Calling All Georgetown 2011 Applicants (Updated)

Never mind, found it: https://schedule.applyyourself.com/AYEv ... 3804052302

Count me in for R1. How many sections are MSB first-years divided into?

Best of luck to you in the admissions process. If you have the chance, and haven't done so already, I would highly recommend visiting campus. Because the admissions yield is relatively low, MSB admissions likes applicants who demonstrate their interest in and enthusiasm for the program. And if MSB is your top choice, be explicit about that in your essays.

As for your question, MSB first-years are divided into 4 cohorts: Hoya, Saxa, Blue, and Grey. This year, I believe there are 62-63 students per cohort. And within each cohort, students are assigned to teams of 4-5. These teams stay together during the first module and work on case analyses, econ problem sets, etc. In the second mod, we will be reassigned into new groups.

Thank you. I'm registered for an Experience Georgetown visit next month.

Do you have any suggestions for the application or can you share your experience with the admission process?

This is going to be my last post for the night. Apologies in advance if I am too brief at times or come across as being terse. I've been on campus studying for about 10 hours straight and have another 1-2 hours to go. Midterms start tomorrow, and there are econ problem sets, a group case analysis, and a communications deliverable all coming up/due in the next two days. For someone who has always been on the semester system, MSB's accelerated 7-week system has been a bit of an adjustment. And as many second years have told me, in aggregate, professors assign far more homework than we can tackle. What with classes, club events, social events, networking, etc., you really have to be good about prioritizing what you need to work on, and what you will skip. You have to make that decision. Regardless of where you end up going to school, I recommend that the day you receive your syllabi, you should get on Google calendar (or whatever) and jot down each and every deliverable. It is very useful to be able to see the deliverable schedule at a high-level, weekly basis.

I could talk a lot about my experience with the admissions process, and the application, but looking back at the process as an admit, I believe that a lot of aspects are pretty straightforward. MSB admissions isn't trying to be opaque. Through the admissions website, and admissions statistics, MSB gives a very clear picture of what admissions is looking for. You need to discuss your interest in a collaborative environment, and a diverse student body, working in teams, being able to draw on the resources in the Washington DC community, your interest in and/or experience with working internationally, etc. This isn't a secret, it is here:

https://msb.georgetown.edu/mba/

And regardless of which school you are applying to, look at the admitted student statistics and demographics and see what you can glean from them. Harvard, for example, has an admit yield close to 1, so HBS could care less whether you visit school or not. But it is very important to Georgetown (and NYU for that matter--I noticed NYU on your list of target schools). Georgetown is a Jesuit institution, so community service is huge (and in our orientation, one of four days was spent doing community service projects). If your resume does not include a lot of community service, you better start getting more involved. Hopefully, your resume demonstrates a history of service; MSB admissions can spot someone who is padding their resumes.

Regardless of which school you are applying to, do a Google search to see if you can find the school's required resume format. Doesn't hurt to submit your resume formatted to a school's standards. At NYU and Georgetown, when discussing in your essays how much your visit influenced your decision to apply, feel free to mention the names of the admissions ambassadors you met with. Oh, and speaking of visits, MSB dress code is business casual. An applicant visited the other day wearing shorts, which wasn't to his advantage.

Lastly (for now), in your interview, you better be ready for why mba, why now, why Georgetown, what is your career path after MBA, what is your plan b career path. Be sure to identify weaknesses in your application package, and be ready to talk about them.

Hope this helps! I'll be back on the forum in a few days or next weekend.

i am in r1

any alums i can talk to?

I'll be going for round 1

guys, BEWARE of the rec questions. Apparently it has 3 ESSAY questions for the recommender and not the generic short answer with ratings.... so plan accordingly!

Shaselai,

You are correct that your references have to answer specific questions in essay form, but there were 6 questions last year, not 3. Responses are limited to 750 characters each--that is characters, not words, and the 750 limit includes spaces. And if I am remembering correctly, references also have to rank your performance/qualities against your peers in such issues as leadership, teamwork, communication, etc.

I don't know if MSB admissions is changing the applicant/reference essay questions for the Class of 2013 application cycle. When I applied last year, references had to answer these questions:

* How does the applicant’s performance compare with his/her peers?
* Please evaluate the applicant’s management potential.
* Please describe the applicant’s outstanding talents and abilities. Please cite specific examples.
* Please describe the applicant’s main areas in need of development. Please cite specific examples.
* Please comment on the applicant’s ability to work in teams. Is he/she an effective team member? Does he/she work better individually? What role does the applicant typically assume in a team setting?
* Describe the applicant’s ability to communicate orally and in writing. Also, if the applicant is a non-native English speaker, address specifically his/her ability to understand, speak, and write in English. Likewise, if the applicant is a native English speaker, please comment on his/her ability to understand,
speak, and write in a second language (if applicable).

When writing the essays, I encourage you and your references to subscribe to the "show don't tell" model. Answering a question with, "Shaselai works great on teams," is telling. Answering a question with, "Shaselai led a cross-functional team of 12 through a complex integration...," is showing. Admissions wants the showing, not the telling, as evidenced in admissions' instructions to references to, "Please cite specific examples."

On a different topic, note that MSB is really focused on moving up the school rankings. Among other things, we have a brand new business school building, and MSB just brought in Doreen Amorosa, former VP of Global Recruitment at American Express, to head up our career management team. MSB is a great place to be right now, and you can really feel the energy on campus. However, a key aspect of moving up the rankings is ramping up the admitted student profile. You can see our class profile here: https://msb.georgetown.edu/classprofile/myprofile/. In the admissions cycle for the Class of 2013, you should fully expect MSB admissions to be focused on improving the mean GPA and GMAT. As with any school, try to do as well as you can on the GMAT, and knock out some great essays that clearly explain your interest in the school, and your fit with the culture.

Good luck!

One more thing: Having references respond to essay questions, rather than simply doing a ranking, isn't something that is unique to Georgetown. I believe most schools are doing this, if not all schools. It was definitely the case with all of the schools that I applied to.

well the ones my rec has done were mostly short answer like "how well you know the applicant etc."

First year here. I absolutely love the Georgetown experience thus far. Amazing classmates, professors, building, curriculum, and city! The 2nd years are equally great. I feel truly blessed (even though our schedules are insane!). PM me if you have any specific questions. Thanks 2012applicant for sharing your insights as well.

Go HOYAS!

Go SAXAS!

guys, if you havent gotten email yet there's a virtual tour/info session thing going on this friday at 10am!

link:
https://register.applyyourself.com/?id= ... 0171&rid=1

kudos appreciated

Hi guys,

I found this website when I was working on my application to the Class of 2012 at MSB/Georgetown. I suspect Georgetown didn't intend for this site to go public (it looks like a mock-up site), but since a Google Search for "Georgetown MBA Welcome Weekend" returns this link as a top search result, I am passing it along to you. It lists dates for welcome weekends, information about next steps for admits, and much much more.

https://digitalcommons.georgetown.edu/blogs/mbawelcome/

This YouTube video provides a virtual tour of the business school building at Georgetown:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuzaH0TcvSA

Information on Georgetown's laptop requirements, and other tech-related info:

https://technology.msb.edu/highlights/newstudent.htm

NOTE: while the school doesn't "officially" support Macs, many students have them. If you plan on having a Mac, you need to get parallels or a virtual machine so that you can also run Windows.

Enjoy!

^^^nice find! kudos