Cliffs

I second this - PhD programs, in particular at top schools that are fixated on good placements, are going to place a heavy strain on your mental state. There will be constant beatdowns, disappointments and uncertainties. If you had some mental health issues in the past, you should reflect on that and be absolutely certain that it won't pose a problem for you during the PhD. I had some anxiety issues going in and it got pretty rough at times.

If you decide that you want to go into industry after you get your PhD, when is a good time to start this conversation with your advisor? I'm thinking that around the start of the 4th year is when you should have a good idea of whether you will cut it for academia, any thoughts on this? Also, are schools open to letting you graduate early in 4 years if they know that you don't want to stay in academia?

If I have an opportunity in the first year to co-author a paper with a few professors, should I take it? It may be a crowded paper (so maybe even 3rd or 4th author for me?) and is likely to be in a general interest mgmt journal like Mgmt Sc. Some people I spoke to says that non first authored papers count for little in the job market, so it might be better to focus on the coursework in the first year and work on my own research if anything. How many first authored (or non first authored) papers is the standard nowadays to be competitive in the job market? (I’m from OM field but will be interested to hear about other fields too.)

I'm in my mid-thirties and considering a Business PhD. I see that there are a number of older candidates on these forums and will like to get some advice and thoughts regarding career prospects after the PhD. Is it significantly harder for people like us to get tenure track faculty positions at decent schools? Or do we have to be more realistic and perhaps accept term contracts at schools that are teaching focused? I recently attended a scholarship info session at a business school in Asia. This school is handing out scholarships for promising local students to pursue an overseas PhD, before returning to take on a tenure track position. The Vice Dean was rather blunt in signalling the fact that they were looking for candidates below 30, and even specifically stated that you can't be mid-thirties when you start the PhD since you will be 40 by the time you start on your tenure track. Being a mid-thirties guy myself, that really smarted. I'm wondering if such ageism is prevalent across schools, and if so, what are the post-PhD plans of all you older candidates out there?

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Thanks Xanthus, it was a great read! In general, how do European and other non-US schools fit into this system of bucketing? Are there any fields you see in which a European school might comfortably fit into T10, or are they still generally considered lower rung?

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