Contacting Profs for PhD Finance or PhD Economics Programs

[anxious2011]

I was just wondering how important it was for admissions to Finance PhD or Economics PhD programs to establish contact with Professors from Universities and programs whom you might be interested in attending?

Also, a somewhat related question - Is there any advantage to applying for a PhD program to the same school you attended as Undergrad? Are the admission rates higher? Of course this is assuming that you know a couple of professors well. In my case I did a year long research project with a professor and wrote a Senior thesis based on my work.

[lhfields]

Just my quick two-cent:

- Contacting professors shouldn't matter much. Not only is an average applicant going to submit more than 20 applications, but also the ad-com would prefer someone who has a stronger mathematical background to those who "touches bases" with professors. Even if you somehow get in touch with the professors at different universities, the credentials on which their decisions would depend are going to be exactly your application material.

-Based on my sample, No. I've seen a Master's student who applied to a phd program in business school, and he didn't get in. The most adequate response to your second question is always "it depends". If you did a yearlong research with professors in business school or economics department, then great, you will probably have a higher chance of being admitted. But like I said, it all depends.

Hope this helps.

LHF