Fall 2022 Business Ph.D. Applicants

[Vyndian]

31 minutes ago, JPrun said:

You would have to do some pretty focused research and filter out based on interests. I would suggest you start here: http://www.businessphdwiki.com/doku.php?id=application_and_interview_process#choosing_the_programs_to_apply_to. It's hard to find any resource that beats that in terms of the comprehensiveness it offers on the process. 

By the way, who else found the business phd wiki site extremely useful during application? 

It’s equal parts useful and misleading, tbh.

[JPrun]

2 hours ago, Vyndian said:

It’s equal parts useful and misleading, tbh.

☺️which part was misleading? I think we might all learn something from your perspective. I am still in the application process. Will return with updates on target schools and the journey so far.

[Vyndian]

29 minutes ago, JPrun said:

☺️which part was misleading? I think we might all learn something from your perspective. I am still in the application process. Will return with updates on target schools and the journey so far.

So, you have to take into consideration that the guide was written by two students as they were going through their admissions processes— and what this means, by proxy, is you’re not really getting a good idea of how faculty see things.

For example, the talking to phd students advice is kind of wishy-washy. However, talks with faculty are almost always useful— assuming you contacted back in the summer. And if you those faculty blew you off, well, that’s a really useful data point for your own admissions decisions.

GRE Scores? For better or worse, they are the only standardized metric. Don’t let them discourage you, but they are more than a solely a cutoff.

Letters of Recc requests? Guide says to ask 2-3 months in advance. Want good letters? Do it 6 months in advance, and if anyone remotely hesitates, you’ve got time to select others. It’ll also help you give them materials to write good letters with. It was incredibly helpful that my recommenders got a copy of the exact CV I was going to submit with apps, for example.

This is likely an exaggeration on my part, but I kind of wish the guide didn’t deify faculty members so much. They’re people. While you’re not equals right now… you’re asking them to train you to stand next to them or exceed them. That’s what research is about. You’re going to take our current knowledge and make it deeper/richer. Take strength and pride from that.

Some great parts about the guide is it really gives you the scope of the timeline needed to fully target applications. I finished early, but only because I started writing my SOP’s back in August. It just takes that long to go through dozens of faculty CV’s and read their works.

The stuff in the guide about apprenticeship vs. entrepreneurial programs? Absolute gold. The interview questions? Gold. The sample materials (the submitted SOP’s and CV’s)… useful-ish. Take into consideration those folks are the truly star-studded applicants. 

Overall, it’s a useful tool. I would love to help them write an updated version once we all complete our degrees.

Edited November 30, 2021 by Vyndian

[JPrun]

6 hours ago, Vyndian said:

So, you have to take into consideration that the guide was written by two students as they were going through their admissions processes— and what this means, by proxy, is you’re not really getting a good idea of how faculty see things.

For example, the talking to phd students advice is kind of wishy-washy. However, talks with faculty are almost always useful— assuming you contacted back in the summer. And if you those faculty blew you off, well, that’s a really useful data point for your own admissions decisions.

GRE Scores? For better or worse, they are the only standardized metric. Don’t let them discourage you, but they are more than a solely a cutoff.

Letters of Recc requests? Guide says to ask 2-3 months in advance. Want good letters? Do it 6 months in advance, and if anyone remotely hesitates, you’ve got time to select others. It’ll also help you give them materials to write good letters with. It was incredibly helpful that my recommenders got a copy of the exact CV I was going to submit with apps, for example.

This is likely an exaggeration on my part, but I kind of wish the guide didn’t deify faculty members so much. They’re people. While you’re not equals right now… you’re asking them to train you to stand next to them or exceed them. That’s what research is about. You’re going to take our current knowledge and make it deeper/richer. Take strength and pride from that.

Some great parts about the guide is it really gives you the scope of the timeline needed to fully target applications. I finished early, but only because I started writing my SOP’s back in August. It just takes that long to go through dozens of faculty CV’s and read their works.

The stuff in the guide about apprenticeship vs. entrepreneurial programs? Absolute gold. The interview questions? Gold. The sample materials (the submitted SOP’s and CV’s)… useful-ish. Take into consideration those folks are the truly star-studded applicants. 

Overall, it’s a useful tool. I would love to help them write an updated version once we all complete our degrees.

Excellent points, you have nailed it. I mostly agree with your submissions. GRE is very important. Let me add that as someone with I would say a good amount of research experience, I've come to realize that nothing beats publications in the field or to have a solid working paper with a well-known faculty.  I might be somewhat biased (GRE both V & Q in mid-80th percentile so not in the same league with @Vyndian) though I've also heard similar things from faculty and current students.

By the way, I'm contacting faculty currently, and I attempt to not follow the usual indication of interest rather I propose new areas that might be worthy of exploration based off their papers that I've read, then I ask for their feedback. This process is quite slow but it appears to be working. Is anyone here applying to USC Marshall? To everyone, which schools do you consider a crapshoot and which are the safe bets for you? Good luck as you race to complete the process.

[Vyndian]

28 minutes ago, JPrun said:

Excellent points, you have nailed it. I mostly agree with your submissions. GRE is very important. Let me add that as someone with I would say a good amount of research experience, I've come to realize that nothing beats publications in the field or to have a solid working paper with a well-known faculty.  I might be somewhat biased (GRE both V & Q in mid-80th percentile so not in the same league with @Vyndian) though I've also heard similar things from faculty and current students.

By the way, I'm contacting faculty currently, and I attempt to not follow the usual indication of interest rather I propose new areas that might be worthy of exploration based off their papers that I've read, then I ask for their feedback. This process is quite slow but it appears to be working. Is anyone here applying to USC Marshall? To everyone, which schools do you consider a crapshoot and which are the safe bets for you? Good luck as you race to complete the process.

Hey now, I never said what my percentiles were ?

I’d call 80’s nailing it.

[JPrun]

27 minutes ago, Vyndian said:

Hey now, I never said what my percentiles were ?

I’d call 80’s nailing it.

??, 80's nailing it? Thanks, but I don't think so.

[Vyndian]

7 minutes ago, JPrun said:

??, 80's nailing it? Thanks, but I don't think so.

I didn’t say “acing” it!!

?

[PhD22Plz]

On 11/30/2021 at 2:59 PM, Vyndian said:

Letters of Recc requests? Guide says to ask 2-3 months in advance. Want good letters? Do it 6 months in advance, and if anyone remotely hesitates, you’ve got time to select others. It’ll also help you give them materials to write good letters with. It was incredibly helpful that my recommenders got a copy of the exact CV I was going to submit with apps, for example.

I am going through the pain of this right now. I contacted three faculty members in March and told them my plans to apply to doctoral programs, and secured their buy-in to serve as references on my behalf. I followed up again in July and then again in September with finalized information about the programs I was applying to, due dates, a copy of my CV, and even a brief write up (3 - 5 sentences) explaining why each program was a good fit. 

Two of my recommenders submitted before the end of September. My third recommender assured me in October, in the first week of November, and then again several days ago that they would submit their reference in advance of the December 1 deadline. Unfortunately, they did not follow through.

Luckily, I covered my behind and had back-ups ready to go, but there is one program where I will only have 2 / 3 letters of recommendation. This is among the programs I was least likely to get into anyhow, so I am not sweating it too much. 

EDIT: It seems there is a second program who is unable to accept a substitute letter of reference to replace the one that is missing. Regrettably, it seems then that there will be two programs for which I have only 2 / 3 letters. For all the work that went into these applications, to have this be the outcome for two of them is very disappointing. 

Edited December 1, 2021 by PhD22Plz

[Vyndian]

5 hours ago, PhD22Plz said:

 

EDIT: It seems there is a second program who is unable to accept a substitute letter of reference to replace the one that is missing. Regrettably, it seems then that there will be two programs for which I have only 2 / 3 letters. For all the work that went into these applications, to have this be the outcome for two of them is very disappointing. 

?

I’m sorry! I assume Stanford and Harvard since they were the main Dec 1 dated schools?

[PhD22Plz]

10 hours ago, Vyndian said:

?

I’m sorry! I assume Stanford and Harvard since they were the main Dec 1 dated schools?

By good fortune, my professor submitted the recommendation to both schools (Stanford and Berkeley) at the last moment. I’m not sure I’m prepared to handle the anxiety associated with 14 additional last-minute submissions haha.

[ScottJW]

On 12/1/2021 at 3:59 AM, Vyndian said:

So, you have to take into consideration that the guide was written by two students as they were going through their admissions processes— and what this means, by proxy, is you’re not really getting a good idea of how faculty see things.

For example, the talking to phd students advice is kind of wishy-washy. However, talks with faculty are almost always useful— assuming you contacted back in the summer. And if you those faculty blew you off, well, that’s a really useful data point for your own admissions decisions.

GRE Scores? For better or worse, they are the only standardized metric. Don’t let them discourage you, but they are more than a solely a cutoff.

Letters of Recc requests? Guide says to ask 2-3 months in advance. Want good letters? Do it 6 months in advance, and if anyone remotely hesitates, you’ve got time to select others. It’ll also help you give them materials to write good letters with. It was incredibly helpful that my recommenders got a copy of the exact CV I was going to submit with apps, for example.

This is likely an exaggeration on my part, but I kind of wish the guide didn’t deify faculty members so much. They’re people. While you’re not equals right now… you’re asking them to train you to stand next to them or exceed them. That’s what research is about. You’re going to take our current knowledge and make it deeper/richer. Take strength and pride from that.

Some great parts about the guide is it really gives you the scope of the timeline needed to fully target applications. I finished early, but only because I started writing my SOP’s back in August. It just takes that long to go through dozens of faculty CV’s and read their works.

The stuff in the guide about apprenticeship vs. entrepreneurial programs? Absolute gold. The interview questions? Gold. The sample materials (the submitted SOP’s and CV’s)… useful-ish. Take into consideration those folks are the truly star-studded applicants. 

Overall, it’s a useful tool. I would love to help them write an updated version once we all complete our degrees.

Very good points. Also, @Mattsjoe, there is an introductory essay, which was written by a MIT PhD student-AP at UC Berkeley right now (https://abhishekn.com/files/phdguide.pdf). BUT afterall, referring to the schools, you need to do your own homework (or I would say "research").

[JeffQ]

Hey guys, Strategy applicant here, still working on my application packet.

I'm curious, what are your 'name-dropping' strategies in your SOPs? I find some schools pretty easy to identify whom to mention in my SOP, but some really difficult. In one school, I found multiple assistant profs. with great fit, but none with a higher rank. Do you think it's okay to mention them anyways? I heard somewhere that mentioning assistant profs. is a bit risky because you don't know if they'd be sticking around for the duration of your program. I can think of a couple of tenured faculty members I can mention if I stretch my interests enough, but I'm worried I might come off as insincere. Any thoughts? What's the general rule when it comes to writing down faculty members?

[Vyndian]

^ you don’t know the associates or higher are going to stick around, either.

[JPrun]

9 hours ago, JeffQ said:

Hey guys, Strategy applicant here, still working on my application packet.

I'm curious, what are your 'name-dropping' strategies in your SOPs? I find some schools pretty easy to identify whom to mention in my SOP, but some really difficult. In one school, I found multiple assistant profs. with great fit, but none with a higher rank. Do you think it's okay to mention them anyways? I heard somewhere that mentioning assistant profs. is a bit risky because you don't know if they'd be sticking around for the duration of your program. I can think of a couple of tenured faculty members I can mention if I stretch my interests enough, but I'm worried I might come off as insincere. Any thoughts? What's the general rule when it comes to writing down faculty members?

I think it's important to keep in mind that the admissions committee do not expect you to have that ideas fully formed. What I've heard they are looking out for is the conviction that you did your research and could connect your interests to those of faculty. Remember, that upon admission you are not tied to a particular professor until after 1-2 years in most schools. However, I would be cautious to apply to a school where only one professor has closely related interests. Other than the last point, you should be fine with putting up a decent connection with some faculty. It is not meant to be exhaustive anyways. Also, keeping things open is a useful strategy, don't appear or write in a way that shows you are set on working on a just a particular topic, it would hurt your chances. Every serious researcher out there knows that your interests will most likely evolve as you dig deeper. 

My 2 cents!

[djiao]

Hey guys, I'm applying to accounting PhD programs. Research interests include financial acct, analysts, corp governance. Specifically interested in the application of machine learning and textual analysis. 

Applying to 20-25 programs this year, including top schools and some "safer" options. Haven't yet finished all and have been quite swamped. Dream schools are MIT, Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, etc. 

BS in math, MA in finance, and MS in engineering. 1+ yrs work exp as a buy-side analyst. Some part-time RAships but no pub/working paper. LoR from acct/finance full/assistant professors at decent schools. 

[OBapplicant22]

Hey guys, Micro OB applicant here. I applied to ten programs, 6 in the US, 1 in Canada, 1 in UK, 1 in Singapore and 1 in Singapore/France. Top dream schools are INSEAD, Columbia, Harvard, and Stanford. Safer options include Singapore Management University. 

Bachelor of management from a top 10 university in China (I guess from the same school as @ScottJW), and currently a MPhil from the same school. Three working papers, two of them are in English and were presented at AOM. A China National Scholarship. LoR from faculties I have been working with, one from an internationally famous school, and two from top Chinese universities.

[OBapplicant22]

On 12/1/2021 at 11:45 AM, JPrun said:

Excellent points, you have nailed it. I mostly agree with your submissions. GRE is very important. Let me add that as someone with I would say a good amount of research experience, I've come to realize that nothing beats publications in the field or to have a solid working paper with a well-known faculty.  I might be somewhat biased (GRE both V & Q in mid-80th percentile so not in the same league with @Vyndian) though I've also heard similar things from faculty and current students.

By the way, I'm contacting faculty currently, and I attempt to not follow the usual indication of interest rather I propose new areas that might be worthy of exploration based off their papers that I've read, then I ask for their feedback. This process is quite slow but it appears to be working. Is anyone here applying to USC Marshall? To everyone, which schools do you consider a crapshoot and which are the safe bets for you? Good luck as you race to complete the process.

Hey @JPrun! How's it going with your contacting with faculty? I used the same strategy to contact someone at my dream school, but she never replied that email lol.

[JPrun]

4 hours ago, S.L. said:

Hey @JPrun! How's it going with your contacting with faculty? I used the same strategy to contact someone at my dream school, but she never replied that email lol.

I wouldn't hold my breath on faculty replying. They are extremely busy especially at this time of the term. So, even if you did everything right, it's no guarantee that they will respond. However, it's not a poor idea to check back after a week or so to remind them just in case they missed the email. Did you specifically mention any papers you've read, and how the ideas tie back to your current work/expertise/interests? Sometimes,  I do a bit more literature just to see if I can spot a gap but this takes some decent effort and shouldn't be hurried (I did some hurried research one time and wrote a faculty, and while the professor appreciated my interest and time to do some research, he mentioned that he could not connect the ideas to his work, perhaps implying that I did a poor job with that one). When you take time to do a detailed research and reach out, it shows, and the professor can easily tell.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

[OBapplicant22]

15 hours ago, JPrun said:

I wouldn't hold my breath on faculty replying. They are extremely busy especially at this time of the term. So, even if you did everything right, it's no guarantee that they will respond. However, it's not a poor idea to check back after a week or so to remind them just in case they missed the email. Did you specifically mention any papers you've read, and how the ideas tie back to your current work/expertise/interests? Sometimes,  I do a bit more literature just to see if I can spot a gap but this takes some decent effort and shouldn't be hurried (I did some hurried research one time and wrote a faculty, and while the professor appreciated my interest and time to do some research, he mentioned that he could not connect the ideas to his work, perhaps implying that I did a poor job with that one). When you take time to do a detailed research and reach out, it shows, and the professor can easily tell.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Thank you @JPrun for such an insightful reply! You're right, I should be more specific about the literature and how the ideas relate to my own work. I read literature around that topic but did not specifically mention which one I read and found especially interesting. I made several ppt slides illustrating my research ideas that I thought were addressing the current research gaps. But I did not illustrate how these ideas connects to my research experience or interests (i.e., my current projects were not quite related to that topic). I did not mention anything about my interests for joining that school but instead only focused on the ideas and asked for her opinions on that. I don't know whether mentioning having a strong interest for joining the school and collaborate with the faculty helps aha, but maybe this will make them more interested in replying the emails? 

[JPrun]

11 hours ago, S.L. said:

Thank you @JPrun for such an insightful reply! You're right, I should be more specific about the literature and how the ideas relate to my own work. I read literature around that topic but did not specifically mention which one I read and found especially interesting. I made several ppt slides illustrating my research ideas that I thought were addressing the current research gaps. But I did not illustrate how these ideas connects to my research experience or interests (i.e., my current projects were not quite related to that topic). I did not mention anything about my interests for joining that school but instead only focused on the ideas and asked for her opinions on that. I don't know whether mentioning having a strong interest for joining the school and collaborate with the faculty helps aha, but maybe this will make them more interested in replying the emails? 

You're welcome @S.L.. Faculty replying is not entirely contingent upon what you've sent though many may be more inclined to respond to emails/letters that depict detailed research. Perhaps, you could try to make the connection when you write or explain if the interest is based off an extension from your work (making this connection/extension is necessary when writing a faculty, it's not the same as writing in your SOP that you are just interested in a topic). However, if I know honestly that it's not connected, I don't beat a dead horse, I'd simply frame it as having gleaned important research experience from those past works that can help me ask deep questions with respect to the current topic (which the faculty is working on and in which I'm interested).

I hope this helps.

[Mr. Jameson]

Just sent in the last of the applications and finished paying some absurd GRE fees. Fingers crossed for everyone-- hopefully we hear about interviews in January

[Vyndian]

3 hours ago, Mr. Jameson said:

Just sent in the last of the applications and finished paying some absurd GRE fees. Fingers crossed for everyone-- hopefully we hear about interviews in January

Grats!!!

[OBapplicant22]

15 hours ago, JPrun said:

You're welcome @S.L.. Faculty replying is not entirely contingent upon what you've sent though many may be more inclined to respond to emails/letters that depict detailed research. Perhaps, you could try to make the connection when you write or explain if the interest is based off an extension from your work (making this connection/extension is necessary when writing a faculty, it's not the same as writing in your SOP that you are just interested in a topic). However, if I know honestly that it's not connected, I don't beat a dead horse, I'd simply frame it as having gleaned important research experience from those past works that can help me ask deep questions with respect to the current topic (which the faculty is working on and in which I'm interested).

I hope this helps.

Thank you soooooo much @JPrun! This is really insightful! I believe it helps the contacting process as it demonstrates both research experience and interests in working with them on the current research topics. Just one more question, do you mention that you applied for their PhD program and are interested in working with them in the future in your email?

[JPrun]

15 hours ago, S.L. said:

Thank you soooooo much @JPrun! This is really insightful! I believe it helps the contacting process as it demonstrates both research experience and interests in working with them on the current research topics. Just one more question, do you mention that you applied for their PhD program and are interested in working with them in the future in your email?

Yes, I do. I think your application is the bridge between your connection with him and the intention to be at the specific school so without mentioning that I feel your message would be incomplete, except you are asking for a collaboration outside of the PhD. This is at least how I perceive it. I could be wrong.

 

[JPrun]

23 hours ago, Mr. Jameson said:

Just sent in the last of the applications and finished paying some absurd GRE fees. Fingers crossed for everyone-- hopefully we hear about interviews in January

Congrats on finishing!