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stratecophd

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  1. Hi, I will be joining KU Leuven for an MSc in Economics this month. My intention is to graduate with top honours, work for one years as an RA (if I don't get RAship, I shall continue in my old career of management consulting for a year) and then apply for top 20 phD programs globally. Here's a brief description of my profile: 1. Bachelor of Technology from a Top 20 Engg. school in India (2010-14)- (Grade- 6.51/10, First Class) 2. Master in Business Administration from a Top 5 B School in India (2014-16)- (Grade- 65%, First Class) 3. Worked for Ernst and Young in as Consultant in the Management Consulting department (2016-18, 26 months) 4. GRE Score: 168 Q, 161 V My question is: Is KUL's reputation sufficient in the Economics domain to land me a top 20 phD opportunity post completing the course. Thanks
  2. Test Scores: GRE: Will be taking in November, aiming for 335+ IELTS: Will be taking in November CAT 2013: 99.91 percentile in 175,000 students Undegrad GPA: Studied at a top 15 engineering college in India (around 98.2 percentile in the entrance test) B.Tech in Biotechnology (GPA- 6.51/10), 3rd quartile in terms of ranking in class Have taken courses in Advanced calculus, Linear Algebra, Numerical methods, Statistics and probability, and Economics Grades in mathematics related subjects are average , cleared all exams in first attempt though Graduate GPA: MBA from a top 5 business school in India, in a major Indian university 65.03 % marks (first division, second quartile in ranking in class) Have taken courses on Strategy, Finance, and Micro and Macro economics Grades in Strategy and Economics subjects are above average. Additionaly, I cleared the CFA level 1 exam and the FRM level 2 exam. Research Experience: None, other than the masters dissertation. Teaching Experience: None Concentration applying to: MA/MSc./Mphil./M.Res in Economics, Quantitative Economics, and one program in Strategy Work Experience: One and a half years as a Management Consultant in a Big4 in India. Have worked two strategy and one operations and tax related project. Number of programs planned to apply to: 10- One of Oxford/Cambridge LSE MRes. in Economics- Universitat Pompeu Fabra MPhil.- Tinbergen Institute Stockholm School of Economics KU Leuven Warwick University Erasmus University- Mres in Strategy Mannheim university Columbia New York Dream Schools: Oxbridge/ UPF Barcelona/ Tinbergen Questions: 1. Am I applying to too high a quality of insttutes? 2. What are the chances of scholarships at colleges like Oxbridge/LSE/Warwick/Columbia ?
  3. Do you think a research masters in strategy/economics would help? Are they easier to get into? I'm thinking of applying to research masters programs instead of PhD program directly.
  4. 3. Well man what can I say, I like to think I'm right up there with people with great academic scores in Maths, despite my scores being average. I scored very high marks in maths in the IIT-JEE exam, which is known to be extremely difficult. I'm generally very competitive at objective exams, so maybe its that. As it is, I'm thinking of applying to research masters programs, those seem like easier to get into, and I've found some which would let me do research in economics despite not having an economics degree (they do require economics, maths, management or finance credits though). Do you have any information on research masters programs in Europe?
  5. So I had a look at my maths grades again, and they're not "average to bad", they're slightly better, I'd call them "average". I've also revisited my university preferences, and now I'm aiming a bit lower.
  6. Test Scores: GMAT: 770 CAT 2013: 99.91 percentile in 175,000 students Undegrad GPA: Studied at a top 15 engineering college in India (around 98.2 percentile in the entrance test) B.Tech in Biotechnology (GPA- 6.51/10), 3rd quartile in terms of ranking in class Have taken courses in Advanced calculus, Linear Algebra, Numerical methods, Statistics and probability, and Economics Grades in mathematics related subjects are average to bad, cleared all exams in first attempt though Graduate GPA: MBA from a top 5 business school in India, in a major Indian university 65.03 % marks (first division, second quartile in ranking in class) Have taken courses on Strategy, Finance, and Micro and Macro economics Grades in Strategy and Economics subjects are above average. Additionaly, I cleared the CFA level 1 exam and the FRM level 2 exam. Research Experience: None, other than the masters dissertation. Teaching Experience: None Concentration applying to: Strategy, Strategy and Microeconomics, and Strategy and Entrepreneurship Work Experience: One year as a Management Consultant in a Big4 in India. Have worked two strategy and one operations and tax related project. Number of programs planned to apply to: Not more than 4-5 (Most likely Kelogg, Insead, Judge, Columbia, and LBS Dream Schools: Kellogg, Insead, Cambridge Judge What made you want to pursue a PhD? I've always dreamed of working in academia, and am an academically oriented person, even though my grades would suggest otherwise. Having worked in management consulting for a year, I've become familiar with how impactful business strategy decisions can be. I'm fairly certain I don't want to continue in management consulting, and the idea of academic freedom looks extremely appealing. Also, a friend recently got into Oxford on a Rhodes, and have heard great things from him about the PhD program. I really really like microeconomics but I realise that it'll be impossible for me to get into a proper Econ PhD at this point, so strategy is the closest thing to that. Ideally I'd want to work on a topic where sound knowledge of microeconomics is required. The problem is that I don't have a great idea about the subject of strategy, or any idea about what my research proposal will be. For this, I'm studying strategy textbooks and also microeconomics text books. I plan to finish this by July end, after which I'll start reading research papers and start working on my research proposal. Questions or concerns you have about your profile? 1. Do my bad grades basically kill my chances of a top notch PhD? Will my GMAT and CAT scores compensate for bad grades? 2. My dissertation during the masters is fairly weak. Would I need to provide the full length text of my dissertation during the application process? I will of course read up on the content of the dissertation in case I'm questioned on it during the interview. 3. I'm fairly strong at math, though again the grades may suggest otherwise, any way to highlight this? (My scores in GMAT and CAT for the quantitative section are great) 4. Are the applicants expected to be experts in their chosen field? For example, would someone applying to Strategy be expected to have a sound knowledge of the new and old theories and topics being currently researched in this field. 5. I'm a novice. I have no idea how the applications work. Should I approach my professors and see what they say?
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