blueeggs

Thank you for all of your insights! I would much prefer to take a PhD-level seminar with a research focus, rather than an MBA type class that is career oriented, but I'm afraid school policies and class times are obstacles. My research interests, while by no means specific at this time, rest in behavioral economics, consumer behavior and decision-making. Also, I am more interested in less quantitatively heavy research methods such as experiments, surveys and focus groups. Would you guys recommend any good introductory reading? Also, it would be ideal to work as a Research Assistant for a marketing professor or in a decision research lab for a year before applying to PhD programs, but I am finding these jobs are scarce and low paying. Any suggestions?

Thanks to all the forum members that have posted such useful information about the Marketing PhD admissions process! I am thinking of applying to Marketing PhD programs for the next application cycle and have the opportunity to get some coursework under my belt (company I work for will pay for it). I have some pretty solid Econ, Stats and Social Science research coursework from college, although I have no substantive Marketing experience to speak of. Should I try to take college-level, or even MBA level marketing classes? I was thinking of a college Marketing Research class or MBA Marketing Strategy course. Or would I be better served taking Math or Stats classes? The career focus of MBA classes is not appealing to me, but I'm not sure it would be worthwhile to take college classes.