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Tips for Applying to European B-Schools [#permalink]

16 Mar 2015, 09:00

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Tips for Applying to European B-Schools

Do you know what you need to do to get admitted to a European MBA program?

Applying to a European MBA program isn’t quite the same as applying to an American program. The programs themselves often have a different focus than U.S. schools, and adcoms therefore look out for different skills and qualifications. I’d like to direct you to the following resources on our website – blog posts that focus specifically on how to answer specific questions on specific European b-school applications. Please check them out and be in touch if you have any questions!

Tip Posts for European B-Schools:

• ESADE 2015 MBA Essay Tips

• HEC Paris 2015 MBA Essay Tips

• HKUST 2015 MBA Essay Tips

• IMD 2016 Essay Tips

• INSEAD 2015 MBA Essay Tips

• London Business School 2015 MBA Essay Tips

• London Business School 2015 MiM Essay Questions and Tips

• NUS MBA 2015 Essay Tips

• Oxford Said 2015 MBA Essay Tips

For more advice, I recommend you check out these podcasts that feature interviews with adcom members from top European b-schools – it’s always good to get advice from the source itself!

• The Scoop on the London Business School Masters in Management Program

• Interview with Philippe Oster of HEC Paris

• An Inside Look at INSEAD

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools ESADE, European B-Schools, HEC, HKUST, IMD, INSEAD, international student, London Business School, MBA Admissions, NUS, Oxford Said

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3 Ways to Make Your Own Student Loan Luck [#permalink]

19 Mar 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: 3 Ways to Make Your Own Student Loan Luck

Luck can’t pay off student loans, but YOU can!

“Diligence is the mother of good luck.” – Benjamin Franklin

If you’re one of the 37 million Americans with student loans, you know it’s going to take a lot more than a few four-leaf clovers to make your debt disappear. You wouldn’t rely on winning the lottery in order to pay your loans, would you? Unfortunately, neglecting to understand the various loan repayment options can be just as foolish, because you may be missing out on opportunities to reduce or even eliminate your debt burden. Essentially, leaving your loans to chance could mean leaving money on the table.

Rather than wait around for good fortune to find you, take a proactive approach by seeing if one of these three options apply to you:

1. Spend money to save money . All education loans, whether federal or private, allow for penalty-free prepayment, which means that you can pay more than the monthly minimum or make extra payments without incurring a fee. Prepaying may sound painful, but the benefits can be huge. The more you do it, the sooner you’re done with your loans – and the less interest you spend over the life of the loan.

Let’s say you have a $100,000 student loan balance at a 6.8% interest rate and 10-year term. If you increased your monthly payment by just $100, you’d save about $5,600 in total interest and pay off your loans about a year early. Or perhaps you pay down an extra $2,000 per year using your annual bonus, saving yourself about $7,400 in interest and paying off your loans about 1.5 years early. Every borrower’s situation is different, but you can do the math on your own loans with a calculator like this.

One thing to note – prepaying is most effective when the extra cash is applied directly to your principal, rather than being earmarked for future payments. It’s best to check with your loan servicer to see what their policy is before increasing or adding extra payments.

How to get lucky: Commit to increasing your monthly student loan payment each time you get a raise and/or putting a percentage of every bonus toward your loan balance.

2. Recalibrate your rate . One of the fastest ways to slash your student loan burden is to lower the interest rate on your loans, which can only be accomplished through the act of refinancing. In addition to reducing the amount of interest you pay on your loan over time, refinancing can allow you to make lower monthly payments or shorten your payment term (so that you can be done with your loans sooner).

Student loan refinancing is still a relatively new option, so many borrowers who could be eligible to refinancearen’t even aware the opportunity exists. Which is unfortunate, because the savings can be significant. For example, the average SoFi borrower saves $9,400 when they refinance with us.* In addition, some private lenders offer additional benefits to borrowers when they refinance, such as complimentary career coaching and entrepreneurial support.

How to get lucky: When shopping around for a refinance lender, be sure to compare interest rates as well as other potential benefits.

3. Ask for forgiveness. What borrower hasn’t fantasized about winning the lottery and paying off their loans in one fell swoop? Unfortunately, you’re more likely to get hit by an asteroid than win a seven figure jackpot. So what’s the next best thing? How about making your student loan balance magically disappear.

It sounds too good to be true, but this is the basic idea behind student loan forgiveness. Surprisingly, there are quite a few ways to get your loan slate wiped clean, but the most well-known one (and the one that applies to the most people) is the government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. Under the program, borrowers who work full-time for a qualifying public service organization may be eligible to have federal loans forgiven after 10 years of on-time monthly payments.

Before you skim over this section and assume that PSLF won’t apply to you, consider this: The CFPB estimates that about one in four working Americans has a job that meets the definition of “public service”, and yet they believe a “substantial sum” is left on the table by borrowers who don’t take advantage. This may be because the definition is broader than what most people would expect – for example, soldiers, doctors at non-profit hospitals and public defenders are all examples of professions that may qualify a borrower for PSLF.

How to get lucky: Find out if you qualify for PSLF or other forgiveness programs by contacting your student loan servicer.

*SoFi average borrower savings assumes 10-year student loan refinancing with a weighted average rate of 7.67% and a loan balance of $86,000, compared to SoFi’s median 10-year rates of 5.875% (with AutoPay).

This post is by Anna Wolfand originally appeared on the SoFi Blog. SoFi connects alumni borrowers and investors to refinance private and federal student loans.

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The MBA Family: A Roundup and Overview [#permalink]

19 Mar 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: The MBA Family: A Roundup and Overview

At its core, the MBA is a graduate program in business administration for professionals who seek knowledge, skills, a credential, and/or a network to advance in business and to maximize their business performance. While “MBA” makes many people automatically think of a two-year, full-time program, in recent years the variations on the MBA theme have multiplied, in order to meet changing and diversifying needs and interests of students and organizations. Here’s a roundup of the main MBA options that are currently available, and their benefits and drawbacks.

Full-Time MBA Programs: This is a two-year, full-time program with an internship in the summer. It targets business (and sometimes other) professionals with roughly 3-8 years of experience. Obtaining a new position post-MBA is often a major focus of students, and recruiting by potential employers is a significant benefit of attending a full-time MBA.

Pros: close and sustained interaction with other full-time students, ideal for career changers, internship opportunity, strong recruiting.

Cons: significant opportunity cost, time away from industries that are undergoing rapid change.

Part-Time MBA Programs: Ideal for people who don’t want to leave their company or industry for any significant period or who can’t afford to stop working. Such programs target people who are employed full time, under the premise that students’ ongoing work will inform classroom discussion and projects. Part-time MBA students trend a little older than full-time MBA students. While these programs have traditionally served local students, increasingly they are offering varied structures and online components to attract distance students. They do not generally offer access to recruiters. Often admission is less competitive than for the same school’s full-time program, enabling part-time students to obtain a “brand” they may not qualify for otherwise.

Pros: can continue to work/earn, apply learning in real time, access to top-tier programs.

Cons: take longer, no internship, usually no recruiting, it can be grueling to work and study simultaneously.

One-Year MBA Programs: Of course, most European full-time MBA programs are one-year. Some top US MBA programs, e.g., Cornell’s Johnson and Northwestern’s Kellogg, have offered one-year options for a while, and others are joining the fray as demand for such programs grows. Often these one-year programs have special requirements, such as some prior business education or an advanced degree. They are ideal for people who don’t need an internship and who have a strong base of experience; not usually the best path for career changers.

Pros: the intensity of a full-time program with less opportunity cost, usually regular recruiting, ability to quickly rejoin a fast-moving industry.

Cons: no conventional internship, less time to network with students and faculty.

Executive MBA Programs: EMBAs are part-time programs targeting seasoned managers and entrepreneurs, typically people from mid-thirties to late forties (depending on the program) whose rise to senior manager level is imminent or who are already in senior management. There is range within this category in terms of desired/required length of experience. While coursework covers the same topics as regular MBA programs, it’s developed and presented with the higher level perspective. A great benefit of EMBAs is the chance to network and form relationships with peers from a variety of industries and functions at a career phase when a fresh perspective is quite valuable but sometimes hard to obtain. These programs don’t target career changers, but are increasingly used by and open to them, even though most EMBA programs don’t offer formal recruiting.

Pros: can apply learning immediately at work, breadth of exposure at a pivotal professional moment, valuable credential.

Cons: challenge of school plus demanding career and personal/family responsibilities, usually no formal recruiting for career changers.

Specialized MBA Programs: These programs offer the MBA course with focus on a specific industry or function; there are such options among both regular and executive MBA programs. They vary in their formats and approaches. Boston University’s Public & Nonprofit MBA is an example of a two-year specialized MBA; UC Irvine’s Health Care Executive MBA (HCEMBA) is an example of a specialized EMBA. A relatively new one-year specialized MBA is Cornell Johnson’s Tech MBA.

Pros: intensive focus on area of interest with coursework adapted accordingly, network of colleagues with related experience and goals.

Cons: missing out on the diverse perspectives from other industries/sectors that can refresh and invigorate your thinking.

While you can’t apply to two different types of MBA programs at the same school in the same admissions cycle, you can do so in different cycles. And you can apply to different types of programs at different schools at the same time. For example, if someone is between regular and executive MBA in terms of age or length of experience, he could apply to some regular MBAs that trend older and some exec MBAs that trend younger. Or someone may apply to full-time MBA programs but also apply to a part-time program nearby as an acceptable back-up.

Please do keep in mind, and address in your application, the nuances of the type of MBA as well as the particular program!

By Cindy Tokumitsu, author and co-author of numerous ebooks, articles, and special reports, including Why MBA and Best MBA Programs: A Guide to Selecting the Right One. Cindy has advised hundreds of successful applicants in her fifteen years with Accepted.com.

Related Resources:

• MBA Action Plan: 6 Steps for the 6 Months Before You Apply

• Tips for Applying to Part-time MBA Programs

• Ace the EMBA

Tags: EMBA, MBA Admissions, Part time MBA

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Interview with a Techie at Chicago Booth [#permalink]

22 Mar 2015, 09:00

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Interview with a Techie at Chicago Booth

This interview is the latest in an Accepted.com blog series featuring interviews with current MBA students, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at top MBA programs. And now for a chat with Andrew Edelman, a student at Chicago Booth.

Accepted: We’d like to get to know you! Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad? What was your most recent pre-MBA job?

Andrew: Thanks for featuring me on Accepted.com! I was born in Paris, France, but grew up here in the U.S. where I spent most of my youth in the Boston area. Needless to say, I really enjoyed the outcome of this year’s Super Bowl!

I attended Davidson College in North Carolina where I received a B.A. in Economics with a Concentration in Applied Mathematics. At Davidson, I was captain of the Men’s Division I Swimming team and met my future wife who was captain of the volleyball team. We now have two amazing sons, the second of whom was born during my first week at Chicago Booth. I always say my wife is my secret weapon during this business school journey.

Immediately before attending business school, I was a Vice President at Corrum Capital Management, a boutique alternative investment management firm headquartered in Charlotte, NC. Upon moving to Chicago and before starting classes, I did a two-month internship with a classmate’s startup that was participating in Chicago Booth’s Polsky Center Accelerator Program. My experience was actually featured in a recent WSJ article about pre-MBA internships and was an exciting opportunity to diversify my skill set before starting summer internship recruiting.

Accepted: Where are you currently in b-school? What year?

Andrew: I’m a second year at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. It’s hard to believe I’m already entering my final quarter; graduation is less than 100 days away!

Accepted: Why did you choose Booth? How would you say you’re a good fit for the program? Which other programs had you considered?

Andrew: I choose Booth because I wanted to surround myself with extremely intelligent, high quality people. From the incredible faculty to my impressive classmates to the accessible alumni, I’ve been fortunate to learn from such a diverse and humble group.

I’ve personally benefitted most from Booth’s pay it forward mentality that permeates career preparation and recruiting. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to give back as a member of the Graduate Business Council and co-chair of the Booth Technology Group.

My business school decision came down to Booth and UC Berkeley (Haas), both great programs. It was a difficult decision, but after visiting Booth during the admitted students weekend, now called First Day, I knew it was the right fit for me.

Accepted: And if you could change one thing about the program, what would it be?

Andrew: With evening, weekend, and PhD programs, Booth is unique in the sheer number of working professionals concurrently pursuing their MBAs. Although I’ve taken a couple evening classes at our downtown Gleacher Center, I feel that most of my academic experience has been centered down at the Harper Center in Hyde Park and kept separate from evening/weekend students. With more work experience on average and equally diverse backgrounds, I wish I had more organized opportunities to interact with these students to expand my network and learn from their experiences.

Accepted: Where did you intern last summer? Can you tell us about the role Booth played in helping you secure that position?

Andrew: I did my summer internship at Google in Mountain View. I was an MBA intern with the Global SMB Solutions team, which is responsible for increasing product adoption and driving revenue growth with small and medium businesses. It was an amazing experience!

As a career switcher, from financial services to tech, the preparation and mentorship offered through Career Services and the members of the Booth Technology Group were invaluable to my success securing a coveted spot at Google. I also benefited from the advantages of Booth’s flexible curriculum that permitted me to take courses early in my first year to prepare for the internship, including the experiential Developing New Products & Services course that paired my group with a leading digital media company for a consulting project.

Many people assume that because Booth is in the Midwest there are fewer opportunities in the technology industry, but that’s a common misconception. I had internship interviews with five of the largest technology companies in the world and was one of a dozen Boothies at Google this summer. In fact, Booth placed more students from my class in tech internships than investment banking, second only to consulting. It’s a trend that is developing at business schools across the country and it’s exciting to see Booth leading the way!

Chicago also has a very underrated tech scene that is booming. Booth has been a large contributor with successful startups growing out of our New Venture Challenge like GrubHub, BrainTree, and MuSigma.

Accepted: Likewise, if you have a job lined up for next year, can you talk about how Booth was involved in that process? What’s recruiting like on campus? How early does it start?

Andrew: I’m excited to be returning to Silicon Valley as a Management Associate with Box in their Rotational Leadership Program. I was looking to join a smaller tech firm full-time, so the majority of my recruiting this year was done off-campus. I was able to leverage the Booth network and my experience at Google to gain access to several high-growth tech companies.

Although I didn’t participate in on-campus recruiting for my full-time search, I can tell you that it does begin very quickly, pretty much right when we all return from our summer internships in late August. There tends to be a flurry of on-campus activity the first two weeks back, which this year included tech firms like Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung.

Accepted: Looking back at the MBA application process, what would you say was your biggest challenge? How would you advise others who are facing a similar challenge?

Andrew: The biggest challenge for me was managing the surprisingly demanding application process while balancing my career and family responsibilities. Looking back, I wish I had started the process earlier to meet the Round 1 deadlines and not felt obligated to push my applications back to Round 2. In addition, it’s become increasingly difficult to fully showcase your whole self in such a short amount of space and limited word count. Getting to an interview was my biggest objective because I knew I could better convey a sense of self than I could in an essay.

Accepted: How are you enjoying your time in Chicago? How does student life differ there than in North Carolina?

Andrew: My wife and I always joke that if you could remove the harsh winters from Chicago it would easily be the best city in the U.S., if it’s not already. We’ve honestly loved our time here in Chicago. We live downtown where we have several world-class museums, an abundance of amazing restaurants, and even the sandy beaches of Lake Michigan right at our doorstep. Having grown up in the Northeast, the winters have not been too bad for me, but I definitely feel for my classmates from South America who are experiencing true winter for the first time.

It’s hard to compare my undergrad experience in Davidson, NC to my graduate student experience here in Chicago. Overall, studying business at Booth in a big city like Chicago has been a great complement to my liberal arts education at a small school in rural North Carolina. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed both experiences!

For one-on-one guidance on your b-school applications, please see our MBA Application Packages.

You can read more about Andrew’s journey by checking out his Twitter and LinkedIn pages. Thank you Andrew for sharing your story with us – we wish you loads of luck!

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INSEAD Essay 3: Writing About Cultural Diversity [#permalink]

25 Mar 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: INSEAD Essay 3: Writing About Cultural Diversity

Ready to answer the diversity essay question?

For those of you struggling with INSEAD’s cultural diversity question [Essay 3. Tell us about an experience where you were significantly impacted by cultural diversity, in a positive or negative way. (300 words max.) and the INSEAD EMBA choice of questions for Essay 5. Have you ever experienced culture shock? What insights did you gain? OR Describe the ways in which a foreigner in your country might experience culture shock. (500 words max.)], Pamela Druckerman has provided an interesting starting point in her New York Times Op Ed piece “Decoding the Rules of Conversation”.

Druckerman is an American expatriate in France and typically writes about the cultural differences she notices in French child rearing. On the other hand, “Decoding” explores not only how her de facto French children speak and interact, but also how French adults do, with added insight into UK culture thanks to her husband’s British background.

While Druckerman’s mention of British self-deprecation is well known, her description of the French emphasis on one-upping and even humiliating others will certainly come as a culture shock to many. Non-French INSEAD applicants exposed to these behaviors could discuss their own experiences navigating the team environment in France where, according to Druckerman, it is de rigueur to emphasize one’s intelligence at the expense of his or her peers’. Conversely, a French professional working in a global environment could share his experience adapting to a culture that places more emphasis on teamwork and gaining support from others – where he could no longer employ the French strategy of putting everyone else down.

Druckerman demonstrates the cultural astuteness that INSEAD is seeking in its students. Sharing an example of your own cultural insight and response to cultural challenges is essential to any applicant to this renowned international business school.

By Jennifer Bloom who has been helping applicants to the top MBA programs draft their resumes, application forms, letters of recommendation, and essays for 15 years. She is happy to serve as your personal coach and hand-holder throughout the entire process. There’s no time like the present to begin!

Related Resources:

• Best MBA Program: A Guide to Selecting the Right One

• An Inside Look at INSEAD

• Tips for Applying to European B-Schools

Tags: INSEAD, MBA Admissions

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Exploring the Part-Time MBA Options at NYU Stern [#permalink]

29 Mar 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Exploring the Part-Time MBA Options at NYU Stern

Not all b-school students are career changers. Not all seeking an MBA want a full-time program that requires them to leave the work force.

Enter the part-time MBA, specifically the part-time MBA program at NYU Stern Langone, the option for students who want to keep their jobs while earning a top MBA.

Want to learn more? Listen to the full recording of our conversation with Isser Gallogly, Assistant Dean of MBA Admissions for NYU Stern for a run-down on the flexible MBA programs at Stern.

00:00:54 – Featured Applicant Question: Is finding a home for two stray dogs community service?

00:03:15 – An overview of the part-time programs at NYU Stern.

00:06:12 – How the new Accelerated Program works.

00:13:26 – Admissions requirements/standards for the part-time MBA programs.

00:18:09 – Stern’s Career Center for Working Professionals.

00:21:51 – The Advanced Professional Certificates in Finance, Marketing, and General Business. A non-degree alternative.

00:29:36 – Time management is essential for part-time MBA students. Is the adcom looking for candidates with this skill?

00:31:46 – Great advice for potential applicants.

*Theme music is courtesy of podcastthemes.com

Related Links:

• NYU Stern Langone

• Accelerated Part-time MBA Program with sample schedule

• Advanced Professional Certificates

• NYU Stern 2015 MBA Essay Tips

• NYU Stern Langone 2015 MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines

• Nik’s Comment

Related Shows:

• From Luxury Marketing to Entrepreneurship: A Talk with Daria Burke

• An NYU Stern Grad and Strat Consultant Helping Vets Get Into School

• The Wharton Executive MBA Program: An Insider’s View

Leave a Review for Admissions Straight Talk:

Tags: Admissions Straight Talk, MBA Admissions, NYU Stern, NYU Stern Langone, Part time MBA, podcast

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How Much Will a Top MBA Earn You? [#permalink]

29 Mar 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: How Much Will a Top MBA Earn You?

Poets & Quants released some excellent data last week on the value of an MBA, concluding that b-school grads did very well in 2014 in regards to average salary and bonus. Here are some highlights from the article:

• In 2014, Harvard and Stanford grads earned average salaries that exceeded pre-recession levels for the first time. For Harvard MBAs, the average salary was $144,750, compared to $144,261 in 2008. The average salary for Stanford MBAs was $142,834, compared to 2008’s $140,771.

• There were a total of seven b-schools that reported average pay above $140K. Michigan Ross was one of these schools whose salary and bonus package jumped 20.9% in five years to $140,497.

• Washington Foster experienced a huge increase in average salary and bonuses, from $91,593 in 2010 up 36.9% to $125.367 in 2014. Average salary and bonuses also took huge leaps at Rochester Simon (30.6% – from $78,083 to $101,961) and at Emory Goizueta (28.0% – from $100,300 to $128,347).

• In 2010, only 24 U.S. business schools landed job that paid six-figures; in 2014, that number increased significantly to 44 schools.

• The top five schools with the most highly compensated grads were HBS, MIT Sloan, Stanford, Wharton, and Tuck.

• A few schools saw year-over-year decreases, including USC (from $116,011 to $114,129), Boston Carroll (from $96,915 to $94,963), and Minnesota Carlson (from $117,972 to $112,828).

See the P&Q article for more details.

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Columbia Jterm App to be Released Early [#permalink]

30 Mar 2015, 12:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Columbia Jterm App to be Released Early

Columbia releases its Jterm application in April.

For those of you who can’t wait to move forward with your 2016 MBA applications — especially those of you interested in Columbia Business School‘s January entry option (AKA Jterm)–I’ve got good news:

The Columbia Jterm application for the 2015-16 application cycle will be available on April 23, 2015. You can learn more by registering for Columbia’s MBA Virtual Session: January Entry Experience to be held on April 22.

And you can become an absolute expert on Columbia admissions by tuning into the Admissions Straight Talk April 22 show, when I will explore CBS MBA admissions with a special focus on JTerm by interviewing representatives from CBS’ MBA admissions office. (Even better: subscribe to ASTand then you can’t miss it!)

There will also be an On-Campus Information Session in July for Columbia Jterm applicants. (Registration & exact date TBA).

The application deadline for Columbia Jterm is October 7, 2015.

Can you believe it? The 2014-15 MBA application season isn’t even over, and the next one is beginning. It’s almost like ever-expanding sports seasons. Let the fun begin!

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools MBA Rankings: What You Need to Know

• Columbia Business School 2015 MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines

• MBA Application Timing

Tags: Columbia Business School, MBA Admissions

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MBA School Visits: Start Off Right [#permalink]

30 Mar 2015, 12:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: MBA School Visits: Start Off Right

A meaningful nugget of information can ripple to great conversation.

Last season I was often asked, “How should I act during my MBA visits?” It’s wise to consider, because adcom members start to assess your social intelligence even at this early stage.

Having an effective “elevator pitch” will enable you to attend such visits without anxiety, show you to be socially adept, and free you to focus on listening and responding rather than thinking about what to say in those initial moments. Aim to present a thoughtful, meaningful nugget of information to make a positive first impression and facilitate conversation. You can use your nugget with adcom members, MBA students, and fellow applicants. With the latter two groups, you can also follow up with “What is your industry background?” or “What are your post-MBA goals?”

Your elevator pitch should be one to two sentences only. Its content should usually focus on present and future. The key is to convey core information in a way that is engaging. Here are two examples:

• Hi, I’m Mary Liu, a consultant in McKinsey’s supply chain practice. I hope to develop and lead the next-generation of supply chain innovations in emerging markets.

• Hello, Manish Das here. I’ve been troubleshooting Bank Paribas’ risk management applications in Eastern Europe during the global financial crisis. Post-MBA I want to focus on developing new risk management strategies to avert such crises.

If there is something important in your past to add for a clearer picture, mention it. E.g., a listener would probably assume Manish Das grew up in India. What if Manish grew up in Kenya, an interesting tidbit: “Hello, Manish Das. I grew up in Kenya. I’ve been troubleshooting…”

Finally: practice! Your pitch should be natural for you to say, and practicing will help you adjust it to make it so.

Enjoy your school visits!

By Cindy Tokumitsu, author and co-author of numerous ebooks, articles, and special reports, including Why MBA and Best MBA Programs: A Guide to Selecting the Right One. Cindy has advised hundreds of successful applicants in her fifteen years with Accepted.com.

Related Resources:

• 6 Top Tips for Visiting Schools

• How To Pay an Effective “Virtual” School Visit

• Tips for Researching MBA Programs

Tags: MBA Admissions, school visits

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Welcome Aboard, Esmeralda Cardenal! [#permalink]

02 Apr 2015, 00:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Welcome Aboard, Esmeralda Cardenal!

Esmeralda Cardenal has served on MBA admissions committees for over 10 years—including as Admissions Director at Michigan State’s MBA program. As Associate Director of Admissions at Yale SOM, she led the school’s initiatives for women and underrepresented minorities, recruiting prospective students around the world and reviewing countless applications. Most recently, she has worked as a consultant for Cardiff Business School in the UK.

After growing up in Nicaragua, she earned a scholarship to pursue her undergraduate degree in the US. She also holds an MBA from Michigan State.

Esmeralda’s extensive experience on the other side of the table has given her deep insight into what makes an application successful—or unsuccessful.

We’re thrilled to have her as part of our team!

Tags: MBA Admissions

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A Wharton Grad Rids the World of Bank Fees [#permalink]

02 Apr 2015, 00:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: A Wharton Grad Rids the World of Bank Fees

BankMobile is bank with a vision, ATMs everywhere, no fees, and no branches.

Want to know more, right?

For the full scoop, listen to the entire recording of our conversation with Luvleen Sidhu, Wharton alum and Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at the mobile-only, fee-free bank for Millennials.

00:01:40 – Introducing Luvleen Sidhu and the many benefits of BankMobile.

00:07:05 – BankMobile is planning to become the “Uber of banking.” True or False?

00:09:09 – Up and coming at BankMobile: The “Can I Buy” feature.

00:10:58 – How BankMobile came to be.

00:13:40 – Did you really learn anything in b-school?

00:17:55 – What Luvleen wishes she knew before b-school: The application process doesn’t end after you are admitted!

00:20:19 – The best and worst about Wharton.

00:26:41 – Advice for Wharton applicants and future entrepreneurs.

*Theme music is courtesy of podcastthemes.com

Related Links:

• Bankmobile

• BankMobile Aims to Become the Uber of Banking

• Wharton 2015 MBA Questions, Deadlines, Tips

• Get Accepted to The Wharton School

Related Shows:

• CommonBond: How Two Wharton Grads Revolutionized Student Loans

• The Wharton Executive MBA Program: An Insider’s View

• Entrepreneurship at Stanford GSB: Carlypso Drives Down the Startup St.

• Making International Student Loans a Prime Investment

• An HBS Entrepreneur Promoting Career Flexibility

• Entrepreneurship at UCLA Anderson

• Which Schools are Good for PE/VC and VC-Backed Entrepreneurship

Tags: Admissions Straight Talk, College Admissions, entrepreneurship, Grad School Admissions, Law School Admissions, MBA Admissions, Medical School Admissions, podcast, Wharton

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Experiences & Advice from Columbia MBA Student Kendall Miller [#permalink]

04 Apr 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Experiences & Advice from Columbia MBA Student Kendall Miller

This interview is the latest in an Accepted.com blog series featuring interviews with current MBA students, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at top MBA programs. And now for a chat with Kendall Miller, a student at Columbia Business School.

Accepted: First, can you tell us a little about yourself? Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad? Can you tell us three fun facts about yourself?

Kendall: I originally hail from the Midwest, growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and attending Indiana University where I graduated with honors in Finance. Afterwards, I spent four years working in Chicago as a management consultant before finally making it to New York!

Three fun facts about me: I have traveled to 30 countries in under 30 years, my favorite films are The Godfather and When Harry Met Sally, and for New Year’s Eve this year I went to a house party in Valparaiso, Chile, where I knew no one.

Accepted: Where are you in business school? What year?

Kendall: Currently I am a second year at Columbia Business School.

Accepted: What is your favorite thing about Columbia so far? If you could change one thing about the program, what would it be?

Kendall: While I have lots of favorite things about Columbia, I can narrow it down to two. First, the core classes last only a semester and you have the option to test out of core subjects. Coming from a degree in Finance and a consulting background, I was itching to get to interesting electives instead of repeating content I already knew. Second, being in New York for graduate school is amazing. The number and seniority of guest lecturers in class is largely due to the fact they just have to taxi up to campus from their office, and I’m able to be constantly networking in the city. At least once a week I am at an event off-campus, meeting people outside of the MBA community.

If I were to change one thing, it would be to have more group work space in the school. However, I do know this is a priority for the new property being developed.

Accepted: Where did you intern last summer? What role did Columbia play in helping you secure that position?

Kendall: Last summer I was lucky enough to live in Milan, Italy, working for a luxury eCommerce company called Yoox. I attribute this internship entirely to Columbia, as the CEO and co-General Manager both went to Columbia for their MBAs, and they used the resume book at school to reach out to potential candidates. My consulting background was also a huge help, as the group I was working in (Office of the CEO) consisted almost entirely of ex-consultants.

More recently I have been interning part time in the city for Moda Operandi, another luxury eCommerce company. Many people at Columbia who are interested in careers in retail, startups, venture capital and private equity do internships during the school year, particularly if they are a career switcher. Again, this is only possible because we are in the city.

Columbia also offers “block week” classes, which are accelerated classes taken at the beginning of the semester, allowing students to free up time during the school year for work.

Accepted: And do you have a job lined up yet for when you graduate? Again, how did Columbia help you during that process?

Kendall: After school I will be returning to Deloitte Consulting, which sponsored my school tuition. However, last year during the internship search I used the career office often, for resume and cover letter reviews, interview prep, and guidance when deciding between offers. The alumni network is also very valuable, and industry-specific alumni career coaches provided some of the best feedback and advice I have received to-date.

And I can’t forget the Executives in Residence! These individuals may or may not be alumni, but they are all veteran executives with expertise in a specific industry and hold weekly office hours to discuss career questions with students. I met with two in my first year when I was exploring options.

Accepted: Can you share some advice to incoming first year students, to help make their adjustment to b-school easier?

Kendall: If you are coming from a non-traditional background, I would suggest brushing up on Excel skills and getting a primer in either accounting or corporate finance. Yes, these are both core classes, but it’s better not to be caught flat footed. Getting back into the swing of weekly (or daily) homework assignments was hard for me, and it does require careful planning because there are so many things vying for your attention, and you constantly feel like it’s the “last and only opportunity” for everything.

Accepted: Looking back, what was the most challenging aspect of the MBA admissions process? How did you approach that challenge and overcome it?

Kendall: Most challenging for me was nailing down exactly what I wanted to do after school, and being able to create a coherent and well-developed narrative that tied in the MBA. It sounded clichéd, when others said I needed to have an exact job in mind. Wasn’t I going to school to figure that out? Once I was able to do that, writing my essays became so much easier, and I was able to seek out the schools that best fit my goals. Many people do change their story, their minds, once they get to school – but two years is only so long, and you don’t want to spend all of it trying to figure out what you want to do post-graduation. At some point, you need to lock that down so that networking, training, and interviewing can be focused and successful.

For one-on-one guidance on your b-school applications, please see our MBA Application Packages.

[b] [/b]You can read more about Kendall’s journey by checking out her website, https://www.kendallmiller.co/about/. Thank you Kendall for sharing your story with us – we wish you loads of luck!

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Got a Low GMAT or GPA? Top B-Schools Are Still Within Reach! [#permalink]

04 Apr 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Got a Low GMAT or GPA? Top B-Schools Are Still Within Reach!

Join us live on Wednesday, April 22, 2015 at 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST for Get Accepted to Top B-Schools with Low Stats – a webinar that will teach you how to overcome a low GMAT/GPA and apply successfully to top business schools.

Registration is required (and free). Reserve your spot for Get Accepted to Top B-Schools with Low Stats now!

Tags: GMAT, MBA Admissions, weakness, webinar

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What Are My Chances? Indian Start-Up Refugee Seeking Fresh Start in Co [#permalink]

07 Apr 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: What Are My Chances? Indian Start-Up Refugee Seeking Fresh Start in Consulting or Entrepreneurship

The most important thing for you to do right now is to get a job.

This blog post is part of a series of MBA profile evaluations called “What are My Chances?” by Michelle Stockman. Michelle, who started consulting for Accepted in 2007 and worked previously in the Columbia Business School admissions office, will provide selected applicants with school recommendation as well as an assessment of their strengths and weaknesses.

If you would like Michelle to evaluate your profile at no charge and as part of this series, please provide the information requested at https://reports.accepted.com/what_are_my_chances.

PROFILE #10: Tushar, Indian start-up refugee seeking fresh start in consulting or entrepreneurship

-BACKGROUND: 27-year-old Indian male who graduated in 2010 from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University with an engineering degree. After eight-month search, hired as technical writer for engineering education firm. Switched to multimedia education start-up in 2012, but lost job after company hit cash crisis in 2014. Big impact was leading a social media marketing initiative before being made redundant. Currently looking to start own business.

You’ve been hit by some unfortunate turns in bad luck. You graduated into a still-recovering economy after the 2008 downturn, and got laid off by no fault of your own despite earning promotions along the way.

Right now is not the best time for you to apply to an MBA program. The story you want to tell is: You’re a comeback kid. But you’re currently at the low point of that narrative–the point when you started building toward a better future. Apply when you’re flying high off the rush of a career success. That’s what your competitors will be doing.

The most important thing for you to do right now is to get a job, both for your financial future and for your MBA chances. That can be with an established firm, or in a company that you start yourself as an entrepreneur.

If you eventually want to get into international-level consulting, see what you can do about getting onboard, at a leadership level, with a national or local consultancy dealing with education. Any interaction you have with the national government would be a plus.

You could take the entrepreneurship route, but that’s riskier. Really anyone can start a business. It’s about how successful you make that business, and what kind of wow factor you elicit in the ad comm for the innovation you bring through the product or service you’re bringing to market and how you made that company grow.

-GOALS: Short-term — Consulting. Long-term: Entrepreneurship

You’ve got your work cut out for you in terms of what you can tell consultants that you bring to the table. You do have some good education development skills. Figure out what you can offer on a technical level, then a policy level. Then do your research to find an MBA program that has a specific focus on the business of education.

-GMAT: 590

Ooh. This score is very low. You’ve got to improve this to have any chance, really, of going to a business school that will be worth your time.

-GPA: 72.5%

This is a solid, respectable GPA. No worries here.

-EXTRACURRICULAR: Volunteered for Times of India “Teach for India” initiative, teaching English to underprivileged kids. Also served as volunteer in 2012 Delhi half marathon and in the 2010 Commonweath Games. Just started a state-wide social initiative for women and girls’ safety.

You spoke to another consultant who said extracurricular activities are just “icing on the cake.” The ad comm first wants to see a solid track record of achievement and leadership in work activities.

In this, I would have to agree. You need to extracurriculars to show you are a well-rounded individual. But unless your activities are absolutely extraordinary, they can’t make up for a less than stellar work record.

-EXTRAS: Studied “Technology Entrepreneurship Online Course” from Stanford University in September 2013.

This is a great MOOC, but I don’t see it having a major impact to make up for other weaknesses in your profile.

-SCHOOLS:

You mentioned Kellogg and Indian School of Business as your target schools. Kellogg has a great education focus that could set you up to enter the type of consultant practice you seek. At IIT you’re sure to get tons of job offers right down your alley. But right now your profile is not competitive enough for either.

Get a job, build your business, increase your GMAT. Orchestrate your comeback, then think about applying.

Michelle Stockman is a professional journalist, former Columbia Business School admissions insider, and experienced MBA admissions consultant.

Related Resources:

• Against the Odds: MBA Admissions for Indian Applicants

• Volunteering and Extracurriculars in Your MBA Application

• Indian MBA Applicants: Prepare for Your Job Hunt Now

Tags: MBA Admissions, What Are My Chances

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Prepare for the TOEFL With This infographic! [#permalink]

07 Apr 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Prepare for the TOEFL With This infographic!

There’s a lot to be tense about when it comes to the TOEFL speaking section–you’ll need to show your comfort level with the English language while speaking clearly into a microphone while surrounded by other test-takers who are also speaking into their microphones, and all of this done under a time crunch. That’s enough to make even the most sophisticated test-taker break out in a sweat!

However, all is not lost. There is a lot you can do to practice and improve on this section of the test. And as a first step, you can study this handy TOEFL Speaking infographic that our friends at Magoosh TOEFL put together! It’s complete with info on the structure of the test, useful strategies to keep in mind, and helpful tips to make this section more manageable.

[b] [/b]So take a look at the infographic below and get confident about your TOEFL speaking skills!

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Insights Of An International Student At MIT Sloan [#permalink]

10 Apr 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Insights Of An International Student At MIT Sloan

This interview is the latest in an Accepted.com blog series featuring interviews with current MBA students, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at top MBA programs. And now for a chat with Christian Marek who is in his final year at MIT Sloan.

Accepted: We’d like to get to know you! Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad? Do you hold any other degrees?

Christian: Originally I’m from the scenic Vienna in Austria. There I completed Bachelor’s in Software Engineering and a Master’s in Information Systems Management. Because I wanted to immerse myself even further in the tech industry, I decided to pursue an MBA.

Accepted: Where are you in business school? What year?

Christian: I’m currently a second-year MBA student at MIT Sloan and will be graduating June 2015.

Accepted: Why did you choose MIT Sloan? How is it the best program for you? Which other MBA programs had you considered?

Christian: When I chose my MBA program, the primary factors I considered were quality of the school, entrepreneurial ecosystem of the university, school affinity for technology (and data), class size, and location. This lead me to consider MIT Sloan, Berkeley Haas and UCLA Anderson. All programs were almost equally amazing. However, once I saw the MIT campus I knew this was the place to be for me. The geekiness and culture was impossible to match. Coming from an engineering background this is where I wanted to be.

Accepted: Can you share some advice to incoming first year students, to help make their adjustment to b-school easier? What do you wish you would’ve known when you were just starting out?

Christian: Adjusting to b-school is a great experience but it’s definitely challenging – there are so many variables. Being an international student adds an additional challenge as it takes some time to get used to local communication style and culture. Here are a few things that make the adjustment easier:

• Keep reaching out after your acceptance: The MBA years are among the best in your life. Having a rough sense of what you want to get out of the MBA is really helpful. Obviously as an incoming student you do your research online. Additionally, I recommend reaching out to a variety of current MBAs at your school that are doing what you are looking to do. This should be even easier after acceptance. For example if you’re interested in entrepreneurship try to talk to a club VP over the phone. They can tell you if the club a good choice for your, help develop your interest further and intro you the others who might have similar interests.

• Attend post-admission events: I find that the admission events (weekends, seminars, etc.) I attended really helped me in making my decision. You get to know your potential future classmates. Doing so, let’s you figure out if you’re kind of on the same wavelength and even find roommates. Furthermore the schools will showcase what the programs have too offer in even greater detail.

• MBA communication classes: These classes are amazingly helpful, especially for international students. As I said communication in the U.S. can seem very different. The communication classes at Sloan taught me a lot about American communication standards in business personal interactions.

Accepted: Are you involved in any clubs on campus? How central to student life is club involvement?

Christian: I’m a co-president of the European Business Club at MIT Sloan and I really enjoy the experience. However, I think club involvement is a personal choice. I know classmates who are members in up to eight clubs and I know classmates who are in zero clubs. Some classmates are VPs and presidents, others just aren’t. Personally, I think clubs can offer a lot of value in terms of making friends, finding classmates with common interests and taking on leadership opportunities. Just like everything in life it helps aligning your decision on the extent of your club involvement to what you want to accomplish. If you want to be an entrepreneur, joining the Entrepreneurship club makes sense. If you want to do something for the overall community, join a culture club. See if you like it and then you can typically still decide whether or not to go for a VP position.

Accepted: Can you tell us about your internship at Google last summer? What role did Sloan play in helping you secure that position?

Christian: My internship at Google last summer was amazing. The internship program is run by an amazing team at Google that makes the experience at Google unique. On a weekly basis leaders in the organization gave us their inside scoop on leadership and the tech industry. Google offers a variety of MBA internship roles. Over the summer you take responsibility for executing your very own project. Sloan helped in a variety of ways. First, the internal network at Sloan is extremely helpful to learn about a company. As I was in the internship recruiting process, I reached out to former Googlers and former Google MBA interns at Sloan. They were extremely helpful in telling me about their experiences at Google. Second, the various clubs at Sloan help you with the internship process by doing resume reviews among other things. Coming from Europe, I found this particularly helpful because the U.S. job application process is very different. Third, the MIT Sloan Career Development office collaborates closely with Google to host coffee chats and recruiting events. In that way Sloan MBA students can connect directly to Googlers to learn more about the company and the internship.

Accepted: Looking back, what was the most challenging aspect of the MBA admissions process? How did you approach that challenge and overcome it?

Christian: For me personally the most challenging part getting connected to the schools. I was the first in my network to pursue an MBA. However, from reading online I got the sense that insights from current students are extremely valuable to the application. Even though the notion of writing cold emails was completely foreign to me, I researched Europeans (particularly Austrians) that were attending my target schools. I was surprised how quickly they responded. Even though arranging these chats and conversations was a lot of work, I do believe building those connections contributed to my admission offers. Talking to current students is irreplaceable and it helps you get a feel for the school.

Accepted: Do you have any other advice for our med school applicant readers, especially for international applicants?

Christian:

1. Connect to your target school: Your future school is probably a couple thousand kilometers away. Still connecting to current students is the best way to learn about your school.

2. Make a well-rounded application package: Show who you are personally and professionally. Ideally you’ll be able to tie this to together and paint your future to the reader. Also, use data points to quantify the impact you had. I think for internationals (or at least Europeans) – this is particularly unusual. Still, you need to get over it and do it.

For one-on-one guidance on your b-school applications, please see our MBA Application Packages.

You can follow Christian on Twitter and by checking out his blog .

Thank you Christian for sharing your story with us – we wish you loads of luck!

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First HEC Paris Case Study Competition [#permalink]

13 Apr 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: First HEC Paris Case Study Competition

HEC Paris held its inaugural student-organized international case study competition the weekend of April 10-11, which involved masters students from 33 top universities in a series of business-focused challenges.

The HEC Business Game (HBG) was developed by a team of 20 HEC students in partnership with top companies, including Lufthansa, Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, Crédit Agricole S.A, and Gameloft.

Participating students were selected via online test and competed in five challenges, set by the companies, in fields such as innovation, corporate evolution and strategy. Prizes included tuition fees for HEC’s summer school, as well as the opportunity to be invited to visit the partner company’s offices. The project also provided opportunities for students to network with their peers, meet with top firms and gain hands-on experience of real, practical case studies.

The HBG was organized as part of the Alliance of European Business Games (AEBG), a European network composed of five business schools (Solvay School of Economics, St Gallen, Durham University, Nova University and HEC Paris) dedicated to fostering the creation of new business games across Europe.

More information about the competition can be found at www.hecbusinessgame.com, via Facebook or via Twitter.

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First HEC Paris Case Study Competition [#permalink]

13 Apr 2015, 09:01