Profile Evaluation Phd Finance or Economics

[dukes1129]

Please Help

 

Undergrad GPA 3.2 (top 30 program)

Grad GPA 3.9 (top 50 program)

GRE 164 Q 149 V

GMAT 650 (Almost definitely retaking with preparation this time, target 720)

Math- Calc I&II, linear algebra, differential equations, multivariate calc, advanced calc, math reasoning, real analysis (All A's)

Grad Econ- Math Econ(A) Intro Econometrics(A), Econometrics(, Advanced Micro Theory(A)

LOR- PhD Econ from Indiana, PhD Finance from Purdue, PhD applied mathematics from Arizona State

 

Looking for brutal honesty here on range and possible schools to apply to.

 

[dukes1129]

Ok an update to my posting, Scored a 730 on my GMAT retake including a 52 on the quant section.  Anybody have any comments?

[jeffster]

I'm not really a finance guy, but I can talk about it from a general econ perspective.

 

Your undergrad GPA is a little low, but you covered a great selection of math courses and if you got all As in all them too, that will be a big standout.  Having some grad econ is nice also.  I'm assuming you have a masters?  Have you done any research work?  My initial reaction based solely on the little you wrote there is that you should maybe aim for schools ranked somewhere between the top 20 and top 50.  You might toss out a hail mary for something higher than that, but without a perfect GRE quant score and a higher GPA it's a bit of a stretch.  The GMAT shouldn't be particularly relevant for econ programs.

 

Are you interested in academia, or in the public or private sectors?  You should strongly consider that when looking into locations.  For example, DC is great for the public sector, NY for the private, etc.  Makes it (relatively) very easy to get internships at relevant locations, including some duruing the school year when people from other programs can't do it, and is potentially worth trading a few rankings off the school.  Also if you're interested in approaching finance from the field of economics (rather than going straight finance), you will want to look for programs with a specific strength there.  Try looking at faculty bios and research interests at a prospective program, for example.

[dukes1129]

Hi.  Thank you for responding to me.  In order my interests are academia, private sector, public sector.  Most of the weight would rest on academia.  I do have a graduate degree, MS finance.  I have no preference between finance and econ(I am going to apply to both types of programs regardless).  Based upon conversations with my graduate professors, they feel that my research interests would best be satisfied or fit a econ program that offers financial economics as a field that would allow me to take the finance classes through the finance phd program at the respective school.  Similar to what you alluded to in you post.  I have some research experience in a couple of graduate classes that I am going to highlight as the work was done in professor's classes who are writing my LORs.  However, no formal research as an assistant or anything like that.  I do have knowledge of and experience in statistical programs SAS and STATA.  Sorry for the lack of information before I was hoping for a response like you gave, a quick screening as Ive heard thats how a lot of admissions people start the process of reviewing applications.  I was hoping to pass the "smell" test first then have them dive deeper into the application where I feel I have very strong LOR's and the math background plus statistical programming experience should help me standout at least a small amount.  Any further thoughts, suggestions, or advice?  I know that both fields are extremely competitive and the decision process can be somewhat random at times.  I want to go the best school possible that fits my research interests, however I am ok with going to a mediocre school as I have a very strong desire to do research as a career.  

[dukes1129]

Oh and if it matters my undergrad was a major in finance minors in econ and math

[jeffster]

Most econ phd programs require you to pick fields from within their "program" so to speak.  So, if econ+finance is your interest, you'll probably have around two finance courses, and the rest econ theory or a sub field.  If finance is your only interest, you would probably be better off in a pure finanace PhD program.

 

Otherwise, pull up some rankings and find a few schools in the 20-50 range and see if any of them have a econ PhD with a finance field that you like.  Maybe run it by some of your LOR professors.  Apply to a handful, some closer to 20 and some closer to 50, just to cover your bases.

 

Good luck!

[dukes1129]

Ok thank you for the advice and getting back to me!  Im sure as it is for everyone that desires to go this route it is very stressful preparing for the application process

[markolebron]

http://markolebron9223.blogspot.com/

 

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