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Acceptance Year: 2015 Test Used for Admittance: GMAT Test Scores: 750 Total (98 percentile) - 40 Verbal (91 percentile), 51 Quantitative (97 percentile), 5 Analytical Writing (60 percentile), 7 Integrated Reasoning (81 percentile) Undergrad GPA: 3.55 Graduate GPA: 3.94 Industry Experience: None Research Experience:1 conference paper accepted, 1 journal article under review, and prepare 1 manuscript for a journal; Research assistant in a behavioral lab (6 months) Concentration Applied To: Marketing (Strategy) Range of Schools Applied To: 15 total (3 in Top 10, 9 in Top 30, 3 Top 50) (UTD Worldwide Rankings). Final Results: 6 interviews, 2 offers, 4 waitlisted, 6 rejections, and 3 withdrawn Final Remarks: I am interested in marketing strategy, and I believe applicants like me will have a hard time targeting schools. So my advice is mainly for future applicants who are interested in marketing strategy. One tip: even if you have a solid profile, you have to be prepared to get a lot of rejections as many top programs will not accept students who are interested in marketing strategy anymore. Once you are prepared to dive deeper into this field, you can google a syllabus of a PhD seminar in marketing strategy, read the articles, get familiar with the names, and see where they are placed. Second, if you are really interested in these topics, go ahead to gain some research experience, learn some tools, and craft a nice SOP. Make sure you spent substantial amount of time on your SOP, and your SOP should significantly reveal both your strong passion and strong fit to the program. However, you cannot know everything. Even if you thought one school is a perfect match, decisions are a mix of so many criteria that are not within your control, like the specific needs of faculty. We all know that your research interests are subject to change, so please be open to new ideas and tools. Of course, if you have some interesting research ideas in your mind, that is always a plus. Anyway, the important thing here is to show your thinking process: Have you ever thought about academic research? Do you understand the world that you are going to enter?

BIG Congrats!!

Big congratulations!!! What a great program!

Congrats!

Anyone here got an interview offer from Penn State?

Thanks for the info.

Hi, Are you a CB or Quant candidate? Actually I am interested in marketing strategy, but I would also expect to do some Quant work. Did the professor state that the email he or she sent is the official interview? Good luck with the interview!!!

Institution Name: INSEAD Concentration: Marketing Date of Notification: January 26th Type of Notification: Email Notification: Skype Interview Posted on GradCafe?: Yes Comments: The email sounds like an informal interview notification.

Thanks, XanthusARES. I will.

Just got an email from the PhD coordinator at INSEAD. He said they are currently reviewing PhD applications and he would like to chat with me a bit about my interests, and answer any questions about INSEAD, through Skype. And he let me recommend a time during this week. I am wondering if this is an official interview notification.

I have no idea whether they conduct the interviews or not. I shouldn't say that they selected 2 out of 52. But the coordinator did say there are only two slots available this year.

I sent the coordinator an email. The coordinator mentioned that they selected 2 out of 52 this year and that they were looking for applicants who have a well-developed research interests (and preferably some research experience) in CB.

I got it, too. Bummer! My performance on quantitative coursework(e.g., calculus, probability theory, and linear algebra) is pretty solid. So at least for me, I am rejected because of other reasons (maybe). Anyway, the first one is rejection, which is annoying.

Institution Name: Arizona State University Concentration: Marketing Date of Notification: January 20th Type of Notification: Email Notification: Rejected Posted on GradCafe?: Yes Comments: Very first rejection! a little bit upset!

Program Applying to: Marketing (strategy): Age: 24 Undergrad - B.S in economics GPA: 3.55/4.00 Graduate - MBA, marketing concentration GPA: 3.93/4.00 GMAT - 750 (V40 Q51 IR7 AWA5) Research Experience - 1 conference paper submitted, and prepare 2 manuscripts for journals; Research assistant in a behavioral lab (6 months) Work Experience - Graduate teaching assistant of an undergraduate marketing research class (1.5 years); several years of experience being a mathematics instructor at a large education service provider. letter of recommendation - university distinguished professor (very well known in the field), research professor ( well known in the field), associate professor I GA for (she knows me well and is still my coauthor) Research interest - marketing-finance interface Schools considering to apply to: 4 in top 10, 4 in top 20, 4 in top 30, 3 in top 50

I really appreciate your advice, XanthusARES. Yes, I am aware that there is only a small group of researchers who is still doing strategy, so that I had a hard time selecting my schools in the beginning. I guess what I really need to do now is to craft a very nice SOP.

Thanks, sb29. I will keep this in mind. I am doing MBA in a lower tier program. Do you think this will be a negative signal?

I am an international student and currently applying for PhD programs in marketing. Hope you guys can help evaluate my profile. Research Interest - marketing strategy: e.g., marketing- finance interface Undergrad - B.S in economics GPA: 3.55/4.00 (top 8% out of 300+ students) Graduate - MBA, marketing concentration (not a well known business school in USA) GPA: 3.93/4.00 GMAT - 750 (V:91% Q: 97%) But this is my third attempt. Research Experience - I have almost finished the manuscript for a national conference, and I am preparing 2 manuscripts for journals (not target high level journal); Research assistant in a behavioral lab (6 months) Work Experience - Graduate teaching assistant of an undergraduate marketing research class (1.5 years); several years of experience being a mathematics instructor at a large education service provider. Some intern experiences in financial institutions (I think this may be irrelevant) letter of recommendation - Getting three letters from professors of Marketing in my graduate program, One is from a very well known university distinguished professor ( he knows me very well, but I never do research with him), One from the professor I GA for (she knows me well and is still my coauthor) One from a very senior professor who retired from a university and is the research professor at my university (he is very well known in marketing). I am a little bit worried about my Undergraduate GPA since the raw score is not high enough. What about attempts of GMAT? Is it okay that I took 3 times? I am targeting Top 30 school, but I am also ready to apply widely (18 schools a few at top 50, two at top 100). Please give me your advice. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

I am an international student and currently applying for PhD programs in marketing. Hope you guys can help evaluate my profile. Research Interest - marketing strategy: e.g., marketing- finance interface Undergrad - B.S in economics GPA: 3.55/4.00 (top 8% out of 300+ students) Graduate - MBA, marketing concentration (not a well known business school in USA) GPA: 3.93/4.00 GMAT - 750 (V:91% Q: 97%) But this is my third attempt. Research Experience - No publications so far. I have almost finished the manuscript for a national conference, and I am preparing 2 manuscripts for journals (not target high level journal); Research assistant in a behavioral lab (6 months) Work Experience - Graduate teaching assistant of an undergraduate marketing research class (1.5 years); several years of experience being a mathematics instructor at a large education service provider. Some intern experiences in financial institutions (I think this may be irrelevant) letter of recommendation - Getting three letters from professors of Marketing in my graduate program, One is from a very well known university distinguished professor ( he knows me very well, but I never do research with him), One from the professor I GA for (she knows me well and is still my coauthor) One from a very senior professor who retired from a university and is the research professor at my university (he is very well known in marketing). I am a little bit worried about my Undergraduate GPA since the raw score is not high enough. What about attempts of GMAT? Is it okay that I took 3 times? I am targeting Top 30 school, but I am also ready to apply widely (18 schools a few at top 50, two at top 100). Please give me your advice. Your help will be greatly appreciated.