xXBetter Off DadXx
Member
Congrats!
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Is there an MBA. graduate, doctorate crowd here on GAF?
- Thread starter Dr. Feel Good
- Start date
- Status
Congrats!
Dr. Feel Good
Banned
I just started USC Marshall part time program. I know the cost is intimidating but any career adviser will tell you a name goes a long way when it comes to MBA. It's kind of shitty, but that's the reality. I really don't recommend any school within the LA area that is not UCLA or USC.
Prime crotch
Banned
HEY look at poindexter here *points and laughs*
Ah okay, I hadn't heard the abbreviation before. Also, my least favorite part of the exam.
I'll double check with the other schools I'm applying to to make sure. D:
D
Deleted member 752119
Unconfirmed Member
Pretty similar to my experience.
1. 3 years for masters, 4 for Ph D, but only because I was getting paid decent from a grant and took my time on that project and used data from it for my dissertation. As well as working on other publications.
2. My mentor was great. Got me published, learned a ton, still collaborate with him regularly.
3. I didn't.
4. I lived fine in grad school, and very well since graduating in 2009.
5. I had a decent CV, and got my degree from the top ranked doctoral program in my field, so I got a tenure-track position in a doctoral granting department with ease. So my advice would be get a Ph D from a program in the top 10ish percent of your field, and think twice about it if you can't get into one.
6. I had a few loans, but mainly as I didn't have funding first year of my masters. Otherwise I had tuition waiver plus stipend/salary the other 6 years of grad school, between departmental funding and working on research grants.
7. I'm up currently and feel good about my chances. Reject rates aren't that high outside of Ivy League and other top universities. Thankfully most of the top ranked programs in my field aren't at those institutions.
8. They don't have the power. And they're tenured full professors themselves most of the time.
9. Moot for me as I landed a good tenure track job right away.
10. Plenty of research jobs at private research firms and government agencies in my field. And many that pay more than academic jobs. I just like teaching and having full control of my research agenda.
11. I don't care about that.
12. I live quite well on my salary, and don't care about the prestige anyway.
Dedication Through Light
Member
is it expected to have an linkedin profile before graduating? applying for postdocs soon.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Whether it's Academia.edu or Linkedin or a domain with your CV and research interests is going to depend pretty highly on your discipline's norms. But ultimately all three are just about networking. If people know you, they know you. What department are you in, someone might be able to give their experiences.
RumblingRosco
Member
It seems to me that if you have a solid CV, there's no real downside to having a LinkedIn. Depending on your field, a ResearchGate profile might be better. Then there's also ORCID, Google Scholar profiles, or even having your own personal website. It's a bit crazy. But, personally, I think there's only things to gain from having at least one of the above fully filled out. All you risk losing is a little bit of time.
And a beer for you two! A month late but still, I'll drink to that anytime.
And a thank you to the mystery mod (Stump?) who gave me a tag. That was totally unexpected and I did not realize until now. Kiitos todella paljon.
Some of you talked about having a great supervisor. I did not and that did slow me down a lot. He did help me get into different programs and universities but did not really guide me in my work at all. So choose carefully and always ask if there is a problem. Especially your research topic. If you do somethng you have no real interest in, it'll slow you down.
Bay Maximus
Banned
Computer engineering is loved by adcoms and a 3.3 is definitely acceptable for engineering. Depending on your execution I think you would be a strong candidate for top-10 US programs (don't know much about LBS) with your current profile. Still, I say why not go for the 700+ if you have the time? Better chance of getting in more programs of course and also better chance at scholarships. Not to mention a few recruiters actually care about your score. That said, a 690 isn't bad.
D
Deleted member 752119
Unconfirmed Member
Yep. Research gate is getting huge in my field. I think it will end up big everywhere since you can put pdfs of your publications etc. very easily. My citations have definitely gotten a noticeable bump the year or so I've been on there.
Dedication Through Light
Member
immunology. Guess Ill work on a linkedin, since it seems so many in the field have one.
-
Also searching for postdocs is becoming annoying why all airway allergy folks be outside of america (austria, australia, uk, iran, poland, china, thailand, finland, switzerland)
D
Deleted member 752119
Unconfirmed Member
Get used to it.
It's very rare to not have a lot of revisions. Hell, I had a stretch a few years back where I had ten straight rejections across three different papers. All got published, and one that got rejected 3 or 4 times ended up winning the yearly outstanding article award for the journal it was published in.
Persistence and resilience are key in our publish or perish world.
What is bottom 10 Ivy? There's only 8 ivy league schools. My friend recently did this. He got a 730 on the GMAT which was 96th percentile. He has 5years experience working for Deliotte and some other big firm in Manhattan. I think he had a ~3.8 from Maryland (which is one of the best b-schools in US). He applied to basically every top 10 MBA school in the US. He was rejected from all, but pulled off the waitlist for NYU so he's going there. Top 10 MBAs are competitive as hell. Are you applying straight from Bachelor's?
Get used to it.
It's very rare to not have a lot of revisions. Hell, I had a stretch a few years back where I had ten straight rejections across three different papers. All got published, and one that got rejected 3 or 4 times ended up winning the yearly outstanding article award for the journal it was published in.
Persistence and resilience are key in our publish or perish world.
I always have to tell myself this. People always think scientists are accepting of change. They aren't! This guy wrote a ground breaking paper in the late 90s that took 4-5 rejections before getting published. He's won nearly every IEEE award for his work since.
RumblingRosco
Member
Not to mention, 4-months is not long at all for a project to go from start to submission. You should be quite proud to get something put together so quickly.
Oh, yeah that's just the time spent writing the manuscript, we've been collecting data for it for years, before I even got to the lab
opticalmace
Member
My last submission had like 400 individual textual things they wanted me to change (e.g. "appears to be..." --> "indicates that..." or whatever).
It was easy stuff but took a long time to do. You know what's really annoying though? When you make some great colour figures and you forget to make sure they can be understood in black and white. Doh.
It was easy stuff but took a long time to do. You know what's really annoying though? When you make some great colour figures and you forget to make sure they can be understood in black and white. Doh.
king_kerry2
Banned
Got an English Studies undergrad degree.
Started working at a different college in town and using the Employee Education Grant; decided to work on my MBA through their online and in-seat program.
Reached the half way point last month. Now for some intense accounting, finance, and legal times!
Started working at a different college in town and using the Employee Education Grant; decided to work on my MBA through their online and in-seat program.
Reached the half way point last month. Now for some intense accounting, finance, and legal times!
opticalmace
Member
Woot, my first first-author manuscript was accepted by ApJ. Submitted it to arXiv, man it is hard getting it right on the 4PM dot.
CosmicQueso
Member
Best decision you've ever made. It's going to be fantastic and challenging and inspiring and in 10 years you're going to look back on the whole thing fondly while pulling down $200k+ per year.
RumblingRosco
Member
Congrats! Is ApJ the Astrophysical Journal? Sorry, not totally familiar with that abbreviation.
Jack Remington
Banned
I had a 710 GMAT, 3.1 undergrad GPA, and I got into the Anderson school, which is actually more competitive than several schools in the top 10 wrt admission %. Top 15 should be in reach for people who put in the work. As long as your GMAT is around the 700 range and your GPA is above a 3.0, the essay, recommendations, and interview matter more.
shaowebb
Member
At this point I could have had one but I went a different route to secure stronger job prospects and retention.
BA in Computer Science Animation and a Dual Associates in Power Plant Technology/Process Technology. Making arrangements to complete an associates in Instrumentation Control Technology while I work in operations at a Power Plant.
My future is better handled by holding degrees across multiple closely related departments within chemical and power plants than by going for an MBA in any single avenue. That's just how industry is though...it moves so fast these days you need to have all the training you can rather than to specialize in any one area.
The BA is for my own enjoyment, but its actually gotten me into R&D divisions before because it showcased that I was a wrench turner who could actually relate operations to coders. They can teach an operator to code, but its harder to teach coders operations. Plus it opens options for simulator work within companies. My work experience is looking pretty healthy thanks to the spread tactic across my field. Should be able to land on my feet no matter where the laws take industrial field prospects.
BA in Computer Science Animation and a Dual Associates in Power Plant Technology/Process Technology. Making arrangements to complete an associates in Instrumentation Control Technology while I work in operations at a Power Plant.
My future is better handled by holding degrees across multiple closely related departments within chemical and power plants than by going for an MBA in any single avenue. That's just how industry is though...it moves so fast these days you need to have all the training you can rather than to specialize in any one area.
The BA is for my own enjoyment, but its actually gotten me into R&D divisions before because it showcased that I was a wrench turner who could actually relate operations to coders. They can teach an operator to code, but its harder to teach coders operations. Plus it opens options for simulator work within companies. My work experience is looking pretty healthy thanks to the spread tactic across my field. Should be able to land on my feet no matter where the laws take industrial field prospects.
I want to make more money in 5-10 years.
Does getting into a Top 10-15 school really matter that much if you're just looking to command a larger salary in a field?
Obviously getting an MBA at Harvard will look better does it really matter?
EDIT: I work in licensing/product development (10 years) and plan on leaving the workforce and focus on school. I never completed my bachelor's (currently a junior) but I have worked for two big players in the business.
I just want the MBA under my belt.
Does getting into a Top 10-15 school really matter that much if you're just looking to command a larger salary in a field?
Obviously getting an MBA at Harvard will look better does it really matter?
EDIT: I work in licensing/product development (10 years) and plan on leaving the workforce and focus on school. I never completed my bachelor's (currently a junior) but I have worked for two big players in the business.
I just want the MBA under my belt.
Jack Remington
Banned
If you want to work for McKinsey or Goldman, it's definitely a lot better to be at Harvard or another top 5 school. I think McKinsey took like 3 people from my class, but took like 50 from Harvard last year.
Otherwise, go to a school where you can network into the field you want. To some degree it's based on regional industries. Anderson has very strong placements into tech and entertainment, for example. Pretty sure any east coast school would give you a foot in the door for finance.
YMMV.
That's the dilemma.
I'm already in the field that I want (licensing/product development). I don't want to work for a big bank, I just want to be able to include a bachelor's and graduate degree on my resume so that I can make more money in the future.
I think not having those two degrees are hurting my progress.
opticalmace
Member
Thanks! Oops, yes, astrophysical journal. I think my next one will be submitted there as well.
xXBetter Off DadXx
Member
Congrats!
My news is not so positive.
I was scheduled to defend my thesis this last Thursday. Everything appeared set to go, in that the date had been confirmed a ways back, an announcement had been sent out by our department secretary advertising it, etc.
I go into the conference room the day before I'm going to be presenting, to make sure I understand the tech in the room etc. I end up having more work to still do on my presentation that I had thought, so I end up working on it for the rest of the day and into the early morning, finishing up around 2am.
I go in to defend, set everything up, go over my powerpoint to make sure there's not any unforseen errors with my tables or graphs. Feeling like I'm set up as much as I could be, I notice I still have around 30-40 minutes until the defense begins. Figure I should probably check my email, as I hadn't since around noon the day before.
Have multiple emails with my thesis chair trying to reach me and asking me to call him. He says I'm not ready to defend, and we will instead be meeting at 10:30 to discuss what I need to do going forward to be ready to defend.
Still trying to wrap my head around it, as their reasoning was seemingly mostly things that could have been addressed months, if not upwards of a year ago....
Dedication Through Light
Member
I cant believe they would do that, why didnt they bring it up before.
I guess at least you get to stick around and finish it but to have hopes dashed just like that.
I guess at least you get to stick around and finish it but to have hopes dashed just like that.
RumblingRosco
Member
That's terrible. Seems like someone is fucking around with you. Is your advisor the type to try and keep you there longer just to take advantage of your ability to conduct research well?
I found this awesome series on youtube about graduate school....
There are 6 episodes. Hopefully they are more next season.
https://www.youtube.com/user/watchTheLab/videos
Enjoy
There are 6 episodes. Hopefully they are more next season.
https://www.youtube.com/user/watchTheLab/videos
Enjoy
Prinz Eugn
Member
Jesus, the day before is nuts, they should have discouraged you from defending waaaay before that if they thought you were in trouble. Sounds like an institutional failure, not a student failure.
xXBetter Off DadXx
Member
Not at all.
Thanks guys. Yeah, it's a very weird situation. The more I've thought about it the best I can come up with to make sense of it, is that my third committee member, who actually just came on board around a month ago, brought up all these issues that the other members should have brought up a LONG time ago. I had sent out my latest draft back on 7/20/15, and had heard no feedback from any of my members on it. So I felt it was safe to assume I was good to go. I did keep revising, and sent out a newer revision last Monday, figuring that even though there were some additions in it that weren't in the previous draft, they were just that, additions. So if they were superfluous, they could be dropped and it wouldn't be a big deal.
The first thing they emphasized was how sending out a draft that close to the defense was not a good idea, and that I really should check my email, etc. So from what I started saying about the third member pointing elements of my thesis out that should have been brought up by the other members already, I feel like there was some deflecting going on, i.e. they realized they really dropped the ball, and instead of admitting to it, they kind of just put it on me, which sucks.
Yeah that's exactly why I felt it was safe to assume that I was good to go, not having heard otherwise. My chair actually said that considering where I was I shouldn't have been surprised that I wasn't ready to defend. I was bewildered during much of the meeting.
Bay Maximus
Banned
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Okay guys, quick question:
Do you think I need to bring anything for the three-day MBA orientation? Cause I bought a new laptop, it's not here yet, I haven't had a chance to get my textbooks yet, so I don't really know what to bring or if I need to bring anything or what.
I'm flailing in the dark here. I did get a new suit though, so that's cool.
Do you think I need to bring anything for the three-day MBA orientation? Cause I bought a new laptop, it's not here yet, I haven't had a chance to get my textbooks yet, so I don't really know what to bring or if I need to bring anything or what.
I'm flailing in the dark here. I did get a new suit though, so that's cool.
cablenathan
Member
It is my understanding that it should never have gotten that far had they done their job appropriately. I feel for you, hope you manage to sort it out, please let us know how it turns out in the end though!
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Meet the Firm (aka OCR) is happening now! Good luck y'all~
I'm sad. All 4 of the Big Ones are here, as well as a lot of regional firms... and some state and federal agencies... but not the IRS this year.
IRS too good for this shindig?
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
office hours is usually just a branch off of meet the firms where we go to the school and sit in a room with students coming in one by one to meet us. its more personal than the usual career fair type meet the firms or the mixer/cocktail meet the firms. its our best way to put faces to resumes minus our leadership programs. didnt you want to do government. you sure you want in this world?
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
if we're talking a vanilla big4 spot, we look for nothing except not being a goober. sure we'll use grades and experience and whatever unique to whittle candidates down, but it will always come down to us making gut calls on whether or not the person is someone who will survive the grind and work well in a team. fall recruiting is always at the tail end of summer/tax busy season so i always feel we scrutinize more in this one. if you can get an internship spot you're essentially guaranteed an offer.
I'm starting the final year of my master's next week, and am thinking about applying for a few postgraduate spots (just to give myself some more options). Right now, most listings are starting this October, so I guess I'll have to wait another month or two. I'm supposed to get 2 academic references, but I'm not sure who to go to for those. I was thinking to ask my project supervisor and a lecturer for one of my smaller classes.
- Status