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Hi everyone. I'm Korean and planning to apply for PhD in business(Operation Management) for 2021 fall or maybe 2022 also. Since I first started to consider PhD in business in late August, I could not fully prepare for required tests. I acknowledge that my profile is not competitive, but I want to try this unless it's totally a waste of money. So I would greatly appreciate if some of you give me any advice or let me realize cruel reality :D. Test Scores GRE: V 155(67%) / Q 168(92%) / AWA 3.5 (38%) TOEFL: 95 (29/25/20/21) Undergrad GPA: physics 3.74/4.00 (not top school, South Korea) Graduate GPA: statistics 4.0/4.0 up to third semester (higher than undergrad, yet not top school, South Korea) Research Interests: operation management(not yet exhaustively explored sub fields). I discovered some professors who study optimization problems in online ads or display ads, and it attracts me. However they are in top 10 school.. Research Experience: My master's thesis(in statistics) is under review on a minor journal, it seems to be accepted if I take minor revision. I'm co-working with a professor in Business department to write a paper about operation management in international trade. I proved some optimal conditions for importer and exporter using calculus, and discussed some ideas with the professor to extend our model. Teaching Experience: None Work Experience: 1 year work in a patent law firm. I performed most patent application processes, but I have no legal licence(patent attorney or agent). Letters of Recommendation: my adviser, co-working professor and another professor soon to be invited to our research. The professor I'm working with obtained PhD in U.S., and have connection with some current professors in U.S.. Number of programs planned to apply to: fewer than 10 Dream Schools: Columbia, UNC (Yes, just dream :)) What made you want to pursue a PhD? In this summer, my adviser asked me if I'm interested in doing research with a professor in business department who needed co-worker capable of undergrad level mathematics for his paper. I wondered how and which mathematics are used in business research, so I took part in. While calculating some math and interpreting the result of the calculation, I could feel similar joy of understanding a system with the mathematical perspective as I was studying physics. Soon, I began to think that pursuing PhD in business may be better for me rather than getting a job in industry, because I want to be an independent researcher. If you ask me why I don't try PhD in statistics, during MS course I felt that I want to apply my knowledge of stat to industrial area, not to study statistics itself deeply. Therefore I aimed for industry after graduation. Now, I realized that it can be also used to solve problems in business, especially operation management. Questions or concerns you have about your profile? 1. I concern my weak GRE, TOEFL scores. Some schools have minimum TOEFL scores higher than mine, whereas others have lower or don't have. But I'm not sure if I can avoid to be screened out even though I satisfied minimum requirement. 2. I don't have background in economy, and did not take real analysis lectures. Will these influence my admission significantly? By the way, I took linear algebra and calculus.