Sunday, December 03, 2006

approaching the end of 2006.... things to be done

It's December, and one of the schools' application deadline is approaching. I have already completed and submitted my application for this school weeks ago, and so I'm cool (or pretending to be cool) about it. Anyway, the school already sent me an automated email to tell me that I will only hear of the decision by March/April next year.

Anyway, two outstanding tasks that I have (as of now) is to complete the application for one more school as well as my research project. For the former, there are about 3 months to the deadline, so it can wait a while more. For the latter, I have procrastinated for about 2 months - I hope to get it done before Christmas.

Once these are done, I would like to write in details of my experiences in the application process, e.g. the statement of purpose, letter of recommendations, etc.. I hope this would benefit future applicants. If I get admitted, then they would be positive advices. Otherwise, they would be negative examples - negative but useful nevertheless, I'm sure.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you know of any sites that review the different finance PhD programs here in the US?

Thanks!

dreamer said...

Not that I know of. The problem with PhD programs is that, unlike MBA programs, they are not that commerical. Hence it is hard to find such reviews and rankings.

UT Dallas has a ranking of PhD programs by different fields (http://citm.utdallas.edu/utdrankings/). But it doesn't provide any reviews. Hope this helps.

Anonymous said...

Hi! I am interested in applying for a PhD in the area of org. behavior or management... I don't have much knowledge though about this and was hoping you could tell me if I have a chance at good business schools?

I graduated as a psych major, math minor with a gpa of 3.8/4.0 at a public research I university... I haven't taken the GMAT yet, but I took the GRE and got a 660 verbal (93%), 770 quant (85% or so, but I know I can do better than that)... also, I completed an honors thesis but on a research topic in clinical psychology (though doing this makes me certain that at least 2 of my LORs would be strong)

I'm taking two years off (this year, I'm working for a psych prof but not really on research; next year I plan to do something in business, either applied or research) and so will be applying for fall 2008 admissions

Sorry for the long comment, if you could let me know what you think I'd really appreciate it!

dreamer said...

1. Your GPA and LOR look strong.

2. Need to ace your GMAT. See what's the average GMAT for the schools that you are targeting. Aim for the average + 30 to be competitive.

If you get a Q 85% and V 93% for your GMAT, your score should be about Q48, V41. Total should be 720 or 730. (Of course, we can't directly convert between GMAT and GRE. This is just a rough estimation for your consideration.)

3. If you can do 1 year of relevant research work, that will definitely be helpful for your application. Futhermore, it will be a useful source of LOR for you.

Your application deadline will be between Dec 2007 and Feb 2008. So you have plenty of time for your preparation - make profitable use of this time. Quickly clear your GMAT. Be productive in your research. Start drafting your SOP. Talk to your recommenders by Aug.

All the best!

Anonymous said...

thanks for your help! if you don't mind, i will also try posting this on the gmatclub forum which is where I found this blog