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What are you currently doing to find the right schools for you? Do you simply look at some kind of school rankings and decide that you are only going to apply to several second-tier schools and then randomly contact them? Or do you single out all the schools with the lowest application fees and think you will at least save some money?
These are not the ways to find your perfect schools!
In order to decide which schools you should apply to, you need to do two things right: (1) Have a clear objective in selecting your schools; and (2) Know how to research US schools and spend a lot of time doing it.
Here are an example of an active selection. Are you able to do that?
Background:
Name: Sylvia,
Degree and school: B.A. in accounting, Renmin University
GPA : 3.74 (2nd in total score in class)
Graduate year: 1996
No paper published, no research done
Work experience:
96-99 a Big Five accounting firm (Beijing Office), Senior auditor
00- date a US corporation (China), Senior accountant
Application plan: Ph.D. or D.B.A. in accounting
GMAT 760 (December 31, 99)
TOEFL 630-640
TSE 50
My Goal
My general goal of becoming a professor through Ph.D. study is convinced by my research these days. Here I will convince everyone that have the talent to be a professor and enjoy the lifestyle of a professor.
In-depth Research and analysis of schools
At the beginning I was surprised that they will want to know "what I find 'interesting, informative or insightful'?" I find interesting things in various aspects and don't know what to tell them.
In eight days, from Sept. 20 to 28, I conducted a series of in-depth researches and wrote reports on these schools.
Besides the general information, my research includes: Faculty and their academic interests; I read their VITA if possible; Admission requirements, Profiles of current students
Financial Aids Information. etc.
I did a thorough research. See I not only know the ranking of the Arizona State University, but the fact that three professors are specialized in audit and four others partially from. One of them visited Tsinghua and Shanghai Finance and Economy University.
Narrow Down My Choices
After this round of in-depth research, I narrowed down my choices into 14 schools including my first choice.
(1) UIUC
(2) University of Texas at Austin
(3) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
(4) University of Michigan
(5) New York University
(6) Columbia University
(7) UC Berkeley Vs USC
(8) Arizona State University
(9) Ohio State University
(10) Purdue University
(11) University of Northwestern
(12) Connecticut University
(13) University of South Carolina
(14) University of North Texas .
Here is what she did to actively select the programs.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
UIUC is the right school for me because it has the tradition of producing future educators. The accounting department of UIUC ranks top five among all US universities. Several things interest me.
(1) Over 300 students have graduated from the program, making Illinois by far the largest supplier of accounting doctorates of any accounting institution. A recent survey indicated that the Department has more Ph.D. graduates teaching accounting at the forty top-rated research universities than any other program.
The Ph.D. program in accountancy is designed to educate scholars for university faculty positions, and represents a set of minimum competencies that are necessary for an individual to succeed as an accountancy teacher/researcher.'
The department welcomes applications from superior students who have a strong interest in accounting education and are committed to research, scholarship and teaching.
All such statements indicate this program fits my career goal exactly. It emphasizes 'teaching' 'education' though it also aims to develop students' research skills.
(2) Among the twenty to thirty faculty, there are five to six concentrating in auditing, while in some programs there are only a few among the ten to fifteen faculty.
One professor's VITA
(a) director of Center for International Education and Research in Accounting;
(b) member of International Advisory Committee, China Accounting Professors Association;
(c) obtained 1998 outstanding auditing educator award issued by AAA (American Accounting Association) .
Of course he has other titles and participates in numerous activities, but he is one of the few professors that attract my attention.
Another professor is also specialized in audit and education and professional ethic. What's more, he even visited China (Hong Kong University) in 1997.
(3) At least three Chinese students are current Ph.D. (accounting) students in the school.
Because of the above reasons, I consider UIUC one of my first choices. I also plan to apply some schools with higher overall ranking (UIUC is ranked about 40 to 50 among business schools by US News), though.
University of Michigan
A top-10 business school with a top-5 accounting Ph.D. accounting program
The following things interest me:
(1) Statistics show that 45% Ph.D. students don't have master degrees but many have post graduate business experience.
This seems to match my situation closely. To confirm this information, I found 3 or 4 among the 11 Ph.D. accounting students have only bachelor degree, though none are from Asia. There are, however, three Chinese students in other Ph.D. programs, two from Tsinghua and one from Fudan.
'An MBA or a masters degree in an allied field may be helpful, but not required and will not shorten the time in the program'
'Unlike an MBA program which offers principles, tools and techniques of immediate utility in the business world, the Ph.D. program asks students to step back from the day-to-day to examine why the business world works as it does, and to pose long-term questions bridging the theoretical and the practical.'
Compared with those programs that require or prefer masters degree and allow students with such degree to shorten their Ph.D. study, Michigan university is distinctive: it makes clear Ph.D. and Master study are different in nature and it offers equal chances to all people. (3) The program lists contribution to the diversity of the student community as one criterion in seeking qualified students, and 50% of Ph.D. students are from outside USA.
This is impressive. Although most schools accept foreign students, few would list it as a criterion under the title. What do we look for in our Ph.D. students, along with other standards such as capacity for independent thinking, high scores on standardized tests and fit with faculty research interests.
(4) Its average GMAT score is 710.
High enough to discourage some applicants not good at standard tests.
(5) Because the graduates of our doctoral program typically pursue academic careers, their professional needs include teacher training. We accomplish this through a Teacher Development Program.
Such kind of program is also provided by some other schools. This is not a hallmark of Michigan business school but a plus anyway.
There is only one disadvantage, and unfortunately, a crucial one: Only one professor is engaged in auditing. Some are specialized in financial accounting (financial statement analysis, financial reporting and lots of others that I am Notfamiliar with), others are specialized in managerial accounting.
If I decide to apply for this school, I'll have to be very careful in describing my interested area. Although I prefer auditing, I can also find something to say in financial accounting, since the subject of audit is primarily financial statements and reporting affairs. An auditor is qualified to say he knows something in financial accounting or any other accounting area, because audit covers almost all aspects of accounting. I prefer auditing rather than financial accounting because first, I have unique and hand-on experience in audit area; second, US financial reporting are quite different from that of China that I find I have little to say to interest American professors.
University of Texas at Austin
Its accounting program ranks top five and its business school top twenty.
Positive aspects:
(1) There are 8 or 9 professors among the nearly forty faculties that concentrate in audit. In addition, unlike faculty in some other programs, most of these professors don't emphasize information system or artificial intelligence in their VITA.
On one hand, it may indicate weakness in the faculty's expertise; on the other hand however, it may increase my chances since I don't have computer programming or software development experience. But maybe they are tired of traditional students are thinking of recruiting some people with IT background!
I sometimes wonder how those professors obtain seemingly profound IT knowledge? Is it part of the result of living in a high tech environment? I think I work in a modern environment with intelligent people all around me, but there are few people good at both their special areas and IT. The Dean of the business school, who is from Accounting department, happens to be specialized in audit. In addition, two audit professors, together with another one specialized in other area, are regarded as 'key members of the team behind UT's top-ranked accounting program.
(2) For students entering the program in the fall of 1996, the average competitive scores are as follows:
….GMAT score -- 730
So this program pays attention to standard test sore. With a GMAT score of 760, I suppose my chances increased a little. But is this information still valid? Four years have passed since then.
(3) Normally we accept 6-8 persons, and assume that about 50% of those will actually enroll in the program.
Usually Ph.D. program accepts 2-4 students, so the figure of '6-8' looks attractive. Not-so-positive aspects:
For students entering the program in the fall of 1996, the average competitive scores are as follows: ...GPA (upper division undergraduate work plus graduate work)----3.9 '.
I guess the reason for such high GPA is that most people admitted have master degrees, since graduate GPA is usually higher than undergraduate GPA. I just sent an email to confirm my assumption.Good insight into Graduate GPA difference. Austin is in the South but it is very progressive -- full of environmentalists and vegetarians.
Notes:
Blue--comments of Sylvia
Red--Comments of .
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