Prereqs for a PhD in Business

[yamunababuraj]

Hello ,

Can anybody be kind enuf to throw some light onto my question regarding the level of calculus and stats knowlegde that is required for PHD in Business(MIS concentration)?

NExt, what is the ranking of the PhD programs in Business of temple Univ and Drexel Univ. How competitive are their programs...any ideas?

Thanks!!

[shmulibaby]

I have the same question, except for PhD in accounting. Most schools' website imply that no pre-reqs are absolutely required but that evidence of technical (read: quantitative) ability are essential. I've reached out to some program co-ordinators and the feedback that I've gotten is that calculus I & II are important as is Linear Algebra but that many other courses can be taken once enrolled? Anybody else?

[shootermcgavin7]

This is a tough one to answer --- different business disciplines require different levels of mathematical maturity.

Additionally; it depends on what school you're talking about.


For ANY discipline, you'll need to leave with a good stats background; at the very least you'll be expected to do empirical research.
This will eventually require at least Calc I-III and some exposure to Linear Algebra.


For accounting: due to somewhat recent changes in the accounting field, the requirements are closer to that of a finance PhD. Literature relating to stock options, derivatives, etc, make it necessary to have a quantitative background to do any meaningful accounting research.

[mosfro]

i would highly highly highly suggest that even though the department may say calc 1+2 and linear algebra is minimm required, you should take calc 3, and depending on your specialization, either a computer language or differential equations - - and THAT is the minimum - depending on what field of specialization you choose, you may or may not want to take additional math courses before you enroll/apply----but calc 3 is a MINIMUM, trust me, i enrolled in a phd economics program with calc 1, 2, and lin algebra, as i was told by the adcom would suffice, but you end up playing catch-up

yes i know that was econ, but in my phd micro class, there were quite a few fin/acctg phd students, as that class was required for their programs too

good luck!