Yang

Here's my male perspective.
I would personally resent being with a spouse who thinks I am a failure.

Here's my male perspective.
I would personally resent being with a spouse who thinks I am a failure.

I think you should go to the best program. The problem isn't that you've been at the same school for all 3 degrees, but that you have better options at other schools. I would take up those more prestigious options as they would open new doors down the line.

So glad my GA is going to be as high as it is, 35k =)

So glad my GA is going to be as high as it is, 35k =)

Seriously, what's with the backlash? I think business schools tend to have higher stipends for PhD students since the opportunity costs are relatively high for us. Many have MBA's or advanced degrees in marketable fields, not to mention several years of work experience.

That said, 35k is definitely still in the higher stipend range. Rice has a new PhD program, so the stipend is part of their method of attracting good students to join.

The only other program that I've heard of offering 35k is HBS, and that's in a much more expensive city. I believe Chicago's Booth GSB pays 30-32k, and I received a 28k offer from Rochester.

My application experience has proven that a school's brand name matters quite a bit. I went to a lowly ranked undergrad/MBA before applying to PhD. My resume would show that I'm a hard worker, I have very well written SOP's, fairly well thought out research ideas, glowing recommendations, and competitive test scores. I was not offered a single interview, much less admit, by any top 20 PhD program. After speaking with some of the faculty at these programs, it seemed like I passed all the initial screening rounds on paper, but none of the schools were willing to take a chance on me because of the signal that a poorly ranked undergraduate institution sends.

I was accepted by every school that offered an interview. At each of those interviews, the interviewer's first matter of concern was my academic pedigree. These questions usually started with, "you have great GMAT's, why did you attend xxxx?" Directly related to this concern were the concerns about the rigor of my academic preparation. In short, if you went to a school with a good brand name, you won't be subjected to these doubts during the admissions decision that can lead to cognitive biases, i.e. halo effect.

My application experience has proven that a school's brand name matters quite a bit. I went to a lowly ranked undergrad/MBA before applying to PhD. My resume would show that I'm a hard worker, I have very well written SOP's, fairly well thought out research ideas, glowing recommendations, and competitive test scores. I was not offered a single interview, much less admit, by any top 20 PhD program. After speaking with some of the faculty at these programs, it seemed like I passed all the initial screening rounds on paper, but none of the schools were willing to take a chance on me because of the signal that a poorly ranked undergraduate institution sends.

I was accepted by every school that offered an interview. At each of those interviews, the interviewer's first matter of concern was my academic pedigree. These questions usually started with, "you have great GMAT's, why did you attend xxxx?" Directly related to this concern were the concerns about the rigor of my academic preparation. In short, if you went to a school with a good brand name, you won't be subjected to these doubts during the admissions decision that can lead to cognitive biases, i.e. halo effect.

Honestly I don't think the stature of an undergraduate school matters at all. What I've found was most important across the board were GRE scores and GPA from whatever school they attended. (Information via UIUC Graduate students) However in the case of comparing two different students with the same exact stats, GRE and GPA, coming from Berkeley vs. a state school, they would be paritally to the Berkeley student because the cirriculum is set to be harder as compared to the state school student. This advice was given to be by an adcomm themselves so hope this helps!

Your question is a little arrogant, which I believe is typical of those who attend the University of Washtenaw County.

In seriousness, a 3.9 from UM will always look better than a 3.9 from State (depending on difficulty of classes taken), but if you rest on your laurels while the State applicant busts his butt to do tons of research and get great LORs and a perfect writing sample, he would probably get in before you. Oh, and GRE/other test scores count too.

You can't pay the $1000 on a credit card?

So glad my GA is going to be as high as it is, 35k =)

You can't pay the $1000 on a credit card?

i am a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Fiji. i work with a local (very small) NGO on agribusiness, aquaculture, apiculture, environmental education at the primary level and entrepreneurial education at the secondary level. unfortunately, i see the beach less here than when i was stateside.

Here's my male perspective.
I would personally resent being with a spouse who thinks I am a failure.

So glad my GA is going to be as high as it is, 35k =)

So glad my GA is going to be as high as it is, 35k =)

Here's my male perspective.
I would personally resent being with a spouse who thinks I am a failure.

Here's my male perspective.
I would personally resent being with a spouse who thinks I am a failure.

Here's my male perspective.
I would personally resent being with a spouse who thinks I am a failure.

Seriously, what's with the backlash? I think business schools tend to have higher stipends for PhD students since the opportunity costs are relatively high for us. Many have MBA's or advanced degrees in marketable fields, not to mention several years of work experience.

That said, 35k is definitely still in the higher stipend range. Rice has a new PhD program, so the stipend is part of their method of attracting good students to join.

The only other program that I've heard of offering 35k is HBS, and that's in a much more expensive city. I believe Chicago's Booth GSB pays 30-32k, and I received a 28k offer from Rochester.

So glad my GA is going to be as high as it is, 35k =)

Here's my male perspective.
I would personally resent being with a spouse who thinks I am a failure.

Here's my male perspective.
I would personally resent being with a spouse who thinks I am a failure.

So glad my GA is going to be as high as it is, 35k =)