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[nomad]

I have a student living with my family. She is indirectly related to my husband and is here to learn English. She has a masters degree in accounting and finance from her home country and 8 years of work experience after the masters. She is interested in getting a PhD once her English is good enough for the TOEFL. My (her) question is this.

1. How hard is it to get into an American University PhD program with a foreign degree?

2. How hard is it for a international student to get funding in an accounting PhD program? I keep hearing on the boards that accounting is the degree with the most opportunity in both funding and jobs.

3. Would she need to do any coursework here, in the US, to qualify for a PhD program?

Any advice is good.

Thanks
Nomad....

[punchnpie]

I've been on a few doctoral student admissions committees, this is my experience, others may have other opinions:

1. How hard is it to get into an American University PhD program with a foreign degree?

Not that hard. She will probably have to provide translations of her transcript and diploma, but we entertained applications from China, Korea, Turkey, eastern European countries, etc., no problem.

2. How hard is it for a international student to get funding in an accounting PhD program? I keep hearing on the boards that accounting is the degree with the most opportunity in both funding and jobs.

Let us hope that your young friend really has an interest in accounting research and doesn't just want a PhD. I saw that a lot too - young students with little to no work history who wanted a PhD because it was prestigious in their country and they didn't understand the nature of doctoral work in the US.

That said, most programs fund all doctoral students, native or international. We're not talking the humanities here - in IT, info science, accounting, business, comp sci (maybe a little less than previously), your friend should get full funding.

3. Would she need to do any coursework here, in the US, to qualify for a PhD program?

I can't speak for accounting specifically, for example, I don't know if you need to be a CPA, but for the other business majors, no further education should be required. Once her English is up to par, she should just apply to PhD programs and not spend a lot of time/money on courses to 'prep' for the PhD. That said, since she is here, she might look around at programs and see if she sees a gap in her knowledge, rather than just taking courses for the sake of taking courses.

[nomad]

Thank  you  punchnpie. That info is what I am looking for. She has work experience and I think she would be interested in the research aspects. I think that she is interested in returning to Turkey and looking at university jobs there once she has finished.

How important are grades? She says hers are good but not at the top.

Any other ideas would be helpful.

[new_bus_prof]

Since she has a masters in business/accounting, she is actually more qualified than most international acounting applicants my school sees.

The TOEFL can be a huge hurdle since most programs that will offer her funding will require her to teach undergraduate accounting classes in English. Our school only accepts TOEFL scores above a certain level, but then the students have to also pass a written and oral English proficiency exam at the institution during their orientation week. Students who cannot pass the school's exam loose their funding from the department.

The other hard thing for most international applicants is the fact that they learned the IAS in their home country and now must conform to US GAP requirements. This can be solved by completing a certificate/classes towards CPA certification at almost any business school.