Netsy19 wrote:
Hi Jon,
First off, thanks so much for your response. Hmm, very good questions. Hopefully, I don’t really need to propose a change over to non-profit. But, I will definitely need to clarify that the museum I work for is a non-profit, as were the craft schools I worked for before being hired full time by the museum. Be it instructing a student in the techniques of a certain craft, or educating them on the history or properties of a material, the focus of all these non-profits is education in some form or another.
While it has a tendency to sound cheesy: education and a constant thirst for learning is something I have always found extremely important. Post mba I would like to further inspire other to continue learning. If the best way to do this is to lead an institution, be it a museum, school, or foundation, then I need the tools and knowledge to know how. Or maybe it is beginning a program to better educate artists regarding business. I’ve known a lot of starving artists and most wouldn’t be as skinny if they had ever taking even one marketing course. I’m still narrowing down my focus as to how exactly I want to foster learning, but that’s what business school is for, right? I do know that big picture is education.
How important do you think it is to have a hard and fast goal? Do I need to have a concrete plan of being the director of a museum or start a program to teach starving artists marketing (or accounting for that matter?)
Thanks so much for all your help. And, let me know of any programs you think might be a good fit. Thanks again!
Cheers!
Annette
Dear Annette,
Actually it is pretty darn important for you to have a clear and concrete goal, especially if you do not come from a business background. From the perspective of the business schools there are many reasons for this the main one being the belief (even if this amounts to ideology) that those who have goals can attain them. And if you do intend to apply to business school you should be ready to "play the game" (meaning, although it is true that very few people actually end up doing what they propose in their goals, nonetheless they all got in B-school with very specific goals, that made sense for their background and experience). So I'm afraid "I did non-proft, and I want to do more" will not cut it in their eyes.
Your first question you should be asking yourself when you try and set your goals is: what makes sense???
Meaning a) What can I do that will make best use of my experience b) that is ambitious c) and requires an MBA. I don't know what that may be exactly, but say for example - management of private museums might fit (just as an example) or CEO of an exclusive glass-blowing outfit, or manager of some sort of some arts/crafts fair. These are just the first things that come to mind and you have many more options. For example, I think that if you wanted to swing over into education, you could possibly make a plausible argument to have that as you goals. But that is what is most important that your goals be PLAUSIBLE and CLEAR and CONCRETE - if not, the AdCom will likely chalk them up as bumbly pipe-dreams, and it can end up harming your application, where it should be helping.
So think about that for starters. As for which schools - it is a good idea for you to do some initial research yourself. I'd say top 10 schools will be far stretches for you, but those ranked 10-50 should be more or less in your range (with 10-20 approximately as stretches). Look into schools which have strong education and/or non-profit programs as well as good MBA programs. The first ones that come to mind are Yale, Stern, Ross, Austin, UCLA, John Hopkins (for education), northwestern. But actually there are many great programs (some for non profit, some for education, some for general management). Hopefully this list will get you started.
All the best,