Kellogg School of Management

hey ambassadors,
Two questions for you:
1) it seems that Kellogg allows you to be pretty flexible in choosing majors/concentrations. From what you've heard/experienced, at what point do MBA students actually declare their majors/concentrations? I imagine it would be sometime during Fall Semester of Year 1 but am curious....
2) The Kellogg adcom at an info session I went to implied that professors are pretty heavily involved in guiding students, offering career/life suggestions, etc. Does this apply to all professors? just advisors?

Thanks,
ac.

riverripper. I had some questions about Kellogg so I PM'ed you.

hoping you can help me out

Foo, PM returned..

As for writing essays, I wrote a little bit about how I did mine last year here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/post500256.html#p500256



I am not at school yet so answering the professor part is tough, I will base it on what I was told (and I think it probably is true at most schools). Professors are often very helpful, they take pride in helping students out. If you are pursuing something in their area of expertise or research they often go out of their way to help you. Not sure how it works with super common careers like MC or IB, the popular profs who are experts in these fields are goign to be very very popular so probably wont be as much help as someone who specializes in something more unusual that you want to get into like Healthcare, Energy, Tech, etc.

From what I have been told you really dont choose majors so much as fall into them because of the courses you take. It is pretty common for people to have 3 majors, sometimes more. Some classes actually meet requirements in multiple majors. I wouldnt worry about the majors thing. Just take the classes you want and you will fulfill the requirements for at least a few.

I am an admit for class 2010.. feel free to ask me anything on the mmm program.

Kudos river!

Wonderful, thanks for your courtesy. I will definitely get back to you as I am seriously thinking about the MMM program.

P.

Thanks very much river!!
it's helpful to know that there isn't as strong an emphasis on majors at Kellogg as at othr schools - I imagine that not needing to declare right away gives you all sorts of flexibility to take other classes that you might not have initially considered! That's pretty great

also what you described about the professors makes a lot of sense - I imagine some of the more popular professors would be in high demand and perhaps have less time to spend on mentoring. But it's good to know that for those of us considering careers outside the traditional IB/MC (for me it's in the health industry) that the professors are involved and willing to help out. Since they are often the experts in their fields, getting their perspectives on recent trends, employment, etc will be incredibly helpful!

thanks again,
ac.

riverripper, let me a specific question:

Do you know any teacher from the aeronautical sector?

And sorry if this question is very far from the topic we are talking about

Cheers

Ripper,

Great information in the employment report ! thanks !

Not really what you are looking at for a career path. I know that some of the big airlines recruit and Boeing hires people. Heck Dean Jain sat on the board of Directors for United, so there is a pretty good connection there.

I am no expert on who does what at the school yet but going through the website for professors areas of expertise I came across Professor Gellman https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/Faculty/Directory/Gellman_Aaron.aspx

This sounds trivial, but in the employment history section of the employment form, it asks what your desired position after kellogg is under the section that asks you to fill in your current employer. It also asks for a description of your goals.

Do you think this is just a section to drop in a quick goal statement and hypothetical job title for after graduation? Seems odd there would only be a single line for career goals here while half of the first essay is dedicated to career goals.

Hey River, it turns out the first essay is different for MMM applicants than regular 2Y applicants. The question is:

Briefly assess your career progress to date. How does the MMM program meet your educational needs and career goals?

How much do you think should be spent on "why MMM", since I'm sure they're also looking for "why Kellogg?" I already wrote a 2-page essay answering the regular 2Y question, so I'm trying to gauge how much of it I should change to accomodate MMM.

Also, how hard/easy is it to leave MMM...e.g. if I decide consulting/mgmt isn't for me and I want to go into finance/IB?

thanks

Not an expert in MMM but I met a MMM at DAK who was actually going into IB, so its possible. I think if you want to leave the program it wouldnt be all that bad. However, remember if you are going to go into IB you pretty much have to decide that before you show up because they immediately start recruiting.

We can see some of the upcoming recruiting stuff now and its crazy how many different companies and events there are. They start almost immediately too.

River- When Paul at Accepted.com posts about Kellogg, he seems to always mention EC's are valued very highly at Kellogg. What is your experience with this and others you've seen that have been accepted to Kellogg?

Also, how big of a hurdle is GPA to get over at Kellogg?

If you know answers to these, that's great, otherwise, I'll keep searching and post results.

I think I remember the adcom staff or students saying that Kellogg makes recruiters wait a month or so before they can actively recruit new students. They were the only school I remember saying that. Did I misunderstand?

Honestly, I had no real EC's post college...I was too busy working on my house for the last few to even think about them. I would say the people who had minimal or unimpressive EC's outnumber the ones that are heavily involved. Its definitely nice to have but thats true at all schools. I would tell anyone who is serious about Kellogg to give it a try no matter what their EC involvement is. I think that Kellogg does try to bring a more diverse well rounded class in and all things equal EC's probably are a factor. If you dont have many EC's post college write about what you do with your time to show you arent sitting at home watching star trek repeats everyday. Talk about what you love to do with your time, it can simply be a hobby.

I had a decent GPA (a little below average), it was crappy for a few semesters and it wasnt from a good school at all. I wouldnt worry about it, especially if you have a solid work experience. Not everyone is going to have a 3.6+. I think its easier to explain away a bad GPA than bad work or even GMAT. There is a huge difference between the way schools grade, the difficulty of majors, etc...that schools really cant say well he only had a 3.1 in electrical engineering from MIT...lets admit the Sociology major from State U with the 3.8 instead.




True to a point...we dont start classes until the last week of September and companies cant have 1st years recruiting until about the middle of October. There is a huge amount of recruiting starting in Sept but its only open to 2nd years.

River - Kellogg is my #1 now, and the more i talk to you, the more separation there is between #1 and #2 (Tuck).