2018 Ph.D. Business Administration Sweat Thread

[XanthusARES]

I have never heard of a study plan. It seems strange that they would ask for one without providing you with specifics. Maybe someone else can jump in here.

[StrategicMGMT]

Some European schools ask for a research plan (since they are 3-4 year programs so you have to start research almost immediately). I've seen people use Gantt charts for this

[PobleNou]

Yes, I do remember sending couple of research plans with Gantt charts. Not sure about the study plan though.

[ThePhDAspirant]

I have never heard of a study plan. It seems strange that they would ask for one without providing you with specifics.

All the more so because the schools asking for these have a text box and not a doc upload facility so can't upload charts or purpose document.

Will wait for a few more insights here.

-TPA

[Granps]

Hi guys,
I am really having trouble fitting everything I want to say to a 1,000 word frame.
Three research assistanships, each taught me something relevant to my research interests, An MA thesis, a personal anecdote relating to my research and how I got interested in it, my actual specific research interests and school/scholar fit..

How is this done? Everything seems relevant, and I have ~1,400 words..
Any tips?
Thanks!

[StrategicMGMT]

Hi guys,
I am really having trouble fitting everything I want to say to a 1,000 word frame.
Three research assistanships, each taught me something relevant to my research interests, An MA thesis, a personal anecdote relating to my research and how I got interested in it, my actual specific research interests and school/scholar fit..

How is this done? Everything seems relevant, and I have ~1,400 words..
Any tips?
Thanks!

You need to demonstrate how it is all tied together. Otherwise you risk being seen as too spread out. What is the common theme?? The theme is what you write about and your RA's, thesis and interests are your supporting evidence of past accomplishments and why you have the skills to become a productive researcher in the future.

[XanthusARES]

Hi guys,
I am really having trouble fitting everything I want to say to a 1,000 word frame.
Three research assistanships, each taught me something relevant to my research interests, An MA thesis, a personal anecdote relating to my research and how I got interested in it, my actual specific research interests and school/scholar fit..

What strategy said is really good. Try to find a common theme and build off of that. I'm going to advise you to completely cut the personal anecdote section of why you are interested in research. Or rather cut it down to a sentence or two if you have to include it. What would be better is if you could combine it with a specific previous research experience. Something like, "I was interested in academic research while at (undergrad school name), so I started working with Professor 6928 on a project. During this experience I got hands on experience with data collection and designed one of the experiments. That research is ongoing and we have submitted it to Journal of Awesome Awesomeness, where we received a revise and resubmit."

That gives the facts that you are interested in research, provides exactly what you did, shows future potential, and shows that you understand the research process to a certain degree. On top of that it's only ~60 words. You can add to this by talking specifically about the research and discussing your specific contributions to the paper. 60 words can easily become 150, which is a reasonable amount of space for someone like you who has 3 RA's (450), an MA thesis (~250) and School/scholar fit (~300).

That's my advice and from someone who has been on the other side of the table, that is what I think is most impressive.

[Granps]

...You can add to this by talking specifically about the research and discussing your specific contributions to the paper. 60 words can easily become 150, which is a reasonable amount of space for someone like you who has 3 RA's (450), an MA thesis (~250) and School/scholar fit (~300).

That's my advice and from someone who has been on the other side of the table, that is what I think is most impressive.

And talk about my plans and actual research interests and proposal

[XanthusARES]

And talk about my plans and actual research interests and proposal

I would include your plans and research interest in with previous experience. For example, "I worked on a project looking at sales from Holiday marketing as it relates to overall firm performance. I created a model to better understand the impact of seasonality on purchase decision using MCMC. Moving forward, I'm interested in continuing this work and looking at seasonality in terms of price promotions and a PhD from University X will provide me with the necessary tools to do so." That's about 70 words and still leaves you with a ton of space.

Try to connect and combine. Everything should point to why school X and why area Y.

[Granps]

1st deadline coming up
It seems deserted here compared to last year.. Maybe they will be forced to accept me as there are no contenders *evil laugh*
Anyway, I heard a former dean say that the application process to the PhD was one of the worst periods of her life. So hang in there, baby