[原创]decline & withdraw (marketing) - ChaseDream

dear all, I am going to write letters to decline offers from the following schools:
minnesota, rochester, ubc, uiuc, purdue

thanks everyone. i am going to northwestern.. because I am interested in empirical I.O. (Industrial Organization), and NW gets the best team in I.O.. although the stipend is not the highest among all school, it does not entail any work in first year. so i am quite happy about it.

I want to write something to share my experience although I think I am just lucky... but I am now travelling and no chinese input here.. to be short, my experience is:

my background:
- UG and Master in HK
- ranked 1st in UG, but not really very good in Master.
- major in economics, minor in maths
- Math coursework: multivariate calculus, statistics, algebra, real analysis
- Econ coursework: graduate level of micro-,macrotheory, advanced econometrics, industrial organization, time series

Work experience:
- 3 years in a leading european investment bank as an economist (i think this is very irrelevant to marketing program, but some programs told me that they wanna have ppl from diversified background. so they dont mind my lack of marketing experience. in fact i think many programs love students with economics and math background. in interviews, many prof. asked about my job and duties, i think it is a good chance for us to try to sell ourselves and show our strenghts when answering the question)

My experience:
- letters are very very very important. Without good letters, i think it is difficult to have interviews. Without interviews, it will be more difficult to get offer. Some interviewers told me that they are very interested in my profile because i have very good letters and courseworks. One professor told me that he writes in the letter, saying that he think my research potential can match his former students who are now studying marketing or economics in some very good schools such as ucla, chicago...etc. Another professor taught me econometrics. He has pointed that my econometrics is good and ranked 2nd out of a big class in my master year (i think he is too generous, i think i ranked much lower than 2nd).

- GMAT is very very very unimportant. I just got 710 and my Q is very low. But no one cares. in fact I think my coursework in maths can prove that i m okay with mathematics.

- TOEFL.. I got 112/120. I dont know if it is important or not. i think it is like a minimum. U have to get 100 or 110 in order to get into some schools.

- Work experience: i think it is neither positive nor negative in application. I am lucky that my previous job is quite quantitative and stressful. So I use it to prove that I am comfortable with maths and stress.

- PS: this is VERY IMPORTANT i guess. A good PS can tell good stories and make people interested in you. In my PS, I talked about how and why I changed from Econ to Marketing. I explained why I did not go to PhD directly but worked for a few years. I also told people my research interest and why I think I can do well in these.. Actually I paid $$$ to an overseas agent to proof read my statement. It makes my whole statement MUCH better and i think the money is well spent.

以下是引用wiwiana在2008-3-20 4:27:00的发言：

I want to write something to share my experience although I think I am just lucky... but I am now travelling and no chinese input here.. to be short, my experience is:

- GMAT is very very very unimportant. I just got 710 and my Q is very low. But no one cares. in fact I think my coursework in maths can prove that i m okay with mathematics.

- TOEFL.. I got 112/120. I dont know if it is important or not. i think it is like a minimum. U have to get 100 or 110 in order to get into some schools.

ah! i found it! u will do management & organization!
dont know if we will have any coursework together¿

是的，我是香港人啊．．　香港人去读PhD的比较少，所以幸好有CD这个大家庭，我才可以得到那么多资料，今天才可以有Offer．．　所以我真的很感谢所有CDer！！

祝福各位都有OFFER！千万别放弃．．　老实说，我很早很早就收到Wisconsin的拒信，连INTERVIEW也没有，心情真的很坏．．．因为我其他申请的学校，大部分都不比WISCONSIN差，所以当时就觉得其他学校也没戏了．．可后来也有几个INTERVIEWS，这才让我放心了．

以下是引用wiwiana在2008-3-23 22:57:00的发言：

谢谢各位哦．．
(我终于可以用自己的点脑打中文了！！）

所以还没有OFFER的CDer，先别放弃哦．．．　

最开始差点看成，谢谢各位哦，终于可以用点自己的脑。。。。

BTW, was the financial aid you get from Purdue in the format of Graduate Assistanceship or Fellowship? I heard that to apply for Purdue's Fellowship, an additional essy is needed. Thanks a lot.