TheAmazingSteve

I feel like he's asking for advice on how to scam somebody...or multiple somebodies. What is your goal in life? I think you are focused on getting to the next step without thinking about how your plan may impact you down the line.

Seriously? Get out and live your life instead of plugging right back into the system you clearly don't want to be a part of. I mean, honestly, the mere fact that you brought this up shows a total lack of ability to handle criticism of any kind and a total lack of maturity. Nobody cares that you got an A-, and nobody thinks you're special for almost getting straight A's. If you have trouble with negative feedback and letting go of minor slights you will be eaten alive in accounting. It is the meanest of the disciplines and if you doubt you would be able to handle the Big 4 environment there is no doubt you will be miserable in academia.

I will disagree with this sentiment. Plenty of people find value and worth in their lives without achieving their career goals. In fact, many of them are happier than I am and my career is going quite well. I am starting an accounting PhD and quite passionate about it. My philosophy is that your career doesn't have to mean anything, but then it at least has to pay. If you're fortunate like me and find a career you're really, really motivated by, that's great, but I don't think the original poster's attitude is inherently flawed. I can envision their position. They're probably pretty smart, a bit of a narcissist, and a bit paralyzed by indecision. They want a job that is cool and pays well, and so accounting academic seems like a good choice for the same reason accountant seemed like a good enough choice. To the original poster: From what you've told us, you will be even more miserable as an accounting professor. You'll be trapped too, because so much of your human capital will be tied to one ship - accounting academic. The pay will be there, but why not be a doctor, or stay in accounting, or anything else? From a present value perspective this is a pretty crappy choice. In fact, I bet doctor dominates accounting PhD on every dimension you're considering: work life balance, respect afforded to the profession, pay, difficulty, etc. I guess what I am trying to say is, yes, the job pays well, but no it's not worth it. You're leaning towards accounting PhD for the same reason you became an accountant, you're taking the path of least resistance. Doctor (or whatever) seems a little too far off course from where you are now, so you rule it out. My advice is to sit down and decide what it is you want. Freedom to pursue non-work interests (you won't find much here), money, respect, fulfillment? You probably expect all of these things out of your career (that's what you've been sold your whole life), but you're realizing now that you're going to have to make tradeoffs. You're still young, so you have the opportunity to do so much, it's just a matter of deciding what it is you want. Wherever you go from here, a piece of advice I have given another young(er) person. It may not apply to you now, but I could see it applying to you one day in the future: "Your problem is not unique: too much freedom. If you were stupid you could plug into the system easy, one talent equals one job. But for you there are too many possibilities. ...But whatever happens, your future happiness is entirely related to your ability to impose your own limits on your freedom. The time has come to not be everything you want to be, but to be one thing you've wanted to be." That time hasn't come for you yet, but it will some day. If you become a professor and realize you've made a big mistake... you will be past the time you still had a choice.

This, this, this. I would recommend against asking questions during the presentations, but do see if you can get added to the distribution lists. Good luck.

I got into a very good program with CC Calc and Linear Algebra. My suggestion is to work a year, take math classes at night, and retake the GMAT. You will do very well assuming you improve your quant score. If you are ok with a top 50, I think you have a shot with your profile now, but taking an extra year will also make your life a lot easier over the coursework phase (I am guessing!). You can also earn some money and make sure that a PhD is what you want out of life while at the same time substantially improving your prospects. You can search my post history for a GMAT study plan that worked very well for me (66% to a 51Q in a few months of night and weekend studying). Also, read some lit reviews. You can find suggestions in that area in my post history as well. Best of luck!

I do not have children, but I believe if you have children they should absolutely come first.

Survey work? THEY ARE GOING TO EAT YOU ALIVE

Check out the 2010 JAE lit reviews... Journal of Accounting and Economics | Vol 50, Isss 2?3, Pgs 127-466, (December, 2010) | ScienceDirect.com They are listed here, google the titles and you will be able ti find them as downloadable PDFs. Have fun.

Just about every school has an evaluation of the candidate ("Rank this candidate on a scale of 1-5 on attribute X:_") that is going to take 5-15 minutes, plus the registering, filling out your identification, etc. we're talking up to half an hour per school, a half hour which is entirely separate from the physical letter writing itself. 25 letters is a lot. I find it hard to believe you can't narrow that list down, and would suggest your letter writers were expecting to have to do 5-15, and might be a little annoyed when you ask them to do 25. I would consider it in bad taste if you didn't inform them up front that you were applying to a high number of schools.

Does anyone have good resources on learning SAS? I do not have PC/SAS, so I have been programming using SSH client to run programs on the UNIX servers. It's much easier to find resources tailored to the former than the latter... A brief summary of what I've seen so far: The WRDS guides are useful Resources to help you learn and use SAS This website has videos, guides, learning modules Various books/SAS website Sundry handouts and documents cribbed from other PhD hopefuls All of these have been helpful, but I am interested in seeing what else is out there, as well as providing help to those interested.

To make it a bit clearer: 1. Purchase the official guides. 2. Read through and take notes on what I would term the "foundational material." These are the volume formulas, properties of numbers, etc. 3. Develop a timing plan for the GMAT (how long you will take on the average question). 4. Each night complete practice questions. Try to take them in a test like setting (ie, 30 questions or whatever appears on the real test). Try to do them in test like timing as well (don't take five minutes per problem). 5. At the end of the nightly sessions review all of the problems you got wrong. 6. Each week take a computer adaptive practice test under real questions. Complete the essays, everything. This will help build your test taking endurance. There were enough free practice tests online that I was able to take 10 or so without purchasing any. 7. When you have gone through each of the official guides, go back and repeat every question you got wrong.

You can consider taking the GRE, as three GMAT scores can look like you just kept taking the test till you lucked out with a good Q score. My advice for the GMAT/GRE: Study the basics, get them down. Every day do practice Q problems, review all the problems you get wrong that same day. Figure out the mistakes you made. Do the problems in test like conditions (ie, you must have them complete in a set amount of time, and try to take 30+ questions a day). When you've completed the practice booklet, go back and re-do every problem you got wrong. Once a week take an online practice test that is timed and computer adaptive. Take all of the sections, including the essay. Sounds like your problems aren't with the material (at least, that is your opinion) they are with the test itself. You need to work on your test taking endurance (I was exhausted by the Q section despite taking 10+ practice tests in advance), you need to work on your timing plan (I finished with

I would caution you about this. Many programs have a hard Q cut off, in addition to an overall GMAT score requirement. Depending on your goals, the 47Q can really hurt you at many programs. I was told explicitly by one professor while discussing accounting programs, when I had a 44 Q score, "We would not even look at you without a 49 or high quant score at [top state school they used to be a professor at]."

Maybe as the schools include (some) emphasis on teaching it matters? Otherwise, no one really cares.

Perfection, I encourage you to post your profile as your own thread.