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06 Dec 2016, 10:01
| FROM MBA Reapplicant: Re-introduction |
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It’s quickly approaching two years since I last wrote anything on this blog. A lot has happened since then. When I last posted, I had just gotten back from spending time with family during the holidays and was entering my second quarter of my first year at UCLA Anderson. Classes, b-school social life, and internship recruiting were in full swing... Two years later, I am now living in the Seattle area, working as a Digital Marketing Manager for Microsoft. Since my last post, I have frequently thought about writing about my journey, but in hindsight, I am glad I have waited until now to start back up again. The time has given my perspective on the MBA experience that I think will allow me to contribute in a more meaningful way to those who are thinking of getting an MBA, are in b-school now, or who are just at a place where they are evaluating their career goals.  I am not claiming to have all the answers to finding a meaningful and fulfilling career, or any answers along those lines for that matter. But I do have a perspective that I wish to share一and maybe that perspective will influence one or two people out there for the better. And if that’s all it does, that’s cool with me. With all that being said, I just realized since I started this blog, I never really introduced myself. So, here we go. My name is James Huntington. I am a husband, father, and a despiser small talk. I love writing, design, visual communication, and storytelling. I was born in Okinawa, Japan. Contrary to most assumptions, my father is not in the military. My mom is Japanese and my dad is from California. I moved back and forth between Okinawa and California quite a bit. In total, I spent about eight years in Japan and the rest of my childhood in California. I am sure I will talk plenty about my career in future posts, so I am not going to today. I just want to talk about the important things. I am married to the coolest girl I know, and we have three crazy little boys with the wildest of imaginations. My family is my inspiration. I am trying my best to live a ridiculously intentional life, and be the kind of grown-up my kids will be excited to be like (because let’s face it, most grown-ups are lame, but they don’t have to be). I don’t know where this blog is going to go. I have a lot of ideas, but don’t necessarily have a concrete plan. I am just hoping that some of the ideas and thoughts I share will turn into meaningful conversations. Well, let’s get this started… or, ah, restarted! |
17 Dec 2016, 17:01
| FROM Oh Kay MBA: Welcome to Chicago Booth! |
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Flashbulb I was paying for a yogurt and a sandwich when I saw the Chicago code on my phone and started freaking out. I literally abandoned my food at the counter and went somewhere else to take the call. I remember the warm welcome to Booth and the invitation to First Day in February. The call lasted for about 5 minutes and my voice was especially high-pitched the whole time. There are memories so emotionally charged that even several years later we can remember the situation with every detail. These are called flashbulb memories. That is how Americans can remember what they were doing on 9/11 or Catholics can remember the moment they heard of Pope John Paul II’s death. The moment they were accepted to business school must be unforgettable for any candidate. The moment I got accepted to Booth has become my new flashbulb memory.  The last ding For two whole days, I was waiting for the GSB call, but I never got it. Honestly, I am a bit disappointed, but not as much as I thought I would be. I guess, the hurt of this rejection can’t overshadow the excitement of being accepted to Booth. Closure This year was all about the application process: studying for the GMAT, drafting essays, preparing interviews and stressful waiting. Although, the experience consumed a lot of my time and energy, it was also enriching in a personal level. Nevertheless, I am so glad the application process is finally over. I know I will be going to Booth, so I am withdrawing my Kellogg application and starting to plan my next two years. Having some peace of mind for the Christmas season was all I could ask for.  
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21 Dec 2016, 19:01
| FROM Grant Me Admission: GrantMeAdmission: The End (and the Beginning) |
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When I started this blog I was really lost. I didn’t really know who I was, or what I wanted in life. However, I knew that I wanted to grow my career and get out of the shrinking manufacturing industry. So I embarked on a journey. I wanted to get the “right top MBA and help others along the way.” That was the vision. And as overjoyed as I was helping others, looking at resumes, reading essays, doing mock interviews, and seeing my peers get into HBS, GSB, Kellogg, etc, I hated that I felt stuck. I did not get into a program. TWICE! How was I going to get a job in consulting? How was I going to leverage my consulting experience into a leadership role in a major company in a new growing industry? The failure was tough to swallow for me and hit me hard. And in the depth of that despair, I found myself. I made the decision that this would not hold me back. Within a month of my final rejection letter, I was interviewing at a dream job at a big company in entertainment in Los Angeles. I would be working with the top brands supporting the highest levels of the company. I got the job and moved from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. The plan was to leverage this role and experience to get into a top program after a couple of years. But as I grew in the group, fell in love with the company, I realized that I didn’t want to leave. A mentor asked me, “Why would you leave, when ultimately you want to stay in our company?” And then the impossible happened. I was promoted into leadership. There I was, living my dream. This was the goal that I had, be a leader in an industry that I loved. And so I decided to pivot. Today, I was accepted to UCLA Anderson’s FEMBA program. It is a part-time program that will allow me to grow my career, while bolstering my abilities. This is not the journey that I had imagined, but I still got to my final destination. To be clear, a part-time MBA is right for me, not for everyone. I still firmly believe that a full-time program is one of the best investments anyone can make. I just got lucky. My final piece of advice: Work hard, don’t give up, and find a way. 
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24 Dec 2016, 04:01
| FROM DLo's BSchool Debrief: b-school debrief: quick tips on letters of recommendation |
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An Apology WOW! I completely dropped the ball on this. I expected my first quarter of business school to be like drinking water from a firehose, and… well that’s exactly what it was! I rarely found time to sit down, and as such let my ambitions with this blog slide, sadly. However! I’m back for the holidays, fresh off finals and in the midst of internship recruiting for the summer. I’ve had the opportunity to represent Anderson to prospective students throughout the year via our Admissions Ambassador Corps, bringing students to class, acting as the digital face of the school, and most recently holding coffee chats in LA (and soon to be in SF) with prospective and admitted students. Through a few of these, I’ve realized the most helpful post I can come up with right now regards two topics for Round 2 applicants: your essays, and your recommendations. Let’s hit on recommendations today. Gathering those Recommenders  Getting those letters in line! My process for getting my recommendations was fairly straightforward, and something most people should follow:
Back to the topic at hand. Many (including myself) struggle with #3. Keeping our recommenders in line and on schedule, while staying cordial and supportive throughout so that you end up with a sparkly, beaming and adcom-aweing letter, can be hard. You need to let your recommenders know early, and give them sufficient resources for which to write a letter for you. I picked two people for my recommenders: my current direct manager, Director of Engineering, and previous manager from a rotation at another company who I knew held me in very high regard because of my impact there. I chose the first one for his obvious recent insight into my potential, and I chose the second one because I knew he saw how effective I could be, and would be happy to help me out. Getting your recommendations on time – start early! I was set! Or so I thought. I reached out to both recommenders 3 months early – way early, but I’m a paranoid person and I wanted my ducks in line. However, I knew how busy these guys would be, and how much I was asking of them to write a different letter of rec for me for 5 different schools. And YES, each school asks different questions (there are similarities), so they need to cater each letter to each school. So, knowing that I had a looming deadline to impose on these two, and knowing how I wanted to pitch myself to each school, I set out to make the letter writing process for them as easy as possible. I think it should be a given, especially if you follow Essay Snark like my previous post suggested, but I’d also like to take the time here to say – DO NOT WRITE YOUR OWN RECOMMENDATIONS! If your recommender can’t write something strong for you or doesn’t have the time, find a new recommender. If you went against all advice and chose a high-profile recommender who can’t write much personally about you, and asks you two write it for them, this is your 2nd chance to move on from them. Adcoms can tell when you’ve written your own, no matter how clever you think you are. In addition, your recommenders will inevitably provide a different perspective, story and overall picture of you then you could ever write about yourself. DO NOT WRITE YOUR OWN!! Got it? Good. So, it’s not only a good idea to get your recommenders lined up early, but to be active in keeping them engaged with you and the letter-writing process. Once you start filling out a school’s application, you can immediately prompt it to send the e-mails to your recommenders, which will contain the questions to be answered and the links to the webforms they must fill out to answer them. In general, you should have access to the questions as well – either they’re posted on the school’s application info site, or you can ask your recommenders for the prompts. You want to get these ahead of time, so you can help prepare them. Guiding your recommenders For my 5 schools, I gathered up the questions and wrote a multi-page document for both of my recommenders (unique to each) that outlined several things. This document served as the source of all information they’d need to write, and what I wanted them to highlight. I’ll detail how I structured these docs, but they’re just a framework and you can feel free to do as much (or as little) as you want; they key is simply to make their lives easier and the process faster. I broke my doc into these sections:  The beginning of my support document for my manager
The flow was designed to give them a full rundown on what to expect, when to submit, where to submit, etc. Like I said, make it as easy as possible. For the “Story” portion, I detailed WHY I wanted an MBA, and WHAT I planned to do with it in the short and long term. Ideally, you would also discuss this with them in person. The bulk of the document went to “The Questions”, where I laid out each question for each school. The Questions Now, the b-schools tried to come so some kind of consensus (at least for 2015) on a main question for recommenders, but of course each one decided they are special and modified it – specifically, the 2015 question:
 Laying out the ‘standardized’ questions for them To make it easier, I provided a short example for each quality (performance, background, etc) that I suggested them to use if they pleased; however, I told them it was ok to use whatever they felt was a good example. My recommenders ended up using a mix of both my suggestions and their own perspective, which is ideal since they have a better view of you as a candidate than you would alone. In addition, all 5 schools asked the same 2nd question with the same wording (thankfully), which was:
Additional help / resources In addition to this guide, I found one more external resource to be extremely helpful to them – the Essay Snark Recommender Instruction Sets (note this is a simple plug, I don’t gain anything from you using them). Through their service I was able to purchase a guide for my recommenders specifically catered to the schools I was applying to. I purchased the 3-school set, for Anderson, Stern and Columbia for $99. I didn’t include Haas or Cornell in order to save some $, and also because they were similar enough. The guide takes each school and lays out a specific strategy for your recommender to write – Start with School A, then modify that response slightly for School B, and add this for School C. In the spirit of making things easier for them, I felt this was a great tool to provide them, and ensure they’d have the least amount of friction writing so that they could submit on time! Getting that on-time submission Alright, so you’ve done all the upfront legwork – picking good recommenders, telling them early, prepping them for what to expect and giving them a start on the content of the letters. That’s easy enough (ha!); now you have to make sure they deliver! I can tell you that as prepared as it seemed I looked, I still had to wait down to the wire for one of my letters – and it was stressful as hell. The best you can do is put as much pre-work going into it as you can, and deal with any obstacles along the way. Some general tips:
Final Thoughts The letters of rec started for me as an early afterthought, but after realizing the possible pain points of the process, I made sure I optimized as much as I could control to minimize my stress. Putting the effort in ahead of time, picking quality recommenders and staying on top of things will be your best path to success. Good luck! |
25 Dec 2016, 22:02
| FROM Oh Kay MBA: Looking Back: 6 Lessons |
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Knowing that I will go to b-school next year, I can enjoy the Christmas time and use these last days of the year to reflect on the lessons learned and start planning my 2017. So, to close the chapter of my MBA application, I want to share a list of some lessons I learned during the process in the hope that future applicants will find it useful. 1. Beat the GMAT as soon as you can. Studying for the GMAT can take a lot of your time and, eventually, you will need that time for researching programs and writing essays. I ended up taken my GMAT on June this year, so I was a bit short in time for the next part of the applications for Round 1. Remember the GMAT is valid for 5 years, so if you are already planning to apply you can as well take the GMAT now. 2. Get feedback on your essays. Whether you hire a consultant or not, it’s a good idea to get someone else to read your essays and ask them for feedback. A friend, your significant other, a supervisor or a relative that knows you well will be able to tell you if your essay is really showing the best version of you. I asked some friends for help here and they gave me some really useful feedback. 3. Do not apply only because everyone recommends that program. I researched and talked with a lot of people to decide on my 4 target schools for Round 1. I ended up applying to HBS, GSB, Wharton and Booth. I never felt that Wharton was a good fit, but I apply anyway because of how highly recommended it was. This was a mistake, I felt that I never really showed a connection with this school through the essays and, indeed, I wasn’t even invited to interview. 4. Get in touch alumni or current students. You can learn a lot about a program just through the web, but hearing about the experience form a current student or alumni is completely different. Going to student-hosted events is a great option. 5. Plan to visit campus with time. When I made up my mind to make a campus tour, it was too late. I made the decision in July so the classes were already over and I would have had to go in September. As the Round 1 deadlines were in September too, I felt my visit would be too rushed and decided not to go in the end. 6.If you can, tell your boss about your MBA plans. I did and it was one of the best decisions I made during the process. There were many times I needed to leave work a bit early or arrive late because I had to review my essays or a GMAT lesson. My boss was really supportive through all the process and this helped alleviate the stress a bit. Merry Christmas!   
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31 Dec 2016, 11:02
| FROM Oh Kay MBA: New Year and some resolutions |
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The New Year is almost here! It is so satisfaying to think that exactly one year ago, I was making my study plan for the GMAT and now, I’m more excited than ever with the anticipation of being in business school. As usual, I have used the last days of the year to list some resolutions, some of which I want to share here. Of course, my whole 2017 plan revolves around the MBA theme. 1. Get organized: This one makes my list every new year, but i am going to give it one more try. I am a do it all kind of person. I’m sure that at business school I will find in every corner an activity I want to try or an organization I want to join. So, I will need to prioritize and be organized. And I need to start practicing now, I got my planner already! 2.Excel at work: I probably won’t be coming back to my current job once I finish the MBA. However, I want to make my best work ever before leaving. 3.Keep my hobbies: Something I value about my current job is that it allows me to have a good balance between professional and personal live. I don’t plan to stop dedicating some time to the activities I enjoy. I love dancing to have fun and be healthy and blogging helps me clear my mind. 4.Networking: I need to learn to play the networking game right. Definitely, it is the most important part of the MBA. So, no more lazy excuses! 5.Learn to cook: First, I am null at cooking. But, I’m Peruvian and if there is one thing that represents my country (apart from Machu Picchu and llamas) is the awesome food. Therefore, peruvian food is one cultural aspect I would like to share at school. I guess I should learn at least a couple of dishes. May this New Year bring you lots of joyful, beautiful and crazy moments!  “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” — Albert Einstein  
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03 Jan 2017, 13:01
| FROM MBA Reapplicant: Reflections on UCLA Anderson |
 Happy New Year everyone! Before I get started on this post, and well, restarted on this blog in general, I wanted to mention something. For the past several months, I have thought about how to approach what I am putting out in this space. Do I write about b-school, career, life, etc. as an “expert,” or do I just tell my story? In fact, I have written several “posts” and played around with a variety of ideas. I have quickly realized I am not an expert, far from it, and to position myself as such would be inauthentic and fraudulent. But what I can and will do is, offer my perspective as one person who has gone down this path, with the hope of adding value to someone’s life. So, this is my story. Raw. Unedited. Messy. And far from finished. I was recently asked by an admissions consultant on a b-school forum if I would write about my experience at UCLA Anderson. As I begin jotting down some thoughts to post in response to her request, I realized that it might be valuable to expand on my reflections here. In the coming weeks, I plan on writing about the following topics about my experience at Anderson:
“It’s difficult for me to successfully depict my experience at UCLA Anderson in such a limited space. This usually works much better for me in one-on-one conversations, but I will do my best. “For me Anderson was a place where I met amazing people, pushed myself intellectually, and ultimately transformed myself professionally and personally. Academics “The academic experience overall was great! I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t love all my classes or professors, but on the whole I found myself learning and challenging my own understanding of business on a daily basis. One of the things I loved most about the academic side of Anderson was the diversity of learning experiences and methods I was exposed to. It wasn’t all cases or just lectures. It was a nice balance of those two, plus a healthy amount of experiential learning. Not only were the majority of the professors solid, we also got some amazing guest speakers—Alex Rodriguez, the President of Adidas North America, one of the founding members of CAA, David Aaker, Al Michaels, and Jessica Alba just to name a few. People “One of the main reasons why I decided to attend Anderson was the people. During the application process, Anderson was the only school where 100 percent of the people I reached out to actually got back to me. Those I spoke with were sharp and really knew their stuff. However, the thing that won me over was how noticeably happy they all were. Needless to say, I came into the program with high expectations for my peers. I was not disappointed in the slightest. Not only was I surrounded by incredibly accomplished and intelligent individuals, they were also down-to-earth and approachable. During my two-years at Anderson, I made some of the best friends I will probably ever have. Simply put, the student culture at the school was amazing! Career “Although there are many other positive aspects of my Anderson experience, the last one I will mention here is career. The Career Services Center at Anderson is second to none. I would put them up against any other school’s career center. The people I worked with not only wanted to help me get a job, they were invested in helping me better understand myself, my motivations, and my skills so that I could land the right job. I spent many hours with my advisors researching jobs, identifying target companies, prepping for interviews, etc. Without all of that, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Another big asset of Anderson on the career front is the location of the school. The business community in LA is thriving and the opportunities to work within that community to gain real experiences during school are endless. Not only did I do a full-time summer internship, I also did three part-time internships during the school year that enabled me to make the dramatic career shift that I did—operations at Goldman Sachs to marketing at Microsoft. “In the end, the 21-month experience cost me over $100,000, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. The experiences I had, the friends I made, and the opportunities that have been opened up for me wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t gone to Anderson.” |
07 Jan 2017, 17:01
| FROM MBA Reapplicant: Re-introduction |
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It’s quickly approaching two years since I last wrote anything on this blog. A lot has happened since then. When I last posted, I had just gotten back from spending time with family during the holidays and was entering my second quarter of my first year at UCLA Anderson. Classes, b-school social life, and internship recruiting were in full swing... Two years later, I am now living in the Seattle area, working as a Digital Marketing Manager for Microsoft. Since my last post, I have frequently thought about writing about my journey, but in hindsight, I am glad I have waited until now to start back up again. The time has given my perspective on the MBA experience that I think will allow me to contribute in a more meaningful way to those who are thinking of getting an MBA, are in b-school now, or who are just at a place where they are evaluating their career goals. I am not claiming to have all the answers to finding a meaningful and fulfilling career, or any answers along those lines for that matter. But I do have a perspective that I wish to share一and maybe that perspective will influence one or two people out there for the better. And if that’s all it does, that’s cool with me. With all that being said, I just realized since I started this blog, I never really introduced myself. So, here we go. My name is James Huntington. I am a husband, father, and a despiser of small talk. I love writing, design, visual communication, and storytelling. I was born in Okinawa, Japan. Contrary to most assumptions, my father is not in the military. My mom is Japanese and my dad is from California. I moved back and forth between Okinawa and California quite a bit. In total, I spent about eight years in Japan and the rest of my childhood in California. I am sure I will talk plenty about my career in future posts, so I am not going to today. I just want to talk about the important things. I am married to the coolest girl I know, and we have three crazy little boys with the wildest of imaginations. My family is my inspiration. I am trying my best to live a ridiculously intentional life, and be the kind of grown-up my kids will be excited to be like (because let’s face it, most grown-ups are lame, but they don’t have to be). I don’t know where this blog is going to go. I have a lot of ideas, but don’t necessarily have a concrete plan. I am just hoping that some of the ideas and thoughts I share will turn into meaningful conversations. Well, let’s get this started… or, ah, restarted! |
07 Jan 2017, 17:01
| FROM MBA Reapplicant: Reflections on UCLA Anderson |
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Happy New Year everyone! Before I get started on this post, and well, restarted on this blog in general, I wanted to mention something. For the past several months, I have thought about how to approach what I am putting out in this space. Do I write about b-school, career, life, etc. as an “expert,” or do I just tell my story? In fact, I have written several “posts” and played around with a variety of ideas. I have quickly realized I am not an expert, far from it, and to position myself as such would be inauthentic and fraudulent. But what I can and will do is, offer my perspective as one person who has gone down this path, with the hope of adding value to someone’s life. So, this is my story. Raw. Unedited. Messy. And far from finished. I was recently asked by an admissions consultant on a b-school forum if I would write about my experience at UCLA Anderson. As I begin jotting down some thoughts to post in response to her request, I realized that it might be valuable to expand on my reflections here. In the coming weeks, I plan on writing about the following topics about my experience at Anderson:
“It’s difficult for me to successfully depict my experience at UCLA Anderson in such a limited space. This usually works much better for me in one-on-one conversations, but I will do my best. “For me Anderson was a place where I met amazing people, pushed myself intellectually, and ultimately transformed myself professionally and personally. Academics “The academic experience overall was great! I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t love all my classes or professors, but on the whole I found myself learning and challenging my own understanding of business on a daily basis. One of the things I loved most about the academic side of Anderson was the diversity of learning experiences and methods I was exposed to. It wasn’t all cases or just lectures. It was a nice balance of those two, plus a healthy amount of experiential learning. Not only were the majority of the professors solid, we also got some amazing guest speakers—Alex Rodriguez, the President of Adidas North America, one of the founding members of CAA, David Aaker, Al Michaels, and Jessica Alba just to name a few. People “One of the main reasons why I decided to attend Anderson was the people. During the application process, Anderson was the only school where 100 percent of the people I reached out to actually got back to me. Those I spoke with were sharp and really knew their stuff. However, the thing that won me over was how noticeably happy they all were. Needless to say, I came into the program with high expectations for my peers. I was not disappointed in the slightest. Not only was I surrounded by incredibly accomplished and intelligent individuals, they were also down-to-earth and approachable. During my two-years at Anderson, I made some of the best friends I will probably ever have. Simply put, the student culture at the school was amazing! Career “Although there are many other positive aspects of my Anderson experience, the last one I will mention here is career. The Career Services Center at Anderson is second to none. I would put them up against any other school’s career center. The people I worked with not only wanted to help me get a job, they were invested in helping me better understand myself, my motivations, and my skills so that I could land the right job. I spent many hours with my advisors researching jobs, identifying target companies, prepping for interviews, etc. Without all of that, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Another big asset of Anderson on the career front is the location of the school. The business community in LA is thriving and the opportunities to work within that community to gain real experiences during school are endless. Not only did I do a full-time summer internship, I also did three part-time internships during the school year that enabled me to make the dramatic career shift that I did—operations at Goldman Sachs to marketing at Microsoft. “In the end, the 21-month experience cost me over $100,000, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. The experiences I had, the friends I made, and the opportunities that have been opened up for me wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t gone to Anderson.” |
09 Feb 2017, 13:01
| FROM The MBA Manual: Support the Site on Patreon! |
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Support MBA Manual Hey, guys! So, as you know, this resource is 100% free to anyone who wishes to access it. The whole point of the blog is to level the playing field of MBA admissions so that those of us who don’t have $4K to blow on an admissions consultant can still put our best application forward. It is, and always will be, a free (and ad-free) site. That being said, there are some costs associated with keeping the site up, so I’ve set up a Patreon page if you have any interest in supporting it. If you feel like you’ve gotten anything helpful from the information on the site, I ask you to consider donating. You can donate any amount you’d like–and literally anything helps. Oh, and we’ve hit 100,000 views  Thank you for all the support. I hope I can keep this resource around for awhile.   
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16 Feb 2017, 09:38
| FROM mbsingh: GMAT is a Beast !!! |
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There, I said it. I have been studying for past month on n off (mostly on). And I haven’t cracked it yet. I have though outlined my weaknesses and strengths. Luckily all the hardwired I put into SC has paid off and I am much better than before. To be honest I was panicking initially as I had an unrealistic timeline in my mind for GMAT and applications. But after attending a webinar with Personal MBA Coach, it became more clear that my priorities need to be rearranged in order to succeed. So I have built this Gantt chart that is really helpful for me personally and figured it might help someone out there who’s in same position as I am in. I am in no way affiliated with PMC. I have been attending every webinar or online chat to gain as much information as possible. And I recommend it to all of you. “Constant repetition carries Conviction.”   
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16 Feb 2017, 09:38
| FROM mbsingh: My Second Book |
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Its been long time coming. I have always been passionate about poetry. It’s my way of expressing my feelings and emotions. And i feel a person can convey strongest of the messages with the simplest of words. Ghamman da suadagar or Hawker of sorrows is compilation of 25 poems that i have written over past 10 years. Collection is pretty big but i wanted to publish something that others could relate to. iBooks Link US – https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1201554769 iBooks Link Canada – https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/id1201554769 It is primarily Punjabi and Urdu (Urdu ghazals using english script). Give it a read, it is free   
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25 Feb 2017, 22:01
| FROM mbsingh: Campus Visit – 2017 |
Campus visits play a crucial role in the MBA application process. It’s one thing to be passionate about one school but another to actually visit the campus, talk to current students, attend a class and see if you like the vibe. Going to a B-school that not only provides me right opportunities but also aligns with my personality is …. So starting March 1st i am embarking on two week trip to visit potential B-schools. There are few omissions due to scheduling conflicts and work commitments. But looking on the bright side, i’ll have a special trip just to visit these two schools in couple months. So here’s my schedule, if you happen to be in same city feel free to shoot a message. I would love to hang out with you
 
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02 Mar 2017, 08:02
| FROM mbsingh: Haas – Class Visit |
First one on the list – Berkeley Haas. I was only able to attend a class and not sit in any information session due to time constraints. Flew in from Vancouver and made it to campus just in time. Campus is beautiful, lot of undergrads have classes in same building. I guess Haas doesn’t have its dedicated building for Full Time MBA. Head to the students office and signed up for Andrew Isaacs – Opportunity Recognition: Technology and Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley. Its an elective so few of the students were from other schools as well. Having been up since 3 am with flight and long uber ride to campus and with lack of Caffeine had me crashing. But Andrew is a brilliant prof. It was a case study class about Hemoglobin replacement company that went public. Let’s just say in two hours everyone chipped in and cataloged crazy amounts of information and had come to conclusion on the case study. It was intense but yet fun. I actually wanted to participate quite a bit but was told beforehand not to. Students were actually really helpful and down to earth. One of the students offered to pay my transit fare when i asked for directions. Somebody else did for him day before so it was his pay it forward moment  . Its tricky now that i think about Haas. If Haas had one shot to impress me and i only asked for appetizer they delivered the best that they could have. Do i see myself at Haas ? – For sure, but i wish i had spent more time with students and at campus.One thing’s for sure, all the marketing fluff that we see online about B-schools – It’s real. Here’s picture of Berkeley   
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03 Mar 2017, 09:02
| FROM mbsingh: Stanford Class Visit |
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Day 2 – Stanford. After visiting Haas, i was less nervous and more mentally prepared. Class visit was scheduled from 9.30-12 and i got there early around 9ish. There were five other MBA aspirants, we all introduced ourselves and chatted for a bit before Admissions personnel showed up and gave us name tags. Meanwhile i was observing the atmosphere and its true what everyone says about Stanford – it’s laid back. Students in their pj’s and flip flops. I even saw a guy walking and trimming his beard on the go.Oh ya, a lot of East Indian students as well. Our group was split into two and my group was taken to Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital by Peter C Wendell & Raymond Gabriel Nasr. I honestly know nothing about venture capital, coming from tech background i had no expectations of knowing or understanding anything. But i couldn’t be more wrong. The case study was about firing a founder CEO by Board of directors. Everything was free flowing discussion and it was all making sense. The guest speakers work for a big VC firm which has shares in Instagram. He talked about uber’s CEO, investing in conflicting or rival companies etc. All in all it was wonderful experience. I didn’t get a chance to talk to students in the class but they ranged everywhere from sleepyheads to Prom queens. Question – Do i see myself at Stanford ? Let’s just say i was more confident before visiting Stanford. I will surely survive n thrive there but i need to dig deeper and do more research. Here’s the view from inside Bass Center at GSB. There’s no denying this place is piece of beauty.   
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09 Mar 2017, 16:01
| FROM mbsingh: Kellogg – Class Visit |
Day 3 – Kellogg. I stayed at my cousins’ place about an hour drive from Evanston. Illinois itself is not the most happening place. My cousin ended up taking me to Chicago navy pier, Willis tower and Millennium park, which is nice but it’s hard to fall in love with Chicago. Its crazy windy and apparently it wasn’t the normal windy day by Chicago’s standards. Anyhow, took the train to Evanston and uber to Kellogg. Started off with Info-session and then campus tour with first years. Right away i felt a big disconnect. The students were nice and helpful but with snobby side to them. I interacted with 4 of them and they came across as super helpful kind but with big serving of sarcasm. If it wasn’t for volunteer opportunity or nothing to gain, i felt like they wouldn’t even stop to give somebody directions. I was really interested in attending Data analytics class but it wasn’t offered that day so i cut my class visit short and left early. Kellogg is relocating to new building called Global Hub. It is secluded from city and it’s hella windy. I am honestly debating because it was horrible experience when it comes to students but when it comes to Admissions advisor and other staff they were the friendliest bunch. I guess i’ll reconsider Kellogg later on and try to talk to alumni before deciding if i will be applying there or no. 
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09 Mar 2017, 17:02
| FROM mbsingh: MIT – Sloan |
Cambridge is a different beast altogether. It has MIT and Harvard. The architecture around town is vintage and more welcoming than i felt at Chicago. I always had special place for MIT having aspired to become an astronaut growing up. Walking around the campus rekindled the fire once again but alas it’s bit late. If way to man’s heart is through his stomach, then MIT built express lane for me. I am a big fan of healthy nutritious food. Oatmeal and coffee are my go to meal anytime, anyplace (even if it’s not breakfast time). MIT cafe serves gourmet oatmeal with variety of granola, cranberry, brown sugar etc. MIT and I totally hit it off. It started off with Coffee chat with current first year students and a class visit after. Jim Rohn says “You’re the Average of the five people you spend the most time with “. And pretty much everyone i met at MIT, i would love them to be my classmates. MIT is pretty quant focused and it shows the way students communicate. We were taken to Paul Osterman’s Managing and Leading People and Organizations’ class after coffee chat. Myself and other 4 students were asked to introduce ourselves, it wouldn’t have mattered if we weren’t. But these small things do add up, it’s the minimalist things that add up to become a major factor. I liked the vibe of class, it’s inter-activeness and right blend of case study with lecture style. Following the case, there was an information session and lunch with current students. Dynamics of American politics and its impact on International students applying was brought up and one of the students mentioned that Student body president wrote to Trump personally regarding the issue showing his displeasure on the topic. All in all, it was great experience. If there’s one thing i have learnt so far, is that rankings don’t matter or atleast not if it’s one of the top 5-7 school. The opportunities are pretty much the same, it all boils down to what your personal preference is. Next on the list is HBS.  
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11 Mar 2017, 10:01
| FROM mbsingh: Harvard – Class Visit |
I never really believed in love at first sight but HBS is a different case. I knew about its reputation and all but never felt like i would want to go there for my MBA. It was sunny for last couple days in Cambridge and when i woke up on friday, it was snowing outside. Not a good sign. So i quickly got ready and called/hailed/summoned uber (don’t know the right terminology – but you get the idea). Driver dropped me off right at HBS but outside wrong building.  I decided to walk around n find my way as i still had 20 mins before the class visit. Enter the building and i felt like i was in the White house. I kid you not, like imagine Scarlett Johansson comes up to you and asks for your number. I was giggling, excited and was in awe of my surroundings. HBS Class visit pool is by far the biggest of all the schools i have visited. There were about 12 of us and another group of students was waiting for class right after us. Our class was BGIE and topic of Case study was India : Inclusive Growth taught by Alberto Cavallo.  One of the students who escorted us from Dillon house to Class, introduced us to Alberto and to entire class. It was a great experience. Class was phenomenal. I wanted to participate so badly as i have been through secondary and primary schooling in India and felt like i was the best person in class to talk about it but i had to restrain myself. Class started at weird time like 9.10 – 9.15 and ended at 10.30. It was only hour n 20 mins long but amount of issues that prof touched was insane. It was like attending standup comedy but even the audience was participating and i ended up learning so much. Upon returning to hotel, i started watching webinars and contacted a fellow Canadian who’s in his first year at HBS. He responded right away but unluckily he was flying out to Toronto otherwise would’ve met him in person and asked more questions. There’s a reason HBS is a league apart and it shows. When the application season comes, i’ll surely be right swiping on HBS.  
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13 Mar 2017, 22:01
| FROM MBA Data Guru: MBA Round 3 Application Deadline |
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MBA Round 3 Application Deadline It is mid March and the application season for the class of 2019 is winding down. If you plan to apply for this year, you should check the MBA Round 3 Application Deadline for the school of your dreams because it is fast approaching or already past. MBA Round 3 Application Deadline School Application Round Application Deadline Decision Notification Harvard 3 4/3/2017* 5/10/2017 Stanford 3 4/5/2017 5/18/2017 Booth 3 4/4/2017 5/18/2017 Wharton 3 3/28/2017 5/9/2017 Kellogg 3 4/5/2017 5/10/2017 MIT Sloan 3 4/10/2017 5/17/2017 Haas 3 4/6/2017 5/11/2017 Columbia 3 4/12/2017** Interview notification 6 weeks later Tuck 4 4/5/2017 5/12/2017 Yale 3 4/19/2017 5/18/2017 UVA 3 4/6/2017 5/8/2017 NYU 4 3/15/2017 6/1/2017 Ross 3 3/20/2017 5/12/2017 Duke 3 3/20/2017 4/17/2017 Cornell 4 3/15/2017*** 4/5/2017 McCombs 3 4/4/2017 5/11/2017 UNC 4 3/10/2017**** 4/24/2017**** UCLA 3 4/12/2017 5/24/2017 Emory 4 3/10/2017 4/28/2017 Olin 3 4/3/2017 5/5/2017 CMU 4 4/23/2017 5/24/2017 Now that you know when you need to apply for round 3 or 4, you may be wondering what your chance of getting accepted for the final round. Typically acceptance rate is lower for round 3 or 4 for most business schools. I will publish an updated acceptance rate by round article in the next couple days, which can help you decide if it make more sense for you to apply now or wait until round 1 in the fall. *2+2 program notification is 5/17/2017 **Rolling admission until 4/12/2017 ***After March 15th, applications will be received and reviewed on a space available basis ****If space is still available in the class, we will accept applications after the Round 4 deadline. Decisions on applications submitted after the Round 4 deadline will be released on a rolling basis. Olin also has a round 4 and 5 in June and July. MBA Data Guru - Business school admissions data and analysis |
14 Mar 2017, 00:01
| FROM MBA Data Guru: US News MBA Ranking 2017: The Redemption of Stern |
US News MBA Ranking 2017: The Redemption of Stern Photo credit: Anmar El-Khalil during graduation week 2016 Last year when the MBA rankings came out for US News and World Report, NYU was shocked and horrified. The school that was ranked 10 when we were admitted had dropped to 20. We all invested approximately $300K* in getting an MBA and now the perceived value of our degree had dropped significantly. In reality, many of us from the class of 2016 already had jobs so it would have little to no effect on us, but it was still a slap in the face. Either way, it felt awful and was a terrible way to end our MBA experience. That Sprint we held monthly town hall meeting to discuss the action the administration was taking to correct the rankings problem. Some people felt defeated and bitter and others were energized to correct this grave injustice. We poked fun at ourselves at Stern Follies #Top20MBA. No matter how people behaved in reaction, underneath we were all really hurt by what had happened. So the real question is why did NYU drop 9 places to 20. US News and World Report admits that they were missing one data piece from Stern and that they pulled a random value out of their @#$ to fill in for that number rather than ask us for it. Rankings are serious business and can seriously impact application volume and matriculation for schools, so US News should not take it lightly. The protocol for data submission starts with the school submitting roughly 300 pieces of data. Next, US News confirms that they received all the data that they need before calculating the rankings. Next they generate the rankings, and finally they publish them. US News knew that they were missing 1 data point from Stern for the rankings, yet they never informed us of it. US News is supposed to verify that they have received all data points before starting the ranking process. Someone at US News had to spend time “estimating” the one piece of data that was missing yet it never occurred to them that they might just drop us an email to inform us of the missing value. They ended up coming up with an estimate that was wildly off by around 2000 basis points. As a reasonable person, I have a hard time believing that US News did not do this maliciously. Rankings that stay the same each year are boring and don’t get attention. However, when there are big moves it attracts attention. I believe that US News knew exactly what they were doing when they decided to publish the rankings with their fabricated data point because they knew it would it would attract headlines and generate revenue for their company. This year NYU Stern submitted all of the data points and bounced back to number 12. I don’t think that US News ever had anything against Stern but they also didn’t care if they hurt people in their quest for more pageviews. It feels good to be back in the general rankings range that I started my MBA, but I can’t help but have a bad taste in my mouth. Stern is truly an amazing school and I owe much of my success to it. Not only does it have top notch professors, but the students are both talented but also down to earth. Some MBA programs are cutthroat, but NYU is not one of them. Everyone is extremely collaborative and works well in a team environment. We help each other rather than compete. The head of Stern recruiting at a consulting firm once told me a story about recruiting at Stern. He told a partner that they had to be more harsh with the interviews in the afternoon than the morning at Stern. The partner had not attended Stern, so he didn’t understand why. So this consulting manager informed him that NYU students puts the school and each other ahead of themselves and they will help each other prep for the interviews even if it hurts themselves. In my experience at Stern, we lived up to that expectation. Everyone was collaborative and helpful. No one was cutthroat. It is an amazing place to get your MBA. *$120K in tuition and $180K in salary opportunity cost. MBA Data Guru - Business school admissions data and analysis |
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Hi Generic [Bot],
Here are updates for you:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Tuck at Dartmouth
AGSM at UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE
 GMAT Club REWARDS
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