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:

(Un)fortunately job talks (fly-outs) are never about math and almost always about potential, fit & consensus within the hiring committee (atleast for management/strategy/OB/OT departments). I am still to come across any school which invited 10 students for job talks. In our field the norm is mostly 4-5 applicants per position. Short interviews at the academy of is a different matter. Best of luck to those on the job market :eager:

Some of my friends at T50 schools have got job talk calls from several T25, even T5, schools. Two of them don't have any A publication or advanced R&R. Some food for thought!

To chime in further: 1. I personally know three business PhD candidates above 40 (one infact touching 50). So, it is definitely doable. 2. With your experience, you would be expected to have clear and concise research interests, some knowledge of current state within those interest areas, and clear fit with atleast couple of faculty members. 3. You would need stellar GMAT/GRE scores, especially to offset lingering suspicions re your undergrad. 4. You need to decide which sub-fields you want to apply to - OB/OT/Strategy. Some overlap is good, but not too much.If you want to take the "leadership" track, OB is the only substantive option. All the best!

Agreed ^^^^. You seem to have enough math for most micro OB programs. I won't mention/explain the W in my SOP etc. That would draw unnecessary attention. But, I would think of short clear explanation, just in case it comes up during the interview. All the best!

1. I am lost here. Why on earth would you mention a course you dropped and were not marked on? Dropped courses are not mentioned on the transcript, atleast at my school. The faculty would rather worry about your performance in courses you finished. 2. Research interest is too broad. This might be OK if you are applying straight out of undergrad. Still, I would suggest that you discuss this issue with your referees. You should need to think clearly re your shift from econ to OB. This will come up during the interview. 3. No. Especially if there is no pressing financial need.

OP: All excellent points ^^^. But my views are a bit different. IMO if you like the life in Australia and intend to stay there after your PhD, its OK to do a PhD at one of the Australian school. There are many good schools in Australia, e.g., MBS, ANU, Monash, NSW. It might also be worthwhile to apply to couple of schools in Singapore (NUS and NTU). Most American schools will provide you with great opportunities, but five years is a long time. If you are sure about your life plans (in Australia), it is perfectly fine to apply to Australian schools. There is more to life than just a PhD. If you can do both, perfect. Further, most of the faculty at top Australian school are graduates of top global programs. I am sure that they would be reasonably good research mentors. All the best!

Finding a postdoc in a T50 US school might be another route for entering the field of finance, without going through 5 years of PhD. Or, you can apply for a finance phd in some of the top schools in Europe. With you background you should finish it in 3 years there. All the best!

This has been done before: Christopher Liu - Rotman School of Management I also know of a PhD student at Maryland who holds a PhD in sciences. The advice ^^^^ is excellent. All the best!

OP: I am sorry but I fail to understand the issue here. Almost all the urban centers in USA have several business schools within commuting distance. Landing a tenure track position at a T50 research school will always be competitive. But other than that, the OB job market is pretty robust. Worse case scenario would mean a 3/3 teaching load with 100K+/Year. Even at those schools you can negotiate lower teaching load for first 2/3 years.

^^^^ They also have Philip Nelson and Mark Kennedy in the management group, both very accomplished scholars. It will not be hard for an entrepreneurship student to form a committee with a couple of management folks. Frankly, a committee comprising of these three would be as good as you could find in any T50 school. All the best!