2014 PhD Business Administration Admissions/Waiting/Sweating thread

[XanthusARES]

Hey fellow applicants. I know it's a little early but as we start to submit applications I thought we could sticky this thread and throw out information that we know/want to know/wish we knew like has been done since the beginning of the PhD in Business forum began.

 

If you want to throw up your stats you can, if not then don't. I thought we'd use the same format they've used for a while. Also feel free to use this space to ask any questions and give out whatever information you want. One thing I've noticed from previous years is that people use this as a place for conjectures. While that is totally cool, please don't state such conjectures as fact. Just say it is an informed opinion, or you think that it might be like... You get the point.

 

Allow me to be the first to put some stuff out there.

 

Program: Marketing (CB)

Age: 28

Sex: Male

Nationality: US citizen

GMAT: 700 Q48 V 39 AWA 6

Undergrad: 2 degrees in the hard sciences unknown but accredited private college

GPA: 3.4 (low, but graduated in top 10% of the class)

Grad: M.S. in Marketing top 20 ranked well known private college

GPA: 4.0

Work experience (as unimportant as it is): 5 years in Pharma various roles

Teaching experience: TA for some undergrad science, math and marketing courses

 

Research experience: 7 conference presentations from chemistry and math, 1 current R&R as first author, 1 submitted paper as first author, 2 submissions as third author (I also published a poem when I was in third grade, but I don't think adcoms care about that).

 

letter of recommendation: 3 extremely positive. All professors I've done marketing research with, all currently publishing

Research interests: Consumer psychology, specifically judgement and decision making in relation to psychological factors

Schools in consideration: I'm not particularly comfortable giving out all of the schools, but there is a smattering across all levels with strong research interests with specific professors at each. Some of highlights include CMU (which I realistically understand I won't get in to), Duke (see CMU), CU, Buffalo, Florida, Florida State, Wisconsin, and South Carolina.

 

Be fruitful and share the knowledge my fellow sweaters.

[evergreen]

Good luck X A!

[monsieurreveur]

The time has come...

For some reason, this thread kinda makes me want to submit all of my applications right now. Just click on the button, and I'll be done.

[XanthusARES]

The time has come...

For some reason, this thread kinda makes me want to submit all of my applications right now. Just click on the button, and I'll be done.

Click on the button, be done and wait in agony for months.

 

I thought that we were in the midst of getting a moderator Milton Bradley's Mouse Trap, but I don't know if we ever officially did. If we did I would love to have this post stickied and unsticky the 2012 one.

[XanthusARES]

Also I looked up mouse trap the board game. It was not created by Milton Bradley. I was stretching for something to call you, though, sapphirerodent.

[doingfine]

Did we ever get a moderator for this forum?

 

Maybe in a couple of years :livid:

[doingfine]

Good luck to all of you.

 

It's really all worth it.

 

(as long as you are actually able to keep up, pass the exams, defend your proposal, get a couple of good offers, defend your dissertation, secure tenure, etc....)

[gc98835]

So here is my profile (hoping that I will find someone else applying for IS here):

 

Program: Information Systems

Age: 23

Sex: Male

Nationality: Indian

GMAT: 740 Q51 V 39 AWA 6 IR 8

TOEFL: 118

Undergrad: Computer Science from top 3 engineering schools of India, GPA: 8.1/10 (do not know the conversion to US grades)

Grad: M.S. in Management (focus IS, Econ), joint degree from top 3 French B-school and top 1 German B-school, GPA: 16.3/20 (converted GPA: 4.0)

Work experience: no full time, only internships

Teaching experience: Non-profit teaching (similar to Teach for America)

Research experience: 1 B+ IS journal R&R, 1 conference (first-author), 1 journal working paper, 1 conference working paper

letter of recommendation: 2 extremely positive from Assistant Profs, 1 lukewarm from a big name guy with whom I co-authored the journal paper (only knows me through skype), all are research active but worried about 2 LORs from junior profs

Research interests: Multi-sided technology platforms, Economics of IS

Schools in consideration: MIT, Wharton, CMU, NYU, Maryland, Minnesota, BU

Edited November 9, 2013 by gc98835

[wittmic]

Best of luck 2014 applicants!

[ArcticApplicant]

Program: Stream depends on the school and where the researchers are (varying from International Business to Management to Strategic Management etc.)

Age: 34

Undergrad: Business, 3.87 GPA (top 3%), small Canadian University.

Grad: M.A. International Affairs, 3.97 GPA, a large Canadian University.

GRE: 165 Verbal (95 %ile), 165 Quantitative (92 %ile), 5.5 Analytical Writing (96 %ile)

LORs: Very enthusiastic one from a widely published Marketing/IB Chancellor’s Professor; two others will be equally enthusiastic but from Assistant profs.

Conference Presentations/Pubs: 1 peer-reviewed conference presentation (my MA research); co-author with a professor on a business case study during my undergrad (unrelated topic).

Work Experience: P&G (after undergrad); public sector (after grad school), incl. 5 yrs as a Statistician in a public sub-national statistical agency, and some international experience as well.

Research Interest: International business, with a focus on corporate social responsibility and corporate political activity from a comparative perspective, and the role of home and host country institutions in shaping firm legitimacy and strategy.

Schools: Rice, Texas A&M, UT Dallas, South Carolina, Wharton, Minnesota, Ohio State, Toronto, York, McGill, two more that I’m still deciding on as well. A little concerned that I'm over-reaching and don't have any 'safety' schools but only time will tell, I guess.

 

Good luck everyone!!

[XanthusARES]

safety schools are for suckers! You have a solid profile I think you have a shot. Also Ohio State is a great program with my favorite college football team. O-H.... Unfortunately they aren't taking CB applicants this year.

[ArcticApplicant]

safety schools are for suckers! You have a solid profile I think you have a shot. Also Ohio State is a great program with my favorite college football team. O-H.... Unfortunately they aren't taking CB applicants this year.

 

Right there with you on both counts: suckers and OSU football. Not to mention their basketball program!

[rsaylors]

Apply more widely than you think you need to.

 

That is all.

[doingfine]

Program: Stream depends on the school and where the researchers are (varying from International Business to Management to Strategic Management etc.)

Age: 34

Undergrad: Business, 3.87 GPA (top 3%), small Canadian University.

Grad: M.A. International Affairs, 3.97 GPA, a large Canadian University.

GRE: 165 Verbal (95 %ile), 165 Quantitative (92 %ile), 5.5 Analytical Writing (96 %ile)

LORs: Very enthusiastic one from a widely published Marketing/IB Chancellor’s Professor; two others will be equally enthusiastic but from Assistant profs.

Conference Presentations/Pubs: 1 peer-reviewed conference presentation (my MA research); co-author with a professor on a business case study during my undergrad (unrelated topic).

Work Experience: P&G (after undergrad); public sector (after grad school), incl. 5 yrs as a Statistician in a public sub-national statistical agency, and some international experience as well.

Research Interest: International business, with a focus on corporate social responsibility and corporate political activity from a comparative perspective, and the role of home and host country institutions in shaping firm legitimacy and strategy.

Schools: Rice, Texas A&M, UT Dallas, South Carolina, Wharton, Minnesota, Ohio State, Toronto, York, McGill, two more that I’m still deciding on as well. A little concerned that I'm over-reaching and don't have any 'safety' schools but only time will tell, I guess.

 

Good luck everyone!!

 

safety schools are for suckers! You have a solid profile I think you have a shot. Also Ohio State is a great program with my favorite college football team. O-H.... Unfortunately they aren't taking CB applicants this year.

 

Apply more widely than you think you need to.

 

That is all.

 

 

I CAN'T STRESS THIS ENOUGH:

 

RunRunSailorMoon is absolutely right. Apply to as many programs as you can. As many safety schools as you can. "Safety schools are for suckers" is horrible advice, pure and simple, sorry X.

 

Better to deal with 10 acceptances than 0. There were people on this board who had "solid profiles", applied to 15+ programs, and got rejected everywhere. So many idiosyncratic factors in the admissions process, sometimes you do extremely well, and sometimes you come close and strike out everywhere. Although I was extremely fortunate to have many many acceptances, I was also rejected by schools where I would have been a great fit, or schools that would have been lucky to have me. It's a weird irrational process.

Edited November 7, 2013 by doingfine

[XanthusARES]

Better to deal with 10 acceptances than 0. There were people on this board who had "solid profiles", applied to 15+ programs, and got rejected everywhere. So many idiosyncratic factors in the admissions process, sometimes you do extremely well, and sometimes you come close and strike out everywhere. Although I was extremely fortunate to have many many acceptances, I got rejected by schools where I would have been a great fit, or schools that would have been lucky to have me. It's a weird irrational process.

 

Oh man, I fear the inability to express tone of voice online has skewed my intentions. I don't believe that safety schools are for suckers. That's clearly ridiculous. With acceptance rates in the 2-5% range, it would be foolish to not apply to some school because you thought you were better than it.

 

Please forgive my joke, since I'm applying to 23 schools, I clearly didn't "take my own advice" on safety schools. I 100% agree to apply as widely as economically feasible, and as long as you can write solid SOP's and have solid research interests.

[doingfine]

Oh man, I fear the inability to express tone of voice online has skewed my intentions. I don't believe that safety schools are for suckers. That's clearly ridiculous. With acceptance rates in the 2-5% range, it would be foolish to not apply to some school because you thought you were better than it.

 

Please forgive my joke, since I'm applying to 23 schools, I clearly didn't "take my own advice" on safety schools. I 100% agree to apply as widely as economically feasible, and as long as you can write solid SOP's and have solid research interests.

 

:encouragement:

[ArcticApplicant]

Just to clarify - my comment was meant as a joke. Except of course OSU basketball!

 

Totally hear all of you on apply wider than you think. My 12 schools have been carefully chosen by poring over hundreds of papers/conference presentations etc. I had more schools on my list but unfortunately (actually fortunately) I'm not in this process alone. There were just some locations where my spouse was not willing to go which eliminated 5+ schools.

 

We have talked about the riskiness of this approach, but in the end, are willing to live with the consequences. I have been considering a PhD since I was probably 22 and throughout the years had lots of conversations with different profs, and the one common thread that I heard over and over again was: "this is the most difficult thing your relationship with your spouse will go through." Agree with it or not, but I do, because I've seen it first-hand. So we're trying to do this as a team and that means some compromises - on both our ends.

 

I do very much appreciate your thoughts though - I think you all make very valid points. Would my situation be different, that list would be longer.

[tm_associate]

Somehow I think those of you who have been through the process are just scaring the ones that are entering it even more.. maybe not scare... at least make more anxious...

 

 

Apply broadly... but I would say with the caveat that you yourself need to be willing to accept the lowest ranking school that you apply to. If that was the ONLY one, you should be happy to go. If not at all, then there is probably not that great of a reason to be applying there. However, those who believe they would only accept T10, Ivy League placements... well, that's another story. Be realistic at least.

 

I found that although admission process is very idiosyncratic, there is basically a minimum bar in terms of overall scores that basically showcase you have the raw potential to survive PhD coursework. Once you get above that bar, then so much of it is based on how your recommenders described your intangible traits that differentiate you from other students, and how you have portrayed yourself in your SOP (your conversational tone in the SOP is a big teller). This all gives whoever is on the adcom that year a feel if they believe you would integrate in well with the program.

 

Schools that you believe would be ideal and be the best fit, well, in retrospect may not be as great of a fit after you dive into your field a bit more.

 

 

Best of luck to all. I would say don't stress, but if someone had told me that when I was in your shoes, I would probably stress more.

[ArcticApplicant]

(your conversational tone in the SOP is a big teller). This all gives whoever is on the adcom that year a feel if they believe you would integrate in well with the program.

 

Do you think you could elaborate on 'conversational tone' a little - do you mean your 'personality' being communicated through tone? or more along the lines of how conversant you are with the theory/literature?

 

Just curious 'cause I'm starting to think perhaps my SOP is a little sterile if that's the right word. Not necessarily impersonal because I talk about passion and past experience but just not really a 'conversation' per se.

 

Thanks

[XanthusARES]

Do you think you could elaborate on 'conversational tone' a little - do you mean your 'personality' being communicated through tone? or more along the lines of how conversant you are with the theory/literature?

 

Just curious 'cause I'm starting to think perhaps my SOP is a little sterile if that's the right word. Not necessarily impersonal because I talk about passion and past experience but just not really a 'conversation' per se.

 

This sounds very much like my SOP. I mean I think it gets across my research interests, but I'm not positive that someone would want to sit down with a glass of wine in front of a fireplace to read it.

[monsieurreveur]

Just out of curiosity, do you guys start your SOPs with a "hook"? I tried to find a way to do it, but always ended up sounding weird. I've heard that it's better to just talk about your interests in a very technical way.

[tm_associate]

Do you think you could elaborate on 'conversational tone' a little - do you mean your 'personality' being communicated through tone? or more along the lines of how conversant you are with the theory/literature?

 

Just curious 'cause I'm starting to think perhaps my SOP is a little sterile if that's the right word. Not necessarily impersonal because I talk about passion and past experience but just not really a 'conversation' per se.

 

Thanks

 

I agree with XanthusARES. The overall tone of your SOP will dictate how the reader interpret it. You cannot predict how they will interpret your tone in your writing because every year there is generally new individuals that are part of the admissions committee. So the best bet is likely to make sure you are coming off the way you want to be perceived by researchers in your field, i.e. how do you tell your story to people? Some people like specific authors, or specific genres. You, as an applicant, can come off in a very over-confident, showcasing all of your talent and how great you are, which may be exactly what some programs are looking for: the candidate who has all the accomplishments, all the i's dotted and t's crossed. On the other hand, some departments focus on assessing if it seems your personality and character would fit well with their individual culture; once you pass that minimum bar, your are deemed "capable" in terms of having high enough potential to complete the program - next is seeing if you would contribute to a positive environment over five years.

 

Not sure if any of that made sense, but the gist of the story is that how your write (i.e. tell your story) in an SOP is going to have an impact on how they perceive you as a person. This is likely a deciding factor when they have a handful of applicants who are all at a very similar level and they need to pick one to make an offer to (which is very likely every year).

 

My final thought is this: would you rather read the results of an empirical paper in a scientific report or a well crafted story? There is no right or wrong, but just like your own individual preferences, departments have theirs as well.

 

Hope that helped.

[tm_associate]

Just out of curiosity, do you guys start your SOPs with a "hook"? I tried to find a way to do it, but always ended up sounding weird. I've heard that it's better to just talk about your interests in a very technical way.

 

Mine started with a "hook", but it's not like some story hook. I tried to craft my individual experiences in a way to try and illicit two responses: 1) wow this individual has interesting experiences and ideas to contribute and 2) I have to find out the next part of this person's story!

 

Whether it actually succeeded? I will never know. But that's what I went for: a) your intro has to snag the readers attention, b) build up towards the climax of your story (mine high point was basically why all of these experiences led up to this one specific realization: I wanted to become an academic researcher in field ______), c) now that you had this realization, why your prior training/experiences/preparations will help you d) why you specifically believe you fit well with a particular program.

 

 

Hope that helped, best of luck.

[XanthusARES]

Just out of curiosity, do you guys start your SOPs with a "hook"? I tried to find a way to do it, but always ended up sounding weird. I've heard that it's better to just talk about your interests in a very technical way.

 

I tried to, I really did, but it always sounded like some corny forced intro like, "Webster's dictionary defines Ph.D. as...." or "I've dreamed of becoming a marketing Ph.D. student ever since I was a little boy in the mountains of..." or "A long time ago in a university far far away..." or "Check this out, I've got a secret for you, THIS GUY!!!!!" or "Malcolm X once said that 'To have a Ph.D. is to walk hand in hand with the Creator Himself.'" or "I remember when I was in preschool, I would conduct experiments on my classmates on which toy they preferred based on pricing perceptions using Bayesian modelling. Running an ANOVA of the results led me to some interesting conclusions about the effectiveness of adolescent purchasing power in the 80s. That passion has driven my entire life and I continue to be the awkward guy at parties asking people why they prefer certain brands of wine, and probing them deeper."

 

The point being I couldn't get a hook that didn't sound like I was trying to get a hook. So I didn't. I went with something along the lines of, "I want a Ph.D."

[tm_associate]

Here is my intro. I have blanked out most of the identifiers. Hope that is an example of what I meant by a conversational dialogue. Edited November 7, 2013 by tm_associate