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Nov 2007:30 AM PST
-08:30 AM PST
Learn what truly sets the UC Riverside MBA apart and how it helps in your professional growth
Nov 2010:00 AM EST
-10:30 AM EST
If you’re applying to Columbia, NYU Stern, or Yale SOM, you need more than strong stats. Each school defines “leadership” differently, and your essays must reflect that. Join Sia Admissions founder, Susan Berishaj on November 20th
Nov 1201:00 PM EST
-11:59 PM EST
Get expert MBA strategy, instant essay feedback, and personalized advice on your entire application. Join My Admit Coach, the AI-powered MBA admissions platform built on 10K+ successful application docs for HBS, Stanford GSB, MIT and other top programs.
Nov 1909:00 AM PST
-10:00 AM PST
What’s in it for you- Live Profile Evaluation Chat Session with Jenifer Turtschnow, CEO ARINGO. Come with your details prepared and ARINGO will share insights! Pre-MBA Role/Industry, YOE, Exam Score, C/GPA, ECs Post-MBA Role/ Industry & School List.- Nov 19
10:00 AM EST
-01:00 PM EST
Get expert MBA strategy, instant essay feedback, and personalized advice on your entire application. Join My Admit Coach, the AI-powered MBA admissions platform built on 10K+ successful application docs for HBS, Stanford GSB, MIT and other top programs. - Nov 19
11:00 AM PST
-12:00 PM PST
Round 2 is here — and it’s your chance to make your MBA dream happen! Join GMAT Club’s LIVE discussion with two top experts from The Red Pen, Gunjan Jhunjhunwala and Natasha Mankikar, as we break down everything you need to know 
Nov 2009:00 PM IST
-10:00 PM IST
Join our free expert-led Essay Workshops to discover how to choose impactful stories, highlight your core values, and align your background with each school’s distinct culture, making every word truly count.
Nov 2108:30 AM EST
-09:15 AM EST
Get the inside scoop on what makes Emory’s Goizueta Business School great, learn how you can present a strong MBA application, and connect with an Admissions Director to get your questions answered.
Nov 2109:30 PM IST
-10:30 PM IST
Learn how to craft powerful, authentic essays by mastering the 3 “WHYs” every top MBA program looks for: Why MBA, Why Now, and Why This School.
Nov 2408:00 PM PST
-09:00 PM PST
Inquire for a free profile evaluation and guarantee statement for possible admits and scholarships!
18 Nov 2023, 11:42
Kudos
Bookmarks
Location, location, location! Right? Well…
When seeking an MBA program, many applicants look at it as a golden opportunity to travel or live in their dream location. They think, “I have to be happy where I’m living for those 2 years, right?” Or, “I’m not much of a country person, so…” or “I want to live in a mild climate, so…”
I propose you set all that aside initially when making your school selection decision.
Recently, I spoke with an applicant who literally crossed any program in a cold climate off his list, which is basically all of the ones in the Northeast. Many do the same for programs not based in a city.
It’s Not a Vacation, or a Permanent Move. It’s a Long Conference.
Here’s my message: don’t arbitrarily put location on the top of your list of criteria. This is not a vacation, nor is it a permanent move. And I say this as a Californian city-dweller who did an MBA in college town in the Midwest. I tell people I could have done my MBA on Jupiter because I was at the business school day and night, meeting with my learning team, organizing panel discussions for Women in Business, writing the school newsletter to go out alumni, attending speaker events, interviewing, club meetings, you name it.
Think of this as a long conference with a 3-month break called the internship, where you are likely to be in a city (I did mine at Bank of America in Cleveland, boring days - but I lived at International House on the Case Western campus so that was nonstop fun). If you choose to study abroad, location becomes even less of a factor (I spent a semester in France to gain fluency and study marketing from a different perspective.)
Like a conference, you are going for the purpose of getting information and networking. The content – and the people – are what’s most important, so to get those things you put up with the location. You are there for a specific purpose.
Prioritize Your Post-MBA Goal
Think first about what you want to get out of your MBA and work backwards from there. What are your criteria for success? For most, it’s achieving a specific career goal. If you don’t know what you want to do, at least narrow it down to a specific function. For example, if you want a career in marketing, you will want to apply to Kellogg – even if you don't enjoy Chicago wind and snow.
The one concession to this stance is that you will want to have a good alumni network in your target location. If you are hell-bent on living in NYC post-graduation, applying to CBS makes sense. If you want to work in Europe, a regional US program without much international presence might not be the best.
However, if you want to work in Silicon Valley, you aren't limited to Haas and GSB. A high percentage of MIT grads relocate out west. Same for Ross - the Amazon recruitment factor means there are lots of Ross alums on the West Coast. Duke (Fuqua) is located in Durham-Raleigh but very few stay there. There are lots of Duke alumni in NYC and across the Eastern Seaboard. Same for Tuck. And Yale SOM. And Darden.
Rank and Fit Open Doors – Not Program Location
If you want to take a great vacation, do it! Before starting the program. If you want to move to a new city, do it! After you graduate.
Going to a top-ranked program that fits with your goals will increase your value and open doors, so make that your priority. Attend the best school you can for what you want to do. Become an industry or subject matter expert. This will give you the pull to be recruited by your dream company in your dream city.
As an example - one client was saddened not to be admitted to Haas but was admitted to Wharton. He did the Semester in San Francisco program and snagged a very exciting Silicon Valley internship - and built his career in the Bay Area as he originally hoped for.
In conclusion, each location has pros and cons. My hope is that you have a nuanced approach when selecting schools, considering your goals first rather than your favorite place to vacation or even live long term.
When seeking an MBA program, many applicants look at it as a golden opportunity to travel or live in their dream location. They think, “I have to be happy where I’m living for those 2 years, right?” Or, “I’m not much of a country person, so…” or “I want to live in a mild climate, so…”
I propose you set all that aside initially when making your school selection decision.
Recently, I spoke with an applicant who literally crossed any program in a cold climate off his list, which is basically all of the ones in the Northeast. Many do the same for programs not based in a city.
It’s Not a Vacation, or a Permanent Move. It’s a Long Conference.
Here’s my message: don’t arbitrarily put location on the top of your list of criteria. This is not a vacation, nor is it a permanent move. And I say this as a Californian city-dweller who did an MBA in college town in the Midwest. I tell people I could have done my MBA on Jupiter because I was at the business school day and night, meeting with my learning team, organizing panel discussions for Women in Business, writing the school newsletter to go out alumni, attending speaker events, interviewing, club meetings, you name it.
Think of this as a long conference with a 3-month break called the internship, where you are likely to be in a city (I did mine at Bank of America in Cleveland, boring days - but I lived at International House on the Case Western campus so that was nonstop fun). If you choose to study abroad, location becomes even less of a factor (I spent a semester in France to gain fluency and study marketing from a different perspective.)
Like a conference, you are going for the purpose of getting information and networking. The content – and the people – are what’s most important, so to get those things you put up with the location. You are there for a specific purpose.
Prioritize Your Post-MBA Goal
Think first about what you want to get out of your MBA and work backwards from there. What are your criteria for success? For most, it’s achieving a specific career goal. If you don’t know what you want to do, at least narrow it down to a specific function. For example, if you want a career in marketing, you will want to apply to Kellogg – even if you don't enjoy Chicago wind and snow.
The one concession to this stance is that you will want to have a good alumni network in your target location. If you are hell-bent on living in NYC post-graduation, applying to CBS makes sense. If you want to work in Europe, a regional US program without much international presence might not be the best.
However, if you want to work in Silicon Valley, you aren't limited to Haas and GSB. A high percentage of MIT grads relocate out west. Same for Ross - the Amazon recruitment factor means there are lots of Ross alums on the West Coast. Duke (Fuqua) is located in Durham-Raleigh but very few stay there. There are lots of Duke alumni in NYC and across the Eastern Seaboard. Same for Tuck. And Yale SOM. And Darden.
Rank and Fit Open Doors – Not Program Location
If you want to take a great vacation, do it! Before starting the program. If you want to move to a new city, do it! After you graduate.
Going to a top-ranked program that fits with your goals will increase your value and open doors, so make that your priority. Attend the best school you can for what you want to do. Become an industry or subject matter expert. This will give you the pull to be recruited by your dream company in your dream city.
As an example - one client was saddened not to be admitted to Haas but was admitted to Wharton. He did the Semester in San Francisco program and snagged a very exciting Silicon Valley internship - and built his career in the Bay Area as he originally hoped for.
In conclusion, each location has pros and cons. My hope is that you have a nuanced approach when selecting schools, considering your goals first rather than your favorite place to vacation or even live long term.
23 Jan 2024, 14:16
Kudos
Bookmarks
Missed the R2 MBA boat and still want to start soon?
There are still a few paths to a top MBA within the coming year.
PART TIME
Many have fully remote jobs these days and can work from anywhere. So, this brings about the opportunity to relocate to attend a top part-time program in places such as Chicago, California, NYC, Austin or Ann Arbor. The cohort system with the Berkeley-Haas EWMBA, featuring full access to on-campus recruitment, makes the program feel like a full-time MBA.
Both Kellogg and Booth PT have deadlines each season, rather than rounds, which gives applicants a lot of flexibility. Michigan-Ross’s online part-time program offers full on-campus recruitment, and those deadlines are just beginning. The NYU part-time program is more popular than the full-time program - you’d likely have some very interesting classmates. R1 is on Feb 15.
ROUND 3 – preferably of 4
Of course, there is R3, which often has worrying odds for overrepresented applicants, but if they have a R4, it’s still pretty viable (and, I have seen overrepresented clients even get into R4 with nice schollies!). Duke, McCombs, UNC, and IESE come to mind.
MID-CAREER: 8+ YEARS of Work Experience
Stanford MSx is due Feb 15 and Michigan-Ross has the Global MBA – where Round 1 is April 28th.
EU SCHOOLS & CANADA
If you are looking to attend b-school in a French-speaking country – they all have January intake with R1 kicking off March 12 for INSEAD – make sure to apply by R2/April 23 for scholarship eligibility. There are monthly deadlines at HEC-Paris and R2 at IMD on Feb 15 (and they have 7 rounds.) There are 4 deadlines at HEC-Montreal and R3 is on March 15.
At Ivey in Ontario, arguably the top school in Canada, things are just getting started with R1 due on Jan 29.
COLUMBIA JANUARY INTAKE
If you can achieve your goal without a summer internship, maybe explore various paths through in-semester internships instead, apply to January intake at CBS when the application opens in June or July (one and only deadline is around the last day in September but don’t wait until then, in my opinion.)
The acceptance rate is much higher the normal term because they don't have to mess with you in terms of recruitment (reputed to be 40%). This is ideal for those who want to work for the family business, our sponsored candidates or entrepreneurs. They are friendly to older applicants.
Hopefully one of these paths to a top MBA works for you if you want to start soon!
There are still a few paths to a top MBA within the coming year.
PART TIME
Many have fully remote jobs these days and can work from anywhere. So, this brings about the opportunity to relocate to attend a top part-time program in places such as Chicago, California, NYC, Austin or Ann Arbor. The cohort system with the Berkeley-Haas EWMBA, featuring full access to on-campus recruitment, makes the program feel like a full-time MBA.
Both Kellogg and Booth PT have deadlines each season, rather than rounds, which gives applicants a lot of flexibility. Michigan-Ross’s online part-time program offers full on-campus recruitment, and those deadlines are just beginning. The NYU part-time program is more popular than the full-time program - you’d likely have some very interesting classmates. R1 is on Feb 15.
ROUND 3 – preferably of 4
Of course, there is R3, which often has worrying odds for overrepresented applicants, but if they have a R4, it’s still pretty viable (and, I have seen overrepresented clients even get into R4 with nice schollies!). Duke, McCombs, UNC, and IESE come to mind.
MID-CAREER: 8+ YEARS of Work Experience
Stanford MSx is due Feb 15 and Michigan-Ross has the Global MBA – where Round 1 is April 28th.
EU SCHOOLS & CANADA
If you are looking to attend b-school in a French-speaking country – they all have January intake with R1 kicking off March 12 for INSEAD – make sure to apply by R2/April 23 for scholarship eligibility. There are monthly deadlines at HEC-Paris and R2 at IMD on Feb 15 (and they have 7 rounds.) There are 4 deadlines at HEC-Montreal and R3 is on March 15.
At Ivey in Ontario, arguably the top school in Canada, things are just getting started with R1 due on Jan 29.
COLUMBIA JANUARY INTAKE
If you can achieve your goal without a summer internship, maybe explore various paths through in-semester internships instead, apply to January intake at CBS when the application opens in June or July (one and only deadline is around the last day in September but don’t wait until then, in my opinion.)
The acceptance rate is much higher the normal term because they don't have to mess with you in terms of recruitment (reputed to be 40%). This is ideal for those who want to work for the family business, our sponsored candidates or entrepreneurs. They are friendly to older applicants.
Hopefully one of these paths to a top MBA works for you if you want to start soon!
24 Jan 2024, 17:32
Kudos
Bookmarks
Now is the season for the all-important MBA interview process. In fact, many of you are preparing as I write this! Or at least I hope so? Or…maybe not?
Too often, I see applicants pour all their precious energy into the application and then blow it big time with the interview. By the time interviews roll around, they are either 1) burnt out, or 2) a bit overconfident about their ability to navigate the interview questions.
I mean, I put all the same stuff down in my application, right? How hard can it be? Unfortunately, the interview is a different animal. You are being asked to sell yourself in real time, and the questions are often very different.
The brutal reality is that you need to invest time and energy into the MBA interview process, just as you did with the applications. You’re competing against an even more outstanding group of people at this point.
Rather than thinking of this as “getting over the hump”, I encourage you to treat it as square one. Interviews are mostly blind – and so it really is square one. I know your applications were a ton of work and you feel like the interview is your reward, like here’s your “cash and prize” for all that effort! But alas, it is not.
The interview is not picking up where you left off, but an opportunity for a conversation to a stranger. Now you get to sell yourself in a whole new way, usually, to a new audience.
In the MBA applications, you are asked to tell a story, give them a chronological beginning, middle, and end. However, what is often the case with interviews is that you need to give them the big picture, abbreviate things, and summarize your value proposition. Here are three such questions.
“Walk Me Through Your Resume”
Give them your “greatest hits” and please listen to this, think targeted as opposed to comprehensive. JUST THE HIGHLIGHTS. I see (or hear) candidates responding to this question with an agenda, getting deep into one topic, thus ruining the flow of the response.
Don’t use this as an optional essay to just talk about what you think will “sell” you – most of the time this will actually leave you giving an incomplete response. And you can’t fool the listener; they know what you are doing. This response is about exercising good judgment as much as it is about your experience.
Stay focused on giving quick, digestible bits of information and keep it moving. Give them the big picture first, so they have context, and then use subsequent questions to give them the deep-dive on the details.
Write out your answer to this question. When you are talking about your career trajectory, how will you summarize the value of a job you held in 30 words? It takes work to make this look easy.
With this interview question, it’s particularly important to know how you come across. Once you have your talking points (not script, but points), deliver this on camera. Watch yourself. I can’t overstate how helpful this will be to you.
“Tell Me About Yourself”
Tell me about yourself is actually a variant of the previous question, only from a personal perspective. Perhaps a bit about where you were born, your family, what drives you, what you are passionate about. For example, when explaining why you moved from NYC to Denver, include something like, “I’m the kind of person who likes to go for a hike the minute I open my eyes on a Saturday morning.” The best answers show some self-awareness or share your values, so the interviewer gets a bit of “who you are” rather than a robotic recitation of “what you’ve done.”
“Pitch to Adcom/Why You/What Can You Bring to Our School”
If you haven’t yet identified your unique contribution, now is definitely the time. Yesterday I was working with a candidate who had great experience, but all he could sputter out were words like collaborative and international. It was disjointed, and I wasn’t able to get any traction on what he was saying. This happens all the time, regardless of your TOEFL or verbal GMAT scores.
Finally, we identified his USP – working with international, cross-functional teams to implement programs. And from there, we could substantiate it with results he had achieved. That enabled us to tackle the most important question – what’s it in for them?
Here are some things we identified. When some might feel awkward or reticent about working with a team comprised of all international team members, he would be able to step in, lead and add value. In the classroom, he could add a cultural dimension to cases about businesses scaling operations overseas. What are some cultural considerations when rolling out programs abroad? He could help answer these questions, specifically when dealing with expansion to China, his area of expertise. It takes time to think through the interviewer’s WIFM (What’s In It For Me), and it would be foolish to do this extemporaneously.
Make a Plan
You’re trying to communicate your value. When writing your resume, did you just scribble out what came to mind in two minutes, hoping the reader could make sense of it? Even though this is 1-1, and hopefully turns into a conversation, in many ways, it is akin to public speaking. And it would be nuts to assume the podium without a clear intention of what you intend to convey. Imagine someone winging a TED talk.
Many say it’s unwise to “script responses” and I agree, however, DO make a roadmap with some talking points. You don’t want to repeat it all word for word – because that would be almost impossible – yet it’s imperative to have a plan for what you are going to say.
Make a Connection
One of the best parts about being prepared for your interview? Rather than searching your memory or struggling for words, you can focus your attention on making eye contact, observing the body language of your interviewer, and developing rapport. Why is this important? You want to reach the interviewer not just on a cerebral level, but also an emotional level
“At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
Too often, I see applicants pour all their precious energy into the application and then blow it big time with the interview. By the time interviews roll around, they are either 1) burnt out, or 2) a bit overconfident about their ability to navigate the interview questions.
I mean, I put all the same stuff down in my application, right? How hard can it be? Unfortunately, the interview is a different animal. You are being asked to sell yourself in real time, and the questions are often very different.
The brutal reality is that you need to invest time and energy into the MBA interview process, just as you did with the applications. You’re competing against an even more outstanding group of people at this point.
Rather than thinking of this as “getting over the hump”, I encourage you to treat it as square one. Interviews are mostly blind – and so it really is square one. I know your applications were a ton of work and you feel like the interview is your reward, like here’s your “cash and prize” for all that effort! But alas, it is not.
The interview is not picking up where you left off, but an opportunity for a conversation to a stranger. Now you get to sell yourself in a whole new way, usually, to a new audience.
In the MBA applications, you are asked to tell a story, give them a chronological beginning, middle, and end. However, what is often the case with interviews is that you need to give them the big picture, abbreviate things, and summarize your value proposition. Here are three such questions.
“Walk Me Through Your Resume”
Give them your “greatest hits” and please listen to this, think targeted as opposed to comprehensive. JUST THE HIGHLIGHTS. I see (or hear) candidates responding to this question with an agenda, getting deep into one topic, thus ruining the flow of the response.
Don’t use this as an optional essay to just talk about what you think will “sell” you – most of the time this will actually leave you giving an incomplete response. And you can’t fool the listener; they know what you are doing. This response is about exercising good judgment as much as it is about your experience.
Stay focused on giving quick, digestible bits of information and keep it moving. Give them the big picture first, so they have context, and then use subsequent questions to give them the deep-dive on the details.
Write out your answer to this question. When you are talking about your career trajectory, how will you summarize the value of a job you held in 30 words? It takes work to make this look easy.
With this interview question, it’s particularly important to know how you come across. Once you have your talking points (not script, but points), deliver this on camera. Watch yourself. I can’t overstate how helpful this will be to you.
“Tell Me About Yourself”
Tell me about yourself is actually a variant of the previous question, only from a personal perspective. Perhaps a bit about where you were born, your family, what drives you, what you are passionate about. For example, when explaining why you moved from NYC to Denver, include something like, “I’m the kind of person who likes to go for a hike the minute I open my eyes on a Saturday morning.” The best answers show some self-awareness or share your values, so the interviewer gets a bit of “who you are” rather than a robotic recitation of “what you’ve done.”
“Pitch to Adcom/Why You/What Can You Bring to Our School”
If you haven’t yet identified your unique contribution, now is definitely the time. Yesterday I was working with a candidate who had great experience, but all he could sputter out were words like collaborative and international. It was disjointed, and I wasn’t able to get any traction on what he was saying. This happens all the time, regardless of your TOEFL or verbal GMAT scores.
Finally, we identified his USP – working with international, cross-functional teams to implement programs. And from there, we could substantiate it with results he had achieved. That enabled us to tackle the most important question – what’s it in for them?
Here are some things we identified. When some might feel awkward or reticent about working with a team comprised of all international team members, he would be able to step in, lead and add value. In the classroom, he could add a cultural dimension to cases about businesses scaling operations overseas. What are some cultural considerations when rolling out programs abroad? He could help answer these questions, specifically when dealing with expansion to China, his area of expertise. It takes time to think through the interviewer’s WIFM (What’s In It For Me), and it would be foolish to do this extemporaneously.
Make a Plan
You’re trying to communicate your value. When writing your resume, did you just scribble out what came to mind in two minutes, hoping the reader could make sense of it? Even though this is 1-1, and hopefully turns into a conversation, in many ways, it is akin to public speaking. And it would be nuts to assume the podium without a clear intention of what you intend to convey. Imagine someone winging a TED talk.
Many say it’s unwise to “script responses” and I agree, however, DO make a roadmap with some talking points. You don’t want to repeat it all word for word – because that would be almost impossible – yet it’s imperative to have a plan for what you are going to say.
Make a Connection
One of the best parts about being prepared for your interview? Rather than searching your memory or struggling for words, you can focus your attention on making eye contact, observing the body language of your interviewer, and developing rapport. Why is this important? You want to reach the interviewer not just on a cerebral level, but also an emotional level
“At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
