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It's my understanding that when a faculty member receives a letter of recommendation request from a doctoral program for an applicant, that he or she is also asked to fill out some sort of a rating profile as well. Do any of you know what specifically the applicant is rated upon?

For how much I've heard that admissions can be affected by letter writers leveraging connections with colleagues on adcoms, I have no idea how this works in practice, or if there is a role in all this for the applicant. I suspect other applicants find the process similarly opaque. An example on context, in this wonderful thread I lurked ( http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-economics/157874-admissions-process.html ), @startz and @Kaysa offer some very useful, candid opinions on the admissions process, and cite the importance of adcom members knowing an applicant's reference. I have two questions on this process, hoping to get some first- or second-hand accounts: (1) Where in the process does the whole personal connection thing tend to factor in? @Kaysa suggests profs on adcoms may call letter writers they know. Is it common for writers to directly ring up a friend on an adcom? (2) Does the applicant need to play a role in any of this? For example, if writers do tend to ring up their colleagues, is it the applicant's job to nudge the writer in that direction and/or signal clearly which program(s) the applicant really would love the help with? What time in the application/admissions process makes most sense to do this? Thanks!

Hi m8s! I am about to apply for a phd in management (concentrations in organizational studies). I would like to understand what kind of biz school (i.e. top10 - top20 - top50 - top1/0) i can aim at, given my profile, in order to maximize my chances to succeed. What matters for me is getting into a phd program, which means: Harvard much better than Homer Simpson School of Management but Monty Burns Business School much better than nothing (as long as I am provided with funding by the University). Currently I am thinking about a portfolio of 10 business school to apply to: 3 in the top 10, 3 in the top 20, 2 in the top 50 and 2 in the top 100. My profile is: BS and MS: Business economics at LUISS (Rome) GPA: 29/30 (in both BS and MS) which means I was one of the finest students Toefl IBT: 104 GRE: 620V, 760Q (dunno AW yet) LORS: ex professors of mine (who are very good and reknown in Italy but I doubt their international fame in the US even if some of them had studied in some top business schools - Columbia, Sloan MIT, Wharton UPenn) Professional experience: 2 years in business consulting, working on competitive analysis, business process analysis, post-merger integration. Language skills: Italian (mother tongue), english and spanish (fluent), french (good). SW skills: proficinecy with excel, power point, Visio and Aris (as every business consultanat ) Do I need to add further details? Thank u very much for your kind attention and suggestions!

Profile Age: 24 Undergrad BBA in Economics GPA: 3.77 (Top 7% in Class) Multiple honor societies. College Scholarship Athlete (4 years) Graduate School MA in Economics GPA 3.6 Worked 20 hours a week as Research Assistant. 2 published papers LOR: VERY strong GMAT: 650 (I went from a 540 practice to 650 real. Not sure I could get it much higher.) I was wondering what schools I would be competitive at? I want a PhD in Strategic Management and Public Policy, or Business Management with a focus on strategy, etc. Any new ideas/similar degree plans would be great. I was looking at some programs like: George Washington University Oklahoma University Tulane University Vanderbilt University Thoughts? Thank you, and please be realistic. Do not be afraid to be blunt!