{"id":30619,"date":"2015-09-21T00:31:01","date_gmt":"2015-09-21T07:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=30619"},"modified":"2016-07-27T16:03:04","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T23:03:04","slug":"applying-to-b-school-attending-darden-founding-10thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/applying-to-b-school-attending-darden-founding-10thoughts\/","title":{"rendered":"Applying To B-School, Attending Darden, Founding 10Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Check<\/a>This interview is the latest in an Accepted.com blog series featuring\u00a0<\/span><\/i>interviews with MBA students<\/span><\/i><\/a>, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at\u00a0<\/span><\/i>top MBA programs<\/span><\/i><\/a>. And now for a chat with <\/span><\/i>Jack Mara<\/i><\/strong>, a recent <\/span><\/i>UVA Darden<\/span><\/i><\/a> MBA graduate (class of 2015).<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Accepted: We'd like to get to know you! Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad? Where and when did you complete your MBA?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack:<\/strong> My name is Jack Mara, I am from Boston, Massachusetts. I went to Union College in Schenectady, New York and studied economics. Recently (\u201815) I completed my MBA at Darden Business School<\/a> (University of Virginia).<\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: Can you share three fun facts about yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack:<\/strong> I participated in the Pro Soccer Combine (very unsuccessfully), my house was struck by lightning and I am a Patriots fan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: Why did you choose Darden? How was Darden the best fit program for you? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack: <\/strong>I wanted to go to a business school strong in both consulting and entrepreneurship<\/a> because those were the two paths I was considering after school. Darden was the best fit for me because of the people and collaborative environment. Darden is not a city school \u2013 this means your whole life revolves around the school and Darden community. Darden requires nightly meetings with learning teams, weeding out individuals that do not want to work in a highly collaborative environment. <\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: If there was one thing you could change about the program, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack:<\/strong> The first year program at Darden (the core curriculum) is excellent. The academic program second year \u2013 when MBAs start to lose steam in the classroom \u2013 is not quite as strong. In my opinion the second year learning needs to shift more towards working to solve actual problems in real time (working on real problems for companies, start-ups, non-profits, etc.).<\/span><\/p>\n

How to build the best possible educational experience for second year business school students is a dilemma all schools face \u2013 not just Darden.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: Looking back to the MBA application process, what would you say was the most challenging step for you? How did you work to overcome it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack:<\/strong> Despite a substantial amount of time, energy and effort I was rejected<\/a> from every school I applied to round 1. This rattled my confidence going into round 2. Mentally I reminded myself that I committed to working hard throughout the whole process. The MBA admissions process can be very humbling (it was for me), but I just kept working, kept grinding and great results started to happen. <\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: Can you share your top three admissions tips with our readers? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack: <\/strong><\/p>\n

1. People (including me) focus way too much on the rankings<\/a><\/strong> when applying and selecting business schools. There are lots of great business schools, and the top companies recruit at a broad range of schools. Focus more on where your personality fits and find the best cultural fit. <\/span><\/p>\n

2. The process is a bit of a crap shoot<\/strong> \u2013 don\u2019t become discouraged about rejections. They do not mean that you are not qualified. There are many highly qualified candidates that are not accepted. Admissions offices are looking for fit and trying to fill out a well-balanced class. Chances are you will not be viewed as a fit at every school \u2013 but you will be at some.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. The waitlist is not a rejection.<\/strong> Plenty of people are admitted off the waitlist<\/a>, so stay persistent. <\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: Can you tell us about your startup\u00a010Thoughts<\/a>? What was the evolution of the concept?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack:<\/strong> As an MBA student at Darden Business School I wanted to stay well versed on important topics and issues across the business world. I was frustrated with the difficulty of finding a broad range of great content on the internet. Searching through many different publications is time consuming and curation algorithms often result in clickbait content that wastes my time.<\/span><\/p>\n

I started asking my Darden classmates to send me the best article they read each week. It was awesome \u2013 I received a range of interesting content leveraging the collective expertise and reading of all my classmates. It hit me that this is the best way for MBAs and people interested in business content to find great articles.<\/span><\/p>\n

With this concept I founded <\/span>10Thoughts<\/span><\/a> to provide great article content recommended, curated and vetted by MBAs. We started at Darden and now have 35% of students at the top 20 schools in the class of 2017 using our platform. Our users enjoy 10Thoughts because it keeps them well versed on relevant content across the business spectrum. We hope you will <\/span>check us out<\/span><\/a>! <\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: What are some of the top articles out there today? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack:<\/strong> Here are 5 of the most popular articles over the last couple of weeks on 10Thoughts:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Inside the Sad, Expensive Failure of Google+
\n<\/span><\/a>\u2022\u00a019 Subject Line Stats Impacting Our Email Open Rates
\n<\/a><\/span>\u2022\u00a0MIT Claims to Have Found a \u201cLanguage Universal\u201d That Ties All Languages Together
\n<\/a><\/span>\u2022\u00a0Entrepreneurs Don\u2019t Have a Special Gene for Risk\u2014They Come from Families with Money
\n<\/a><\/span>\u2022\u00a0Netflix CEO\u2019s Plan for World Domination\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Make sure you check out <\/i>10Thoughts<\/i><\/a> today. Thank you Jack for sharing your story with us \u2013 we wish you loads of luck!<\/i><\/p>\n

For one-on-one guidance on your b-school application, please see our <\/i>MBA Application Packages<\/i><\/a>. For specific advice on how to create the best application for UVA Darden see:<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Read<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Accepted:<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Best MBA Programs: A Guide to Selecting the Right One<\/a>\u00a0[Free Guide]
\n\u2022\u00a0UVA Darden 2016 MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines<\/a>
\n\u2022\u00a0Admissions Straight Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

This article\u00a0<\/a>originally appeared on\u00a0<\/em>blog.accepted.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Accepted.com<\/a>'s\u00a0<\/em>experienced admissions consultants<\/a>\u00a0can help you create the most impressive application possible with\u00a0<\/em>comprehensive packages<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>or provide targeted assistance from\u00a0<\/em>picking perfect programs<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0<\/em>designing a dazzling resume<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>constructing engaging essays<\/a>, or\u00a0<\/em>preparing for intense interview<\/a>s<\/a>\u2026and more!\u00a0<\/em>Accepted.com<\/a>\u00a0has guided thousands of applicants to acceptances at top programs since 1994 \u2013 we know what works and what doesn't, so\u00a0<\/em>contact us<\/a>\u00a0to get started now!<\/em><\/p>\n

Accepted.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ~\u00a0The Premier Admissions Consultancy<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This interview is the latest in an Accepted.com blog series featuring\u00a0interviews with MBA students, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at\u00a0top MBA programs. And now for a chat with Jack Mara,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,939,775,243],"tags":[1048,18,1896,39,370,998,12],"class_list":["post-30619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-accepted","category-admission-consultants","category-blog","tag-advice-for-mba-applicants","tag-b-school-application","tag-mba","tag-mba-admissions","tag-mba-advice","tag-mba-application-advice","tag-the-mba-application-process","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30619"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30622,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30619\/revisions\/30622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}