Profile Evaluation for PhD Finance and a couple questions

[financephdhopeful]

Profile:
Type of Undergrad: State School in Alabama
Degree: Economics(3.8), Math(3.8), Minor in Biology(2.7)
Overall GPA: 3.52(low because of the Minor in Biology)
Type of Grad: MS in Math at the same school (3.9 GPA so far)

Unless Specified, I got an A in all of the courses mentioned below:
Econ courses: Intro to Micro/Macro, Advanced Micro/Macro Game Theory(my only , Economics Institutions and Law, Econometrics, Behavioral Economics
Undergrad Math courses: Cal 1,2,3, Intro to Differential Equations, ODE and PDE(B in both), Linear Algebra(, Modern Algebra, Mathematical Probability, Mathematical Statistics, Financial Mathematics(B- this one will hurt, but I took the class too early in my mathematical career  ie before probability and linear algebra), Mathematical Modeling, Advanced Calculus 1 and 2, Vector Analysis

Grad Math Courses: Scientific Programming, Advanced Probability, Advanced Linear Algebra(I got an A in this, hoping it will offset my undergraduate , Numerical Linear Algebra, Abstract Algebra, Topology 1, Fourier Analysis, Complex Analysis(My only B in Grad Math Work)

Future Math Grad Courses: Advanced Statistics, Topology 2, Real Analysis 1 and 2, Stochastic Processes, and one more class. Most of my future course work will be taken up with research courses
GRE: 163 Q 160 V(need to take again, my first take was basically taken cold turkey)
Letters of Recommendations: Will probably be three math PhDs
Research experience: Help an Econ Professor on a paper for 1 summer, I will be doing a masters thesis on The Wavelet Representation of Fractional Brownian Motion and I will also be performing a market analysis/modeling assignment for a local bank as part of my research as well
Teaching experience: I have TA'd four math courses and will have finished teaching 1 math course by the time I apply
Research Interest: Stochastic Calculus oriented finance(ie brownian motion, black scholes style things, etc.)

I will be applying to PhD programs in Spring 2016.

 

Alright so that is my profile. I was wondering what are the chances I would get into a good program(a program that lands me an academic job) if I apply straight from finishing my masters. For a little background I originally wanted to do something completely different(hence the biology minor) but I lost interest in that and decided to switch to doing economics and mathematics as an undergraduate. I found I really enjoyed Economics and Mathematics so I then decided I wanted to do a PhD in economics. Due to time constraints during undergrad(having to work a considerable amount during undergrad) I could not really test the waters as far as research goes. I got a TA position for my masters and thus had much more time, so I decided to join a student investment group at my university, as the chief economist, to see how I enjoyed it. I really liked it, but found that I liked the stuff the finance students were doing more than what I was doing, and because of this I would like to gravitate more towards finance now. I am basically finishing both an undergraduate degree and graduate degree in mathematics in only four years, and I finished the econ degree in just 2. It is important to note that I got both the undergrad and masters from the same university and that this university is not going to turn heads on my resume.

 

I have no passion to try to get into Wharton or anything like that, just a top 30 or 40 school that will help me land an academic job afterwards. I think my MS Thesis research will translate very well and will look good on a resume. I was wondering if getting into a top 30 or 40 program is a pipe dream if I do not have any private sector experience. I really would like to go straight into the PhD right now as opposed to going to the private sector and the coming back to get the PhD. Does anyone have any contributions/suggestions to make my application more attractive before I start applying? If the concept of me getting into a good program with this resume is laughable, that is also an adequate response and I will update my plans accordingly. Thank you very much for any assistance!

[Cheshire_Cat]

Econ and math will help.  They seem to love the maths.   The professors you will want to write your LORs are the ones who you have built a relationship with and are research active.  You probably need to take the GRE, or GMAT again.  Try to get in at least the 90th percentile to be competitive.  Especially if you are saying you are decent at math.  Accounting is the business program that I feel wants to most outside experience, and it seems to be about 50/50 on students with and without experience in industry, so I don't think that will hurt too much, especially if you have research experience.   Ask your LORs for recommendations of where to apply.  A lot of times they have connections and a recommendation from someone who they know will go a long way.  I got into a 30-40 program, and I'm the only one in my cohort that I know of with industry experience, so it is certainly not a pipe dream. My GPA was a bit higher than yours, 3.98, but my GMAT was only in the 83rd percentile, and I'm sure you can do way better than that if you study.

[financephdhopeful]

Do you know if most programs require the GMAT, or will the GRE suffice? I can, and will have to, take either one, of course, but I was just wondering for planning purposes. Thank you very much for your help!

[financephdhopeful]

Also, the weird sunglasses faces mean that I got a B, I was not up to date on the typing etiquette on this forum

[Cheshire_Cat]

For accounting, the GMAT was required at every school I looked at, but they were sometimes the only program in the business school that required it.   I'm not sure about finance.  I know business schools always accept the GMAT, but it is hit or miss on if they accept the GRE as well.  Most do, but there were a few that didn't.  So to be safe, I'd take the GMAT.  From what I've seen, I think the GMAT verbal is so much easier than the GRE verbal, but I've heard the math can be a little bit more difficult.