Indus

I am at a state school, with majority funding from "state". An Indian colleague is on J visa, but has 2 year exit requirement stamped. Whereas, another colleague from a European country also has a J visa, but no exit requirement. I guess it could go either way, depending on the immigration officer you get at the embassy. However, if "management" is not on the list of key subjects for India, you should be able to get an exemption after finishing the PhD.

Agree with Sailor! There are way more entrepreneurship jobs, and they are going to increase further, especially in Europe.

The school I finally joined gave me an offer in 4th week of March. They didn't even interview me. Stay strong!

Most schools will allow you an year off for family/health reasons, especially if your chair is supportive. Would they allow you you to take time off and work in a corporation? I don't know.

Dear OP: I don't think any professor will remember a random email sent three years back from a student who was not from their course. I can't even keep track of current students. So, calm down and hope for the best!

I didn't have any connection with any professor in any US school at the time of application.

It mostly works fine: Christopher Liu - Rotman School of Management http://mathijsdevaan.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/cv_b.pdf

Everyone above has made good suggestion, specially those dissuading you from a typical five year US style PhD. I don't know what you mean by "life's simple problems", but my experience is that most simple problems are innocuously complex to solve. For instance, the simple issue of how to best organize a state has been discussed for atleast two millennium (think Plato's "Republic" and Chanakya's "Arthshashtra" to Bob Jessop's "State Power"). But there are no solutions yet, just possibilities. Having said that, if all you are looking for is some intellectual challenge and dabbling in applied research, IIM Lucknow offers a part-time FPM. Infact, you can explore FPM at any of the IIMS (A/B/C/L) or a three year PhD at some European schools (non INSEAD/LBS). These PhDswill allow you to do applied research (e.g. industry analysis etc.) and you can easily enter academia/consulting/industry afterwards. Best!

I applied to 6 schools in my first try, and failed to convert even one (Not finance though). Reasons: (1) not a good match between my strengths and faculty research; (2) didn't discuss extensively with my referees re choice of schools; (3) SOP was too "general". Second time around applied to 15 - had more than 5 offers and was waitlisted at two top programs. So, try to analyze your application package and work on strengths. All the best!

This represents the usual schedule. During coursework phase there was more to read, but the stress was on assimilation. During dissertation phase the stress has shifted to theoretical positioning of the paper, data collection and empirical analysis. The latter stage is more interesting, but also a lot more challenging.

As someone with a spouse and kids, my normal schedule is: 6am: wake up / short jog 6.30am: feed kids breakfast 7:30am: handover to spouse :-) 8:30am: in office 9am-6pm: work (with lunch break; 3-4 of coffee breaks/short walks around the campus/small chit-chat) - Maybe 7 hours of productive work. 6:30pm back home / dinner / put kids to bed 8pm-10pm: just relax, chat etc. 10pm - off to bed. (Exceptions: In case of deadlines, work from 9pm - 12ish) Saturday: same schedule, but gym/pool for an hour in the morning. Sunday: ideally free (exception: serious deadline, like paper submissions) Pros of this schedule: keeps me sane; keeps family happy (reasonably); work happens without destroying yourself. Cons of this schedule: fewer working papers outside your dissertation; hard to have published paper before job-market; most people would think of you as a solid scholar, but maybe not a future "super-star". How to mitigate the time issue: My supervisor told me one simple thing when I griped about not having enough "work in progress" - You can have 5 working papers, but none of them publishable or 2 publishable papers. Pick up topics you like, pursue them relentlessly (know your theory well), and see them through to completion (publication, somewhere). I just followed that advice. All the best!

First up, everything looks good. Your GMAT score will allay any residual academic issues adcom might have. Re the undergrad, does your mark sheet, or any other certificate, mention your university rank or percentile? You can request your institute to mention that on your transcript. The challenge for you would be to jump from a T50 school level to a T10 school level. To accomplish that you need a much better articulation of your interests and fit with the school in your SOP. All the best!

I think you would be fine. Are these professors also your letter writers? If yes, they can mention the RA work in the reccos. If not, you can also mention them in your SOP. All the best!

Hello orb: Contrary to your personal assessment, I am pretty confident about your application. Let me tell you why: 1. Undergrad GPA: Seems bad, but it will not be the most important issue at most school because you have been out of school and there are more recent indicators to consider. 2. Grad GPA: I don't understand why you are trying to calculate something which your school didn't? Why excalty should you mention a GPA which is not mentioned on your transcript? Broadly, you have done an MBA from a well know school recently. That's a good thing. 3. GMAT: 740. Will make the cut-off any day. The fact that GMAT is a lot more recent than your undergrad will make your case stronger. 4. Work experience: irrelevant in most cases, unless you can weave it in your SOP in a manner which makes it relevant (e.g. stimulated specific research interests). 5. Referees: sound excellent! 5. Publications+research grant: both suggest that you can "do" research. To me, you look like a good applicant. GMAT+Referees+Publication+RA experience will make you a very competitive applicant at most schools, especially at schools with strategy/entrepreneurship bent. Please make sure that you articulate your research interests well and only apply to places with good match. That would be expected as you an "experienced" applicant. I would suggest 3-5 schools each from T10, T25 and T50. All the best!

@ Rohny & Henders: Congratulations for your offers :eager: