Fall 2020 PhD start - PhD Applicant Sweat Thread

[instajar]

-----------
Note from Forum Admin
-----------

Welcome to the 2020 Ph.D. in business concentrations' sweat thread! This is a thread for applicants (hopefully!) starting their PhD program in 2021! Use this is vent, discuss any frustrations, or random musings that you would like others to weigh in on! Best of luck to this years applicants!

For those of you just starting to browse this website, check out the Welcome to the Forum thread for information that has been helpful in the past.

-------------------------------------------------------

Hey friends. I'm hoping to start a business PhD in 2020, and I'm already starting to sweat with the first deadlines coming up. I also don't know any other applicants personally, so I wanted to start a thread for anyone also starting to sweat.

[instajar]

One of my existential uncertainties is the scope of research interests expressed in my application essays. It has been hard to know the right trade-off between general interests that risk being uninteresting and undeveloped versus specific interests that might be seen as flawed or outside the scope of the relevant faculty. I kind of just wanted to write, "Below I outline a specific research topic I could pursue in grad school, but really I'm not at all committed to this and would be very open to changing based on your feedback!"

[tm_associate]

One of my existential uncertainties is the scope of research interests expressed in my application essays. It has been hard to know the right trade-off between general interests that risk being uninteresting and undeveloped versus specific interests that might be seen as flawed or outside the scope of the relevant faculty. I kind of just wanted to write, "Below I outline a specific research topic I could pursue in grad school, but really I'm not at all committed to this and would be very open to changing based on your feedback!"

Just say something that communicates from what you know right now, you have interest in X, Y, and Z, and that you look forward to learning more about the intersections between different areas of (your field) and these interests.

[arindam]

as per my understanding professors look for people who have put significant effort to develop an idea on which they want to work on. it also gives indication that the student is really interested and has the ability to take up the rigor of the research.
Unless you have explicitly mentioned that you are not interested in anything else, i doubt profs from other interests will not be interested in you, esp when that interests evolve in most cases during that five year period.

[Phantom508]

FYI all - HBS organizational behavior is doing first round interviews (with administrative directors in admissions, not profs) over the next few days.

[tad2020]

FYI all - HBS organizational behavior is doing first round interviews (with administrative directors in admissions, not profs) over the next few days.

Hi op, is the invitation for this round of interview already out?
i don't wanna get my hope too high coz I heard if no initial interview = instant rej (all accepted must go thru interview process?

Thanks!

[phd2020]

Anyone in Quant Marketing has interviews yet?

[instajar]

Based on last year's timing, UC Berkeley might start sending out interview requests soon too.

[StrategicMGMT]

as per my understanding professors look for people who have put significant effort to develop an idea on which they want to work on. it also gives indication that the student is really interested and has the ability to take up the rigor of the research.
Unless you have explicitly mentioned that you are not interested in anything else, i doubt profs from other interests will not be interested in you, esp when that interests evolve in most cases during that five year period.

IMO it is more about being able to think like a researcher. As one professor (bluntly) put it: Don't get married to 1 idea too early (especially when you don't know what you don't know)

The type of work I do now is very different than what I thought I would be doing when I entered the PhD program.

But this is also why generally you don't select an advisor / dissertation topic until the end of your second year (at least in my program)

[instajar]

Are any departments sending out interview requests yet? I'm checking Grad Cafe results reporting, but I think the sample size is too low for some programs to know exactly when interviews were sent last year.