USC Marshall 2012 - Calling All Applicants

Congratulations for those who got interview invites!! For those that haven't yet, stay optimistic - you never know what might happen!

When are interviews for you guys scheduled for?

Tips for the interview:
1) Get to know the school well!!!
That's the main one because you know what the rest of an interview is like. It's a pretty generic behavioral interview with an admissions officer to assess your fit and your capabilities. If you come to a "super-Saturday" interview you may be interviewed by a second-year student instead of an admissions officer. There's really no difference between the two (trust me on this one, before I got in I used to speculate all day and night about this but there really is no difference at USC).

So how can you get to know USC better? Do a campus visit prior to your interview! Heck, you can do it the day of your interview. Make sure you get a chance to sit in on a class and meet the community - determine whether it is the right fit. Check out the Marshall full-time MBA website and learn about the different programs that we have - certificates, international opportunities, clubs, etc. Poke through the admissions ambassador blogs and get a sense of the community at Marshall, additionally: e-mail an admissions ambassador that you have some sort of a connection to (same hometown, same future industry, same background industry, whatever).

Good luck everyone and kick some ass!

This is so depressing. USC was my #1 choice. Major letdown.

Posted from my mobile device

What are your stats/background work experience?

If you didn't get an invitation yesterday, it's probably worth calling the admissions office to see if more will go out, you might still be in the running.

Posted from GMAT ToolKit

Yeah I definitely intend on giving them a call today. I'll see what they say!

I'll be on campus on January 4th for an interview. Anyone who will be in town on that date should let me know, we'll meet up!

I have a question about the "Additional Documents" section of the app.
Do you think it's a faut-pas to upload some info about extracurricular activities? The app doesn't seem to have any space to talk about these, and I feel they're a KEY part of my profile, so my app would be incomplete without this info.

The "Additional Documents" section says "You may use this area to upload additional documents and information to support your application", which to me seems like an invitation to provide supplementary info. They don't seem to limit it to transcripts/ degree certificates. Am I reading this correctly?

I'm not sure that it would be a good idea to cram it into the "additional documents" section. The second Marshall essay specifically mentions "background, experience, leadership and teamwork skills," which sounds like a great spot to talk about ECs. I talked about my experience managing a local rock band in that one. (Insert correlation/causation disclaimer here)

Any non-fastfood restaurant / bar recommendations near (20 minutes) USC?

i also got an invite yesterday
scheduled one in LA.

as far as restaurants are concerned, there are lots of stuff in LA area for food
what kind of food do you like?
i personally enjoy the restaurants in the little tokyo area in down town

Too many restaurants to go. Drive up Hoover and you will find El Taurino (King Taco). Little Tokyo has great places to go. Just park your car and start walking around shopping centers. Cafe Dulce has great coffees and baked goods. Koreatown is huge. Restaurants and drinking spots are literally everywhere. Little Tokyo and Koreatown are about 10 minutes away from the campus.

Hey everybody—just wanted to drop a line. I'm a current Full-Time student at USC, Class of 2013, and was in your shoes this time last year. Finals are around (and my super semester—11 courses this semester—is almost over) so I'm afraid I won't be able to devote much time here right now, but just wanted to shoot off some words of encouragement for everybody.

If anybody has any general questions about the program I'd be more than happy to lend some words on here.

Few things:
I'm completely enjoying the people and overall MBA experience right now. It's exceeded my pretty high expectations—everybody at school is extremely bright. B-school's by far one of the most dynamic, intelligent groups of people I've ever been a part of. People are easy to talk to, successful, and are incredibly fun to relax and party with.

The small class size (224 people total) gives everybody a chance to get to know each other. We're split off into 3 different "cores" of about 75 people each, and take mostly the same 11 courses throughout our first semester (the 11 courses are staggered throughout the semester so we're enrolled in no more than 5 at any given time). By the end of it (i.e. now) every core has bonded really well, and school-wide events (tailgates, volunteering, parties) gives us a chance to reach out to everybody else. It's a little overwhelming in the beginning, but because we see each other every day we get a chance to know each other.

Be prepared with some career decision before you get to school, do your research into the main companies, and hit the ground running when school starts. Many people go to B-school because they're unsure of their career decision, and that's okay. But the people who came in knowing what companies they wanted to work for, what industries they wanted to pursue, or what job functions they preferred (consultant, finance, marketing, strategy, etc.) have a much clearer path to success.

If you don't have a background in finance or accounting, read a couple intro books before school starts. You won't regret it.

Also, to be perfectly realistic, B-schools are a *lot* more difficult to get into than most people make it out to be. My resume, work experience, and GMAT scores were top notch (although my GPA was just okay), but I still got dinged from Harvard, MIT, and Haas. Almost every single person I've met at USC has the same story, but all are extremely well qualified people (former engineers, military, bankers, etc.). I can only imagine the people who applied to USC and got rejected with good stats. Had I known before what I know now, I would have applied to more backup schools and probably would've set my sights on different schools.

Good luck everybody!

Tony Lin

lol, hi Cristian?

Another 1st year student here. Let me know if you guys have any questions about Marshall. Congrats to those of you who have been invited to interview already. And certainly visit Marshall - I have heard their ambassadors are awesome.

I've got a question for you and the other 1st years around. Does anyone have any experience with the operations club or know anyone who does?

In last year's thread, there is a comment by a prospective student that the operations club only had one guy in it who was interested in operations. Everyone else was just there looking for the free food. This is probably the worst news I've heard about Marshall, as I am looking to specialize in operations. I guess that means I have two questions:

1. Is the operations club really that thin?
2. Does the operations club really provide free food?

1. I am not really involved with the Operations Club and knowing the other two first-year students on this forum, I don't think they are involved either (although CyberC1 might be tempted to join it after reading this post). Operations is indeed not a popular post-MBA career choice at Marshall, however, I have already met 3-4 first-year students who are interested in this field. But what is more important companies do come to recruit for their Ops positions (Mattel, Amgen, Yahoo!, etc.). I cannot comment on the experience of that person who visited the school and realized there was only one student interested in Ops but one sounds like an exaggeration.
2. Yes and No. Yes, they do serve food at every club meeting - it is usually pizza or sandwiches. The quality of the food varies based on its place of origin but it is usually "average" to "very good." And No, it is not free because you pay membership fees to be a member of the club at the beginning of the year and those fees are used to cover the bill for the food.

I'll be on campus on January 12th for the interview. If anyone is on town, let me know and we can meet up!

I'm a first year at USC concentrating in operations. My thoughts:

1) Look at the USC employment reports. Operations is behind marketing, accounting, finance, sales, and consulting in job field. So you can see where the priorities for students are.

2) No, there is not one person in the operations club. Yes, there club is relatively thin compared to the finance club, marketing clubs, etc. I'm in the operations club and I've probably only been to two events. There either aren't too many operations club events, or I am ignorant.

3) There are plenty of operation jobs available if you are interested. I cannot tell you how many recruiters I've met who complain that nobody wants to go into operations. Operations isn't as sexy as sales, finance, or consulting. So there isn't a lot of desire for people to go into it, despite the fact that businesses are hiring operations MBAs pretty steady right now since everyone is looking to improve efficiency//cut costs in these tough economic times.

4) My personal endorsement for people who want to study operations---- it depends on what exactly you want to do. If you want to do biotech operations, we've got Amgen and a bunch of other companies in the San Diego//L.A area that recruit here. There is also a high-tech club that visits San Francisco and several people there always land operations jobs for computer tech. There are also several tech companies in Irvine that recruit pretty heavily here. There are plenty of opportunities and jobs. That being said, we're not MIT. Operations is not the strength of USC.

5) Despite the above, lots of good operations classes here. There's a healthcare operations class that is going to Brazil this spring, and the professors here are pretty solid for operations overall.

6) And no. There's usually free food for the first event or two, but not on a regular basis.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.