Profile Evaluation - 2023 Ph.D. in Marketing

[the_real_slim]

Hi everyone,

Hi, I'm a working male professional, Engineering + MBA(IIT Bombay + IIM Calcutta, top-tier colleges), from India. I wish to pursue a Ph.D. in Marketing from a top-20 university in the US. I am also open to more options for a safe bet.

What am I looking for?

People with experience in PhD applications or those who've helped PhD aspirants review my profile and help me understand how to move from here to secure a seat at a top-tier US B-school. I would like to understand:
- Colleges to aim for
- what else should I do to present a well-rounded profile

Here's a brief outline of my profile:

Educational Qualification:

MBA from IIM Calcutta (Class of 2015) - 3.0/4.0 (WES)

B.Tech from IIT Bombay (Class of 2011) - 3.3/4.0 (WES)
Major: Aerospace Engineering

12th : 95.3%
10th : 95%

Work Experience:

- I have a total post-MBA work experience of 5 years including research experience as of April 2022.
- I have worked as a Marketing & Sales Manager for an MNC - FMCD products for close to 30 months. Rated well in both years and have received multiple awards for Best Performer.
- I have worked as a Category Manager and Marketing Head for a couple of Unicorns($1Bn Valuation) for a year.
- I have been working as Research Assistant(RA) with the Indian School of Business(ISB) for over 2 years.

My broad interest areas include - Quantitative Marketing & Modelling, and Retail Marketing.

My timeline and current status - I am looking to apply for 2023. I have a GMAT score of 730 (38- 84%, 50 - 87%, IR - 7, AWA - 6) and TOEFL - 115 (R - 29, W - 28, S - 29, L - 29).

Add ons:
- Part of the sports teams in the universities and headed multiple educational and recreational clubs in the University.
- Worked with NGOs on pro-bono projects.

A huge thanks in advance, looking forward to every word of constructive feedback! :)

[BrazilianPhD]

I don't see anything that makes me think that top 20 is a good idea. Top 20 is exceptionally competitive, we don't recommend focusing on top 20 even for people with a much stronger profile than yours. 

Also, this looks like the profile of someone applying for something in industry, not for a PhD. There are too many things that usually are not very relevant for PhDs, like being a marketing & sales manager, unicorns, or being part of sports teams. This is interesting for MBA applications, for example, not PhD. 

A PhD is often very narrow, so just stating broad interest areas doesn't really add much. 

You mentioned research, but without many details. I don't even know if this is academic research, or the type of research people do in corporations. If this is academic research, we certainly would expect to see much more details, like conference presentations, papers published, something like that. 

For Quant Marketing, probably people want to know how good you are at coding, which statistical software you use, and whether you have a strong background in mathematics, statistics, machine learning, that kind of thing. 

You also didn't mention the strength of your letters of recommendation, another thing that can make a difference. 

Nobody can really make a list of school to apply, as that is usually very specific for the profile of each applicant. But you really need to better define your research interests in order to look for the right schools for you. Sometimes, the right school can be very unrelated to rank, for example. But research fit is the #1 factor to choose a university, and it's impossible to know the fit based on the broad interests you listed. 

Right now, I'd say that you are far from ready to apply for a PhD. The general feeling is that you still have the mindset of someone from industry and MBA, and then that you don't really understand what you're getting into. 

And, given your career in industry, many schools may believe it's better for you to stay in industry instead of switching to academia. You need to think of a convincing answer to explain why you would give up on the type of career you have been following.