phdmania

Here is what works the best for me: -All papers on dropbox, structured by class and one folder with all papers once annotated -Great PDF reader for annotations is PDF Exchange-Viewer -For classes I don't care much about I just print the papers, it's a nice change to get your eyes off the screen -EndNote (most recent version): it's better then Mendeley for references (more accurate and you can download the references from Google Scholar) I used an iPad early on, but sold it because it takes too much time selecting text with your hand. PC is much faster and you don't have to zoom all the time But it's really different from person to person! Hope this helps.

I have heard that CBS does not give funding after year 4 and they don't tell students that. be sure to double check that and get it in writing. else, it's probably more of a climate / lifestyle question.

it was in Geneva. Yes, i was there on the right day and time. The email response I got was a simple apology, that's it. Made me really angry...

Hi Guys I took my GRE about a week ago and scored V590 Q750. I usually scored around V500 and Q800 on practice tests and powerprep. However, the situation at the test center was somewhat weird. The test was supposed to start at 9am and I was asked to arrive roughly 30min earlier to register and get ready. Unfortunately, the prometric staff had some mix up with their work schedule and no one really arrived until 3 hours after the scheduled time. I took the test never the less since I invested 2 weeks of vacation and was a bit stressed because I couldn't eat anything for about 7 hours and I had a plane to catch in the evening. Now I'm sitting on some mediocre quant score which will make it hard to gain admission to a decent PhD program. I immediately rescheduled for another test, which is in about 3 weeks, my last chance before they change the test format. However, I won't be able to take vacation again, which sucks. Has someone else ever had a situation like this one? I send a complaint to ETS but they are unlikely to respond within the next 3 weeks. I will try to call them. What should I expect, what should I ask for? Thanks for your help?

Hi guys, My test is in only 3 days and I am trying hard to get a decent score out of the AWA section. Could you give me some idea how the essay may be graded and what I should focus on in the last couple of days? Thanks a lot!!! Task: Hospital statistics regarding people who go to the emergency room after rollerskating accidents indicate the need for more protective equipment. Within this group of people, 75 percent of those who had accidents in streets or parking lots were not wearing any protective clothing (helmets, knee pads, etc.) or any light–reflecting material (clip–on lights, glow–in–the–dark wrist pads, etc.). Clearly, these statistics indicate that by investing in high-quality protective gear and reflective equipment, rollerskaters will greatly reduce their risk of being severely injured in an accident. Here it goes: The claim that hospital statistics suggest that high-quality safety equipment reduces the amount of severe roller-skating accidents is well reasoned but not entirely convincing. There are several logical flaws that prevent the argument from being effective. The following essay will expose these flaws and suggest ways to make the argument more coherent. A first logical flaw with the author's argument is that the hospital statistics may not necessarily represent the entire population he or she is referring to. For instance, the sample size could have been too small to make reliable inferences. Suppose the statistics were drawn from a tiny clinic in a rural village having treated only 4 roller-skating accidents in the relevant period. Experts in statistics suggest a sample size of at least 20 patients to yield relevant results. Thus, it is unclear whether the argument should be based on those statistics. Second, the author claims that roller-skaters should invest in protective gear as well as reflective equipment. Reflective equipment really only increases safety when daylight is absent and skaters cannot be recognized in the streets or parking lots. Yet, most people tend to do roller-skating on sunny weekends or early evenings where reflective gear is unlikely to reduce the risk of being severely injured in an accident. A third gap in the author's reasoning is the fact that he or she assumes only high-quality equipment reduces roller-skating accidents. In many sports, including roller-skating, the difference between high- and low-quality gear lies in design and branding rather than in basic functionality such as protection of knees or elbows. These flaws in reasoning make the author's argument logically unconvincing. The author should make sure the hospital statistics actually represent the demographics of the relevant population. He or she should also point out whether these accidents happened during daylight or in complete darkness to substantiate his claim that reflective equipment may reduce skating accidents. Also, a study indicating that high-quality gear is more effective than discount products would significantly strengthen the argument.

Hi Guys Just tried the same question ruchia did. What could I have done better and what score should I expect? Thanks a lot! "There is much controversy about whether specialists or generalists are more suitable to our time. Some may argue that today it is much more about being broad rather than focused as technology and society changes quickly, while others claim that specialists are even more necessary as the business and political worlds get more complex. In the following I will argue for the latter. The most compelling argument that specialists are not overrated but of great value to any kind of organization is the experience and expertise specialists bring to the table. For instance, how could mankind have been able to achieve such extraordinary things as expeditions to outer space, building of cruise ships that accommodate over 2,000 passengers, and production of genetically modified crops? Astrophysicists, naval architects and bioengineers all contributed to these achievements. A lunar expedition would certainly not have been happened involving only generalists. A second point that should be made is that specialists are the people that understand a particular field extremely well and are thus able to teach us things we need to know. Imagine a CEO of a Fortune 500 company who most likely can be labeled as a generalist. Probably this CEO went to Business School once to pursue his MBA degree. There he attended classes in accounting, marketing and operations management, all taught by professors that are experts in their field. As we can see, specialists are certainly a valuable part of our society. They bring the necessary experience and expertise that we need to achieve great things and they also are the basis of educating generalists."

Hi Guys I'm in midst of GRE prep. I've already gone through a couple of Big Book verbal tests and usually score around 25 correct answers out of 38. What kind of GRE verbal score should I expect? Thanks a lot!

Guys! I just took Powerprep Test 1 and scored Q750 and V460. Since I would like to apply to PhD programs I should score around Q790-800 and above 500 in verbal. I've already worked through parts of princeton review and kaplan after work and on weekends. also I did some vocab off the barrons list. Now i got 7 days to prepare for the real test. what's the best "work plan" for a week to get up to Q800? is it even possible to improve by 50 points? I read through the thread where people show their real and practice scores and most people did not really increase their score on the real GRE compared to power prep. I will go through Nova's math book, learn some more vocab, and do a few more practice tests since i spent too much time on early math questions on powerprep and had to guess on 6 questions at the end. do you guys think this is the best strategy? really appreciate your feedback! thanks

hey! this forum is quite US-centric. you will probably not getting any useful input other than "i havent heard of these schools, if you want a job in the us go for a 2nd tier PhD in the us" honestly I'd go for IESE, they got some strong momentum and some excellent faculty. otherwise i'd see whether you can improve your profile and try again next year. hope this helps!

thanks a lot for the quick feedback. @Iian: actually, I am intrinsically motivated to publish the results of my thesis. I am just curious about the right way to proceed, and if any of the options supports my PhD application better than some other, why not go with it? so, is "submitted/presented at conference xyz" worth more on your CV than "Submitted to Top20 Econ Journal XYZ with Top 5% Econ Prof Jon Doe"? I am a bit confused ;-) but i dont quite get why I would be ashamed of a pre-PhD paper that eventually gets published. I mean isn't there any similarity to professional world? no one will expect you to get your first internship at Goldman or McK, most people start off with some smaller unknown companies, right?

Hi Guys I was hoping you could give me some advice on whether I should put lots of effort into submitting an article to an economics journal. I graduated about a year ago and the prof who supervised my master's thesis said we (which probably means I) should work on a version for publication in an economics journal (think Economic Journal, Economic Letters,...). Since I will apply for a couple of PhD programs this Fall I am not sure whether I should focus on GRE, personal statement or invest some weeks into a version for submission? So here are my questions: 1) It's probably unrealistic to get the article published until the end of the year, since reviewing and editing can take years. Will it help to have it at least submitted (co-authored with a top 5% econ prof)? I think it could show some level of dedication to academia and research... 2) What is the best way to approach an article submission? Any helpful links besides the author guidelines on the journal website? The prof is quite busy and won't be able to help me a lot... 3) Are there any statistics on acceptance rates for econ journals? How many times should I expect to re-edit the draft until the journal reviewers are satisfied? Thanks a lot for your guidance. All the best!

Hi Guys, i am interested in stanford's MS&E phd program. does anybody have admission info on that program? all they provide on their terribly looking website is admission rates and GRE scores for the masters program, however I doubt that they admit 37% of phd applicants. thanks a lot!

hi guys I am a bit unsure about how to proceed with the application in terms of research interests. Generally, I imagine the process to be as follows: browsing the websites, reading articles, choosing the topics you like, writing the personal statement, click send.... However, as I continue reading admission sites and forums I was wondering how you guys approach the research interest dilemma. Should I be very broad to cover the interests of many professors or should I focus my essay on 1-2 persons. Since some schools do not recommend getting in touch with faculty before admission, it may be hard to pick the ones that actually do take students. So, does it all come down to a lottery? Thanks!

Hi guys, exactly how bad is my math background? is it sufficient for a phd in management/org. behavior? i also did statistics 101 ;-) also, i translated the syllabus to english and i'm not quite sure whether all the topics are in the right categories, could you help me with that? Thanks a lot!!! Topics covered: I. Functions • Numerical sequences • Inverse, exponential, and logarithm functions • Trigonometric and continuous functions II. Univariate Calculus • Differential coefficient • Derivation rules, derivation of special functions • Marginal functions, elasticity, growth rates • Differential equations • Taylor’s theorem III. Multivariate Calculus • Partial derivatives, partial elasticity • Tangent space, total derivatives, implicit derivatives • Homogeneous functions, Euler’s theorem • Production functions • Extremal orders of bivariate and multivariate functions • Lagrange multiplier IV. Integral Calculus • Partial integration and integration by substitution • Improper integrals • Application to economics and statistics V. Matrix Calculus • Matrix multiplication • Linear tranformation • Laplace formula • Determinants • Gradient VI. Linear algebra • Linear independence of vectors, vetor spaces, bases • Rank of a matrix, inverse in a quadratic matrix • Linear system of equations • Gaussian elimination • Eigenvalues, eigenvectors • Method of least squares VII. Differential equations • First order differential equations • Second order differential equations • Application to economics

Thanks guys for the quick responses, really appreciate it. Since probably a large part of applicants have not done RAs or publications, how much papers etc. should be included in the "research experience" section. I mean it's ok to put major theses in this section, but should less extensive reports, papers, essays (with academic citation) also be included if they are 5, 10 or 15 pages? Also, is the "research interests" section a good idea or doesn't it really matter since it is already mentioned in the personal statement? If the former, how specific should you be? Is it ok to have research interests in 2-3 areas that are not necessarily very related (or should I avoid this for the purpose of the application; my take is that with broader interests you're more likely to find professors that share your view but you run the risk of professors thinking you don't really know what you want)? Lastly, would you guys recommend I put one of my more "backoffice"-ish internships into the "research experience" section to make up for not having RAs etc? Thanks a lot!