gettingerb

I am curious of the opinon of the board on doing a PhD in real estate. From what I have seen it appears to be an offshoot of a finance emphasis at some schools. Would this track make it more difficult to find a faculty position after graduation? Salary expectation vs finance phd? Also does anyone know what schools besides UC Berkeley, Arizona State, Georgia, and Florida offer this emphasis?

Anyone know of programs that have a focus on behavioral finance and not just entirely on the numbers? From wikipedia here is a definition: Behavioral finance uses social, cognitive and emotional factors in understanding the economic decisions of individuals and institutions performing economic functions, including consumers, borrowers and investors, and their effects on market prices, returns and the resource allocation. I think this would fit my profile better than a traditional finance phd.

What did you score on the quant section? From what I have read that score can be just as important as your total score. What universities are you referencing that have a 720 minimum? From what I have seen Stanford's average is 720, that means that not everyone had higher than a 720. Also they'll want to see you have done well in any and all undergrad/grad math courses and how difficult the courses are that you took.

Does the age of your GMAT score affect your chances in admission (assuming that it is still valid and within the 5 year window)? I took my GMAT in the summer of 2008 and will not be applying until 2012, still within the window but getting towards the end. Is that going to negatively impact my application. Since I score a 730 I am not really interested in taking it again.

I'm considering maybe focusing on how water scarcity impacts the financial markets and the way infrastructure projects are financed, or something in that regard. I have a pretty good understanding of the water industry through my engineering work and think it might be timely considering the strain on our freshwater supply grows daily. Thoughts on that? I suppose that would be more Finance than Strategy but I'm not going to start until 2012 so I have some time to hammer that end out.

thanks for the input. I scored a 730 so I guess that at least qualifies me most places. yangyang I see you are going to Rice. What are your stats? I also noticed online that Rice offers a $35,000 stipend which is considerably more than many other schools. Is that cost of living adjusted or something?

Thanks for the responses. When you guys reference Top 30 is there a list you are looking at. Seems like there are a lot out there but curious to see what you are looking at. As far as letters of reference I can definitely get some from my MBA faculty. I have a good relationship with 3 or 4 professors. Problem is that UMKC isn't exactly a Tier 1 school (I went there on a basketball scholarship and stayed for a MBA on full scholarship also). One professor has a D.B.A from Harvard, one an MBA from Harvard, and another a PhD from Florida State. Not sure if this counts for much. Would an engineering professor recommendation letter have much value for this? I am a pretty good writer...i'll have to think on the cool research interest!

Can anyone comment on the impact a PhD has on your family life, especially in contrast to a normal 8-5 job. Also has anyone had any experience having children during their PhD. My wife doesn't want to wait until I finish before we start a family and I'm curious to hear other's experiences with this.

How would you recommend I interpret the average GMAT scores that some schools post on their websites? They are usually under FAQs or sometimes under class profiles. My interpretation would be that I need to have a higher score than that to be seriously considered. Is that accurate?

I am still a ways off from applying to a PhD program, probably wouldn't try to enter until Fall of 2012, but I am trying to find some advice on what tier of schools I should be looking at. Do I have any chance at a Stanford? Or should I be looking down the list? I am interested in Management or Strategy as an area of emphasis. Here are my stats: GMAT: 730 (Verbal: 41, 93 percentile; Quant: 49, 89 percentile) - Take in 2008 Undergad: GPA 3.742, BS Cum Laude Civil Engineering from University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), Minor in Business Admin Graduate: GPA 3.95, MBA - Finance, from UMKC I currently work as a engineer at global engineering firm and do a signficant amount of business and corporate strategy. I've been the main writer and moderator for brainstorming sessions for 3 business plans for different business units and am about to start a 4th. Thanks!