GreggM

You all have really provided me with great advice, mostly in line with what professors have told me. rsaylors, my GRE V score is quite embarrassing, but in case I finally decide to apply for US programs I will take the GMAT, so far I've scored around 700 in the practice tests, so I figure that if I prepare for the test I should get above that. TraderJoe, I've thought about the post-doc route yet need to discuss a bit more to see how it could work out. Thanks again for all your help.

Thanks everyone for your help, I highly appreciate it! I actually don't mind that much having to start over again and I understand why this would be required. Indus, I will send an email to Syous, however I see he/she haven't been active lately. Sb29, that is exactly how I feel...like going through a high level master but I honestly don't feel like a PhD. I've talked to older students and all of them told me they didn't start real work until mid third year (some were candid to say that they think the first two years were actually worthless and that they actually feel at disadvantage against other programs), some started earlier but were natives from the country that had strong relationships with faculty prior to starting the program (and they also speak the same language). Anyhow, I'm almost settled with the decision but I would like to know what you guys think about staying in the program when thinking about applying to other programs. Would adcoms think I am taking advantage of the current program? Do you think it would be better to withdraw and then apply? I will definitely keep working as hard as I can but not sure how this will be perceived. Thanks again for your comments!

Thanks for your reply YaSvoboden, This is actually one big problem with the current program, given that you basically don't interact with faculty beyond just going to class and passing the exam. Given this, not sure if it would be possible to get a good letter from someone just because I did good at his/her class (on the other hand, wouldn't they get upset because someone wants to apply to another school?). What do you think about leaving the program now, getting a job and applying without been enrolled? (or maybe should I just hope things will be better after the third year?).

Hi Everyone, I am new at posting here but I've been lurking for quite a while! I've decided to make this post as I am facing a conundrum right now and from what I've seen here, all of you are very knowledgeable and provide fair enough comments and thoughts. I am a second year student at a top B school in Europe. I decided to pursue a PhD because I really enjoy research and teaching (no matter how hard, time consuming and frustrating it can get, I still manage to keep up and end-up enjoying it). I decided to come to my current program based solely on rankings, fair fit with my research interest and the impression that the program was similar to US schools, however, now I have come to realize that the academic culture of the program is not a good fit for me and it has actually affected my performance (I am still above average the cohort, yet not to my usual standards). When I say academic culture I am referring to mentorship, involvement with faculty early-on, "general approach" and other things I really would not like to mention here. In summary, so far, I have discussed this with former professors from the US and Europe, and friends who are doing their PhD's in the US, and even when of course you will face difficulties everywhere, all of them have recommended me to apply to US programs. I have a highly quantitative Master of Science from a top 25 US university (top 10 school, not B school but highly related) where I graduated top of the class, 88 percentile in the quantitative section of the GRE, about 8 years of work experience (which includes some teaching and managing international projects - a big one related to entrepreneurship in developing countries), almost 1 year of RA experience in the US, at least two very strong recommendations from US professors (not B professors, but a fairly known economist (this would be a quant and research recommendation) and a well known political scientist (this would be a research and analytic skills recommendation)), I could get a third very strong one from my former boss (Phd from Cornell and Stanford alumnus). My research interests are: Strategy and entrepreneurship. I don't mind hard work and long hours as long as there is a point to it! Sorry for the long story. My question here is: Do you think there is a chance for me to be accepted at a US program (in the top 50 range) given I am already at a European program? Thanks in advance for any comments or advice!