Profile Evaluation OB 2017

[Plotinus]

Age: 22

Gre: 168q 163v 4.5w

Gpa: 3.75 at top 50 ug, top 20 utd ranking

Math courses: Calc 1, 2, 3 (As), Linear algebra 1 (A), ODE (A), PDE(A), Mathematical modeling (A), Probability (A-, A), Intro stat theory (A), Honors Analysis (A-, A-, A), Linear Algebra 2 (A), Nonparametric Stats (A-), Topology (A)

 

Econ Courses: Inter micro (A) Inter macro (A), Adv macro (A) Adv Micro (B+), Econometrics 1 (A), Econometrics 2 (A)

 

Grad micro in progress

 

Reaearch Experience: Honors thesis

 

Teaching Experience: None

 

Work Experience: None

 

Concentration: Org Behavior

 

Not sure what else to add. Can anyone tell me the relative difficulty of getting in as an org applicant versus other applicanta?

[Granps]

I don't thing that OB is more difficult to get in than Marketing, or Management or whatever, you might be competing against slightly different people though. At top programs its all difficult. More importantly, it shouldn't matter. If you want OB, than go to OB. You will need to convince the adcom that your research interests align with those of the OB faculty.

 

What are you interested and where are you considering applying to?

[Plotinus]

Thanks.

 

I am sorry everybody, I am doing more research on business school faculty and it seems that I underestimated how psychological OB research was.

 

I think that I would be more interested in Strategy now, but let me explain further why I am even applying. I want to study questions like "Why do firms form, how do firm motives differ from profit maximization, and how do market structures change" all within a formal microeconomic (individual-theoretic) framework.

 

It seems unlikely that I will be able to do this in an econ department since these questions, to my knowledge, have been the concern of business school faculty. Econ faculty are excessively empirical these days. I also like the interdisciplinary nature of b-schools.

 

What schools do I want to apply to? Well I already know I cant get into a school like Berkeley or Kellogg. Perhaps I could work with someone like JJ at UCI. I have read a lot of econ literature and am starting to get into the topics I mentioned so I will have more to say later.

[tm_associate]

You're econ background makes you a good candidate for strategic management, if that is indeed your interest. In general, macro- side of management can be broken up into more of a traditional economic perspective to understanding how firms make decisions and a more recently emerging behavioral perspective. When choosing a program, you should look for indicators based on the faculty research. More economic programs are generally distinct departments, whereas behavioral programs are lumped into a "management" group, where the degree concentrations differ by strategy vs. OB.

[Plotinus]

Thanks tm_associate. I'm learning a lot about the strategy literature right now - and plan to talk to some professors about it today and tomorrow. I was planning to go into Economics, but recently discovered what I thought was OB (and what turned out to be strategic management) and am very interested in the field.

 

I know that research fit is considered more important than rankings (though the top 10 schools should be considered separately), but there are still general degrees of admissions standards that different schools tend to adhere to. In Economics it's a lot easier to figure out what schools you can apply to, and whether it is worth it to RA or do a masters degree. From reading I have a solid understanding of what the elite schools are (Kellogg, HBS, Sloan, Fuqua etc) but looking outside of that, I don't know where I'm even a competitive applicant. Business schools seem to be a lot more competitive than Econ schools.

 

At least, I want to ask if my lack of business courses, lack of work experience, and lack of business-school activities (i.e. joining a business student group, fraternity, or business related internship) will hurt me much. This will help me figure out how far behind I am the other applicants, and what schools on my personal list I should cross off.

[StrategicMGMT]

OB looks at micro (individual) level which is why there is a lot of psychology. Strategy is more macro (firm level) but also does look at the individual level. So there is overlap. And then there is a big part of strategy called Behavioral Theory of the Firm, which confuses a lot of people.

 

Strategy research basically looks at why firms succeed and why firms are able to persistently succeed. Strategy borrows from lots of fields including psychology and econ [a lot of famous strategists are former economists that saw the light ;)]

 

I think a lot of people self-select themselves out of top programs. If there is someone you want to work with at Cal or Kellogg then apply. You have a good profile, your motivation letter and recs will make/break you. Start reading journals and get an idea for what the field is like. Strategic Management Journal is good. Academy of Management Annals has good overviews of big subfields of strategy so you can download ~30-50 years of research in a single paper.

[BCB]

Your profile is somewhat similar to mine when I applied and I think you will be a competitive applicant. I also applied to strategy programs. One challenge I faced was lack of a masters which excluded me from several programs but it all worked out for the best in the end.

Feel free to pm me if you have any questions about the research or specific schools.