Structuring PhD application

[growingupgrr!!]

I'm applying in '08 for business PhD program but have some questions on parts of the application that hopefully some might be able to help with.

FYI, I'm interested in doing applied Econ e.g. Business Econ @ HBS, Econ Analysis & Policy @ Stanford, program somewhere I can actually get in

Questions are:

• SOP: how important are these to the application process and how well defined do your research interests need to be? My plan right now is to start reading work done by faculty at diff. schools to see whose interests match mine so that I can tailor my SOP. Ultimately, will I need to write an SOP that defines my general research interest area/questions or is more specific as to a thesis.
• Recommendations: again, how important are these in the admissions process? Should all of them come from academic sources if possible?
• In general, could you had to rank order in terms of importance:
  • Undergrad GPA/Courses
  • GRE/GMAT
  • SOP
  • Letters of Recommendation

Thanks for your time!

[desimba]

Please see my responses below:

• SOP: how important are these to the application process and how well defined do your research interests need to be?
• I am told that it is less critical than other pieces of the application package.
• My plan right now is to start reading work done by faculty at diff. schools to see whose interests match mine so that I can tailor my SOP. Ultimately, will I need to write an SOP that defines my general research interest area/questions or is more specific as to a thesis.
• I would say that you should give a sense of what your broad areas of interest are and not necessarily something that is tangible enough to be a proposal. I was speaking to a friend of mine who got her PhD in neurosciences and she was mentioning how what she ended up doing was different what she had proposed in her 3rd year paper. And to the best of my understanding, it is not limited to neurosciences only. In fact if you tried to be too specific and pin down a thesis idea, someone might conclude that you are not open to new ideas and thoughts which you would surely get exposed to in your first few years of the doctoral program.
• Recommendations: again, how important are these in the admissions process? Should all of them come from academic sources if possible?
• Very important. Can really make or break your application. Desirable that all of your recommendations come from academic sources unless some particular school advises to the contrary. HBS & CMU Tepper are two schools which fall in the latter camp and require 1 recommendation from someone outside of academia if you have been in the work force at the time of employment.
• In general, could you had to rank order in terms of importance:
  • Undergrad GPA/Courses - #1
  • GRE/GMAT - # 3 (but more as a floor rather than as a true criteria, i.e. 650 is an automatic reject but 730 may not be seen very differently from a 750, say)
  • SOP - #4
  • Letters of Recommendation - #2

SB