Applying to a Ph.D. Program

So you have decided you want to get a Ph.D. now what? The next step in the process is to decide which programs you should apply for, fill out your applications, hopefully visit several schools, and then make your final decision. On this page, we provide an overview of the process and specific suggestions for being successful in choosing and being accepted into an accounting Ph.D. program.

Selecting the Right Program

The most important criterion for success in an accounting Ph.D. program is to find a program that "fits" you. In deciding which programs do and do not fit, it helps if you know what you want. Specifically, when you graduate with your Ph.D. what type of career do you want? Are you hoping to spend most of your time teaching or researching (or some combination of both)? How many hours do you want to work a week? How much money do you want to make? What subject of accounting (e.g., AIS, auditing, financial, managerial, tax, etc.) do you hope to teach and hope to research? While knowing answers to these types of questions is not required for applying to Ph.D. programs, it does help in selecting a program where you will "fit" well.

As a very general "rule-of-thumb," academic prestige is usually based on research productivity, that is, the more successful an individual or school is at publishing research in respected journals the more "revered" the individual/institution. Connected to research productivity is pay. Generally speaking, the more research intensive the university, the higher the pay. Finally, professors often change schools over the course of their career. In general, it is easier to move from a research-intensive school to a more teaching-intensive school. Going in the opposite direction is more difficult because it is hard to sustain high levels of productivity as a researcher if you have a heavier teaching load and research-intensive universities will want to see evidence of research productivity/potential before hiring you.

As you think through the research/teaching balance, do not make the mistake of assuming one is a better or worse option. Both options have costs and benefits and whether the costs and benefits are better/worse depends on your individual goals. Thus, knowing what your goals are is important for deciding where to apply. If you have a strong desire to focus more on teaching/research, you will be more successful going to a Ph.D. program that emphasizes the area of your interest. At the same time, do not rule out the possibility of changing your mind as you study in a Ph.D. program. Most academics decide to become a professor because they were originally attracted to teaching. Many, however, find that researching is as rewarding (or even more rewarding for some) than teaching. Keep an open mind as you learn more about the life as a professor and allow yourself to give full consideration to all aspects of the life as a professor.

Once you have decided what you want to do with your career, then the following suggestions will help you decide where to go.

• Gather as much information about different schools as you can. A good starting point is visiting each school's web page and to visit the different university pages on this website. .

• Talk to people who have either been at a school or are currently at the school of interest. See University Information for help finding who has been where from the BYU family. Please be respectful of the time of the people you are contacting. Ph.D. students and faculty are busy so asking them questions that are already answered on the school's web page is wasting their time. Also, don't send out the same email to multiple people at the same school. Students and faculty talk and it looks bad for you to send out a form e-mail requesting information.

• Determine what type of research you are interested in conducting. Certain schools do not support some research topical areas and/or methodologies. Make sure the schools you are considering do what you want to do.

• Consider which topical area of research you are interested in examining. Do not expect to go to a school and convince professors to change the area of research they are focusing on to work on projects that interest you. You can expect them to continue working on what they find interesting and letting you work with them if they think you will be helpful to them.

After you have gathered information about schools that interest you, you will need to apply to these schools. Hopefully, you will get to visit several schools and find which one fits. An important warning: while you may be tempted to go to the school other people consider "best," it is far more important that you feel comfortable and like where you will work. Numerous Ph.D. students have dropped out because they didn't fit with the school. Making sure you fit with the school is far more important than making sure you are at the school others consider the "best."

Also see this external website: Am I ready for a PhD Program? And, which program is right for me?

What Should I expect when I visit campus

As part of the interview process, doctoral programs often bring students in for a campus visit. Only students that the program is seriously considering for admittance are brought in. In general, the quantitative characteristics of the applicant (e.g., GMAT, GPA) have already drawn the interest of the program, and the campus visit is primarily to assess the qualitative characteristics of the applicant (e.g., fit, likability).

Universities like to fly out a short list of candidates to see if they like the candidates and also to try and recruit the candidates. Other universities will first do phone interviews with the candidates they are interested in before they fly applicants out. It is important to remember that just because you are being flown out does not mean you will be given an offer by the university.

The typical campus visit usually includes meal times, one-on-one time with professors, and attending a workshop/class. During your stay, one or more professors will take you out for dinner and/or breakfast. This is an informal meeting. You should be prepared to talk about why you want to enter a Ph.D. program, what are your research interests (if you have some), what are your future goals, why you are interested in that school, and most importantly be able to ask relevant questions about the school. You should not be asking questions about the school that you can find out for yourself (i.e., make sure you read the school's doctoral program web page and the individual professor's web pages as well). Also, you should avoid asking questions that are too specific (e.g., how much is the stipend). These questions are more appropriate after you have received an offer.

Your one-on-one meetings with professors usually last 30 minutes. These meetings can range from the professors conducting a mini job interview, to a friendly open dialog. You need to make sure you have enough things to talk about to fill up an entire 30 minutes. One of the best things you can talk about is the professor's own research. Checking out the faculty member's vita before an interview is a good way to get an idea of the type of research they do. Alternatively, you could ask the professor to describe one of their more recent projects. It is not a bad idea to bring a notepad to take notes. On the notepad, you might consider jotting a list of the questions you want answered during your visit.

Often times, you will attend a doctoral seminar or a workshop presentation. If you can read the papers before you get there for the workshop or seminar that would be fantastic. You are not required to make any comments, and shouldn't just to show that you can speak. If you have good questions/comments to make, you can do that, but make sure you aren't speaking to try and show how smart you are. These workshops give you a good idea of what the tone of the school is like.

On a practical note, the school will usually cover airfare, transportation, and meals. The school may give you a budget and allow you to make plans (they usually reimburse you after you provide receipts) or they may book everything for you. If you are unsure, ask whoever is recruiting you how the school handles the finances of the fly out.

Again, remember that during the campus visit you are being recruited and evaluated. You need to make sure you do your best to sell them on yourself and also take some time to evaluate the school to see if you will fit there. Be forthcoming about yourself and your interests. You don't want to end up at a school whose faculty are uninterested in or hostile to your research interests or that has a culture that doesn't suit you.

You may find this collective list of "Do's and Do not's on campus visits" helpful as you prepare for a campus visit:

Do's

• Be cordial in all respects.
• Call schools and let them know before you visit if you have accepted another offer. Schools will view it as a slap in the face if you have formally accepted with another school and still fly out. If you are highly interested in another school but have not formally accepted, you still may consider flying out to another school if you have already arranged a campus visit.
• Research on the school. Read about the professors and their work and have intelligent questions to ask them. Read about the area. This is one of the most important job interviews of your career.
• Send a thank you note/letter/email after visit is over. Make sure the email is not a form email. You should send individual responses if you send a response to several people.
• Remember the schools where you don't go are likely to consider hiring you. Leave a good impression and it will increase your chance of getting a job once you graduate.
• Consider applying to and visiting schools where other BYU "people" have not gone or been.
• Be impressive and be impressed. You will be meeting with talented, knowledgable, and accomplished faculty members, despite your accomplishments, knowledge, and talents make sure you strike the proper balance between tooting your own horn and acknowledging what the school has to offer.

Do not's

• Undertake your application or campus visits lightly. How you act during the campus visit will not only affect you, but will likely affect the opportunities of PhD Prep students in the future. The academic accounting community is very small and bridges are easily burned.
• Act arrogant. More so than any other personality trait, arrogance has cost many excellent candidates the opportunity to attend the program of their choice. There are plenty of other candidates who are as qualified (or more qualified) than you are to enter a Ph.D. program. Make sure you come across as humble, willing to work hard, and a nice person.
• Make schools wait forever for you to give them an answer. Make sure you take sufficient time to make a good decision, but once you make that decision let the school know and let the schools where you will not be going know.
• Schedule visits if you "know" you won't go to that school. If you might go to the school, then go, but if you know there is no way you will go to the school, don't waste their time and money.
• Ask if you can get an "honorary doctorate."

Getting into a program

• Study for the GMAT and get a good score. At "top" schools, most students will have a GMAT score of 700 or above with a minimum of 600. (However, the GMAT is just one factor in your application.)

• Take your Ph.D. Prep Track courses seriously and learn as much as possible.

• Get research going with faculty. Take your ideas to them and take initiative so you have the opportunity to have co-authored work in progress.

• Seek the advice of current professors and doctoral students so you know which schools you should apply to.

• Apply to programs that fit your needs and interests. This is critical as those Ph.D. prep students who have not finished their Ph.D. did not fit well at the schools where they began studying.

• Your statement of purpose is very important. Make sure you spend a lot of time crafting this document and have several individuals read it and comment on it.

• Get good letters of recommendation. Although you cannot control what is written about you, you should be professional in your interactions with faculty. A good letter of recommendation can go a long way, and a mediocre letter can shut doors very quickly.

• Consider attending an academic conference Fall of your last year in the MAcc. Doing so will allow you to meet the faculty you could be working with at schools, and making a decision to accept you is much easier if the faculty have met you and know that you are into research enough to go to academic conferences. In the 2007-2008 year, I know of two students that attended conferences, who, as a result of going, got into the program they decided to go to.

Getting in

[From Getting What You Came For (Peters 1997)]

What Are Committees Looking For? In a doctoral program, the faculty is trying to decide if you have the brilliance and dedication necessary to become an important researcher in your specialized field. Both the department and the individual faculty members want to avoid students who need a lot of guidance or who have difficult personalities. Therefore, the committee favors students who appear well adjusted and whose research goals are well focused. Advisers regularly say that their favorite type of student in one who comes in knowing just what thesis topic he wants to work on. As one professor said, "You need a student who's quick to learn, self-motivated, technically good, and a real self-starter--and most students are not."

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Weigh Your Credentials

Maximizing the Chance of Getting Accepted

The Application Process

Thegradcafe.com is a place where students can post when they heard back from schools. As such, you can see when different schools traditionally get back to their students and how. Find the results for accounting here. Feel free to post your results here so that future students can benefit.