Application season is over after I receive the last rej from Berkeley today (Those who have offers accepted the admission so although I am the only one on the waiting list, I am out).
So there is both a good news and a bad news coming: Bad news: I applied 17 PhD programs this Fall and failed in getting into any. Looks pretty bad, while actually not really: if Haas did not cut budget this year and enroll the same amount of students as previous years, I am already in. So I am pretty satisfied about how close I was to it. Good news: The stage is set
Also, it's time to say bye bye to Chasedream. I might be back when I am interested in coming back to school again. I'd like to thank everyone on the forum for sharing your valuable experience with me including a funny dude called "alashanghai" above. One main lesson take-away from the application is that it's really really competitive, but I will apply the same schools if I were doing this over again as I still believe only the top10 maybe top15 Finance PhD program worth pursuing. Also recommendation letter is the key. Got nothing to say, best wishes for those going for PhD programs, it's gonna be really tough but you will enjoy it. Bye!