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2017 Ph.D. Business Administration Sweat Thread


zanelabw

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I had an interesting chat with a friend yesterday who is a PhD student at Minnesota. (not telling you all her/his field of study, but of course it's in business!)

My friend said that he/she was wait-listed at Minnesota and ended up getting in because the person who was offered the spot ended up going to Northwestern (I think?). Anyway, then my friend also said that actually 3 (!) out of the 4 accepted students that year were taken from the wait list.

 

Maybe that should give us hope when we are put on a wait list. Just think, those of you who applied to top 20 programs only (and most of you did I believe) all pretty much applied to the same programs. So these schools get many of the same applicants, but each applicant can only accept one offer. So it's not over until we get a very clear rejection letter! (I know I don't have to convince you all of this. I think I am just trying to convince myself here!)

 

I am hoping that those people who were offered one of "my spots" at "my future school" :fox: will get an even "better offer" from somewhere else. :)

Hopefully my top choice is only their fall-back school.

 

The bad thing about this whole wait listing thing.... more waiting... maybe even until April 15th or later. yuck!

 

Oh well, I think today is the application deadline for most schools. I have a couple of schools on my list with a deadline of January 31st.

My mentor said: "Stay positive and good things will happen."

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Bad news: no rejection letter/email, but I found out that offers have been made to the only two available slots at my #1 school. (I had an interview with them in December but did not receive an offer).

Yeah... that kind of sucks although I have also been told that neither student has accepted the offer yet, so I may still have a minimal chance, but I also don't know whether I am even wait listed.

This school has a preferred deadline of December 15th and an official, final deadline January 15th. So this tells us... YES some schools pick their students before the deadline. Wow. They are fast!

I now believe that many schools have already started looking at applicants and no I don't believe that "no news" - "good news."

I am feeling really :crushed::crushed:now!

 

 

I am just curious... how did you know they gave out admissions?

Based on the deadline-related info you mentioned, is it university of south carolina? If you feel uncomfortable to reveal, no need to answer for this question

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I am just curious... how did you know they gave out admissions?

Based on the deadline-related info you mentioned, is it university of south carolina? If you feel uncomfortable to reveal, no need to answer for this question

 

Yes you are right, the university of south carolina has these deadlines too, but there are actually many others with preferred deadlines in december and final deadline today. :)

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WOW! I still haven't heard anything else from the programs I applied to. :sorrow:

 

I will have a campus interview next week, but that's a school I talked to last month already. My application on their website says "decision deferred" so they have not made up their mind about me obviously. :question:

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WOW! I still haven't heard anything else from the programs I applied to. :sorrow:

 

I will have a campus interview next week, but that's a school I talked to last month already. My application on their website says "decision deferred" so they have not made up their mind about me obviously. :question:

 

I haven't had much interaction either - I had one Skype interview, but I really don't expect much at the moment either (many of my deadlines were yesterday). In for the long haul....

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@Dak601: You applied to accounting programs right?

 

Oh crap I just realized I applied to the wrong program at one of my schools. Dang! I applied to strategic management obviously. The OB/HR concentration is called "Organization studies" at their school and I applied to "management." :dejected: Good Lord!

In my defense, it was my 13th application and I was probably mentally exhausted by the time I got to this last application.

I just emailed the program coordinator and asked if there is a way to fix it. Deadline has not passed for this program yet.

 

Well, they must think I am a dumb !@#K! SIGH!

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@Dak601: You applied to accounting programs right?

 

Oh crap I just realized I applied to the wrong program at one of my schools. Dang! I applied to strategic management obviously. The OB/HR concentration is called "Organization studies" at their school and I applied to "management." :dejected: Good Lord!

In my defense, it was my 13th application and I was probably mentally exhausted by the time I got to this last application.

I just emailed the program coordinator and asked if there is a way to fix it. Deadline has not passed for this program yet.

 

Well, they must think I am a dumb !@#K! SIGH!

 

 

Yes, I'm an accounting nerd =D.

 

It's easy to overlook something when completing so many applications. When my advisor first mentioned how many applications many people complete, my mind was boggled. Hopefully the program director will overlook it - I had a similar situation and had to do the same - I assumed that I'd blown my chances, but ended up getting an interview. So with luck your administrator will also realize mistakes happen!

 

I fully understand this will be a long wait, but just the thought of waiting an additional 2-3 months makes me physically nauseous.

Edited by Dak601
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I applied to 11 OB programs and hadn't heard from any until today. I got a skype interview with texas a&m. I applied early though, and their deadline hasn't passed yet so I assume they will be interviewing more people in the coming weeks.
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I applied to 11 OB programs and hadn't heard from any until today. I got a skype interview with texas a&m. I applied early though, and their deadline hasn't passed yet so I assume they will be interviewing more people in the coming weeks.

 

Awesome news! Good luck!!!! I was a bit surprised in my first Skype interview to see several people on the other side. I likely should have guessed, but I didn't...

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I applied to 11 OB programs and hadn't heard from any until today. I got a skype interview with texas a&m. I applied early though, and their deadline hasn't passed yet so I assume they will be interviewing more people in the coming weeks.

 

Interview with Texas A& M! That's fantastic. How did it go?

You know that's not necessarily the case that they will be interviewing a lot more people because the deadline has not passed.

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the universities I applied to had their official timeline yesterday, but conducted all their interviews in December and early January. They made two offers last week before the deadline.

So you may just one of their top picks.

I personally think it's a big mistake to wait until the very end with applications. The earlier one get them out the better, because it seems like universities do look at them early. They just don't pile everything up and then start looking at it after a certain date.

 

Let us know about the interview. Texas A&M would be a great program. I had many professors who got their PhD from there. I was tempted to apply, but my GMAT score was too low.

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I may be generalising, but low GMAT is probably one of the barriers to overcome for us older applicants. Even, I completely skipped applying to my top choice US schools, as 690 doesn't cut the mustard there, and probably would have ended up as a desk reject. It was initially hard to accept, especially given one of my best mates is at a highly rated US school, and he couldn't emphasize enough how much my research interests would suit their school.

 

I am in my late thirties and my previous score, taken 12 years ago, was significantly higher. But, I guess some admission committees don't even look at applications if GMAT is lower than their cut-off.

 

I agree with the schools though. From a school's point of view, they are already taking a risk with a non-traditional applicant. So, all aspects of the application have to be equal if not better, and unfortunately cut-offs have to be cleared.

 

Having accepted that result, it was much easier to concentrate on the schools that suited my profile and interests, and where my score would be acceptable.

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I may be generalising, but low GMAT is probably one of the barriers to overcome for us older applicants. Even, I completely skipped applying to my top choice US schools, as 690 doesn't cut the mustard there, and probably would have ended up as a desk reject. It was initially hard to accept, especially given one of my best mates is at a highly rated US school, and he couldn't emphasize enough how much my research interests would suit their school.

 

I am in my late thirties and my previous score, taken 12 years ago, was significantly higher. But, I guess some admission committees don't even look at applications if GMAT is lower than their cut-off.

 

I agree with the schools though. From a school's point of view, they are already taking a risk with a non-traditional applicant. So, all aspects of the application have to be equal if not better, and unfortunately cut-offs have to be cleared.

 

Having accepted that result, it was much easier to concentrate on the schools that suited my profile and interests, and where my score would be acceptable.

 

Yeah, I'm even older than you, and GMAT was certainly a hard obstacle. I studied for 1 year to try to recover my skills, and I got a great score in the end. Now, I hope the rest of my application is enough to get an offer from a top school.

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I may be generalising, but low GMAT is probably one of the barriers to overcome for us older applicants. Even, I completely skipped applying to my top choice US schools, as 690 doesn't cut the mustard there, and probably would have ended up as a desk reject. It was initially hard to accept, especially given one of my best mates is at a highly rated US school, and he couldn't emphasize enough how much my research interests would suit their school.

 

I am in my late thirties and my previous score, taken 12 years ago, was significantly higher. But, I guess some admission committees don't even look at applications if GMAT is lower than their cut-off.

 

I agree with the schools though. From a school's point of view, they are already taking a risk with a non-traditional applicant. So, all aspects of the application have to be equal if not better, and unfortunately cut-offs have to be cleared.

 

Having accepted that result, it was much easier to concentrate on the schools that suited my profile and interests, and where my score would be acceptable.

 

I am older than you too and I am actually really glad to hear that people around 40 or even older still want to pursue a PhD. One of my former professors started her PhD at 50. Okay I am not THAT old, but still... I personally think it's impressive if someone wants to take on the challenge at this age.

 

However, now you made me feel bad about my GMAT score. LOL. So my age is higher but my GMAT score is lower. Yeah I would be super happy with a 690 and I don't think it's really that bad. I think even top schools might look at your profile if the rest of your application is good.

The GMAT was a nightmare for me. I prepared for 9 months and tried all kinds of things including 40 hours of private tutoring. Well, for whatever reason I just cannot do well on the GMAT. The only thing that makes me feel better is knowing that the GMAT does not test intelligence, so I do not believe my score is a reflection of my intellectual abilities. I have no idea what the hell the GMAT attempts to test. I think overall, it's just one stupid test.

 

Most of the schools applied to have higher averages than my score, but not significantly higher. However, I applied to one school that has an average of 680. So I emailed the program director before I applied and told him my score and asked if it's even worth applying or would I be desk-rejected. He said "our GMAT scores range from 630 to 730 and if the rest of your application is good then I encourage you to apply."

So I did. Well, I had two interviews with this exact school and they told me I was among their top ten candidates. Unfortunately they extended their offers to other candidates last week, but I may still be on their waiting list. Not sure. I guess those two who got the offers have a long time to make up their minds.

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Sil you're getting a lot of movement pretty early. At least it seems pretty early from my experience. For example I know that at my school, profs only just received applications from the grad school today. The fact that some schools have already done interviews and made offers is surprising, but definitely would have been nice to know early when I was applying.

 

For everyone who hasn't heard anything yet, it's still really early. There's plenty of time to stress and worry, so don't worry (yes I understand the irony of that sentence).

 

Two final points for this post. First, about the GMAT, the GMAT tests, as all tests do, how well you can take tests. The people who do the best are the people who test the best. To be fair it does require a certain level of knowledge, so as a by product of testing how well you can take the GMAT, it tests intelligence, but only on a cursory level. I know extremely well respected faculty who did poorly on the GMAT and extremely disrespected grad students who did phenomenally on it. There is no respectable correlation between score and future outcome (there are correlations, but only if you discount all other factors). That being said, it is a hurdle we are expected to jump. Do as well as you can, but don't worry if you can't get that 780 you clearly deserve. At some point it is what it is. Will it keep you out of some programs? Yes, the answer is a hard yes. But assuming the rest of your application is stellar it will likely not keep you out of all programs (even top 15 programs).

 

Point the second, about age, no school will look at your application and say you are too old. No school will ever openly admit that they would ever judge an applicant based on age. At best they are telling the truth about this and will judge you solely on your merits (and I believe most schools do this, I really do). At worst they will worry about your age because you may not get that tenure track position at HBS and be the next Amos Tversky. If your application is great and you are already doing research this will not be a concern.

 

There are schools where you are more likely to get looked at. If you look through this forum an older applicant once made a list of them. I really wish I could remember their username. But it's on here and if you search a bit it won't be too hard to find (I think). The unfortunate reality is that Poble is correct. While perhaps not directly age will play a factor in admission decisions. But there is also nothing you do about your age, so just apply widely and you'll be fine.

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Two final points for this post. First, about the GMAT, the GMAT tests, as all tests do, how well you can take tests. The people who do the best are the people who test the best. To be fair it does require a certain level of knowledge, so as a by product of testing how well you can take the GMAT, it tests intelligence, but only on a cursory level. I know extremely well respected faculty who did poorly on the GMAT and extremely disrespected grad students who did phenomenally on it. There is no respectable correlation between score and future outcome (there are correlations, but only if you discount all other factors).

 

I disagree with the GMAT tests your ability to take tests.

I was an excellent test taker in college (4.0 undergraduate and 4.0 graduate). The GMAT isn't anything like a regular college test. I didn't have a high level of math in college, only "college algebra", which, however, should be sufficient for what is tested on the GMAT. I made an "A" in college algebra (okay that was many years ago) but I failed miserably on the quant portion of the GMAT.

 

Anyway, yeah the irony is I know MANY faculty members at my former university who did poorly on the GMAT and built an impressive career in their field once they had their PhD.

My mentor is one of them. She was admitted to Texas A&M with probation because her GMAT score was so low, but she has done incredibly well in her field.

So yeah sadly, I high GMAT score is no guarantee for success and I also believe a low GMAT score is no guarantee for failure.

 

Too bad the GMAT is so important. I kind of wish I would have taken the GRE.

 

So what do you all think about taking the GRE for a PhD in management. I know most schools say they now accept the GRE, but they do still prefer the GMAT I think?

I had a brief look at the GRE once I was done with my GMAT and I was under the impression that the quantitative part of the GRE was much easier. I could be wrong since I have never taken a full-length GRE.

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So what do you all think about taking the GRE for a PhD in management. I know most schools say they now accept the GRE, but they do still prefer the GMAT I think?

I had a brief look at the GRE once I was done with my GMAT and I was under the impression that the quantitative part of the GRE was much easier. I could be wrong since I have never taken a full-length GRE.

 

I don't remember which ones, but there are some schools among those I applied to that stated that they prefer the GRE. So, not all of them prefer the GMAT.

 

I've taken both the GMAT and the GRE. My GMAT score is better, but I don't think one test is really better than the other. Since I'm a foreigner, I've also taken the TOEFL and the IELTS.

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