重大决定～请教关于PhD in Finance

insearch

现在有一机会去一学校念phd in finance，但涉及一些问题，请各位大侠给些建议～

情况是这样的：

我本科在国内一排名大概第10左右的大学读经济，GPA不高，大概3.3，按ranking算在班里top 15％，当时calculus，matrix algebra，probability，statistics，econometrics这些都修了，但是分数不高（年少无知啊，很是后悔当年数学没有学好），经济方面微观宏观，中级微观，中级宏观这些都修得不错。

毕业后在accounting firm做了一段时间（时间不算太长），然后来到美国东岸一间b school overall排40左右，finance phd排early-to-mid 20的学校读MBA，同时也在念Master of Science in Finance，今年夏天就要两个学位一起毕业了，overall GPA接近3.8，金融课程的GPA 3.9。上MBA的课多了，发觉自己其实更喜欢搞研究，更喜欢想想问题的根本，于是打算考虑毕业后申请finance的phd。为此上学期我又在这里的数学系修了一次undergrad的real analysis，成绩很好；这学期在经济系修grad level的Econometric Theory，希望最后能拿个A- （班里的人都是在读的econ phd 二年级学生，都已经把计量玩得烂熟了。。）。

在读MBA的这两年，我都在帮一个finance的教授干活，原本我的打算是今年夏天毕业，然后年底申请明年开学的phd in finance，我都已经联系好了系里几个finance 的教授帮我写推荐信了，当然包括我帮他干活的那个prof，（想年底再申请的其中一个原因是想再好好复习一下那些数学，而且因为family issue，我想去加州的学校，或者至少靠近西岸一点）。可是前几天我的那个教授让我去找我们学校的finance phd的chairman（其中一个原因我猜是这个教授挺喜欢我的，希望我能留下来继续帮他做RA），后来chairman说只要graduate admission那边没问题（因为我的GMAT在介于过期与还没过期的尴尬位置），就可以给我一个offer，今年9月就开始。

现在面临的dilemma就是，我应该接受这个offer，还是年底再申请？因为，人，当然想去更加好的学校。。。大家觉得以我这样的背景，自己再申请的话，能去什么样的学校？（推荐信我都是找了finance 的prof，而且都是比较出名或者现在做research做得挺active的人），原本打算要是年底申请的话，就以USC为目标的，在加州，不算是太top，竞争没有那么激烈，但是申请USC的话，不仅要再考一次GMAT（我的GMAT到今年底是铁定过期的了），还要再考一次toefl（这是USC的policy），虽然我的英语不错，但是总得花些时间。同时问了一些在现在的学校读phd finance的朋友，他们说如果我留下来，我不仅不用再考一次GMAT，再弄一次申请，可以早一年开始，而且由于我已经在这里读了MBA/MSF，所以在phd阶段可以省下几门elective的时间，早点做research，争取早点毕业。听起来是个很吸引人的地方。。。。真是，所有东西都是trade off。。

我以后是想留在academia做research，大家觉得我应该怎么选择？？先谢过了！

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-4-22 9:38:52编辑过]

sm1

Try to start your research as soon as possible, since publications are life-long. Based on the relationship with your professors, you can start doing research from year 1 that is wonderful. GMAT & TOEFL are wasting your time.

insearch

以下是引用sm1在2007-4-21 4:56:00的发言：
Try to start your research as soon as possible, since publications are life-long. Based on the relationship with your professors, you can start doing research from year 1 that is wonderful. GMAT & TOEFL are wasting your time.

thank you for your advice! so, you think, from the research perspective, it is better to take this offer rather than waiting for one year with uncertainities?

yedeanboy

I think you should just take the offer.
First, if you apply to USC, it is still probable that you can't get an offer, though your background looks nice. But in many cases, luck is more important
Second, these faculties feel comfortable with you, and it is the key point! You can start research earlier and pick a good professor. That helps a lot!
Third, do you want to take the pain to retake GMAT and TOEFL? At least, it looks terrible to me~~ And can you promise to get a good score at the first try?
So, if I were you, I will simply take it. BTW, con~ and admire

insearch

以下是引用yedeanboy在2007-4-21 6:13:00的发言：
I think you should just take the offer.
First, if you apply to USC, it is still probable that you can't get an offer, though your background looks nice. But in many cases, luck is more important
Second, these faculties feel comfortable with you, and it is the key point! You can start research earlier and pick a good professor. That helps a lot!
Third, do you want to take the pain to retake GMAT and TOEFL? At least, it looks terrible to me~~ And can you promise to get a good score at the first try?
So, if I were you, I will simply take it. BTW, con~ and admire

thanks! retaking GMAT or TOEFL should be no problem for me, it just takes me some time

the thing is, i have to stay in the east coast for 5 years...

calebxu

以下是引用insearch在2007-4-21 6:25:00的发言：

thanks! retaking GMAT or TOEFL should be no problem for me, it just takes me some time

the thing is, i have to stay in the east coast for 5 years...

The East Coast is not that bad.

sm1

East coast is the center for U.S. finance. But it is not close to Asia..... 

cddc

既然你现在的学校也排在20多名

为什么要去usc?有那么好吗？

jadelo

以下是引用calebxu在2007-4-21 8:47:00的发言：

The East Coast is not that bad.

LZ said that he wants to go to California because of family issue.

Different poeple have different priorities when making decisions. To some people, family consideration can be a crucial factor.

To LZ: why not contacting some professors at USC to express your interest in their program? From their response (or no response) you probably will have some sense of your chance to get in.

BTW, generally speaking, USC is very generous in terms of requests to waive classes (though I'm not sure about finance specifically). Since you have taken many graduate-level courses, you should be able to waive some courses if you get into USC. Also, every doctoral student in the Marshall school would start doing research with at least one faculty member from the first year-- hD students there work as RA in the 1st and 2nd year; as TA in the 3rd and/or 4th year. It's the Marshall-wide policy to have students expose to research as early as possible.

insearch

以下是引用jadelo在2007-4-21 14:07:00的发言：

LZ said that he wants to go to California because of family issue.

Different poeple have different priorities when making decisions. To some people, family consideration can be a crucial factor.

To LZ: why not contacting some professors at USC to express your interest in their program? From their response (or no response) you probably will have some sense of your chance to get in.

BTW, generally speaking, USC is very generous in terms of requests to waive classes (though I'm not sure about finance specifically). Since you have taken many graduate-level courses, you should be able to waive some courses if you get into USC. Also, every doctoral student in the Marshall school would start doing research with at least one faculty member from the first year-- hD students there work as RA in the 1st and 2nd year; as TA in the 3rd and/or 4th year. It's the Marshall-wide policy to have students expose to research as early as possible.

Thank you very much for your advice and information! It is really a good idea to try to contact some prof. at USC. Why didn't I think of that?

By the way, are you a phd student at Marshall? Is it possible or how could I get some idea of the backgrounds of the admitted finance phd students this year? I checked USC's website, althought there are a couple of Chinese students, they are 3rd year or 4th year...it seems no Chinese student went to USC last year...I would like to compare their backgrounds with mine to gauge my chance...