PhD Finance application: CV question

[pa_trick]

Hi everyone,

Like many before me, I am uncertain whether I will stand a chance in the competitive application process for PhD programs in Finance. I am planning to apply for US PhD programs for the fall 2013 intake and narrowed my focus to a short list of programs, including the University of Kansas and Washington University in St. Louis. It would be really helpful to me if some of the experienced people in the forum could help me sort whether my applications would be competitive.

My background:

- 3.5-year undergraduate degree in Business Administration from a German university. GPA equivalent of 3.8

- 1-year MBA from a top-10 European business school, with concentration in Finance. GPA of 3.7 (top 20%)

- 2 years of work experience in financial advisory/consulting (KPMG)

- GMAT of 740 (93rd percentile verbal, 83rd percentile quant, AWA of 6.0)

- relatively weak background in math/stats (equivalent of Calculus 1-2, some linear algebra, some statistics)

- no relevant research experience in finance (i.e., final paper)

- still working on my LORs - so far, I have only gotten replies from professors in "general business administration" and accounting

- research interests in corporate finance

What do you guys think? I have asked many of my friends and peers, some of whom think that I should have a reasonable shot at getting into a program, others think probably not. I thought about getting another master's degree (probably from Europe or Canada, where education is cheaper). I will message a more comprehensive CV to those of you who are interested...

Many thanks in advance!

[Behavioral]

Finance programs are getting more and more difficult to get into; this has translated to increased expectations in terms of math prep going in.

I'm not sure about Kansas, but the bigger name-brand b-schools (like WashU) will attract pools of applicants that have had the equivalent of real analysis+.