Behavioral

http://www.urch.com/forums/phd-business/ Probably the highest traffic of all the Business PhD forums out there. I post there under the same name; the site as a whole, though, is definitely geared towards Economics Ph.D. and MBA.

This year, I'm paying a bit extra to live around 15 minutes walking from my lab (incoming first year). After coursework is done, I may live a bit further away (5-7 miles) so I can be closer to the city. Luckily I'm not in the Biosciences (used to be in undergrad), so I can do a lot of my work outside of my lab or office.

I graduated a year ago, though I was still working as a research epidemiologist/statistician, so I've been involved in the academic scene continuously. Since being accepted, I've been reading all the recent paper (within 5 years) of the faculty I may work with at my school, picking up some past-edition economics/game theory/modeling books, and reading some of the popular "Handbooks" in my discipline. Besides that, I got invited to be a Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow at a great lab for the summer, so hoping to get some more projects rolling to publish in the next few years. Also been getting in contact with current Ph.D. students in the program and getting an idea of what to expect in terms of coursework and recreation. Besides that, I quit my job so I have a month to relax before starting my fellowship. Sleeping 10-12 hours a day everyday is something I haven't done since I was in Middle School.

I had great success in undergrad (few proceedings, posters, talks, etc.) by forcing myself to take well-deserved breaks after spending 40-60 hours in the lab some weeks. I'd drive out to San Francisco (from San Diego) and just get drunk with my professor or something. I learned from him that sometimes you need to really tune out research for a short while to let some ideas gel. It worked for me.

Just wondering who you'll be doing work with at UCSD? If either Anagnastoras (though he's more cognitive) and Rama are great advisors to be working with.

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Yeah, honestly, most places that offer an MBA will probably have an MS (or similar) in Marketing.

Minimal furniture here, but I'm trying to figure out whether I'm driving or flying from LA to Chicago in the summer. It'd be nice to brave out the historic Route 66, but it doesn't sound as awesome when I'd be making the trip alone!

I would always default to what a professor says. All my advice comes from anecdotal evidence and from the perspective of the applicants (not the admission committee). I'm guessing that Applied Statistics has a smaller scope in the maths used in Economics and the Quant-heavy disciplines (you won't cover real analysis, incomplete information/bounded rationality, PDE/ODE, etc. in a statistics program; mainly just probability theory, stochastic processes, regression analysis, etc.). If the Econ program is housed within a doctoral-granting institution and the coursework is shared between MA/Ph.D. students, I can see where your professors are coming from. And yup -- if you're going behavioral, having a quantitative toolset to borrow from is a great asset (as in my case), but the sister departments of psychology, sociology, etc. are going to be the foundation of your research. CB/OB is an applied field of psychology (the gist of it), so you need to have a firm grasp of general psychology before you start looking at consumer psychology or something like I/O psychology. I got that base covered by double majoring in Psychology during my undergrad. In any case, an MA in Econ won't hurt you at all, but there may be better alternatives if you're SURE you're going the behavioral route. If you're still mixed now, the MA in Econ is a nice program that will bolster your prospects to either type of program (though significantly more with the quantitative disciplines). In my opinion, you should be able to apply to Ph.D. programs in a 12-month intensive program, especially if you start researching programs now and working on personal statements soon. I started writing personal statements mid-November of this past cycle and managed to get 10 applications out. I was working as a research associate for 40-50 hours/week, so I had a bit more time to spare than someone who's constantly studying in their free time, so YMMV. But anyway, if you can narrow what your research interests are soon, this will expedite the application process immensely. I almost knew that I was going into behavioral decision theory/choice modeling/game theory going into admissions (since these were the pervasive topics when I was considering a Ph.D. in Economics or Decision Science/JDM), so I was eliminating schools pretty easily when I encountered that they didn't have the faculty to support my interests. I also got very lucky with my GMAT. I only studied 3 days since I wasn't expecting to apply this year, and managed to do surprisingly well given minimal preparation. Make sure your's is up to par and don't wing it like I did, since I still think my success was largely based on luck. Besides that, I think you're on the right track and can apply this next cycle. Just do well in your Masters (should you choose to accept either offer) and invest adequate time and effort to your personal statements. Good luck!

You posted this in two forums. I replied on the other one. In terms of cell phones, I had AT&T summer 2009 and it was perfectly fine. I traveled all across the east coast (from DC down to Georgia) and I didn't encounter any problems. Though I wouldn't say no to Verizon.

I just can't find any incoming Northwestern students! Come 2nd year, I'll probably be living in the city (first year staying in Evanston), and may be looking for a roommate to live with near Downtown/Streeterville area.

I'm assuming admissions would be a bit closer to MBA admissions than they would Ph.D. admissions, so work experience (5+ years full-time is the norm for any top school) would probably be #1, then standardized test scores (most schools prefer GMAT over GRE when both options are given; no idea what Columbia's preference is), GPA, and potential for leadership/success (typically from reference letters).

The school I was weighing against was a Top 75 for "Business Ph.D." (published ranking), Top 50 for "Marketing" (published ranking), but the placements for the particular line of research was really "Top 10" (comparison of placement history) for placements in my specific research area. Shows how little rankings can matter.

There's absolutely nothing wrong (or financially irresponsible) in opening up another checking account at a different bank. Heck, diversifying one's savings and investment methods is encouraged in case of bankruptcy anyway. When I did an REU in Chapel Hill, I ran into the same problem (another Los Angeles native here) when no Chase was around. I just chose the most convenient bank that was also everywhere in California to be my next depository (which ended up being BoA).

Read some articles from JMS and see if you understand the methodology, results, and discussion. This should tell you what level you really need to be at, and for all you know, you might have that covered already; if the statistics is what's getting you, take more stats/probability theory courses -- if it's the modeling/analysis, take math modeling, structural equations, PDE/ODE, real analysis, etc. A Strategy/Quant Marketing Ph.D. isn't structured to be as theoretical as a Math Ph.D., but a competence with modeling/statistics is assumed for all applicants and admits to programs. If you're going for a Ph.D. for the wrong reasons (prestige, money, avoiding real work, etc.), sure: that may be true. If you're going into a Ph.D. program for the right reason (you like research and want to advance the science and discipline), then no: go to any (funded) program that will take you. I say funded because there are a handful of programs that just aren't very good at training scholars and there's strong correlation between those programs and their lack of funding. The norm is (I won't sugar coat it) that those getting placements at top programs typically come from other "top" programs, but each year you do see jumps from programs considered to be "middling" (i.e., below "top 20") to the elites. It's really dependent on the individual, how much research they put out onto quality 'A' journals, amount of conferences they've presented/published in, networking, research "pipeline" (working papers, R&Rs, etc.), interviewing ability, and so on. The field is also such that you will almost surely get a job as a tenure-track professor SOMEWHERE as long as you cast a wide net in the job market (70+ applications is fairly common). For Marketing (which is considered one of the lower-paying fields compared to Finance/Accounting), the lowest 9-month salary in the last 3 years of placements has been $90,000 -- not shabby at all. Placement rates into professorships are above 90% for marketing, and I'd posit it's the same for Management (though I could easily be wrong). Just go to a program that has a strong fit and you'll do well. ^^ Further note, I ended up choosing to go to a "top" program, but was really weighing between that one and a MUCH lower-ranked school (one typically found in the "top 50" range in various rankings) because I had such a strong fit with the faculty and one professor/advisor in general. It was a hard decision, but there were lots of factors in my choosing my program in the end. Choosing which school to attend (and eventually be a professor at) isn't just as clear-cut as rankings; academia works differently than other programs/jobs. I wouldn't say it's any more or less competitive than OB or CB. They're competitive in different ways. Besides my trip to WUStL/Olin, CB was definitely overrepresented in graduate student samples, meaning sure -- there probably are more slots for CB students compared to Quant Marketing students. However, I feel that it may be "easier" to get into a CB program because you just need to show strong potential to be a future researcher and past coursework/technical knowledge is discounted quite a bit; for Quant Marketing and Strategy, not only does an individual need to also have that strong potential to be a researcher, they also must have done well in particular courses and must have a certain mastery of technical foundations in math, statistics, programming (you're going to hate MATLAB and Python so much), and so on. The research questions in their respective fields are similar, but distinctly different, so you can't compare them in that way either. Since I have a background in math and economics, I do hope to ameliorate the gap between the behavioral and quantitative fields a bit by looking at CB questions through a modeler's perspective, and see if there are ways to predict consumer or firm behavior, using the psychological findings as the lay foundation. Anyway, hope that helps.

As kdilks said, only to distinguish general tiers. If you're comparing a Top 10 versus a Top 100, for example, I'd be hard-pressed to justify choosing the latter. If you're comparing something like a #8 school versus a #19 school, I wouldn't sweat it as productivity in given doctoral subfields varies a lot.

Research or no research?

At first, I was going to travel to Europe and South America over the summer, but my former professor from a summer REU invited me to manage/lead an internship site for 10 weeks, so I'm jumping on that opportunity! I'm conducting more research, revisiting one of my favorite cities (Chapel Hill / RTP), and getting paid to eat eat eat yummy Carolina BBQ.

Friend: "Congrats! Northwestern? That's the one in Boston, right?" Mom: "Haven't you spent enough time in school?" (in Spanish) Professor (in SoCal): "Hahaha. You're going to the Midwest."

You're doing all the right things. I graduated with a double in Joint Math/Econ and Psychology (Behavioral Neuroscience) and had no Marketing/Business background whatsoever. I got a 720 GMAT (39V/50Q/6.0W) and graduated with a 3.6 GPA, so not breathtaking numbers, but adequate (no Masters). The fact that you're getting an MS in a Quant field is great -- if you're applying to Management (OB) or Marketing (CB) this is a strongpoint; if you're applying to Management (Strategy) or Marketing (Modeling/Quant), this is merely adequate. The publication is great, even if it's not in business. This shows that you know what you're embarking on and have tangible research experience/exposure. I had a conference proceeding, 5 poster presentations, an R&R at a high-impact medical journal, none of which were directly marketing-related. I could only wish I had an actual journal pub in my belt. Besides that, just start developing your personal statement and refine your research interests so you can pinpoint programs that are a strong fit. Strong profiles with little/no fit in a program will be rejected without hesitation, so only apply to programs that you find interesting (and not just apply to the top 10 elites or whatever). Maintain a high GPA in your Master's program and do as much research as possible. If you can submit your paper to conferences, do so. The exposure to presentations is invaluable since public speaking is an art not easily mastered for academia.

Yup. It uses most of its energy only when it changes displays -- when it's at screensaver mode (i.e., the pictures of authors, books, etc.), power discharge is almost 0, which is why you can find your Kindle with nearly full battery after not using it for over a month.

I currently have a professional blog for my wedding photography business, so I won't post that (even though I talk about personal life, too) since it may be construed as advertising. I'll be starting a blog about my last few months before graduate school and completing some bucket list items in my current city.

Maybe 10 or so. It's not as common for prospective students to e-mail individual professors in my field -- I came from a Psychology background, though, so I was ready to start emailing dozens upon dozens if needed, though.

$250 GMAT Around $1000 applying to 10 schools + sending out transcripts/test scores Around $2000 flying to 5 schools, though THIS was luckily reimbursed afterwards.