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12 Mar 2014, 18:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Chicago Booth Update on Round 2 Decisions |
The admissions team at Chicago Booth School of Business recently updated the Booth Insider blog to let applicants know what’s going on behind the scenes as the department moves into the final stage of the application evaluation process. The interview period is now over, and the committee is focused on reviewing each application—which includes a new interview summary—again. The review process at Chicago Booth is a lengthy one and involves the input of several different people in order to arrive at a “fair and holistic” impression of your candidacy, explains [b]@Booth_Insider and use #BoothMBA in your tweets. You may also be interested in: Waitlist Guidelines from Chicago Booth, UCLA Anderson Chicago Booth Admitted Student Profile |
14 Mar 2014, 12:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: $50M Innovation Challenge at Cornell’s Johnson School |
 Galvanized by Dean Soumitra Dutta‘s vision for Cornell’s Johnson School of Management as a leader in business education, five alumni committed $27 million to support Johnson programs, faculty, research, and scholarships, the school announced last week. These alumni have invited the Johnson community to participate in an Innovation Challenge and raise an additional $23 million, with the goal of reaching $50 million by June 30, 2015. Dutta announced the challenge at the recent Johnson Alumni Awards and Recognition Dinner, where he addressed the opportunities for growth and innovation at Johnson in the years ahead. Johnson’s MBA in New York City will be unique, Dutta says, because it is integrated with a leading technology program. Graduates of the MBA program at Cornell NYC Tech will meet the needs of businesses that are driving disruptive change through the smart leverage of technology, he adds. Meanwhile, on the Ithaca campus, Johnson has completed a major review of the MBA curriculum. These changes will include specialized instruction in critical thinking, a targeted, customized leadership program, and an enriched and expanded focus on data analysis and modeling, the school explains. Additionally, Johnson is developing special partnerships with sister Cornell schools to bring the university’s numerous intellectual strengths to the Johnson School experience. Innovative advances require commitment by the school and its graduates, Dutta says, in order to position Johnson as a global leader in graduate business education. “This is a game changer for Johnson and Cornell,” says Jeff Parker, one of the alums who pledged a substantial gift. “This is a serious opportunity to make a big difference in the world of business education.” |
17 Mar 2014, 10:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: The Truth Behind 3 Common MBA Rankings Myths |
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This post originally appeared on Stacy’s “Strictly Business” MBA Blog on U.S.News.com One of the very first places a business school hopeful begins the school selection process is by looking at annual or biannual MBA rankings. The most frequently consulted lists include those published by U.S. News, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Forbes, Financial Times and The Economist. I always say rankings are a useful starting point, but should not be used in a vacuum. Here are the three most common MBA rankings myths and some tips for keeping things in perspective. [Look beyond a top business school for your MBA.] Myth 1: A highly ranked program is always better. While this sounds logical, you should look closely to determine if a school is better in ways that suit your personal list of priorities. Each ranking uses a somewhat different methodology. Forbes includes a calculation of return on investment five years after graduation; BusinessWeek looks at satisfaction levels of students and recruiters as some of its factors; U.S. News surveys b-school deans and directors and takes GMAT and GRE scores into account, among other indicators; Financial Times gives a lot of weight to reported salaries three years after graduation; and The Economist in part assesses the MBA degree’s ability to open new professional opportunities. Job placement statistics and average salary post-MBA are the most important criteria for many MBA candidates. You may find that a smaller regional school, while not highly ranked nationally, has an excellent record of placing graduates in the industries of their choice. Make sure you’re looking at the data points that are important to your own career path when determining the value of a particular ranking. Myth 2: All employers care about the rankings. Employers may or may not care about the rankings that you are considering. Chances are they don’t pay close attention to all of the available rankings. If they did, their heads would spin, as rankings can vary significantly school-to-school and year-to-year. If you’re aspiring to a highly competitive position in banking or consulting, a potential employer will likely give an advantage to an applicant from one of the elite schools. That’s the reality of the game. For other industries, if you’re coming from a second-tier or third-tier school with a solid reputation, your education will be just fine. For a more immediate answer, check out the annual career or recruiting reports from MBA programs you are interested in. These are usually posted online and they allow you to see if the company or industry you want to work in recruits at your target schools. You can also contact the human resources department at companies you’re interested in and ask them point-blank where they recruit and which schools they like. You may be surprised by the answers you get. Myth 3: A top-ranked school will remain on top. Rankings are basically an indicator of the MBA market at a given time. They reflect job placement, salaries and the climate or culture of a school when the survey took place. While it’s true that a school in the top 10 isn’t likely to plummet 50 spots in the rankings, never assume that a school ranked in the top three will remain there forever. A school could be ranked at the top one year, which drives up applications because it’s now the “hot school.” But times change, and the program may fall out of favor for one reason or another. You may find that 15 years later, when you’re an alum and want to leverage your hot degree, your school may now be ranked No. 10. If rank is the only reason for choosing a program, it might seem like a huge disappointment. Ultimately, you have to choose a program you genuinely connect with. Evaluate qualities like the school fit, culture, location, class size and teaching methodology. Don’t worry about whether you’ll get into “the best MBA program of all.” Figure out which business school is the best one for you. |
17 Mar 2014, 11:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Wharton School Names New Dean |
 The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School will welcome distinguished political economist Geoffrey Garrett as its newest dean, effective July 1st, the university announced today. A former faculty member in Wharton’s management department, Garrett is currently dean and professor of business in the Australian School of Business at the University of New South Wales. Before joining UNSW, Garrett served as dean of the Business School at the University of Sydney and as founding CEO of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, an important hub that brought together scholars of business, economics, politics and the humanities to deepen understanding of contemporary American issues across Australia and the Pacific Rim. “Our selection of Geoff Garrett as the next dean of the Wharton School successfully concludes a global search to find a successor to Tom Robertson, who has served with distinction as dean since 2007,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann when announcing the news. “Geoff Garrett has a proven track record as an eminent interdisciplinary scholar and strong and collaborative strategic leader.” “He has a deep understanding of Wharton’s distinctive mission and a compelling vision for the role of business schools in an era of rapid change and globalization. Geoff has unique experience in international business and business education and is absolutely the right person to partner with Wharton faculty, students, staff and alumni to take the School to even greater heights,” she added. He served earlier as president of the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles and as a faculty member at the University of Southern California; as vice provost and dean of the UCLA International Institute; as director of the Leitner Program in International and Comparative Political Economy and director of the Ethics, Politics and Economics program at Yale; and as a faculty member at Wharton and at Oxford and Stanford universities. A distinguished social scientist and expert on globalization, Garrett has authored or co-edited three books, written 45 scholarly articles, produced dozens of chapters and essays and contributed more than 100 opinion articles to newspapers around the world. He is a former Fulbright Scholar, and completed his master’s and doctoral degrees in political science at Duke University. “It will be my honor and privilege to work with such fantastic colleagues, students and alumni at Wharton and all around the University,” Garrett said. “Like other sectors, globalization and technological change are poised to transform business education. I have no doubt Wharton will be in the vanguard of this transformation in America and around the world.” |
18 Mar 2014, 11:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Martoma: a Lesson for MBA Applicants on Owning Up to Mistakes |
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Earlier this month, Stanford Graduate School of Business made the unprecedented move of nullifying the MBA degree of Mathew Martoma, the SAC Capital Advisors LP employee convicted of insider trading. For those unfamiliar with the education angle of the story, Martoma was expelled from Harvard Law School in 1999 for falsifying his transcripts. He subsequently gained admission to the Stanford Graduate School of Business—without disclosing the expulsion from Harvard Law—and received an MBA degree in 2003. As part of its admissions policy, prospective GSB students must disclose any prior academic disciplinary actions, including suspensions and expulsions. Therefore, Stanford’s decision to revoke the degree is based not on Martoma becoming a convicted felon, but because he gained admission under false pretenses. According to Wall Street Journal‘s Melissa Korn, the move “highlights the lengths to which schools may go to protect their reputations when graduates become enmeshed in scandal long after leaving campus.” I spoke to Bloomberg BusinessWeek in the days following the announcement, because while invalidating degrees isn’t common, I have seen instances where people have been accepted into school and then escorted out of class within the first couple of weeks. Admits can be revoked, and I believe Stanford is putting Martoma out there as a lesson. B-school hopefuls should always come clean about a criminal record when applying, because this is not the sort of information you want discovered during a background check. This issue may seem insurmountable, but I have helped more than one client explain an embarrassing episode from their past. Many MBA programs ask you to explain a mistake you have made, or discuss a challenge you overcame. The most interesting candidates have faced difficulty and learned from it, preferably changing their behavior for the better. If you can turn a setback into an opportunity, and show how the incident sparked a period of serious self-reflection and change, your story may actually become inspiring. Showing who you are, your potential, and even how you have overcome blemishes to your otherwise perfect record gives the school insight into your potential as a student, and as a future business leader. You may also be interested in: When Applying to Business School, Own Up to Past Mistakes |
20 Mar 2014, 06:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: B-School Opens Doors to Entrepreneurship, New Survey Shows |
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More than 1 in 10 business school alumni are self-employed, and the longer they’ve been out of business school the more likely they are to have taken an entrepreneurial career path, says a worldwide survey of nearly 21,000 business school alumni from the classes of 1959-2013, released this week by the Graduate Management Admission Council. “While entrepreneurship is a hot topic and is a very popular course of study at today’s business schools, these findings suggest that business schools have always prepared students to launch and manage their own businesses,” says Sangeet Chowfla, president and CEO of GMAC, the worldwide association of business schools that conducts the GMAT exam. “Even if alumni don’t become entrepreneurs at graduation — something more common with today’s graduates — their business education provides the career flexibility and the skills that help them start businesses years later.” Surveying alumni from 132 business schools around the world, the 2014 Alumni Perspectives Survey is the largest and most far-reaching alumni survey GMAC has ever produced and offers insights into career progression, job and degree satisfaction, and school engagement with alumni spanning more than five decades. Around the world, the vast majority of MBA and other graduate business degree holders rate the value of their degree highly (94 percent), report high degrees of job satisfaction (83 percent), and say their expectations for the financial return on investment of their graduate management education were met or exceeded (79 percent). In general, the percentages of alumni reporting satisfaction with their business degrees, jobs, and careers increased the longer they have been out of school. The survey found that overall, 79 percent of alumni from the classes of 1959-2013 currently work for an employer, 11 percent are self-employed, and 5 percent were retired. The findings include a snapshot view of business school alumni entrepreneurs:
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21 Mar 2014, 06:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: UV Darden School Launches New Business Knowledge Website |
 The University of Virginia Darden School of Business has launched a new website for sharing business knowledge. Darden Ideas to Action covers a broad range of subjects, including accounting, finance, leadership, strategy, operations, entrepreneurship, innovation, growth and global markets, offering business leaders ideas they can immediately put into action in the workplace. “At Darden, we focus on the challenges executives face every day in the business world,” says S. Venkataraman, Darden’s senior associate dean for faculty and research. “We believe the information gathered on Darden Ideas to Action (…) will inspire and equip managers with new knowledge and skills as they lead organizations in today’s complex, global world.” Darden Ideas to Action will deliver a steady stream of practical articles, such as how to: • Assess the three critical factors of strategy • Forecast to predict possible outcomes of your decisions • Determine the best time of day to place earnings calls • Address diversity by “leveraging difference” • Use design thinking to solve problems and innovate Case studies on the site are sourced from Darden Business Publishing, which sells case studies and technical and teaching notes from its case collection — the second largest of any business school in the United States. Darden Ideas to Action also invites visitors to the site to share their real-world business challenges with Darden’s faculty members through the “Ask the Experts” page. All submissions will be considered, and individuals will be notified if a professor publishes an article in response to their business challenges. “Darden’s faculty members are thought leaders whose ideas shape the way the world does business,” says Venkataraman. “Ideas to Action will share many of these insights with the world and reinforce our strong and vibrant connection to the practicing manager.” |
24 Mar 2014, 06:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: 3 Surprising Application Mistakes Prospective MBAs Make |
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This post originally appeared on Stacy’s “Strictly Business” MBA Blog on U.S.News.com When it comes to making mistakes on a business school application, there are many places where candidates can run afoul and ruin their chances at admission. The road to an MBA contains countless potential pitfalls, including writing the wrong school name or otherwise failing to proofread; having generic essays designed to impress rather than reveal; and choosing recommenders based on their titles, not your relationship with them. However, there are also more process-oriented mistakes students commonly make – and ways to avoid them. [Follow these tips to recover from a botched MBA interview.] Reality Check: Unrealistic School Selection With all of the hype around the top b-school brands, it’s no wonder most applicants dream of earning their MBA at Harvard University or Stanford University. The cold, hard truth, however, is that these schools admit a tiny fraction of applicants each cycle. Harvard Business School admitted just 12 percent of applicants to the class of 2015, while Stanford offered a seat to a mere 8 percent. Programs like those at University of California—Berkeley Haas School of Business or MIT Sloan School of Management are only a tad less competitive, with acceptance rates of about 14 percent and 15 percent, respectively. This doesn’t mean you should abandon all hope of attending one of the world’s best business schools, especially if your stats are strong and your extracurriculars and leadership examples varied. But, should you happen to fall in the camp of the other 85 percent of applicants – that is, the vast majority – then the subject of having appropriate back-up schools comes into play. Not all programs are the same, so I suggest applicants do a lot of research as well as soul-searching prior to the school selection process. Being realistic about your profile and aligning yourself with programs that mesh with your particular academic and professional background is the surest recipe for success. [Look beyond a top business school for your MBA.] Reality Check: Scores Affect Selection As we’ve talked about in this space before, preparing early and adequately for the entrance exam is critical. You can’t be stressing about studying for the GMAT or GRE when you should be focused on drafting compelling application essays or cultivating additional leadership opportunities. Truth is, the school selection process will be greatly influenced by your GMAT score. While each year we hear of that miracle case where someone gets into Harvard with a 550, it’s likely that person’s profile was so extraordinary in every other way that it offset the low score. It would be foolhardy to believe you too have a decent chance simply because a handful of people out of 10,000 applicants made it in with a score nearly 100 points below the median. Use your GMAT or GRE score as a barometer to determine a comfortable range of schools to target. If you do decide to go for the “reach school” as well despite a middling test score, make sure you incorporate the fact that you have a low score into your overall strategy. Reality Check: You’re Not Ready for B-School – Yet A huge mistake, and one that’s more common that you’d think, is applying to business school before you are really ready. It is true MBA programs are skewing younger these days, accepting applicants with five or fewer years of work experience rather than the typical seven of the past, but that just means candidates need to be even more amazing in less time. Ask yourself if you have had enough life experiences to provide an interesting perspective to a class. Will your potential recommenders act as champions for your cause, or is your relationship with a supervisor still new and untested? Can you devote time to improving your test score in order to expand your portfolio of program options? Would taking another year to strengthen your profile make more sense and yield better results? Making 100 percent sure that an MBA is the right step at this time is a crucial part of the soul-searching I mentioned above, and once you can answer in the affirmative, you can embark on the challenging but rewarding journey toward an MBA. |
25 Mar 2014, 12:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: USC Marshall Offers New Degree in Entrepreneurship |
 The USC Marshall School of Business will offer a new Master of Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MSEI) through its Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, USC Marshall announced today. This degree will expand opportunities for students interested in careers in entrepreneurship, corporate venturing and innovation or technology commercialization. An accelerated and highly experiential program, the MSEI prepares students with the knowledge and skills to create new business ventures in a climate defined by rapid change, increasing competition, shortened product life-cycles and higher market volatility. Students can complete the required 26 units in one year as a full-time program, or in two or more years (part-time), personalizing their degrees with elective courses such as Technology Commercialization and New Product Development. “There is a growing demand among students with technical backgrounds for a consolidated, MBA-type degree that has a real focus on young enterprises,” says James G. Ellis, dean of the Marshall School of Business. “With the Master of Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the Greif Center is meeting this need – equipping technically proficient students with critical business skills for long-term career success,” Ellis adds. “The pace of technological innovation is ever-accelerating, and this new, one-year master’s program is keeping pace,” observes Lloyd Greif, president and CEO of Greif & Co. and founding donor of the Center. “By equipping these students with the expertise they need, the MSEI will increase their probabilities of success while simultaneously speeding their path to market.” As the nation’s oldest integrated entrepreneurship program, the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies has consistently ranked among the top programs in the United States. The program is now accepting applications for its inaugural class from graduating seniors of four-year baccalaureate programs, as well as from working professionals with bachelor’s or advanced degrees. “The Master of Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation combines academic rigor with hands-on, experiential learning, putting students on a fast track to exciting positions with start-up enterprises or launching new corporate divisions,” says USC Marshall professor Andrea Belz, academic director of the MSEI program. “By leveraging the assets of the renowned Greif Center, the MSEI offers something truly unique.” |
25 Mar 2014, 12:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Harvard Business School Enters Online Learning |
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Harvard Business School has announced the official launch of HBX, an innovative digital platform to support the delivery of online business-focused offerings, including HBX CORe, a primer on the fundamentals of business. “The HBX launch marks an important milestone in our ongoing efforts to educate leaders who make a difference in the world,” says HBS Dean Nitin Nohria. “Moreover, HBX will provide a powerful channel for communicating ideas to and engaging with new and wider audiences, complementing the work we do through Harvard Business Publishing.” The initial HBX offering, CORe (Credential of Readiness), comprises three interlinked courses: Business Analytics, Economics for Managers, and Financial Accounting. HBS Professor Bharat Anand, Faculty Chair of HBX, says that CORe will be a rigorous program designed for serious and committed learners. “The HBX faculty team has thought carefully about how to create an online offering that mirrors the energy you find in an HBS classroom and that allows students to benefit from the diversity and experiences of other students,” Anand explains. Consistent with the Harvard Business School case method of teaching and participant-centered learning, CORe requires students to be active learners, thinking through and solving real-world problems. HBX aims to complement the school’s existing programs. Notes HBS Professor Youngme Moon, Senior Associate Dean and Chair of the MBA program, “CORe is designed to provide basic business fundamentals to segments of the population we’ve never directly addressed before: undergraduates, graduate students in non-business fields, and people who have just begun their first jobs in business but want a better foundation so they can thrive earlier in their career.” CORe will launch in June, initially with a limited cohort of students drawn from the greater Massachusetts region of colleges and universities; applications will be available in April on the HBX website (hbx.hbs.edu). Click here for HBX fact sheet. You may also be interested in: Harvard Business School Offers its First MOOC Weigh Trying a MOOC Before an MBA |
26 Mar 2014, 06:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Columbia Hosts Odyssey Management Competition |
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Columbia Business School will host the sixth annual ODYSSEY Global MBA Competition and Symposium, coming up on March 28 and March 29, 2014. Held each spring, this student-organized event features a three-part business management competition between teams from a select group of the world’s top business schools who have gathered to learn, network, and compete. In addition to the competition, the event includes a symposium featuring industry leaders addressing this year’s theme—Disrupt or Be Disrupted—which focuses on the need for companies to be agile in the face of disruptive forces and to manage innovation in order to stay ahead of challenges confronted. Each team will compete in three categories: an entrepreneurial pitch, a case study presentation, and negotiation skills. Leading industry practitioners judge the event, awarding points based on strength of concept and solutions, negotiation skills, and presentations. Who:
For more information on Odyssey, the competition, and symposium agenda, visit: https://www.mbaodyssey.com. |
26 Mar 2014, 06:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: GRE vs. GMAT, Which Test is Right for You? |
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Did you know that more and more business schools allow you to choose whether to take the GMAT or the GRE for your application? It’s true! And, it means that you have some decisions to make. Luckily, we have a resource that can help! Our friends at Magoosh have just released a new GRE vs. GMAT Infographic that presents a side-by-side comparison of the GRE and the GMAT. Check it out, share it, and decide which test is right for your b-school applications!  |
26 Mar 2014, 21:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Tuck Dean Danos to Step Down After 19 Years |
Tuck School of Business Dean Paul Danos has announced his plans to step down when his current term ends in 2015. At 19 years, his tenure is the longest in Tuck’s history and one of the longest in management education. By the end of his fifth term, nearly half of Tuck’s 10,000-plus living alumni will have graduated under his deanship. Danos joined Tuck in 1995 and has guided the school through one of the most transformative periods in its history. He led a dramatic expansion of Tuck’s world-class faculty; oversaw the launch of nine centers and initiatives; and introduced a broad array of MBA curriculum innovations that enabled the school to keep pace with the ever-changing landscape of global business. “I realize that none of our achievements would have been possible without the contributions of our entire community—our skilled and caring faculty, our outstanding students, our committed staff, and our loyal and dedicated alumni,” Danos said in a letter to the Tuck community announcing that he would not seek reappointment for a sixth term. “Your support and encouragement over the last two decades has been vital to Tuck’s continued success and has meant the world to me. Tuck is a great school with a virtuous circle of caring people who will ensure that its future will be as bright as its past,” he added. Under Danos, Tuck has consistently been cited for the excellence of its MBA program, and is known for its world-leading alumni giving rate, which is nearly three times the average participation rate of other business schools. Dartmouth President Phil Hanlon also expressed the school’s gratitude to Dean Danos, saying his “commitment to the quality of the MBA program and to preparing students for a lifetime of responsible leadership has earned Tuck a unique place among the world’s top graduate schools of business. “ At Tuck, Danos also presided over an increase in both the size and quality of the student body, as classes became more international, diverse, and balanced between genders. The size of the faculty also grew during this period. Under his leadership, the number of full-time faculty at Tuck rose from 36 to 51, as did their levels recognition and accomplishment. “Tuck is in a position of great strength thanks to Paul’s outstanding leadership and the exceptional team he has put in place,” said Board of Overseers Chair Christopher J. Williams. “The opportunity to lead one of the world’s truly great business schools is a rare one, and as we look to the future, we anticipate there being significant global interest in this role.” President Hanlon will be working with incoming Provost Carolyn Dever to form a search committee and will be seeking input from faculty, senior administrators, students, and alumni as they conduct a thoughtful search for the next dean. Williams said Tuck will likely announce a new dean in early 2015. |
27 Mar 2014, 10:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: What Happens During an ‘Undercover’ Admissions Interview? |
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In the latest installment of Bloomberg Businessweek journalist Amy S. Choi‘s attempt to walk in the shoes of b-school applicants, the intrepid writer shares how being herself worked out during her recent MBA interview experience at NYU Stern School of Business. From taking wardrobe risks to over-preparing to bungled answers, applicants can take away several useful tips from this story, particularly those with Stern on their shortlist. “The interview process is typically to confirm a ‘yes,’” Alison Goggin, senior director of MBA admissions at Stern, tells Choi. “For the 30 percent of applicants that interview but don’t receive an invitation, it means that there were already questionable elements to their application, but we wanted to see if the interview might change our minds.” After sketching out one “fumbled” Q and A, Choi acknowledges she might have been more succinct if she’d run through her answers at least once. I’m quoted in the piece advising Choi to practice out loud to avoid rambling and, even worse, becoming boring. “Luckily, the next few questions are fairly typical: What are my greatest professional accomplishments? Challenges? Blackman recommends the STAR method for answering situational questions such as ‘Tell me about a professional hurdle.’ Discuss the situation, task, action, and result. This works like a charm,” Choi writes. Ultimately, Choi learns that the key to acing an MBA interview is being professional, prepared, and most of all, true to yourself. As Goggin assures Choi, “We sincerely do want to have a conversation and learn about you. This isn’t a job interview. It’s an admissions interview.” Follow the link above to learn more about Choi’s MBA interview experience at Stern, as well as what happened when she winged the GMAT with no preparation…all in the name of journalism. |
28 Mar 2014, 06:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Columbia Business School Gives Back |
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Columbia Business School has announced its first large-scale, student-led volunteering initiative coming up on April 4th. The school’s inaugural Day of Impact includes ten service projects throughout New York City and will give students, faculty, and staff a chance to give back to the communities where they live and study. Participants will partner with several different organizations, including the Citymeals-on-Wheels, Food Bank for New York City, The Humane Society of New York, and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Projects will include: [*]Beautifying various city parks — Morningside Park, St. Mary’s Park, and Hamilton Grange National Park;[/*] [*]Delivering meals to the home ridden through meal providers Jan Hus Church, Leonard Covello Senior Center, and Goddard-WEME Mainstream Nutrition Program;[/*] [*]Preparing dinner for the Food Bank of New York; and[/*] [*]Caring for animals in need at the Humane Society of New York City.[/*] [/list] “Making an impact on society — however large or small — is a huge part of who we are at Columbia Business School,” says Sheila Lalani ’14, vice president of community service for the School’s Graduate Business Association. “The idea behind Day of Impact is to demonstrate our community’s commitment to not only bettering the business world once we graduate, but also working to improve the community in which we live.” Lalani presented the idea in 2013 to the school’s administration. Since then, it has been embraced by the entire Columbia Business School community. Lalani’s hope and expectation is that the Day of Impact will become an annual event that grows in scope and impact each year. Volunteers will be communicating with each other throughout the day using social media. The student organizers have set up the hashtag #CBSDayOfImpact and asked volunteers to post photos, videos, and updates about the progress of their efforts. Associate Dean Micheal Malone, who will be volunteering as part of the Morningside Park beautification efforts, commends the School’s community for giving back to society. “We are so proud of our students for bringing this opportunity to life. They are constantly looking for new ways to demonstrate the impact Columbia can have outside of the classroom,” Malone says. “This initiative really reflects what we believe in most strongly at Columbia: leadership through action, community-wide collaboration, and rolling our sleeves up to make a difference.” |
28 Mar 2014, 11:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Stacy Blackman’s B-School Buzz |
 Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of Stacy Blackman’s B-School Buzz, our periodic check-in with some of the MBA blogosphere’s applicant and student contributors. In this edition, Buzz bloggers share their rejection woes, positive interview experiences, and musings on how not getting into business school may not be so bad after all. The ding sting—With a final application tally of 0 for 4, Ellie of the Coffee Beans and Tea Leaves blog has spent some introspective time figuring out where her weak points may have been this admissions season. Perseverance is crucial in the MBA application process, and we wish her luck as she regroups and re-strategizes for next year. When a ding provides confirmation—Although he felt just a teeny bit disappointed by the ding from Kellogg School of Management, Domotron can now focus fully on the joys of being a Tuckie and celebrate the official end of his MBA application journey. That fuzzy, feel-good feeling—MBA Reapplicant shares a glowing account of his campus visit and interview experience at Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Despite a sleepless night before, the chips fell naturally into place during his breezy, conversational interview with a member of the admissions committee. Congratulations! When rejection spurs success—The old adage “everything happens for a reason” seems to be playing out in spades for Writing in Transit, who took a brief hiatus from his blog upon learning business school wasn’t in the cards, for this year at least. A series of positive, life-changing opportunities has cropped up and made a reevaluation of the MBA necessary. A message for HBS applicants—TwoYearsatHBS received several emails this week from both admitted and rejected applicants following the recently announced Round 2 decisions. In this post, he congratulates the accepted and offers consolation and sage advice to those who didn’t land a seat at Harvard Business School this year. Do you have an MBA-centric blog? Want it featured in an upcoming B-School Buzz post? If so, email me at buzz@StacyBlackman.com. |
31 Mar 2014, 06:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Unusually High Admissions Rate at UNC Kenan-Flagler |
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While we often hear about the extremely low acceptance rates at MBA programs at Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business—11% and 7%, respectively—we don’t often discuss the cases on the other side of the dial, particularly among well-ranked schools. The University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School finds itself in just that position, with a high MBA admissions rate of 44%, according to a recent story in the Daily Tar Heel. Senior MBA admissions director Lisa Beisser acknowledges that the percentage is higher than Kenan-Flagler would like, particularly from a perception point of view, and that a realistic admissions rate to aim for would be 30-35%. “That would be much more in line with our peer schools,” she says. Kenan-Flagler’s new dean Doug Shackelford, who began his term on February 1st of this year, doesn’t seem worried about lowering the admissions rate to improve the school’s ranking by key media outlets. “Any school in the world who isn’t ranked No. 1 would like to be No. 1,” he says in the Daily Tar Heel, noting that the rankings are based on many, often subjective, factors. The school introduced a new branding campaign in 2013 which emphasizes the ampersand symbol, distinguishing Kenan-Flagler as a place where students master both “the science & heart of business.” The change in tone may have led to the dramatic 30% increase in application volume this year. Beisser says that most schools would consider a 4-6% increase a success, so “That’s huge actually in the business school world.” Whatever the cause, right now Dean Shackelford is focused only on attracting the best students and providing the best management education possible. “We don’t sit here and reverse engineer the rankings,” he tells the Daily Tar Heel. “If we get that ranking, wonderful; if not, we’ll live with it.” |
01 Apr 2014, 06:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: NYU Stern MBA Program Appoints New Dean of Students |
 New York University Stern School of Business announced it has appointed alumnus Conor Grennan as Dean of Students for the MBA program, a position which acts as a liaison between the administration and more than 2,500 full-time and Langone MBA students. Grennan earned his MBA at NYU Stern in 2010, and served as student body president during the second year of his MBA studies. Before earning his MBA, Conor founded Next Generation Nepal, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that has rescued and reconnected with their families approximately 500 trafficked children in post-war Nepal. While at Stern, Conor wrote “Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal,” a New York Times best-selling book that chronicles his motivations for and experiences with his NGO. “Conor instantly grasps what we mean when we say we’re in the business of inspiring future leaders to create value in the world because he has transformed our promise into real outcomes in the real world,” says Peter Henry, dean of NYU Stern. “Conor is a bridge builder who successfully discovers unforeseen opportunities to make a meaningful difference where business, society, culture and people intersect,” Henry adds. “We are delighted to have one of our own return to Stern in this important administrative capacity to mentor and guide future generations of Stern students.” In 2014, Conor was named a recipient of the Unsung Heroes of Compassion, which was awarded to him by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Huffington Post named Conor one of its “Game Changers of the Year” in 2011. His book, “Little Princes,” is now required reading in numerous colleges and universities around the country. Conor will continue to serve as a member of Next Generation Nepal’s Board of Directors. |
03 Apr 2014, 06:00
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: How NOT to Approach GMAT IR |
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Guest post by our friends at Magoosh As of June 2012, the GMAT lost an essay and gained a new section. The GMAT Integrated Reasoning (IR) was born. This section appears at the beginning of the test and asks students to deal with complex and disperse forms of data to solve problems. The test makers explicitly state that this section is meant to mimic skills that students will need in business school, and more importantly, in business. These skills, as stated by the GMAT, are “synthesizing information presented in graphics, text, and numbers; evaluating relevant information from different sources; organizing information to see relationships and to solve multiple, interrelated problems; combining and manipulating information from multiple sources to solve complex problems.” If all this is true, and I think it is, the IR section is an important measure of your potential success in school and in business. As such, practicing for the IR section will benefit you long after you take the GMAT, and the GMAC has evidence from actual test takers to prove it. But what exactly are these skills and how do you prepare for this new section? I’d like to walk you through what not to do and end with what you should do to prepare for the IR section. Not Just About Math You will need to exercise your math brain and use your logical, numerical reasoning powers for this section, but you are greatly mistaken if you think that your preparation for Quantitative Reasoning is sufficient preparation for the IR section. Students may find that being strong in algebra or data analysis will help them through some of the IR section, but most of what they will see there is in the form of text, tables, or graphs. The closest things to IR, in the Quantitative Section, are the word problems that require both reading comprehension and math sense. But even these questions don’t touch the level of complexity that you will see in IR. You will need to do more. Not Just About Reading The IR contains a lot to read—messages and emails, announcements and descriptions, explanations of graphs and prompts to answer, statements to evaluate and column headings to understand. Having strong reading skills is a must, as with the entire test, but again, it is not sufficient for success. The ability to quickly read for meaning will help. The ability to organize information from multiple sources will help. The ability to locate details will help. But none of it is sufficient. You will need to do more. Not Just About Graphs and Tables Students sometimes misunderstand the IR section. It’s not just graphs, charts, and tables. Yes, they are there. Yes, you’ll be dealing with scatter plots, radar charts, and graphs like this one. Having experience in statistics will help, but that won’t be all that you need to be ready. Understanding U.S. Today charts is a start, but you’ll probably want to move on to The Wall Street Journal and The Economist tables and charts to be ready. But even comfort with graphs at that level is only part of what you need. Here’s What You Need to Do First thing you’ll need to do is take the time to learn all the question types. There are four of them—Two-Part Analysis, Multi-Source Reasoning, Table Analysis, and Graphical Interpretation. Learn the difference among these questions and also learn how much variety exists within each question type. Although the general format will be the same, the types of information and presentation of data can vary greatly. For example, a Two-Part Analysis question can involve algebraic expressions or valid statements based on a passage. Next you’ll need to deal with timing. Integrated Reasoning is deceptively long. The test makers tell us that we have twelve questions to answer in 30 minutes, but in reality, we have twelve pages that have anywhere from two to five questions to answer. We must answer all questions correctly on a page to receive credit. As such, we all need to practice these questions in a timed environment. We all need an impeccable pacing strategy to avoid guessing on questions as time is running out. Finally, you’ll need to work on your executive function. No, not that type of executive. I am talking about neuroscience. Executive function refers to the management and control of certain cognitive processes. These processes are skills needed for success on the test and later in life. They include deciding priorities, weighing benefits and liabilities, designing strategies, resolving conflicting values, planning, and execution. The key to honing these skills, as with most skills, is practice. And not only practice of IR questions, but also general practice of these skills in your life, while reading the newspaper or managing your finances. Takeaway Preparing for the IR section is not the same as preparing for the Verbal section or the Quantitative section. But the preparation can greatly benefit you. Not only will it help you in understanding a GMAT score report or help you in applying to Wharton, but it also will make you a more competitive student and a more competent employee. More than anything else you will practice for the test, besides good reading skills perhaps, is IR prep. You are practicing life skills—not abstract math concepts or contrived arguments. Practice them well. This post was written by Kevin Rocci, resident GMAT expert at Magoosh, a leader in GMAT prep. For more advice on taking the GMAT, check out Magoosh’sGMAT blog. |
04 Apr 2014, 10:01
| FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: How to Maximize Your MBA Experience |
 The MBA Student Voice blog of UCLA Anderson School of Management recently posted some great advice from second-year student Nathan Adelman on how to make the most of your MBA experience, and it rings true no matter where you eventually end up. Adelman lists key lessons he’s learned while at Anderson, and we’ve summarized four of them below. For more of his thoughts on each subject, click over to the original post linked above. Lesson 1: [b]The difference between a good MBA experience and a great one is about $10,000.[/b] No one is denying that business school is an expensive endeavor, but Adelman says ponying up an extra $10K will cover the international trips, clubs, and social events that will take your entire MBA experience to the next level. “These experiences will impart to you a global perspective, lifelong friends, and a strong business network that will benefit you for the next 40 years of your career,” Adelman says. Lesson 2: Not studying for a test is actually harder than studying for the test. Getting straight A’s doesn’t open any more doors for your career path than getting B’s, Adelman says, who believes classes are the activity in business school that have had the least influence on landing his dream job. “Once I was comfortable with that feeling, it enabled me to better manage my time and prioritize my commitments which in turn allowed me to get the most out of my business school experience, inside and outside of the classroom,” he explains. Lesson 3: Greater career focus yields more career opportunities. Recruiting for multiple industries and job functions actually creates fewer opportunities for finding something you truly like, Adelman believes. Be as focused as possible, he urges, and take the time to go for something that really gets you excited. “All this extra time allows you to focus on specializing in your specific area of interest. This means you actually have the time to do industry research, network with people in the industry, and get to know the companies intimately – all things that you will actually talk about in your interview!” Adelman advises. After all, he says, it’s much easier to help the “Restaurant Girl” or the “The Pharma Guy” than it is to help the “Maybe consulting, maybe marketing, maybe tech Guy.” Lesson 4: Mentors cannot be assigned, they must be found. While most schools have mentorship programs that pair students with someone experienced in their field of interest, Adelman believes the best mentorship relationships happen organically between people with an authentic connection both professional and personal. “It is this personal connection that really separates an ‘advisor’ from a ‘mentor’, and also it cannot be faked,” he says. “So don’t be afraid to seek out those people whom you admire and want to emulate – odds are one of them will see something in you as well.” You may also be interested in: Maximize Your MBA Experience Thoughts on the UCLA Anderson Interview UCLA Anderson School of Management MBA Essay Tips |
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