大叔的Accounting PHD梦能实现吗？

PHDream16

大叔的Accounting PHD梦能实现吗？

37+

天蝎MM

可以多申请几所学校机会多一点呢

pipipapalala

有小孩啊，真不错！

chaochaoruc

要能加几个学校就更好了，经历这么丰富，一定没问题。

Tripleg

有工作经验最好。关键是年龄大，无研究经历。至于GMAT，不用拿出来晒，因为为什么考到这么高的成绩，大家心里都明白。

Tripleg

ljzhalcyon 发表于 2015-12-27 13:55
感觉楼主可以多申几所学校啊。今年年初有个45岁的大叔，背景和楼主很像，也上了我们学校的interview list， ...

做学问的话，搂柱的确是高龄了。所谓这个年龄不是问题，用于国内官员最恰当不过。这些人５０多岁甚至６０多岁照样娶妻纳妾，而且年轻又漂亮。国内媒体几乎天天有报道，但暴光的只是寥寥无几。抱歉我不该在我们这个论坛说这种事情。

PHDream16

谢谢大家的鼓励和各种意见。因为家庭原因只能申请附近的学校，可以接受的最远距离是周末回家，好在附近有几所学校可以申请。其中一所对大龄申请人非常友好，今年一个毕业生估计快六十了，这让我很受鼓舞，激发起追求梦想的热情。但我也知道，世界毕竟是年轻人的，岁月不饶人，自觉精力确实大不如以前。如果有学校要我，我会好好努力，看能不能做出一点成绩。如果申请不上，也算了却一番心愿。

白色鸢尾

跑题请教一下LZ，怎么确定教授能不能给强推啊？是当面聊出来的还是email要推荐信的时候直接问呢？

毕业好几年远程email以前的教授要推荐信，怕太唐突，问的时候都小心翼翼的给教授拒绝的台阶，教授都回的很热情说I'm very happy to***，但心里还是总不自信，担心写得不够strong。

zae莞尔

不知道楼主有没有申请waterloo，感觉对有工作经验的人非常友好；
work shop和seminar还是非常有帮助的，不仅仅限于申请本校，申请其他学校也会有帮助，如果在其中表现不错的话即使不能申请本校，说不定也能拿到本校acc的推荐信。

PHDream16

白色鸢尾 发表于 2015-12-28 11:24
跑题请教一下LZ，怎么确定教授能不能给强推啊？是当面聊出来的还是email要推荐信的时候直接问呢？

毕业好 ...

First of all, you should say in your email expressly: would you be able to write a strong recommendation for my application? If he or she accepts your request, his or her recommendation will most likely be good. A typical good recommendation reads like this: you are one of his best students, and he is confident that you have the motivation and intellectual capacity to do well in the PHD program. If he or she really likes you, he or she may go out of his/her way to add some details to make it more convincing. This is not easy, and it takes a lot of time to write a strong recommendation. He or she may also ask if there is anything you would like him or her to stress in his/her reference, as one of my professors did.

My case may be a bit different. My professors told me they would. One (Professor A) said that he would write a strong recommendation for me years ago should I need one, because I was one of his very best students. The other (Professor B) said that he would write an excellent recommendation for me and it’s a pleasure to write recommendation for such a good candidate. I’m going to elaborate why they were so kind to me. It may not help you at this stage, but may help future applicants when they try to gather recommendations. In doing this, I’m going to say something about myself, not to show how good I was, but to make the point.

Ideally, you should identify potential referees and keep in touch with them as your study progresses if you know you will need references in the future. I have always wanted to do a PHD, but I didn’t know if I would be able to do it two years ago when I started my current program. Actually, I was very pessimistic, feeling that I have passed the age for a PHD. Therefore, I did not try to impress any professors. However, my passion for academics naturally draw me to some professors.

I took Professor A’s class at the beginning of the program. He had given us a very hard exam, and almost everyone complained at the end of it. A few students said it was the worst exam they ever had in their lives. It was not the kind of exams people would expect in a MBA program. MBA exams are generally easily, and are not designed to be intellectually challenging. As a student who had survived high school in China, I did not find the exams to be extremely hard. There was one question I was not quite sure, and I emailed him about it. In my email, I also expressed my appreciation for the course. He told me that I was the top student in the class, and if I need a strong letter of reference, he would be very happy to provide one for me. I did not have such a need at the time, and I did not expect that I would need one in the future, but I did keep in touch with him. Later he wrote reference for a scholarship I applied for. When I finally decided to do a PHD, he was very happy to help. We met in the early morning one day, and by early afternoon in the same day, he had submitted the references for all the schools I applied for. The takeaway is professors like to hear from their students. If you enjoy a course, tell them.

My experience with Professor B is a bit different. When I asked him for reference, my course with him was not finished yet. I did not even have written his final exam. There were a couple of lectures left. Actually I had not plan to ask him for recommendation. I was asking an accounting professor for reference, but did not get his response. His PHD student told me he was a way, and would not be back in a few weeks. I was afraid that I might not be able to meet the deadlines, so I asked Professor B instead, for a few reasons. I did fairly well in the assignments and I felt he was impressed. He wrote recommendation a few years ago for a PHD student I spoke to. The PHD student got two offers then, and told me that his reference probably carried the most weight. Lastly, it never hurts to ask. Therefore, I emailed him, thanking him for the great course and telling him how much I have enjoyed it, which was true. I was not trying to flatter anyone. I just expressed my true appreciation, and when you are genuine, people will feel it. He happily accepted my request, and asked for my resume, personal statement, and transcript so that he can have extra information to write me an excellent reference. When he saw my resume, personal statement, and transcript, he said it is a pleasure to write recommendation for such a good candidate. The take away: Talk to the people in the same school who have applied to PHD before. They are able to provide you a lot of useful information. And it never hurts to ask. It never hurts to try.

It’s quiet today. I’m sitting in my office with little to do. I have written something long. Good luck, my friend!