Marketing Applicant Profiles

[tm_associate]

This thread is designed as a consolidation of successful PhD applicants in the marketing concentration. The moderators have closed this thread to limit the unrelated discussion. As future applicants share their profiles, they will be added to this thread. Please respect their privacy and be thankful that successful applicants are willing to share their profiles with the community.

 

Thanks.

[tm_associate]

Admission Year: 2014

Test Used for Admittance: GMAT

Test Scores: 700 (90%) 48Q (78%) 38V (87%)

Undergrad GPA: 3.41 (Chemistry and Biology majors, Math and Philosophy minors)

Graduate GPA: 4.00 (MS Marketing)

Industry Experience: 5 years with increasing responsibility in the Pharmaceutical industry

Research Experience: 6 conference presentations in the hard sciences, 1 R&R as first author in B level marketing journal

 

Range of Schools Applied: 3 top 10, 10 top 25, 7 top 100

Total Schools Applied To: 20

Total Offers Given: 4 interview offers, 1 admission offer, withdrew the rest of my applications before hearing from anywhere else

 

Final Remarks: I don’t think I would have done anything necessarily differently. Maybe pressured my recommenders to get their stuff in a little earlier. Honestly, though, I’m really happy about my admission. The only advice I could give would be to apply to schools you realistically have a shot to get in to. Go ahead and shoot for the moon on one application, but apply to mostly schools with similar stats to yourself. Throw in a couple of stretches, too. You never know what the schools are looking for.

Edited February 27, 2014 by tm_associate

[tm_associate]

Discipline:Marketing (Quant)

Admission Year:Fall 2014

Test Used for Admittance: GRE and GMAT

Test Scores: GRE (99%V 98%Q), GMAT (99%V 97% Q) TOEFL 118

Undergrad GPA: Top 10%

Graduate GPA: Top 10%

LORs: 3 strong academic letters

Industry Experience: 1 Year

Research Experience: Hardly any

Teaching Experience: Nil

Range of Schools Applied: UTD T25

Total Schools Applied To: 11

Total Offers Given: 3 (One T5, One T10, One T15)

 

Final Remarks: I started the process very late and I didn't have too much time to go through many papers and narrow down my research interests. I am extremely lucky to have got great results, but I would advise future applicants to get started as early as possible. Be ambitious while applying...applying to the top 10 is well worth the application money...you never know how things may just work out for you...

If you haven't had much research experience or did not have the time to narrow down your research interests to your satisfaction, be open and honest about this in the interviews. Although students who have had research experience and have a clear view of what they want to do during their PhD program are typically very successful, someone who has a strong quantitative background and is open to do different things in a quant intensive field can be successful as well. You still have to convince the admissions committee about your motivation to do a PhD and this can be hard without research experience, but it is not impossible. A strong academic track record and good test scores go a long way in ensuring your success.

[tm_associate]

Discipline/Concentration: Marketing (Consumer Behavior)

Admission Year: Fall 2014

Test Used for Admittance: GMAT

Test Scores: 750 (98%) 41V (93%) 50Q (89%) 4.5W (43%) 8IR (93%)

Undergrad GPA: 3.7 (Biology)

Graduate GPA: 3.9 (Environmental Science, Public Affairs)

Industry Experience: None

Research Experience: Published in unrelated field, RA for 3 years

 

Range of Schools Applied: 7 T10, 4 T25, 2 T50

Total Schools Applied To: 13

Total Offers Given: Interviews at 2 T10 and 2 T50; Waitlisted at T10; Offer from T5 at which point I withdrew my other applications

 

Final Remarks: My background was in an unrelated field, but I took graduate level courses in social psychology and consumer behavior while finishing my masters program. The professors of those courses wrote two of my LORs, and I was told they were very strong. I had numerous professors and PhD students look over my SOP. Once I received an offer from my top choice, I withdrew my applications from the other schools I had been in contact with. I couldn't be happier with the outcome!

[tm_associate]

Discipline: Quant Marketing

Admission Year: 2014

Test Used for Admittance: GRE

Test Scores: 165Q 166V 4.5W

Undergrad GPA: 3.83

Graduate GPA: n/a, although got A- in two econ grad courses

Industry Experience: None

Research Experience: About a year of part time RA work in econ/finance in undergrad which was unrelated to marketing. A year and a half of full time RA work in econ (IO) after undergrad which is much more applicable in marketing.

Teaching Experience: None

Relevant Classes: Math major, econ minor. PhD micro at undergrad (top 30 econ), PhD econometrics (at lesser PhD program).

Letters: 3 economists: One undergrad adviser (econ), PhD micro professor, and one from RA. One was extremely strong, other two were likely pretty solid.

 

Range of Schools Applied: By UTD top 4 marketing journals: 2 Top 10, 6 Top 20, 3 Top 50. Although these rankings are not great- Berkeley's (#27) placements are miles above most of the UTD top 10 schools for example. In my opinion I applied to 5 top 10 programs.

Total Schools Applied To: 11

Total Offers Given: 7 Interviews, 7 Acceptances (one w/o interview), 2 waitlists, 2 rejections (Berkeley is implicit at this point). I won't name my acceptances, but my rejections were Yale (official) and Berkeley (implicit). I was waitlisted at Chicago. Another school waitlisted me because they thought I'd get better offers, so that can happen too. I'm attending one the top 10.

 

Final Remarks: I was surprised how well this turned out and wound up accepting an offer from one of my top choices. In retrospect, I may have given Wharton, Stanford, and MIT a shot, though I'm not sure I'd take any of the three over the choices I already had. In talking to professors, they said my application stood out because of my math background, RA work, programming experience, and one very strong letter. I was worried about switching from an econ background, but it ultimately didn't hurt at all.

Other interesting tidbits: One school interviewed me at the end of December. My earliest acceptance was Feb 7. The first 3 resumes I submitted contained three typos each, but I was accepted by two of the three. I wrote it in LaTeX so the typos weren't flagged. The majority of my contacts came on a Wednesday.

[tm_associate]

Discipline/Concentration: Marketing CB

Admission Year: Fall 2014

Test Used for Admittance: GRE

Test Scores: Q 95%, Vl 97%, AW 97%

Undergrad GPA: 3.9

Graduate GPA: n/a

Industry Experience: Not really industry, but I did a program similar to Teach for America for 2 years

Research Experience: Undergrad honors thesis in consumer behavior, 1 year RA at a great business school

 

Range of Schools Applied: I would say all of them were in the top 30, not really sure how to differentiate for CB

Total Schools Applied To: 19

Total Offers Given: 6

 

Final Remarks: This process was crazy - last year I applied to 9 schools and didn't get in anywhere. This time around, I had an RA position and a better idea of the research I wanted to do. 3 of the schools I was waitlisted at admitted me after April 1, including the one I will be attending in the fall (I think most people would regard this school as top 5). I would say the big take-aways are apply to a lot of schools, ask people for a lot of advice, and don't give up if you don't get in your first time around!

[tm_associate]

Acceptance Year: 2015

Test Used for Admittance: GMAT

Test Scores: 750 Total (98 percentile) - 40 Verbal (91 percentile), 51 Quantitative (97 percentile), 5 Analytical Writing (60 percentile), 7 Integrated Reasoning (81 percentile)

Undergrad GPA: 3.55

Graduate GPA: 3.94

Industry Experience: None

Research Experience:1 conference paper accepted, 1 journal article under review, and prepare 1 manuscript for a journal; Research assistant in a behavioral lab (6 months)

 

Concentration Applied To: Marketing (Strategy)

Range of Schools Applied To: 15 total (3 in Top 10, 9 in Top 30, 3 Top 50) (UTD Worldwide Rankings).

Final Results: 6 interviews, 2 offers, 4 waitlisted, 6 rejections, and 3 withdrawn

 

 

Final Remarks: I am interested in marketing strategy, and I believe applicants like me will have a hard time targeting schools. So my advice is mainly for future applicants who are interested in marketing strategy. One tip: even if you have a solid profile, you have to be prepared to get a lot of rejections as many top programs will not accept students who are interested in marketing strategy anymore.

 

 

Once you are prepared to dive deeper into this field, you can google a syllabus of a PhD seminar in marketing strategy, read the articles, get familiar with the names, and see where they are placed. Second, if you are really interested in these topics, go ahead to gain some research experience, learn some tools, and craft a nice SOP. Make sure you spent substantial amount of time on your SOP, and your SOP should significantly reveal both your strong passion and strong fit to the program. However, you cannot know everything. Even if you thought one school is a perfect match, decisions are a mix of so many criteria that are not within your control, like the specific needs of faculty.

 

 

We all know that your research interests are subject to change, so please be open to new ideas and tools. Of course, if you have some interesting research ideas in your mind, that is always a plus. Anyway, the important thing here is to show your thinking process: Have you ever thought about academic research? Do you understand the world that you are going to enter?

[tm_associate]

Admission Year: 2015

Test Used for Admittance: GRE

Undergrad GPA: not great, not terrible from a top 5 U.S. undergrad. Studied both social science and “hard science”

Graduate GPA: much better than undergrad from a top 10-12ish U.S. MBA. I went through this “must learn to analyze data” phase though and voluntarily took some stats electives and quant-heavy research design classes my last semester of school and did very well in them. That had to help.

Industry Experience: >10 years pre and post MBA (combined, not 10 pre and 10 post) marketing jobs at major companies (2 different industries). Lots and lots of consumer work

Research Experience: I had to go off of “potential”.

Teaching Experience (I added this one): TA’d a class during MBA, TA’d a research class for literally half of undergrad

 

 

Concentration Applied to: Marketing - CB

Range of Schools Applied: 2 in top 5, 4 in top 20 (using UTD/Doc Sig ranking metrics)

Final Results: 3 interviews (top 20 – of those, 1 was a accept, 1 was a WL, 1 reject); 1 wait listed w/o interview (top 5); 1 rejected (top 5); 1 zero contact (top 20)

 

 

Final Remarks: I feel unqualified to offer any actual advice. One thing that I learned is to be realistic (remember, a “high” acceptance rate is 5%), but don’t sell yourself short! If I requested a profile review, nobody would have predicted this outcome. Sure my age, amount of industry experience, lack of relevant research experience, and some of my #’s hurt me in some places, but I got a second look at most. A (IMO) well-written SOP and solid recs go a long way. I am just assuming my recs were solid based on how excited the professors I contacted were when I told them what I was doing and requested a strong letter of recommendation. That’s always a sign. If a professor is at all reluctant, don’t use them.

 

 

It's hard to say what I would do differently, because I really feel like the offer I did get was at the program that is perfect for me. However, it was stressful because I did just about everything wrong you can possibly do and still got in. I applied to only 6 schools (yes, 6), definitely didn’t apply widely enough, found a typo in the SOP that went to 3 schools, etc. Fortunately, I had “brand name schools” and “brand name companies” working in my favor. All of my recs weren’t from marketing professors either (another source of stress), because I went with people who I worked closely with during my MBA. They are all research active, tenured, highly published professors who have had PhD students themselves.

 

 

I’d also say that if you’re more “seasoned”, don’t apologize for it. Just be VERY clear about why a research career at this stage in your career makes the most sense. Get your story right, but you won't be asked to "tell me about a time when..." in interviews. Based on my interviews, they were probing more to make sure I knew what I was getting into and that I could think like a theorist vs an applied person. Some may question your motivations, but you want to make sure this comes across as the natural next step for you and less of a “career change”. Another piece of advice (specific to marketing but probably applicable everywhere) – you don’t want your SOP or interview to sound like you’re trying to do industry market research on a broader scale. That said, it is VERY important, especially if you’re older and don’t have much (or any) academic research experience to read papers. You’ll be reading them for the rest of your career anyway. But reading the papers will help you narrow down your focus, it will help you write a stronger SOP, and it will help in interviews.

 

 

I also know it's stressful wondering how to get academic recommendations if you've been out of school a while. I will say this, most professors are very nice, some are busy and won't reply. It's OK. Just make it as easy for them to remember you as possible, but you might be surprised. "I took your X class in Y year and got Z grade. I wrote my main paper on this topic, etc." Offer to send them papers if you have them, have a call (or skype chat), etc.

[tm_associate]

Admission Year: 2015

Test Used for Admittance: GMAT

Test Scores: 740 (Q 49/ V 42)

Undergrad GPA: 3.33 in, um... German Studies, but from a top tier public university

Graduate GPA: 3.66 "fully employed" MBA from a different top tier public university

Industry Experience: 9 years in Sales for a Fortune 500 manufacturing company. 5 years calling on large retailers which sparked my interest in consumer behavior, and 4 years calling on other types of accounts.

Research Experience: Desperately sought any sort of research experience last year after getting feedback from this forum. I was able to work with a Prof from my MBA school long distance gathering data for his book about how a well known Indian conglomerate transformed itself to compete in the global economy.

Teaching Experience: Taught "Sales Strategy and Management" on-line at a small private college. Tutored a lot in college.

 

Concentration Applied to: Marketing - CB

Range of Schools Applied: 4 in T10, 4 in T25, 4 in T50, 2 in T100 (UTD Rankings vary depending on how you slice data, but this breakdown is pretty representative of where my schools would land in worldwide rankings)

Final Results: I had interviews with INSEAD and University of Oregon. I got into Oregon, but got rejected everywhere else, although a few schools said that I did make their shortlist.

 

 

Final Remarks: In the end, even though the one school I got an acceptance to was probably the "lowest ranked" school according to UTD, I know this is the perfect school for me. There was certainly a part of me that was rooting for this result the entire time. In fact, when I first started to seriously consider doing a PhD, Oregon was the only school I thought of applying to since I could bike there from my house. I started talking to PhD students and reading papers from UO faculty over a year ago in preparation of applying there.

 

 

Unfortunately, I did better than expected on the GMAT, which made me think I should drop a ton of money on applying to "higher ranked" programs. The upside, is that this also motivated me to seek out the all important research experience which my application was lacking. I also greatly expanded my reading program so that I could figure out what schools to apply to. While I sometimes lament the money spent on all of the other applications, the process certainly helped me become a much better candidate since I moved my target higher. Of course, shifting to a higher target may have been necessary for me to actually reach my initial target.

[tm_associate]

Admission Year: 2015

Test Used for Admittance: (GMAT/GRE) GMAT

Test Scores: 710 (92%), 44 (58%), 42 (96%)

Undergrad GPA: 3.9

Graduate GPA: N/A

Industry Experience: 6 months full time (Merchandising) 3 internships (digital marketing)

Research Experience: Senior year thesis in CB, transitioned into ongoing project with faculty. At the time of application, the project had been accepted to a conference as a competitive paper. It is now in the manuscript phase.

 

 

Concentration Applied to: Marketing- CB

Range of Schools Applied: 2 in top 10ish, 4 in top 20ish, 1 in top 30ish, 1 top 50ish

Total Schools Applied To: 4 interviews, 2 acceptances w/o interview (Top 10/20ish and top 50ish), 3 waitlists w/interview, 1 waitlist w/o interview, 1 withdrawn, 1 rejection. Overall heard back from 7/8.

 

 

Final Remarks: So, after a lot (and I mean A LOT) of thought, I actually ended up accepting my offer from the top 50 school, even though I had an offer from a decently higher ranked (top 10-20ish) school. I loved both schools, and definitely feel that I would have been successful either way. Honestly I just ended up going with my gut. I accepted the same school that I had done my undergraduate degree at. I already have a great relationship with the faculty there and ongoing research, which is a definite plus. They are also bringing on some really awesome new faculty members who I've already started speaking with about potential projects. Additionally, they have outstanding funding, as in, they will fund anything and everything so long as you can make a decent argument for it. Of course, I also have my family and SO here, which definitely played a role in my decision, though I'm pretty confidant that I would have made the same choice regardless. It was just too good of a culture for me to let go of, and I really think the program is on the upswing.

 

 

I guess my main advice would be to go with your gut. I interviewed with two top 10ish schools, but the sparks didn't really fly with either of them. I ended up waitlisted at both, so I'm assuming the feelings were mutual. The two I did end up getting into, and a third that I ended up withdrawing from prior to a final decision, were definitely three great fits, so I figured I really couldn't go wrong with any of them. I think getting into a top program is awesome, and if it's a great fit, then that's wonderful! But I wouldn't try to force yourself to find a fit with a top program if it doesn't really exist. I imagine you'd have a pretty unhappy 5 years. Anyways, that's just my two cents. Here's to hoping I'll be as productive as I think I will be in the next five years, and good luck to all the future candidates

[tm_associate]

Admission Year: 2015

Test Used for Admittance: GRE

Test Scores: [ Quant 169 (97%), Verbal 164 (94%)]

Undergrad GPA: 3.7

Graduate GPA: N/A

Industry Experience: 4 years, market research & sales strategy

Research Experience: No academic research experience, but extensive industry research experience

 

 

Concentration Applied to: Marketing - behavioral

Range of Schools Applied: 4 in top 10, 4 in top 20, 2 in top 30 (according to UTD publications)

Total Schools Applied To: 1 accepted (1 in top 10); 3 rejected; 2 waitlisted; 4 withdrawn

 

 

Final Remarks:

I think I'm an outlier in that I only began to prepare for PhD in August, took my one and only test in November, and applied to a very narrow range of schools. I do not recommend anyone to prepare the PhD in such a short time...

 

 

Reasons for acceptance (IMO + Professor Response):

1) High Scores on GRE despite 1 attempt

2) Relatively high GPA at a top undergrad business school

3) Recommendations from 3 Marketing Professors (3 tenured professors- 2 well-published behavioral, 1 quant professor)

-I visited them personally and spent half a day discussing about PhD etc. It was a valuable and important time.

4) Specific and well-revised Statement of Purpose

-Received advice and feedback from current Marketing PhD students (high school classmates who are in top marketing PhDs currently)

5) Related industry experience

-The professors and even current PhD students were very interested at my work experience, as it related to marketing research and direct observation of customers

-I highlighted a specific research outcome and additional questions I retrieved from a study I did at work

6) Positive attitude and engagement at interview

-I think anyone who would want a PhD would do the same. Though, I really did read 9-10 published journal articles before the interview...

 

 

To this day, I'm very grateful and humbled for my one and only acceptance.. I remember reading on this forum that it only takes one to make it!

 

 

I did notice that a lot of applicants received interviews if their GRE/GMAT scores were near perfect, regardless of some shortcomings in other areas.

 

 

Good luck to all the future applicants... this forum is an awesome community to receive material advice and mental appeasement!

[tm_associate]

Admission Year: 2015

Test Used for Admittance: GMAT

Test Scores: 750 (98%), Q48 (74%), V45 (99%), AW6 (92%) - Second time writing

Undergrad GPA: ~3.7 - Two Bachelor of Science degrees from a top Canadian school (no business background, but a major in Psych, which is relevant for CB)

Graduate GPA: N/A

Industry Experience: N/A

Research Experience: Several summers as an RA in a medical science lab (resulted in a co-authored publication and a manuscript in progress). I also worked in a neuropsych lab doing behavioural research.

 

 

Concentration Applied to: Marketing (CB)

Range of Schools Applied: 4 in top 10, 8 in top 30, 2 in top 100 (using UTD North American Overall ranking metrics)

Total Schools Applied To: 3 interviews/ acceptances (1 top 10, 2 top 100); 7 rejected; 4 withdrawn

 

 

Final Remarks: Though the probability of getting into any one program is low (2-3% acceptance rates), it's largely the same applicant pool for all top schools, so apply widely and to schools with a good research fit and you will have a much higher chance of getting in. It only takes one acceptance (as was my case). I feel very fortunate that I got accepted to my top choice and a great school/ program.

 

 

I found that a lot of people on this site over stress about getting rejections and preparing applications extremely early. I wrote my GMAT in December, ten days before the applications were due for top schools - sure I would have liked to have gotten it done sooner, but everything worked out so it is possible to prepare a good application package with very limited time. Anyways, my best piece of advice would be to check out past admitted student profiles, realistically compare your profile to others, set targets, and then once you have applied just relax and wait (stressing/ sweating won't help).

 

 

Thank you to all of the active users on this site. Next stop, PhD, I can't wait to get started!