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myndfood

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myndfood last won the day on March 26 2015

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About myndfood

  • Birthday 09/19/1979

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  1. I'll add that you should think about your LOR writers. Letters matter...a lot. And this might be a time to re-kindle past relationships with professors who you didn't ask to recommend you this time around (because you haven't talked to them in 5 years), or to court new professors (perhaps through RA-ing for free, as Xanth suggested). The main point: did your letter writers strongly endorse you? Are they research active in your field of choice? Are they respected? If not, see if you can find a way to secure this type of letter.
  2. I'll second Xanth's comment: focus on what you can control. Enrolling in a stats course is definitely the way to go. Is there a local university that has an open-enrollment program? That's the path I'd take--and I'd try to take the class in person. FWIW: I had failing graded in two undergrad Calculus courses, and I did just fine in application season last year. The key, though, was that I recognized the signal that sent to adcoms, and started working far in advance to attenuate the signal with other coursework, and some research work. Find a stats course, do well in it--and I think adcoms will accept your health issues story.
  3. Have you taken any stats classes? I think you mentioned you're Marketing CB, correct? If so, I think you'll be fine; as sheetrockero suggested, you'll learn what you need to learn in the first semester. But if you want the head start, then learning about the basic statistical methods of analysis (what they are; under what conditions you use them; what data you need in order to use them; etc...) would be useful. Far more useful, I think, than learning R. And attempting to learn SPSS or Stata is kinda pointless until you really understand the methodologies of statistical analysis. If this is where you are, then I second the suggestion elsewhere in this thread to pick up Andy Field's book. He has three versions, I think (SPSS, R & something else). Pick up the one that you think is most likely to correspond to the environment you'll be working in when you finally are up and running. But begin reading the first few chapters. He's a good writer, and does a good job of explaining the basics, as well as many of the more relevant analysis techniques. Also, if I'm correct in remembering you're a CB student, I'm guessing you're probably most interested in experimental work? If that's the case, focus on ANOVA, not so much regression. I'm not a Marketing person, so not certain--but the CB folks in my program take the same sequence of analysis courses as the Micro OB students (basically experimental psych methods).
  4. I agree that SPSS will suffice for most of what you'll need to do in CB. But R (at least in my program) is rapidly taking over in many of the disciplines as the environment of choice. There is a contingent of folks around here who are predicting that SPSS will eventually cease to exist; I don't know if that's true or not. One thing I've noticed: the signaling value of having the ability to run analyses in R seems pretty valuable. You can run analyses in SPSS pretty easily, even with only rudimentary knowledge of the underlying method. But I think there's a perception (probably accurate) that a person who can run something in R knows a bit more about what's going on under the hood. Looking to the future: a lot of the methods folks are working exclusively in R. The people here who are interested in methods are definitely R-types. But more generally, as methods advance, I think they'll show up as R packages before they show up as features in either SPSS or Stata.
  5. I doubt that what the OP needs is our opinion about what school they should choose. This is a big decision, and the OP is fortunate in that there are numerous schools out there that what them. They should take all the time they need to be certain they're making the right choice. Importantly, there's a huge difference between "leaning towards" and "certain"; nobody should have to go through their doctoral program with nagging doubts about their decision if there's any way to avoid it.
  6. I don't think this is accurate at all. The OP made clear that they were leaning toward one choice, but that they weren't certain. Furthermore, there's pretty sound logic behind waiting to make a decision until you have all of your options before you.
  7. If what you say is true, you shouldn't have a guilty conscience. You say you're stuck between two options, and leaning strongly toward one--but afraid to turn down the other because you aren't sure what things will look like if the third one comes available. I think it's perfectly reasonable to hold on to the second admit until you're completely sure that, no matter what happens, you won't attend there. If you aren't there, then hold on to it. I think the other advice you're getting here is terrible, and perhaps a little self-serving (?). More importantly, there's a validated logic in the behavioral decision-making literature that advocates for joint decision-making. Our biases are less likely to get in the way when we're comparing various options against each other. So if it's still an option in the running for you (even if it's in second place right now), you should hang on to it until you know for sure. My experience was that my opinion toward my #1 school changed after visiting with a few other schools that admitted me. I'm glad I held on to the school in second place until I was surveying the whole playing field; It helped me find certainty in my decision--something you should have when you finally make the decision.
  8. I'll be a dissenter here and say that I think your work experience, while not technically research experience in the academic sense, will catch quite a few eyes in some programs, and in some disciplines. I'd definitely accentuate that experience. Just, as Xanth implied, make sure you clearly signal that you understand what academic research entails, and that you recognize that these data gathering/analysis skills are just one part of the methodological aspect of research. But don't discount the experience. Many faculty would love to have someone with your skills, and I think you'd be able to plug right in and get to work with some faculty, working on some projects.
  9. I don't think this is quite accurate, Xanth. They teach, have administrative responsibilities, mentor students, consult, speak... Of course, the "fun" stuff in that list is all conditional on publishing. And the not-so-fun stuff on that list is just part of the deal. Like dealing with frustrating customers, poor managers and some unchallenging assignments is part of the deal for an MBA "getting paid more than decent". My instinct, OP, is that you probably shouldn't pursue a PhD--for many of the reasons others here have indicated. More generally, though, as one of the older folks in the Urch population, with quite a bit of industry and entrepreneurial experience, I feel like I can confidently say that there is no occupation that is without any unfortunate downsides. There are always things you don't like doing, but that you have to do. There are always people who are terribly frustrating--but who you have to interact with. There are always customers. There are always people more ignorant than you (and much smarter than you). I guess my point is that if you're looking for the career where you won't have to deal with the frustrating and inconvenient things that you refer to at your present job, the a PhD probably isn't for you. Sure, some of those things are less likely--but there are plenty of other exasperating things, just like there are in most jobs. The only thing I can think of that would insulate you from the pesky nuisances that generally arise when we're interacting regularly with other humans would be trying to win the lottery, then buying a deserted island and moving there by yourself. That sounds kinda terrible too, though...
  10. I don't know anything about Swaab, but although Gino's PhD is technically from Italy, she actually completed much of the coursework and worked on her dissertation at HBS.
  11. A number of GradCafe posts indicate that the subject line of the rejection emails said something about "Your application to the MBA program". I don't think the accusations of unprofessionalism have anything to do with rudeness; I think it's just a result of someone using a template rejection letter, and not bothering to change the subject line to reflect the actual program that the applicant was applying to. *EDIT: to be clear--I have no personal knowledge of this at all. I didn't apply to Columbia, and thus didn't receive a rejection. Just inferring from the somewhat cryptic statements on GC...
  12. Interesting point, wittmic. In general, I think it's ideal if visitors to this site get the most accurate picture of life there. The problem I have w/the OP's post is that, unlike most other posts here (positive or negative), it's not presented as "my opinion" or "my experience". The OP makes very broad, general and all-encompassing statements--as if they are representative of the OP as well as the OP's fellow students. It's possible that this is true--that the OP's post is representative of the entire student population there, but I think it unlikely. And Fantiki's post seems to validate my belief--that, while the OP spoke sweepingly, that perspective is not universally shared. If the OP were to re-write the post in the form, "Here's my experience", I think it would be a valuable contribution. As it stands, it appears to be a person's experience blown out of proportion as characteristic of the entire program (and representative of all students there). Given that, I feel like it's dishonest. It's certainly contrary to the logic we, as researchers in training, are supposed to employ when evaluating phenomena.
  13. I wouldn't. Clarify: is the other school also in NY (or within a reasonable commute--say by train)? If so, can't you just build a bit of extra time into your visit on the chance they do contact you? You can then say, "Good news! I'm going to be in NY on ___; could we set something up for a visit around then?"
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