phdhope

I wouldn't mention it or anything else about your personal life for that matter in your SOP. The reality is adcoms will only care about how you function as a researcher while you are at their college. Unless a personal circumstance directly impacts that functionality in a substantial and significant way, I wouldn't mention anything personal.

YaSvobden is right though. Why did you go to law school? A PhD program will have at least some concerns that you would go into a PhD program and not become an academic the same way you went to law school and did not become a lawyer. The real question is: what type of research do you think you want to do? Unlike undergraduate programs and some graduate programs, PhD programs do not have the same curriculum or mentorship training. Knowing what your interests and career goals are will dramatically impact how well you fit at certain schools.

Hooray for the synthesis project! There are quite a few people who research fraud. Heck, there are even a decent number of forensic researchers. And most ideas would also be viable in the auditing context. I hesitate to offer suggestions for schools because we don't know much about your profile. Your GMAT score and grades from outside the US might make it difficult to get into a program that does auditing research. That said, it is hard to evaluate your publication experience. Like most, I suggest doing all you can to boost your CV and apply broadly!

South Florida could also be added to your list of schools. I will note that taxphd is right. AIS has never been popular and IS has taken huge hits in popularity over the last decade. If you are an IS person, you really should do an IS PhD. There is very little AIS research published in accounting journals. I don't know if doing an IS PhD is a good idea though. It probably has the worst job prospects out of all the business PhDs.

I would focus more on just learning the material than getting any certification. I think you've been given very good advice. I would definitely target the 700+ plus school list and some of the top schools, You could get lucky after all. I think the major decision now is finding which top, mid-tier archival financial school has the best research fit for you. That will take a lot of time reading through the papers. Good luck!

No, if you had passed the initial skype interview, they would have contacted you very shortly afterwards. It only takes a day or two to skype all the candidates a school is seriously considering.

Pitt and UMass have reached out to candidates in January, February, and March in previous years according to the Grad Cafe so I think it's a little early to think they're already done.

Theoretically yes. But I would first focus on getting into a top PhD program, getting placed at a top school, dominating and reshaping the field of accounting first before you set your sights on any loftier goals. I would not pursue a PhD in accounting if your goal is a Nobel Prize.

Yeah, I would probably focus on schools that have a lot of managerial experimental accounting research. Think Pitt, Emory, UT-Austin, Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Indiana and the like. Washington is a very nice school and Frank Hodge has done very well in research, but there are way too many PhD students wanting to work with him for you to realistically be able to do much work with him. Going to a school that has a good faculty to PhD student ratio is strongly recommended.

Agreed with all above. I also would point out that by tailoring your SOPs, you can show your knowledge about the school. Does the school have great placement? Do they have more resources (research subjects, databases, other things) for their PhD students? Is the school known for a particular culture? Does the faculty-student ratio appeal to you? If you are thinking behavioral, does the university have a great psychology department? Have you met or read the work of one of the faculty members? Are you interested in a type of research done at that school? In short, you should be able to answer a faculty member why you choose that particular school over other schools that do capital markets research (or even the numerous schools that do valuation research). I honestly don't think PhD applicants appreciate how different schools are from each other (or job market candidates for that matter).

I would urge some caution at looking at the placement of the graduates and making conclusions about the program. A much better way of thinking about it is seeing whether the PhD students were successful as researchers after the PhD program. Placement of course is dependent on how good the market thinks the person is but it also is dependent on the applicant's individual preferences. There is a really, really long list of people who could have gone to better schools but choose location, money, family, or other factors over program prestige. Another point of caution, you should consider how the program was 10+ years ago when the graduate graduated and the school they went to was like during that time period. Some schools have become drastically better or worse programs over time and simply using your current perceptions of schools might not adequately reflect how good or bad the placement was at that time. In short, I would be very reticent to use placement data to tell you much.

Yeah, schools in accounting normally only invite somewhere between 3-6 applicants per position. Now, there are schools in accounting that have lost more than 3-4 faculty members which have done 20+ interviews to fill multiple positions, but I can only think of three schools who have done that this past decade. I would also urge a little caution in thinking that school rankings do not matter and that job placement is perfectly meritocratic. As noted by henders, some schools will not consider you if you come from too low of a program. However, I think the real concern about going to a lower-ranked school is it is unlikely to have the faculty, the financial resources, and the program to turn you into a high-powered researcher. If it did, the school's reputation would be better, they'd have better placement, and their ranking would go up. I think we could also be confusing university ranking with research rankings and other rankings more pertinent to academia. Clearly at the end of the day, it is more about what your record is in research than where you went to school. But I think we should remember that your productivity is directly correlated with where you went.

Yep, all things equal, work experience, masters, and certifications help, but I'm sure you'll be competitive at many schools. That said, I think you really should be applying to finance programs. You likely haven't taken an accounting systems course, a course in auditing, a cost accounting course (beyond introductory material), advanced taxation course, or possibly all the financial reporting classes which will put you at a disadvantage in being able to converse with people in the field until you spend the time to learn the material instead of working on your PhD. I would strongly encourage you to apply to finance programs.

It is better to go to the US for your PhD and then transfer to Australia than the reverse or trying to stick in Australia.

I would say there is nothing wrong if you've read a lot about a topic and have an interest in a particular area to mention that in your SOP. My only caution is that you should be careful with how narrow you specify your interests. Use broad strokes, not precise research questions.

I also agree it looks like finance is up your alley.

The methodology is explained in the not-so-cleverly titled methodology section. (University Rankings). Raw count does have limitations as noted by tm_associate. However, I would argue that you would probably want to look at schools that have very productive research active faculty. Looking at PhD students research productivity in the first couple of years out of the program is a hard way to judge the quality of the phd program. I would first look to see if they have good professors at the school and then look to see evidence that the professors work or have worked with phd students in the past.

I think you are definitely selling yourself short. You definitely could get into a funded PhD program. Admittedly, you aren't going to get into a Top 10 program, but there are a good number of schools that have an average GMAT score in the high 600-low 700 range. I would focus on those schools and see which ones have research that interest you.

I wouldn't worry about boosting your quant background, which is already above average, as much as boosting your knowledge of accounting. Being a CPA and working in governmental accounting helps ease my concerns a great deal, but I always feel uncomfortable when candidates have never done a degree in accounting and decide that they want to teach/research the subject. Particularly because you can almost always make a case that they would be more strongly suited for a different PhD. I think you should apply to some schools from ysavaboden's list and some from yours. The first have quite a few reach schools and the second is probably selling yourself short. Your GPA is a little low, but I think you have a decent chance of an admit at one of the schools ysavaboden listed. I wouldn't say you have a good shot at all of them, but I would be surprised if you applied to those 15 if at least one didn't give you an interview.

There is a negligible increase. Most programs did not incrementally add PhD students despite the program's goals. You shouldn't worry about any ADS flood consuming the market, particularly because ADS usually place highest priority in staying near the school they get their PhD.

I certainly think the program would help in many ways in terms of exposure to academic life. As far as placement however, I am unfamiliar with anyone who has gone through the program in accounting. With 31 schools listed for placement and 8 different areas to specialize in, I think it is pretty safe to say that the number of accounting alumni from this program are in the single digits. It would probably be very hard to extrapolate with such few alumni to the effect on the program on your placement. That said, it could give you a taste of academia before diving all in.

A PhD in accounting is not a good route for consulting or a senior accounting position. You would start out in almost the same position as a undergraduate which really does compensate you for the 4-5 extra years of education you would have undertaken. Professors make good money, admittedly not nearly as much as senior accountants or some consultants.

5,4,3,2,8,1,6,7,9

Work for free. Few professors would object to a person they don't have to pay. I'd also suggest that you be willing to do anything they ask you to do. There is a surprising amount of grunt work that can be done by non-PhD students in academia, it just won't be that intellectually stimulating or challenging. I'm not suggesting that you won't be offered a job or that you won't do something a little more intellectually rigorous than stapling papers, but I am saying that many of the things you will want to come out of working with the professor will actually be able to be accomplished by working for free on any task they give you. Learning the trade, becoming a co-author, or getting a more difficult task will come if you can prove yourself in the beginning.

My only caution with Emory is they really have few active behavioral researchers and plenty of PhD students pursuing that research area. When there are less than 3 behavioral researchers at a school, things can be complicated on the research side. There really isn't a school that doesn't focus on research or one that focuses on teaching. I would argue that at lower-tier schools, they do less research and do more teaching even in the PhD program but that is a function of a variety of factors. Have you considered just becoming adjunct? Not wanting to do research as a primary passion really is a signal a phd program might not fit with your goals. You might want to give some serious thought to this career path. It is hard to call any school a slam dunk for any applicant, but I think your best chances are towards the lower ranked schools. I would still apply to the middle tier, but I wouldn't be banking on that given your GPA/GMAT. While it is not impossible, it would be pretty hard to apply this late for Fall 2014. Most deadlines are this and next month and you probably haven't got letters of recommendations, statement of purposes, and the online applications for all the schools done. This also wouldn't give you any time to retake the GMAT or do any other form of prep. I would encourage you to wait, but it is your choice.