Profile Evaluation for Strategy PhD/DBA Applicant

[lchuang]

Greetings Everybody,

I have visited this site quite frequently to better guide my application process but have yet to actually post. In preparation for the next round of applications, I would very much appreciate some help in determining what programs I should be realistically looking at. Below are my credentials:

Personal

• Age: 27

Education

• Undergraduate: B.A. Music, UC Berkeley, 2006, 3.25/4.00
• Graduate: MBA, Santa Clara University, 2012, 3.91/4.00

Professional Experience

• Sr. Analyst, Top Market Research Firm, 2011 - Present
• Product Manager,Top PC & HW OEM, 2008 - 2011
• Account Manager, Startup Media Firm, 2006 - 2008

GMAT Score

• Verbal: 40 / 89%
• Quantitative: 48 / 84%
• Writing: 5.5 / 80%
• Total 710 / 92%

Research

• RA on SCU faculty research concerning escalation of commitment during new product development
• Abundance of non-academic, market research papers

Statement of Purpose

My field of interest is competitive advantages. Specifically, I'm interested in how competitive advantages are built in markets with greater degrees of resource homogeneity but have broader interests within this field. These include: how resources are put to productive use, how advantages are built over time for entrepreneurial firms, as well as how product level-, business level-, and corporate level- advantages are integrated.

In short, I am looking for some guidance regarding the following:

• What programs should a candidate of my credentials realistically consider? What are my reaches and what are my safeties?
• What if I were able to boost my total GMAT by 40 points or so? Is the retake even worth it?
• What are the best programs that would align with my areas of research?

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The list of schools that are on my radar include: Wharton, Stanford, UCLA, Michigan, Toronto, Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, USC, NYU, Duke, Illinois, and Washington. This list was provided to me by my former professor at SCU. However, given my credentials, I am not going to flatter myself and am supremely unconfident that I have a shot at the more prominent institutions. If there are other programs that I should be looking at, please let me know. I would very much like to get a sense of where my credentials place me and your feedback would be tremendously valuable. Thank you, very much.

[rsaylors]

Do you want a job as a professor?

As for the rest, you get what you pay for:


Your GPA is a little low and your GMAT is acceptable.

What programs should a candidate of my credentials realistically consider?

T40ish, apply widely.

What are my reaches and what are my safeties?

T10 is quite a reach; t80 feels quite safe. (whatever that means when programs admit 1-5% of applicants)

What if I were able to boost my total GMAT by 40 points or so?

a 750 doesn't feel all that much better than a 710; but a 90th percentile in Q feels stronger than the 80th percentile.

Is the retake even worth it?

I assume you practiced hard for the test before taking it and this is very close to the best you can do; but if you walked in cold it may be worth a re-take. The benefits, though, are marginal at best.

What are the best programs that would align with my areas of research?

It's strategy, and competitive advantage is kind of like saying "i want to study strategy".

[lchuang]

Thank you for your swift reply. A tenured track would be the intention of my PhD pursuit. The undergraduate GPA is very low - let's chalk that up to youthful indiscretion. I'm hoping the more stellar graduate GPA helps to compensate for that a bit. Although, I understand that graduate GPAs tend to be inflated, so I don't know how much compensating can occur.

I took the GMAT cold and am somewhat confident I can push the score up 30 or 40 points. Then again, taking the test cold afforded the advantage of no-pressure test taking, so if the incremental return isn't all that worth it, I'd rather not test my high-pressure test taking skills.

T20-40ish is where I have been window browsing the most. As a person of limited funds, would you recommend even applying T10 or T20? Thank you.

[rsaylors]

iChuang; Taking the GMAT cold is like going in to test your skill in chess without any practice and only having been told the rules.

Focus on GMAT math and kick that thing's butt.

[TheAmazingSteve]

I second rsaylors' advice. I took the GMAT cold and received a 650ish score. I casually studied for a Summer and received a 740 with 99th% Verbal / 66th Quant splits. When I decided I wanted a PhD (4 years later) I studied for 2.5 months intently (although not absurdly so...I was taking night courses and working full time) and received a 770 with 98th/99th splits. If you received a 710 cold there is absolutely no reason you can't get 750+.

My plan, which worked very well for me, was to build up my foundational knowledge (number theory, geometric formulas, grammar rules, etc.). Then I did all of the problems in the official guides. I tried to do them in 3 hour blocks (to mimic the rigors of the real test - it's a marathon, not a sprint). I reviewed all of the problems I got wrong and took notes. Every weekend I would take a free practice test (there are 5-10 good free ones available online), including essays, and again reviewed all of my wrong answers.

I also took math courses around this time. They definitely helped me improve my quant score (and GMAT studying helped me perform well in the math courses). I am not really familiar with strategy at the PhD level, or your math background, but I would guess you are lacking in calculus, etc. I suggest night classes. This will be very rigorous, but so is earning a PhD. Hard work now will improve your profile, signal your commitment, save you time later, better prepare you for what's to come, etc.

[TheAmazingSteve]

Also, do research in your spare time/down time about what the test entails, what it's like, etc. Know the test timing, have a timing strategy, what materials are given, what you will bring and wear on test day, how your will prepare your final week (I took the day before the test completely off), etc.

Know the metagame of the test. On test day I received a very easy question late. I knew the test was computer adaptive, and that I was doing very well. An easy question late signaled that it was probably a trick question. I re-read the question, saw the mental trap it was setting, and changed my answer.

My second to last question was clearly an integrated reasoning practice question (1/3 of the questions on the test are "practice" problems and will not count towards your final score). Since I knew the question was unlikely to matter, I only took a minute of my remaining five to answer it. If I had answered the question carefully, it would have taken me 2-3 minutes. The last question was a very difficult involved question that took me the full four minutes to answer.

Researching the test itself may seem like a waste of time, but it's not. At the very least have a defined timing strategy down...don't finish sections with 15 minutes to spare and don't guess on your last 5 questions.

GOOD LUCK!