Hello,
I'd like to lay down some background first before getting to my queries. I'm from India and went through four years of Mechanical Engineering for my undergrad at a really good engineering college (I graduated in the top 5% of the class and scored 9.2/10). My focus was always on going to college to make money after graduating and so looking at an MBA after undergrad seemed like a logical next step. I got into a couple of top deferred admissions programs (Indian School of Business and IESE, Barcelona to be precise) and then got a job with Google. I'm currently close to a year into work, and if I just continue down this path and do an MBA a year later (which I don't need to apply for because I already have an offer), I'm sure I'll make a ton of money.
The problem I face is this: I don't enjoy what I'm doing. I was unhappy through my undergrad and I'm not very happy with my work either. I don't see myself being very happy with an MBA. What would make me happy is studying sociology and eventually working in research or academia. I swear to God when I say that if i could go back in time, I'd do things differently. I was part of the herd of students who went into engineering or medicine just because of the opportunities in the fields.
I want to drastically alter my path and study sociology. I have given myself one and a half years (until December 2016) to do as much pre-work as I can before applying to anything. Unfortunately, because of the nature of my misguided ambition, I haven't had any prior research experience (I focused more on internships, volunteer work, extra-curriculars and practical experience). I did carry out a semester long project at Purdue University in my final semester as part of an exchange program, but did not publish a paper and the project isn't all that in terms of research exposure.
Now with the scene laid out, here are a few questions I have:
1. Will good PhD programs in the US want me without research experience? (Will average or not-so-good ones want me?)
2. Is there anything I can do over the next year and a half to offset this lack of experience? What else can I do to be considered a competitive candidate?
3. Should I consider doing something else instead of a PhD?
4. Are there others like me? What do they do?
My family isn't loaded and so I will most certainly need some kind of scholarship or funding to be able to pursue a PhD in the States. I'd prefer to study in the US as opposed to India, if finances permit, of course. Let's assume, for the sake of furthering this discussion, that I've got my statement of purpose completely figured out and know exactly what area of research to work in.
I implore you, reader, to leave your comments, no matter how acerbic, and share your knowledge and advice with me. Thank you, in advance, for taking the time to read this.
Sam