商学院PHD

From what I've learned so far, those academic trainings one gets in a PhD program are not so useful in the real business world. Most B-school's doctoral programs aim to educate and "produce" excellent scholars, not outstanding managers. All people you meet and interact with are faculty members and other PhD students; how useful this kind of networks would be if your goal is to be a CEO?

If your major is finance, you have better chance to work in industries. But again, being a good manager or a financial analyst doesn't take a PhD.

Moreover, you have to consider your opportunity cost to get into and graduate from a doctoral program... it would take you at least five years on average. Think twice before you apply to PhD programs if you do not LOVE & ENJOY teaching and doing reserach.

These are honest words from a 1st-yr PhD student in a B-school in the US.

我在国内一个还算名牌的大学读ACCOUNTING,在复旦副修FINANCE,参加过几次国际/国内性的经管财会类比赛，拿过2次小奖，

GPA3.7,GRE2200+，能申请PHD吗？会计类好还是金融类好呢？

......

但是光读个msf出来就找工作的话好像有点底气不足......

说起来500强的ceo大多是老头了吧,他们那个时代可能不兴考phd吧(我猜的...),新时代的ceo难道还都是master出身吗?

phd倒不一定要做研究,赖斯也是phd,他不是做到国务卿了吗?

(照各位这么一说,我好像又有点犹豫了,不过wathehell说的荣誉博士学位是不是也是要读的?这能不能说明那些top ceo们虽然以前没机会读phd,但是现在也想去充充电?)

Honorary Doctor = no course work, they just give it to you for your contribution to society.

For Rice, remember, she taught at Stanford - teaching + research. Her judgement has been questioned by many in North America - some think she is worse than Bush.

In the world of finance, you may want to be a phd to do research. But, if may be more practical to get a financial enginerring degree - phd materials are often too abstract.

Also, if you are on the selling side, a Phd probably would not help you. Remember, when you are trying to find customers, it is not about ur title, but it is about the connections you establish.

While MBA is deals with gaining technical knowledge, heavy emphasis is placed on acquiring soft skills and establishing business connections. This is why execuatives who claim to have MBA degrees often get eMBA degrees. They update some technical knowledge, but it is mostly about getting connections. In most cases, PhDs lack the connections.

Anyway, getting a PhD has different meanings for different people. I would get it if I want to become a professor. I just hope you are not trying to get one for the wrong reasons, and be dissapointed by the outcome.

Rice had written a couple of academic papers & books before she served as  the Provost at Stanford. Also, she won several teaching award while she was there.

Another thing is, usually faculty members in universities follow one of the three career tracks: teaching & reseraching, clinic & adjunct, and administrative. The majority of professors falls into the frist category. I think Rice is a special case: she served as administrative faculty member after several years of teaching & research, and then (perhaps with her outstanding personal skills and other special perosnal characteristics) she chose a road different from most academic people and attained some impressive achievement.

BTW, the two founders of Yahoo!  were in Standford's EE PhD program but they didn't finish their doctoral studies. They gave up their degree, founded their internet empire, and became successful CEOs. If their PhD degree was so important to them, I don't think they would have made that decision.

嗯...

有道理，看来我要好好规划规划了...

姑且不说那些很强很强的ceo们，各位身边那些很厉害的拿高薪的manager,conductor,white-collar employee们是不是大多不是doctor出身呢？

我认为doctor挺不错其实是因为我从朋友亲戚那里了解到，他们所知的一些中国的manager,leader们确实是有个phd头衔的，但是我也知道，phd所研究的东西确实和现实有点脱轨，就算读出来估计对实际工作也没什么指导意义。