific (this will probably make my Personal Statement less impressive).

  [*]Haven't taken GRE yet, but I am pretty sure 800Q won't be a problem (but verbal will lower since I'm not a native speaker).

  [*]My LORs aren't excellent (very strong, but not from top professors). Would it be risky to ask for a letter from a well known professor at Cambridge even though they will only know me for a several months before I apply (course starts in September, applications due December)

  [*]Am I crazy for applying to these top schools? Do I have a decent chance for the more quant programs such as Princeton's ORFE, Columbia IOR, CMU Math Finance?

  [*]Do I need more research experience?

  [*]Any advice on what I can do at Cambridge to improve my chances of admission?

  [*]Any general advice as far as applications go?

  Thank you all very much!

  Holy $%@#, man. That is one truly badass academic profile.

  Best wishes with your application - I mean it!

[ohyeah1234]

Hello, and thank you in advance for helping me out!

I went to school at a top 20 undergrad business school. Just finished four majors (Finance, Mathematics, Accounting, Business Economics; CGPA 3.95) in five years including each summer and winter term (and many sleepless nights ). I now hold an offer to the Financial Engineering track of MPhil in Finance 2012-2013. Here are the core courses, and here are the electives for this specific track. This degree is 9 months, and I am hoping to start a Finance PhD in the US in 2013. This summer I will take Advanced Econometrics at LSE.

About me:

 

Some general resume/interesting highlights:

• Attended Harvard's SVMP program
• Passed first level of CFA
• Gates Scholarship finalist
• Accounting Honors Thesis on Stock Options/Disclosure Policy (40 pages, lacking strong results, and not good enough to publish)
• Russian immigrant (came to US at 11..will probably include some of the hardship stories in my PS)
• Professional table tennis player

Aside from a bunch of general education courses, I have taken the following:

Finance: Quant. Financial Mgmt., Bloomberg Certification (Equities, Fixed Income, and Foreign Exchange), Corporate Finance, Investments, Real Estate Finance, Applied Investment Management (2 semester course, managing $1m)

Mathematics: Calculus (1,2,3), Linear Algebra, Matrix Analysis, Analysis of Ordinary Differential Equations, Intro to Mathematics of Investing, Introduction to Proof, Real Analysis (Audit), Theory of Probability, Theory of Statistics, Mathematical Modeling, Advanced Applied Analysis

Business Economics: Int. Micro, Int. Macro, Game Theory, Experimental Economics, Economics of Strategy, Quantitative Methods in Economics, Intro to Econometrics (and will take advanced at LSE this summer)

Accounting: Intro to Financial Acct, Intro to Managerial Acct, Intermediate Financial Acct (all 3 semesters, one of which was applied to Finance), Intermediate Cost & Managerial Acct., Analysis of Financial Statements, Accounting Information Systems, Audit, Federal Taxation

Other: Python Programming, C Programming, Stat. Inference in Mgmt., Organizational Behavior, Intro to Marketing, Business Communication, Management Information Systems, Basic Operations Management

My list of schools (in a rough order of preference):

• MIT
• Stanford
• HBS (Business Economics with Finance track)
• Chicago
• Princeton (ORFE)
• Columbia (IOR)
• UPenn
• UCLA
• Yale

Potential Problems/Questions:

• I am very interested in asset pricing, but still not set on anything more specific (this will probably make my Personal Statement less impressive).
• Haven't taken GRE yet, but I am pretty sure 800Q won't be a problem (but verbal will lower since I'm not a native speaker).
• My LORs aren't excellent (very strong, but not from top professors). Would it be risky to ask for a letter from a well known professor at Cambridge even though they will only know me for a several months before I apply (course starts in September, applications due December)
• Am I crazy for applying to these top schools? Do I have a decent chance for the more quant programs such as Princeton's ORFE, Columbia IOR, CMU Math Finance?
• Do I need more research experience?
• Any advice on what I can do at Cambridge to improve my chances of admission?
• Any general advice as far as applications go?

Thank you all very much!

 

4 majors seem impressive, but not. What's your research experience or work experience? I am in one of programs you mentioned, and many of my classmates have descent work or research experience. (at least 1~3+ years. Some already have PhD or MS degree before joining this program) you are OK with Math (not excellent), but NOT OK with Stat and CS. You can apply as many program as you want, but I would say you have chance below Columbia (IEOR) if you have good LORs. Go to Quantnet.com and check out tracker.