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A question about SoPs in Accounting


MountainKing

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My friend has a question about Accounting SoPs. He is applying this year. I am interested in the responses as well since I will be applying next year.

 

"I am interested in this question. How does one tune his SOP for different schools? For instance, I am interested in empirical archival capital markets accounting research. I am writing the same for each school, and describing the kind of papers I have read. But I am not specifically mentioning that I would prefer doing research in valuation over analysts research. So, how should I tune my sop to different schools? Also do schools speak among themselves about a potential PhD student?"

Thanks!

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Schools definitely communicate with each other. It is unlikely that they will discuss your SOP with each other, but they very well may talk a little about candidates that they have flown out or are considering flying out. The context in which you ask that question makes me worry that you would consider putting something in your SOP that wouldn't be consistent across schools. Definitely do not do this. You can emphasize different points, but definitely don't lie. It will not get you into a school that works better for you. Not saying that this was your plan, just wanted to throw it out there because it looks like you could be hinting that way.

 

I tuned my SOP by looking at different faculty that had work that was interesting and mentioning them in my SOP. In retrospect I was probably more generic than I should have been. I think you should really look at the strengths of each school, who their strong faculty members are, who has chaired recent dissertations and write about why you would want to be able to have one of those individuals chair your dissertation.

 

I think it is fine not to say that you like valuation research over analyst research. Your tastes may change and presenting a specific question probably isn't a good idea. I would say that generally it would be a good idea to look at areas that you have researched, papers that you thought were interesting, and that you are looking forward to learning more.

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Agreed with all above.

 

I also would point out that by tailoring your SOPs, you can show your knowledge about the school. Does the school have great placement? Do they have more resources (research subjects, databases, other things) for their PhD students? Is the school known for a particular culture? Does the faculty-student ratio appeal to you? If you are thinking behavioral, does the university have a great psychology department? Have you met or read the work of one of the faculty members? Are you interested in a type of research done at that school?

 

In short, you should be able to answer a faculty member why you choose that particular school over other schools that do capital markets research (or even the numerous schools that do valuation research). I honestly don't think PhD applicants appreciate how different schools are from each other (or job market candidates for that matter).

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