isaacwolinski

Thank you both for your replies. Marcus-- I am absolutely spending at least an hour a day. I will keep in mind this is something to chip away at rather than necessarily "figure out." I am considering applying to 15-20 schools. Do you think that is wise? I am working on creating a spreadsheet of my interested schools, their rankings and associated requirements (as well as average GMAT), what type of research the professors are doing there, and other notes. BrazilianPhD, I am not sure there are any type of skills that are critical for me to have at this time. I do think I could pick up R pretty quick if I found it useful. I definitely could use more experience though, and to that end, more people willing to writing a recommendation providing evidence there. I will start there. Cheers!

BrazilianPhD, Thank you for the reply. I was looking for complete honesty in a reply, and I am glad I got it. I am absolutely still in the discovery phase here. There was a lot of fluff in that post, and I grateful you dissected it. To be frank, I am only at the beginning phases of learning what it means to do academic research and to create knowledge. Fortunately, I feel like I do have some time to discover and test if that is something I am interested in pursuing. From your recommendations it seems that is what you think is most important too. My MBA advisor recommended me some literature on research methodologies for over the summer, and we have submitted an application to work on a project in the fall. I sent him similar sentiments as I posted here (to study "the way companies handle digital innovation is evolving"), and his reply was remarkably similar to yours. In choosing a research topic to discuss for the fall, he recommended I start with something that keeps me (and my family) up at night. With that recommendation, I will be investigating a cyber security issue related to my family's company's industry. I am hoping that will get me closer to answering "What you did, why you did, what you can do, and how ready you are for it." It might take me some time to clearly define a topic of interest, but I will actively work on that, and if nothing is there, perhaps I should consider a different path. That being said, I do have a question still. If you had a year before PhD to prepare yourself to become a better academic researcher, how would you do it?

BrazilianPhD, Thank you for the reply. I was looking for complete honesty in a reply, and I am glad I got it. I am absolutely still in the discovery phase here. There was a lot of fluff in that post, and I grateful you dissected it. To be frank, I am only at the beginning phases of learning what it means to do academic research and to create knowledge. Fortunately, I feel like I do have some time to discover and test if that is something I am interested in pursuing. From your recommendations it seems that is what you think is most important too. My MBA advisor recommended me some literature on research methodologies for over the summer, and we have submitted an application to work on a project in the fall. I sent him similar sentiments as I posted here (to study "the way companies handle digital innovation is evolving"), and his reply was remarkably similar to yours. In choosing a research topic to discuss for the fall, he recommended I start with something that keeps me (and my family) up at night. With that recommendation, I will be investigating a cyber security issue related to my family's company's industry. I am hoping that will get me closer to answering "What you did, why you did, what you can do, and how ready you are for it." It might take me some time to clearly define a topic of interest, but I will actively work on that, and if nothing is there, perhaps I should consider a different path. That being said, I do have a question still. If you had a year before PhD to prepare yourself to become a better academic researcher, how would you do it?

Hi All, Bit of a long post thanks to anyone who reads. I am seeking advice on how to spend a year between my MBA program and grad school. Before I begin here's where I am at: Undergrad school: McDaniel College (2009-2013) Undergrad program: Computer Science, minor in Mathematics Undergrad GPA: 2.99 :( Graduate School: unranked business school at University of Baltimore (2015-2020) Graduate Program: MBA Graduate GPA: 3.9 GMAT: Not within past 5 years. Research History: I am working with my advisor in my program to design a research topic in the fall. Hoping to nail down what the topic is by the end of next week. I anticipate it will be a study of how disruptive innovation has affected the landscape of a particular cloud based system, and I hope to draw conclusions about how companies are handling disruptive innovation in modern times based off my findings. This will be for academic credit, but I hope to create something that is capable of being published. Teaching experience: None. My Spiel (feel free to skip to questions below): Although it was always in the back of my mind, I never really anticipated on getting into academics. I currently serve as an assistant CTO for medium sized MSP/MSSP my family runs. Up until about a year ago I had full intention to take over the company when my dad retires. Currently, I manage a small team ,and I work directly with our clients to help them determine which technologies to implement in their businesses. After some soul searching and a few trips to an occupational therapist, I have decided some of my proudest achievements and relationships were academically based, and I am deeply interested in pursuing this further. Unfortunately, I don't feel like my academic resume matches my enthusiasm for it currently. I was very blessed to have gotten a taste of what it was like to be part of an academic cohort in my undergrad, but my GPA definitely does not reflect that because the first half of my undergrad was spent partying. After undergrad, I started working immediately for my folks. Around 3 years in to work, I started my MBA program at UBalt. I did not apply to any other programs because I could walk to that school from my house, and I was mostly pursuing the degree for a piece of paper, and I had a tremendous amount of pressure to pursue technical certifications which I have never particularly enjoyed. The MBA program was a good excuse to avoid those. Fast forward to today, and I have fallen in love with the study of digital innovation. With COVID19 having us all working from home, a lot of my daily tasks at work have been mitigated. I have used my spare time to take a deep dive into digital innovation as an academic study, and I have read 50+ academic publications since the start of COVID19 on the topic. I have been jotting down my takeaways on the ones that seem most relevant to the paper I want to write in the fall. I am gearing up to apply to PhD programs. I am graduating from UBalt in the fall, but I will not be applying for programs December 2021. I need to take a year off because my Fiancé is stuck at the hospital where she works her until then, and her presence is vital to my success in any program I am in! So until then I am stuck in Maryland. I am faced with the decision of how to spend that year. I have been transparent with my folks about my decision to leave the company. I do have the option to work part time and use the remaining time for academic pursuits. I really love technology, and I am really grateful my career gave me the option to work closely with CEOs and implement some really cool projects, but I am excited to be able to analyze how businesses use technology in a different lens. Additionally, I am excited to be part of an academic community again. My MBA program has been at night, and it has not quiet scratched my academic itch that I got a taste of in my undergrad. My Questions: Anyway, if you all had a year to kill between grad school and PhD, what would you do? I think I want to spend it doing part time research, but I am not sure if that is better than being a full time research assistant. The finances will work out to be similar on my end, as part time at my current job is comparable to full time as a research assistant. Perhaps I could do both and work as a research assistant for half the year? How would you prep for the GMAT if you had to do it again? What courses would you take on it? What programs would you recommend me look into? I really want to study the way companies handle digital innovation is evolving, but I haven't dived in quite deep enough to find what programs are a fit for me. I don't think my academic resume is that great so telling me I won't get into a top ten school won't hurt my feelings. Finally, I don't have any formal teaching experience. Is that a big deal? Is it a good use of my time to change that? I think I would love sharing ideas with students, but I have not tested that theory.