Calling all UW-Foster Applicants(2015 Intake) Class of 2017

Yes I am, which i suppose might make a difference.


I had my in-person on Friday with the head of the program. If i had known that going in i probably would have been a lot more nervous. But i feel like it went well, and at a minimum i didn't mess up. I had some ideas that he seemed to agree with and that he found interesting, but i couldn't read him very well because he used to be a lawyer. But I'm still hopeful that this is going to happen!

FROM Foster Admissions Blog: Foster MBAs do Bollywood

The monthly TG* usually draws a big crowd but none larger than the annual “Indian TG.” Hosted by current students, this TG is popular because it is always filled with delicious food, fun music and, of course, a Bollywood dance! Check out this year’s student dance, performed during the Indian TG and the Welcome Weekend for admitted students. * The origin of the “TG” event name has been explained differently over the years, but it is most commonly explained as a shortening of T.G.I.F. (Thank goodness it’s Friday). These events happen monthly throughout the year and each one always have a theme associated with it.

Whoops - forgot to update you all here.

I was invited for a video interview on April 2nd and completed that last week. Then I was invited for an in person interview which I'll be completing next week. Hopefully it goes well. I'll let you know if I hear back on a final decision. R4, all the best of luck to you guys! I hope good things come your way!

Cheers!

anyone receive a decision for round 4 yet ?

Round 4 decisions will come out on or around May 15. R3 came out 10 days early, so maybe we'll get something similar for this round.

yeah, hopefully, this wait is painful! i see you were admitted at gtown, congrats! did you apply round 3 or earlier? i applied there as well (round 3). you leaning towards gtown or uwash?

I applied to Georgetown in R2 without $$. Leaning towards UW for the sole reason that it would save me $60k in loans. But there is another part of me that really, REALLY wants to go to georgetown no matter the debt because of the opportunities, change of location (UW was my undergrad) and a chance to expand a bit more. But $160k in debt is staggering.

I know exactly how you feel. I got in at university of Connecticut already, full scholarship for at least year 1. Top 50 school but not quite like the other programs. Georgetown is at the top of my list but how do you weigh the better program with 100k more of debt? It's a really tough call, but I guess it will be easier to decide once I find out where I get in. Foster seemed cool too, still waiting to hear, obv a lot more affordable than gtown. Keep me posted on how it all plays out

Foster is still a top 25 program and I love UW and Seattle. It is well connected nationally - though it is more a PNW powerhouse - but I do wonder if the name, connections and reputation of Georgetown would offset the increased cost.

Why is this so hard?

One more spot just opened up for Foster....it was hard to do, but I just declined my offer of admission. Best of luck to you guys! I really feel like it would have been a great program for those interested in staying in the Seattle area afterward b school!

Congrats! Did you apply r3 or r4 ?

R3...accepted back in mid-late March. Just wanted to visit UCLA one more time before I made it official (I was there last weekend for the admit weekend, and decided to commit). Best of luck!

Nobody can fault you for going to UCLA, especially if the GI Bill (and Yellow Ribbon Program) are paying for tuition. UCLA was on my short-list of schools I was considering. A buddy from high school graduated from there last year and loved it (and he got a great job out of it).

I was at the Second Admit weekend (with the Indian TG). I had already decided I was going to attend but the visit definitely reaffirmed my choice. The admissions team does a REALLY good job screening for fit. I know everybody says that (b schools and employers), but Foster actually does and in this case it's actually important. Out of everybody I met all weekend there was one person who kind of rubbed me the wrong way (a fellow admitted student). That's out of the hundreds of people I met from Professors, current students, recent alumni, admitted students, and their spouses. Considering Business Schools (especially good ones) are a bastion for Type A, over-achievers less than one percent annoyance is ridiculously low. I admit that this is subjective and offset by my West Coast upbringing and my well-rounded chillness that allows me to get along with a lot of people. Fit wise: a huge chunk of the class is very outdoorsy, alot of people were married / had dogs, and I would wager that among top business schools Foster is on the left-end of the political spectrum. I did think they would party harder than they did (again this was a small sample of 1 day). The people were really friendly and seemed very supportive of one another. Each class is small enough that you're really not competing against your classmates for the same job (instead, it's more like Foster is competing against the Top 10 schools for the best Seattle jobs). Some general thoughts on the fellow admitted students / current students:
Historically, each class is about 70% domestic and 30% international. About half of the domestic admits are in-state. For the international and out-of-state admits, there was a lot of Pacific Northwest connections. Several admits who grew up in the state (or PNW) and left for college/jobs. Again with the fit, even the East Coast guys didn't seem like they were from the East Coast (which is a compliment). Among the internationals, there were a lot who had connections (or their spouse's did) with the major firms in Seattle. I didn't notice a lot of Europeans. There were more Mexican/Latin American applicants than I expected (however, this is probably due to the small sample size and that is much easier/cheaper to visit Seattle from Mexico/Latin America than from East Asia/India. There is a pretty big military cohort (about 10%), but again that's really only 10ish people per class. Also, it's probably more a function of location (Joint Base Ft. Lewis-Mchord is one of the biggest military bases in the country and there are numerous Navy / Coast Guard bases in the state. Most of them probably count as "out-of-state" too. I was really impressed with the military officers at the admit weekend. They should contribute a lot to the class from a general management standpoint and they probably at a little conservativeness to help balance out all the techy/liberals. Military people are typically outdoorsy (by training if not by enjoyment) too. Overall, I was really impressed with the admitted students. A pretty big chunk were coming from tech in either the Bay Area or Seattle. Also, as expected students from all of the blue chip companies in Seattle.

People were extremely optimistic of the Seattle/Pacific Northwest Economy. I think some current students were saying over 10% of this year's graduating class was going to Amazon (they also said that if you really want to work for Amazon you're probably better off not interning for them). Also, consulting recruiting was up at the larger firms. Also, they mentioned several local firms/industries (like real estate companies) that typically don't recruit MBA's were on campus due to demand. The first years all seemed pretty happy with their internship offers too. I expect too see a decent-to-big jump in salary/bonus numbers for the next employment statistics report.

Just by virtue of location, I would expect Foster to keep moving up in the rankings. There are a lot of schools in the 10 - 20 range that I think one would be nuts to go to over Foster, all-else-equal. From a value perspective, I think Foster (especially if you can get in-state tuition) is one of the best, if not the best, values (UTexas McCombs being the other).

That's enough rambling for me. Good luck everyone. Hope to see you all at Foster, next Fall!

+1 to everything you've listed above. I haven't been accepted to the program yet, but your above statement reaffirms why I applied to the UW. Foster is really unique and aside from the great faculty and mentors, the students who attend Foster are ridiculously accomplished, interesting and certainly people to learn from.

Congrats on your acceptance and hope you have a great two years there!

FROM Foster Admissions Blog: The New Inside the MBA Blog Coordinator appears!

Nelson Tang, Class of 2016 – Your New Blog Coordinator! Hi, my name is Nelson Tang, a first-year MBA from the Class of 2016 and I’m excited to announce that I’ll be taking over the Inside the MBA Blog for the next year! We also have several new Admissions Coordinators on the team, and in the next week or two you’ll hear from them here. But first, here’s a little about me: What did you do before the MBA? Prior to the MBA I was an Air Force Acquisitions Manager (aka Product Manager), but my background is in Mechanical Engineering. I supported cool stuff like satellite launches and advanced weapons research, but after 8 years I was ready for a life of peace, and for an opportunity to recharge. So I chose to get an MBA and devote two years of my life entirely to personal development, and Foster had just jumped up in the rankings. After the MBA, I hope to work in marketing or product management, working with cool people and tackling new challenges! Why did you choose Foster? I came here for a welcome weekend and met with some fellow veterans who were in the program, and I was immediately hooked. I wrote the deposit check and started looking for housing the next day. Foster has a beautiful campus, PACCAR Hall is amazing, and the Pacific Northwest has great access to the outdoors. Why did you want to get involved as an Admissions Coordinator? I wanted to get involved with the admissions team (the A-team!) to help get the word out about this program. I want the best and brightest to come to this program and excel in their post-MBA careers and grow the network, but I also want people who can ‘win the right way.’ That means being a part of the Foster culture – we’re inclusive, collaborative, and we support each other here. What has been your most valuable academic experience at Foster? Really anything that involves teamwork. Every team is different, and getting to work with such fascinating people is very rewarding. My favorite team experience has been the Applied Strategy project from our second quarter, where we spent 10 weeks working on a particular business challenge for a client company. It was a great learning experience, and I felt really lucky to have a great team and to have the opportunity to get a look inside the company. What is the most valuable lesson you have learned at Foster so far? Learning to say no has been a challenge, because I love to work. It took me a long time to understand how much our time is worth, so I’ve been very careful to avoid being overcommitted to extra activities and classes. My natural instinct is to volunteer for every extra duty (that’s the Air Force in me talking), but the number of opportunities here is overwhelming. Something gets sacrificed: time with your family, time to sleep, or time to work on other projects or classwork. This doesn’t mean that you should say ‘no’ to everything, but just recognize that you have limits. What are your summer plans? I am extremely grateful to have secured a position at Nike, working on Manufacturing Direct Procurement with some extraordinary people. I’ll be doing a heavy quantitative job working with data and creating predictive models, which could change the way that they make their products. Hear more from Nelson Tang by following this blog or his personal site at https://www.nelsontang.com

FROM Foster Admissions Blog: Blue Dot Perspective: Greg

Greg’s boyfriend is a current student here at Foster, and is a member of the ‘Blue Dots’ – the network of spouses and significant others whose loved ones are in the Foster MBA program. The name comes from the blue dot stickers that were put on their name tags during welcome weekends, to indicate that they were the spouse/significant other of an admitted student. How did you feel about your significant other choosing the Foster School for his/her MBA studies? The thought of becoming part of the Foster community was exciting! Though I was hesitant about moving to Seattle, I found comfort knowing that there would be a group of students and Blue Dots that would welcome us once we moved. During preview weekend I saw just how involved and close-knit the MBA community is and that buoyed my spirits. I knew that my boyfriend was going to be leaving business school having been a part of an environment that thrived on collaboration instead of competition. Moving across the country is a big deal. Did you have any hesitations about moving to Seattle? Did anything help you feel better about the decision? To be perfectly honest, the idea of moving to Seattle caused a huge amount of tension in our relationship. There were a lot of places I pictured myself living and Seattle had never been one of them. The city didn’t feel like a fit for my life or the career I wanted, but after a lot of thought and many long talks with friends, I decided what I had with my boyfriend was just too much to give up. I’m happy to say that after eight months of being here in Seattle, my attitude towards the city has completely changed and I’m constantly finding new things I love about the city. When I made the decision to move, the assurance that there would be a community of significant others just like me was a huge comfort. I knew no one in the city and I work from home, so having a built in social network was a total blessing. How did you adjust to life when your significant other started the MBA program? My boyfriend and I spent two weeks road tripping to Seattle and then a month getting our apartment together and furniture shopping, so it came as a bit of a shock when he actually started school full time. I think it’s important to keep yourself busy in the beginning. Join a gym or enroll in art classes, come to all the social events and make plans with friends for drinks. Your student is going to be spending the next two years focusing a lot of their time on themselves, so it’s important for you to do the same. Nights spent alone on the couch watching Netflix can get old really fast. Τhe MBA program demands a lot of time for students: how have you and your significant other found balance? When you first come to welcome weekend you sit through a lot of student panels and hear horror stories about how intense the program is and how you’ll never see your student again. In reality, things are far less grim. Yes, it is a very demanding program, but there are plenty of chances to be together if you make them. Something as simple as going grocery shopping together can be a great way to spend time together. Sharing a Google calendar might seem a bit absurd, but it makes scheduling dates or drinks really convenient. How have you been involved with the Foster Blue Dots? What type of activities do you do? When it comes right down to it, being a Blue Dot is great. You get to enjoy all the perks of the MBA without having to do any of the actual work. There’s Pub Club every Thursday and then big themed parties (commonly known as TGs) that happen the first Friday of every month. Besides that, I usually find myself getting together with a few other blue dots for drinks or dinner once a week. The Whistler trip in December is a great way to celebrate making it through the first quarter and Challenge for Charity’s Sports Weekend at Stanford in the spring is a MUST. Competing against other business schools and celebrating your win with drinks afterwards makes you feel like a true Husky. Any advice for future Blue Dots? Two things every future Blue Dot should know: Come to every event you can! The Foster community is a small but welcoming one, and almost every single happy hour or social event is open to Blue Dots too. Take advantage of the free drinks and get to know the students and significant others you’ll be spending the next two years with. Forming friendships and bonds with those people will enrich the MBA experience more than you can imagine. Ask for advice! Moving across the country with your student can be an incredibly intimidating prospect and you’re not the first one to do it. Students and Blue Dots can be a wealth of information on everything from which neighborhoods are nice to where you should grab a bite to eat. Everyone is more than happy to answer any questions you have, so don’t be afraid to ask. ~ Guest post by Greg, 2016 Blue Dot For more on the Blue Dots, see their MBAA website at: https://depts.washington.edu/mbaclub/mba-clubs/blue-dot/ or read their blog posts here: https://depts.washington.edu/mbablog/tag/blue-dot/