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| FROM Accepted.com Blog: Get Accepted to UT Austin McCombs |
 An overview of the UT McCombs MBA program and what you need to know to get accepted [Show Summary] Rodrigo Malta, UT Austin’s Director of Admissions highlights key factors that make the UT McCombs full time MBA program attractive to many. He discusses what students can expect from a virtual admissions process and gives tips he’s gleaned from his 10+ years in his role. Interview with Rodrigo Malta, Managing Director, MBA Recruitment and Admissions at UT McCombs [Show Notes] Welcome to the 452nd episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for listening. Are you debating whether to apply during Round 3 of this year or Round 1 of next year? It’s a great question, and there are pros and cons to each position. Join me on January 20th at 10:00 AM Pacific, 1:00 PM Eastern for our next MBA Admissions webinar when I’m going to dive deep into who should apply Round 3 and who would be better off waiting until next year. You can reserve your free seat for this webinar, our first MBA webinar of 2022 at accepted.com/round3. It gives me great pleasure to have, for the first time on Admissions Straight Talk, Rodrigo Malta, Managing Director, MBA Recruitment and Admissions at UT Austin McCombs. Rodrigo earned his bachelor’s at Missouri State and his MBA from UT Austin McCombs in 2007. He started working in MBA admissions at McCombs in 2008 and became the Managing Director in 2010. In addition to his duties at UT Austin, Rodrigo is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, of Salesforce’s Recruitment and the Admissions Advisory Council and he’s also UT’s representative on the Graduate Management Admission Council. Rodrigo, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. It’s a pleasure to have you on the show. Can you give us a basic overview of the full-time MBA program at UT, focusing on its more distinctive elements? [2:29] Thank you, Linda, for giving me the opportunity to share a little bit about Texas McCombs. I’m going to speak and share information primarily about our two-year MBA program at our Austin, Texas, campus. For the full-time MBA program in particular, I think there are three distinctive elements that I would like the listeners to know about as they’re considering different business schools to pursue their studies. First, it’s a highly flexible and deep curriculum that we have for our full-time MBA students. So coming in, we bring in a class of about 260 students from a variety of walks of life and educational and professional backgrounds. It is really important for us to ensure they have kind of that core business foundation, the core classes. You do all your core classes, the majority of that first semester, together in cohorts. We divide those 260 students into four cohorts, and everybody gets that solid academic business foundation to then explore 100+ electives that we have across 20 concentrations in classes that you can take at the business school and outside the business school. This highly flexible and deep curriculum where over 70% of the program itself is self-selected coursework is one of the highlights of our program. The second highlight that I want to share with the listeners are the people. We have amazing individuals pursuing their dreams here at Texas McCombs and amazing faculty members that are going to be supporting you along the way. The combination of the amazing research faculty that is not only creating knowledge, but disseminating it in a really great way in the classroom with students that are thirsty to know more, to make an impact, and the staff that’s going to be there to really advise you and help you navigate all the opportunities of Texas McCombs is really important. So the people are number two. And the last aspect is place. We are really fortunate to be part of one of the primary research institutions in the US at the University of Texas at Austin. It is even luckier that we are in the amazing city of Austin which provides our students with the vibrant business community to put to practice what they’re learning in the classroom, but it’s also an amazing place to live. It is a great place where young people are flocking to, and it’s something that really provides a unique combination of study and fun for our students. So that flexible, deep curriculum, people, and place, are what really makes the Texas McCombs full-time MBA program unique. Of course UT, along with the rest of the entire world, has been affected by COVID. What changes do you see lasting going forward? [5:50] That’s a great question. I will start that with everything that we do at UT Austin, the health and safety of our students, faculty, staff members are top of mind. And with that as a lens and a goal, we are really happy that we were able to do in-person delivery of all of our programs for the fall. We not only delivered classes in person, our student organizations were able to meet in person, and we even had some admission events on campus during late November. It was great to see prospective students coming into our new building and really experiencing the program firsthand. I’m really proud of how our students came together with our faculty and staff to make that possible. For those experiences to be delivered in a safe manner where everybody felt really comfortable and they were able to be delivered successfully. I think a couple things that will continue to be aspects of the COVID experience that we’ll take on as, hopefully, COVID winds down a little will include virtual advising appointments. These were really a big hit with staff and students alike, and just generally the ability of our students to virtually connect with our staff and faculty via Microsoft Teams. I think other schools might use Slack, but it’s really a way for folks to feel engaged in a part of a community, even kind of in a virtual world. From an admissions perspective, we were able to come in and deliver a really solid incoming class with only virtual events, so the class that came in fall of 2021, they didn’t have the opportunity to come for in-person events. We were able, though, to tell them McComb’s story and engage with prospective students in a successful manner virtually, so we’ll see a lot of those engagement opportunities lasting even beyond when we are back to, hopefully, a more normal experience. It is a situation that is ever changing, ever evolving. We understand that the situation that might be happening in Austin may be very different from what’s happening in New York or New Delhi or Sao Paulo, so we completely understand that applicants and prospective students are coming in with different mindsets and different situations. What I urge all your listeners to do is to reach out to us. We’re incredibly accessible via email, via LinkedIn, via a telephone call. We are here to help you and engage with you and make sure that you can submit that successful application, so engage with us. We know that COVID is not going to be resolved in one fell swoop, but I am hopeful that we’re able to take some of the learnings in the past year-and-a-half, and especially what happens this fall and take that momentum on for the spring. When we arrive at a point in time where COVID is considered manageable, do you anticipate a combination of virtual and in-person recruiting events? [9:54] For sure. I think as we come back to in-person events, we want to keep the successful virtual opportunities that were available and well received by prospective students and really think about where the value-add is of that in person touch point. Before we used to go on the road quite often, all over the world, early on in the admission season, then to interview candidates and then to do admitted student events. Now what we’re thinking about on top of the funnel when we’re sharing general admissions information, we can reach a lot more people by hosting a virtual coffee chat. I have a standing coffee chat every week that I have 60 people join at a time and we have great conversations, so I’m reaching a lot of more folks this way, but there’s also very often coming to experience the on-campus, what Texas has access to offer on campus. Coming to our new building and figuring out what the culture is like, and having that in-person experience is really important, so let’s focus on those on-campus events, but in the same token, we’re a global program, so we need to connect with people internationally. So when is it the right time to go to India or go to Europe or go to Africa and connect with those students? We’re thinking about what that looks like and I think, as we figure out what that may entail, we will for sure seek feedback from our prospective students and applicants to see what’s the best ratio of events. I will say that our admissions teams have been working so hard. We always want to do everything and we can’t do everything, so it will be really hard figuring out what we don’t do any more. UT has several dual degree programs, including an Asian Studies, Global Policy Studies, Latin American Studies, Middle Eastern Studies and Russian Eastern European and Eurasian Studies. I’m guessing that travel was an important part of these dual degree programs. Is UT McCombs starting to travel again? [12:47] I’ll say that one thing that all those dual degree programs have in common is that I want to visit all of those places where the focused geographical areas for those studies are. Sign me up for every single one of those trips when we can travel again. For our programs here at UT, we had a few students travel to national conferences like National Black MBA, for example, for Hispanic as well, the ones that were delivered in-person. We actually had a few exchange students that were able to come to us, and mostly from Europe in this fall as well, so we’re starting to pick up some of that travel. And most recently, our part-time MBA program just last week went on their global trips. There were seven trips and we took 150 students abroad, so those opportunities are starting to open up. I think the Texas McCombs MBA program is the trailblazer within UT. We were the first ones to take students back abroad in that manner, and the current plans for our full-time MBA program in particular is to deliver five global study tours over spring break, which is what we normally do and reignite the exchange programs in the other way around, so not only welcome our exchange students from partner universities, but right now the plan is to send close to 25 students abroad for the spring. Again, with the COVID situation, everything is extremely fluid. Even though those part-time MBA global trips, we had to cancel one of the trips at the last minute. There were eight trips and we had to cancel one. We keep a really close eye on what the situation is like, and we prepare students for all scenarios. But I agree with you, Linda, when you said, I wish and hope that COVID is eradicated, but I think in the near term it’s something that we’re going to have to learn to live with. We want to deliver the best academic experience to our students, and we believe that global exposure is a key part of the MBA education, so we want to make our best attempt to deliver those experiences. On the admission side of the house, we’re beginning to travel domestically a little bit. We have a few administrative meet-ups for Round 1 that will happen in January in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and the main Texas cities. We look forward to starting to travel again, maybe a little bit more starting in the spring, as well. Is there something that people don’t know about McCombs that you’d really like them to know, or perhaps a common misconception you’d like to dispel? [17:55] There are two that I often talk about because I get questions about this all the time when I host a virtual chat, or if we’re doing an info session. Oftentimes prospective students think about McCombs being a very regional school, but we do have a global brand in Texas McCombs and the Texas Longhorns in Austin. We place not only a lot of individuals in Texas as you’d expect, but outside of Texas as well. We actually place more students outside of our home state than our comparable programs in New York and California. We are really lucky to be in Austin, which is a place where people like to be and also we place a lot of students in Dallas and Houston. We do place a good amount of students outside of the state of Texas, so we love our Texas residents that go to UT, but we welcome individuals from outside of Texas and all over the world. You don’t have to stay in Texas. You carry that brand with you, and you’re going to be an honorary Austinite and Texan wherever you go after you graduate, but we do have a lot of connections and opportunities for individuals to go beyond the state borders after graduation. Outside of Texas, where are the primary places that UT grads go? [19:27] We place quite a few folks in New York, primarily in the banking sector, some consulting. We also place pretty strongly in the Bay Area, primarily in the technology sector. As of late, we have been placing a lot of folks in Seattle, Denver, and Chicago to a lesser extent, so a variety of different places. I think one of the things that has happened, though, in the past five years is that the number of our students that want to stay in Austin has increased dramatically. I think Austin’s been in the news for relocations of headquarters and opportunities and different industries, so we’re happy to see Austin now has the infrastructure and opportunities to support the students who want to be here, but we continue to, of course, place students outside of the city of Austin. The other misconception is also around career and placement, but it’s more specific to industry. Oftentimes people associate Texas with oil and gas, and I would say to your listeners that we are, if not the best, one of the best places in the country to pursue your studies in energy, but we go beyond the traditional oil and gas field. There’s great balance between traditional oil and gas communities that are available to our students, but we see the growing field of clean technology be a really strong area of interest for individuals that are interested in energy that don’t want to work in oil and gas. We have a CleanTech concentration that mirrors our energy, finance concentration that really focuses on solar and wind in that clean technology space is something that I would like all your listeners to be aware of. Our biggest placement continues to be tech, so over 30% of the class goes into tech, followed by consulting at 20%, and then energy is close to 10% of our placement, but it’s more than just oil and gas. I always think of entrepreneurship in terms of UT. As a matter of fact, a couple of years ago, I interviewed a LBS grad who had done a semester at UT and absolutely loved it. You can find it at accepted.com/393. He just had a wonderful time and started his own business. [22:01] We have a lot of opportunities in the startup space. Entrepreneurship is an area where you can get a great education and solid foundation because we have amazing professors in the space where they are on the board of startup companies and have started their own businesses so you know, practitioners as well as researchers. You get that academic foundation, but I think what makes us special is how accessible Austin is for people to put to practice their business ideas, be it working on their own business ideas or pursuing an interest in this particular area and connecting that space and doing a micro-consulting project or doing an internship or, for those that are able to do it, kind of that entrepreneurial venture full time after graduation. Austin is a great place for that, too. McCombs requires a GMAT or a GRE, but I understand it will also accept the Executive Assessment. Do you have any plans to expand the number of tests that you accept or to be more generous with test waivers? [23:39] For sure. We continue to monitor the test optional developments in the graduate management education space pretty closely. We do not have any current plans to change or add to the types of tests we accept. We do accept the GMAT, GRE, and EA, and accept valid or expired scores for all of those three test categories. As you mentioned, we do have a COVID test waiver in place. We are working really closely with the University of Texas at Austin graduate school admissions to make sure we align with their testing policies, and I don’t see us changing that for the next admission cycle. But again, I feel like everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt given the COVID situation, but the current plan is to continue with what we have in place. UT’s class profile for the class of 2023 has some pretty impressive stats: 704 average GMAT, 318 average GRE total, 3.44 average GPA. What do you look for besides stats? [25:08] We take our holistic review of an application really seriously, so all of the application components that applicants submit are taken under consideration. You are more than your GMAT or GRE or GPA. For us, it’s really important to dive into an applicant’s work experience, and by work experience, we don’t mean the quantity of years or months of experience somebody has, but really the impact and trajectory that someone has had in the workplace. From a culture perspective, we have an incredibly entrepreneurial and collaborative environment here at Texas McCombs, so we’re going to be reviewing letters of recommendation, resumes, essays, and interviews and keeping an eye and ear out for evidence of your collaboration in the workplaces where you’ve been. What’s your entrepreneurial spirit like? Something that we value here at Texas McCombs, and I think it’s part of that Texas spirit is grit, your ability to do the hard work. You roll up your sleeves and get things done. Those are some of the things that we look for in the application itself. I feel like sometimes, a high average GMAT or high average GRE, or a really high GPA may turn some individuals off from considering McCombs or submitting an application, and for those of your listeners that are on the fence maybe saying, “I don’t know. My GMAT is below the average. I’m not going to get in,” talk to us! We are here to support you and help you put your best foot forward. You are more than that number, and we want to hear your story. We love, love, love to hear your story, to hear where you’re coming from, and it’s really a privilege to be in the receiving end of such amazing applications, so work with us, and I think that you’ll be surprised that you can put together a really strong application even if you have below average GMAT or below average GRE. What happens to an application after the applicant hits submit? [28:04] That’s when the hard work for us really begins. I always equate hitting the submit button with the deadline day. For the full time MBA program, we don’t start reviewing your application for the round until the day after the deadline, so if you happen to hit that submit button two weeks before the deadline, you’ll get a couple of automated messages from us. You’ll be invited to engage with us in different types of events, but we don’t really start that application review until the day after the deadline. And what happens the day after the deadline is we start to review the applications at a high level to determine the individuals that we’re going to be inviting to each review. Our goal is always to have 80 to 90% of the interview invitations out for a particular round within three weeks of that deadline date. We are all hands on deck doing that high level review of the applications to get as many of those interview invitations out as possible to give our applicants enough time to prepare for the interview, to schedule the interview, and go through the process. At the same time that interview invitations are going out and we’re starting to interview candidates, the application gets assigned one or two readers, so the reading process is happening at the same time as the interviews are taking place. We usually give an interview deadline day within a particular round so applicants know when they need to schedule that interview by, and then after that date, we start to meet as an admissions committee. The admissions committee is a lot of fun. This fall, for Round 1, we were able to come back to campus and sit in the same room, which was awesome. We’ve been conducting a virtual admissions committee for the past couple Rounds, so it’s a lot of fun to be back with the team in one room. The person that reads your application, your primary reader is kind of your speaker for that particular candidate. And then we discuss all the candidates in committee and decide on the admissions decision and scholarship awards leading up to the decision deadline date, which just so happens that our full-time round one decision deadline notification date is today. You’re looking at everything: the recommendations, the resume, the essay questions. Could you give us a brief overview of how those things fit together? [31:07] Generally speaking, we’re looking at your academic aptitude through the undergraduate and graduate transcripts and any test scores that you’re able to submit as far as the application. That academic aptitude is really important because it is an academically rigorous program. That first semester is incredibly tough with a lot of quantitative heavy classes, so we want to make sure that students are set up for success. When assessing academic aptitude, we’re looking both at those undergraduate graduate transcripts, which for most people are in the past. The test options and the test score help us complement the history that you have with something that might be more up to date. That’s the academic review of the application. We also are interested in your professional trajectory. The average years of work experience for our full-time MBA is 5.5 years so we’re looking for individuals that have had an impact in the industries that they’ve been a part of. We look at your resume, we look at your letter of recommendation as part of the evaluation of your professional trajectory. And for us, again, impact is paramount. Trajectory onward and upward. You don’t have to have the perfect resume. You may have some gaps, especially in a world that has been turned upside down with COVID. That’s perfectly okay. What’s important to do is to help the admissions committee understand what that trajectory was, and if there are any gaps, let us know what happened. So that professional trajectory piece is the second piece of the tripod. And then, the last piece is all about the applicant in Texas McCombs. Why do you want to pursue an MBA? Why Texas McCombs specifically? What are your dreams and your passions, and why do you want to be a part of our community? We assess that piece via the essays and via the interview as well. I think that’s like the admissions tripod and how the different components really interact with each other. How do letters of recommendations fit in? [34:04] The recommendations are more around that professional trajectory. They let us know your impact in the workplace, but we also have some questions around teamwork and collaboration that help us assess the fit with the culture within that letter of recommendation as well. You have two required essays and an optional essay. For essay one, you give the option of a 250 word essay or a one minute video. Do you have any preference? [34:26] We don’t have a preference, so we give you the option. We like prospective student applicants to really pick the communication medium where they’re going to be able to put their best foot forward. I will say that between 20% to 30% of the applicant pool actually do the video, so it might not be as high as some of the applicants may expect. The goal of that first essay is, really, an informal essay for us to get to know you a little bit better. I often encourage applicants to highlight aspects of their candidacy that we may not know from the resume or from the letter of recommendations. Sharing with us information about their passions or the why behind the decisions that they made academically and professionally, are really great ways to use that essay number one. What can applicants expect if they’re lucky enough to be invited to interview? [35:46] I love interviewing candidates when I can. Here at Texas McCombs, the interviews are conducted by admissions officers, current students and alumni. For all the Rounds since COVID, all of our interviews have been conducted virtually. We are hoping that in Round 2 we’ll be able to do the interviews virtually and maybe produce a couple in-person options on campus if the COVID situation allows. The interview is by invitation only. They are blind interviews, which means that the interviewer only has had access to your resume. As we approach the interview, it usually starts with the applicant’s elevator pitch on their background. Usually we like that to be three to five minutes max. And then we dive into questions around why an MBA? Why now? Why Texas McCombs? The interview itselflasts between 30 to 45 minutes. It is behavioral in nature, so lots of “tell me about a time when” types of questions around leadership and collaboration and teamwork. We do not have case interviews or group interviews. And at the end, I think it is always important, for your listeners and applicants in general, to have good questions to ask whoever the interviewer is and important to really tailor the follow up questions that you have to who is interviewing you. Have a different set of questions to ask if you’re being interviewed by a student versus an admissions officer versus an alum. Will you know ahead of time who’s interviewing you? [37:45] You’ll know if they are a student, admissions officer, or alum. You may not know their name until you start the interview. You’ve been doing this for over 10 years. What’s the most common mistake you see applicants make? [38:00] It happens every year no matter how much we communicate it, but I know that your listeners are awesome and they’re not going to make these mistakes because they’re listening to this podcast. So the first one seems really simple, but it’s not answering the essay prompt. As you build your application and you focus on those essays, it is really important for you to engage with individuals within your community. If you have an opportunity to work with an admissions consultant, that’s awesome as well, but always ask yourself and those that are reviewing your essay if you’re appropriately answering the essay prompt. I know that applicants have a lot to share, and they want to share everything with us. Remember that there are a lot of different application components and opportunities for you to share who you are. The essays are a great asset to your application, but it’s only going to be one that you’re going to be able to capitalize on if you answer that essay prompt. So that’s number one. The second one is also around essays, and it seems really basic. I can see some of your listeners may be rolling their eyes whenever they listen to this, but mentioning the wrong school name in the application is a big no-no. It happens more often than you think, so make sure to double, triple check the materials that you’re submitting with your application, that you’re listing out the right school name. The third one is a kind of a new nuance that we’ve been seeing, I would say, as of the past three to five years, which is discrepancies between your resume that you submit with the application and any information that you have out on LinkedIn. As part of the application here at Texas McCombs, applicants can submit their LinkedIn if they have a LinkedIn profile. If you are going to submit your LinkedIn profile with your application, and that piece of it is optional the resume is not optional, make sure that the LinkedIn profile matches the resume on the jobs that you’ve had, dates, etc. If there are discrepancies between both of them, you may raise questions from the admissions committee, and you don’t want the admissions committee to have questions. You want to answer any questions that we have. Those discrepancies between resume and LinkedIn can be a little bit tricky sometime, so be on the lookout for that. Some applicants have specific elements of their background that give them grave concern. How do you view applicants who had a dip in grades or perhaps a period of unemployment due to depression or emotional illness? How about applicants who perhaps have an academic infraction or a misdemeanor on their record? [41:41] Great question. To answer scenario number one, I’ll let applicants know that they can use the optional essay to give us more insight into that particular situation. It’s perfectly okay if you had a period of unemployment at some point during your professional career up to this point, and it can be because of depression or emotional illness or just a situation outside of those two factors. With COVID specifically, depending on the industry that you’ve been in, you may have been impacted more heavily, or maybe your family situation where you may have had to quit your job to take care of family members. It can happen here in the US, but it happens, I think, even more often abroad in some of the countries where we have a lot of MBA applicants. So using that optional essay to really help us understand what it was is really key. For the second scenario around an academic infraction or misdemeanor on your record, we have a specific question on the application itself where you can address these two items. There is a limit on the answer to that question. If you feel like you didn’t provide us all of the context around what happened there, you can always use the optional essay to add on some more kind of insight into those particular situations, too. One thing that I will say about academic infractions or misdemeanors, if it’s a DUI, for example, it happens and it’s usually in the past. For us, what we’re looking for is for you to own the situation and own what happened and share with us what you learned from that particular situation. We’re not looking for excuses or pointing a finger saying, “It wasn’t my fault.” Explain the situation for us, own it, and then let us know what you learned from it. That’s the message that I’ll leave your listeners with. Let’s say a listener is thinking about applying for this cycle, they’re looking at a “late” Round 3 application. What advice would you give for that person? Who do you think would be better off waiting until next year to apply? [44:31] That is a great question. We have Round 3 for a reason. We take applications in Round 3. We admit students in Round 3. The one thing that I’ll say with Round 3, though, is applicants in that round need to be ready to go. We receive those applications. We turn the evaluation around really quickly, usually within a month, so you get that admissions decision pretty quickly because you have to be in Austin by early August starting the program. There’s very little runway for you to settle in and get ready. You should be ready to go when you submit that application. For listeners that are really gung ho into starting in fall 2022 and feel ready to do so, I’ll say apply for Round 3. You have that chance so go for it but only if you’re ready to start. For those that are interested in starting in fall of 2023, that will be the next submission cycle, there’s still quite a bit of time. We usually open the application sometime in late July, early August, for that next cycle. We tease a few announcements over the summer, like our new essays and any new updates to the application components. But my advice for those applicants would be to make a plan and give enough time to explore different schools. If you are going to take the exam, make time to prepare for the exam. Whenever you’re taking the GMAT, the GRE or the EA, preparation is key. Make a plan that is really encompassing and make sure you’re giving yourself enough time to study. Also make some time to do some introspection exercises where you can figure out what the right schools that you are going to be applying to, and then work on those essays and submit the applications. Make a calendar plan if you are looking to apply for next fall. [youtube2]figure> [/youtube2] Where can listeners and potential applicants learn more about UT Austin McCombs full-time MBA program? [49:55] Mccombs.utexas.edu is our website, so that’s the best place to learn information about Texas McCombs, but I do encourage your listeners to find me on LinkedIn. Rodrigo Malta is a pretty unique name. If you Google “Rodrigo Malta Texas McCombs email,” my email comes up because I’m the only Rodrigo Malta in all of UT. So if you all have questions, reach out to me. I love to be a connector, and if I don’t know the answer to your question, I likely know the person that does, and I’m happy to connect you with them.  Related links:
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| FROM Accepted.com Blog: How an Admissions Committee Views Your MBA Work Experience |
|
[img]https://blog.accepted.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/How-an-Admissions-Committee-Views-MBA-Work-Experience.jpg[/img] [img]https://blog.accepted.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/How-an-Admissions-Committee-Views-MBA-Work-Experience.jpg[/img] As you apply to MBA programs, you need to think about your past work experience and how it all fits into your story. Work experience is important because of what it reveals about you in terms of your character, maturity, and abilities. Even if your GPA and GMAT/GRE scores are spectacular, your work experience still needs to impress the admissions readers. Post-college employment reveals that you have “grown-up” experience in taking direction, meeting deadlines, assuming responsibility, and [url=https://blog.accepted.com/display-teamwork-in-application-essays/]working in teams[/url]. These are all highly relevant in a program where group projects are the norm. Developing a baseline track record in your field also gives you industry knowledge and the ability to contribute your insights to class discussions. Finally, recruiters prefer MBAs with work experience. What follows are some thoughts on how admissions committees think about certain types of work experience, and how you may want to frame your own work experience during your MBA application process. Traditional work experience You may have worked in marketing but not at P&G; worked in banking but not at Goldman Sachs; worked in technology but not at Google. Will your experience at a modest, relatively unknown company count as much to admissions committees compared with applicants who have worked for brands with cache? Fear not! The quality of the work that you do is much more important than working at a name-brand institution. When brand experience is a bonus That being said, brand name experience might potentially give you an edge, at least on the surface. For example, if you worked for a large company such as Infosys, Google, Goldman Sachs, or Bloomberg Financial, the adcoms will understand that you were a small fish in a large pond. They will appreciate that you had to work harder to stand out, but they will also look for signs of your talent. Advancement in large companies is often slow because they are highly structured and bureaucratic, with less room to dazzle supervisors with distinctive skills and abilities. The schools are familiar with the typical path, and if your talents were recognized in such a large organization and you were given a project normally given to someone above your pay grade, or if you were fast-tracked for a promotion, this will add stature to your application. Additionally, the fact that a large company with a valued brand name hired you in the first place is another indication that you probably have at least some of what your MBA program is looking for. [url=https://www.accepted.com/mba/services/consulting?utm_campaign=Blog&utm_medium=how_adcom_views_work_experience&utm_source=blog_inline][b]Work with a seasoned consultant to polish the presentation of your work experience and your entire application[/b] >>[/url] Even at big-name companies, the substance of your work is still the most important ingredient There are a few things admissions committees will want to see to verify that the experience within the organization is strong as well. [list][*][b]Longevity:[/b] If you only were employed at a brand name firm for one year or less, there could be a concern that you did not thrive in that work environment. On the other hand, if you have been employed for two or more years, that duration signals competence, persistence, and hard work. [/*][*][b]Promotions: [/b]Were you promoted or did you otherwise earn increased responsibilities? Regardless of company, those boosts are the best proof that you are considered highly capable by management, and therefore have a great future ahead of you. [/*][*][b]Movement:[/b] If you have more than one brand name on your resume, that is a strong signal as well that you were able to successfully transition from one world-class firm to another–or perhaps you were poached. [/*][*][b]Insight:[/b] Working at a major company provides an additional benefit too: an admissions committee will see that you have experienced the inner workings of an organization that is best-in-class, and therefore can provide valuable perspectives in class discussions. Top companies clearly have done something right to earn their reputations, and you have been exposed to and internalized techniques and practices that have enabled their growth to the top. [/*][/list] For all these reasons, experience working with A-list companies can provide an edge in the initial review process. However, bottom line, what really matters is the substance of your work rather than where you performed it. Admissions committees seek students who will [url=https://blog.accepted.com/different-dimensions-diversity-episode-193/]have as wide a range of experiences as possible[/url], and especially experiences that are relevant to an MBA curriculum. When faculty are teaching a particular subject and students have real-world experience in that subject, the lessons come to life. As such, the skills and knowledge you gained from significant projects managed from start to finish matter a great deal. Involvement with strategic initiatives matters. You need not have been involved in a multimillion-dollar deal to gain strong leadership and management skills. Small projects can shine, too! Even small projects that you “own” can be extremely valuable in providing expertise in particular areas. As you advance in your career, always be on the lookout for projects that allow you to take on a significant leadership role and provide you with a degree of autonomy. Make the most of your resume real estate On [url=https://www.accepted.com/mba/resume]your resume[/url], you need to reduce notable achievements to one bullet point each, and you need to make that bullet point as impactful as possible. For example, “Led a team of eight to cut costs in the supply chain by 20% through strategic re-purposing of older machines.” This example shows leadership, strategic thinking, and tangible results, all really important stuff! This is what admissions committees want to see. It doesn’t matter if the size of the project was $10,000 or $1,000,000, or that it was done at Boeing or Jane’s Jewelry Creations. What matters is that you provided significant results to your company. Can you show increasing responsibility? In addition to having tangible real-world experience to share in the classroom, admissions committees are also looking for upward mobility. If you have a track record of promotions, your mobility will be immediately obvious on a resume. [url=https://blog.accepted.com/4-tips-for-demonstrating-professional-growth-in-a-flat-organization/]Even if you don’t have that growth,[/url] however, you can still employ thoughtful wording to showcase how your responsibilities have increased over time: “Rewarded with project management of X following successful implementation of social media planning schedule.” Essays also offer a place to highlight forward momentum, depending on the topic. Being trusted with greater responsibilities is the clearest signal of strong work experience for MBA programs that you can provide. It shows that you have what it takes to succeed in the program and in your career beyond. What about non-traditional work experience? Applicants with non-traditional work experience often worry whether their experiences will be considered relevant in an MBA classroom. I have even heard this from doctors, lawyers, military officers, and other people of impressive accomplishments. Believe it or not, the less traditional one’s work experience, the more an admissions committee may be interested! When putting together a cohort, admissions committee members strive to make it [url=https://blog.accepted.com/writing-the-diversity-essay/]as diverse as possible[/url], in every way possible – job function, industry, culture, etc. Imagine if a class was made up of only finance people? Or IT engineers? How rich would the discussion be across all courses? Not very! That’s why schools are delighted by non-traditional applicants, and you can be assured that your application will get noticed. Individuals coming from a non-business background are assumed to have approached issues and problems with a different perspective and set of priorities that may allow for additional learning opportunities for their classmates–and possibly even the faculty! However, as a non-traditional applicant, you will need to have two things solidly in your profile in order to be seriously considered for admission: [list][*][b]Stellar grades in a few courses that can indicate your ability to succeed with quant work (e.g. statistics, calculus) in a demanding MBA program, and/or a top-notch GMAT or GRE score.[/b] [b] [/b]Since much of your degree’s coursework may not be directly relatable to a business program’s curriculum, the school needs assurance that you will be able to handle the MBA courses. If quant courses are missing from your transcript (and if you don’t knock the GMAT or GRE out of the park), you should consider taking an algebra, business math, or statistics course at a local community college or online to alleviate any concern there. Once enrolled, aim for a B or better. [/*][*][b]A solid reason for needing an MBA[/b] [b] [/b]Believe it or not, there are serial degree seekers out there. Since your reason for pursuing an MBA will most likely not be obvious based on your previous work experience, you must do an outstanding job of presenting your career goals and objectives. [url=https://reports.accepted.com/mba/why-mba]Why is an MBA necessary[/url] to get you where you want to go?[/*][/list] A non-traditional background can give you a leg up with an admissions committee. But once you have their attention, you’ve got to make your case for acceptance with a mind-blowing application. You’ll need to convince them that you will thrive in their program and require the education their program provides to achieve your dreams. Does entrepreneurship count as work experience? Yes! If you launched an entrepreneurial venture or joined a startup, you will have the opportunity to show how you survived and perhaps even thrived in those risky, exciting, uncharted waters. In a small company you would have had more occasions to display your adaptability and versatility. You probably also handled a wider variety of roles and had more responsibility with less supervision. Most applicants with these experiences have learned invaluable lessons on a faster track than if they had worked in established firms. Even if their ventures were short-lived, they wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything. Not only did they have to toggle among many disparate kinds of tasks, ranging from sales to public relations to product design, but they also learned – sometimes the hard way – fundamental rules of business planning and formation. If you write about being an entrepreneur, however, you will have to demonstrate that this was not a euphemism for “unemployed.” Your business may or may not have succeeded, but showing how you planned and executed it will speak volumes about you. You can write about how you strategized, determined the need in the market for your product or service, and the logical sequence of steps you employed to launch and manage your enterprise. Presenting self-employment experience on a resume Creating a resume as a self-employed individual presents some challenges. If you already have an established business, some of this information is superfluous, but if you have been doing contract work, there are details to manage beyond the summary of the work you have been doing. Company name If you own an established business, you probably already have a company name, but if you are doing freelance work or contract consulting, you might not. You should consider creating a company name that helps the reader understand you are indeed self-employed, with a purposeful, grown-up name. It could be something as simple as “John Smith Media Consulting” or “E-Commerce Branding Solutions.” Job title If you are doing contract work or other freelancing, avoid putting “Self-employed” or “Freelancer” as your title. Consider “CEO/Founder,” or if that is overreach, something like “Senior Consultant” or “Senior Engineer.” Choose something that is as close to what your title would be were you employed by someone else, but without sounding puffed up or self-congratulatory. If you have an existing business, the “CEO/Founder” designation is most likely an accurate depiction. Describing your work experience If you run a business with tangible goods or services, mapping out your experience should be fairly straightforward. Contractors should discuss projects you have worked on for various firms or individuals, listing details and successes of those projects as much as you can without violating any confidentiality agreements. Hopefully, you have some [url=https://blog.accepted.com/essay-tip-the-importance-of-details/]good, quantifiable results[/url] that you can point to. Here are some examples of how you could present projects: “Overhauled payment system for $XMM automotive parts manufacturer, resulting in reduction of A/P by 20%.” “Performed research and presented findings related to a proposed expansion of a non-profit into a new territory. Research results were subsequently shared with existing donors, who then funded 100% of the planned expansion.” “Designed website and implemented social media strategy and tactics for eight-member startup in the energy industry.” How much work experience for MBA programs is enough? How much is too much? Most applicants for two-year, full-time MBA programs have from 3-8 years of experience. If you have been working longer than that, you should probably [url=https://blog.accepted.com/emba-the-ultimate-guide-for-applicants/]consider an EMBA[/url] or other program geared for the more experienced professional. Unless [url=https://blog.accepted.com/applying-for-an-mba-with-no-work-experience-what-you-need-to-know/#schools]a program actively courts younger applicants[/url], two years of work experience is usually the effective minimum you will need to prove that you can contribute to and benefit from the program. Bottom Line It isn’t only the quantity of work experience or whether you gained that experience in a small startup or at Google that matters to MBA admissions committees. It’s the ability to show how much you have contributed and what impact you have had. In whatever work experiences you have had since graduating from college, if you can prove that your focus, determination, collegiality, initiative, and maturity paved the way for you to have an impact on the job, you are several steps closer to a seat in your chosen MBA class. Explaining the kind of work experience you have and your career progression in a meaningful way will help the adcoms get to know you better. Furthermore, even two years of full-time, professional employment can lend credibility and substance to your stated career goals. These goals will not seem to be based on a youthful, fuzzy, naive dream but on real-world business experience that has tested, refined and clarified them as well as your roadmap to get there. [b]Want to make sure you present your work experience in the best possible way? Work with a seasoned consultant at Accepted to polish the presentation of your work experience and your entire application. [url=https://www.accepted.com/mba/services/consulting?utm_campaign=Blog&utm_medium=how_adcom_views_work_experience&utm_source=blog]Contact us today![/url][/b] [url=https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/58291/a7004604-d7d1-4d1f-98ef-a0ec53d7e590][img]https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/58291/a7004604-d7d1-4d1f-98ef-a0ec53d7e590.png[/img][/url] [img]https://blog.accepted.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/jen-weld-admissions-consultant-accepted.jpg[/img] Jen Weld is a former Accepted admissions consultant and Assistant Director of Admissions at Cornell’s EMBA program. She has an additional 10 years of experience in higher ed and corporate marketing. [url=https://www.accepted.com/services?utm_campaign=Blog&utm_medium=blog_bio_jen&utm_source=blog][b]Want an admissions expert help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch![/b][/url] [b]Related Resources:[/b] • [url=https://www.accepted.com/mba/selectivity-index]The B-School Selectivity Index: Are You Competitive at Your Dream School? [/url] • [url=https://blog.accepted.com/7-tips-for-mba-applicants-from-family-businesses/]7 Tips for MBA Applicants from Family Businesses[/url] • [url=https://blog.accepted.com/applying-for-an-mba-with-no-work-experience-what-you-need-to-know/]Applying for an MBA with No Work Experience: What You Need to Know[/url] The post [url=https://blog.accepted.com/how-an-admissions-committee-views-mba-work-experience/]How an Admissions Committee Views Your MBA Work Experience[/url] appeared first on [url=https://blog.accepted.com]Accepted Admissions Blog[/url]. |
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| FROM Accepted.com Blog: Why Is This Successful Leader Investing In an Oxford Said Executive MBA? |
 The intersection of business and human rights led to the Oxford Said EMBA [Show Summary] Anthony Triolo is a champion of social justice with an impressive work history serving countries all over the globe. He’s currently earning his Executive MBA at Oxford Said and shares what led him to the program and how he intends to incorporate his learning in the next steps of his career journey. Interview with Anthony Triolo, Oxford Said Executive MBA candidate [Show Notes] Thanks for joining me for this, the 454th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Before I dive into today’s interview, I want to invite you to download Ace The EMBA, Expert Advice For The Rising Executive. This free guide will compliment today’s podcast and give you suggestions on how to choose the right EMBA program for you, how to differentiate yourself from your competition – in a positive way – and how to present yourself effectively as a business leader who will bring credit to any program that accepts you. Download Ace The EMBA. I’d like to welcome to Admissions Straight Talk, Anthony Triolo. Anthony has an absolutely fascinating background. After graduating from Yale with a bachelor’s in history and political science in 2000, he went on to work on the Truth And Reconciliation Commission for Sierra Leone, where he worked from 2003-2009 in differing roles, all relating to justice. He then worked as a Senior Associate for the UN’s Special Tribunal for Lebanon at the Hague. After serving in additional roles related to international law and justice, he became the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Rule of Law Collaborative at the University of South Carolina in 2020. While all the above is extremely impressive and interesting, he has been invited to Admissions Straight Talk because he recently began his Executive MBA at the Oxford Said Business School as an Executive MBA Director Awardee, which earned him a sizable financial award. Let’s get right to it. In preparing for the call, I saw the phrase “transitional justice”, several times in your bios and in your work. So I have to ask you, what is transitional justice? [2:35] Transitional justice is a way to help societies who are grappling with the legacy of massive human rights abuses confront their past so they can move forward and have a more prosperous future. We usually talk about transitional justice in the post-conflict setting. I’ve worked on transitional justice initiatives on a global scale and usually what that means is prosecuting individuals who were responsible for war crimes that were committed during the conflict. It’s about truth telling, telling the story of what happened during the conflict and making recommendations for the way forward. It’s about reparative justice for the victims, and it’s about institutional reform. How do we repair what was broken and make it better so that the occurrence of violence doesn’t happen again? In reality, transitional justice is not only limited to post-conflict societies. It includes all societies across the board, including the U.S. Given your career progress to date, why did you decide to even consider an Executive MBA? [3:51] I’m 20 years into my professional career, and I’m sort of reading the tea leaves. I’m really interested in the intersection of business and human rights. I’ve worked a lot in the public sector, but I realize in order to really make an impact and have a transformative impact in the world, you need greater partnerships between the public and private sector. I was thinking that the MBA could help me get a better understanding of the private sector to help build those partnerships that are necessary to bring about change in our society. That’s what really led me to pursue the Executive MBA. [youtube2]figure> [/youtube2] How did it feel when you were notified of the Director’s Award? [7:29] I was thrilled. Honestly, I didn’t know how many people were given the offer. I later found out it was only seven of us amongst 70 in the class. I felt recognized for all the work that I had done, and I felt recognized for the fact that I would be a valuable member of the class and that I would have something different to contribute. I’m in a class with a lot of CEOs and business executives, not many people with my background. I think the admissions committee felt that I reflected a certain background that could be unique and really would be rewarding to my classmates. It was an honor. Honestly, the minute I found out that I was given the award, I knew that Oxford was the right place for me. Can you tell us a little bit about your EMBA studies and how they’re structured? You’re in the United States right now, right? [8:26] I am. The great thing about the Oxford program is that we meet every five to six weeks in person, and we’re meeting for a full week. Most EMBA programs are on the weekend. Oxford really values the time that we spend with each other. I just completed my third module, there are about 21 modules over two years, and I’ve gone to the UK twice in that time period. It’s been an amazing experience to be able to spend a week with my classmates each time. They say that the most valuable part of an EMBA program is the networking and I think it’s really given us a chance to get to know each other and spend that time together. Do you have a week of classes at that point when you’re together? [9:27] Yes, a full week. Do you have assignments in between? [9:30] We do, we have assignments and assessments. We’re each assigned a small group or team to work with so I’m in regular contact with my team, and I have to say that’s been one of the best experiences so far. They really did a great job in matching us in terms of the teams that we’re in. I have five other members that are part of my team from all over the globe, in the US, Europe, Africa, and we meet on a regular basis and we really support each other. Is it a lockstep program where everybody goes through the same time taking the same classes? [9:59] Correct. It’s a lockstep program. I’m with this group, this team for the entire duration of the program, which is over a two year period. Is it difficult residing in the United States and being part of an international cohort with this kind of base in the UK? You mentioned you got together three times and you were twice in the UK. Where were you the third time? [10:15] Well, the first time was virtual because of the pandemic. Not everyone was able to travel, and they wanted to make it equal for everyone. So the first module was online and the following two modules were hybrid. Most of us were in person, but a few people, because of COVID restrictions, were remote. Are you meeting regularly with your teammates via Zoom? [10:49] Yes. On a weekly basis, regular WhatsApp chats, emails, telephone calls, we’re regularly in touch. There’s quite a bit of reading that has to be done between modules. Once we complete a module, usually we’re completing a class. So for example, in the three modules that I’ve had so far, I’ve had Analytics, I’ve had Leadership and I’ve had Firms and Markets. I’ve already completed an assessment for Analytics and I’m working on two other assessments that are due in January. So far, do you think that the program is serving your goals and meeting your expectations? [11:25] Absolutely. The one thing I would say about Oxford, which really impresses me is their Career Services Department. I feel that many in my class are really looking to transition career paths and the Career Services Department is really strong. They’ve been very active from day one. We have different industry advisors. We can work with different career counselors and I regularly make use of those services that are available to us. I think Oxford is very strong on this and really trying to help build the network and make you feel that you’re part of that network. I’ve reached out to many alums who have already been so helpful.  What have you most enjoyed about your EMBA studies at Oxford so far and how many modules are there total? You mentioned you’ve completed three. [12:25] There are 21 modules in total. Not all of them will be at Oxford. Some will be in international locations to be determined. Some may be in South Africa depending on the elective that you take. The best part for me is the global nature of the program and being in a classroom with people from so many different countries, such rich experiences, different industries. I think Oxford did an amazing job of bringing together a diverse group of people to the class. We’re already learning from each other. I would say that I’m learning just as much from my classmates as I am from my professors. The networking opportunities that have already been available to me are outstanding. I highly recommend the program to anyone who’s considering it. Has there been anything that really surprised you in the program? [13:20] Well, I’m surprised at how well I’m doing at the mathematical stuff. It’s been quite a bit of time since I took a math class. Analytics was the first class, and I was surprised at how well I was doing in the class. What do you think could be improved or done differently? [13:48] That’s a good question. I think they need to have a better ratio of male to female students in the class. Right now the ratio is 70:30 male:female. They could do a better job of recruiting more female candidates which would increase the diversity of the class. They could offer additional overseas opportunities, since we are a global program. Having classes in other countries would be really interesting, but otherwise, I have to be honest, Linda, I’m pretty satisfied. I’m really happy with the program. Now you’re working full time, right? [14:38] I am working full time. How are you handling the juggling necessary to work full time and go to school part-time and take off weeks here and there to go to modules? [14:41] I’m not going to lie to you. It’s not easy, but I’m managing. I think I’m just so excited to be part of the program that I don’t view it as a hindrance. The other interesting thing, which I think would sort of be different at another school where there were only weekend classes is the fact that none of my weekends are really consumed by this. Because I go to class for one full week, I can do my classwork at my own pace the other weeks until the next module. If I time myself and really allocate my time efficiently, it’s really manageable. I will admit one thing, and I hear it’s common for other people in my situation, is that since starting the program, I feel I’m more invested in the Oxford program than I am in my actual work. I think that’s partially because I’m interested in transitioning a bit and I invest a lot of time in the Oxford program. I’m still getting my work done of course, and I’m doing a great job, but I’m prioritizing the Oxford program. Do you see yourself changing your career direction as a result of your Oxford experience? [16:00] I’m still passionate about human rights issues, sustainability issues, and social impact. I just think it’s probably from a different angle. I haven’t ruled out sustainability positions within private corporations. In general, I feel like times are changing and the business sector and the private sector is more attuned to issues of justice and human rights. They have to be because the consumers demand it, in a way. Oxford has created a niche for itself in terms of being that business school that really does focus on social impact issues. The number of classmates I have that are interested in climate change issues is quite high. I’m still committed to the principles that have guided me throughout my career, but I just may approach it a bit differently moving forward. What advice would you have for those interested in pursuing the Executive MBA and specifically the Oxford Said EMBA? [17:04] I would say, really think about why you want to do a program. It is a big investment in terms of resources and time. So be clear about why you want to do this and think about the program that would best address your needs and think carefully and talk to alums. Before I took the decision of going to Oxford, I reached out to many alums, not only at Oxford, but at other schools that I was accepted to, to get a better sense of what’s the best fit for me. In terms of Oxford, if you’re looking for a global program, Oxford’s one of the best. The thing about the Said School, is that it’s embedded in the university so you really do have the resources of the university as a whole to work with you and other schools. At Oxford, it’s a collegiate system so there are many different colleges that make up the university and each of us in the EMBA program is assigned to a specific college. In fact, when I’m there for the week, I actually live in the college that I’m assigned to. So I’m embedded into that program. I’m in Lady Margaret Hall and I actually live there with other graduate students during that week. So that really enriches the experience as well. The other interesting thing is that when you’re a student, you’re also a member of the Oxford Political Union so you can go listen to the debates, go listen to the speakers that are coming on campus. You really are embedded in the university in a way that I think other EMBA programs don’t allow you to do so. So I think that’s what really makes Oxford unique. What about specifically the Oxford Said Executive MBA Program? If somebody determines that they are interested in that, what advice would you have for them? [19:39] Just make sure that you’re able to take the time off to do the program. If you’re really interested in getting to know your classmates, this is the program for you. The fact that you get to spend so much time with them and you’re not just running in on a Friday and leaving on a Saturday. You’re really spending a full week with your classmates, and it gives you that opportunity to connect. I would reach out to other alum in the program. I’m always happy to speak to others who are interested in it. I think the fact that it’s focused on social impact, it’s focused on being as global as possible, it’s focused on bringing together a cohort from so many different countries – if that’s what’s interesting to you, I think that you would find it valuable. Lastly, if you are looking to transition, I can’t think of a better school. Oxford is really aware of the fact that many of its EMBA students are interested in transitioning. I kind of got that when I was speaking to other schools but I didn’t get a sense of that as much as I did with Oxford. They really do work with you in helping you through that process. If you’re a student who’s looking for that, Oxford should be at the top of your list. Is there anything you would’ve liked me to ask you? [21:08] I think you did it, you hit every point. Relevant links:
Related shows:
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