Profile evaluation for marketing phd (consumer behavior track)

[Michael Liu]

Hi everyone, I'm a junior in Economics from Peking Univ, China. From some RA work and communication with marketing faculties, I find consumer behavior especially attractive to me and I want to apply for marketing phd in the US next fall. However, I'm a bit worried about my profile so I'm here for some advice.

Test Scores (GRE): V152+Q170+AW4.5 (I'll retake to try to reach 160 in V)

Undegrad GPA: 3.85/4.0

Research Experience:  a 6-month RA experience with an assistant prof in management (phd in social psych at UC Berkeley) (the project focuses on social emotions such as awe and envy), participated in idea generation, lab experiment running and data analysis in R and Mplus; currently working with an associate prof in marketing (phd in marketing at UChicago Booth and worked as AP in UFlorida for 5 years)

Teaching Experience: None

Work Experience: None

Other information: As I mentioned above, I major in econ so I used to think that I was interested in behavioral econ. However, after some exposure to social psych, I find myself prefer doing research using experimental methods. Now I'm working on a supervised independent project (which will be my writing sample if everything goes on well) on gift giving and decision in dyads. As for psych training, I've only taken introductory social psych. Also, I'm participating in 1st year cb course and reading group to read and discuss articles from top journals jcr and jmr. My main questions are whether i should take more psych courses to strengthen my background and whether I might be a strong applicant for cb phd next year?

 

Concentration Applying to: CB

Number of programs planned to apply to: about 15

Dream Schools: haven't started selecting schools

 

If anyone can leave some opinion, I'll be extremely grateful!

[BrazilianPhD]

Your profile seems very good. I think the main challenge you will have is to convince people that you're really a match for CB. After all, a lot of things in your profile seem to scream Quant (Econ, Q170, R). So, be careful about that, you probably need to emphasize the parts that are more closely related to CB. The research experience and the letters of recommendation can play a big role. If CB professors with a good reputation say you're a great applicant for CB, that should carry a lot of weight. More psych courses are good, as it helps to communicate your positioning as a CB applicant.