Fin PHD 帮忙看看我的profile，这种定位可以吗

steve66

I am interested in applying PHD in finance 2012. Please give me some advice about my application. My profile is as following,

GMAT 720/5.0
Previous edu-Undergrad&Master in Management Science in China. GPA is about 3.2&3.4
Three years of RA: Working on quantitative analysis
Publicationne international conference paper in Management field
Four other trivial papers in Management Science
Work Experience: Sales in a Mutual Fund Co. for one year in China

Current edu-Top 50 MS Finance in US: current GPA 4.0( expected graduation in May 2012)
Related courses: Calculus I/II, Statistics, Applied Econometrics, Applied Regression, Microeconomic Theory(PHD level, MWG, first 6 Chapters), Theory of Finance(PHD level), Mathematical Economics
Related Topics: STATA / SAS programming, Stochastic Process(Ito's, Brownian Process, etc), Linear/non linear Optimization, Matrix Algebra, Basic Math Analysis

One semester of RA in Financial topic: Working on literature summarization
Two semesters of TA in Finance course
RL: one from applied regression professor (A+);
one from Investment Class(A; the professor is relatively well known);
Try to get the third one from one PHD class, if possible.

In the application materials, I would like to attach one term paper from Applied Regression class, which is based on APT model.

Questions:
1. I would like to try about 35 ~40 schools. Could anyone please evaluate the chance for me to get a shot from Top 50~60?

2. Is there any tactical improvement that I can make for my profile. What characteristics should I emphasize in my SOP.

3. Here are the list of the schools: U South Florida, UT San Antonio, Texas A&M, U Houston, UTD, RIce, IIT, U Alabama, U Kentucky, Washington State, Syracuse, LSU, U Utah, UC Riverside, Wayne State, Rutgers, SUNY Buffalo, U Connecticut, Old Dominion, Georgia State, U Massachusetts, U Missouri, Louisiana Tech, U Florida, U Oregon, U South Florida, U Central Florida

What do you think of these schools? Are they realistic for me to apply?

I will appreciate your time and words~

sususu111

35---40个？老师肯写那么多推荐信？

caoegg

应该是有把握的，不过lz这类档次的学校太多了吧？

steve66

我们学校有个service，可以让professor写一封发个那个service center，然后那个service center给target school发，所以，professor的工作量不会很大~

steve66

应该是有把握的，不过lz这类档次的学校太多了吧？

-- by 会员 caoegg (2011/11/7 1:41:53)

我就是想把握一点申到一个，你的意思是有些保守吗，是可以再向相对top的学校扩展一下吗？感觉最近几年竞争都特别激烈啊。

lionheartyan

定位低了，以LZ的背景+准备了35-40所的申请预算我觉得其实没太大的压力了，完全可以也应该更大胆些的申请几所TOP的PHD项目，好好研究下老师的研究方向，陶陶瓷，希望很大

PS：LZ申了那么多保底的学校对其他背景一般的同学杀伤力有些大了

caoegg

Just my two cents. 我觉得你根据自己喜欢的方向，保底有个几个就好了，每个项目有自己的强项和弱项。而且学校层次拉开些，60到100的学校太多了。最近finance phd真的很难申，但是搞不好你就上个好点的学校，top20多30多的也申几个试试嘛。而且事先查查那个学校在你的研究领域好不好，你喜不喜欢那个学校，我觉得申个20所够了。

virginvista

保底学校实在有点多，不值得，lz去掉一些你认为即使申上了也不值得去的学校，加上一些dream schools吧

susu_4ever

楼上的帅哥现在在读吗？看到你之前的帖子好像在申请~

steve66

保底学校实在有点多，不值得，lz去掉一些你认为即使申上了也不值得去的学校，加上一些dream schools吧

-- by 会员 virginvista (2011/11/7 15:58:03)

这正是我担心的，看来有些多了，我换一些学校，多谢你的建议啊。