Sample job posting for a research assistant

There are so many expectations of a research assistant, these days !!! Do they want a human or a SUPERHUMAN?!!!

Here is a sample job posting with requirements listed:

Qualifications:
The successful applicant will possess at minimum a Secondary school diploma and/or Special Courses in the following fields:

·      Statistics

·       Biostatistics

·       Systems engineering

·       Psychology

·       Neuro-Psychiatry

·       Genetics

·       Epidemiology

·       Related health studies

·       Excellent computer skills

·       Ability to perform statistical analyses 

·       Preference will be given to applicants with:

·       Previous research experience

·       Hands on experience with MS Access

·       Statistical analysis software SAS,

·       Pedigree-drawing program Progeny and

·       Familiarity with medical terminology                                 

·       Successful applicants will have

·       Excellent communication

·       Organizational

·       Analytical skills

·       Clinical / research experience

·       Be highly accurate in their work, able to

·       Pay high attention to detail, and able to

·       Work well in a fast-paced environment

·       Independently as well as

·       Part of a team

·       Proficiency in Access, SAS & Visual Basic,

·       WordPerfect, Excel, Outlook, Power Point.

·       Some knowledge of SQL language and Progeny or Cyrillic is preferred.

·      MEDLINE research and web site development experience would be assets.

·       Bilingualism (French/English) and/or proficiency in a second language would be an asset.

Back to the PhD mode again !!! Am planning to start a Part-Time PhD in the Toronto area soon !!!

I have completed my MBA successfully and received my degree certificate after my convocation. I am now focusing on doing a PhD on a part time basis in the Toronto area.

The universities that I am considering to pursue my PhD are:

• University of Toronto
• York University
• McMaster University

Of these, I am guessing that only York University allows PhD on a part time basis. Will keep you posted!

Cheers,
Gerry.

Some Modest Advice for Graduate Students - by Stephen C. Stearns, Ph.D.

From the link: http://www.yale.edu/eeb/stearns/advice.htm

(Please read the full article from the link above. It is EXCELLENT! A must read).

• Always Prepare for the Worst.
• Nobody cares about you.
• You Must Know Why Your Work is Important.
• Psychological Problems are the Biggest Barrier.
• Avoid Taking Lectures - They're Usually Inefficient.
• Write a Proposal and Get It Criticized.
• Manage Your Advisors.
• Types of Theses.
• Start Publishing Early.
• Don't Look Down on a Master's Thesis.
• Publish Regularly, But Not Too Much.
• Some Useful References.

"Advice for Aspiring Economists" - by a Harvard Economics Professor

From the link: http://gregmankiw.blogspot.ca/2006/05/advice-for-aspiring-economists.html

A student from abroad emails the following question:

Do you have some hints for me, how to become a good economist?

Here is some advice for, say, an undergraduate considering a career as an economist.

1. Take as many math and statistics courses as you can stomach.

2. Choose your economics courses from professors who are passionate about the field and care about teaching. Ignore the particular topics covered when choosing courses. All parts of economics can be made interesting, or deadly dull, depending on the instructor.

3. Use your summers to experience economics from different perspectives. Spend one working as a research assistant for a professor, one working in a policy job in government, and one working in the private sector.

4. Read economics for fun in your spare time. To get you started, here is a list of recommended readings.

5. Follow economics news. The best weekly is The Economist. The best daily is the Wall Street Journal.

6. If you are at a research university, attend the economic research seminars at your school about once a week. You may not understand the discussions at first, because they may seem too technical, but you will pick up more than you know, and eventually you’ll be giving the seminar yourself.

You may find some other useful tidbits in this paper of mine.

Updates: Here is some advice from Susan Athey about applying to grad school in economics. And here are the criteria a top economics PhD program uses in determining admissions.

"PhD or not?" - Advise from a Harvard Economics professor

From the link: http://gregmankiw.blogspot.ca/2007/08/phd-or-not.html

A student wonders whether he should pursue a PhD in economics:

Would you recommend someone to do a PhD if he knows he's unlikely to become a star in the field (weak math background due to lack of trainings and not being particularly gifted; lack of confidence in his creativity and talents) and does not have a burning desire to do research, but has interests in social science, enjoys learning, and likes to be able to interact with people he admires and respects? Or do you think it's better for him to work first until he's certain that research is what he wants to do?

A PhD takes quite a bit more time and concerted effort than most graduate degrees. An MBA is two years, a JD is three years, while a PhD is often about five or six years. This fact has a couple implications. First, you should be more confident that you really want the degree before you start (although there is nothing dishonorable about starting a PhD and then changing your mind after a year or two once you recognize that it is the wrong path for you). Second, you should not take off much time after college before starting. A year or two is fine, but more than that can be problematic, for the simple reason that as most people approach age 30, their willingness to lead a student lifestyle diminishes.

If one has the requisite degree of enthusiasm and commitment, however, one needn't be a superstar to pursue a PhD. A person can be perfectly happy with a PhD from a lower ranked school, followed by a career as a college teacher. There are thousands of economics professors around the country (as well as PhD economists in government and the private sector), and most lead very satisfying lives without ever being candidates for the Nobel prize. The one thing they share is a passion for the study of economics.

"MBA vs PhD" - Career advise from a Harvard Economics Professor

From the link: http://gregmankiw.blogspot.ca/2007/06/mba-vs-phd.html

A blog reader asks for advice:

Hello Professor Mankiw,
I am a second-year economics student at the University of California, Davis. I was wondering if you could share your opinion on the career options provided by a Ph.D in economics compared to those of an M.B.A., particularly with regards to earning potential. Historically I have preferred business school for its good "bang for the buck," but lately I have thought that immediate graduate school might be my best option, given the relative strengths and weaknesses of my track record (i.e.,stronger academics than work experience). Could you tell me which option you would prefer in my position? You don't have to make any sort of absolute, unequivocal statement, but I appreciate any advice you can offer. Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
[name withheld]

I believe that from a purely financial standpoint, an MBA is a better investment than a PhD. An MBA is only a two-year program, whereas a PhD is typically four to six years. The extra time for a PhD probably not yield the extra income needed to make it a good investment of your time. A typical Harvard MBA gets a starting salary a bit over $100K; the typical econ PhD does not start much higher than that.

But the issue is not entirely pecuniary. The question you should be asking yourself is what kind of job you want to have when you conclude your education. A PhD makes sense if you want to consider the possibility of being an academic. You may pursue a PhD and then decide along the way to pursue a different path than being a professor. That is okay: Many PhD students leave for the private sector when they are done with their degrees, and they get very good jobs there. But if you are sure from the beginning that you want some kind of private-sector job, then the MBA is probably the better route.

Projected business school faculty shortage in USA and around the world.

From the link: http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/blogs/mba_admissions/archives/2009/06/new_class_of_phd_graduates_flood_the_market.html

An innovative program that sought to convert teachers from other academic disciplines into business professors, known as the Post-Doctoral Bridge to Business Program – is run by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and is an attempt to address an ongoing and projected shortage of business PhDs. The premise behind the program was to convince a professor with a background in the social sciences, say a psychology professor, to take a job as marketing professor. Five business schools, in collaboration with the AACSB, developed programs to train these professor converts. The first cohort was admitted in 2008.

It appears that the Bridge program is starting to pay off. There are now 51 graduates ready to enter the business school ranks, according to an AACSB newsletter. The former liberal arts professors are now qualified to teach subjects like accounting and finance, supply chain management and marketing.
Many are looking for jobs and the AACSB is posting their resumes on their Web site.

But will the 51 graduates from the Bridge program be able to make a dent in the projected business school faculty shortage? For now, it looks like they’re just a drop in the bucket. The shortage of business faculty is projected to increase to 2,400 openings by 2012, according to the most recent projections from the AACSB.

One good sign: business PhD applications are on the rise this year, as I wrote about in this recent story. The rise of interest in business PhD programs, coupled with the AACSB’s efforts, seems to me like a step in the right direction. A spokeswoman from the AACSB told me recently that the group plans to do a study this summer on how the economy is impacting the faculty shortage, so it will be interesting to see the results when they’re published later this year.

"The business doctoral faculty shortage is getting much worse on a global basis, and in accounting within the US. During a recent trip to several Asian cities, it was noted that the media wrote most frequently about Asia's growing needs and limited supply of PhDs (Research Doctorates) in Business"

Is there a shortage of PhDs in Business Schools? YES! That means secure jobs. Business Schools are mushrooming all over the world and there is high demand for PhDs

The MBA program is in high demand all over the world. In developing countries, there are many business schools in each city now, where as a decade ago, there was none in the smaller cities. In many developing countries, the term MBA is commonly used now, where as earlier, they used terms like PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Management) and so on. Even now, in India, many Universities do not have separate business schools. They have departments within their Engineering Program called as "Department of MBA" or "Department of Business". With this rapid growth, there is a certain demand for qualified and licensed teachers. But the rate of growth of PhDs has not been as fast as the rate of growth of Business Schools. After all, it takes 5 years to produce a PhD, where as a Business School can be started in as little as 6 months to 12 months in a country like India.

- Gerry.

A PhD is highly respected in Europe !

I have read this in many articles, but there seems to be a lot of respect for PhDs in Europe. Especially, in Germany. It helps to have a PhD, not just an MBA, if you plan to work in Europe or do business in Europe.

What to do after an MBA? Job or another degree? Like an MA or MSc and PhD? Or direct PhD or MPhil?

From the link: http://poetsandquants.com/2011/05/23/post-mba-a-job-or-another-degree/

Many see the MBA as a bridge to a promotion, the start of a career in investment banking, or the skillset needed to start a business. It can be one or all of these things.  The writer of this article (from the link above) applied, and was accepted, to the Ph.D. program at the London School of Economics. He began the Ph.D. immediately after the MBA.

So, should you consider getting another degree after (or in addition to) the MBA?

1) The MBA is a professional degree designed to train managers. It is not a research degree. If you want to do Ph.D.-level work in a discipline, consider using your MBA electives elsewhere in the university – MBA-level courses in economics and econometrics will generally not provide the strong applied economics and statistics background needed for a Ph.D.-level program. At Chicago, it is generally not difficult for MBA students to take masters-level courses in the Economics Department (from what I understand, this is true of most schools). While only a few American MBA programs reside in schools with top economics departments, it does not take Nobel Laureates to vastly improve the average MBA student’s understanding of economics and econometrics – take these courses if they are available to you, whether or not they have business school course numbers. They will help you in understanding problems in business and in life, even if you do not continue your studies.

2) The Ph.D. is not the only option. Many earn other masters-level or professional degrees in tandem with (or sequentially with) the MBA. Common choices are the JD/MBA and MBA/MPP combinations, but MBA/LLM and MBA/MD combinations are not unheard-of. The key factors to consider here are: financial commitment, time commitment, and interdisciplinary strength of the university in question. If you are at Harvard, there is clearly departmental support for adding a law or policy degree to your studies that matches (many would say surpasses, in the case of HLS) the quality of the HBS MBA. If you are at a program with a top-30 business program but law program that scarcely grazes the top 100 in any law school rankings, that JD/MBA might be a more questionable investment.

3) The cost structure of the Ph.D., from the student’s perspective, is wildly different from that of the MBA. While nearly all MBA students pay at least some tuition, most Ph.D. students in top programs are generally associated with research fellowships and paid to do research. At minimum, students at top Ph.D. programs usually pay no tuition, and they generally make enough money teaching and doing research to cover their living and travel expenses. In other words, while many students take on more debt to earn a top MBA, there is generally an inverse correlation between the quality of a Ph.D. and the amount of debt incurred.

4) An MBA is arguably the most versatile graduate degree, which is both a strength and a weakness in this context. Most MBA programs are meant to produce general competence, while most Ph.D. programs force the student to develop narrow expertise. The student who excels in one environment may not do well in the other. Degrees that require good writing and communication skills (such as the LL.B. or American J.D.) tend to produce people more able to write a compelling research proposal or dissertation than degrees like the M.B.A. – if you don’t enjoy writing and research (not merely one or the other), a Ph.D. probably is not right for you.

5) A Ph.D. is a valuable asset in the business world, especially in Europe. If one looks at the C-suite executives and boards of companies across Western Europe, most conspicuously in Germany, a staggering proportion of senior executives hold Ph.D.’s. Simply being “Doctor So-and-So” is a terrible reason to earn a Ph.D., but weighing the Ph.D. as both an academic achievement and a business credential is a worthwhile piece of life-planning arithmetic. The trend in Asia is increasingly to follow the European model in this regard, particularly in China.

The decision to pursue further education is a weighty one and should be viewed in the context of personal growth, not as a calculation of the net present value of a marginal improvement in future earnings. The latter calculation is suspect in both its accuracy and its relevance, as much of the utility one derives from graduate study comes in a relatively pure form of happiness – it is having complete confidence in a split-second calculation, having a few friends in Geneva to meet you for dinner when you land, or knowing someone running a fund in Nairobi when you need to learn the landscape quickly. This “social utility” of education, which is misunderstood as “networking” in much of the MBA ranking chatter, is one of the most rewarding aspects of studying at top institutions. The value of time spent in a space with the highest-caliber people cannot be underestimated, and both top firms in the private sector and top institutions of graduate study offer this experience. Whether you stay in school after the MBA to do it, working with the best people is an experience everyone should have – or aspire to have – and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had this experience on both sides of the Atlantic early in my career.

Karl T. Muth is an M.Phil./Ph.D. candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science and maintains a consulting practice focusing on economic analysis and applied finance in Europe and Africa. He holds law and business degrees, the latter with a concentration in economics from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he serves on the Admissions Committee. All opinions and comments in this piece represent Mr. Muth’s views and do not reflect the views of any institution with which he is affiliated.

Dual-Degree PhD / MBA Program

From the link: http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/blogs/mba_admissions/archives/2009/08/dartmouths_new.html

There are some Business Schools which offer Dual MBA / PhD programs !!!

Dartmouth’s (Tuck School of Business + Graduate studies department) have together created a dual-degree program for students to earn a PhD and then an accelerated MBA. The PhD students will apply to the MBA program through the normal admissions process timed so that they would begin classes right after completing their PhD. The admissions committee will consider the PhD coursework as they would work experience in the applications of other traditional candidates, and it will also count the work toward some elective courses.

Business PhD Applications on the Rise (1).Due to the economic slow down, MBAs are planning for PhD after lay off (2). PhD, and Academia has more respect than MBA (3) Teaching profession may mean job security (4) PhD helps get better jobs.

From the link: http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/may2009/bs20090511_815452.htm

A weak job market has many contemplating PhDs and faculty jobs. Will the business school faculty shortage be a thing of the past?

"After lay off, I decided, I can do one of two things with my future: Either get a doctorate or look for a good old dependable job," said Nelms, who got in contact with the PhD Project.

A few weeks later he applied and was accepted to the accounting PhD program at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md., where he'll be starting full-time this fall. Says Nelms: "With a doctorate, I thought my destiny would be a little more in my control."

Nelms is part of a growing wave of professionals who are leaving the battered business world behind for a career in the hallowed halls of academia. Applications are up substantially this year at many top business PhD programs, with some business schools reporting jumps in applications as high as 40%. PhD program directors attribute the jump to professionals fleeing a weak job market, coupled with a surge of interest from undergraduates bypassing that job market entirely to head straight for school.

An Encouraging Sign

Meanwhile, organizations like the PhD Project say more people than ever before are expressing interest in their programs and annual conference, which attracted the largest number of participants in the organization's 15-year history this fall. It's an encouraging sign for the world of management education, where a looming faculty shortage has had B-school deans worried for years.

The surge of interest in becoming a business professor comes just as a backlash is being felt among those in the business community who hold MBAs, says Yuval Bar-Or, an adjunct at Johns Hopkins University's Carey Business School and author of Is a PhD for Me? A Cautionary Guide for Aspiring Doctoral Students, slated for release on May 19. Many fleeing the business world for academia may view it as a more venerable profession, he says.

"MBAs are now persona non grata in many places, and there is a fair amount of animosity being directed at them for living in the fast lane, spending everyone's money, and not being responsible enough," Bar-Or says. "So business leaders, in society's eyes, have been knocked off a pedestal, and that may be causing a lot of people with an interest in business to want to go down a path that is more respected in society."

Those who have been thinking about getting a PhD are not wasting any time exploring their options. Potential PhD students were out in full force this fall at the PhD Project's annual conference in Chicago last November, where attendees mingled with professors and deans from nearly 100 business schools around the country. The conference usually attracts around 330 people, but this year 832 people applied, about 534 of whom were invited to attend.

"This was a substantial increase. It was so big that we were starting to worry from a budgetary standpoint about how we were going to pay for everything and if the room and hotel was going to be big enough," said Bernie Milano, president of the PhD Project. He expects that interest will continue to grow. He's already received 65 applications for next year's conference, triple the amount he usually receives by this time of year, he says.

Application Boom

Meanwhile, PhD program directors at some of the leading business doctoral programs in the country are also experiencing a similar surge in interest. At Columbia Business School, PhD applications are up about 27% this year over last, while applications have jumped 25% at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. University of Chicago's Booth School of Business has seen a whopping 40% increase in applications, nearly half of which were people applying to the school's finance program, says Pradeep Chintagunta, director of Booth's PhD program.
"We were expecting some increase, but I don't think we had a good sense as to the magnitude of it," Chintagunta says. "If people were thinking of getting a PhD two years down the road, recent events have essentially precipitated an earlier application."
At the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, applications this year have jumped 34%, to 1,182. Nearly one-third of the applications were for the school's finance PhD program, which experienced a 54% increase in applications over last year. Most of the bump in applications came from a surge of talented undergraduate students or recent graduates deciding to bypass the working world and instead head straight into academia, says Robert Inman, Wharton's vice-dean and director of doctoral programs. Those fleeing the financial world represented only a small percentage of applicants, he says. This year there were just 28 students with a background in finance who applied to the school's finance PhD program, compared with 19 in 2008. Five of those applicants previously worked at Lehman Brothers, he says.
"It's not that we're getting all the quant jocks from Wall Street who suddenly lost their million-dollar jobs and say, 'Well, what the heck, let's go get a PhD,' " Inman says. "What's causing the increase is the really smart kids who would have been tempted to go to Wall Street and maybe stay there, but now the jobs are not available."

Earning a PhD also holds appeal for those who are in the workforce but are worried about their job security

Downturn Decisions

Alan Ferguson, 39, a senior business manager at a mortgage institution that received federal bailout funds, says he first began considering applying to a PhD program last spring, when the housing crisis began to surface. Ferguson, who declined to identify his current employer, had been in the workforce for 17 years, taking breaks to earn an MBA at Emory University's Goizeuta Business School (Emory MBA Profile) and a Master of science in real estate at Georgia State University's Robinson College of Business. With the downturn in the economy, he decided to take his schooling one step further, applying to Georgia State's business doctoral program this year.

"I just wanted to keep every available option open because I didn't know what was going to happen this year or the next," says Ferguson, who was accepted to the program and will be attending next fall. "Things have just slowed down tremendously, and I don't know when there is going to be another point in my career when I have the time available and opportunity to go ahead and pursue this advanced degree."

The upsurge in applications from people like Ferguson is good news for those worried about the projected business faculty shortage, which had been expected to worsen in the next four to five years. In recent years the overall production of business PhDs has fallen just as enrollment in undergraduate and master-level business programs has risen. Of even more concern, the shortage of business faculty is projected to increase to 2,400 openings by 2012, according to projections from the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) made before the recent upsurge in applications.

However, an increase in applications is no guarantee of a bumper crop of new business faculty. One problem is that not all business PhDs go on to become faculty—about a third go to work for private industry, frequently consulting companies. Another problem is that PhD students, who typically receive a tuition waiver and stipend, are an expensive proposition for B-schools, and many of them are already strapped for cash. "Doctoral programs in business are cost centers for universities," says the PhD Project's Milano. "And in dead economic times, when universities are struggling, one of the things they have to look at reducing is the number of doctoral students, because they cost money."

Still, with the upsurge in business PhD applications, all signs are now pointing to an increase in the supply of new PhDs in the future, and even a possible decrease in demand. For one thing, more professors may put off retirement for several years because of the downturn in the economy, says Chicago Booth's Chintagunta, In addition, the magnitude of the looming faculty shortage may not be as bad as the one AACSB predicted if growth in demand for business education begins to level off, he says.

Even so, some say it's too early to tell if the laws of supply and demand will result in an end to the faculty shortage anytime soon. "Everything we've seen up till now has indicated that there seems to be a healthy demand for business education," he says. "But I think we need to look a bit more carefully as to what the overall impact of both those things will be on the demand for faculty in the future."

Is MBA considered adequate enough to enter into a PhD? Or is an MA or MSc required? Some consider MBA a professional degree and not an Academic degree.

From the link: http://www.degree.net/resources/degree-level/mba-degree-guide_201002182375.html


Many, but by no means all, PhD / doctorate programs require that the student have earned a Master degree first. There are a moderate percentage of such schools, perhaps one-fourth to one-third, that do not consider an MBA degree as meeting their Master's degree requirement for entry into a doctoral program.

They argue that the MBA is a professional degree, not an academic one, and that the main reason for earning a doctorate is to enter the academic world. Accordingly, this minority of schools says that people planning eventually to earn a doctorate should do an MA or an MS in finance or marketing or economics or other business field, but not the more general MBA. But the remaining two-thirds to three-fourths of doctoral programs do consider an MBA as meeting their Master's requirement.

Accordingly, if going on to a particular doctoral program is a possibility, it would be appropriate to learn the policy of that doctoral school in this regard.

You need to decide: Whether you plan to go on for a doctorate. If so, you need to be sure that the degree you get will suit your needs. If you have any questions, ask an admissions counselor whether holders of that degree have gone on to doctoral studies, and at what schools. If you know the school at which you intend to earn that doctorate, ask them whether the MBA is acceptable.

You have heard of Executive MBA. Have you heard of EXECUTIVE PHD ?!!! Business PhDs are very popular in UK, Europe & Australia. Slowly becoming popular in North America too...

From the link: PhD Programs for Executives Gain Traction. New doctoral programs in business geared to working executives help many develop on-the-job research skills or shift into teaching

Extract (Executive PhD, just like executive MBA!!!):
Less than a dozen accredited business schools offer these types of business professional doctorates in the U.S., according to the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), one of the leading accreditation agencies for business schools, which tracks doctoral degrees programs. In the past few years, interest in programs like these has grown as high-level managers seek a more rigorous academic experience than the typical executive education classes or executive roundtables offered at business schools. "The main reason these programs are springing up in the U.S. is there seems to be a market. There are more and more executives willing to pay a fairly high tuition to take this kind of program on, so now it becomes a legitimate business model for schools to offer."

The new executive doctoral program, which costs about $100,000 for three years, are required to come to the school's Atlanta campus for a three-day residency at the school. So far the school has been able to attract executives from IBM (IBM), Google (GOOG), and Citigroup (C) who are, on average, 45 years old and have 16 years of management experience. The program has about 38 students enrolled so far.

Students take classes that teach them how to conduct formal academic research, and later the school pairs them with a faculty adviser who works with students on their 100-page dissertation, which they are expected to submit to an academic journal for publication. Unlike typical doctoral programs, where students look for jobs in academia after graduating, almost all of the participants in the Robinson program plan to go back into the business world. "The primary purpose of the program is to develop better executives,". "It hits the sweet spot between business schools and the business world."

Professional doctoral programs are more prevalent in Europe and Australia than in the U.S., says T. Grandon Gill, a professor at the University of South Florida's College of Business in Tampa. The U.K. has at least 16 doctorate of business administration programs, and at least 20 such programs were created in Australia from 1993 to 2005, says Gill, who co-wrote a journal article on the programs last year. The programs are also popular in Germany, where an estimated 58.5 percent of executives hold doctoral degrees, compared with just 5.6 percent of CEOs in the U.S., according to a study cited in Gill's article. The programs have not caught on to the same extent in the U.S. because of widespread faculty resistance to starting these programs.

Online post in BusinessWeek about PhD after MBA

From the link: http://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?msg=84866&nav=messages&webtag=bw-bschools

Question:

Hello all,

I have been following these forums for a while and have a question regarding education beyond an MBA. I understand that most people who receive a PhD aspire to conduct research or teach in academia. However, some also use their expertise to embark on successful business careers (I believe the CEO of Citigroup received his PhD from Columbia Business School).

My question is: Do people commonly pursue a PhD or any other degree following an MBA? If so, do they work for a while before going back for the PhD? What other degrees would a person pursue following an MBA and why?

My reason for asking is that I have recently been admitted to a top MBA program and have an interest in pursuing a career in academia, possibly after gaining more professional experience. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance for your responses!

Answer:

I am a current MBA student and am interested in academia (pursuing a PhD) out of school. Here's the deal - For the most part, an MBA is pretty much meaningless in academia. If you are sure that you want to pursue a PhD, then I'd seriously reconsider completing an MBA. PhD in Business Admin typically requires five years to complete, and having an MBA will not decrease that time frame at all.

Further, the content in a PhD program is completely different than content in an MBA program. Your first two years in a PhD program focuses on intense statistics and mathematics to prepare you for research. Consequently, though there is no "standard" work experience or skill set for a PhD program, typical PhD admits have incredibly strong math skills. Most will have a bachelor and/or master degree in math, engineering, computer science, etc.

Though programs differ in "mathematic rigor", most programs that I've looked into want you to have course work in AT LEAST the following: calc 1, calc 2, calc 3, and linear algebra. As I stated before, as a PhD student, you will be spending the first two years in course work that requires you to know this math. I have talked to PhD students that entered a PhD program without taking these courses and they did ok, but they are also geniuses and they all adimtted that they really struggled through their first year of studies.

One more thing to consider, PhD programs have a relatively high drop-out rate - I think it's somewhere around 50%. This is due to several reasons, but primarily because either 1.) the PhD route ends up being completely different than what the student thought it would be, or 2.) the PhD student can't cut it in the program. By this I mean the student fails the comprehensive exam that is given at the end of the first and/or second year of the PhD program, at which point they are awarded a master degree and are kicked out of the program.

Also, grades are important, GMAT/GRE scores are important (I believe the mean for most schools is in the 730 - 750 range for GMAT). But the most important thing is your recommendations. You need to connect with somebody in academia who can really support you in your admissions efforts.

There are many things to consider and I am too lazy to type them all, but I will mention two more things. First, pay out of school is good, but is dependent upon where you go to school. Apparently the job market for business professors is pretty hot. If you go to a top 25 program, you can plan on making anywhere from 120k to 170k out of school, and that's on a nine month schedule.

Also, Accounting and Finance professors typically make the most, with Management, Marketing, and Ops professors making a little less. It is important to note that where you earn your PhD will have a huge impact on where you can teach out of school. Typically, you should plan on teaching at a school that is one to two tiers below the school that you earned your PhD (with the exception of top 10). Also, pretty much all major universities require professors to crank out a lot of research, so you will definitely need to be fond of research and publishing if you want to pursue this career. Second (and finally), admissions are incredibly competitive! Tops schools have acceptance rates in the 2-10% range. One thing about this is that being an American is actually an advantage in the admissions process (for once). This is because the majority of applicants are from Asia, and not many Americans apply. I talked to several people about the admissions process and all of them made this same point.

Some interesting info about PhD applications, from online sources (may or may not be accurate).

From the link: http://www.urch.com/forums/phd-economics/70622-mba-phd-economics.html

• The jobs for economists (in the industry or academia) are research oriented.
• The coursework required for an MBA is no where near as rigorous as the coursework for a PhD, so I doubt it would help you out in academia. The purpose of an MBA is to help shape leaders in the business world.
• I've often heard an MBA referred to as "a $100,000 piece of paper that states you completed a two year group project." Ouch!
• If you want to go into the private sector and work for an investment bank or hedge fund, just get an MBA or MA/MS in econ or finance. A PhD will take too much time
• After MBA, take some Math courses & then apply to a PhD program.
• "I was worried that just as an MBA I wouldnt have enough credibility since so many people are pursuing this type of degree these days and felt that if I had something a little extra then I would have the upper hand"
• For PhD, Economics departments regard business degrees and, in particular, MBA as too soft (in Quants / Math). You basically do not see students with graduate business degrees at regular economics departments and those with undergraduate business degrees usually have Masters in Economics or Maths
• At higher-level programs (for PhD applications), they have so many good applicants that they essentially look for reasons not to consider candidates just so that they can whittle down the pile of applications. However, good letter of recommendations and good grade in upper-math and grad programs can definitely overcome some of this.
• Some of the top programs are willing to take students with an unusual background if they have potential - I know I saw a CV at Harvard Econ PhD this year of someone who went there after doing an MBA at a Top 50-100 school.
• You need to take GRE or GMAT to apply for PhD in Business

D.B.A. (Doctor of Business Administration) vs PhD (Business). How do they compare?

From the link: http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/forum/f41-management/mba-vs-dba-or-phd-in-business-27277.html

To bring everyone up to speed a bit:

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) vs. PhD in Business

Doctor of Philosophy in Business (PhD)
PhD programs in business focus intensively on preparing candidates to conduct highly specialized scholarly research. They focus on the development of new theory in management, economics and related fields. Most PhD graduates lead careers as university researchers and professors or as senior researchers in business or government.

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) programs focus on the application of theory rather than on the development of new theory. While also intended to prepare graduates for academic careers, the DBA, by virtue of its focus on application of theory, has more practical application in managerial settings than the PhD.

Similarities
The DBA and PhD degrees are very similar in other respects. The DBA and PhD are "academically equivalent." Both entail rigorous courses of study with a heavy emphasis on research. Students must write and defend a doctoral dissertation, in addition to taking a comprehensive exam.

The DBA and PhD are generally designed to prepare students for academic careers, either in teaching or research or both. There is no hard and fast rule about which degree you need in order to be hired by a university, but there are some basic trends:

In some parts of the country, schools are now requiring that faculty members entering tenure track positions hold a terminal degree (i.e.: a doctorate) in business. A DBA or PhD satisfies this requirement, while a doctorate in education (EdD) does not.
Accreditation matters. AACSB-accredited schools generally-though not universally-hire individuals with doctorates from other AACSB-accredited schools. In those cases where an AACSB-accredited school hires someone with a DBA from a regionally-accredited institution, the quality of the research the individual has published is often the deciding factor.

What is DBA (Doctor of Business Administration)?

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Business_Administration

The degree of Doctor of Business Administration, abbreviated DBA or D.B.A. and equivalent to PhD in Business Administration, is a research doctorate in business administration. The D.B.A. requires coursework and research beyond the masters degree that normally results in a dissertation and possible journal publication that contributes to business practice.

The D.B.A. is usually identical to a Ph.D in Business Administration, except that it tends more towards applied research rather than theoretical research, especially during the thesis writing phase. A few schools, prominently among them Harvard Business School and Boston University School of Management, offer D.B.A.
The portion of the program that consists of coursework may be comparable to that of a Ph.D.^[1] However the larger part of the program, consisting of independent research and the writing of a thesis, is geared towards more applied research in D.B.A. programs, with the research making a direct contribution to business practice.^[2][3] Another way to see the distinction is that Ph.D.s aim at the creation of new theory, while D.B.A.s aim at applying theory to business problems.^[4][5]

Contribution
The choice of D.B.A. or Ph.D is always relevant for those considering a doctorate and its contribution. A Ph.D in Business is more suitable for students who want to pursue a career exclusively in academics, while the D.B.A. has been designed for students who might wish to pursue a career in the profession as well.^[6] A typical D.B.A. program has a dual purpose: (1) to contribute to both theory and practice in relation to business and management; and (2) to develop professional practice and to contribute to professional knowledge. Nevertheless, the D.B.A. degree can suffice to obtain tenure-track positions at research-oriented schools, provided the research conducted was of high quality.

Structure and Format
Typical entry requirements include M.B.A., MSc, or similar masters degrees, or equivalent qualifications in general management, or in a functional field by examination awarded by a professional body. Some universities also ask for significant experience in a managerial or professional supervisory position involving responsibility for strategic issues. The D.B.A. normally requires a significant thesis, dissertation or final comprehensive project including a formal defense and approval by nominated examiners or an officially sanctioned and qualified doctoral review committee. The degree is conferred when all coursework, testing, and written research are completed and
reviewed and approved by the awarding institution.

D.B.A. candidates may specialize in areas such as management science, technology management, organizational behavior, economics, or finance or other practical fields. Curricula may be offered on a full-time or part-time basis. According to the European higher education standards set by the Bologna Process, it is stated that the normal duration of a doctorate should correspond to 3–4 years of full time study

DBA program quality
The responsibility for the overall quality of a D.B.A or other doctoral programs resides within the graduate research degrees committees or their equivalent within the university. As such, D.B.A programs must have a specific set of university regulations and must be subject to appropriate quality approval processes. Regulations should include reference to protocols for treating ethical issues in research, including those involving researchers working within the organisation that employs them and/or having access to privileged information. The implementations as above are widely used in Australian Universities, for instance a D.B.A student cannot embark into research phase before passing all his/her courseworks, research proposal and ethics, upon passing proposal stage, he/she still needs to clear ethics from Ethics Committee. Even after completing the dissertation writing, the D.B.A candidate still needs to go through numerous internal moderations of the dissertation before submitting to external examinations (at least two external examiners). For successful candidates in the external examinations stage, they usually need to revise their dissertations before final approval from the D.B.A committee of granting the degree. The research phase is always a tedious and demanding phase.

More about Rotman PhD, Toronto, Canada.

Rotman PhD - University of Toronto, Canada.

Ph.D. in Business Management versus MBA - How do they compare?

From the link: http://melaniezoltan.suite101.com/benefits-of-a-phd-in-business-management---better-than-the-mba-a245806

The standard graduate degree in business is the Master of Business Administration. So what are the benefits of a Ph.D. in Business Management? Learn now.
Starting in the 1950s and 1960s a new level of business degree emerged: the Ph.D. in Management, or Business Management. The business doctorate was designed to provide students an opportunity to delve into theory and research regarding business management, something the Master of Business Administration couldn't provide. So what's the different between the two, and what are the benefits of a Ph.D. in Business Management?

What's Wrong With the MBA?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) notes that management analysts, department directors, and vice presidents in management typically need the Master of Business Administration degree to develop a successful career and rise through the ranks of the corporate world. At the same time, 26 percent of all workers in business management don't have traditional employee positions: they are consultants.
Some management consultants have the MBA, while others might only have a bachelor's degree or just a high school diploma. A few might not even have that: entrepreneurship isn't about academic degrees, but rather about business success. An individual can start a company, get clients or customers, manage inventory and/or time, develop strong accounting practices and create a highly-successful corporation without setting foot in a college classroom.


So why do some people go after a Ph.D. in Business Management is the MBA is the standard degree for higher levels of corporate work and management consulting?

Benefits of a Ph.D. in Business Management

The MBA and the Ph.D. are two completely different degrees. The MBA is a practical, hands-on degree that uses the case study method to teach future corporate leaders and entrepreneurs specific skills they'll need to manage a small business or a corporate department.
Like the MBA, the Ph.D. in Management includes courses on:

• finance
• accounting
• taxation
• business law
• management
• human resources
• international business, and more

Unlike the MBA, the Ph.D. requires in-depth discussion of business theory, research into specific practices, cross-analysis, and the writing of a comprehensive dissertation on business management theory. Ph.D. holders can work in both academic and in the corporate world, while MBA holders might be able to work as part-time professors, but rarely as a full-time, tenure-track academic.

Salaries and the Ph.D. in Business Management

The average salary for professors of business is $100,626, according to Salary.com. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that the median salary for all people working in management jobs in 2008 was $73,570. These numbers are a bit deceptive, as it's apples and oranges compared.
Business Management Ph.D. holders can straddle both worlds, working as a full-time professor while providing management consulting at higher corporate rates on a part-time basis. A director-level job in a large multinational corporation can bring a seven-figure salary with bonus for an MBA, though. Money, therefore, shouldn't factor into the Ph.D. in Management. Love of research and theory should.
Whether students decide to go for the Ph.D. or not, research every option. Go to academic fairs, talk with business professors, and look into books, career service seminars, and online information about the benefits of the Ph.D. in Business Management. The career option in today's world is a choice between the fast-paced life of the corporate world and a slower, less remunerative academic job. There is no right answer, but there are many benefits to getting the Ph.D. for the right person.

References:
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, Management Analysts.

"Ph.D.s in Business: Working at the Frontiers of New Knowledge." University of Southern California, 2006. PowerPoint presentation for student recruitment

What is the salary for a Phd Management lecturer? $100K +

From the link: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100928220010AAmVSDO

The average 9 month salary for new management PhD at an AACSB school is $101.8k and there is usually 2/9ths support for summer, making the total average annual salary $124.4k per year.

Link for info: http://www.aacsb.edu/dataandresearch/reports/08-09-salsurvexecsumexcerpt.pdf

Sample PhD lecture in Economics - Econometrics.

PhD in Economics - Emory

What to do after PhD?