Marketing Profile Evaluation (Behavioral Track)

[eggington]

Test Scores (GMAT/GRE): Haven't taken yet, aiming for 165+ quant and verbal

Undegrad GPA: 3.85 at an ivy in political science, minor in psychology

Graduate GPA: N/A

Research Experience: ~10 months of RA work with 3 professors at a top 5 business school. No relevant publications (only 1 in philosophy)

Teaching Experience: 1 semester for a community service-based class

Work Experience: summer internships at random schools, not really relevant

Concentration Applying to: consumer behavior/behavioral marketing

Number of programs planned to apply to: ~15 or so

Dream Schools: Wharton (Penn), Stanford, Kellogg (Northwestern), Fuqua (Duke)

 

 

Other Questions:

 

What made you want to pursue a PhD?

Love academia and interested in advancing general theories of human/consumer behavior. Hoping to frame my background in political science and TA experience for community service class as my motivation for possibly researching prosocial behavior

 

Questions or concerns you have about your profile?

Only formal stats experiences is a B in intro stats. Taking a PhD level marketing class in research methods next semester and have 3 computer science classes and 1 data science class under my belt (all A's), so hoping that can offset my lack of formal stats classes.

 

Also concerned about not having any publications or co-authored papers in progress. I'm contributing significantly to the professors that I currently research with (e.g., helping formulate hypotheses, research methods, etc. in addition to lit reviews/data entry) so hopefully that should offset things via good LOR's?

 

Any additional specific questions you may have:~

[BrazilianPhD]

You did a lot of things that would be useful for Quantitative Marketing (computer science, data science), but you are applying to Consumer Behavior. So, where is the Consumer Behavior stuff in your profile?

 

I don't think lack of formal stats is concern here, you seem to have much more in that regard than expected for a CB applicant. But I don't see much regarding CB. Your profile makes me feel like you're better prepared to do Quant Marketing research than CB research.

[eggington]

You did a lot of things that would be useful for Quantitative Marketing (computer science, data science), but you are applying to Consumer Behavior. So, where is the Consumer Behavior stuff in your profile?

 

I don't think lack of formal stats is concern here, you seem to have much more in that regard than expected for a CB applicant. But I don't see much regarding CB. Your profile makes me feel like you're better prepared to do Quant Marketing research than CB research.

 

Thanks for the reply! I forgot to mention: coursework I've taken under my psychology minor includes 2 senior psychology seminars (relating to judgement/decisions and obedience), behavioral economics, consumer behavior, and a couple introductory classes). The professors that I'm assisting currently are in behavioral marketing, and it's definitely what I want to do--areas that I'm interested in include the impact of emotions on consumer behavior, prosocial behavior, and how consumers interact with new technologies.

[BrazilianPhD]

Good! Adjust your application so that the CB side stands out, and choose schools to apply wisely.

 

With your experience assisting in behavioral marketing research, strong letters of recommendation, and good GRE scores, your application should be very strong. I wouldn't be worried about the lack of stats.

[gentvenus]

Your experience in behavioral marketing research and strong letters of recommendation really shine out IMO.