Accepted MBA Updates : Ask Admissions Consultants

Accepted.com · 2014-02-14T13:50:02-08:00

Welcome to the Accepted.com blog! New posts will be added periodically, so check back or follow this thread for informative MBA-related articles.

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Columbia Entering Class Profile [#permalink]

14 May 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Columbia Entering Class Profile

This year’s entering class at CBS reflects the school’s interest in building a class composed of “intellectually driven people from diverse educational, economic, social, cultural, and geographic backgrounds.”

According to the class profile, 41% of the class are international students, 36% are women, and 32% are minorities. They come from a range of previous industries (Financial Services 28%; Consulting 25%; Marketing/Media 10%; Private Equity 8%; Technology 7%; Non-profit 5%; and smaller numbers from other fields), and studied a range of fields in college, from Social Sciences, to Business, to the Humanities.

They share a strong record of achievement and leadership, whatever field they are coming from. They are also strong academically: applicants’ average undergraduate GPA was 3.5 (middle 80%: 3.1-3.8) and their average GMAT was 716 (middle 80%: 680-760). Of 5799 applications received, 1056 were admitted, for an ultimate entering class of 743.

Are you planning to apply to CBS? Register for our FREE WEBINARfor vital guidance on the application process!

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To GRE Or Not To GRE? That Is The Question [#permalink]

14 May 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: To GRE Or Not To GRE? That Is The Question

Before your dream of getting accepted to graduate school comes true, you’ll have to face – and conquer – the GRE.

Listen in on our conversation with Dr. Lydia Liu, Managing Senior Research Scientist at the ETS and Tom Ewing, Director of External and Media Relations, for GRE advice, their perspective on the GRE vs GMAT debate, and more.

00:03:22 – An overview of the GRE.

00:05:18 – Don’t stick with your first instinct: The GRE’s changing score feature and how it helps you snag a higher score.

00:09:13 – Paid and free GRE study tools.

00:12:16 – The GRE as a predictor of success in b-school.

00:13:18 – Why MBA applicants should take the GRE and not the GMAT.

00:17:24 – GRE prep strategies.

00:19:57 – Ongoing research studies at ETS.

00:21:09 – The latest news from ETS (and it doesn’t reflect well on US grad students).

00:25:58 – Tips for graduate school applicants.

Tags: Admissions Straight Talk, Admissions Straight Talk, GMAT, Grad School Admissions, GRE, MBA Admissions, podcast

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Can You Get Into B-School With Low Stats? [#permalink]

17 May 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Can You Get Into B-School With Low Stats?

Yes! Not everyone who goes to Harvard scores a perfect 800 and has a GPA of 4.0 (in fact, very few actually hit those perfect scores). If you’re stats are less than ideal, that doesn’t (always) mean that you need to cross your top schools off your list!

Now’s your chance to catch up on valuable information you may have missed during our webinar, Get Accepted to Top B-Schools with Low Stats. B-school applicants with low GPA and/or GMAT scores – you don’t want to miss this! View Get Accepted to Top B-Schools with Low Stats for free now!

Tags: low stats, MBA Admissions, webinar

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Harvard MBA Essay Question: Now Required and New [#permalink]

17 May 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Harvard MBA Essay Question: Now Required and New

Harvard Business School

And the Harvard MBA essay question is…

It’s the first day of class at HBS. You are in Aldrich Hall meeting your “section.” This is the group of 90 classmates who will become your close companions in the first-year MBA classroom. Our signature case method participant-based learning model ensures that you will get to know each other very well. The bonds you collectively create throughout this shared experience will be lasting.

Introduce yourself.

Note: Should you enroll at HBS, there will be an opportunity for you to share this with them.

We suggest you view this video before beginning to write.

You can read Dee Leopold’s full thoughts on this question at on her blog, Direct from the Director, as well as her reasons for making this required as opposed to optional, as its been for the last 2 years.

Dee also reviews the purpose of the essay. On one had its a chance for you the applicant to reflect, organize your thoughts, and relate them as you embark on the adventure of business school. In addition and something that is critical for you to realize as you start that reflection process and choose what to write: The essay is “a chance to get to know you beyond the elements of the application that feel fixed and stationary. Can also be a starting point for interview conversations.”

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools

Tags: Harvard Business School, MBA Admissions

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Should I Reapply To B-School? And To Which Programs? [#permalink]

18 May 2015, 03:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Should I Reapply To B-School? And To Which Programs?

This time of year, we gets lots of reapplication queries. Should I reapply? To which programs should I reapply? Let me give you a few tips on successful MBA reapplication:

1. Coldly and objectively analyze your profile. Do you have competitive qualifications for the schools you applied to? I just yesterday spoke to a former admissions committee member at a top school, and she emphasized how talented the applicant pool is. “It’s so hard to choose!” she said.

2. With the same cool objectivity evaluate your application: Did you present your qualifications well? This step is more difficult than #1, because you rarely have the perspective necessary to evaluate your presentation via your application. And it’s even harder to be objective about something inherently subjective.

3. Did you apply to the right schools given your goals and interests? Or did you just look at rankings and brand? (The latter is the wrong way to choose schools.)

4. Did you apply early in your target schools’ application process? For most programs “early” translates into an application submitted during or prior to January the January deadlines.

Once you have evaluated your qualifications, your presentation of those qualifications, and your school choices, you should also have the direction necessary to go forward. You may need to improve your profile, polish your presentation, adjust your school choice, and apply earlier. Or you may need to work on one of the above areas. But there is one approach you should not take: The same one you took last year.

If you aren’t confident of your objectivity or your ability to take the above steps, then consider an MBA Application Review. It will cost you a lot less money (and time) than another bunch of rejected applications.

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools Create a Better Sequel: How to Reapply Right to Business School,

• MBA Admissions: Reapplication Advice for MBA Applicants”

• 6 Steps to a Remarkable Reapplication

Tags: MBA Admissions, reapplication

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Indian School Of Business 2016 MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines [#permalink]

18 May 2015, 03:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Indian School Of Business 2016 MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines

The Indian School of Business is an excellent program for those interested in advancing to management roles in a broad spectrum of industries and those seeking positions in the consulting industry (20% of graduates earn consulting placements) and technology field (28% of graduates choose this industry upon graduation). Interestingly, while median salaries for graduates of a top US program like Stanford and Harvard only exceed the US national average by 240%, graduates of ISB can expect to earn 522% of the Indian national average wage upon graduation*.

ISB has overhauled its essay questions this year, only maintaining their standard of 3 required essays and one optional while changing the phrasing of all of the essay prompts and increasing the total word limit by 200 words (ISB is one of the few schools that actually require the strict adherence to its word limits). My comments are in blue.

Essay 1 (400 words maximum)

If we were to admit just one more student, make a compelling argument as to why that student should be you by describing an (only one) achievement in your personal / professional life that you are most proud of. What did you do that sets you apart from others? What did you learn?

This is a great question because it allows you to shine the spotlight on whatever aspect of your candidacy you feel makes you exceptional. Look at your career and extracurricular activities and identify the area in which you have achieved the greatest impact, ideally reaching a level that few other applicants can match. This is not just about a title or award you earned; the essay needs to highlight the obstacles you navigated and the challenges you overcame to reach that pinnacle. Don’t forget to discuss some of what you learned about yourself, leadership, and management.

Essay 2 (300 words maximum). Choose one of the following 2 options:

Describe a (only one) defining moment in your personal / professional life when you had to make a risky decision, and explain what you did, why and the outcome.

A risky decision means there was a lot to lose and there was no clear path forward. This essay offers applicants an opportunity to demonstrate their appetite for risk and their decision making process – was it based on data, market research, networking with experienced mentors in the field, gut instinct, or some other technique? A good essay will be able to point to significant results and impact from the risk.

or

Describe a (only one) situation in your personal / professional life when you had to interact with people from diverse backgrounds. How did it affect you and what did you learn?

Similar to option 1 above, this potential topic includes an element of the unknown: when faced with a diverse team, a leader must analyze how the cultural and/or professional backgrounds of the people involved may affect the project and take action to smooth the interactions. This is a great opportunity for applicants with international work experience to share the cultural insight they have gained.

Essay 3 (300 words maximum)

What are your post ISB career plans and how will your past experiences and the Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) contribute to taking you there?

This question is similar to last year’s essay prompt about career goals but is much more focused on what you have done (compared with last year’s emphasis on why you chose those paths). This essay demands a clear definition of what field and role you hope to enter upon graduation, the business skills and insight you have gained that will be essential to succeeding in that role, and how ISB will complement that knowledge.

Essay 4 (Optional) (200 words maximum)

Please use this space to explain any career breaks / provide any other information not covered elsewhere in the application that could significantly impact your candidature at ISB.

Note: It is not necessary to write this essay. Please use this space only if there is something really significant that you would like us to know.

Use this space to explain any gaps in your career but also take advantage of this opportunity to grant deeper insight into any leadership role or impact you have gained, emphasizing how this experience has prepared you for ISB and your future career.

ISB Application Deadlines:

Round 1: October 15, 2015 (11:59 pm India Standard time)

Round 2: January 5, 2016 (11:59 pm India Standard time)

As a consultant with Accepted for nearly 17 years and a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW), Jennifer Bloom has gained great experience in crafting application materials that truly differentiate you from the rest of the driven applicant pool. If you would like help with your ISB application, there are a variety of options for working with her on any budget.

Related Resources:

• Best MBA Programs: A Guide to Selecting the Right One

• Writing About Overcoming Obstacles in Your Application Essays

• 4 Ways to Show How You’ll Contribute in the Future

Tags: 2016 MBA Application, Indian School of Business, MBA Admissions

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Business School Gender Balance Improving [#permalink]

20 May 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Business School Gender Balance Improving

UC Berkeley Haas takes the lead with a 43% female student body.

Women now make up 60% of university graduates, but most business schools have lagged behind when it comes to gender balance—impacting not just women’s experience of b-school, but the composition of the workforce afterward. A new report from gender consulting firm 20-first looks at the numbers of women MBA students and faculty at top programs, and finds that while there has been some improvement in the last few years, we still have a ways to go before achieving gender balance.

Lesley Symons, one of the authors of the report, points out that this “balance” is not merely an issue of numbers—currently, the curriculum at most b-schools is defined and driven by male faculty, male-dominated case studies, etc. She suggests that a deeper issue of cultural change is at stake, in order to make business education “gender bilingual” and effectively train the next generation of business leaders.

The report found that gender balance among students at top programs is improving (with several top US programs near or over 40% representation for women), while faculty numbers are slower to budge.

Here are some of the report’s findings regarding female MBA students and faculty:

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Indian In IT Finds Her Fit At Anderson [#permalink]

23 May 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Indian In IT Finds Her Fit At Anderson

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. We hope to offer you a candid picture of student life, and what you should consider as you prepare your MBA application. And now for an interview with Rohini Vaze…

Accepted: First, can you tell us a little about yourself? Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad? Can you share 3 fun facts about yourself?

Rohini: Sure! I am from Mumbai in India. I did my undergrad in electrical engineering from Pune and then worked at Tata Motors for three years. It was an amazing job where I got a 360 degree view of the business by working in sales, manufacturing and customer support and could take many initiatives and see them implemented. However, I always felt that I needed to learn frameworks that I could apply in my career, and so I came to business school to gain those skills. I also funded my friend’s startup during my time at Tata Motors and that got me interested in this space. So I am using these two years at business school to gain exposure to start-ups in California.

3 fun facts about me are:

1. I have travelled to 10 countries outside my country of birth.

2. I am a trustee at a non-profit organization in India to help underprivileged children learn English and computers.

3. I have been dancing since the age of five.

Accepted: Where are you in business school? What year?

Rohini: I am in my first year of Business School at UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Accepted: What is your favorite thing about Anderson so far? And if you could change one thing about the program, what would it be?

Rohini: My favorite thing about Anderson has been the people and the exposure that it has given to me. Many schools are good at a single discipline but not so great at other industries, but Anderson is great for a variety of careers. This gives a lot of exposure to people who have very diverse backgrounds and I am sure it will be very helpful in the future. If I could change one thing, I would change the time at which the school starts. The quarter system makes recruiting harder since all other schools tend to have an advantage of starting a month earlier than Anderson, and thus those students have more time to gain valuable skills that will help them in seeking internships and full time positions.

Accepted: Can you tell us about your current internship? What role did UCLA play in helping you secure that position?

Rohini: I am currently pursuing a part-time internship at a Venture Capital Firm in Santa Monica and the opportunity came to me through UCLA itself. We have a website through our career center where companies that are in need of interns post about their opportunities. I applied to this internship after seeing the posting on the website and went through a company analysis and interview process before being offered this position. The part-time internship involves doing market research for companies that are being considered for funding through the Venture Capital Firm. What I really like about the internship is that the firm has good deal flow and provides real support to the entrepreneurs that they fund.

For the summer, I will be going to Amazon, and the Anderson career center was very helpful in giving me tips for preparation for the same. Moreover, my classmates as well as 2nd year students helped a lot with the preparation for the interviews!

Accepted: Which other business schools had you considered attending? How was UCLA the best fit for you?

Rohini: I always wanted a business school on the West Coast. I have a heard a lot about the cultural difference between the West and the East Coast schools and knew that I am a West Coast person. The other two criteria I had in mind were that I wanted a school in a city so that I could pursue part-time internships in parallel to school, as well as I wanted a school where there was a high concentration of people going into Hi-Tech. Thus, I had only considered attending UCLA, Berkeley and Stanford. I believe Anderson is a great fit for me since along with the above factors, Anderson has a very diverse crowd. The business school is really good for Finance and Consulting too, and I am confident that this exposure by being in an ‘all-rounder’ school will be very helpful in my career in the future.

Accepted: I see that you did fantastic on your GMAT – can you share a few tips with our readers?

Rohini: Thanks. There are a few things that I think helped me a lot with my GMAT score:

• Start with the simplest books and then move on to the harder ones. The simpler books help to re-learn the concepts from high school that most of us have forgotten. I started preparing with Princeton books and then went on to Manhattan and Kaplan. I also advise my friends to study from the official GMAT book the last. The official book tends to have the simpler questions in the 400-600 range and are not the best questions to practice when you are aiming for a great GMAT score. However, being able to easily solve these questions in the last couple of days when you need something to reduce your anxiousness is the best way to use the Official GMAT book.

• Check your mistakes to find patterns that will help you to focus your further preparation on a particular topic that is common for GMAT exams.

• Spend adequate time on the first 10 questions. I took the older format GMAT where the first 10 questions can really make or break your final score. Thus checking for silly mistakes in reading the question or a calculation error in not calculating answers till the end helps in getting a good score.

• Most importantly, practice a LOT! This is probably the most important tip since one of my biggest hurdles with GMAT was managing to concentrate for the whole 4 hours. During practice exams, I observed that I would make a lot of silly mistakes in the last hour and get lower scores. Thus, I made it a point to get used to the long hours and took one practice exam every three days. I believe this can really make the difference between a 700 and a 750 score.

Accepted: Do you have any other advice for our b-school applicants?

Rohini: Start the application early and enjoy the process! Hopefully, there will be many things that you will learn about yourself through the application process. Also, focus on a few schools that you really want to get into and gather as much information about the school from as many sources as possible – you might have the best application but you won’t get any admit unless you can articulate “why this school” well.

For one-on-one guidance on your b-school applications, please see our MBA Application Packages.

To read more a bout Rohini, you can check out her blog at Rohini’s Blog. Thank you Rohini for sharing your story with us – we wish you much success!

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Are MBA Rankings REALLY Important? [#permalink]

23 May 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Are MBA Rankings REALLY Important?

What do the MBA rankings mean to you? What will they teach you? Should you trust them? Are MBA rankings REALLY important?

In our guide, MBA Rankings: What You Need to Know, newly updated and expanded for 2015, Linda Abraham will walk you through the process of locating the rankings, sifting through them for the important information, analyzing the relevant data, and then finally, USING that information to help you choose the best MBA program for YOU.

The rankings ARE an important tool, but they’re also a tool that can easily be abused. Learn how to use the rankings properly when you download MBA Rankings: What You Need to Know today!

Tags: MBA Admissions, Rankings

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Last Call For Columbia Business School Admissions Webinar! [#permalink]

26 May 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Last Call For Columbia Business School Admissions Webinar!

Wednesday is the day we share our application-changing tips on how to apply successfully to Columbia Business School!

Do you have questions on optimizing your CBS application for admission? Do you need concrete tips on how to answer the essay questions? Do you need help evaluating your profile to determine if CBS is the school for you?

Time’s running out. Reserve your spot for Get Accepted to Columbia Business School before it’s too late. The webinar will air live,on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST.

Tags: Columbia Business School, MBA Admissions, webinar

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Harvard Business School 2016 MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines [#permalink]

26 May 2015, 09:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Harvard Business School 2016 MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines

Make Every Word Count.

Change has once again come to the Harvard Business School MBA application. For the upcoming 2015-26 application cycle, there is now one required essay. For the last two years, it has been optional. Also the prompt has changed.

As it did last year, Harvard does not suggest a word limit. It leaves it to your judgment. The operative word is judgement. Harvard has in the past requested a significant amount of information in the boxes on its application and last year (this year’s app isn’t live yet.) there were significant word and character limits.

Also, HBS has virtually the same deadlines this year as last. Its round 1 deadline is so far the earliest at September 9, 2015.

There is one question for the Harvard MBA Class of 2018. Here it is:

It’s the first day of class at HBS. You are in Aldrich Hall meeting your “section.” This is the group of 90 classmates who will become your close companions in the first-year MBA classroom. Our signature case method participant-based learning model ensures that you will get to know each other very well. The bonds you collectively create throughout this shared experience will be lasting.

Introduce yourself.

Note: Should you enroll at HBS, there will be an opportunity for you to share this with them.

We suggest you view this video before beginning to write.

[youtube2]p>

2016 Application Deadlines:

Application Due
Decisions Released

Round 1
09 Sept 2015
Dec 2015

Round 2
06 Jan 2016
Mar 2016

Round 3
04 Apr 2016
May 2016

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the new, definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools What Does Harvard Business School Want?

• Harvard Business School: The Habit of Leadership

• Some HBS Stereotypes: An Interview with Ben Faw

Tags: 2016 MBA Application, Harvard Business School, MBA Admissions

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Choosing And Visiting Business Schools [#permalink]

28 May 2015, 08:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Choosing And Visiting Business Schools

“Choosing and Visiting Business Schools” is the latest post in our series, Navigate the MBA Maze.

In deciding whether to apply to specific MBA programs, you need to understand how the schools differ. What are their relative strengths and weaknesses? And it isn’t easy to get a real sense of what makes a school unique: They all claim top faculties, great student bodies, and networks that will sizzle when you graduate. How can you tell the differences between them?

Here are a few points that will help you determine differences between schools:

• The employment profile. See where graduates find jobs. Which schools send the most grads to the companies, industries, and locations you are most interested in?

• The class profile. Do you want a large class or a small, close-knit class? Do you want an urban or rural setting? Do you really want to be in a class that draws over 70% of its students from engineering, business, and technical fields? Or would you prefer to be in a class where 46% came from the social sciences and humanities? Both MIT and Stanford provide outstanding MBA educations, but their class make-up is very different. You may prefer one or the other.

• The curriculum. Would Harvard’s rigid first year curriculum, where everyone takes the same classes, chafe? Or would you be lost with all the options at Chicago, which prides itself on its flexibility? Is the ability to pass out of prerequisites important to you? Do you want a lot of teacher cooperation and integration of business functions, as is provided by Tuck or Yale?

• Methodology. Do you prefer a mix of methodologies? Check out Wharton. Do you seek an emphasis on projects and hands-on learning as at Ross? Do you want strict case method? Take a closer look at HBS and Darden.

• Clubs and extra-curriculars. Many schools have imitated MIT Sloan’s business plan competition. But not everyone has a social enterprise competition (HBS does). If you are interested in social enterprise, that competition may be particularly appealing.

What are some of the unusual clubs at the different schools that you might be interested in? For example almost every school will have a Marketing Club, but only some, like Columbia, will have a Luxury Goods Marketing Club. Again, if this is your interest, the existence and health of that club may be an important attraction for you.

• Professor research. If there is a prof or two researching the niche that appeals to you, he may be the magnet pulling you to that program. Are there independent study opportunities? Does he teach MBA students? What classes?

• “Fit.” Then there is that almost indefinable quality called “fit.” Visit the schools you are considering to determine fit. If visiting isn’t feasible, talk to current students, read MBA student blogs, and follow the student newspapers.

Grasping these points of difference will enable you to make more intelligent application and acceptance decisions.

Finally, here are some visiting-day tips to maximize your school visits:

1. If possible, visit when class is in session. Then, take a tour, meet with students, and attend the info sessions. In short, take advantage of whatever is offered.

2. Prepare for your visit by going through the school’s website thoroughly. It isn’t great when you ask a question that is answered three times on the school’s site.

3. As you go through the school website, write down any questions that you may have and take them with you.

4. If you can’t visit the school, prepare questions to ask at receptions or info sessions that will be held in your city.

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The Dangers Of High Scores And MBA Application Strategy [#permalink]

28 May 2015, 08:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: The Dangers Of High Scores And MBA Application Strategy

MBA application season has begun! Get the ball rolling with Linda Abraham’s kickoff episode with invaluable advice for 2016 applicants.

Have high stats? Linda has a warning for you. Think you can fill out the boxes on your app on the day you submit? Think again.

If you have any other questions about getting your applications started, just leave us a note in the comments section of this post.

00:01:54 – The risks of a high GMAT score.

00:07:16 – A strategic approach to the boxes and the essays on an MBA application

00:12:00 – What you can do before the essay questions come out.

00:12:25 – How to make the most of your resume and job history.

*Theme music is courtesy of podcastthemes.com.

Related links:

•

• Resume 101• MBA Essay 101

Related shows:

• The Admissions Team At The Very Center Of Business https://blog.accepted.com/2015/04/22/the-admissions-team-at-the-very-center-of-business/• Exploring the Part-Time MBA Options at NYU Stern

• Bruce DelMonico on The Yale School of Management

• The Tuck School of Business and the Global Insight Requirement

Tags: Admissions Straight Talk, Grad School Admissions, MBA Admissions, podcast

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Rosy Outlook For MBA Grads [#permalink]

28 May 2015, 14:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Rosy Outlook For MBA Grads

The GMAC 2015 Corporate Recruiters Survey has found a positive hiring climate for new MBAs, with demand increasing worldwide.

Some highlights from the report:

• Worldwide, 84 percent of recruiters plan to hire MBA graduates in 2015, up from 74 percent in 2014.

• 75 percent of recruiters in Asia-Pacific, 56 percent of European recruiters, 75 percent of Latin American companies, and 92 percent of US recruiters plan to hire MBAs this year, all increases from 2014.

• Starting salaries for MBA hires are also up at more than half of companies internationally.

• Along with MBA hiring, hiring of new graduates from Master in Management, Master of Accounting, and Master of Finance programs is up over last year.

• This year’s report also included analysis relating to massive open online courses—MOOCs— that indicates some skepticism on the part of corporate recruiters: only 15 percent of companies globally and 8 percent in the United States consider MOOCs an alternative to graduate management education.

See more details and download the full report here!

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How To Study For The GRE (Part I) [#permalink]

28 May 2015, 14:01

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: How To Study For The GRE (Part I)

Tip 1: Maximize your study time!

Sitting down to prep—seems pretty obvious what you are going to do. Open up a GRE prep book and start reading. But what exactly does that mean? Do you go through a book sequentially, a page at a time, so that by the end of the book GRE mastery is yours? Or do you read just those areas in which you don’t feel confident? Or do you do a mixture of both, or something else entirely?

While there is no clear answer to these questions, you may want to keep some points in mind. First off, becoming better at the GRE is about learning techniques and then applying those techniques to questions that are similar to the ones you’ll encounter on the test. Secondly, GRE material is often more like a reference book than a textbook. While you should read the beginning to get a sense of the entire text, you’ll want to skip around and revisit—often many times—areas to which you are new. It is this combination of targeted practice and repetition that will yield the most gains.

Maximize your time

Each GRE session will differ. After all, sometimes you won’t have two hours to devote to studying. Other times, you’ll have an entire afternoon—just you and the GRE. However, even if you have just one hour of interrupted prep time, you should plan to do the following:

Apply what you’ve learned

Some fall prey to the temptation to read technique after technique, without tackling any questions that will actually allow them to apply the technique. This temptation is understandable since reading about a technique gives you false confidence; the writers often apply the technique to the problem so that everything seems deceptively straightforward. You’ll likely think, “I got this!” or “That makes sense!” after reading about a new technique. However, it is only when you try a problem “in the wild” and attempt to apply these techniques that you’ll have a better sense of how well you truly understand them.

At Magoosh, we want to ensure our students are aware of this approach (we have little pop-up windows and the like). Otherwise, many will watch hours of lesson videos (where you learn the techniques and strategies), and only do one or two practice questions.

When prepping from a book, you won’t have any pop-up windows. So always make sure to do questions that relate to whatever strategy you are learning that day, or have been learning in the last few days. For example, if you’ve been reading about the properties of a circle, make sure to do practice problems relating to circles. And don’t try to learn every aspect of a circle without first practicing some of the basics. If you’re reading a book that is six pages of concepts, don’t try to read the entire thing and then answer the questions pertaining to those six pages. Instead, read a few pages at a time and attempt those questions relating to the concepts about which you just read.

Learn from your mistakes… and your successes

Given that you’ll be completing many problems, it is easy to fall into the mindset that more is better. Indeed, many students correlate the number of questions they complete with their score on test day. Many will trawl the web desperately looking for questions, as though they were vampires looking for blood.

However, whether you answer a question incorrectly—or even correctly—you shouldn’t deem the question to be of no further use. Understanding the reason why you answered the question incorrectly is a skill that will help you both to avoid similar mistakes and to think the way the test writers do. This applies even to questions that are correctly answered. Often, you’ll be wavering between two answers and will end up picking one that turns out to be correct. Understanding why you weren’t 100% sure about the question is very helpful to improving. You’ll get a deeper sense of why you were drawn to one of the incorrect answers as well as your thought process for why you ended up going with the correct answer.

The insights you gain from this process can be applied to future questions, and future study sessions. For instance, if you notice after answering a series of reading comprehension questions that you tend to struggle with science passages, then you would know to include more science passages in your upcoming study sessions.

Takeaway

Effectively preparing for the GRE isn’t just a question of sitting down to study. How you prepare will go a long way to determining your score on test day. Make sure to learn just a few new concepts or strategies at a time. Doing related practice questions will help you reinforce these concepts before you move on to something new. Remember also to revisit these concepts a few days after initially learning about them. Finally, don’t forget that the best teacher can oftentimes be your mistakes. Take the time to review your problems and to understand why you missed the question. An awareness of what went wrong will help you avoid similar mistakes in the future.

This post was written by Chris Lele, resident test prep expert at Magoosh and a leader in GRE prep. For more advice on taking the GRE, check out Magoosh’s GRE blog.

Related Resources:

• Navigate the MBA Maze

• To GRE Or Not To GRE? That Is The Question

• Making Friends with the GRE: How To Overcome Test Anxiety and Perform at Your Best

Tags: Grad School Admissions, GRE, Magoosh, MBA Admissions

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Recommenders And Recommendations [#permalink]

29 May 2015, 10:00

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Recommenders And Recommendations

A recommendation from someone with power is not half as good as a recommendation from someone who knows you well.

Some applicants have this idea that if they can just get their company CEO, whom they have never met, to write their business school recommendation, then the admissions committee will cower in awe and immediately accept them. It’s not a new idea; applicants have asked me every year for the last ten years if they should choose high-level people as recommenders. The short answer is no.

Here’s the longer answer. There are two simple rules for choosing recommenders: You should choose people who know your work very well, and you should choose people who will write the recommendations themselves (with your guidance).

What makes a recommendation bad?

The typical bad recommendation, the kind written by someone who does not know you well (like a CEO), is full of assertions about what a good person you are but gives no evidence to back up those assertions. It’s a generic write-up full of platitudes that does not help you.

What makes a recommendation good?

A great recommendation, on the other hand, is written by someone who knows your work very well, someone who can go beyond simple assertions to give examples of impressive contributions that provide evidence of your leadership skills and teamwork ability and business acumen. People who know you well can often write great stories of your work that you had completely forgotten or taken for granted. They write about what was important to them, and therefore they give great third-person points of view about your candidacy to the admissions committee, which is exactly what the committee wants. So again—choose people who know your work well.

Who should recommend you?

Typically, this means that your recommender should be a supervisor, a colleague, or a client. Do not choose someone who simply has a big title or happens to be an alumnus of the school, thinking that this will carry weight with the admissions committee, because that person will write something generic that will not help you. Only if this big titleholder or alumnus knows your work very well should you choose them.

Also, try to select a range of recommenders—ones who have seen you in different situations—so that they all don’t end up saying the same things about you or using the same stories. For example, choosing your supervisor and that person’s supervisor is rarely a good strategy, because they’ve seen you work on the same projects from the same point of view. The admissions committee wants views of you from different angles; they do not want the same point of view given two or three times.

Should you write your own recommendations?

Do not write your own recommendation if you can avoid it. Seriously. Put aside the likelihood that the admissions committee will recognize your writing style and discount the recommendation accordingly: the problem is that if you write your own recommendation, you’ll just write things you already know about yourself, or repeat things from your essays—and as I said above, it’s a recommendation that brings out new things about you that works well.

Now, you do want to guide your recommenders; you want to tell them you’re applying to business school, tell them your goals, remind them of successful projects you’ve worked on together, and suggest to them that they write about your business-related skills rather than your technical-related skills. You can even write an outline or a series of bullet points for them to serve as helpful reminders and save them some time. In these ways, you can influence the recommendation process. But really, they should write the recommendation in their own hand, in their own style, with their own thoughts. Someone who takes the time to write your recommendation is someone who believes in you and your candidacy; you can draw your own conclusions about someone who does not want to take the time.

By R. Todd King an MIT MBA, who has worked with MBA applicants since 2001. Todd can help you make the most of your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses.

Related Resources:

• Letters of Recommendation that Rock! – an ebook

• Best MBA Program and How to Choose the Right One

• Ten Do’s and Don’ts For Your Resume

Tags: Letters of Recommendation, MBA Admissions

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Beat The GRE With Accepted And Magoosh [#permalink]

29 May 2015, 10:00

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FROM Accepted.com Blog: Beat The GRE With Accepted And Magoosh

A low GRE score can be bad news. But the good news is that you can raise your score with some smart preparation!

If you’re looking ahead to the GRE—or if you’re planning to retake it—join us for a FREE webinar with Magoosh GRE expert Chris Lele, who will share the 5 key steps you need to take to master the GRE. In this webinar, you’ll learn how to:

• Manage your study time efficiently.

• Overcome test anxiety.

• Ameliorate your weaknesses.

• Develop a winning test-prep plan.

The webinar will air Thursday, June 11 at 10 AM PT/1 PM ET. It’s free, but registration is required. Save your spot at the 5 Killer GRE Prep Tips webinar.

Tags: Grad School Admissions, GRE, Magoosh, MBA Admissions, webinar

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Beat The GRE With Accepted And Magoosh [#permalink]

29 May 2015, 10:00

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