Student Profile Ranges for PhD in Operations Research

[StreamerWI]

Greetings,

Does anyone know what the profile "ranges" are for admitted students in operations research? Even more specifically, how they differ between tiers?

MIT & Stanford
Minnesota & Washington
Colorado & Utah

Also if you have any opinions on the differences between business and engineering programs in OR, that would be great as I am obviously just beginning to ponder applying.

Thanks!

[oldprogrammer]

You should be able to find profile ranges on each department's website. They will typically have an average GMAT/GRE score and average GPA. Additionally, you can look at the CV's of admitted students, which can usually be found on the website as well.

[desimba]

Regarding the question of differences between business and engineering programs in OR, I would think that few business PhD programs would focus purely on OR. My sense is that OR, even if a topic within your research area, would only be a tool in the context of trying to "solve" a larger business question, say inventory management or network optimization. In contrast, engineering OR programs might be focused on OR not just as a tool, but as an end in itself and try to find out a computationally superior approach to those which are existing.
Another difference has also to do with the final employment prospects of grads from these programs. While people from engineering OR programs may find employment in Operations Management deptts., I would guess that more often than not, they teach in departments similar to where they graduated from. In contrast, people graduating from Ops Mgmt at a business school will also likely teach at a similar deptt. post graduation, should s/he decide to go into academia.

[vaphd]

desi mba...you are right on the dot on this one. keep in mind, schools vary in their focus...some OR bus schools are just an extension of eng progra,s whereas others are more applied

Also, my understanding is that a school reputation matters more than the actual department rating within the school, although I would love to hear people's comments on this.

Fyi, I have been admitted to the OM program of a Tier1 school.