Fall 2023 Marketing Strategy Applicant
Undergrad GPA: Engineer from a Tier 2 Indian University (7.26/10 - First class)
Graduate GPA: MBA from a Top-10 Indian B-school. (3.29/4.33)
GRE- 329 (167Q, 162V, 5AWA)
Research Experience: In addition to master’s thesis, currently working as a full time RA with marketing professors at top B-school in India.
Hoping to have two working papers before application submission and a conference submission.
Teaching Experience: NA
Work Experience: 3 years in an Automobile Firm as Regional Manager- Marketing Analytics and Strategy
Concentration Applying to: Marketing Strategy
Number of programs planned to apply to: 15
Dream Schools: UT - Austin, Texas A&M, UGA, Georgia Tech
LOR - Two strong LORs from the marketing profs I am working with. Hopes for a third one from a professor with a strong presence in the US academia circle (he is currently a chair at one of my target universities)
Other Questions: Is this good enough for acceptance. I had previously applied in 2020 without research experience and had interviews from 5 places but was eventually ghosted/ waitlisted.
Should I be mailing professors beforehand? I have received mixed responses for this question since it’s a must in some fields and not really in others. I don’t want it to backfire so I want to be sure before I shoot any mails.
What made you want to pursue a PhD?
I was always interested in marketing as a field. That was the reason I took up MBA. However i soon realised this is not the kind of marketing I wanted to do. I wanted to understand it at a deeper and theoretical level. In industry, marketing means advertising and that’s not what I was going for. Due to study loans, I had to work to pay off the debt. As soon as that was done I applied to PhD programs. Got rejected and took up a full time RA role to learn and to see whether this is what I really want to do. And I guess I do!!
Questions or concerns you have about your profile?
The GPA is kind of average. Do universities exclusively go for gold medallists?
Again not sure about this since I have previously been shortlisted for interviews.
I might not have a publication. Will this be a deal breaker?
Any additional specific questions you may have:
Should I mention my previous applications in the SOP? Sort of to highlight that I persisted and persevered and so this proves that I am in this for the long haul?
