I have a couple of Masters degrees, one in Actuarial Science and the other in Computational Finance. After the degrees, I've been working at energy trading floors (one in natural gas and the other in power), now for three years as quantitative analyst positions(One is Financial Market Analyst and the other is Pricing and Structuring Consultant).

I got interested in Ph.D. in Finance because I found that teaching is the thing I most want to do. Researching Finance PhD programs, I found that I need GMAT score of 720. Last time, I got score of 650 in January 1998. Because ETS reports recent 3 scores last 5 years, 650 will be also reported to PhD admission comittee of the schools I'll apply.

I'm thinking about 3 options:

1. I'll just retake GMAT and get 720; I'll not worry too much about 650 because the score is already 5 years ago.
2. I take 3 GMAT's to wash out old 650.
3. Take the GMAT and postpone my application to next year to hide 650.

Which option should be wise thing to do? Asking for advice from gurus who are familiar with Ph.D. application process..


EnergyQ

Can't directly comment on GMAT. My experiences with GRE are that these tests don't matter too much, if they aren't too bad. Was told so by my advisor when I did my master's. When I applied to a very good school for my phd, they required advanced GRE, and I only had plain ole vanilla GRE. Didn't have the time to sit for the advanced GRE. I applied & simply told the admissions super. if she could still pass it around even though the advanced scores were missing. She did & I did get admitted. I believe it was on basis of my other merits as opposed to GRE. This was a few years ago, and since then I've completed the doctorate. Several of my colleagues, all lifetime straight A's students, were asked to leave the phd program in their 2nd & 3rd years (at that point they had perfect GPA's), 'cause apparently they didn't have it them to do research. To distill what I'm trying to say is that if you have other outstanding achievements, don't worry about about "incomplete" measures like GRE, and I suspect GMAT falls in the same category. Professors who will look at your application are very much aware of it.
These scores must be viewed long with other accomplishments. A kid who tinkers with stuff (ie insatiable curiosity) may turn out to be a better researcher than a kid with a phenomenal memory who can ace every test but can't think originally. Tests are no absolute measures.
Again, a reminder that these are only my opinions.

I agree that standardised test scores are only one facet of the admission process, but if you feel that the score doesnt represent your abilities you should retake it. ANother think that might work in your favour is whether you took the paper or computer based version of the test. Apparently with the computer based version the whole curve has shifted upwards. 720 now is 97 percentile, 720 in the paper based version would have been 99 percentile.

Thank you for your guy's replies. It's great help to me. I guess I have to retake GMAT.

Just one minor question. Are your responses base on other disciplines' PhD's or Finance PhD's? (I never mean that Finance PhD is superior to other PhD's.)

Reason why I'm asking is that Finance PhD is unusually competative. I don't truly understand the reason, though. (Finance PhD won't guarantee you millionare, anyway. ^-^) I'm interested in Ph.D in Finance becuase:

1. Finance Ph.D has better chance for me to get academic job later. Working at trading floor is not bad, but sometimes I feel my REAL job is to make small numbers of originators or executives happy. I don't like this aspect. If I teach and research in college, I can impact positive influences to many students and academic community assuming that I'm good professor.

2. Among disciplies I studied - statistics, actuarial science and computational finance - finance was the most interesting one.

I know that If I like it, others will like it, too. However, does it justify the fact that 300 people apply every year and only 5 people are admitted? Well... I don't think so.

Anyway, my objective is to get admission of PhD in Finance. I just want to double-check your guy's remarks also hold of Finance PhD's.

Again, thanks for your replies.

EnergyQ

My comments are based on a particular engineering. I believe it should hold for other subjects where is GRE required.

EnergyQ -

May I ask where you got your masters degrees from? And what were your opinions of these programs? Just curious.

Also, was there a lot of overlap between the Actuarial Science degree and the Computational Finance degreee? I'm currently earning a masters in Computational Finance but really enjoy statistics, so I wouldn't mind an actuarial job and am wondering if I'd have the know-how to work as one.

Q: May I ask where you got your masters degrees from? And what were your opinions of these programs? Just curious.

A: UW-Madison & CMU. Both programs were good. Especially, CMU programs (MSCF) was especially well-designed and well-taught.

Q: Also, was there a lot of overlap between the Actuarial Science degree and the Computational Finance degreee?

A: No. The only overlap is statistics. Actuarial Science degree requires insurance courses. Computational finance degree requires quant finance courses as well as programming.

Q: I'm currently earning a masters in Computational Finance but really enjoy statistics, so I wouldn't mind an actuarial job and am wondering if I'd have the know-how to work as one.

A: Maybe, yes. However, if you try to get a good actuarial position, you would be expected to pass several actuarial exams. I'm not the best person to ask because I'm not real familiar with actuarial job market, now. As least for me, option pricing and VaR calculation was more interesting than calculating Actuarial Present Value.

Thanks, EnergyQ.

One more question: I looked at the Carnegie Mellon MSCF website and the salaries offered for their graduates were very impressive. Of course, many have relevant job experience before being admitted, so technically they're not really "starting" salaries. Anyway, it seems as if the top Wall Street firms hire CMU grads like crazy. Was this your experience - i.e., were you presented with myriad job offers upon graduation? If so, you seem nuts to want to get a Ph.D. and become a prof! Just kidding; whatever makes you happy. Thanks again.

I guess your question is addressed to myself. Computational Finance job offers depend on business cycle of Wall Street and individual's credentials. When I graduated, job market was real bad and I didn't have relevant job experience. So, I didn't have myriad of good job offers. Still, some of my co-alumni did get myriad of offers. However, in three months after graduation, everybody got something except for one person who didn't really try. Do the math: 24/25=96%. As for me, I got a job offer I could satisfy myself.

What do I try to say? Someone may be lucky and someone may be unlucky. Someone may be happy enough to make choice among 7 job offers and someone may have to continue to search after graduation. However, after all, THERE IS JOB. Also, pay is not bad and you'll do what you planed to do. Just one reminder; because quantitative finance world's recruiting is very unstructured (Quant Finance Job market is never same as Commodity Exchange governed by structured rules.), you have to do fair amount of your own marketting efforts. Remember, somebody will love you.

I hope this may be helpful.

Yes, that's good to know, EnergyQ. Thanks, and good luck with your Ph.D. applications.

EnergyQ,You want to do a PhD?I don't have finished my high school but I want to do a master degree in mathematical engineering then a PhD in maths or finance.Can you tell what kind of marks, you must have to do a PhD?80%, 90% during all your university degree?Thanks a lot.

Rafdawg,Can you tell me please the URL where you saw the salaries of people who studied the MSCF at carnegie mellon?Thanks.c ya

Nishan - here's the link:http://student.gsia.cmu.edu/mscf/placem ... terrafdawg

EnergyQ, You will sit the exam of GMAT. How do you prepare the exam? I also intend to take GMAT in coming half year. Could someone else also share their experience?

Download or buy some testing software. Just take as many tests as you feel like before going to sit for the actual one. But in every test keep track of time since thats the key factor according to my opinion. Dont get dissapointed as questions get tougher. Remember this is because you are doing well rgds,Dimitris