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26 Nov 2014, 13:01
| FROM TopDogMBA - A Reapplicant's Tail: What goes on – INSEAD interview report 2 |
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Please also check out my first interview report. My second interviewer was around my age. We met on a Saturday and it was very relaxed (he came in jeans and a sweat top, compared to my suit and tie!) and instantly put me at ease. We had a friendly discussion with – of course – my well thought out responses interspersed with a lot of questions about the school and his experiences there. We weaved about a bit with the questions as it was a more natural conversation than my first interview. When I sat down my interviewer told me he was in training for [a major local sporting event] so we started off talking about sports. We soon steered back on to more familiar ground:
All in all, the interview was very relaxed and there were no “Tell me about a time…” type questions. He seemed to genuinely want to see if I was the sort of guy who would fit the INSEAD culture. We joked a bit about the type of people applying to other business schools, and he seemed pleased I was not applying anywhere else (in Europe at least – I did not reveal the U.S. applications and he didn’t press it!).  
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27 Nov 2014, 12:01
| FROM Pro GMAT: SUCCESS UNDER CONSTRUCTION |
Again after an extensive study session, hard work and a lot of paper work, I took another practice test and this time it was 660. Breakup is Q 50, V 30. Well I am not totally disappointed with my score, I am not satisfied though. I was looking for a 700 but the score is moving … Continue reading →
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27 Nov 2014, 12:01
| FROM Pro GMAT: Back to the School Ground |
After so many confusing thoughts, I decided to write this post. I am yet to finalize the list of B-Schools I am applying to. For a background check, I have not taken GMAT yet(still not scoring up-to the mark. I still think I need more practice to crack RC passages), lowering my chances of admissions next year. … Continue reading →
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27 Nov 2014, 14:00
| FROM TopDogMBA - A Reapplicant's Tail: What goes on – Wharton interview report |
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I opted to do my Team-Based Discussion (TBD) and interview in London with a member of the Admissions office. It was a benefit to have been through the same process last year so I knew what to expect. And, my group being European instead of American meant that I felt more comfortable in my skin. The TBD on campus was definitely more intense and aggressive …or maybe I was just a lot more nervous last time. My team consisted of four other applicants (five of us in total, two male, three female). It was a diverse group which I tried to inspire with enthusiasm and drive – the chemistry was OK but not amazing. I was first to give my introduction and suggestion for a project. I spent 1-2 hours preparing this, but mainly so I had a lot of data to back it up in case everyone liked my idea. Everyone had clearly spent more than an hour researching their introduction and it took a while to flesh out a workable idea. We chose to pursue another person’s idea which meant the discussion quickly moved away from my chosen topic, so it was good not to be too attached to it. The conversation moved naturally and politely from person to person. I was conscious that I should not be too silent or too vocal, but it never felt strained to jump in with an idea, some data point relevant to the discussion or even just to say “that’s a great idea, X”. As more than one person was keeping time and also reminding the team of the main deliverables, I chose to step up once or twice to give a recap of the situation and prioritise our next steps. Consequently, we ended up with a detailed conclusion which I presented on the whiteboard (there was a lot of flexibility on how to present our idea). The Admissions Director was a lot more strict with time than when I interviewed on campus. Furthermore, my previous experience didn’t involve a formal presentation of our conclusion, whereas it was required this time around. My main tips are to be prepared for your introduction, and have a lot of data about the prompt so you can throw in facts and figures to support you case. Most importantly, you need to be calm, relaxed and able to change direction quickly. My one-on-one interview was also more polished and I ended up having a great conversation (again, strictly keep within 10 minutes). The main questions asked:
I definitely came out feeling a lot more confident than last time. Keeping my fingers crossed for good news on 16 December!  
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28 Nov 2014, 00:01
| FROM MBA Data Guru: Indian Application Disadvantage at Wharton’s MBA Program |
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Indian Application Disadvantage at Wharton’s MBA Program Recently I discovered an Indian application disadvantage at Wharton’s MBA program while reviewing their admissions data. I have been busy over the past few months at business school and haven’t been able to post. I am attending NYU Stern school of business and loving it. I have a little bit of free time over Thanksgiving break so I decided to make a little progress towards building my MBA admission calculator. I started by analyzing Wharton’s admission data because I have far more data available for Wharton compared to other schools. This makes it easier to find statistical significance in the model. For example, there are 1,093 Wharton applicants verses 498 NYU applicants. I built a beta version of a model to predict admissions into Wharton, but plan to spend a lot more time working on it before I release it on this website. The Indian Application Disadvantage at Wharton In building the logistic regression, I found that the only three variables had statistic significance, including GPA, GMAT and whether the applicant was from India. I was shocked to find a significant Indian application disadvantage, the acceptance rate for Indians was 3.4% compared to 18.2% for Americans and 13.8% for non-Indian Internationals.  Despite similar GMAT scores, Indian applicants had significantly lower acceptance rate at Wharton. The difference between American and non-Indian acceptance rates was not statistically significant. However, the Indian acceptance rate difference was significant, with a confidence interval of 0% to 8%. This means we can be about 95% sure that the Indian acceptance rate is equal to or lower than 8%. For this analysis I excluded all entries that were missing both GMAT and GPA. If I had included these applicants who didn’t share their scores, then the Indian acceptance rate would have dropped to 2.8%. I don’t know why the acceptance rate for Indian applicants is lower despite similar GPAs and GMAT scores. It could be due to trouble writing application essays or some other explanation, but I think this matter needs to be looked at closer. MBA Data Guru - Data and analytics that will help you in the MBA admissions process |
28 Nov 2014, 13:01
| FROM TopDogMBA - A Reapplicant's Tail: What goes on – MIT Sloan interview report |
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Not for the first time, I met with an Admissions Director in Europe. We actually had a great conversation. I had met my interviewer during Sloan‘s ‘On The Road’ event in my home city earlier this year, so we were already quite relaxed in each others presence. This was a seasoned interviewer and, all in all, a tough person to read. I felt we had a good bond and I could answer all their questions confidently and enthusiastically, so left feeling I had done well. Specific questions asked (maybe not in this exact order):
Sloan is also renowned for behavioural questions which means you may need to go deep into a particular story – way deeper than you might have planned. Have a few good stories to mind and rehearsed in your head before the big day or, better still, practice telling those stories with a friend who can dig into them and really press you for what you felt, how you reacted, why you did that etc. I really felt my mock interviews with my consultant, alum friends and the bathroom mirror (I kid you not!) helped to prepare me to give concise and passionate answers. So, that’s my interview reports all posted! I hope it helps you, best of luck with your interview prep and feel free to ask questions either in the comments below or by email.  
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29 Nov 2014, 09:01
| FROM My Journey to Business School: When I’m not thinking about applications…. |
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…I’m fantasizing about being in business school! Instead of worrying about R2 applications and preparing for my upcoming Anderson and Tepper interviews, I find myself lost in the abyss of Youtube videos thinking about: Being a part of the sequel to this video: [youtube2]p> Being[/youtube2] ….and generally just day dreaming about what next year will bring and where I’ll be this time next year. I really, really hope I get in. I am just so ready for business school. I feel it in my bones and I just cannot wait to get started.  
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29 Nov 2014, 09:01
| FROM My Journey to Business School: Interview Report – UCLA Anderson |
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I just finished my Skype interview with a 2nd year student at UCLA Anderson. It was super friendly and the interviewer really put me at ease before we started. I think the interview went well. Keeping my fingers crossed. I have a good feeling about Anderson – I hope Anderson feels the same way about me. :D As for interview questions, they were pretty standard: 1) Walk me through your resume. 2) Tell me about a time you led a team. [I probably could have used a better example here - he asked me multiple follow-up questions on how I did what I did.] 3) Why MBA? Why now? 4) Why UCLA Anderson? [When I mentioned interacting with current students/alumni, the interviewer asked for specific names of students I connected with. It turned out that one of the students I talked to was a close friend of the interviewer!] 5) Plan B if my current goals do not materialize 6) Leadership Style 7) What do you do outside of work? That was pretty much the crux of the conversation we had. He asked follow-up questions to some of my answers, especially about my interests outside of work.  I asked him a few questions at the end of the interview and he shared his email ID with me so that I can reach out to him in the future with any questions I might have. It was a positive experience overall, and to those applicants with interviews coming up, I have just one piece of advice – just relax and be yourself. It’s a really laid back interview – treat this as you would any interaction with a current student – an opportunity to get to know more about Anderson and to showcase your enthusiasm for the school.If any of you would like to talk more about Anderson or have any specific questions about my interview experience, do let me know! EDIT: People preparing for the interview or waiting for an invite should read this blog by the UCLA Anderson Admissions team. I think it’ll put some people’s mind at ease.  
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01 Dec 2014, 07:01
| FROM John Thunder MBA: Kellogg Careers Breakdown |
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Even though I have not been accepted by Kellogg yet, I am continuing to do my due diligence since I have nothing better to do. I am shocked I have not seen this list anywhere else. I am extremely impressed with the career survey of 2013. ~750 students with 13% in PE/VC. I took their career survey and tried to classify the majority of the buy-side firms (apologies if I left some out). I also have a worksheet with some notes for myself. I am specifically more interested in the hedge fund placements and saw over 5 hedge funds and most were multi-billion. This is amazing placement, considering how small the Asset Management Practicum is. I do believe the AMP program will be the primary reason I choose Kellogg over other schools if I do get accepted. It should also be noted that Booth/Kellogg may have better buy-side placements compared to Wharton since there are so many firms in Chicago, and students can work there during the school-year. Philadelphia doesn’t have much… Here is the list: Kellogg Firms Industry Dimensional Fund Advisors Asset Management Martin Investment Management Asset Management Oppenheimer Funds, Inc. Asset Management PAAMCO Asset Management Pacific Eagle Asset Management Asset Management PIMCO Asset Management First Capital Partners Credit/Mezz McNally Capital Fund of Funds Alyeska Investment Group Hedge Fund Brave Warrior Advisors Hedge Fund Bridger Capital LLC Hedge Fund Citadel Hedge Fund Goudy Park Capital Hedge Fund Ares Management LLC Private Equity Baring Private Equity Asia Private Equity Bratus Capital Private Equity Compass Group Management Private Equity Creation Investments Capital Private Equity Crescent Capital Group LP Private Equity Great Hill Partners Private Equity GTCR Golder Rauner LLC Private Equity Gulf Capital Private Equity OMERS Private Equity Private Equity Pine Tree Equity Partners Private Equity Providence Equity Partners Private Equity QuinStreet, Inc. Private Equity Riverwood Capital Private Equity Sterling Partners Private Equity The Riverside Company Private Equity TPG Capital Private Equity Waud Capital Partners Private Equity Wind Point Partners Private Equity AMD Ventures Venture Capital Ardent Capital Venture Capital C lassified Ventures, LLC — Venture Capital Dreamit Ventures Venture Capital Insight Equity Venture Capital Northern Light Venture Capital Venture Capital OMERS Ventures Venture Capital Qualcomm Ventures Venture Capital Shasta Ventures Venture Capital Sterling Ventures Venture Capital Tresalia Capital Venture Capital VIVO Ventures Venture Capital  
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01 Dec 2014, 22:01
| FROM John Thunder MBA: Sloan MBA Careers Breakdown |
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Sloan has one of the smallest MBA classes. ~30% go into consulting. Low single digits even go into investment management and private equity. I was curious to see what firms hired Sloan MBA students: Sloan Employer Type Advent International Corp. Private Equity Black River Asset Management Asset Management Fidelity Investments Asset Management MassVentures Venture Capital MFS Investment Management Asset Management Norwest Equity Partners Venture Capital PAR Capital Management Hedge Fund Passport Capital Hedge Fund PIMCO Asset Management Redstar Ventures Venture Capital Wellington Management Asset Management Forgive me if I left off some names on accident. This list includes both 2014 full-time and 2015 internships. The list is ALOT smaller than Kellogg’s. One thing I was impressed with was Sloan’s faculty in Finance. However, if I did get accepted at Sloan, I will be taking a real hard look at pursuing entrepreneurship. Potentially having finance as a fall-back. The buy-side presence is really small here at Sloan.  
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02 Dec 2014, 06:01
| FROM Naija MBA Gal: Nervous Energy |
My interview is in approximately six hours and I’m extremely nervous. I don’t know if I’ve ever been this nervous in my life. I know nervousness is good especially before an important event (such as an interview with an adcom member that will directly impact on the rest of your life) but I wish the time would come […]
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04 Dec 2014, 03:01
| FROM Naija MBA Gal: My Sloan interview debrief |
So I had my long-awaited Sloan interview less than two days ago and it went well, very well but not excellently which is probably why I have not come to update everyone n how it went. My major issue is realizing after the interview that all the questions had a similar theme (teamwork) and knowing that I […]
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04 Dec 2014, 07:01
| FROM John Thunder MBA: Booth Buy-side Employment Report |
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Booth is well known for its finance program. 9% go into investment management, 5% private equity, and 3% venture capital. I do believe the Polsky center and other programs help position Booth over other schools with buy-side placements. 17% of the class go to the buy-side (15% of the class went into investment banking). Anyhow here’s the same breakdown of employers: Booth Employer Industry Calamos Asset Management, Inc Asset Management Cupps Capital Management, LLC Asset Management Dimensional Fund Advisors Asset Management EDM Asset Management Limited Asset Management Enhanced Capital Partners, LLC Asset Management Fidelity Investments Asset Management Franklin Templeton Investments Asset Management Janus Capital Management LLC Asset Management Martin Investment Management, LLC. Asset Management New York Life Investment Management LLC Asset Management Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company, LLC Asset Management PIMCO Asset Management Putnam Investment Management, LLC Asset Management WEDGE Capital Management L.L.P. Asset Management Wellington Management Company, LLP Asset Management William Harris Investors, Inc. Asset Management Castlelake, L.P. Credit Varde Partners, Inc. Credit Castle Union LLC Distressed PE McNally Capital Family Office Abraaj Capital Hedge Fund Appaloosa Management L.P. Hedge Fund Carlson Capital, L.P. Hedge Fund Citadel Hedge Fund Copia Capital LLC Hedge Fund David Capital Partners, LLC Hedge Fund Goudy Park Capital LP Hedge Fund Tiger Pacific Capital Hedge Fund Tough Mudder LLC Hedge Fund Volition Capital LLC Hedge Fund Charter School Growth Fund Non–profit PE Akoya Capital LLC Private Equity Altamar Private Equity Private Equity Angelo, Gordon & Co. Private Equity Apollo Global, Inc. Private Equity Baird Capital Partners Private Equity Baring Private Equity Asia Private Equity Bridge Investments LLC Private Equity Capvis Equity Partners AG Private Equity Cartesian Capital Group, LLC. Private Equity Catterton Partners Corp. Private Equity CIM Group, LP Private Equity CITIC Capital Holdings Limited Private Equity CITIC Private Equity Funds Management Co., Ltd. Private Equity Clearwater Capital Partners, LLC Private Equity Concentric Equity Partners, L.P. Private Equity Council Capital Private Equity Equator Capital Partners, LLC. Private Equity Equity Group Investments, LLC Private Equity Fireman Capital Partners Private Equity Fortress Investment Group LLC Private Equity Foundation Capital Private Equity H.I.G. Capital Private Equity HGGC, LLC Private Equity KKR Capstone Asia Limited Private Equity Pfingsten Partners, LLC Private Equity Pine Brook Road Partners, LLC Private Equity Sanari Capital Private Equity The Pritzker Group Private Equity Thoma Bravo LLC Private Equity Wind Point Partners Private Equity Winona Capital Management Private Equity Acumen Fund, Inc. Venture Capital Detroit Venture Partners, LLC Venture Capital Hyde Park Angels Venture Capital KaszeK Ventures Venture Capital Legend Capital Venture Capital Lightbank LLC Venture Capital MK Capital Venture Capital OCA Ventures Venture Capital Santa Fe Capital Group Venture Capital Scale Venture Partners Venture Capital Union Park Capital Venture Capital  
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04 Dec 2014, 19:00
| FROM MBA Data Guru: Follow Up on Wharton Acceptance Rate for Indian Applicants |
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Follow Up on Wharton Acceptance Rate for Indian Applicants Last week I posted an article discussing the Indian application disadvantage at Wharton. I received a request to go into more detail about how GMAT impacts the Wharton acceptance rate for Indian applicants. Given that only 5% of applicants identified as Indian and the acceptance rate is low, I don’t have enough data to look at that relationship in isolation. However, I have built a model that can predict what that relationship would be for Indian applicants based off of data from other Wharton applicants. Wharton Acceptance Rate by GMAT As you can see, my model predicts that there is a relationship between GMAT and the Wharton acceptance rate. This acceptance rates in the graph assumes a GPA of 3.54, which is the average for Wharton applicants. As you would expect, the higher the GMAT score, the higher the chance of getting in. Unfortunately, even with an 800, the forecast acceptance rate is still less than 10% for Indian applicants.  Wharton Acceptance Rate by GPA I decided to also look at the relation ship between GPA and acceptance rate as well. Similar to GMAT, higher GPAs increase your chance of acceptance. For the graph below I used the average Wharton GMAT score of 728 to calculate the acceptance rate. Even for candidates with a 4.0 GPA, they only have an acceptance rate of 6%.  After that I made a graph displaying the relationship between GMAT and GPA on acceptance rate for Indian applicants. With a 4.0 GPA and 800 GMAT, the acceptance rate increased to 12%, but that is still very low for such a qualified candidate.  The final question to answer is which is more important to Wharton, GMAT or GPA.I already had suspicions that Wharton cared more about GMAT than GPA, and this analysis confirmed it. I looked at the average candidate (both Indian and non-Indian) then compared the average acceptance rate to the acceptance rate one standard deviation above and below for both GMAT and GPA.  As you can see the slope for the line is steeper for the GMAT than for GPA. What this means is that a candidate who score one standard deviation above average for GMAT will be rewarded more than a candidate who has a GPA one standard deviation above average. Similarly a candidate will be punished more for having a low GMAT. This suggests that GMAT is more important to Wharton than GPA. The data used to make this post came from GMAT Club and included applicants from 2012 through 2014. MBA Data Guru - Data and analytics that will help you in the MBA admissions process |
04 Dec 2014, 23:00
| FROM Pro GMAT: Another Test Fire |
Today I took another GMATPREP test and scored 690 (Breakup: IR 5, Q 49, V 35). Another failed attempt to touch 700. By the time I finished my Quant section, I thought I would be touching 700 today, but as Verbal part initiated throwing confusing options, my confidence went from ups and downs and I ended … Continue reading →
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05 Dec 2014, 03:00
| FROM Naija MBA Gal: Stanford interview debrief |
I did not get invited to interview with Stanford (their loss. Yes I know they will get a lot of well qualified and great students who will do them proud. But, I’m the only person that knows what I have to offer), but I have a friend that did and this is a summary of how her […]
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05 Dec 2014, 03:00
| FROM Pro GMAT: Another Test Fire And School List Review |
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Today I took another GMATPREP test and scored 690 (Breakup: IR 5, Q 49, V 35). Another failed attempt to touch 700. By the time I finished my Quant section, I thought I would be touching 700 today, but as Verbal part initiated throwing confusing options, my confidence went from ups and downs and I ended … Continue reading →
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06 Dec 2014, 23:01
| FROM Farhanc85: Oxford Callling!!!!! |
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This is a scene exactly a year back Wife: Why are you applying to only ISB? Me : It's nearby, cost-effective, 1 year and it would be easy to fly down from Hyderabad Wife: Just to be close to me, you are not applying elsewhere. Me : Yeah and then there is money too. Wife: We will figure that out, you apply to Oxford, Harvard. Me: So these are the names you know that every relative uses and you have seen them in Bollywood movies Wife: With a sly smile, but aren't they good, they are so famous. Me: Harvard No!!!, It's a 2 year MBA. Oxford, I don't know if I have that kind of profile Wife: You have a year start working on that stuff Fast forward a year: I was driving and got a text, I usually don't see any text while driving but that day I was expecting the result. Stopped the car, read the text from a fellow GmatClub buddy, he said check your email now. I checked my email. Dear Farhan It is my pleasure to confirm the decision of the MBA Admissions Committee to offer you a place on the 2015-2016 MBA program I didnt even finish reading the entire email, I read this line and called her. She was much more ecstatic than I was. She reminded me of this conversation a year back. All that moping after the ISB ding last year and after INSEAD ding last month, everything is nullified now. Next post, I will write my application experience to Oxford. Cheers P.S Soon I will migrate to a different blog
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07 Dec 2014, 16:00
| FROM MBA Data Guru: Stern Acceptance Rate Analysis |
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Stern Acceptance Rate Analysis I just finished building the Stern acceptance rate prediction model. I will post the admissions calculator as soon as I have time to finish learning PHP and then build that portion of the website. I’ll probably have time to work on it over Christmas break, but right now I am too busy applying for interviews for summer internships. In the mean time I will share some of the insights I got from building the model. Stern Acceptance Rate by GMAT The first thing that jumped out at me was that the acceptance rates I came up with are noticeably higher than the published acceptance rate of 15%. I believe that this is because the average candidate who applies and posts their data on GMAT Club, where I get my data, is more competitive than the average candidate. The average GMAT Club applicant to Stern has a GPA or 3.45 and GMAT of 709, which is not too far from the scores listed on the class profile for Sterns class of 2016 of 3.52 and 721.  If you are applying to Stern, it is pretty obvious that having a higher GMAT is important and will significantly raise your chances of being admitted. To create the graph above, I used my model with the average GPA of 3.45. Stern Acceptance Rate by GPA Next I looked at how GPA affects Stern acceptance rate. Once again there is a clear relationship between GPA and admission rate for NYU. In the graph below I used the average GPA score of 709 in my admissions model.  Stern Acceptance Rate by Round Many candidates want to know if it matters in which round you apply. I took a look at the raw acceptance rate by round for NYU. As you can see the acceptance rate for round 2 is slightly lower and for round 3 it is noticeably lower.  The acceptance rates above are raw numbers, not the predicted values from my admissions model. Why you ask? Because when I took into account all of the other factors, the round you apply in is not statistically significant. The reason the acceptance rate is lower in round 2 and 3 is not because the schools are more selective but because on average lower quality candidates apply in those rounds. If you are a qualified candidate, do not worry about applying to Stern in round 3, you still have a good chance of getting in. Stern Prefers GMAT over GPA In the past I tried to figure out if Stern prefers a high GMAT or GPA and didn’t come up with anything conclusive. Now that I have built the Stern admissions model I can see how a similar change in GMAT or GPA impact acceptance rate at Stern. In the graph below I compare how much the admissions rate changes if I alter the GMAT or GPA by a standard deviation. If you are applying to business school then you should probably know what a standard deviation is, however if you don’t it is a standard measure of variance in a population or sample. Since I can’t compare and absolute variance because GMAT and GPA are on different scales, I compare how the shift of one standard deviation impacts the Stern acceptance rate.  In the graph above, you can see that increasing the GPA by one standard deviation (.28) increase acceptance rate by 29%, but raising the GMAT score by one standard deviation (39) leads to a 45% higher chance of admissions. It is clear that Stern prefers candidates with high GMAT score over ones with a high GPA. This is good news for candidates with a low GPA because with enough hard work, you can increase your odds significantly by raising your GMAT. Other NYU Admissions Insights I also found that NYU prefers candidates with an average age of 27 to 28, the further you are from this average age, the lower your chance of getting in. Stern really likes candidates that come from consulting. Applicants from consulting had a acceptance rate of 42% vs. 21% for non-consultants. Having more work experience also increased your odds of admissions. Acceptance rate increased by about 2% for each year of work experience. However, once you pass 28, the age deviation factor is significantly stronger than the work experience factor so you shouldn’t wait until after 28 to apply. I noticed that candidates that majored in business or engineering had a lower chance of admission. Business majors with average scores had a 8% chance of admission compared to 24% for non-business majors. Engineers had a 13% chance of getting in compared to a 26% chance for non-engineers. These differences are statistically significant even after taking into account all other factors. That being said, I majored in engineering and I got into Stern. I also know many other business and engineering majors who are currently attending Stern with me. MBA Data Guru - Data and analytics that will help you in the MBA admissions process |
08 Dec 2014, 04:01
| FROM My Journey to Business School: Why I love Kellogg and the MMM Program |
I have noticed over the last month or so that quite a few of you in the blogosphere – My Life of Bliss, Pulling that MBA Trigger, ProGMAT and a few others are interested in Kellogg’s MMM Program. Some of you are on the fence about it while others have decided to apply (and I hope I’ve played a part in helping you make that decision  ). With that in mind, I thought I should do a (long overdue) post on everything I love about MMM. Irrespective of whether I make it to Kellogg (but I sooo hope I do!), I think this is post could be useful for those of you evaluating the program.1. Product Management career path: They recently revamped the entire MMM program to make it more Product Management/Innovation focused, and this ties in with my future goals of Product Management and tech entrepreneurship. I hope I was able to sufficiently articulate the “fit” with the program. If you’re looking at similar roles in youo\r career, I would recommend the MMM program. 2. Design Thinking focus: What I’ve noticed as a Product Manager is that: (a) Finding the right problem to solve is more important than problem-solving itself: You really need to get into the end-user’s head to figure out what feature/design would make the most sense to them/what would they like to see in your product – only then will your product be a successful one. The Design Thinking approach taught in the MMM program teaches you think from the end-user’s perspective and to find the right opportunities from myriad data. I think is an invaluable tool, not just for Product Managers but for entrepreneurs as well (which is my long-term goal). (b) General Design courses: As a MMM student, you have the opportunity to take specific design courses from the Segal Institute. Not only can you learn about how to create great user experiences, these courses also add to your course credit! 3. Awesome Courses and Experiential Learning : Have you seen the MMM course list? It’s super interesting! There are courses like Research-Design-Build where you form groups and actually get your hands dirty and conceptualize, develop and launch your own product in a group. There’s also an Integration Project in addition to your regular Internship where you get to work in teams to solve a real-life business/design problem for a company – so there’s more focus on experiential learning. 4. Dual Degree: This is just a perk! You graduate with a Kellogg MBA as well as an MS in Design Innovation, which is pretty cool – both for future job opportunities and for wow-ing potential investors.5. Small Class + Great Networking Opportunities: You get to have the best of both worlds! You take ALL your classes with the rest of your 50-odd classmates and you can form really strong bonds with them, but you also take all the classes with regular 2Y Kellogg MBA students, so you’re not missing out on anything! Another perk is that you get to start early on Campus. If you are a MMM student, you start classes in June – one full quarter earlier than the other Kellogg students(more time to spend on campus – yay!), but ultimately you graduate together with the Kellogg class. 5. Selectivity: I’m not quite sure whether to put this in this list or the cons list. Yes, they have a class size of only 60. But I found out that they get only about 350-400 applications for the MMM program. (that might change this year as they’ve been making an effort to spread more awareness about MMM) So the selectivity rate is about the same for Kellogg MBA and MMM. They take about 1 in 5 candidates. But I like my chances better in MMM – I’d rather compete against 400-500 applicants than 4000 applicants! You do have to keep in mind though that even though there are only around 350 applicants for MMM, these will likely be people with stellar profiles who really know what they want from the program and their career. It’s slightly intimidating to compete with a group like that. I’ll leave you to make a decision if this point must be in the pros or cons list. 6. Interviews: Since Kellogg tries to interview everyone, it’s just great to get an opportunity to show the admissions committee a side of you that might not have translated well in the application. You can really let your personality shine Apart from all the above reasons, which are specific to MMM, I love Kellogg for KELLOGG. I mean, it’s just such an amazing school – the people I’ve spoken to in the last few months from Kellogg have been so helpful and friendly (characteristic of Kellogg students) and the wealth of information I’ve gotten from them have only made me more excited to apply and (hopefully!) attend Kellogg. For those of you looking to get in touch with alumni/current students, I’d recommend just reaching out to people on LinkedIn. To get an idea of the school’s culture, you could take a look at:
Kellogg MBA Students Blog Kellogg MMM Student Perspectives “This is MMM” Facebook Group MMM Schedule - Courses and 2Y Plan  
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Hi Generic [Bot],
Here are updates for you:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
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