Profile Evaluation for Ph.D. in (micro) Organizational behavior

[overrated]

Hi all.

 

I need your honest evaluation of my profile for a Ph.D. in organizational behavior.

 

Research interest: Organizational behavior with social psychological perspective (specifically, power, unethical behavior, and moral judgement)

 

Undergrad: B.S (Management science) from top engineering school in east asia

GPA: 3.5/4.0

 

Postgrad: M.S (from same school)

GPA so far: 3.8/4.0

 

Research Experience: 5 years as RA during undergrad & postgrad

1 Journal of Experimental Social Psychology publication as 4th author

1 publication in other area as third author

1 Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin under review as lead author

2 working papers as lead author to be submitted to Journal of Business Ethics, and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

1 working paper as second author to be submitted to Psychological Science

1 AOM presentation

 

Work Experience: none

 

GMAT: 720, V39, Q49, AWA 5, IR 8

 

TOEFL: around 105

 

LORs: from my advisor and other professors who conducted research with me in my school

 

I am going to apply to T20 schools except Stanford OB, which demand GRE.

 

Any comment would be really appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[XanthusARES]

I don't know OB, but your profile looks solid. Great research experience. Someone else will have to speak to your OB abilities, but I'd say you seem like a solid candidate.

[eventualprof]

Good grades, good experience, good scores, good track record. You seem to have very strong credentials. I would hope that a well-matched top 20 would admit you. It seems as though you know what you're getting into. Good luck.

[henders]

Your publications are fantastic! My only advice would be the play up your role in first-authored projects, as that will show you can take the lead on things. You definitely have a great shot at top schools.

 

Also (and this is my advice to many folks), consider looking outside of the T20 in terms of applications. Some people are dead-set that they only ever want a tenure-track job at Harvard or Stanford or something, so if that's the case, then sure, only apply to T20 programs. However, I think it can be short-sighted to not consider other programs, so my advice would be to apply to others which closely align with your research interests. You may find you have better fit with a program outside of the T20, but you'll never know if you don't look at them.

[rsaylors]

Honestly, I have no idea what a selection committee would be thinking if it didn't choose to go with you.

 

I think north western would be a good fit. I might also consider that GRE because Stanford is a very good fit as well. Harvard has you work closely with the psych department too.

 

At this point it's just about asking yourself what you love and finding a department with faculty that share that love. To that point I want to re-emphasize this "You may find you have better fit with a program outside of the T20"

 

-Rohny

[overrated]

Thank you a lot henders and rsaylors for your suggestions. I will look for other programs outside of the T20.

[myndfood]

You've got a great profile. You'll do well. I agree, though; take the GRE and apply to Stanford.

[evergreen]

Great publication record (what you might expect an average PhD student nearing completion to have).

You should do very well!

[Mingming]

Awesome!!! 19 fall here. Could you please tell me which u you are in right now?

[Snagret]

Micro OB/Management PhD applicant

 

Test Scores (GMAT) 720/800 (94%), V: 41/51 (94%), Q: 47/51 (60%), AW: 5 (56%), IR: 7 (81%)

Undergrad GPA: 3.84/4.00 overall, BS in Psych from a solid private school

Graduate GPA: none

Research Experience: 2 years, part-time with 3 faculty, econ, OB and Psych. Worked 0-20 hr./week depending on need. Also did several research projects in my research based classes (research design, psych testing, stats in psych, writing in psych, etc.), Research tools: R, Stata, Qualtrics.

Teaching Experience: 1 semester as a TA for psych.

Work Experience: 1 year in HR consulting/training as a project manager.

Letters of Rec: OB professor I did research with, Psych professor I did research with, Psych professor I had 3 classes with and is a mentor/friend.

 

Concentration Applying to: Micro OB, interested in Business/Behavioral Ethics, Meaning at Work, Positive Org Scholarship, Moral Psych.

Number of programs planned to apply to: I've applied to 9 as of now, may apply to a few more.

Dream Schools: Harvard, Michigan, Washington

 

 

Other Questions:

 

What made you want to pursue a PhD?

- I thought the career would be intellectually stimulating, flexible, and challenging. I thought research could make an impact and that teaching/mentoring would be meaningful as well.

 

Questions or concerns you have about your profile?

- Concern is my Quant score. It's a solid score, but not too high on percentile. Not sure how much micro OB programs are sticklers on this one? Also, I'm applying straight out of undergrad without a masters, I've heard this isn't too big of a deal as long as you are prepared but wanted more input on that.

 

Any additional specific questions you may have:

- I'm applying to a mix of top 10, top 20 and top 40 schools (based on TAMUGA rankings). Right now I've applied to 9. Should I apply to more? Is my application strong enough for a top 10 school?