PhD in Managerial/Business Econ - Understanding the stream

[hemanshu]

Hi All,

 

I wanted to understand how different is the selection process & research for Business PhD in Managerial Economics versus getting into an Econ PhD. Need a better understanding for a couple of reasons:

 

1. Though my core interest in Developmental Econ & Public Policy, my profile won't get me into a Top 30 (or 50 School). Going through research areas of profs and PhD students at Kellogg/Ross/Harvard - it aligns pretty well with what I would like to do (A lot of interesting areas with respect to institutions, countries, political science, decision making and more).

For e.g: At Northwestern, there is Phd in Developmental Economics, and the MECS program at Kellogg lists Developmental Economics as an active research area.

 

2. How/what can I do improve my profile to get an admit - I don't want this to become a profile evaluation but want tips what one should do to get into such a program, I currently have:

• MBA from IIMA (top B-school in India) - I was in the top 15% of the batch but no masters/bachelors in Econ
  
• A grades in Economics related courses (except in Macroeconomics - I & never took Econometrics course)
  
• A good reco from a Harvard Econ Phd - did a Developmental Econ project under her in IIMA
  
• Planning to take RAship under an Econ prof for 18 months (10 months when I apply to colleges for Fall 2020)
  
• No other significant research credentials - one paper during undergrad in a low impact journal & currently in Digital Sales for a Technology firm for last 3 years
  
• Do courses from Coursera built credibility
  

 

 

Thanks. Your inputs will be helpful as I'm planning to apply next year (not this season)

 

P.S: Apologies if I'm breaking any posting guidelines - Did read through them and didn't find anything out of place here. Also, not a lot of information on Business Economics & Strategy programs (neither here nor in the PhD in Econ sub forum)

[YaSvoboden]

The econ subforum can answer your direct questions a little better than us here. Generally, the business econ programs at those schools are slightly more competitive because the pay and treat students a little better.

 

You don't mention math. That is a big component. If your undergrad isn't very quantitative you will probably need to add on math coursework.

[hemanshu]

Explaining my maths courses becomes a little tricky coz it doesn't neatly map into the US system, but let me take a hack at it.

 

At undergrad, three math courses (6 months each) - Calculus, Engineering Mathematics - II & III; This broadly covers Calculus - I & II, Linear Algebra, Polar Coordinates & a little bit of Statistics - Top 2 grades in all of them (the equivalent of As)

 

At postgrad, three courses of Statistics - Probability & Statistics I, II, III - A in two of them, B in one of them. And there were quite a few math-based courses such as Decision Making, Labour Markets, Business Research Methods, Impact Evaluation

 

In Summary: My maths history is good but mostly engineering maths. Also, to the evaluation panel - it might not be very clear what I've done and what I haven't.

 

Was I able to explain it in a manner that made sense.

 

@Mods: If this thread makes more sense in PhD in Econ - can it be shifted there

[YaSvoboden]

If you went to an IIT and did well in the math courses, you're probably ok. I have heard from people with similar backgrounds that they aren't used to the proof-based mathematics that you need in econ courses.

 

I recommend reposting this in the econ subforum. The mods tend to be subforum specific, so most of them can't move stuff from one to another. It's also not a violation of policy or general behavior to do so.

[hemanshu]

Thanks for your inputs. It is assuring. I'm not from an IIT - but my college consistently ranks in top#15 in India.

 

Have also posted it Econ sub forum