Ph.D in Business forum

Hello Every One ! I am interested in doing my Ph.D. in Marketing from the US. I am M.Phil ( Eco.) and MBA but from a not so well known institute. I have almost 10 years of work experience , mostly in academics. Any suggestions as to where I should apply? I think I will get 700+ in GMAT.

Hi, This is my first visit to the forum and After reading some of your messages I am a little lost and worried.

I introduce myself:
I am mexican, 30 years old. I have a bachelors degree in Marketing (graduated with honors) and a MBA both from ITESM (one of top latin american universities).
I have been working in the marketing research area since ten years ago, currently I am Marketing Intellingence Director for an international Insurance Company (previously worked in the mass market for companies such as L'Oreal and British American Tobacco).
I have no academic experience and have not yet done GMAT, but I'm preparing it and hope to do it ok.

I want to be admitted in a PhD program at HEC Montreal or McGill (both in Montreal) . My main goal is to become a professor, and I have always tought that working experience in companies help to be a good professor, that is why I have dedicated 10 years to work in enterpises. after reading several messages I feel like I have no chance....

How hard would it be for some one with no academic experience to be accepted?

Does any one know how are these canadian unversities ranked?

Any tip for application?

Thanks for your answers,

best regards,

eliseo,

It certainly makes sense that having business experience is important to being a good business professor, but for PhD admission committees academic research experience is much more important. It is not essential, however; it just helps a lot.

I would try to make contact with some old MBA professors for advice. Maybe you could help them with a reasearch project. You will need at least a couple of academic recommenders anyway, so the sooner you make contact the better.

Don't know specifics about the Canadian schools you mention, but there is a lot of good discussion about rankings on this forum. You may find some insight there.

Don't sweat it too much, it sounds like your experience, education and goals are pretty much in line with what it takes to gain admission to a PhD program. Only caveat is that you're setting your sights pretty high, McGill and HEC are awful good schools, might want to have some safeties in there as well.

Hi all..i just joined this forum..let me introduce myself..i m a BTech from IIT Kharagpur and then MBA from IIT Bombay..i am interested in doing PhD in finance from US b school.....few schools do not accept GMAT score for finance program..is it OK then to just take GRE and apply to these universities....what wud b a good GRE score for top 15 programs..

hi all, i am a phd aspirant from india. i'm 35 yrs of age and have done my MBA from IIM, Calcutta,India. my ug gpa is not too great.my gmat score is 750(q50,v44).my work ex predisposes me towards phd in strategy. any advice is welcome.

Hi Naveen, if you could post some more about yourself and your interests in the main forum, perhaps we could comment something !!

Hello there,

I just registered at this site; my name is Vivek. Finding this site has been as exhilarating as seeing a lively ship after days of being marooned in the ocean Three cheers to the ideators of this site.

I am looking for some help with my application process. I wish to do a PhD in business with an emphasis on Economics. My main area of interest is International Finance and Macroeconomics. A number of top schools offer such a program - Harvard, Wharton, Chicago GSB, Stern NYU, Columbia, Anderson UCLA and Duke.

My background is as follows -
B.Tech (Electrical) from IIT Madras. graduated in 2000. GP 7.4/10
Worked in an Indian IT co. for 4 years
Currently in my 2nd year of MBA at IIM Ahmedabad. GP 3.15/4
GMAT 740 (Q50, V41), GRE 1470 (Q800, V670)

I would appreciate suggestions on -
1) my chances of securing admission at one of the top schools
2) other schools which have a good phd program in economics/international finance and are less competitive

Wishing everyone all the very best with their applications! Cheers.

Hi, Mamta,

There are a lot of choices available! You'll need to choose some more specific criteria. You can easily get a ranking of the best schools at <https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/02/full_time_rank.htm>. You can also select schools by region (US and world), at <https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/03/geographic.htm>. With a GMAT score of at least 700, you will not have trouble getting into a *good* school. As for the very top schools, you'll want to review their profiles at the websites I've just indicated. In general, if your GMAT is high (680+), it will prevail over all other criteria.

A GMAT score of 700 or more will very probably earn you some very good scholarships, especially at state institutions, some of which are downright excellent (look at the rankings). Keep in mind that all of the best institutions want researchers. If you're already pretty good at writing and like dealing with concepts, then tell all of them that you *definitely* want to do research. If you say you want to teach, you'll throw yourself out of the running with some of the best institutions.

Cheers,

Thanks for the useful information provided by you.
Some more constrains now sir,I have got permission to stay abroad only for a period of one year( +_ 3 months).As a mid way I think that MS would be more feasible . kindly share your opinion and is there a possibility of obtaing financial aid?
mamta

Hi, Mamta,

Yes, a master's degree is feasible within a constraint of one year, but no worthwhile doctorate is. This is partly because of the shorter necessary time span to earn a master's degree, but also because the good doctoral programs cannot ordinarily afford to shorten residency requirements via alternative delivery means, such as distance learning, while master's degree programs are much more flexible in this regard.

If you believe it is worthwhile to pursue a master's degree program with maybe as little as 9 months available, look for one that accommodates distance learning to make up for the expected residency shortfall. If you want some of your credits from your master's degree to transfer into a doctoral program, make sure it is AACSB-accredited. Universities with which I am familiar that offer online MBA programs accredited by AACSB International include Arizona State U., the Georgia WebMBA Consortium, Indiana U., Marist College, Morehead State U., Ohio U., Suffolk U., the U. of Florida, the U. of Michigan at Flint, the U. of Tulsa, and the U. of Wisconsin at Whitewater.

In most (if not all) cases, courses taken in residency at any of these institutions will transfer into the online program easily. In some cases, you may be able to complete a program that you start in residency by taking the remaining courses online through the associated distance learning centers. That way, even though you will have taken some of the courses online, the degree does not have to reflect this fact to any substantial extent. Being able to show that you have undertaken the majority of the program in residency is always good, but specialized accreditation (especially AACSB) is better.

Cheers,

thanks sir
now I think I will change my focus on this side.
If you have more information about the financial aid available then please let me know.As far as my research goes , it is possible to get aid if MS is in finance but not in case of marketing.
mamta.

Thanks a lot for your advice

hi all,
continuing from the previous post. my gpa at IIMC was 7/9 with major in finance and eco. did my Bsc from JNU,Delhi. My work ex is rather different in that I was in the armed forces and that too as combat pilot.so i have worke da bit on strat, though military strat.pl advice.

cheers

naveen

Hi, Eliseo,

Jaypalm is right. In fact, academic (i.e., teaching) experience is probably the least important part of your curriculum vitae. Good doctoral institutions want a combination of two criteria: (1) strong predictors of academic performance; and (2) strong predictors of future job placement. Neither of these has very much to do with whether you've taught before.

The first criterion focuses a lot of attention on the GMAT itself. This is not so much because the GMAT is perhaps weighted heavily in certain indices (it is 16.25% of the rating for the US News & World Report index), but because there are few reliable predictors of academic performance out there. Undergraduate GPA depends a lot on where the prospect studied, and it is virtually impossible to do anything about the differences in relative difficulty from institution to institution. For example, a graduate of the tough US Military Academy at West Point might end up with a GPA of 2.0, but the same student might well have been close to a 4.0 at some lesser institution. Now, let's say that someone undertakes the effort necessary to adjust individual universities' scores against a fixed standard in order to facilitate analysis. If the discipline of interest is business, it is difficult not to go back to the GMAT as the standard. This, in turn, obviates the need to give much importance to GPA in the first place. Therefore, doing well on the GMAT will tend to trump everything else for the person applying to business school.

Regarding the criterion of strong predictors of future job placement, good institutions will naturally give more importance to good salaries than to sheer numbers, and they know that graduates adept at research stand the best chance of capturing the best salaries. Therefore, they want people who are motivated to do research. Now, to normal people, teaching and research would seem to go hand in hand. In reality, doctoral recruiters who discover that a particular prospect really wants to teach are not nearly as interested in him as they are a competing prospect who really wants to do research. In effect, they tend to see teaching and research as competing alternatives, not mutually reinforcing activities. Moreover, they know that the best predictor of success in research is prior published research. Therefore, being able to demonstrate that you have already published something will give your application a big boost.

You may find some institutions actively engaged in raising their GMAT average by selecting students with sky-high GMAT scores and pushing all other considerations aside. Some of these are very solid public institutions that are worth a look. Such efforts should be expected to come in phases. Not all recruiting faculty believe in doing this, so when it is done, it is not likely to last more than a few years at a time.

Other institutions are actively looking for that vague quality that they call "fit." This is probably best understood as an indirect effect of the thinking that prevails in promotion and tenure (P&T) decisions. Assessing fit can be difficult, so it is likely to be gauged in the form of peer evaluations of a doctoral candidate, by the current doctoral students in the same school or department of the same institution. In such cases, a high GMAT can get you in the door, but it can also scare your prospective peers enough to send you back out.

All in all, stressing your background in market research, and being able to list several specific market research projects that you have either directed or undertaken yourself, will make you highly competitive when it comes to the second criterion listed above. Just be sure to let the institution know that you positively love research and are hoping to do a lot more of it. The GMAT will take care of the rest.

Lastly, as Littlefauss said, your selection of McGill or HEC is somewhat narrow. However, with your background, I would bet that you would be accepted with a strong GMAT score. You should already speak French, especially for HEC. McGill's average GMAT in 2004 was 646, while HEC's was much lower, namely, 585. Because these are both strong institutions, it is a good bet that a high GMAT will get you into McGill, but non-GMAT criteria will be considerably more important for HEC. You would do well to apply to a wider range than this, and if you wish to apply to an institution in Québec, an ability to interview in French will certainly be an advantage.

Hi, Praveen,

If you are looking into some business schools that do not accept the GMAT, then each school will have its own criterion in place of it. A few universities (e.g., Columbia Business School) may insist on the GRE for economics or finance, instead of the GMAT. Consult the specific school to find out what alternative test would be accepted. Very roughly, the score you should seek on the GRE for each component (quantitative, verbal, and analytical) is similar to the composite score on the GMAT. For example, UCLA's 2005 average GMAT for newly admitted Ph.D. applicants was 747. Its 2005 average GRE scores for the same were 653, 781, 730, and 4.8, for quantitative, verbal, analytical, and writing, respectively. Such scores would therefore be considered highly competitive.

Hi, Naveen,

With a GMAT of 750, you will have a wide range of top schools from which to choose. Did you get that score on your first try, and if so, how did you prepare for it?

Regarding strategy, business strategy and military strategy are so distinct that the use of the term "strategy" to describe both is a constant source of confusion for my many students who are military officers.

It is likely that your particular strengths are in finance and economics, or perhaps more generally in the quantitative subdisciplines of business. If this is the case, then it would make sense to focus on finance.

How much thought have you given to which business discipline would best suit your background?