Hi All,
I wanted to understand how different is the selection process & research for Business PhD in Managerial Economics versus getting into an Econ PhD. Need a better understanding for a couple of reasons:
1. Though my core interest in Developmental Econ & Public Policy, my profile won't get me into a Top 30 in Econ program. Going through research areas of profs and PhD students at Kellogg/Ross/Harvard - it aligns pretty well with what I would like to do (A lot of interesting areas with respect to institutions, countries, political science, decision making and more).For e.g: At Northwestern, there is Phd in Developmental Economics, and the MECS program at Kellogg lists Developmental Economics as an active research area. Same for Michigan Ross
2. How/what can I do improve my profile to get an admit - I don't want this to become a profile evaluation but want tips what one should do to get into such a program, I currently have:
MBA from IIMA (top B-school in India) - I was in the top 15% of the batch but no masters/bachelors in Econ
A grades in Economics related courses (except in Macroeconomics - I & never took Econometrics course)
A good reco from a Harvard Econ Phd - did a Developmental Econ project under her in IIMA
Planning to take RAship under an Econ prof for 18 months (10 months when I apply to colleges for Fall 2020)
No other significant research credentials - one paper during undergrad in a low impact journal & currently in Digital Sales for a Technology firm for last 3 years
Do courses from Coursera built credibility
Explaining my maths courses becomes a little tricky coz it doesn't neatly map into the US system, but let me take a hack at it. At undergrad, three math courses (6 months each) - Calculus, Engineering Mathematics - II & III; This broadly covers Calculus - I & II, Linear Algebra, Polar Coordinates & a little bit of Statistics - Top 2 grades in all of them (the equivalent of As). At postgrad, three courses of Statistics - Probability & Statistics I, II, III - A in two of them, B in one of them. And there were quite a few math-based courses such as Decision Making, Labour Markets, Business Research Methods, Impact Evaluation
Thanks. Your inputs will be helpful as I'm planning to apply next year (not this season)