Hey all - Wondering what the rest of the board (especially those in Doctoral programs, previously in Doctoral programs, or in charge of said programs have to say) about the following. I'm in process of reviewing doctoral programs of reasonable merit. In nearly all cases, I'm hearing the wonderful "We receive hundreds of apps annually and accept 3-4 candidates". Is there any chance; at all of landing a position in a program such as this without being on a short list of people the faculty know prior to the app process? Seems stupidly competitive. Mind you I'm not talking about Ivies though they're obviously part of the question. In this particular case we're talking about state schools and SNHU. Best, ITJD
I think the answer is yes. The school(s) want the best people they can get. Their rep depends on that. Being "known" to the faculty can be a plus or a minus. People might assume that being "known" gives them an advantage but if you're obnoxious (for example) they might prefer to go in another direction rather than deal with a pia for the next 5 years.
Sure. Get a high score on the GRE and/or GMAT. At SNHU, for example, the average GMAT score of accepted DBA candidates students is about 600. If you can get higher than that, say 650 or 700, you should be competitive. It's true that DBA programs at traditional universities have historically been very small and very selective. Typically even large, well-known universities graduate no more than 10-20 DBAs per year. For example, UCLA's most recent DBA class was only 12, and Yale's was only 8. So there has historically been a large unserved market of potential DBA candidates. The for-profits have figured this out, and (for better or worse) have opened the floodgates. For example, the comparable DBA numbers last year were 257 for University of Phoenix, and 260 for Capella (all numbers from the US Dept. of Education's "College Navigator" website).
Since the MBA is the high demand degree, most graduate programs in business have relatively small PhD/DBA programs. The largest of these provide 30 or fewer doctoral grads per year adn most graduate only a dozen or so. This is why the large programs at Capella and Phoenix have garnered so much attention.
Here's a number to provide some perspective: for the 2001-02 academic year, there were only 1,156 doctoral degrees in business issued by all schools nationwide. But the numbers rose every year after that, until at least 2007-08 (the most recent year available). At the time, the total was up to 2,084. That's an 80% increase in six years. What accounts for this dramatic rise? Well, as stated above, just two online schools -- Capella and UoP -- now account for more than 500 business doctorates per year.
Couple of thoughts Folks - Schools use GMATs in interesting way. One doesn't get admitted because of a high GMAT. But people get turned down all the time due to a low GMAT. Consider a strong GMAT as one doorway to graduate school - but realize there are more doors to open. The quality of one's undergraduate program and GPA also count in admission. Regards - Andy
In my department at my state school, if you did not at least reach out to a faculty member with an email or a phone call to show any interest in their research, your application more than likely went to the trash bin. It was more like applying for a job than applying to a university. After all, your chair is going to be the person you are working for.
Completely noted. I've been getting mixed advice on that point. Some say to do so, some say to avoid doing it at all costs. Hard to tell which is proper considering there are many ways to spin it.
And it might very well be different depending not just on the university, but the department within the university. Ideally find a recent graduate of the program you are trying to apply to and ask them. They are usually more than happy to give you the inside scoop.
Have you tried other faculties in the same University? As some business faculties are very competitive, some people are trying Economics or Financial Mathematics as they get less students. You can then try to do the Post doc AASCB bridge to be academic qualified to teach at a AACSB school.
I'm not surprised, last year we have few discussion about this trend and few members did not agree with me that online schools were flooding the market. Few kept insisting that online schools only graduate a small fraction of business doctorates. I just noticed that all of the sudden most of the new faculty members teaching as online adjuncts come from places like Capella. These schools are not doing any service to their students by graduating them like pan cakes. The degree factory is one of the reasons why online degrees have bad reputation. I suppose that this trend will just kill this type of degree in the long run.
