Any advice is welcome!
My background is as follows:
Academic: Took both my undergraduate and master from Arizona State U. Double major in finance and accounting during undergraduate with GPA=3.78. Master in accounting with GPA=3.50. I got a GMAT score of 760, top 1 percentile. Passed CFA level I several years ago.
Work experience: I'm a CPA of Arizona. Worked in China doing public-traded company’s audit for a year. (I'm a Chinese) And now working in a counsulting firm doing equity research for the TMT industry for about 6 months now (still in Beijing China).
My current job of equity research is interesting for me (at least far more interesting than auditing) however:
1. I think what I am doing now could be done by AI within the near future, and together with big data, AI could definitely do a better job.
2. I do not feel like climbing up the career ladder anymore. To be honest, I don’t want to be a CEO/CFO/…. Nor do fancy cars/beach houses interest me that much. I took two gap years traveling around and observing people around gives me a strong belief that doing what you like is a major source of happiness. I love reading books & papers on economics/psychology/accounting, thus I am thinking about applying for a PhD.
QUESTIONS:
I have basically no research background (no RA experience, no papers published).
With background mentioned above, do I get a chance to apply for business-related PhD? If so, what kind of school could I expect? (top50? Top 100?)
Academic recommendation letters would be a problem for me. I’ve left school for a while and since I’m back in China, it’s hard for me to re-connect with former professors. Anybody faced similar situation before? What could I do?
I’ve consulted some people and they think I barely have a shot applying for a PhD now. Their suggestion is to an MBA first, build some connections with professors and think about PhD then. Would this be a doable path? If so what level of MBAs could I apply with backgrounds mentioned above?
Thank you for your time reading, any advice is appreciated!
Fay H