1. What is the likelihood of getting accepted as a part-time student?
Last year we admitted five part-time students. The Ph.D. program is primarily a full-time program. Most of the students that we accept will work as research assistants with faculty and will be actively involved in research.
However, we are still considering part-time students. What we ask is that students planning to be part-time in the Ph.D. program offer a plan as to how they will integrate their work with pursuit of Ph.D. level research. For example, we currently have two part-time students whose employers (Merck and NASA) are allowing them to gather data and conduct research from in-house projects. In addition, their employers allow them the freedom to attend seminars and colloquia during the day. Our goal is to have all of our students interacting with faculty and one another and actively participating in research, colloquia and seminars. While this is difficult to do as a part-time student it is not impossible and does require the full support of the employer.
2. Are there minimum GMAT scores required? What is the average for accepted candidates?
We expect applicants to score above the 85th percentile of the GMAT and GRE tests.
3. Assuming I was accepted as a part-time student, what is a realistic timeline for program completion?
Coursework for a part-time student could realistically be completed in three years. Dissertation completions vary considerably. But some students have completed dissertations in 1 year (this is very rare for part-time students, however).
4. What additional coursework is required?
The PhD program requires 60 credits. 36 of these credits can be coursework and the remainder are dissertation credits.
5. I haven't completed a thesis in the course of my Master's study. Will this affect my chances for admission? What is the process for candidates who have not met this requirement?
Completion of a thesis is desirable but not essential. We admit students conditionally if they have not done independent research equivalent to a Master's thesis. Students without a thesis or equivalent are required to complete an independent research study sometime in the first two years.
6. What is the deadline for Fall '07 admission? GMAT deadline?
We make decisions on admissions once a year in March for the following September. GMATs and GRE schedules are controlled by Educational Testing Service so you will need to check with them to find the administration schedule.
7. I have seen some programs that award a degree upon coursework completion Does Stevens do this?
No, we do not award such a degree.
8. Are any PhD level courses offered in the summer sessions?
Since we expect our students to be actively involved in research there are courses that are designed for independent research that could be completed during the summer months and would count towards the credit total.
9. How many students are currently in the program? What is the breakdown for Information Management versus Technology Mangement concentrations? What do you recommend in terms of a focus?
We currently have about 50 students. About 30 of these are Information Management and the remainder are Technology Management. Most of these are part-time students who are either taking courses or have completed coursework but not a dissertation. We currently have 8 full-time students.
I am not sure if the question about focus is for me but I will respond to it anyway. My advice is to not get involved in a Ph.D. program unless you are passionately interested in research and have a clear career goal that the Ph.D. will help you fulfill. Since you are a current student I would suggest that you review the information on our current faculty and if there are areas that you are interested in you could schedule meetings with those faculty to learn more about their research. I always advise students to focus on a particular research area as soon as possible.
