SEEKING A PROFILE EVALUATION (for FALL 2016 ENTRY)?? (PLEASE POST HERE)

[scholar1]

Hello, I am aiming to get accepted into a top-tier marketing (consumer behavior) PhD program, and I was wondering what my chances were.

 

Test Scores (GMAT/GRE): I haven't taken the GRE yet, but I'm taking it in August.

Undegrad GPA: 3.56 (Biology)

Graduate GPA: 4.0 (MBA)

Research Experience: I have one publication in a science journal in which I was second author. I have another publication that I am co-authoring (2nd author) with a marketing professor which should be published by the time I apply, so I will have two publications by the time I apply. I took 9 credit hours (3 classes) as a DIS during undergraduate and 3 credit hours (1 class) as a DIS in marketing as a graduate student while working as a research assistant.

 

I have also given poster presentations at three conferences and given talks at two conferences.

 

Teaching Experience: I have been a middle school teacher for two years.

Work Experience: Same as above

 

Concentration Applying to: Marketing - Consumer Behavior (though I would also consider Strategy)

Number of programs planned to apply to: 20

Dream Schools:Harvard, Cornell, MIT, Caltech, UC Berkley, Washington, Standord

 

What made you want to pursue a PhD: I fell in love with both research and teaching and I think a professorship would fulfill both of these passions.

 

Any additional specific questions you may have: I am the first individual in my family to ever go to college, so I'm not sure if that will be an additional benefit.

 

Dude, even I can tell you that you have a very strong profile, and this is my second post here :p

[XanthusARES]

Question: What do people think my realistic chances are of getting into the tiers that I have defined above?

Question: What are the things I might be able to improve in order to make my profile better in the next half year until app deadlines?

Question: What are the biggest weakenesses you see in my profile and should i make an effort to explain that in my SOP?

Question: Would you suggest me to change my mix of application from current i..e should i apply to more 50-100 places or more 20-50 places?

 

Howdy! You seem to be on the right track with your target schools. Your grad GPA (even if you get to a 3.6) is going to put you out of the top 15ish program. Your stats background will help you a ton. Your bend towards CB seems out of place with your background. The stats master's as well as your math and econ undergrad really point towards quant and you are going to get some questions in interviews about the switch. I understand the difficulty of not being able to do the RA due to money constraints, but that really was your best bet. You really need to get some research experience, but at this point it's going to be too late. You'll need to boost that Quant score to the 90th percentile as well on the GRE.

 

So with all of that in mind, here is my evaluation. Nothing screams out about your profile. With your grad GPA, GRE and limited research experience, you should focus more on the 50-100 schools, in my opinion. You seem to already know this based on what you say you are targeting school wise. So keep pace, study hard for the GRE and apply widely and I could definitely see you in a program next fall. Good luck!

[ZAPHD]

Hi all

 

First off, a big thanks for all the advice I have already received, especially to TaxPHD, Yasvoboden and phdhope. Just as background info, from my previous post:

2 years: PwC

7 years: Lecturer at a South African University.

Chartered Accountant.

Published 3 articles (B rated and C rated journals; according to the ABDC list).

Presented papers at a few SA conferences.

Masters degree in Accounting (South African University).

Masters degree in Taxation (South African University).

Co author on 2 accounting textbooks.

I do not have GPA (SA university, I however was top in my class for a few modules throughout my studies).

 

 

Definitely quantitative, financial accounting (earnings management or financial reporting), archival research.

 

 

I scored 760 (Q50, V42) on the GMAT.

 

 

My biggest weakness is no formal calculus training. I will however enroll in a few online courses during the next month or two.

 

I have chosen 12 schools. I would really appreciate your opinion as to whether these 12 schools are a good mix between dream, realistic and more realistic (safe doesn't exist). I have chosen these 12 schools based on current faculty research, phd research, faculty research interests, placements, PAR rankings, BYU PHD program rankings, BYU faculty rankings, university rankings and AACSB accreditation.

 

I started with 40 schools and would appreciate insight as to whether I missed certain schools that should be in the list. Any advice would be appreciated. You are also welcome to PM me if you do not want to comment on the forum itself.

 

The twelve are:

 

[TABLE=width: 242]

[TR]

[TD]University of Texas at Austin[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Stanford University[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]University of California[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Texas A&M[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Ohio State[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]University of Iowa[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]University of Georgia[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]University of Illinois[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Arizona State[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]University of Nebraska-Lincoln[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]University of Connecticut[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Duke[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

 

It was very difficult to leave out schools such as Michigan, University of Chicago, USC, Indiana & Arizona. Should I add these or replace them with others?

 

Thanks

[scholar1]

Thanks a lot XanthusARES. I almost knew that you would be the one responding to my profile evaluation since you do seem to take the time out to help people out on here.

 

I am quite grateful for the review.

 

I am also somewhat relieved that you think I am not a complete lost cause.

 

Once again many thanks and good luck with all the rest going on in your life :)

[dunguyen]

Hello,

I am an international graduate seeking to apply for a US PhD Program in Finance. Please help evaluate my profile and thanks for having this useful thread!

 

Test Scores (GMAT/GRE): GRE Q170 (98 percentile), V153 (59 percentile), AW4.5 (80 percentile)

Undegrad GPA: 8/10 Bachelor of Commerce in Vietnam, relatively good grades in economics, calculus and statistics, average grade in econometrics (roughly 3.5/4 on US grading scale, top 10% of class at the top university in Vietnam)

Graduate GPA: 81/100 MSc Finance at an UK university (top 200 of world universities, Dean's Recommendation for outstanding achievements in the cohort)

Research Experience: MSc Thesis and 2 working papers (no publications) I researched at the current employment .

Teaching Experience: lecturer in finance at a well-known university in Vietnam,

Work Experience: 2.5 years teaching experience in major finance-related subjects (fundamentals of finance, financial systems, portfolio management, computational finance, econometrics) at bachelor programs, also passed the level III CFA exam.

 

Concentration Applying to: behavioral corporate finance

Number of programs planned to apply to: 4 to 5 (I know I should spread my application widely but I want to sacrifice the breadth for the depth, spending more time to understand the few suited programs and focus on them)

Dream Schools: Chicago Booth, Stern NYU, Kellogg Northwestern, Ohio State, Rotman Toronto (mainly because these schools have notable faculty or at lease interests in my interested research area)

 

What made you want to pursue a PhD: met super kind professors from undergrad to grad and love their devotions, aptitude and works, always got encouragement from them to pursue the career, personal traits and life circumstances also play some strong roles.

Concerns you have about your profile:

1. weak GRE's verbal score. I will retake the test this Sep but is it vitally necessary or should I invest time for SOPs?

2. LORs do not come from top professors in the field (they are from UK), but positive words are expected because I worked diligently with them and they actually encouraged me to take the academic career.

 

Any additional specific questions you may have: should I play safe by applying to more schools in top 50-100 or 100-150? It will be harder to write a persuasive SOPs because few schools in these tiers are specialising in behavioral finance.

 

Thank you again for having this extremely useful thread to help confused applicants! I really appreciate all your hard works. D.

[BengaliKitty]

Context: I'm from India.

 

Test Scores (GRE): Not taken yet.

Undegrad GPA: Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering (200) from non-IIT, but top school in my state. GPA: 9.08/10 (First class honours)

 

Graduate GPA:

MBA (2011) from IIM Ahmedabad (India's top-ranked business school; FT MBA school rank 26 in the world for 2015)

· M.Sc.(2011) in International Management, Bocconi University, Italy (Double Degree).

· Bocconi GPA: 98/110 (Italian system)

· IIMA GPA: 2.99/4 (While I was probably only in the top 70-100 in my ~300 strong batch, the MBA program of IIMA is one of most competitive in the world to get into, with admission rates around 0.1%. Each year this program is attended by ~300 of the best students in entire India, across disciplines. And this place uses relative grading. That means no one in the history of IIMA ever earned US-like GPA's such as 3.8+/4 etc. The max. GPA's would range around 3.4...3.5)

Research Experience:

None in course of my MBA education. However I have very good research experience at undergrad level compared to most Indian undergrads.I have co-authored 4 papers (on optimization of sensor networks), under the guidance of one of my undergrad profs, one of which is in IEEEXplore

 

Teaching Experience: none

 

Work Experience: Working for the past 1 year 9 months for one of the Big 4 professional services firms in their financial risk management practice. Worked for an FMCG company in their compliance department for 2.5 years before that.

 

Significant recent projects (client engagements and solution development):

 

1. End-to-end conceptualization and development of portfolio allocation solution based on Black-Litterman model.

 

2. Developed solution for selecting optimal derivative instruments for Steel hedging based on Garbade and Silber simultaneous price dynamics model

 

3. Contributed to the Financial Instruments section of Global Steel 2014 - the firm's marquee annual steel publication. Received written appreciation from the Risk Advisory National Leader for the same.

 

4.Conceptualization and development of Value-at-Risk model for a telecom major:

 

• Single-handedly created a 4 step, 9 substep model for computing VaR for the client

• Chose sample risk factors and simulated sample VaR scenarios for the same

 

5. Conceptualization and development of Vector Auto Regression based commodity price forecasting solution for one of India's top FMCG players

 

6. Led a team of six to conduct end-to-end treasury controls review of a leading Indian bank. Ensured achievement of steep individual and team daily targets against tight timelines. Received written appreciation from project supervisor.

 

7. Led end to end foreign exchange and commodities review including risk management policy benchmarking for a leading Indian Engineering, Procurement and Construction company.

 

8. Led working capital & trade finance review in one of India’s major oil refining companies.

 

9. Team member in trade finance review in one of the world-leading luxury car manufacturers based in the UK.

 

Concentration Applying to: Economics/strategy/decision sciences (My preferred area would be Eco, as my interest lies in game theory).

 

 

Number of programs planned to apply to: 6-10

 

 

Dream Schools: Kellogg MEDS

 

What made you want to pursue a PhD: Earned an MBA in 2011 and have been working in the corporate sector since then. However I want to shift to a career in academia as I want an intellectually engaging career. Hence I want to do my PhD.

Concerns you have about your profile: Two-fold:

 

1. I have an engineering background and not an economics/math background, which makes it difficult to convince the adcom about my ability to do game theory.

2. My average GPA at MBA level.

 

 

Any additional specific questions you may have:

#1 Please suggest schools I should apply to realistically, given my profile. (I may not even apply this year, may apply next year if I feel my preparation is not sufficient).

#2 Please suggest well-regarded professors working in the game theory area in various bschools. I realize I might have to go down the rankings quite a bit while applying, in which case landing a highly-ranked guide in a not-so-highly-ranked school looks like my best strategy.

 

Thanks a ton for your help. Apologies for the rondom formatting. I'm not able to change it for some reason.

[XanthusARES]

Context: I'm from India.

 

Hi. I think you should put this in the econ forum. They would be much more able to help you out since this forum is for business PhD's. The urch econ forum is really well handled and has a huge list of active members. They'll be able to get you what you need.

 

If you are looking at game theory from a business PhD side, there are a lot of quant profs who use game theory as their basis for research. However, you're going to have to do the legwork to find out whose work interests you. Good luck!

[BengaliKitty]

Hi. I think you should put this in the econ forum. They would be much more able to help you out since this forum is for business PhD's. The urch econ forum is really well handled and has a huge list of active members. They'll be able to get you what you need.

 

If you are looking at game theory from a business PhD side, there are a lot of quant profs who use game theory as their basis for research. However, you're going to have to do the legwork to find out whose work interests you. Good luck!

 

I'm looking for a business PhD, since I've already done my MBA. I don't have Eco/math background as you can see, so a pure Econ PhD looks practically impossible. And I was hoping my MBA+work ex could be made to work for a business PhD application (which is impossible for an Econ PhD application).

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks so much for your reply.

[ArcticApplicant]

Does that imply that an application consisting of a very strong, and personal recommendation letter from a not-so-good university/not-known prof. would get insta-rejected just because the GPA is bad? How, then, do the people with low GPA ever get a shot at good schools if they don't have reco from good places?! :cower:

 

If the GPA and GMAT/GRE are bad or mediocre then probably; it would be hard for a school to justify an admit based on a LOR alone, an objective (if often flawed) measure such as GPA or scores sit more comfortably. To your second question, low GPA + reco from little known school is best overcome by killing the GMAT or GRE (killing = rocking = dominating ... etc.).

[ArcticApplicant]

Hi all - new member here, so thanks for the help!

 

Test Scores (GMAT/GRE): GMAT - 730 (96%), Q48, V41

Undegrad GPA: 3.99 BBA - Management of Information Systems (Summa Cum Laude, top grad in major), 50-100 ranked 4 year university

Graduate GPA: 3.98 MBA - Finance concentration (top graduate), 40-60 ranked MBA program

Research Experience: Minimal - 1 semester as RA in MBA program with marketing PhD

Teaching Experience: None

Work Experience: 9 years in financial services and healthcare doing business analysis and project management (the most recent 4 years of which as an independent consultant performing data analysis for large scale system implementations). I also had a 1 year internship with a Venture Capital firm during my MBA program.

 

Concentration Applying to: Strategy

Number of programs planned to apply to: 5 top 20, 3 top 40, 8 total (my hybrid ranking system used 50% Texas A&M weight after OB / Psych journals taken out, 50% UTD rankings)

Dream Schools: UNC, Duke, USC, Arizona State

What made you want to pursue a PhD: Realizing that I want to do something that I love for the rest of my life. I love analyzing data and I love teaching, so I thought being a research professor is a good fit. I am an independent person by nature, so the idea of collaborating with other intelligent professionals while mostly pursuing my own research sounds perfect. Also, I never felt like I was really making a difference with my life being a consultant. I feel like by researching how to increase innovation and improve strategic decision making, I will be promoting economic development and innovation (which I think leads to a better life for all).

 

Concerns you have about your profile: My letters of recommendation are from my alma mater, which is not a research university. The faculty loved me, but they are not heavily published researchers. Also, I have such minimal research experience and no published papers.

 

Any additional specific questions you may have: I am going to try to apply in the earliest wave (October for most schools), but I am also going to try to volunteer to be a research assistant with the aforementioned professors over the next couple of months to gain more RA experience. I realize that it would be ideal to volunteer with more respected faculty, but I don't have relationships with anyone at a top university. Is this a good idea? Is there anything else I can/should do over the next 4 months to help my chances?

 

Also, when I took the GMAT the first time I scored a 760, but I had to retake it since it was over 5 years old. Since I have listed that score on my resume, will that help me at all?

 

I think you've got a solid profile. Your GPAs are great, and likely resolve any hesitation top schools may have about the Q48. Volunteering on research is definitely something you should do - something you can mention in your SOP. LORs from non-research uni are not a death-nail by any means (I had the same), the professors enthusiasm for your candidacy will hopefully make up for it; however, to the extent that you can discuss your research interests with your LOR writers ahead of time that would help them even more in communicating how well prepared and passionate you are about research. Additional things that you could do over the next 4 months for me would include reading research articles in your area of interest; this will come in handy when you're writing your SOP. Even a cursory understanding of the literature will help you understand where you fit in, and maybe generate some interesting research questions you can propose in your SOP (by no means is this necessary, but can be helpful if done properly).

 

Good luck.

[XanthusARES]

I'm looking for a business PhD, since I've already done my MBA. I don't have Eco/math background as you can see, so a pure Econ PhD looks practically impossible. And I was hoping my MBA+work ex could be made to work for a business PhD application (which is impossible for an Econ PhD application).

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks so much for your reply.

 

 

I'm just going to be brutally honest here. It doesn't sound like you are interested in a PhD in Business. I get the feeling that you are interested in an Econ PhD, but think that you aren't qualified to be accepted into one. Not to be mean, but a business PhD should never be a back up plan. Also, in my program, the people doing game theory work take classes exclusively from the school of econ and all have an econ/math background.

 

To be a little nicer, it sounds like you are still in the early phases of learning about PhD programs. And that's perfectly fine, in fact it's good to be starting early. There is a wealth of knowledge on this site and I suggest you look around for a while. To speak specifically to your questions, your MBA and your work experience will provide 0 value to your PhD application. That's just the way it is. Both of those things are great for finding a job in industry, but all programs care about is research experience and research potential (assuming you make the GPA and GMAT cut-off). So my advice is this. Find a professor at a local university doing work that you think is interesting. Whether that is in the econ department or the business school is really up to what your interests are. Sit down with said professor and have a nice long talk about your aspirations and find out specifically what they do. That will be a lot more helpful than we can be.

 

One final thought. I could be reading this wrong, but you really seem like you are only interested in business PhD's because you think you can't get into an econ program. If econ is your passion, then don't settle for business. Go out there take a few econ and math courses and get yourself into an econ program. In the long run, you'll be doing what you love, and that is what is most important. You don't want to burn out of a program because your interests lie in a different field. Good luck!

[BengaliKitty]

I'm just going to be brutally honest here. It doesn't sound like you are interested in a PhD in Business. I get the feeling that you are interested in an Econ PhD, but think that you aren't qualified to be accepted into one. Not to be mean, but a business PhD should never be a back up plan. Also, in my program, the people doing game theory work take classes exclusively from the school of econ and all have an econ/math background.

 

To be a little nicer, it sounds like you are still in the early phases of learning about PhD programs. And that's perfectly fine, in fact it's good to be starting early. There is a wealth of knowledge on this site and I suggest you look around for a while. To speak specifically to your questions, your MBA and your work experience will provide 0 value to your PhD application. That's just the way it is. Both of those things are great for finding a job in industry, but all programs care about is research experience and research potential (assuming you make the GPA and GMAT cut-off). So my advice is this. Find a professor at a local university doing work that you think is interesting. Whether that is in the econ department or the business school is really up to what your interests are. Sit down with said professor and have a nice long talk about your aspirations and find out specifically what they do. That will be a lot more helpful than we can be.

 

One final thought. I could be reading this wrong, but you really seem like you are only interested in business PhD's because you think you can't get into an econ program. If econ is your passion, then don't settle for business. Go out there take a few econ and math courses and get yourself into an econ program. In the long run, you'll be doing what you love, and that is what is most important. You don't want to burn out of a program because your interests lie in a different field. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the info. Yeah it's true my interest lies in Econ mainly but that looked impossible given the circumstances. Thanks again.

[Phdres]

In an effort to (1) reduce the number of posts on profile evaluation and (2) prevent forum contributors from giving the same information multiple times for each individual applicant, please post all profile evaluations to this thread. The information given by forum contributors is often overlapping. In preparation for the future application cycle (2015 - 2016).

 

To help facilitate advice forum members can provide, please provide as much of the information below you feel comfortable sharing. Being more specific will help forum members give you more specific advice:

 

Name: (just kidding! actually, totally don't post this)

 

---------

 

Test Scores (GMAT/GRE): 650 V 31 Q 48 AWA 5.0

Undegrad GPA: 67% India state engineering college top 10 in state. B.Tech electronics

Graduate GPA: 76 MBA from top 5 school in France (major- entrepreneurship)

Certification in Marketing

Research Experience: For certification and MBA courses

Teaching Experience: none

Work Experience: 6.3 years - software development, manufacturing, startups, free lancing worked across different continents.

 

Concentration Applying to: Marketing , Entrepreneurship Innovation

Number of programs planned to apply to:

Dream Schools: Stanford,Harvard, Yale, Carnegie Mellon, HEC, Berkeley etc

 

What made you want to pursue a PhD: I loved researching content for a white paper I am in the process of publishing. Also I have worked at incubators and observed the impact of technology in people's lives n vice versa. Research and the process, the design of such ecosystems intrigue me.

 

Concerns you have about your profile: gmat score

 

Any additional specific questions you may have: What should i do to enhance my profile and what steps do i take to be realistic with my application process. Which are the best schools/ countries to target (preference is US,UK and Europe) . Any suggestions is welcome. I have just started my search for the right schools.

 

Hope I get some good advice in this forum:encouragement:

 

---------

 

 

Thanks!

 

Phdres

 

Appreciate any help

[HorsesInVA]

Marketing, entrepreneurship, Innovation are all different topics. Marketing and Entrepreneurship are usually in different departments. Innovation and Entrepreneurship are more similar but still very different literatures. Ecosystem design, is also a separate topic. Impact of technologies on people's lives is usually science and technology studies. However, much more germane, a 650 means no one in your dream school is going to consider you. Right now, if you cannot narrow your topic (if you want flip a coin, while it's in the air you'll starting thinking about which side you want it to land on) and raise your GMAT, this is going to be a frustrating application cycle for you.

 

In the short term, can you improve your GMAT score? Also some of the school's your thinking about applying to, don't take a GMAT.

[XanthusARES]

Test Scores (GMAT/GRE): 650 V 31 Q 48 AWA 5.0

Undegrad GPA: 67% India state engineering college top 10 in state. B.Tech electronics

Graduate GPA: 76 MBA from top 5 school in France (major- entrepreneurship)

Certification in Marketing

Research Experience: For certification and MBA courses

Teaching Experience: none

Work Experience: 6.3 years - software development, manufacturing, startups, free lancing worked across different continents.

 

Concentration Applying to: Marketing , Entrepreneurship Innovation

Number of programs planned to apply to:

Dream Schools: Stanford,Harvard, Yale, Carnegie Mellon, HEC, Berkeley etc

 

What made you want to pursue a PhD: I loved researching content for a white paper I am in the process of publishing. Also I have worked at incubators and observed the impact of technology in people's lives n vice versa. Research and the process, the design of such ecosystems intrigue me.

 

Concerns you have about your profile: gmat score

 

Any additional specific questions you may have: What should i do to enhance my profile and what steps do i take to be realistic with my application process. Which are the best schools/ countries to target (preference is US,UK and Europe) . Any suggestions is welcome. I have just started my search for the right schools.

 

So it looks like you are still early in the process and trying to decide what to apply for. That's great! As American Pharoah mentioned each of the different topics you mentioned are generally in different departments. Also with your limited research experience and low GMAT, your dream schools are way out of your league, currently. My guess, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that you are interested in these schools because of the prestige associated with them, more than what research is being done at them. While that is an OK place to start looking at schools, you really need to look at specific researchers and find professors doing research of interest.

 

The best place for you to start is to make a decision about what you want to study, in a very broad sense. Decide on whether you are interested in Marketing or the other two. Then read papers in these areas to find out what is currently being done in them. Use these papers to look at professors of interest and make your list from there. I have a lengthy post about how to select schools somewhere on this site. Have a look through it and hopefully that will help you to make your decision.

 

Once you've decided on a research area, you need to gain some research experience to be competitive at top 25 programs. You don't need published work, but you do need to be able to say that you know what research is and generally how it is conducted. This will also help you to get solid LOR's for your applications.

 

Finally if you want a chance at a top 10 school, you're going to need to get that GMAT above a 740. You just do. Even with that, and research experience, and strong LOR's nothing is guaranteed. It's much more important that you make a list of your own top 10.

 

Good luck!

[businessphd]

Hi all,

 

My profile is as below.

 

[TABLE=class: grid, width: 500]

[TR]

[TD]Age[/TD]

[TD]35[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Country[/TD]

[TD]India[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]UG[/TD]

[TD]Mechanical Engineering

CGPA 8/10

College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]PG[/TD]

[TD]Post Graduate Diploma in Management

CGPA 3.6/4.33

Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Work Experience[/TD]

[TD]12 years in SAP as Consultant, Developer and Product Manager[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]GMAT[/TD]

[TD]Not taken yet, but 730-740 expected, based on prior trial tests.[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Research Experience[/TD]

[TD]None[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Teaching Experience[/TD]

[TD]None[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Number of programs planned to apply to[/TD]

[TD]20[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Concentration Applying to[/TD]

[TD]Information Systems[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Dream Schools[/TD]

[TD]None[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]What made you want to pursue a PhD[/TD]

[TD]I would like to learn/do research and pursue a career in academia. I love teaching too.[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Any additional specific questions you may have[/TD]

[TD]I've looked at the BSchools ranking in usnews and intending to apply widely to universities ranking between 20-50, for example to many in the below list.. I'll also apply for a few in the Top 20. My Safety Schools will be outside of Top 50, not decided yet.

 

I've not yet short-listed places to apply, but I want feedback on my choices and plan. Do they look appropriate for my profile?[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

 

Planning to apply to many colleges in the below list:

 

 

Indiana University—​Bloomington (Kelley)

University of Washington (Foster)

Georgetown University (McDonough)

University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)

University of Southern California (Marshall)

Texas A&M University—​College Station (Mays)

University of Minnesota—​Twin Cities (Carlson)

Vanderbilt University (Owen)

Arizona State University (Carey)

Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller)

Ohio State University (Fisher)

Brigham Young University (Marriott)

Rice University (Jones)

University of Texas—​Dallas

University of Wisconsin—​Madison Madison, WI

Michigan State University (Broad)

Pennsylvania State University—​University Park (Smeal)

University of Florida (Hough)

University of Rochester (Simon)

Temple University (Fox)

University of Maryland—​College Park (Smith)

Boston University (Questrom)

University of Iowa (Tippie)

Boston College (Carroll)

Wake Forest University

University of Illinois—​Urbana-​Champaign

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey—​Newark and New Brunswick

Southern Methodist University (Cox)

University of California—​Davis

University of Connecticut

University of Pittsburgh (Katz)

Purdue University—​West Lafayette (Krannert)

[YaSvoboden]

Hi all,

 

My profile is as below.

 

[TABLE=class: grid, width: 500]

[TR]

[TD]Age[/TD]

[TD]35[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Country[/TD]

[TD]India[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]UG[/TD]

[TD]Mechanical Engineering

CGPA 8/10

College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]PG[/TD]

[TD]Post Graduate Diploma in Management

CGPA 3.6/4.33

Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Work Experience[/TD]

[TD]12 years in SAP as Consultant, Developer and Product Manager[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]GMAT[/TD]

[TD]Not taken yet, but 730-740 expected, based on prior trial tests.[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Research Experience[/TD]

[TD]None[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Teaching Experience[/TD]

[TD]None[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Number of programs planned to apply to[/TD]

[TD]20[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Concentration Applying to[/TD]

[TD]Information Systems[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Dream Schools[/TD]

[TD]None[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]What made you want to pursue a PhD[/TD]

[TD]I would like to learn/do research and pursue a career in academia. I love teaching too.[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Any additional specific questions you may have[/TD]

[TD]I've looked at the BSchools ranking in usnews and intending to apply widely to universities ranking between 20-50, for example to many in the below list.. I'll also apply for a few in the Top 20. My Safety Schools will be outside of Top 50, not decided yet.

 

I've not yet short-listed places to apply, but I want feedback on my choices and plan. Do they look appropriate for my profile?[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

 

Planning to apply to many colleges in the below list:

 

 

Indiana University—​Bloomington (Kelley)

University of Washington (Foster)

Georgetown University (McDonough)

University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)

University of Southern California (Marshall)

Texas A&M University—​College Station (Mays)

University of Minnesota—​Twin Cities (Carlson)

Vanderbilt University (Owen)

Arizona State University (Carey)

Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller)

Ohio State University (Fisher)

Brigham Young University (Marriott)

Rice University (Jones)

University of Texas—​Dallas

University of Wisconsin—​Madison Madison, WI

Michigan State University (Broad)

Pennsylvania State University—​University Park (Smeal)

University of Florida (Hough)

University of Rochester (Simon)

Temple University (Fox)

University of Maryland—​College Park (Smith)

Boston University (Questrom)

University of Iowa (Tippie)

Boston College (Carroll)

Wake Forest University

University of Illinois—​Urbana-​Champaign

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey—​Newark and New Brunswick

Southern Methodist University (Cox)

University of California—​Davis

University of Connecticut

University of Pittsburgh (Katz)

Purdue University—​West Lafayette (Krannert)

The range of universities that you are applying to is probably fine. A big problem that you have is simply using US News as a proxy for research rankings. Another big problem you have is that you listed several schools that don't have business PhD programs at all, and many more that don't have a program in IS. Off the top of my head I know that BYU has no business PhD, and that Ohio State's IS degree is within their accounting program and they haven't had an IS graduate in quite a while. I also don't think that UC Davis has a business PhD.

 

So, big picture: you need to do a lot more research on the degree. Find out what journals professors publish in for IS and see what schools have people publishing there. Take a look at all of these schools (and quite a few more) and see if there is an actual degree offered there that you want. Unfortunately for you IS degrees come from a few different places and have different names. Some are within accounting departments, some are PhDs in business with an IS focus, some are outside of the business school.

 

I don't think that we really have an active IS person on this board, so you should probably try to contact some professors to help you through this process.

 

edit: One school that I definitely would add for you is Arizona. https://mis.eller.arizona.edu/

[law123]

Hi all,

 

My profile is as below.

 

[TABLE=class: grid, width: 500]

[TR]

[TD]Age[/TD]

[TD]35[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Country[/TD]

[TD]India[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]UG[/TD]

[TD]Mechanical Engineering

CGPA 8/10

College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]PG[/TD]

[TD]Post Graduate Diploma in Management

CGPA 3.6/4.33

Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Work Experience[/TD]

[TD]12 years in SAP as Consultant, Developer and Product Manager[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]GMAT[/TD]

[TD]Not taken yet, but 730-740 expected, based on prior trial tests.[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Research Experience[/TD]

[TD]None[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Teaching Experience[/TD]

[TD]None[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Number of programs planned to apply to[/TD]

[TD]20[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Concentration Applying to[/TD]

[TD]Information Systems[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Dream Schools[/TD]

[TD]None[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]What made you want to pursue a PhD[/TD]

[TD]I would like to learn/do research and pursue a career in academia. I love teaching too.[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Any additional specific questions you may have[/TD]

[TD]I've looked at the BSchools ranking in usnews and intending to apply widely to universities ranking between 20-50, for example to many in the below list.. I'll also apply for a few in the Top 20. My Safety Schools will be outside of Top 50, not decided yet.

 

I've not yet short-listed places to apply, but I want feedback on my choices and plan. Do they look appropriate for my profile?[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

 

Hi businessphd,

 

In my opinion, I think you should take the GMAT first before choosing programs. You said you expect 730-740 based on your practice test; however, practice is practice and you never know what will happen on the rest test. Some people scored higher on real gmat but in some cases people scored a lot lower than their practice test. I think it is pointless to assume a score because 760 and 680 or 700 is different story. If you score 760-770 on the gmat, you are definitely competitive but only in terms of GMAT. Your GPA is ok but I don't know what courses did you take, and is the Post Graduate Diploma equivalent to master degree? I think your GMAT will be weighed more heavily since your degree are from outside of the US and the GPA is just on the par. Your biggest disadvantage is research experience and I assume you will not have very strong recommendation letter from someone who can judge your academic research potential. I know it is hard for you to get some research experience now since you are out of school for a while. All in all, I think you should take the GMAT and have the official score first, then you target more on the school where their recent admitted students scored below your score say 20-30, plus you have a very good SOP, then you should be able to get into a few place. Anyway, that's just my opinion.

 

Good luck on your gmat and application.

[clairemaggot]

Hello I will be applying for a Phd in political science to start in the fall of 2016

 

I come from a renown European school, 4th econ deparment Europe, 20th worldwide

 

Test Scores (GMAT/GRE): 163 Q/ 161V

Undegrad GPA: 3.3 international management

Graduate GPA: 3.5 economics (relevant courses : grad mathematics, statistics and econometrics, applied microeconometrics, development econ and political economics)

Research Experience: 1 year with tenured professor ( and still working on future published paper) department of decision sciences, 5 months field work in west Africa, 4 months with public policy professor, 4 months tenured political science professor. Wrote master thesis with well know tenured development and political econ professor.

Teaching Experience: none

Work Experience: United Nations ESCAP 4 months researcher, Grameen Bank Dhaka 1 months

 

Concentration Applying to: Comparative politics

Number of programs planned to apply to: 15

Dream Schools: NYU, Stanford, UCLA, Yale, UCSD

 

What made you want to pursue a PhD: deep interest in the subject and desire to carry out my own research

 

Concerns you have about your profile: my GRE score might be too low, and my GPA as well, we don't get awarded grades out of a 4.0 scale, it is very hard to convert grades

 

Any additional specific questions you may have: Would like to know where I would be competitive based on my profile

[HorsesInVA]

Hello I will be applying for a Phd in political science to start in the fall of 2016

 

I come from a renown European school, 4th econ deparment Europe, 20th worldwide

 

Test Scores (GMAT/GRE): 163 Q/ 161V

Undegrad GPA: 3.3 international management

Graduate GPA: 3.5 economics (relevant courses : grad mathematics, statistics and econometrics, applied microeconometrics, development econ and political economics)

Research Experience: 1 year with tenured professor ( and still working on future published paper) department of decision sciences, 5 months field work in west Africa, 4 months with public policy professor, 4 months tenured political science professor. Wrote master thesis with well know tenured development and political econ professor.

Teaching Experience: none

Work Experience: United Nations ESCAP 4 months researcher, Grameen Bank Dhaka 1 months

 

Concentration Applying to: Comparative politics

Number of programs planned to apply to: 15

Dream Schools: NYU, Stanford, UCLA, Yale, UCSD

 

What made you want to pursue a PhD: deep interest in the subject and desire to carry out my own research

 

Concerns you have about your profile: my GRE score might be too low, and my GPA as well, we don't get awarded grades out of a 4.0 scale, it is very hard to convert grades

 

Any additional specific questions you may have: Would like to know where I would be competitive based on my profile

 

So this is a point of clarification but are you applying to a politics program in a B-school, the mainstream political science department in a University, or either one? You can certainly do both, but the departments are different because ultimately the former is shaped by the fact it's in a B-school so its concerns tilt toward econ/business policy implications. You'll probably get to know the other side well if the schools you choose have both groups, since there are likely to be substantial course overlaps. Poli. Sci is not at all my area, but I've been in classes with Poli. Sci folk, and In general, while your scores are a bit (just a bit) low, I get the sense you'll get reviewed by most of the major programs.

 

If you aim high and your school is well known, then programs can easily adjust their scales appropriately. Top poli. sci departments are fairly cosmopolitan so they understand that people come from university's that don't always use a US 4.0 system, complete with its grade inflation skewness. Also you can have your advisor raise this fact in their rec. letters to make the point clear and have them rate you relative to other students they have encountered. (Since they got to do that anyway)

 

The fact you're tech'ed up will also do well in the schools you've listed in your ideal, as there's been a larger push in those programs to move more quantitatively than the past. They've also started embracing more text analysis and CS influenced methods to deal with things beyond counting, e.g. social media and politics. So that's something you may want to think about and see whether that could be useful to the research you want to do. Also comparative politics has expanded considerably in the last few years as a topic of interest, so you may find the field starting to crowd more. I'm assuming you're interested in development? If so, development policy might be the slice of the pie you want to occupy.

 

Otherwise, based on my exposure to other Poli. Sci students, I think you seem fairly competitive with others who are tier 1. But you may want to retake your GRE, at least to boost the Quant section. But your research background should make up for your GPA and definitely have your rec. letter writers emphasize any grading concerns.

[XanthusARES]

Hello I will be applying for a Phd in political science to start in the fall of 2016

 

I think you might be in the wrong forum. Sorry.

[obhrphd16]

Test Scores (GMAT/GRE): 730 (46Q, 45V, 8IR)

Undegrad GPA:3.23 (Accounting undergrad at 75-100 Business School, but highly ranked accounting program)

Graduate GPA: 3.97 (MBA Same University, 75-100 Ranking, went due to full financial aid and additional fellowship funding)

Research Experience: 1 Year RA Experience (Co-author on two working papers)

Teaching Experience: 1 Semester - TA for 2 classes

Work Experience: 3+ years financial and trade accounting experience at large well known US Private company and 1 year at regional bank in similar role, also college recruiting experience

 

Concentration Applying to: Organizational Behavior or Human Resource Management (depending on the university)

Number of programs planned to apply to: At least 10

Dream Schools: Wharton, Michigan, Kellogg, Wisconsin

 

What made you want to pursue a PhD: My work experience left me with many questions about how firms manage and motivate talent. I am interested in researching how firms can better manage their employees and how that translates to improved firm performance.

 

Concerns you have about your profile:

Low Quantitative score on GMAT

Low Undergrad GPA

Both undergrad and graduate degrees from the same university which is not highly ranked

 

Any additional specific questions you may have:

 

My LOR will be strong (two from quality professors in intended field of study and one from the dean of the business school.

 

Any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks!

[clairemaggot]

Yes sorry I had looked up political science and it redirected me here and only after posti I realized it was for a business phd

[clairemaggot]

Dear HorseInVA

 

thankyou so so much for replying even though it was the wrong forum ( I realized this just after posting ). I am planning to apply mainly in polisci departments rather than business Econ.

I was thinking about taking the GRE again in order to compensate my lower Gpa so thank you for the advice!

[bobthebuilder]

(GMAT/GRE): GRE: 160 V (85%) 162 Q (83%) 5 Writing (93%)

Age: 22 by the time I would start

Undegrad GPA: 4.0 in Psychology, with a management minor from large top 40 university

Research Experience: By graduation: 3+ years with one professor, plus independent thesis. 3 years with applied/research based projects with second professor. 3 years with a third professor from different institution.

Work Experience: Human Capital (or related) Consulting Internship with Big 4. Performance Management internship with another large company

 

Concentration Applying to: Org Behavior (Micro)/Management

Number of programs planned to apply to: 15.

2-3 T10, 5-7 T 25, the rest T 50

 

Interests: emotions, ethics, leadership (no particular order)

Also, power, trust, motivation

Concerns you have about your profile: GRE scores, age, no large conference presentations (albeit still an undergrad)

 

Any additional specific questions you may have: What kind of schools should I be targeting? Any suggestions of specific schools to look at?

Edited August 9, 2015 by bobthebuilder