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Considering the schools you're aiming for, you better have an extremely good GMAT score. About 750, I'd say.

Even for a stellar applicant, odds are not good if you apply to only 5-6 programs. The average number is about double that. Please remember that PhD is much more competitive than MBAs, for example. A school usually accepts only 2 or 3 students for a given concentration.

Your GPAs do not seem great. That by itself may kill your chances at the very top schools. By the way, can you explain why those are your dream schools? It seems you are moved much more by reputation or ranking than by research fit. Ok, I also applied to several of those top schools, but you should check if those schools do the exact type of research you are interested in.

Very little research experience. Most applicants have a Masters. If that's the only result you can show, it will be hard to show you're among the 2 best among hundreds of applicants. Schools like Stanford probably can easily find applicants who have real research experience (paper presentations, work as research assistant).

Your strongest characteristic seems to be work experience. Unfortunately, most PhD programs are not really interested in work experience. For some, it may be held against you. You should explain how your work experience would help with academic research.

You wrote nothing about Letters of Recommendation. Do you think you can get strong letters from professors who can attent to your potential as future academic researcher? That could help to compensate weaknesses.

I don't see why individual entrepreneurial drive is a reason to pursue a PhD. That gives the impression you prefer to work in industry instead of academia, and so it's exactly the opposite of what schools are usually looking for.

Not wanting to have a boss also does not seem to be a good reason to pursue a PhD. Specially if you consider that a PhD is very similar to a job, and that the professor who will be evaluating your profile is probably going to be your boss for 4-5 years if you get accepted. If you want no boss, why a potential boss would hire you to be his/her assistant?

PhD studies are usually much more related to depth than width. Maybe you can explain that in a conving way, but so far it seems you'd have conflicting goals during a PhD. And why depth or width is important to you? And why you couldn't get that depth and width in some other fashion, instead of a PhD?

I don't think your concerns are the biggest issues here.

Ok, there are schools which may discriminate against people of your age. But there are lots of people around your age getting into great PhD programs. I'm 44 years old, by the way.

I applied and was accepted by a PhD program in Marketing, even if my experience was much more related to Finance. So, if you have less years in your desired concentration, that by itself may not be a big problem. But you also should have a great explanation about why you are changing fields now.

Right now, it seems to me that uou don't know much about PhD in general and the application process. It's fine, we all go through the process.

Please check my blog. There I address several issued I pointed here in greater detail.

I'm from India with Bachelor (gpa:8.2/10)and Masters degree in metallurgical engineering and Material science(gpa:8.9/10).
I'm 28 yrs old with 1 year experience in technology excellence department at an integrated steel plant and since last 3 years I have been working as Assistant Professor, teaching undergraduate metallurgy and Material science courses.
I'm appearing for GMAT in October and confident of scoring 720+. I am very interested in pursuing a ph.d in following areas: sustainable management, environmental accounting, business policies, operations management.
I really need to assess my profile in regard to its appeal to admission commities.
Other than few management courses, I don't have any business experience. I've enrolled for few edx courses hoping they would add some appeal and exhibit interest. Kindly let me know what kind of aim I should set and if my profile can persuade commities into admitting me into their business ph.d. programme.
I'll be applying to iim's in india as well as international universities.
Thanks and regards.

Posted from my mobile device

Well, you know a PhD is a research program, right? And I see nothing about research in your profile. No experience with research, no research interests and motivation, no letters of recommendation from professors who can attest to your potential as a researcher, and so on.

A GMAT over 720 may help, of course, but at last for good PhD programs in the US a score like that is not unusual to find from applicants. I'm not even from India (a country with many applicants with high scores) and my GMAt score is 750. Even so, I only got one offer out of the 20 applications I sent. GMAT is important, but far from being the most important thing admissions are looking for in a PhD applicant.

First, we really have to know what are your research interests. Writing a list of subjects like "sustainable management, environmental accounting, business policies, operations management" will not help very much. What kind of research do you want to do that is related to sustainable management, for example? Then, we have to know why you want to do that kind of research, how much you do know about that kind of research, how prepared you are to conduct that kind of research. If you did a few edx courses about, for example, some programming language like SAS or R because you've seem that sustainable management researchers use SAS or R, you can try to show the edx courses that you know about that kind of research and is getting ready for it at least.

Of course you don't need to have all that is necessary to be a sustainable management researcher. If you did have, you probably wouldn't need a PhD. But to apply to a PhD without anything about research is really the opposite of what they want.

I know that PhD is a research program, and I do have decent research background. As said, I have B.Tech and M.Tech in Metallurgical Engineering and Material Science, so I have a research thesis for each degree which involved work at one of the best research labs in India. I have two international publications, plus have been guiding student research projects (as a faculty) since last three years (if that counts). I do have recommendation letters from my professors and research guides.

Regarding my research interests, I am interested in:
1) Sustainable Management or Environmental Accounting in the context of metallurgical industries - iron and steel plants and non-ferrous metal industries. Some of the key research interest areas would be evaluation of alternative technologies, highlighting inconsistencies in current environmental accounting and reporting techniques, impact of environmental policies on global markets (in terms of competitiveness and profitability of operations)
2) Business Policies or Business Strategy with focus on metallurgical industries and their performance in years/decades ahead taking into account continuously changing environmental regulations, and other projected constraints in terms of human and social reforms (especially in developing countries).

Regarding the GMAT score, I sincerely hope I get 750+ score but since I haven't given the exam yet, I am trying not to overreach and evaluating what my options can be with a realistic score 720.

Thanks for your reply, I hope you can suggest options based on these extra details.

Regards

All right, now it looks like a PhD application profile.

Most applicants have bachelors and masters degrees, with corresponding thesis. I think what will really set you apart here is that you have two publications. Few applicants have that. Have you presented your papers in any academic event?

The professors who will write your letters of recommendation do research related to the subjects you intend to research? If that's the case, that's also something that could be of great advantage. Because in that case, their letters can be very strong for admissions.

Your interests are very different from mine, so I may very wrong here. But it seems you are talking about several different kinds of PhD. When you say "reporting technics", it looks a lot like a PhD in Accounting. When you say "Operations Management", I think that's a PhD in Operations. When you say "environmental policies on global markets", I think that's not a PhD in any kind of business concentration. Maybe a PhD in Economics, for example. The PhD in Sustainable Development from Columbia, for example, is from the School of International and Public Affairs, not business school.

Given the diversity of interests, I don't know if you plan to apply to different kinds of PhD. If that's the case, maybe you should focus on the GRE instead of GMAT. Because business schools usually accept both the GMAT and the GRE, but other kinds of schools (like those for PhD in Economics) do not accept the GMAT.

Do you already know the names of some of the most important researchers whose work is related to your interests? If you the names, we can see if they really are in business schools or not. And, if they are in business schools, which concentration.

kruger1389. I read both your posts and have to say that your second post seems more specific in what you are looking for, but still you need to get more specific. BrazilianPhD has provided some very good feedback. I would like to add some more info that might be of help to you.

Firstly, it is great that you have already identified areas of interest: 1) Sustainable Management or 2)Environmental Accounting or 3) Business Policies or 4)Business Strategy, all of these in the context of metallurgical industries.

Whilst this is a good starting point, you have to realise that these areas are extremely broad in their scope and you need to fine tune your focus area even further.
For example, if you take "sustainable management" in google scholar, you get over 2 million hits of research content. Now imagine how many more research articles you can find if you typed all four topics! Even if you specifically search for areas related to metallurgical engineering, you will end up with 1000s of research literature, so you first need to narrow your focus.

I will use an analogy that one of my PhD supervisors mentioned to me when I started my PhD application process many years ago and hope this can give some context.

Imagine that, for example, you have decided to do a PhD on India. Now you have already shortlisted India from 100s of countries in the world, so this is a good starting point. But this is only level 1 and for a PhD you need to get more specific.
You need to further identify EXACTLY which state (level 2), which city (level 3), which suburb (level 4), which street (level 5) and so on, to focus on your research. Only then then can you clearly state what is going to be the focus area of your PhD.

Currently, the four topics you mentioned are just level 1. Once you read some existing research, and identify your focus areas down to levels 4 or level 5, you will automatically find some gaps in existing research. Then you can identify your research area and can justify to the university how you can add value with your own research.

As a bonus, this process will automatically help you in finding which universities and scholars are more active in the specific area of research. Naturally, you will be more successful by focusing your efforts on those specific universities and focus on their admission requirements (GMAT, GPA etc).

Hope it helps!

My Academic Profile:

Program of interest: Finance

Research interests: Asset Pricing (Theoretical and Empirical)

Schools: I have a list of 28 schools I am applying to. They include good schools such as NYU, Northwestern, Duke, Cornell, high second tier (USC Marshall, Rochester, Washington Foster and Washington Olin, Texas Austin, LSE, LBS) as well as lower second tier (Boston College, Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc). I am not fussy, I would accept top 40 or top 50 but aiming for top 20-30.

My GRE score was:

Q164 (87th percentile)

V163 (93rd percentile)

AW: 5.0 (93rd percentile)

Undergrad: Undergraduate Honours Degree in Finance and Econometrics (2nd in cohort) from a global top 50 university

GPA: First Class Honours (translates roughly to 4.0 in US system)

Grad: MSc in Finance and Economics at London School of Economics (August 2017-June 2018)

Research Experience: Working Paper on asset pricing theory. Expect to publish in next few years. Also worked as an RA for a research institute tied to the university

Teaching Experience: Teaching Assistant for an introductory corporate finance course at undergraduate level. I was an academic tutor for 10 classes a week, performed marking duties and exam supervision when necessary. Teaching evaluation was 5.18/6.00 which is well above average

I am hoping if I get good marks at LSE and hence can get a top reference (I already have 3 referees from my local university), I can make a good fist of my application in spite of grad score. I am happy to go top 40 or top 50 but I will also aim for top 20 and 30. Hopefully I can get a bite somewhere.

Test Scores (GMAT/GRE): V155, Q170, WRT 3.0
(Note: It often helps a lot more if you list the percentiles each of your raw/composite scores are associated with)
Undegrad GPA: 3.7/4.0 in ECON
Graduate GPA: 3.8/4.0 in ECON(Macro)
Research Experience: My thesis about exchange rate
Teaching Experience: none
Work Experience: 3 years in a global company(working in an accounting part), 3 years in economic research institute( working about Early warning indicator of finance, public finance)

Concentration Applying to: Finance
Number of programs planned to apply to: at least 15
Dream Schools: CMU, Duke, U of michigan, UMD, U of minnesota

What made you want to pursue a PhD: want to study corporate finance

Concerns you have about your profile: LoR because I don't know finance professors at all. I'll got LoR from econ professors.
only one business course taken(financial management in UG)

Any additional specific questions you may have: I don't know exactly where I can apply. I'm considering many schools (30th~60th) but have no information on admission stats so don't know where to apply. Please evaluate my profile.

That fact that your LoR are not from finance professors is far from being my main concern here. It's pretty common to see people changing fields, and econ is extremely close to finance. I'm doing a PhD in marketing, and my LoR were mostly from finance and accounting professors. I think for PhD in Finance, schools are much more worried about quantitative courses than business courses you have taken. Since you are from Econ, I guess you studied a lot of calculus, econometrics, etc.

Verbal scores are not as important as Quantitative scores, but still you have quite low scores for V and WRT. This will probably be a red flag for some schools. It's harder to believe your skills in English are good enough to write papers, for example. Maybe you are good enough, but the scores do not show that.

It seems your only research experience is your thesis. This really does not help to differentiate your application, as lots of other applicants will have at least that kind of experience. Little research experience also tend to make your LoR weaker, because the professors are often not able to tell much about your research, as you haven't done much yet.

I really hope you have a better answer to "what made you want to pursue a PhD". Because your answer here is really a lackluster answer, almost stating the obvious. It tells nothing about how passionate you are about doing a PhD, it tells nothing about the level of commitment they can expect from you if you accept, it tells nothing about your motivations.

Most schools do not inform much about admission stats for PhD. And that's not the way you select schools to apply for a PhD. For MBAs, that kind of strategy may work. You see your scores and try to get the best ranked schools that are willing to accept applicants with your scores, for example. But for PhDs, that's a very bad strategy. Test scores are still relevant, of course, but the main criteria is related to fit, especially research fit. And that kind of thing is harder to inform in admission stats. The first step is to have a really clear idea about your research interests, something that is missing in your profile here. And then look for schools that are prepared to help you with that kind of research. And this can be very uncorrelated with rankings. You can find a top 10 school that knows little or has little interest in the kind of research you plan to do, and find a school ranked 50th that has the best program for that specific interest of yours. Once you define your research interests, you can check the faculty of each school and read the papers they published to see if at least a few professors share the same interests as you. This is a lot of work, takes a long time, but it's really something you are expected you to do. After that, you probably will have a good list of potential schools. And then worry about other concerns about fit, like culture, location, stipends, etc.

Hello, I'm considering a Finance PhD and need a profile evaluation to better choose the schools to apply. I'd appreciate if someone can give me advice.

GMAT: 730 (50q 39v)
Undegrad GPA: Business Administration 3.25/4
Graduate GPA: Master in Management 3.44/4 (Still writing my thesis. But it won't have any effect on my GPA)
Research Experience: Bachelor's thesis (Accounting) and Master's thesis (Finance). My advisor and I aimed to publish 3 papers from my thesis, so my thesis will be composed of two empirical research and one standalone literature review. However, I will be applying before I graduate. That's why, I probably won't have any published papers. Also, I work as an assistant at my university and I co-advised (with my advisor) a student in his bachelor thesis.
Teaching Experience: This year I will be attending an undergrad level corporate finance class as a teaching assistant and help students with problem solving.

Concentration Applying to: Behavioral Finance
Number of programs planned to apply to: 10
Dream Schools: HEC Paris, ESSEC

What made you want to pursue a PhD: I enjoy doing research and want to be a part of an environment who contribute to the world intellectually.

Concerns you have about your profile: My GPA. I wasn't a really a great student and I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. For that reason, my grades fluctuate greatly and I have a couple of Fs.

Additional Information: I graduated from a trilingual university. So I speak Turkish, English and French fluently. I have good relations with the profs in my university and I can get good recommendations from my thesis advisors (bachelor's and master's) and the dean of the faculty. Since my GPA is my main concern, I provide information about my grades in related classes, in case it helps to better evaluate my profile.
Undergrad
Finance/Accounting
Corporate Finance I AA
Corporate Finance II AA
Financial Accounting I BB
Financial Accounting II AA
Cost Accounting BB
Cost Management AA
Managerial Accounting BB
International Audit BB
International Accounting AA
Financial Diagnostics BB
Globalization and Financial Crisis BA

Econ
Introductory Economics BB
Microeconomics CC
Macroeconomics AA
Game Theory BB
Monetary Policy BA
Contemporary Economic Policies CB

Math/Statistics
Calculus I BB
Calculus II AA
Statistics AA
Applied Statistics AA

Grad
Research Methodology AA
Corporate Finance AA
Financial Reporting CC
Financial Institutions CB
Audit AA
Risk Management AA

Hello kutar


First congrats on great GMAT score and lofty PhD goals.

Your quant score is deal breaker, they will pay attention to that, that is what they want to see in application.

Being TA already and with research experience, puts you in position to be a strong candidate.

10 programs is a lot, in terms of focusing and tailoring application toward specific schools, 7 is maybe ideal and the most you should apply, but then again it is and should be your decision only.

I understand that you want to increase chances of admission by applying to variety of schools.

You should definitely apply to HEC Paris and ESSEC.


Regarding ESSEC I don't see Behavioral Finance as specialization in terms of research, but I do see it as elective, meaning there are professors who specialize in that field.

ESSEC subfields/research strengths are :


Asset pricing and investments
Corporate Finance
Financial Econometrics
Market
Microstructure
Risk Management

https://www.essec.edu/en/program/phd-en/ ... n/finance/


ESSEC last cohort had GMAT of 700, so you have competitive advantage, as I already assumed.

https://www.essec.edu/en/program/phd-en/ ... admission/


ESSEC Finance department in terms of research covers a broad spectrum of key areas in finance: Asset Pricing, Financial Derivatives, Risk Management, Commodities, Portfolio and Wealth Management, Macro-Finance, Market Microstructure, Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity, Corporate Governance, Real Estate and Corporate Bankruptcy, Financial Econometrics.

https://www.essec.edu/en/pages/faculty-a ... s/finance/

I am not going to dig deep now into individual research of professors there, I am sure you will find the ones who have interest in Behavioral Finance/Economics and that you already know why you want to apply there, besides your desire to be/study/live in Paris


Regarding HEC Paris lets start first with Economics specialization/department, they have strengths in Game Theory, Decision Theory, Microeconomics, Behavioral Economics, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Social Choice, with topics such as uncertainty, interaction and competition.

https://www.hec.edu/Ph.D/Program-Overvie ... ialization

HEC finance students receive rigorous training in micro and macroeconomics, game theory, econometrics, and in all major areas of finance. Current dissertation topics include asset pricing, corporate finance, banking, market microstructure, and household finance.

Once again, the average GMAT of HEC admitted students is in general 700.

https://www.hec.edu/Ph.D/Admissions/Application-Process

Good for you.


Your undergraduate GPA is fine, don't worry about that, they will look into your most recent studies which is master and there you are set in terms of GPA.

What is good is how you progresses through time, as you mature, so you have higher GPA on master, only the other way around would be a problem.

Of course you didn't know what you want in your Bachelor studies, like vast majority of us.

I am not familiar how F's are shown on your transcripts, it should be only passing grades, I suppose that is something peculiar to Turkish educational system, but you already explained that, also I see only A's and B's in your bachelor transcript, so no problem there at all.

Math and Statistics are particularly important, especially on graduate level for future PhD admission, almost all A's there which is great news for you.

On graduate level research methodology and risk management( assuming class was more quantitative in nature as it should be, than just theoretical) A's are plus that will concern admission committee.


All in all, you have great profile that will likely get you admission.

Being fluent in French is big big advantage.

For that purpose I would advise you to consider to apply all over France, not just in Paris, based on your preference (school, research, geographical).

You may know or not, but French people are very stubborn in their insisting on speaking their language only, very few of them even speak English.

Of course in university settings among highly educated people you may encounter somewhat better conditions in those terms, but don't expect that in every day life.

I lived there briefly, so I know

So your French language proficiency is excellent asset for you.



Bonne Chance !

billionaire, thank you for taking the time and effort to write. As you noticed, French schools are at the top of my list and I'll apply a couple of schools outside of Paris. I lived in Strasbourg for 5 months and my experience with the people were a little bit different than yours, in a positive way, but I heard the same thing from many people. I'll consider your advice on the number of schools to apply. Thanks

Can somebody evaluate my profile:

Test Scores (GMAT): Yet to take
Undegrad GPA: 7.4/10.0 IIT Kanpur 2005
Graduate 1 GPA: 8.4/10.0 NITIE (National Institute of Industrial Engineering), Mumbai 2011

Research Experience: None.
Work Experience: 11+ years total, Shop floor operations, Supply chain planning & Warehousing & logistics
Concentration Applying to: Operations & Supply Chain Management
Number of programs planned to apply to: 5
Dream Schools: ISB, Insead

What made you want to pursue a PhD: The opportunity to work on industrial problems from outside and modelling

Concerns you have about your profile: Age (34), lack of research experience

Hello Sureshons123


Nobody can evaluate your incomplete profile.

Missing GMAT score is very important in evaluation, it is apples to apples comparison versus other candidates.

I would not go into details of your current profile, it is fine overall.


About concerns, lack of research experience doesn't have to a deal breaker, since most of candidates dont have it.

Regarding age, average year of PhD candidate for US, for instance, if I remember correctly is 37, provided by lady who has like 30 years of experience in US university admission, I am finding some info now to be it like 33-34 (median or average), either way you are also fine in that matter.


Here are admission facts regarding PhD at INSEAD as guidance:

https://www.insead.edu/phd/admissions

They would like to see 700 or 700+ on GMAT.

There's no cut-off point for either exams and there is a wide range for accepted scores. Our selection of applicants is based on the applicant's general profile and overall academic background, and faculty preferences; and test scores are only one component of the many factors considered. Perfect scores do not guarantee admission and lower than average scores will not invalidate your candidacy. However, scores of 700 upwards for GMAT and quantitative scores of 163 for GRE are not uncommon.


Good Luck !

---------

Test Scores (GMAT/GRE): re-taking this month, expected 700+, I already got Q50 from my previous attempt but will improve on verbal this time
Undergrad GPA: 75% (Electronic & Computer Engineering - First Class Honours from UK top 10 in Engineering), top 8% of department
Graduate GPA (1st Master's): 69% (MSc Entrepreneurship - Honors: Merit - One of the very top U. in London)
Graduate GPA (2nd Master's): 3.84/4.0 (MBA - Distinction - International business school in the Top U. in Thailand), top 10% of department
Research Experience: RA on two papers in Finance from my MBA business school
Teaching Experience: Lecturer for a paid tutorial session to MBA students
Work Experience: 1 year as a consultant at big4 accounting firm (job deals with data - usage of SQL)

Concentration Applying to: Finance
Research Interest: Asset pricing - I can link well to my highly quantitative background.
Number of programs planned to apply to: 10+?
Dream Schools: MIT & other top programs (Found out that MIT is highly quantitative. The rest I have to research more on)

What made you want to pursue a PhD: I have a good feeling that I can make a difference with my intellectual ability. I have tried many things in my life (though I am only 24 y/o - I entered Undergrad at 15 y/o) and have found out that what I do best is in academics. Most importantly, I enjoy it.

Concerns you have about your profile: My undergrad and postgrad University profile is not stellar. I see people who got in top 10 US PhDs with undergrads from equally ranked schools.
Additionally, will my 2 master's degree be seen as redundant, especially in Entrepreneurship. These are my only concerns.

Any additional specific questions you may have: Anything else I should improve on? I certainly cannot improve my previous school rankings. Apart from that, I have a pretty highly quantitative background and is confident that I can depict my passion towards PhD.

---------

Thanks so much. I look forward to hearing back from you guys.

Hello new30

Congrats on lofty goals.


Regarding GMAT score, MIT SLOAN prefers applicants with the highest quantitative scoring so you will be just fine.

Undergrad degree gives you exactly proper background for Finance.

Don't know why you didn't mention name of top UK institution, we do know them here.

Same goes for MSc in Entrepreneurship, all London schools are very well known and positioned.


Research and teaching experience can make all the difference and that equips you to be suitable candidate for PhD.


Working experience at EY/PWC/Deloitte/KPMG is a plus, especially working with data.


Asset pricing is interesting field, working with CAPM, Black–Scholes, Martingale pricing applied to equities, fx, bonds, options, futures, swaps and other derivatives.


10 programs for application list is more than enough, especially if you know what are you doing and why however, that is individual decision.


Yeah MIT is dream school.

All Finance programs are highly quantitative, since like that is news to you, top ones even more rigorous in that matter.

Since PhD is research degree, you can base your selection on Asset Pricing research, meaning finding top professors in that field and apply to those schools.

It is good that you enjoy academics, then PhD is right choice for you.

Your master degrees will not be redundant, everything counts, and US schools never minded switching between specializations during education cycle, they even somewhat prefer or encourage that, since they like to have people with diverse backgrounds in their cohorts. (of course having all other admission conditions/prerequisites satisfied)

You should apply to MIT and other dream or fit schools you select and also one or two safety schools that you still like and would go there, just in case.


Good luck and maybe we will see each other on MIT or elsewhere, since I also plan to apply to PhD in Finance or some steroid version like PhD in Financial Engineering, Computational or Mathematical/Quantitative Finance.

Hi billionaire

Thank you for your kind advices. To answer your question, my undergrad was at the University of Nottingham (in the UK, they leave the raw scores in the transcript, where I got 90+ for all subjects in the Maths department, and mostly 80+ for quant-based engineering subjects, plus some programming subjects) and my first Master's degree in Entrepreneurship is at UCL (though I didn't get a distinction in this degree, I hope the Merit doesn't hurt my application). Forgot to mention that I also interned in the Private Wealth Management department at the top securities firm in Thailand (not globally known but nationally recognized) doing portfolio asset allocation.

To add to the diversity factor, I also have experience in the entertainment industry (I'm a half-singer - that is, not a popular one but I have my own songs and did some song promotions nationally)! Just something irrelevant to the PhD but probably something that can make the admissions committees interested about.

Wow, I hope you also get your dream choices as well. Good luck on your career path! We might meet each other in some quantitative seminars in the US in a couple of years