FAQs about Applications for Graduate Schools in Economics (and Finance)
The following describes what I regard as the most important considerations in applications of admission to graduate programs overseas.
Application materials
Statement of purpose
This is the least important. To me, a brief description of what gets you interested in economics (or finance), which area of economics you find most interesting, and what preparation you have made for the study will suffice.
Unconvincing statements may serve you badly. So don't brag about pursuing an economics PhD so as to save your country (or all mankind in the world for that matter).
GRE/GMAT and TOEFL scores
This is just one of the necessary (but not sufficient) conditions. Every graduate school has its own minimum requirement in this regard. It is usually used as their first screening device to eliminate those who fail to meet the criterion. Fulfillment of this requirement is like getting an entry ticket to the admission game.
Don't worry if you (as a foreign student) do not do well in the verbal part of the GRE test?as long as you can make it up with decent TOEFL scores.
Academic records
This is of some importance-if the schools concerned know how to compare them with those of other applicants (esp. in the presence of grade inflation).
These records will be more meaningful to them if
(as reference points) you have senior fellow students who did well (or poorly) in their programs;
(for ranking purposes) you have other fellow students who are competing with you for admission into their programs.
Reference letters
This is highly important-but only if they are written by someone whom the schools concerned know and whose judgment they trust.
To be useful, the letter has to be filled with enthusiasm and with evidence that the referee knows you well. Lukewarm letters are enough to kill you!!! So DON'T request reference letters from professors, however famous, whom you are not sure are high on you.
Sometimes the referee can even use his/her personal connection to give you an extra push-thru e-mails or phone calls. As her/his reputation is at stake, the referee will seldom exercise this option unless s/he is truly impressed by the student.
Writing sample(s)
This is becoming extremely important-and indispensable for admission into top schools. Ideally, the paper should fully reveal your background knowledge in economics or finance (and mathematics/statistics) and strike a good balance between theories and evidence. In practice, your best undergraduate term paper that involves some original research can serve the purpose.
For this reason, writing an undergrad thesis or doing a reading course in your final year will help.
Starting last year, I have refused to write reference letters for students without any research paper.
Which schools to apply to?
Be realistic and try to diversify
You have to understand that you are competing with the best students from all over the world. In practice, you will be grouped together with students from Mainland China and Taiwan, and only a quota of 1-3 will be allotted to this group by each school every year. Obviously, most students from the mainland are technically stronger and are thus more welcome than those from Hong Kong. (These days, the technically strongest are from Eastern Europe.)
You should apply to 10-15 schools and diversify your portfolio by applying to different tiers of schools.
If you really want to raise your chance of entering the top ten, you may want to first obtain a master's degree (say, from LSE) or get admission from a lesser school and apply for a transfer later.
Research interests?
Even before you start your graduate study, you may already have some idea about what you would like to specialize in and may want to choose the schools (and even future thesis advisers) on such basis. In many cases, however, your research interests would change as you learn more about different fields. So don't try to confine yourself too early on.
You should also realize that academics today are highly mobile. The professors you want to study under may have left for some place else by the time you start your doctoral thesis.
So your optimal strategy should be to get where you can into the best schools with the largest proportion of talents in the profession (like Chicago, Harvard, MIT, and Princeton).
从以上美国大学教授对美国留学金融专业申请的解释中可以看到，美国留学金融学专业申请中语言成绩和专业成绩都是非常重要的，如果有不错的实习经历并能在个人陈述中很好地体现的话，将会增大成功筹码。
