Applying to PhD programs in marketing. Evaluate my profile, please?

Question

Undergraduate, top-tier public school.
Psychology major.
Overall GPA 3.5
Psychology GPA 3.7
Studied abroad at Oxford, 3.8

Graduate, top-tier private school.
Master's degree in psychology
Overall GPA 3.6
Psychology GPA 3.8

GRE verbal 530 (67%)
quantitative 780 (89%)
analytical, perfect 6.0 (96%)

Strong research experience, presented at nationwide conferences.

My GPA isn't stellar, not a perfect 4.0, but what are my chances? I know Harvard and Chicago b-schools would be a stretch (for anyone!), but what about Indiana, Minnesota, Yale,...?

Answer 1

Your advantages - you have research experience, your quant and analytical scores are strong, and, if you are evaluating schools properly, you have been at good schools.

Your disadvantages - your GPAs have been decent, but not outstanding, and your verbal score is weak, particularly for someone who was a psych major (if you had been in engineering, it might be more understandable).

I would also suggest that you need to look a little more into which schools are considered strong in Marketing, as far as Ph.D. programs go. Harvard is okay, but not outstanding, and both Minnesota and Yale might be seen as stronger. What are your criteria? What do you think you want to end up doing? You really need to pick schools by the focus of their faculty, because if you want to work in some area of consumer behavior, but you end up at a school at which most of the faculty are focused on logistics, you might have trouble finding a dissertation advisor.

You are doing this at a good time. There is a strong need for faculty in Marketing right now, as many near retirement, and given the preponderance of international candidates in recent years, many schools are alarmed about a shortage of candidates familiar with academia and business in the U.S. Still, having said that, it is hard to predict from year to year who will get into the better programs.

If you want more information, I'm glad to talk to you further about it.

Answer 2

I don't know much about grad schools in this area, but you probably have estimated your chances fairly well -- somewhere out of the top 10. The verbal score probably hurts you. But then, I have a question back to you. Why would you want to get a Ph.D. in marketing? Why not get an MBA and get some real-world experience? Why not work for Microsoft or Google (where your math scores would impress) for several years, then go into academe if you really want to. Or do you already have real business experience? I think we have far too many who teach business subjects who have no real-world experience.

Answer 3

GRE rankings and GPA do not rely very plenty for suitable PhD classes. have you ever completed any learn? Do you have solid letters of advice from a learn consultant? have you ever bought any papers printed yet, or given any shows? in case you have solid learn credentials, then you easily ought to stick to to easily right tier classes with consistent with danger a million or 2 backup colleges. suitable colleges are flooded with purposes from those with intense GPAs and robust GRE rankings; learn is what is going to make you stand out. in case you do not have a solid learn history, you should stick to to a mix of the three stages.