2015 Applicants ask a current student thread

[XanthusARES]

So I've noticed that we are getting some questions in the sweating thread. While that is great, and we are more than willing to answer them, I thought it might be more appropriate to have a separate thread for questions and general advice. That way the sweating thread can stay cleaned up for future applicants to be able to quickly search through profiles and acceptances.

 

Applicants: Feel free to ask us anything you want. Do you have questions about life during the program? Do you want to know what it feels like to have too much work to possibly get it all done? Procrastination tips? Application help? Anything you could possibly want to know. At least I'll try to give honest and timely responses. I find that getting on this site throughout the day helps to break up the monotony of reading and writing quite well.

 

Current or previous students: Feel free to use this thread to give out encourage and unsolicited tips for applicants. Hey we've all been there and understand the neurotic stress inducing time between now and April 15. Show these guys some love (hopefully they'll return the favor next season).

Edited January 11, 2015 by tm_associate

[XanthusARES]

Here's some helpful advice I can give to start this off. Make sure that you stay on top of your LOR writers. They are all busy professors and possibly can be absent minded. Send them a reminder email with what schools they are writing letters for and also what the due dates are. If you spell it out clearly this will go a long way in ensuring that they get their LOR's in on time. Don't be pushy, but prod them a little.

[XanthusARES]

Also, and this is huge, take tomorrow (Thanksgiving) off. Watch some football, spend some time with family and eat a gross amount of food. Your applications can wait for one day. Don't even think about them. Try not to talk about them to family members who ask what you are doing. You'll be back in the swing of things soon enough. Give yourself a break.

[PhDPlease]

First year student, happy to advise on anything related to academics and choosing a program, although I cannot advise on anything related to football.

[Burns]

Here's an application question:

 

I have noticed that many schools do not notify the applicant (either by email or updating their status on the actual application) when they have received transcripts or test scores. Is is safe to assume that if some schools have received those items than the rest probably have as well? Or is it necessary to email each one that I am unsure about?

[PhDPlease]

In my opinion it is not necessary to contact the schools. Usually the schools will look at the copy of the transcript that you upload and the scores that you self-report on the application, and then confirm against the official copies if they admit you. I think it is very likely your scores and transcripts arrived, but that if they didn't the school would likely evaluate you based on the online app and then request that you resubmit if they want to admit you.

[AppInfo]

Some schools can be very slow in updating the website so I wouldn't be worried about it. Keep in mind that they have to match everything up and most schools won't start reviewing applications until January, so there is little incentive to move quickly. My experience was that if something was missing then schools will generally get in touch with you if they are interested. I had one school ask me to email them copy of a transcript because the resolution on the uploaded one was too poor (a result of file size restrictions in their online application); another school emailed me when they hadn't received a GMAT score (I reminded them that I had sent them my GRE score and I did later get accepted). So if it is just transcripts and test scores I wouldn't be concerned.

[XanthusARES]

These are both great pieces of advice. Schools are slow with that kind of stuff. In my opinion, if the school is interested and they haven't received your official scores, they'll let you know.

[Sheetrockero]

Are stipends taxed? Also, how does everyone stay on budget, especially if you came from industry?

[PhDPlease]

Are stipends taxed? Also, how does everyone stay on budget, especially if you came from industry?

 

I intentionally lived below my means and put $ into savings while working in industry, because I knew I was going to go back to school. Also I do not have very much time to go out and travel as I'm very busy. It has been a lot easier to stay on budget than I anticipated.

[YaSvoboden]

Are stipends taxed? Also, how does everyone stay on budget, especially if you came from industry?

Stipends are taxed, but state schools (at least the ones I have gotten checks from) don't pay FICA, which helps a bit. And if it is your only income, you won't be paying much federal tax.

 

I have a decent stipend in a low cost of living area and I have gotten an outside scholarship, so I don't find it too hard to stay on budget. I also have a family and I am the only wage earner.

 

It varies by state, but with a family you may qualify for some state assistance.

 

Also, all of my friends here are in the same boat as me. They are either in PhD programs or med/dental school, so when everyone you know is poor, you don't feel very poor. In fact I don't tell the med school people that I actually get paid to do graduate work.

 

I never really worked in industry, so it wasn't an adjustment downward for me. I was at a conference with other students and we were looking for a place to go out to eat, one guy that had worked for several years was looking at some fancy steak houses and mentioned how he used to go to places like that without a second thought. We still ended up getting decent steaks, just at slightly lower-end place. So yeah, you aren't going to have the spending cash that you do now, but it isn't bad.

 

Bottom line, you can definitely do it, pretty much everyone manages to. You will have to sacrifice certain things for now, but that's ok.

[XanthusARES]

Are stipends taxed? Also, how does everyone stay on budget, especially if you came from industry?

 

 

Taxes are something that you should probably just assume won't be taken out (at least federally), but they should be low if you only have the stipend.

 

As far as staying on budget, yeah you're definitely not going to be living the high life. I can't speak for others, but I'm married and my wife's income pretty much covers all of the stuff that my stipend doesn't. We try to save as much as we can, but we could definitely use more.

 

Final thought, all of us students are in the same boat. If we came from industry we probably left some pretty well paying positions. It's not easy to make the transition, but if you really want a PhD, you make it work. Plus it's just 5 years right? Welcome to the world of ramen and peanut butter.

[YaSvoboden]

Another point on stipends. Taxes aren't necessarily the biggest thing, but pay attention to fees that come out of stipends. These actually can add up. Health insurance is probably the biggest thing that can differ between schools, but other student fees may not be covered and could be high enough to be a significant chunk of your new paycheck.

 

That said, I don't think stipend should be a major consideration in your decision. The difference in earnings for 5 years cannot possibly come close to the difference in earnings and general satisfaction from going to a program that is a better fit for you.

[rsaylors]

Please do not pay for medical from the school. If it's free and meets obamacare standards then that's fine; but otherwise don't pay for it: almost all of us are not someone else's dependent AND make less than 150% of poverty.

 

In an obamacare accepting state that means free medical care; in states like New Mexico that includes denial.

 

Drop your current coverage and get free Obama Care (that is, you fill out the forms and then they say "oh you don't make enough we'll forward your file to the state" and then your state will give you free medical... unless you're in a deep-red state).

 

 

Also, please if you have a family do not pay social security and medicaid. When you fill out your tax forms you simply need to indicate that you are exempt, the number of grad students I know that qualify as exempt but simply don't choose it is ridiculous.

Edited December 10, 2014 by rsaylors

[Sheetrockero]

Thanks for the replies. Stipend will definitely not be the deciding factor of where I choose to go, but I still like to know what I am getting myself into.

[PhDPlease]

Thanks for the replies. Stipend will definitely not be the deciding factor of where I choose to go, but I still like to know what I am getting myself into.

 

For us health insurance is free. We also get an budget for research-related expenses. The only fee that I am aware of is if you choose to join the gym or take exercise classes, but that is not mandatory (although as far as gyms go, the university gym is much cheaper than a private gym, so those students who want to join a gym usually pick the university one).

[arcenciel]

Is there anyone who was accepted into a top 20 marketing phd program without academic research experience, but just work experience (work experience that is related to marketing research, however)?

 

I'm worried that not having acaemic honors, publications, presentations etc. will significantly hurt my chances... So worried!!!!

 

I have my profile on the awaiting / sweating forum thread...

 

Thank you!

[simplypoet]

To all Experienced Urchers out there, who are in Business PhD programs.

 

Since most of us are almost done with our Applications, I want to ask you guys about your Criteria, the Non-negotiables and Negotiable points that guided you to make that very important choice of your Graduate School.

 

Tell us what you thought was important and now realise that it wasn't.

 

Thanks,

[YaSvoboden]

To all Experienced Urchers out there, who are in Business PhD programs.

 

Since most of us are almost done with our Applications, I want to ask you guys about your Criteria, the Non-negotiables and Negotiable points that guided you to make that very important choice of your Graduate School.

 

Tell us what you thought was important and now realise that it wasn't.

 

Thanks,

Just to be clear, you are talking about program selection after we know our opportunities, choice of which schools to apply to, or choice to go to grad school in general?

[simplypoet]

Just to be clear, you are talking about program selection after we know our opportunities, choice of which schools to apply to, or choice to go to grad school in general?

 

Program Selection after we know our available options.

[YaSvoboden]

Program Selection after we know our available options.

Of course, I don't know what would have happened at other schools, but here are some things that led me to where I am and other things I would have considered.

Something that was important to me was that I felt like the faculty was really interested in me coming here and would be willing to work with me and I have found that to be true and valuable. I would definitely gauge how open you think the faculty are to sitting down and talking with PhD students and how vested they are in student success.

Research fit - I chose to go to a school with multiple researchers doing things that I found interesting and I think that this was a great call.

Teaching load - I am happy that I am at a place with a very light teaching load. I have talked with students from other schools that teach 1-2 classes every semester and I can't imagine having that added on to what I already do. I kind of ignored teaching and RA requirements in making selections and I feel like I got lucky after talking to some other people.

RA work - RA work is an important part of a PhD program, so having to be an RA isn't bad, but the type of work you do matters a lot. All of my assignments have had pretty clear benefits to me and I haven't ever felt like a professor was just trying to use my hours that are assigned to them. I would ask students about their RA work and what it leads to.

Student cohesion - There is a lot of value in a cohort working together and supporting one another. Ask about the environment and how students help one another out. One of the first things that I had to read in a seminar was about how the good schools produce the best researchers, even though everyone gets the same books and courses generally. Good researchers are produced by students working together and challenging one another.

Financial resources - I'm not talking about stipends, but money for travel/data sets/running experiments. This wouldn't be too high on my list, but it does matter.

Gut feeling - You will visit places that you are admitted to, you will talk to faculty and students. This should give you an intangible feel for the school and whether or not you would enjoy it there.

[XanthusARES]

Program Selection after we know our available options.

 

 

This is a really great question. If you do end up in the enviable position of having multiple offers, choosing which school to go to is a big deal. Some of the things on my list can and probably should have been known before even applying, but I'll include them here anyway.

 

1. Research fit - this was by far the most important thing to me. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to study and all the professors in CB at my school are doing really interesting research to me. While they are in different areas, the ideas definitely meld together well, and I really felt like there was a lot of combinations of things I could do if I came here (and I was right).

 

2. Funding - like Yaz, I'm not talking about stipends (which honestly are going to be a wash across programs). I wanted a school that would allow me to present at conferences from day 1, at least assuming I had something to present. I didn't want it to be a huge bureaucratic thing to get the money I needed to complete my research as well. My school has me completely covered on this.

 

3. Location - it was a factor. I have a wife and she has a family, as much as I wanted to live in Alaska for 5 years, it was important that she got to see her family some during the program.

 

4. Culture - this was more of the gut feeling that Yaz was talking about. My interview here was awesome. We intermixed research talk with colloquialism and it just felt really comfortable. Now that I'm here it's great knowing that I can just drop by a professor's office to shoot the breeze for a couple of minutes. The students are also incredibly collaborative. It's easy to get work done when you don't have to worry about sounding stupid. Basically what that means is that I don't spend a lot of time trying to figure things out by myself, when I can just ask another student how to get stuff done. This is not to imply they are doing my work for me, but rather that they can show me how to do things which is a much more effective way of learning things for me than wasting 3 hours trying to get the right combination of search terms down.

 

5. Placement - I know, I know we've talked about this before. Mostly I wanted to be sure that coming to this school wouldn't limit my options afterwards. I knew that choosing this program would limit me to schools outside of the top 10, but honestly, that's the only limitation, and I'm cool with that. (Of course placement is also dependent on other factors, but I consider those to be either in my control, or probabilistic)

[XanthusARES]

Is there anyone who was accepted into a top 20 marketing phd program without academic research experience, but just work experience (work experience that is related to marketing research, however)?

 

I'm worried that not having acaemic honors, publications, presentations etc. will significantly hurt my chances...

 

Hi welcome to the forum. First please allow me to say I completely understand your concern. Second, if you're already applying (or have already applied), then there's really nothing you can do about research experience now, so try (try) to relax a bit. I say this of course knowing that you will not relax a bit, and, in fact, are probably calling me a foul word for even suggesting that you try. I forgive you for this.

 

Now that we've got the pleasantries out of the way, let's get on to business (get it, because you're applying to a business PhD program. Oh, never mind). Will not having academic research experience kill your application at top 20 schools? No, the answer is a definitive no. If you have the grades and the GMAT to get pass the first cut the adcoms will at least read your application. That being said, it will probably kill your chances at a top 10 school. They just get too many applicants with research experience to look at students without it.

 

Outside of the top 10, though, you definitely have a shot. Your GRE looks good and your undergrad GPA is solid. Your non-academic research experience won't help you, but it won't hurt you either. The biggest thing is whether your research interest align with the school and that you are a good fit with both their culture and research interests. If you've done your research well in selecting programs, this shouldn't be an issue.

 

Hopefully that took care of some of your stress. If you applied widely with good research fit and interests, I can definitely see you getting in somewhere this year. Of course, I'm not an adcom, and they are fickle creatures. The biggest thing right now is that your applications are almost done, so there is nothing you can do to increase your chances now anyway. Sit back and enjoy the break. Soon enough you'll be in the programs wondering where all of your time went (also you'll get the pleasure of getting to work on holidays).

[arcenciel]

Hi welcome to the forum. First please allow me to say I completely understand your concern. Second, if you're already applying (or have already applied), then there's really nothing you can do about research experience now, so try (try) to relax a bit. I say this of course knowing that you will not relax a bit, and, in fact, are probably calling me a foul word for even suggesting that you try. I forgive you for this.

 

Now that we've got the pleasantries out of the way, let's get on to business (get it, because you're applying to a business PhD program. Oh, never mind). Will not having academic research experience kill your application at top 20 schools? No, the answer is a definitive no. If you have the grades and the GMAT to get pass the first cut the adcoms will at least read your application. That being said, it will probably kill your chances at a top 10 school. They just get too many applicants with research experience to look at students without it.

 

Outside of the top 10, though, you definitely have a shot. Your GRE looks good and your undergrad GPA is solid. Your non-academic research experience won't help you, but it won't hurt you either. The biggest thing is whether your research interest align with the school and that you are a good fit with both their culture and research interests. If you've done your research well in selecting programs, this shouldn't be an issue.

 

Hopefully that took care of some of your stress. If you applied widely with good research fit and interests, I can definitely see you getting in somewhere this year. Of course, I'm not an adcom, and they are fickle creatures. The biggest thing right now is that your applications are almost done, so there is nothing you can do to increase your chances now anyway. Sit back and enjoy the break. Soon enough you'll be in the programs wondering where all of your time went (also you'll get the pleasure of getting to work on holidays).

 

Xanthus, thank you so much for your detailed reply..

And thank you for forgiving me for the foul words. lol.

 

Now that you mention it, I'm rather regretting applying to 3-4 top 10 schools which cost me several Benjamins and a lot of time.

One of my favorite professors, however, is in Washington University in St. Louis, which is in the top 25 or so, so hopefully I can get into that one..

 

I'll try to relax but since I'm a working professional I don't get that much relaxation either.. (and a 1 year old son).

So...... any PhD students with a spouse and child? Woes, caveats, suggestions on how to deal with having family during PhD?

[AppInfo]

So...... any PhD students with a spouse and child? Woes, caveats, suggestions on how to deal with having family during PhD?

 

Tell them to get a job and start pulling their weight. Just kidding. There are actually a lot of students on here and my own program who have families. Unfortunately I'm not one of them so I can't really give specific advice except to say that the emotional and instrumental support that comes from having a family is likely to be quite helpful as you go through a program. :-)