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epichs
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I know what I want. How do I get there? 07 Jan 2010, 13:46
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Hello everyone! I've been an avid read of the forum but I've never posted. I know plenty of you have great advice to offer so I'm looking for your 2 cents. I know what I want to achieve, I just need to find the best way (for me) to get there. Hopefully you guys can help me with some of that.

My goal: I want to be a Marketing professor.
I genuinely enjoy the intellectually stimulating environment of academia. I like research, marketing, and growing up I always played "school" and graded fake tests I created.

My Stats:
-I'm graduating in May with a BS in Business Marketing and Psychology (double major)
-3.3 GPA, (3.5+ GPA in Marketing/Psych) but I slacked off in the beginning with general requirements like history.
-2 years part time business related work experience
-Taking GMAT on 1/25/10

Here are my questions to you:
* At this point - I need a masters degree to get into a PhD program, right?
* Which MS degree would best help my chances of being accepted into a PhD in business marketing program?
* Do PhD programs shy away from students who have all of their degrees in one area?
IE: BS in Marketing, MS in Marketing, why should we give you a PhD in Marketing?

-Thank you all in advance! :)
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gottabwise
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I know what I want. How do I get there? 07 Jan 2010, 20:18
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Kudos on loving marketing. Students need you. They need people who love what they do and who are willing to become subject matter experts. You do not need a master's degree to obtain the PhD. In fact, I have many friends who have entered PhD programs directly from undergrad. You can get a master's enroute to the PhD. If you're a minority applicant, consider the PhD project as a resource for navigating the process. If not, check it out anyway. The program may offer useful information for the overall process. Stay excited and keeping seeing yourself in academia until it happens.
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epichs
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I know what I want. How do I get there? 12 Jan 2010, 21:06
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gottabwise
Kudos on loving marketing. Students need you. They need people who love what they do and who are willing to become subject matter experts. You do not need a master's degree to obtain the PhD. In fact, I have many friends who have entered PhD programs directly from undergrad. You can get a master's enroute to the PhD. If you're a minority applicant, consider the PhD project as a resource for navigating the process. If not, check it out anyway. The program may offer useful information for the overall process. Stay excited and keeping seeing yourself in academia until it happens.
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Thank you for your words of encouragement!

I know an MS is not a "need" for a PhD, but I fear that with my relatively low GPA, and small part time work experience that I may not be as competitive as other applicants. I'm currently studying to take the GMAT, but I'm not certain that I can reach the 700 average mark that most PhD programs look for. I will remain positive though. Also, one school I contacted replied with the following:

"Because admission is so competitive, the majority of our students do come to the program with a master’s degree. In the last four years 90% had some prior graduate study, even if they had not completed a master's degree, and that 60% had completed a master's degree."

Sounds like "most" people are doing the MS.

-Evey
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gottabwise
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I know what I want. How do I get there? 13 Jan 2010, 18:43
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epichs
gottabwise
Kudos on loving marketing. Students need you. They need people who love what they do and who are willing to become subject matter experts. You do not need a master's degree to obtain the PhD. In fact, I have many friends who have entered PhD programs directly from undergrad. You can get a master's enroute to the PhD. If you're a minority applicant, consider the PhD project as a resource for navigating the process. If not, check it out anyway. The program may offer useful information for the overall process. Stay excited and keeping seeing yourself in academia until it happens.

Thank you for your words of encouragement!

I know an MS is not a "need" for a PhD, but I fear that with my relatively low GPA, and small part time work experience that I may not be as competitive as other applicants. I'm currently studying to take the GMAT, but I'm not certain that I can reach the 700 average mark that most PhD programs look for. I will remain positive though. Also, one school I contacted replied with the following:

"Because admission is so competitive, the majority of our students do come to the program with a master’s degree. In the last four years 90% had some prior graduate study, even if they had not completed a master's degree, and that 60% had completed a master's degree."

Sounds like "most" people are doing the MS.

-Evey
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Share your background and concerns with the various admissions consultant active on the site. They should be able to provide sound advice. admission-consultants-124/
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cabro57
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I know what I want. How do I get there? 19 Jan 2010, 08:28
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epichs

I genuinely enjoy the intellectually stimulating environment of academia. I like research, marketing, and growing up I always played "school" and graded fake tests I created.

Here are my questions to you:
* At this point - I need a masters degree to get into a PhD program, right?
* Which MS degree would best help my chances of being accepted into a PhD in business marketing program?
* Do PhD programs shy away from students who have all of their degrees in one area?
IE: BS in Marketing, MS in Marketing, why should we give you a PhD in Marketing?
Show more

1) You don't want to put too much emphasis on grading as it's universally recognized among faculty members (and most lecturers alike) as the part of teaching that sucks, and of course, it's also often the case that teaching is the part of academia that sucks (wrong in my view, but still, that's the game).

2) You don't need a masters degree to get into a PhD program, but it usually helps. You need to figure out what type of PhD program you want to be shooting for, and what type of school you'd eventually want to work at. If your dream is a Chicago/Wharton type of research university, you need to have a very good profile, where a 3.3 undergrad GPA probably hurts; a good showing in a graduate program would lessen that concern. There are also some math prerequisites for a Marketing PhD as research is rather quant-intensive - did you have calculus and stats courses in your BS? How did you do in them? That said, if you just want to teach at a 'regular' state school and not have so much pressure for research, it'd probably be dumb to waste time on a masters if you can get into a PhD program right away -- again, that's assuming you have the (quant) prerequisites to get there.

3) No clue about any specific program for preparation for a Marketing PhD.

4) There's nothing wrong with all Marketing degrees if that's what you want to do in life.
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