PhD2026

CC808 - I have similar experience and as I mentioned the key seemed to be to connect the experience very tangibly to research interests and potential research questions. Otherwise industry exp can hurt.. Also, had a publication from a long time back in a different field but not sure how helpful that was. Again, happy to help if you want to DM.

Different field and like I said certainly pedigreed academics with tons of research but not the name dropping Nobel prize types or ones who could just pick up the phone etc etc..the sense I got was that good recos (similar to a good GMAT) helped in screening/ shortlisting (or avoiding rejection) but the SOP, background, writing samples, familiarity/ networking and obviously research fit drove the selection. But I could be wrong..

Would respectfully disagree..Based on what I have seen of the applications process, schools seem to prefer academic recos for sure even from those who have been out of school for a while. In my case, it was recos from good academicians but not really in the field of business/ management. Professional recos don't seem to hold much value. I think you are spot on about the networking in a slightly different sense - writing about your research interests in a tailored and interesting way to POIs and respectfully requesting to speak to them prior to applications seems to carry a lot of weight.

Sorry to hear this! I'm someone with a significant amount of work experience, applied this year in strategy/ management to a few top schools, and got a couple of top admits and interviews at others. I'd say that if you have been doing interesting things out of school which are relevant to your future studies and you can connect them in a cohesive manner to your research interests it is actually a significant competitive advantage. A formal pre-doc or a research project goes a long way towards establishing your skill set and aptitude for research. The schools you applied are leading ones, so all aspects of your application would have to be solid (apart from your impressive GMAT). Without knowing your full profile, it is hard to comment further. But happy to help on DM..