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I think we are somewhat similar in terms of background! Well, "similar" is relative.. in some sense I have also been out of school for awhile, have quite a bit of work experience (though not as much as yours!), and am thinking about going to back to school. I will be 35 when I finally apply in 2 years. I sought out some advice from this board through this thread, might be helpful to you: https://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-business/161461-applying-2-3-years-any-advice-improve-profile.html. I think getting information from website or reading journal articles to have deeper understanding of department/ faculty research is most likely going to be a worthwhile investment. Apart from that I agree that it will be helpful to dust off the math textbook and refresh some math skills. These are the two things I am doing to prepare myself, short of straight up doing actual research with the faculty part-time, this is harder to come by.

Thats exactly one of my worries. I think the econ job market in academia is facing too much competition from econ phds. Thanks for the tips on schools!

Yes I am. I have a path to go in my current workplace, but I want to spend time doing research and teaching instead. I think it's more enjoyable to spend time thinking about research questions, like how technology affect different aspects of markets and society. If anything, I feel like I can always fall back to corporate jobs after my PhD. I notice the sample thesis/ publications on Information System, particularly at NYU Stern, is very much aligned with what I want to pursue at the moment. Thanks for the tips! I think this opens doors to similar programs at other universities.

Thanks for the great advice! I think this is applicable across discipline even if it is not for strategic management. Good news is I have 2 to 3 years to scout out different types of data within the bank, form connection and test out appetite for research. I imagine if I am a full-time student, approaching certain teams to offer research service (maybe for free?) may open doors to collaboration. This is a good idea to keep in mind. Say, I know you and the other folk are very enthusiastic about Strategic Management, which I am eager to dive into.. just not too excited about doing research on firm performance at the moment (tongue-in-cheek). What do folks know about Business PhD concentrations in Technology or Innovation? The thing that draws me towards the technology subdiscipline, more than strategic management, is the option to elect economics courses (micro and applied econometrics) as the core training, and the professors' research shows this (lots of economic theory in application to technological innovation like bitcoin). Strategic management seems to only touch on economics slightly, and also uses techniques in psychology and sociology to inform research. Obviously I believe anything that is not economics in social science is garbage (I am joking!!!) But how much of my statements are true vs ignorance? :) I am also concerned that not many schools outside the top ones offer this concentration or carry these kinds of research, which could affect placement later. I could also be just thinking too much.

It would be interesting! I do have access to a lot of data as a result of my work, and thinking creatively about using the data to answer research question is in itself a fun activity to do. The not so fun activity, and one that would take a lot of time tho, is going through the bureaucratic hurdles to be able to share data with someone not employed with the bank, and for a purpose that is not aligned with the team's goal.... but something worth noodling on. I'm excited to see two people mention that strategic management align with my interest! Honestly have never been exposed to this field before and am excited to explore :)

Thanks so much for the suggestions! I have never thought of looking into strategic management. Took a brief look at some abstracts from the Strategic Management Journal. I'm curious to see what sort of methods are used in that space to measure the impact of, say, management strategy change in an organization. Stuff like those seems like it's harder to find data to quantify relative to, say, mortgage payment or income for example. For now, though, I find myself drawn to papers about two-sided markets and network effects, partly because I'm in the payment space. For one specific professor I read three of his papers! Do folks think it's a good idea if I write write a short paper to explore an extension of his idea? I don't know where this would lead to, maybe later as part of application material? I can see this strategy backfire though, it could be a terrible paper. But i guess it's a good step to show that I am serious about doing research? :D

Hi everyone, this is my first time posting in this forum. The level of support available from folks in this chatroom is so high, so I decided to post a thread to see if I could ask for some guidance/ advice from folks! Thank you in advance for your support! :) Long story short, after working for a few years in the financial sector, I have decided to apply for a PhD program and embark on an academic career. I have always wanted to be an academic, but due to financial reasons (supporting family etc), I couldn't take five years out of my life to be a grad student, and had to stay in the industry in order to make money. Now that I have some money saved up, I have decided to give PhD a shot! Because I'm away from academia for awhile now, I feel like I want to give myself about 2-3 years to improve my profile. Turning 32 this year and will be 34 when I submit my application. I am thinking that I might retake some calculus, maybe linear algebra courses to refresh my math skills. I also want to also start reading journal articles and try to get involved in research to get some research experience, and hopefully a good letter, but I don't know how best to approach this. My question to folks is, if you have had 2 additional years to make your application stronger, while you're working full-time, what would you have done? Here is a profile to give folks a better sense of my background: Test Scores (GMAT/GRE): (Expired, used this to apply for policy masters awhile back) Q 167, V 160, AW 5.0 Undegrad GPA: Big 10 Pure Mathematics & Economics, 3.64. Couple of Cs but they were difficult math classes. Graduate GPA: HYPS Public Policy (concentration in Economics), 3.64. Research Experience: 2 years working in an economic research think tank focusing on consumer finance Teaching Experience: taught an advanced microeconomics course for a summer program at HYPS couple of years ago Work Experience: Prior role as a financial regulator in a developing country (for three years). Currently a data scientist at a large US bank working on payment technology Concentration Applying to: Still deciding. Seems like Applied Economics is the best fit for now. Outside of that, I have been reading journal articles from professors in Innovation & Technology, and can see myself involved in the topics there (as a result of my current job i'm now deep in the world of payment technology, fintech, cryptocurrency etc) Number of programs planned to apply to: Undecided. Will likely cast a wide-net. I will try to shoot for the moon but am happy with a mid-low tier admission as long as placement into universities is good Dream Schools: the usual ones What made you want to pursue a PhD? If I apply at 35, I most likely will graduate when I am 40. I am now quite certain that I want to live next 20 - 30 years of my life as an academic Questions or concerns you have about your profile? I don't have any academic reference letter/ recommendation letter at the moment, hence I am giving myself some time (2-3 years) to get connected with universities, but not sure how best to approach this... Any additional specific questions you may have: How can I best use these two to three years to prepare for an application Thank you folks for your thoughts and suggestions!!