Ph.D. Applicants and Candidates

Tips for Applicants

The International Management Studies (IMS) program only admits new students in the fall each year; spring or summer admissions are not possible. Although the official UT Dallas application deadlines for fall admission for U.S. residents and international applicants are July 1 and May 1, respectively, the university encourages students to apply as early as possible. The School of Management starts making first-round admission decisions on February 1; it is best to complete the entire application process no later than January 31.

The IMS program is designed for full-time students. Since the completion of a Ph.D. requires a time commitment that is inconsistent with full-time employment, the school will not consider applications for part-time status. Your application will be rejected if you ask for an exception.

Program Candidates

Students may enter the IMS doctoral program after previous graduate training or directly from undergraduate programs. Desirable educational backgrounds include graduate training in any area of business and graduate or undergraduate degrees in areas such as business administration, economics, sociology, political science, mathematics and engineering, although students from all areas are considered. Students must have an excellent academic record and high scores on the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT). To be considered for admission, students must score 600 or above or receive comparable scores on the Graduate Record Exam (GRE).

The School of Management's Ph.D. students are a diverse, energetic and collegial group who come from China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States. During the 2007-08 academic year, the school had nine students in the program, which translates to less than a 1-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio. Students have the opportunity to be involved in ongoing research projects under the mentorship of experienced faculty. The emphasis is on student involvement in research early in their graduate careers. Close interaction with faculty members enables students to quickly learn to identify and develop research ideas and create their own research agenda.

Students also develop teaching competence under faculty mentorship by teaching undergraduate classes. They teach three sections of undergraduate courses in their four years in the program; this is a relatively light teaching load compared to many other Ph.D. programs' requirements.

In 2005, 2006 and 2007, the School of Management only admitted three students each year. It is unlikely that the school will increase the number of admitted students in the foreseeable future. However, given the school's commitment to bringing out students' best potential, the school has given every student currently in the program assistantships (including tuition waivers and monthly stipends). The school expects to continue providing this level of support to every incoming student admitted. In exchange, students work 20 hours a week as faculty assistants.

Given the level of competition to enter the School of Management's program, applicants are advised to carefully craft their application essays with two fundamental questions in mind:

• Why do you want to pursue a Ph.D. in International Management Studies?
• What role do you want to play when you obtain your doctorate four or five years down the road?