For Current PhD Students

The Wharton Doctoral Program office maintains a website with a wealth of information for current students. Students can find degree requirements and forms, policies and procedures, research links, and answers to questions about just about every aspect of their experience as a doctoral student.

To supplement this information, the Marketing Department also maintains a PhD Student Manual that provides department specific policies as well as office procedures.

Please see links to the right to access these resources.

Program Advising and Course Selection

Students should contact the faculty member designated as the PhD Coordinator for specific assistance with program requirements and to obtain signatures on the various forms required by the program. First-year students are assigned two faculty mentors who can also answer questions about the department and help foster connections with the faculty at large.

PhD Faculty Coordinator
Professor Ron Berman JMHH 746
ronber@wharton.upenn.edu
(215) 573-4831

PhD Program Coordinator
Heather Lindfors JMHH 700
lindfors@wharton.upenn.edu
(215) 898-3818

Students who have general questions about the PhD course offerings, can contact the PhD Administrative Coordinator, as well as other Marketing Department staff at marketing.dept@wharton.upenn.edu. (700 JMHH, 215-898-8243)

Registration

Students should consult the Wharton Doctoral Program’s website for course registration information. Please take note of rules surrounding deadlines, course loads, auditing, and registration for dissertation.

Registration for Marketing Department Courses:  All students need permission in order to register for PhD courses offered by the department. Students within the marketing program should request permission in Path@Penn,  so that the  the department’s Course Coordinator can approve the permission request, which will in turn allow the student to register for the course. Students from outside the department need to obtain written permission from the instructor in order to take the course. This is best accomplished by submitting a permission requests in Path@Penn and e-mailing the course instructor for permission. Be sure to “cc” the department Course Coordinator. Once permission is approved by the instructor,  the Course Coordinator will approve the permission request in Path@Penn, which in turn will allow the student to register.  Please see the Path@Penn Quick Reference Guides to learn how to request permission and register for courses.

Registration for Independent Study Course:  In order to register for the department’s PhD independent study course (MKTG 9999) students need to:

• Find a faculty supervisor. It is the student’s responsibility to find a faculty member who is willing to supervise and evaluate their research; the department does not assign any particular faculty member to “teach” this course.
• Complete the Form. All students need to fill out the PhD Program Office’s Independent Study Course Approval Form (note the course number is 9999, not 9990) and obtain the signature of the faculty member who is supervising their project on the “Instructor” line on the form.
• Submit the Form.  Once the student obtains the necessary faculty signature, the form should be delivered to the Department’s Course Coordinator, so that the course can be added to the Student Registration System (CLSS).  The student should also send a copy of the fully signed form to the Wharton Doctoral Program Office (Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall, 3620 Locust Walk/6302, Suite 3500).
• Meet the Deadlines: Ideally, MKTG 9999 approval should be obtained prior to the start of the semester in which the research will be conducted. Forms may be submitted up until the course “add” deadline date published on the Registrar’s Calendar.