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For anybody from Texas, don't forget about MIT Sloan's scholarships this year...

https://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... for-texans

If you want to find out how hard it is to get support, send me a note. Its not as hard as you may think.

The latest business school ranking...not surprising for the most part, though notice the European schools creeping up in the rankings. Take each ranking with a grain of salt. You won't often see LSE, LBS and Oxford all in the top 15.

https://www.businessinsider.com/top-25-b ... rld-2014-7

Want to lead business in China? Don't think you necessarily need a H/S/W degree to do so. Stay in China and network with other local business leaders. I only recommend this if you are certain you want to make your career in China, otherwise a more globally recognized program is probably a better fit for you.

https://www.businessbecause.com/news/mba ... ess-school

I have been getting a lot of questions lately from folks early in their careers...good for you! Its nice to plan ahead as truly most people do not and its hard to turn back the clock on some parts of your application (though we can do a lot!).

These questions often center around whether certain jobs will get them into HBS/Stanford/Wharton. I can definitely give you advice on which career moves will improve your chances of getting in as I regularly do career coaching like this. That said, I urge you to consider your job as only one part of your entire application. While it is one of the most important parts, don't forget about over performing at the job (salary raises do matter!) and getting great reviews. I have seen too many folks from top firms who think they don't need extra currics or large raises because of the brand names on their resume. Don't be fooled, great feeder companies help a lot, but you have to carry yourself over the finish line. After all, you are likely in a class of 15-30 consultants trying to get the same spots at the top B schools and while the best companies send the most people, you all won't get in, despite coming from a top firm.

For those who don't work at top companies, there are plenty of opportunities for you to stand out from the crowd and strategically finding those opportunities early in your career will make the application process that much smoother. Go for the challenging role/project. If you fail, it makes good essay material!

Have questions about what roles to take / not take? Send me an email.

-Scott Edinburgh

Have you seen the latest business school rankings? At the end of the day, there are many different rankings which will continue to change. Is this really important? It depends on your situation. If you have a good chance of getting into a H/S/W and you feel confident you can do well there and hold your own during recruiting among well qualified classmates, then there is no reason to think you are somehow making a bad choice by picking among H/S/W. This segment of the population (meaning folks who follow B school forums, read rankings articles, etc) is very small. From a career standpoint, if you interview for a job with someone who is 10+ years out of B school, most likely s/he is not following any ranking changes and thus may have a "historic prestige" ranking in their head. These historic rankings take a while to change, and while they are changing for some schools, it takes time. H/S/W students of course have nothing to worry about.

That said, for folks who do not get into one of those top three, it is important to think about what is the most important aspect of the B school experience for you. Are you looking for the best job right out of school, the most rigorous learning environment, or the best "name on your resume" for the future? You may not get all of those, so you may want to prioritize. For instance, I have been pushing Yale SOM with some clients for many years. While certainly not as prestigious as a top tier school, SOM is a great option for someone who doesn't have the profile to get into the upper echelon. Why? A few reasons, but just to name one to keep this from being too long....SOM is newer and rising in some rankings, thus employment opportunities are quite good for some sectors. For instance, all of the top consulting firms recruit from SOM and the competition is much more manageable than at H/S/W. I have seen many former clients land great post-MBA jobs that frankly they may not have been able to coming from a tier 1 school.

The most relevant part of the ranking that I would pay attention to is job placement. You already know how the longer term prestige will play out (not counting the fact that some schools will indeed rise over time), but you can have more immediate control over your career if you pick a program that sends a lot of folks into the sectors you are interested in, especially if you find a program where you can rise to the top. To be clear, I am not advocating giving up a top tier school for recruiting options, I am merely suggesting for some folks who cannot get into a top program, finding rising programs can make a difference in landing that dream job post-MBA.

I don't mention anything about the academic experience differences. I'll leave that for another post. Check out this article below which discusses the different rankings and what truly matters.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds ... -rankings/

Hi there PMC,

I am putting my stats over here with slight changes in my plan( hope you would be patient enough..Smile) for an evaluation from your side for the range of schools both in US and UK where I may be competitive. My targets are top 10 in the US and top 5 in the UK. However I would like you to guide me in choosing the appropriate " realistic schools" and if possible advise on the mitigating factors for attaining so.

Also I would like to point out that I have just started working so you could probably evaluate without the work ex part although rest assured I am trying mighty hard to put my work ex at credible standings.


As you can see below there is a rough 1.5 year gap after my graduation although this time was used pursue something which would help me with respect to finance field.

Long Term goal: To start my own firm in Financial services either in Dubai or in India



My Brief Stats are as follows:

UG: Btech NIT Calicut( Tier 2 Engineering College India ), GPA: 6.95/10, Highest GPA was 8.8/10, Class rank: 17/42, No of Distinctions in class( GPA 8 and above): 8

GMAT, GRE: Yet to give I am contemplating something around 700 or 720.

Actually my story goes as follows..

Before entering college I had to drop a year during my 11th grade because my dad got a transfer to a different part of the country & after completing my 12th grade I again took a year off for the purpose of coaching myself for the prestigious IITJEE exam.Thus as you can seen I was about 20 years old when I entered college.


I graduated from a tier 2 Engineering college in India ( NIT), however I had serious health issues during my first year of college and hence i couldn't attend classes for half of the semester..( I received 6 F grades because of this..).My dad who happens to be a doctor of course treated me, hence I can provide some reasoning for this in my Essays as well as in some recommendation letters from some of my professors who know me quite well. Towards the end of my college I had began to do a bit of financial modelling and with sufficient interest I had taken up my final year thesis with a professor of my college for a financial modelling and optimization project.

I became interested in this field and again took up another 2 finance project under the same professor, all based on higher degrees of financial modelling and optmization ( He is now an Assistant Professor at IIM Indore). Since I needed time to put myself into this track I had to devote near to around 8 months solely for making out these thesis and subsequently publishing them into an International Finance Journal. These 3 projects have now been published.. Very Happy I have plans also to present them in a national or an international conference.

After 8 months of research in finance i decided to spend some time in doing social cause work and for around another 7 months was actively working for 3 to 4 NGOs( 1 international and the rest having offices abroad) in the field of Child rights, Environment protection etc..helping them with fundraising and campaigning. I was also subsequently offered to become a campus ambassador for a micro finance NGO in helping them find investors for the firms operations.( I am presently doing this apart from my full time work.

Most of the NGO work had specific outputs such has raising huge funds, roping in large no of investors, raising awareness on child rights to a larger section of the society etc.

Also the entire episode with the NGO's helped me realize and attain interpersonal skills such as pitching, managing investors etc.. which i am sure has incorporated itself into my work skills.

Thus after 1.5 years after graduation I joined for a job in Dubai at a reputed I bank.

Along the way I have taken CFA level 1 and 2 and FRM level 1 and 2 as well. Also I am planning to take up GRE Math ( apart from GMAT) as well some UC Berkeley extension courses to help rectify my academics.

Can you tell me whether I can make a shot to the top 10 schools with this profile or what steps are required for the same.


Hope you can help me out.

Thank you for the detailed post. While it is nice that you have been taking steps to improve your profile, your academic performance will hurt you when going for a top 10 school. You mentioned that you received the F's early on in your studies, did your GPA have a significant and consistent improvement over the years? This will make a difference, especially if the poor grades can be explained away due to health reasons.

As a quick evaluation, the top 10 US and top 5 UK would be stretches for you and in order to be competitive you would certainly want a GMAT in the mid 700s or low 700s as a worst case. Given your academic performance, delayed start of schooling and poor grades in the initial years, you need to score above the average for schools you are applying to. When I mention average, I am also considering the average for an Indian Male, which is higher than the school's average. This higher score will mitigate some of the academic performance on record.

In addition, you want to continue to find leadership opportunities at work and ensure you are receiving promotions and raises ideally faster and larger than your peers. How many years of work experience do you have? It will be important to explain your story clearly given the different choices you have made along the way.

Let me know more details about your work experience (including titles), the academic question I posed above, in addition to when you are thinking of applying. I can then discuss specific schools that I would recommend you applying to.

Thank you and good luck!

Thank you very much Scott for your evaluation and inputs.

In fact my college performance was only bad( meaning F's) during the first year. My CGPA( GPA) at the end of each semester went onto look something like this on a scale of 10.

1st semester-----------------------> 5.89 ( 1 F grade)-->( onset of condition)
2nd semester & summer term--> 4.56 ( 6 F grade)-->( didn't have enough of time to study due to my medical condition diagnosed towards the end)
3rd semester-----------------------> 5.87 ---
4th semester-----------------------> 6.01 |
5th semester----------------------->7.26 |
6th semester------------------------>7.48 |-------> The rest of the year performance is gauged on my first year performance
7th semester------------------------>6.78 |
8th semester------------------------> 6.95-----


My professors felt sorry for my condition although they had to stick with the protocols.( 1st year performance is taken as a benchmark in evaluating the rest of the years)

My maths grades were always either a C or D grade( S-10,A-9, B-8, C-7, D-6,E-5, F -fail) and throughout the rest of the years I had a couple of E grades here and there.

Some of my professors even recommended me to take up a masters level course in finance or econ to patch up the low GPA and F grades..

I have just started working as a credit analyst....I had this plan quite a while back so I am trying to start a little early to overcome my short comings.. I am planning to apply once I have near about 4 years of experience and after successfully starting up my business venture in Financial services. I would be happy to share with you more info on my work back ground as soon as I have some experience under my belt.

Also another thing I wanted to know is whether our high school marks( 10th and 12th in India) is taken into consideration.. I have seldom heard people talking about this... but just wanted your inputs on this.( you mentioned late schooling will have an impact.. do the adcoms look into our pre college stats as well.)

Coming to my GMAT I am contemplating something in the 710 or 720 range( but cant be emphatically sure).. Along with this I am planning to take up some UC Berkeley courses and if possible the GRE Math as well to bring in more mitigation.


Which schools do you think I should target...?

Thank you for the detailed info. I've responded to your PM and can discuss the schools in more detail there, which will be easier for you to keep track of for the future rather than coming back to this blog.

Advice and Tips: Interview Preparation

While much of the R1 interviewing has concluded, for those still preparing and for those thinking ahead to R2 interviews....

1) Customize your approach for each school: While this seems obvious, not everyone spends enough time doing this. Every school's interview process is different and every school is looking for something slightly different from each candidate. Some schools give you a blind interview, where the interviewer does not know all of the details of your application while other interviews are specifically tailored to your application and they know everything inside and out. (HBS) In these interviews, it is important to have answers for everything you have done along the way and be able to drill down into the reasoning. Also, some schools like to hear why you are a great match for them and others would rather hear about your experiences.

2) On-campus or off-campus?: You will also need to consider whether you will go to campus for an interview (some schools only have this as an option) or whether you will do an alumni interview. Depending on your profile and interview style, each has its advantages and disadvantages. The alumni interviews require a slightly different strategy and if approached well, can help your application more than going on campus. That said, if you live nearby the school it is not a bad idea to go on campus. Not only will it show some interest, but it will allow you to feel closer to the school and deliver better answers.

3) Don't over think the interview: Remember that while this 30-60 minutes will have a large impact on your admission, at the same time the schools just want to get to know you and make sure what they see in person matches what they saw in the application. Also keep in mind that the interview does not carry an equal weight for all schools. The fewer people they bring in to interview, the better your chances are of getting in of course. For some schools the interview is much more of a check-the-box than others.

Good luck!

Contact me if you would like to discuss interview preparation in more detail. scott@personalmbacoach.com

MIT Sloan Class of 2018 Essay Question Analysis

MIT now has just one required essay, a second shorter essay to write if you have been invited to interview and an optional essay. MIT Sloan tends to like behavioral questions, and they should! They force you to reflect on your work experience and demonstrate strong performance.
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Main Question: Tell us about a recent success you had: How did you accomplish this? Who else was involved? What hurdles did you encounter? What type of impact did this have? (500 words or fewer).
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How to answer the question

Just like you would answer a behavioral question in an interview, set up the situation so it is clear for the reader, describe in detail the actions you took that led to the success, and discuss the resulting impact. Among other things, MIT values leadership, an ability to inspire, collaborative spirit, intellectual curiosity, analytical strength, and creativity to generate new solutions. Keep these in mind as you answer this question because the best answers address at least a few of those characteristics.

What are some things you could discuss?
• Leading a project outside of your normal responsibilities, which included managing divergent personalities and an aggressive timeline.
• Convincing people in your organization to do something differently.
• Completing a challenging research project where you had to interact with multiple divisions, overcome difficulties and present solutions to a client.
• Creating a new fundraising strategy for a nonprofit organization. Finding new resources to accomplish a goal that was very important, yet neglected for a while. Note: while it is usually better for the example to be professional and from your current job, it doesn’t have to be. If you use an example outside of your full-time job, ensure it ties in with your overall story.

What should you keep in mind while writing?
• MIT has always been interested in the process as much as the solution. It is important to make the reader feel like s/he is part of the process. Write about what you thought. Write about you felt.
• While this may seem obvious, the question has four parts…make sure to address all parts! One of the biggest pitfalls I see if missing out on one of the parts or not spending enough time addressing each.
• Consider what strengths you want to get across in your application, and where else these strengths are described. Since this is the one main required essay, if you haven’t gotten a chance to talk about something you are great at, figure out how to include it here.
• Don’t forget about the impact on yourself. While it is important to discuss the organizational impact, ideally you were also impacted by this success. Whether you developed leadership skills, learned across industries or enhanced your analytical capabilities, discuss how you changed because of the experience.

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2nd Question if invited to interview: The mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and to generate ideas that advance management practice. Please share with us something about your past that aligns with this mission. (250 words or fewer).
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How to answer the question

Generating ideas that advance management practice can be doing something great for an organization outside of your main job, or it can be doing something innovative at work. Perhaps your company used to do something inefficiently and you created a new, streamlined process. If you did something innovative outside of work, even if it is minor, it may be relevant here. The key is to describe why you did it, your thought process, and the result.

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Optional: The Admissions Committee invites you to share anything else you would like us to know about you, in any format. If you choose to use a multimedia format, please host the information on a website and provide us the URL.
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How to answer the question

This is an optional question and if you feel you addressed all of the key parts of your profile in the application so far, it is not required. That said, this question is good to utilize if there are great things you have done that did not fit elsewhere in the application. In addition, if you feel you have not demonstrated some of the values that are important to Sloan, this is the place to do it. Lastly, if there are extenuating circumstances you want to discuss (a poor grade, gap in work experience, etc.) this is the place.

If you would like individual and personal support while applying to MIT Sloan, or have questions about whether your experiences are the right ones to use for these questions, please find information about Personal MBA Coach’s comprehensive packages https://www.personalmbacoach.com/#!compr ... kages/caui or contact me to learn how I can help! scott@personalmbacoach.com

Kellogg Class of 2018 Essay Question Analysis

The Kellogg experience is a great one that incents collaboration, encourages new ideas and “inspires growth.” It is important to identify with Kellogg’s new mission statement and reflect on your experience growing. The essays ask about growth and require you to write about how you have grown. It is also a good idea to reflect on what growth means to you and how you measure growth as this could be important for the interview process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFX6KdHQ0CU
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(1) Leadership and teamwork are integral parts of the Kellogg experience. Describe a recent and meaningful time you were a leader. What challenges did you face, and what did you learn? (450 words)
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How to answer the question

First, make sure to answer all three parts of this question. 1) When you were a leader, 2) What challenges you faced and 3) What you learned. Since the essay is only 450 words, try not to spend too much time up front explaining the situation. You want to give enough detail so the reader understands the situation and then dive into explaining how you were a leader during that situation.

What are some things you could include?
• Leadership in the form of leading a team or leading a work stream on a team.
• Taking on a new responsibility outside of your normal role.
• Leadership that you had to assume. Explain how and why you assumed it and what the outcome was.
• Starting a new initiative / program at work. Who you had to convince along the way.
• Extra-curricular leadership. Your role in the organization and what you learned about working with different types of people to accomplish shared goals.

What should you keep in mind while writing?
• While you want to write about challenges, this is not the time to include failures. The challenge could have set you back, but if it was major enough to be categorized as a failure, it is not the best example for this essay.
• The challenges should be real and don’t be afraid to write about something that did not go well.
• There can be many different answers for what you learned. Reflect on your overall story, how you have developed over time and how you want to continue developing (without stating this because that is the next essay) and write about things you have learned that have helped your specific career progress.

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(2) Pursuing an MBA is a catalyst for personal and professional growth. How have you grown in the past? How do you intend to grow at Kellogg? (450 words)
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How to answer the question
Start with a clean sheet and think about how you want to grow while at business school. Look at your life and career progression to date and reflect on the major changes / inflection points. How have you become a better consultant, a more innovative leader or a more strategic marketer?

What are some things you could discuss?
• Personally, talk about how you have become a better person, a better listener, a more engaged partner or a more compassionate friend. Why did you evolve in this way?
• If you have become stronger because of an unfortunate incident, health issue or other struggle you have overcome, this is great material to include and reflect on.
• Professionally, what you have learned at work and what you do now that you didn’t used to do. This can come in the form of being a stronger presenter, better at client management or a more diligent analyst who sees the big strategic picture in addition to the analysis required.

What should you keep in mind while writing?
• Every essay should be very different. There really is not one particular right answer.
• Try to come up with a theme for your career and personal progression. Ideally you have done certain things along the way to get you part of the way toward your long-term goals. What is left to get you the rest of the way there?
• Based on what you want to do after Kellogg, write about the specific parts of Kellogg that will help you get there. This is not a traditional “Why Kellogg” essay though. You can, and should, get specific about the things you will learn on campus but you should also write more theoretically and higher level about how you want to grow.

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(3) Re-applicants: Since your previous application, what steps have you taken to strengthen your candidacy? (250 word limit)
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How to answer the question
Be sure to reflect on your profile from the previous year and tell the admissions committee how you improved. Getting rejected one year does not mean you won’t get in the next. It does mean, however, that you need to show improvement. This could come in the form of a job promotion, increased responsibility at work, higher GMAT score or substantial leadership in extra-curricular activities. Unless your goals were not clear or after reflection did not make sense last year, it is not advised to change your goals and motivation for an MBA. Additionally, Kellogg is interested both in how you improved and how you are trying to improve further. Because the question asks about what steps you have taken to strengthen your candidacy, it is ok if you talk about something you are in the process of doing in addition to something you have already completed.
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Video essay: After submitting your application, you will be asked to complete two video questions. One will be about your interest in Kellogg while the other will be more of a “getting to know you” question. There are 10 practice questions that will allow you to get used to the format and technology. You will have 20 seconds to think about the answer and 1 minute to deliver your response.
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How to prepare
Answering video interview questions is very different from talking in a traditional interview. There are specific tips and tricks to acing the video interview, many of which include practice delivering answers without having human interaction. Should you wish to have detailed advice or coaching to prepare for the video interview, I can provide one-on-one support.
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If you would like individual and personal support developing your story for the Kellogg application, or have questions about choosing the right topics to answer these questions, please find information about Personal MBA Coach’s comprehensive packages https://www.personalmbacoach.com/#!compr ... kages/caui or contact me to learn how I can help! scott@personalmbacoach.com

A

Thanks for the post and the detailed information. You have an interesting set of experiences, especially considering you are just 23.

How has your performance been at work relative to your peers? Top performer? Big raise as you made the transition?

How many total years of experience do you have?

I would say H/S/W are a stretch but depending on the strength of your personal story, they could be worth applying to.

McCombs is the best fit for you given your interests! That said you could reach a bit higher as well and INSEAD and Kellogg are nice choices for you.

I'd recommend looking at NYU Stern as well, though not the best given your goals.

Feel free to reach out if you would like to discuss further.

Scott@personalmbacoach.com

I wish to apply to Said (R1) , NUS, NTU in R2 . Below is my profile brief . If you could Pl evaluate my chances for the same .

Female candidate,25 yrs
10th-91%
12th-85%
B Tech in Electrical Engineering from National Institute of Technology , Kurukshetra GPA-4

GMAT-680(M-49 V-34)

W.E- will complete 4 years in July 2016

WORK EXPERIENCE:I was selected as one of the 12 students from different NITs across the country to the Pepsico Graduate Engineering Trainee Program . In the duration of a year of training in the manufacturing side of the business I was the first person responsible for the glass bottling line in one of the facturies . Managing and exceeding the expectations in this role I moved on to another factory in Pepsico itself where I was responsible for the leading the Juice Glass Bottling line. In both of these roles I lead a team of around 20 line operators , and we achieved a Net Efficiency Gain in the lines by approx 5 %.(Duration 1 year)

Post this I moved in the Project management side of techops . Here I was involved in the designing and procurement of the the line and utility machinery for a green field factory . (Duration 1 year)

In my current role I am leading the Productivity and Performance Projects for all the 10 manufacturing plants . Herein , I am the first person person responsible for exceuting , tracking , monitoring & controlling the 15 field projects in various factories . These projects include focused Efficiency improvement of some of the beverage lines , Manpower reduction on some staions on the line etc.

Part Time Profession : I am an Indian Classical singer and have been trained for 6 years and hold a Sangeet Visharad . Currently I have my own Sufi Band and we do gigs in clubs in and around Delhi .



Reasons to do an MBA-Want to expand my area of expertise and gain holistic knowledge of how organizations work.Want to specialize in Operations . Post-MBA, looking for a Strategic kind of role in the Ops/Supply Chain side of a business

I'm not sure as to which schools would be a good fit for me.I want to work in Asia,and hence,looking at INSEAD Singapore , NUS Singapore ,

P.S : I had applied to ISB Last year . Got a ding after the interview . They said My GMAT was on the lower side in my feedback post the results ( Had applied last year with 670 , retook but could only manage a 680

tinni123
Thank you for the post. Your experience spans many areas of the manufacturing side and it makes sense that you want to learn how organizations work from a higher level and work in operations. Given you have more experience on the ground, and less higher level strategic experience, you will want to convey to the admissions committees that you have started to make the transition to your desired post-MBA role so they can be convinced that you can be successful. This requires crafting the story in such a way that the message comes across clearly.

In terms of schools, you have selected a good list of schools to start with, although INSEAD would be a stretch with your profile. Said, NUS and NTU are nice schools and I would also recommend looking at ESADE and HKUST.

Let me know if you would like to discuss further. Good luck!

Thankew so much Scott !

I really liked your point on showing the transition . Just to add to this recently I have interviewed for a position in my firm itself ( a level above the current one ) - this role involves getting into the R&D of the techno commercial aspects of the disruptive innovation projects for fields -developing extremely low cost machinery for plants . If I get this , i believe this can demonstrate my progress on entering into the strategy side of tech ops .

Also , I wanted to check with you that will giving TOEFL be much of a help fr me , for applying to SAID . I asked the adcom member in Said , he said that there is no need but I m still not sure . Pls help

Regards