rainbow

Hi evergreen! Thanks for the reply. I took my GRE in September 2009 so it is expiring soon. I have 3 referee, all from my university professors. Two refereree know my very well, one of them supervised my undergraduate thesis on household saving behavior. Their field of research is applied microeconomics and household finance. The third referee is a famous professor in econometrics, he supervised my Maths tutorial lessons. They provided my with LoRs last time I applied, I assume the letters will be similar this time. Unfortunately I don't know any professor who do research in psychology or marketing. I found CB syllabus from NYU Stern and Duke Fuqua, and I am starting to read the papers and textbooks listed in there. I will also read recent issues in the top 4 marketing journals to get a feel of current research topics. I also found recording of CB seminars on youtube. I think one of the reasons that I was accepted last time was my grades in first two years. My concern is that my final year undergraduate grades are not in top 10th percentile, do schools pay more attention to final year grades? I read on LBS admission website 'You should have a good undergraduate degree with a final grade that places you in the top 10% of your graduating class.' Would I be rejected automatically by top programs like LBS because I was at 30th percentile? If this is the case would a masters degree in social/cognitive psychology and more research experience make up for the grades? I am planning to apply for top 50 business schools, if I don't get in I will join a masters program in social psychology. Does this sounds like a reasonable strategy? or should I be considering schools outside top 50? Thanks!

Sorry I think I posted reply directly under my thread.

Hi Evergreen, Thanks for your reply. You raised some very good questions there. My initial interest in CB started when I read 'Predictably irrational'and 'Upside of irrationality' by Dan Ariely. I read them because they were described as books on behavioural economics, but I think they mainly relates to consumer behaviour. I read the list of papers at the back of the book and realized people who wrote those papers almost all came from Marketing faculty in business schools and not economics department. Then I start reading articles in Marketing journals by professors in US schools such as Harvard, MIT and Stanford. I was facinated by the wide range of research topics covered by these journal articles. In particular I am interested in the impact of emotion on decision making, and decision making in inter-temporal choices. These topics were also researched by some economists with research interest in household behaviour and experimental economics, using very different method (mainly focus on model building, based on traditional microeconomics models). This is the reason why I am also considering a PhD in economics, a subject that I am already very familiar with. I have never taken any CB seminars in university, the business school under my university did have Marketing PhD courses, I did not take the initiative to explore the opportunity to attend the lectures there. I would definitely try attending CB lectures in the business schools in London. Other than this could you recommend other ways to get basic knowledge of consumer behaviour? Perhaps some classic textbooks to start with? I want to be very careful with choosing the PhD program this time, especially between Marketing or Econ. If I do not have sufficient experience or knowledge of consumer behaviour, I would rather take a Masters course in cognitive science or social psychology to prepare myself and further establish my interest. Even if I eventually decided I consumer behaviour in Marketing isn't really for me, this won't be a waste of time as I always wanted to learn more about psychology side of decision making. By top 3 UK schools I meant Oxford, Cambridge and LSE (this ranking is open for debate). I got a First for my undergrad and a Pass for my Masters (there was only Pass and Distinction in my Masters program, no Merit). I was in 10th to 15th percentile in year 1 and 2, but only 30th percentile for final year. I achieved high marks in all Maths and Microeconomics papers. I did not do well in my Masters degree and this is a major weakness ( I did not work very hard in Masters after I got my job offer, there is no other excuse) I have GRE scores 800/800/4.5. I did not take GMAT. The reason I didn't consider quant marketing was because I only had exposure and was interested in how individuals behave in consumer-relevant domains. Quant marketing seems very similar to applied Microeconomics, I would read more journal articles on quant marketing and decide whether I would like to go down this track. Would I have the opportunity to do any research on the CB side if I got into the quant track? Is there a clear division in most schools? I wouldn't mention the personal circumstance here on the website, but I can assure you it is very unlikely the same thing would happen again this time. It was a very difficult decision to give up last time and I have always been planning to return to academia when the right opportunity comes. I think you are right in asking these questions, I should definitely consider them carefullly and make informed decision. Hope I could get more advice from you in the future. Thanks!

Hello! I had an undergraduate and masters degree in economics from a UK university. I am also very interested in Psychology, the programs that seem relevant are Cognitive and decision science Msc in UCL, social psychology in LSE and behavioural econ in Nottingham. I think all three programs welcome applicants with econ background. I'm not sure about the US, do let me know if you have heard of other programs.

Thank you! That is very helpful!

Hi! I would prefer to apply to US schools, but I am interested in universities in the UK as well.

I majored in Economics in top 3 school in the UK, with rigorous Maths training. I have always been interested in Psychology and the academic work on individual decision making. In 2009/10 I applied for Marketing PhD program in top 20 schools (consumer behaviour) and Economics PhD program in top 10 schools (behavioural economics). Out of the 9 schools I applied for, I only received one offer from a top 15 Business school for Marketing PhD program, but had to reject it due to personal circumstance. I have been working in the industry for 2 years after completing a MA in economics, and I am eager to apply for PhD program again. The greatest concerns I have about applying for Marketing PhD program (CB) is the lack of research experience and background in psychology. The only research experience I have is undergraduate and MA thesis, both on applied Microeconomics. I understand the research methods and courses I would take are fundamentally different between a Marketing PhD and Econ PhD. Applying for Econ PhD seems a much easier option given my econ background, but I have a much stronger interest in consumer behaviour than any economics research area. Would it be worthwhile to take a masters degree in social psychology before applying for the Marketing program? The two programs I found in the UK are Cognitive and Decision Sciences MsC in UCL and Social Psychology in LSE. Both program accept applicants with economics degree. Is there any social psychology MA program in the US that accept students with no psychology background? Even if I start doing the MA course, I need to apply for PhD almost immediately after I start This leaves only a couple of months before application deadline. It might be difficult to get reference letter from professors or to conduct any research project. I'm not sure how much value this would add to my PhD application. Could you give me some advice on how to decide whether a Marketing PhD is for me? and how could I overcome the obstacles I mentioned above. An economics PhD is a straight forward option, but I want to do research in an area that I am truly passionate about. Thanks for your help!

Could anyone advice me how specific the research interest has to be at application stage? I am interested in applied Micro, in particular household economics and labour economics. Microeconomics and Maths were my strongest papers in university, my undergraduate and MA thesis were both empirical papers on micro topics. My LoR referee were all specialized in applied micro and econometrics. I'm also interested in behavioural and experimental economics but I have no background in psychology or done any research projects on behavioural econ. Would it be worth stating my interest in behavioural econ alongside applied micro? Is there possibility to switch to conduct research in this area when I get into the PhD program? Thanks!