GRE or GMAT, how much I need for PhD in Finance?

[tmc12]

Hi guys, I am interested to apply for a PhD in US and I need to have either GMAT or GRE. Could you please tell me how much I need to obtain in order to have chances for a place? I would like to do a PhD in Finance. AND how important is this examination? thank you. 

[zapster]

Your GRE score would be a hygiene factor, a great score may still not mean anything if the rest of your application isn't strong, but a really poor score may cut you out. For a PhD in Finance your quant score would be important. In general, your LORs, SOP, relevant research experience, GPA and program fit (not necessarily in that order) would probably weigh more. My personal experience is that the relevance of the GRE may increase slightly for international students. GRE score required would depend on the schools you are applying to, but for top tier schools a PhD Finance program would probably require top percentile quant scores.

[tmc12]

Your GRE score would be a hygiene factor, a great score may still not mean anything if the rest of your application isn't strong, but a really poor score may cut you out. For a PhD in Finance your quant score would be important. In general, your LORs, SOP, relevant research experience, GPA and program fit (not necessarily in that order) would probably weigh more. My personal experience is that the relevance of the GRE may increase slightly for international students. GRE score required would depend on the schools you are applying to, but for top tier schools a PhD Finance program would probably require top percentile quant scores.

Thank you very much for your reply. Could you please tell me if they required specific background? I have done 4 summer internships where are very related with finance (banks and financial institutions). My master's degree is very quantitative. However, my first degree is in business management with some guantitative elements and finance modules. And what about the name and reputation of the university. Do they actually consider this as an important factor? And what about the grades? In my first degree, from UK, I got 66%.  In UK is called 'high 2.1'. Have you seen a lot of students with GPA 3-3.4 in their first degree to be admitted in one of the top tier universities?  Thank you.

[zapster]

It goes further than just overall GPA - adcoms will often look at grades in specific courses, level of difficulty of courses and evidence of your capabilities in specific quant / mathematical finance skill sets. You should highlight your quantitative masters degree, specific skill sets learnt, any research experience during your masters (even if not directly related to your phd researchaspirations), etc. A "UK high 2.1" would not rule you out of top tier universities, but needs to be strongly supplemented by everything else. For example, a poor GRE quant score + a poor grade in say a highly quantitative masters course may put adcoms off, and vice versa. Your summer internships may not count for much in terms of the work content (unless it was closely related to academic research - for example research wrt finance policy say with the World Bank for example?; or the nature of the work was highly quantitative?) but even if not, you could position your experiences during the internships as shaping your research interests.

 

Difficult to predict all the factors that any particular adcom considers, but like any other selection process, there are multiple variables that impact your application and top tier admissions are extremely competitive, so my suggestion would be to broadbase the number of universities you are applying to. Strong LORs would count a lot. Focus also on research fit, specific research done by depts. and POIs, write to POIs in advance to get an idea of your fit, and be familiar with their work.  

 

Scavenge these forums for a lot of other fantastic advice (and then some) !

 

Best of Luck!

[somedayprofessor]

Some finance programs require the GRE, some the GMAT. I would find a program your are interested in and be sure to take the right test, maybe both.

 

I took the GMAT and was not able to apply to one of my top targets because they required the GRE (and I had very little time left when I found out). The school's website can also give you insight on what type of scores they are looking for in qualified candidates.