fatguy

I think your profile is very good : the institutions, GPA and the test score. In your list, I would say remove the following (because it seems to me that you can do better) unless you have super strong research fit that you love: Mays business school (Texas A&M) University of Miami Nanyang business school Schulich school of business, Canada ESSEC, Paris Don't be shy of adding a few big names : INSEAD, LBS Kellog, CMU, Umich and the like.. Also consider (somewhat) mid range Maryland, UW Seattle, Purdue, GATech, UTDallas Define your preferred research area more clearly.. Identify the reco letter writers - all academics, preferably from someone with US PhD in OR/OM. On OR applications : If your aim is to go to industry after PhD : you should actually apply only to OR schools, they would train you better. If your aim is academia : forget it. Apply only to OM programs. Yes, some people do make the shift to academia (in b schools) after OR PhD... but it is tougher, unnecessarily, I must add. If you are not sure : then I would say try to make up our mind on that.

Well, I beg to differ about the value of RA.. I think there is pretty significant value if you do it from a top place - ESPECIALLY, if you don't have a strong degree (read IIT/IIM) to start with. I don't have data about IIMs ; but here you go about the ISB (for last two years): ISB Researchers Felicitated at Ceremony | Indian School of Business (ISB) Last year : "http://www.isb.edu/news-media/research-updates/research-associates-from-isb-join-top-global-phd-programmes." You can look up the names of the students here.. Some of them indeed have their degrees from not-so-well-known schools. I think, form ad-com's point of view, the full time RA effort shows the "commitment" - a necessary commodity for PhD - even if you don't have stellar results.

If you are at an IIM for RA, then that's a good thing - you may not need to wait an additional year after all. If it is within your influence currently, try to get a reco from a IIM Prof., who has a US PhD degree.

I am sorry for my tardiness, especially after asking you the details... I do understand that distinction of more than 75% is a big deal in some universities and direct conversion to 4 scale does not make sense. A really helpful factor in these cases, is your class and/or university rank - 1st in 100 or 5th in 50 etc. Good and not-so-good parts of your application (to my understanding): Good: I think your research experience part is good. Irrespective of the conference quality and the paper outcome, I like your lingo about these things :) So, you do seem to have some rough idea about the research. If your LOR writers are well known, that's great! Hope they will give you a great reco, as well. Not-so-good One fact of life, that I feel and most people in this forum and my current school acknowledge, is this : (For Indian applicants) When you don't have an IIT/ IIM / ISB tag with you (or ISI, in case of operations) this puts you in a disadvantage to start with, for business PhD applications. It is not necessarily something to do with the quality of your education, but more to do with the name recognition (for the people who are going to review your application). So, if you are aiming for a top30 university, it may be a better idea to look for some full-time RA positions at ISB. You can also look at options in the IE/OR departments at IITs or IIMs. Yes, you will take an additional year; but if my inference that you are still in school for masters is correct, then it may be worth spending that extra year now.

Few more details would make it easier to give useful feedback. top Indian university means some IIT? Undergrad GPA : what is it till now - no need to covert to anything - whatever it is at your univ. Research experience: standard of the conference and journal paper.. If you have a choice, try to pick your LOR wriiters carefully - look for the ones who have some connections with professors in your target schools. All the best.

Your list looks good for the GMAT score. Other factors would be your undergrad school, research experience etc. I too feel you would be better off with at least 15 apps :) BTW, I thought Rice did not have an OM PhD program...

That GMAt is a little low. Whats the math component of that GMAT? If one of your degrees is from IIT or IIM, then chances are better - especially considering that the scores are on the lower side. You may try your hand at GRE once, focusing on the quant part. I tend to think that the Singapore schools (not INSEAD, of course) are your better bets.

Well, aren't we going a little on the "personal attack" direction. I am not sure if these comments are adding to the conversation and helping the OP either - hence could be termed "sabotage" as well :) - including my comment here !

Seems to be a pretty common thing for my friends doing their PhD in engineering schools (mechanical or computer science). That bit of extra cash in the summer seems appealing :) I understand that it may not be practical in the first two years with the summer paper and qualifying exam. What about the third year? I am from operations management steam. Do companies generally offer internship positions to business PhD students? How does the school generally view this?

I obtained some valuable information on this forum about the J1 visas. Earlier, I simply assumed that I need to be on F1 and my spouse on F2 (hence, can not work). The option of J1 visa opens up and interesting option - she can work on J2. But I have two things to clarify : Residency requirement - As Indus has pointed out, I checked the visa website and for India : Exchange Visitor Skills List - 2009 I do not indeed find Business administration (and particularly OM) in that list - which is skill number 52.13 in the master skill list here : Exchange Visitor Master Skills List - 2009 . So, this indeed clears me from mandatory home country residency requirement, or is it? Are there are any Indian students out there, who can confirm? Do we have to specifically mention about this (not being in the critical skill list) during the visa interview - anyone with a J1 may clarify. Rate of rejection: Again, I have checked the visa website and found that J1 visas have smaller rejection rates (around 14%) vs F1 visas (around 25%). I just want to know if anybody here may have deeper insight on this, more than what the statistics provide. Anything else - for or against one visa option over the other? Thanks

Anybody heard anything on MIT OM program? Acceptance, rejection, wait list - anything? I did not have any communication from them. At this point in the admissions process, I think there is absolutely no hope. But I could not wholeheartedly accept the other offer I have, until I at least hear somebody else is accepted :P

Thanks That's very helpful - soothes my nerves and lets me focus on aspects that are relevant. As for the area - I am in OM, again decision sciences area at Duke is very closely related to OM, I think. Ok, so the last question isn't going away :)..

Most information in the forum and also my previous (telephone/Skype) interview experiences for business PhD tells me the 30 min telephone or Skype interview is mainly about the following : - Why PhD - Why Academia - Questions about your research interests that you mentioned in theSOP - How do you rank us From Duke, I don't expect the last one though :) Anybody here had an interview experience with Duke? As far as interview structure goes, I guess all the disciplines from a school would be same. So, any business PhD experience from Duke would help. Do they get technical and how deep?

Which program are you talking about - accepts & waitlists at CMU? I am waiting on my OM application at CMU and rochester, heard anything?

Got a "Thank you for applying" email from CMU Tepper. Opening nervously, I figured it was another "application is complete" email. The mail says that they have not made any decisions yet. Hope that is true!