This interview is the latest in an Accepted.com blog series featuring interviews with current MBA students, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at top MBA programs. And now for a follow up interview with Debra Yoo, who was recently accepted to Johnson at Cornell University. (We first met Debra last year – you can read our first interview with her here.)
Accepted: Welcome back! Can you just remind our readers -- where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad? Do you hold any other degrees?
Debra: I grew up in the Chicagoland area and attended Columbia University for undergrad where I majored in English and Asian American Studies along with completing Columbia's Creative Writing Program (as you can see, I did not have a very business-oriented background!). After spending a few more years in NYC, I moved to Los Angeles with my husband. We were there for about four years before we relocated to Ithaca last month.
Accepted: Congrats on gaining accepted to Johnson! What are the 3 main traits of the Johnson school that attracted you to it?
Debra:
1) The people. Of all the students and alumni that I contacted at the various schools I applied to, those who attended Johnson had the highest response rate--by far. And not only did they respond promptly, they answered my questions very thoroughly and honestly. I was so impressed. It really speaks to the quality of Johnson's smaller, tight-knit community.
2) The location. I know, I know--many folks out there don't apply to Johnson because of its location, but Ithaca really appealed to me. Aside from its natural beauty, I wanted to be in a small town where I could get to know my fellow students without the distractions of a big city. I'm finding that many others here also had the same mindset when they chose Johnson, which once again shows that community is a high priority for most everyone here.
3) Johnson's immersion program. I didn't want my schooling to be completely academic and theoretical--I wanted as much hands-on experience as I could possibly get. At Johnson, most of the core coursework (accounting, finance, marketing, etc.) is completed during the first semester of the first year, leaving time during the second semester to complete an in-depth consulting project for a real-life company. For the marketing immersion, students in the past have completed projects for companies including Microsoft, Bayer and HP.
Accepted: How did you go about researching schools? Did you participate in any MBA fairs or events?
Debra: I attended a Forte Forum in Los Angeles in August 2013, which was unbelievably helpful. The Forum really helped me finalize my choices of schools; at that point, I had pored over a ton of websites but hadn't made any connections with the schools in person. I looked into other MBA fairs, but none of them had all the schools I wanted to apply to--maybe two or three at most. The Forte Forum was the only event that had almost all the top schools present. If you are a woman planning on applying to top 20 b-schools, the forum is a great way to speak to recruiters from them in one room. And you get to do it in a smaller, female crowd. It's wonderful all around.
Aside from the forum, I also emailed/spoke with ambassadors and alumni at all the schools I was interested in. I was originally planning on staying in the nonprofit space after graduating, so I had many questions about nontraditional paths that I wanted answers to. Speaking with the right alumni whose careers post-b-school resonated with me played a lot into my final decision making.
I was told that it was really important to visit campuses in person before applying, but I did not have the resources or time to do so. For a long time I agonized over whether I was decreasing my chances of admission by not doing campus visits, but I believe the impact was minimal (if it impacted me at all). But if you're able to visit campuses, you really should! They can give you great fodder for your essays and help you make sure that the school is the right place for you.
Accepted: Can you talk about your experience with the Forte Foundation? What do they do and how have they helped you?
Debra: I love the Forte Foundation, and I owe much of my success so far to their support!
The Forte Foundation is a consortium of top b-schools and leading companies who support women in business. Women still have a ways to go when it comes to equal representation in business, especially in senior management. It's an issue we all need to remain aware of and take thoughtful and deliberate actions to address.
I first discovered Forte when I started my MBA application process, and I'm so glad I did. I never thought that I would one day attend business school, so I was really starting my learning from scratch. I listened to several of Forte's free webinars about the application process and read through their entire website for guidance.
I am also very thankful to have been selected a Forte Fellow by the Johnson admissions team. In addition to receiving a scholarship (that I am very, very grateful to have!), being a Fellow comes with many other benefits including networking opportunities and support for your job search.
I also attended the 2014 Forte MBA Women's Leadership Conference that was held in Los Angeles earlier this year. It was an amazing feeling to be surrounded by hundreds of other talented, ambitious women who were all about to begin their MBA journeys. And it was also a great way to kick off our new lives as students and remind us that we are all working together toward closing the gender gap in business.
Accepted: Have you taken any classes or prepared in any other way to your smooth transition to business school?
Debra: I have never taken a single economics or statistics course in my entire life, much less accounting or finance. I was really concerned about my lack of experience in the area, so I completed an online pre-MBA mathematics course at a nearby university earlier this year. It exposed me to some of the common terms and calculations I'll come across in school.
Johnson also provided us access to mbamath.com (I believe several other business schools do this, also) over the summer. I've been working my way through the units on finance, economics and statistics to prepare myself.
In addition to all the math, I switched my leisure reading time to business-related books, including authors like Malcolm Gladwell, Dale Carnegie and Sheryl Sandberg.
Accepted: What sort of career do you plan on pursuing post-MBA?
Debra: My background so far is in marketing/communications in the nonprofit sector. After school, I plan on doing marketing in the corporate world in the consumer packaged goods industry. I am hoping to return to the nonprofit sector later on down the line at a senior management level.
Accepted: B-school's not cheap! Do you have tips for financing an MBA?
Debra: It's tough; really, really tough. The (very) few third-party scholarships I've found out there are for very specific populations and are for smaller amounts. All I can say is to really take your future career path into account when considering the cost of your program. If you are planning on entering the nonprofit space, look for schools with loan forgiveness programs like Yale or Stanford. And if you get scholarship offers, try negotiating the amount. When budgeting, keep a large buffer for travel expenses. Also check out loan alternatives like Common Bond. There's some interesting stuff out there if you look for it!
Accepted: Do you have any advice for applicants about the start the MBA admissions journey?
Debra: Go beyond rankings, career placement stats and average starting salaries when narrowing down your options. Try to get as good a feel as you can for the community and the types of people at the schools you're interested in. I think a good way to measure this is whether you feel a desire to contribute to and help develop and grow that community. You'll be spending the next two years with those people and they will be your professional network for the rest of your life, so find a good match!
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Thank you Debra for sharing your story with us!
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This article originally appeared on the Accepted Admissions Consulting Blog, the official blog of Accepted.com.
