someguyinAMS

Hi Auygur, Sure, no problem. As I said, I'm mainly thinking of applying in Europe, so my list so far is: INSEAD, LBS (these two are definitely stretches, I would be amazed if I got offers there) RSM, Tilburg, VU Amsterdam (Netherlands) ESSEC, HEC Paris, EM Lyon (France) IESE, ESADE (Spain) Bocconi (Italy) Cambridge, Cass / City U London, Imperial College (UK) HEC Lausanne (Switzerland) So that's about 15 schools, I think I should be able to get interviews at a few and maybe a couple of offers. I'm not sure if I agree with you about the not being able to get offers in the US if you have a non-US PhD, especially at business schools. This is an area which doesn't require heavy investment in laboratory equipment, etc. so European schools can actually compete. It used to be the case that US schools preferred US graduates, but if you look at placements for the top European programs in terms of placement they are pretty much equal to what the top US programs produce: http://phd.insead.edu/alumni_and_placements/ I think even outside of INSEAD and LBS the other schools place quite well in North America, it is really the mid-level PhD programs in the US and Canada now that are struggling. The top European programs and some of the Asian programs (e.g., HKUST, NUS) are producing people who are taking the positions that their graduates might have taken a few years ago.

Hi Auygur, Yeah, I think you should definitely broaden the list a bit beyond Harvard / MIT / Columbia! :-).... Darden doesn't actually accept applicants every year from what I understand, but this is what a friend of mine told me from the year he was applying. More important than the GRE numbers are the percentiles, both seem fine for you but again you'll be competing, especially in strategy, with people that have perfect math scores (not so hard on the GRE) and very good verbal scores. An engineering degree with a good GPA is definitely nice, but I think there are people who have done research + have the basics in econ / psych / soc + good math, they are usually super-competitive for the top school PhD slots. But I think your programming skills, data mining, etc. will definitely help, lots of profs want to work with students with those skills as far as I understand. I would definitely look at some mid-level programs in the US and Canada (e.g., BU, BC, University of Pittsburgh, Emory, FIU, UT Dallas, McGill, Simon Fraser, etc.) if you want to stay in North America. There are some really good programs in Europe as well (e.g., INSEAD, LBS, IESE, RSM, Cambridge, etc.) if you are willing to go across the Atlantic, those actually might give you a better lifestyle / options relative to the mid-tier in the US. I'm actually applying this year as well, but concentrating on European schools (have some friends who have said many good things, but also personal reasons). But yeah, I would definitely look beyond the top tier, nothing is guaranteed there. Hope that helps!

Hi there, Ok I just came upon this post - which I guess is a little bit old - but I think the petergrimes guy replying to OP is some kind of HEC troll. I'm applying this fall for PhD management programs (mostly in Europe, 2016 entry) and I don't understand where he comes up with his information. Go and take a look at the placements of ESSEC and HEC Paris doctoral students over the past few years: http://www.essec.edu/fileadmin/user_upload/Rubrique_Programmes/PhD/Newsletters/newsletter-03.pdf http://www.essec.edu/fileadmin/user_upload/Rubrique_Programmes/PhD/Newsletters/newsletter-02.pdf http://www.essec.edu/fileadmin/user_upload/Rubrique_Programmes/PhD/Newsletters/newsletter-01.pdf http://www.hec.edu/Ph.D/Placements-Alumni/Placements Do you notice anything? If you look carefully, you'll notice a couple of things: 1. ESSEC has a lot of very nice academic placements at schools in Europe, North America, and Asia 2. ESSEC's graduates are mostly non-French, and many / most seem to get very decent jobs 3. HEC has some great placements, but almost all of them have gone to French doctoral students 4. The best HEC placements in finance (Harvard, MIT, Toronto, Rotman - all French students), the other departments are lagging FAR behind, behind ESSEC overall in those areas 5. The HEC placements in marketing and management are not great, and in the past few years lots of postdocs, especially among non-French students (4 postdocs for the 2014 graduates just in the management department) With the exception of finance, there's no way the HEC PhD is the same league as INSEAD and LBS's, that's just a ridiculous statement. And, more importantly for applicants coming from outside France, there seems to be a really significant difference between where French students in the program end up and where non-French students go. Even the best non-French graduates from departments like management / OB / strategy (where I'll be applying) seem to have strange career paths - one of these people, probably the best of the non-French, ended up in an accounting department after graduating in OB: http://www.ie.edu/business-school/faculty-research/faculty/anisa-shyti/ I don't know why this is the case, but it's probably worth considering what would happen to students if you're not coming out of a French "grand ecole" and go to HEC. ESSEC, in contrast, seems to work on integrating non-French students and if you look who is in their program right now it is a very diverse bunch. Make sure you do your homework guys, there's a lot of misinformation out there!

Neohippy, I have a couple of friends that are in European doctoral programs (I'll be applying in the fall for 2016 entry in strategy), and ESSEC has a pretty good academic reputation for their PhD, probably in the range of Bocconi / HEC / RSM / Tilburg / IESE, but not in the range of INSEAD or LBS. Probably in finance they are weaker than some of the other schools. HEC, for instance, seems to have some great placements in finance (Harvard, MIT, Toronto), and Bocconi too has placed finance people at HEC Lausanne and Peking University. RSM seems to have better placements in marketing (e.g., Penn State), though this year someone from ESSEC actually joined the RSM faculty in marketing. In management / strategy / OB, ESSEC seem to have had some placements in France (IESEG, Montpellier, NEOMA), the UK (King's College), the USA (Pace U), and Canada (St. Mary's University), and a postdoc (George Mason). In other specializations they have done well too - someone from Operations got a job at the University of San Francisco, and they seem to have a lot of good placements in accounting (Ivey, HEC Paris, University of Central Florida, Concordia, Cass, etc.) but then again I think it is relatively easy to get jobs in accounting ;-)... I'd really like to go to France for my doctoral studies and probably INSEAD will be too competitive for me. Comparing ESSEC and HEC in the management specialization I prefer ESSEC, especially since I'm not French - it's strange, but most of the "good" HEC placements seem to have gone to French, ESSEC seems to have better placements (at least in management) for non-French students. I think HEC has some really good placements (Ivey, Cambridge, Bocconi - all French) but most of their non-French students in the last few years got postdocs in management / strategy / OB. There is one OB grad (woman) who is not French who got a job at IE but she works in an accounting dept: http://www.ie.edu/business-school/faculty-research/faculty/anisa-shyti/ Finally, I think non-EU / French students are getting permits to work in France after the PhD. I don't think that is an issue if you're good enough to actually get a job offer! :-)... I hope that helps.