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15 Dec 2017, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: How to Solve Any Sentence Correction Problem on the GMAT, Part 3 |
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With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. In Part 1 of this article, we talked about the five-step process to answer Sentence Correction problems, and in Part 2, we discussed some drills to build the needed skills. Make sure to read both of those before continuing with this third article in the series. Drill Number 3: Find a Starting Point Once again, open up your Official Guide and look at some problems you have done before. This time, do not read the original sentence. Instead, cover it up. Compare the answers, and try to articulate all the things that the problem is testing. Note that you can tell what is being tested even if you cannot tell how to answer. For example, you might see a verb switching back and forth between singular and plural. If the subject is not underlined, then you have no idea which verb form is required, because you literally have not even seen the subject. You do, though, know that subject-verb agreement is at issue. Drill Number 4: Eliminate Answers Once again, this drill involves problems you have already done. (Sensing a pattern? We learn the most when we are reviewing things we have already done!) This time, though, you are going to get to use the whole problem. Right after you finish a problem, add the following analysis to your review: (1) Why is the right answer right? Why is each of the four wrong answers wrong? (2) How would you justify eliminating the right answer? What is the trap that would lead someone to cross this one off? (3) How would you justify picking any of the wrong answers? What is the trap that would lead someone to pick a wrong answer? You are probably already doing the first one, but most people skip the second and third steps. The first is important, but you can learn more! When you learn how you (or someone) would fall into the trap of thinking that some wrong answer looks or sounds or feels better than the right one, you will be a lot less likely to fall into that same trap yourself in the future. Next Steps Practice these steps until they start to feel like second nature to you. At the same time, of course, learn the grammar rules that we all need to know. Put both pieces together, and you will master sentence correction! |
16 Dec 2017, 10:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: Yikes, a Typo—I Am Done! |
 You have worked painstakingly on your application. You have checked and rechecked your work. You finally press the Submit button only to realize—to your horror—that you are missing a comma and you inadvertently used “too” instead of “to.” The admissions committee is just going to throw your application out, right? Wrong. There is a fine line between a typo and pervasive sloppiness. If you have typos and grammatical errors throughout your essays and application, you send a negative message about your sense of professionalism and desire to represent yourself—and thus the target school—in a positive way. If you have a minor mistake or too (oops, we meant “mistake or two”) in your text, you have an unfortunate but not devastating situation on your hands. Admissions committees understand that you are only human, and if you are a strong candidate, the entirety of your professional, community, personal, and academic endeavors will outweigh these blips. Do not dwell on the mistakes. Do not send new essays. Just accept your own fallibility and move on. |
19 Dec 2017, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Finding Suitable and Punctual Writers for Your Recommendation Letters |
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Letters of recommendation are an important part of your overall application package—they provide the only outside information the admissions committee receives about you. One of the most stressful parts of the application process can be picking your recommender. The first question you should ask is who can write a valuable letter on my behalf? Like many candidates, you may believe that your recommenders must have remarkable credentials and titles to impress the admissions committee. However, what is far more important is selecting individuals who can write a personal and knowledgeable letter that discusses your talents, accomplishments, personality, and potential. If senior managers at your company can only describe your work in vague and general terms, they will not help your cause. Lower-level managers who directly supervise your work, on the other hand, can often offer powerful examples of the impact you have had on your company. As a result, their letters can be far more effective. Nonetheless, not everyone who knows you and your capabilities well will make a good recommender. For starters, you should of course feel confident that your potential recommender likes you and will write a positive letter on your behalf. As you contemplate your choices, try to gather some intelligence on your potential recommenders. Have they written letters for anyone else? Are they generous with their time with regard to employee feedback and review sessions? Will they devote the effort and time necessary to write a letter that will really shine? (See also our blog post on choosing “safe” recommenders.) If your prospective MBA program asks for two letters of recommendation, you should generally approach two of your recent supervisors, with one ideally being your current supervisor. Your letters will have added credibility if they are written by individuals who are senior to you, because your recommenders are in evaluative positions and will not have anything to lose by critically appraising your candidacy. As application deadlines approach, many candidates find themselves immersed in stress—busy juggling multiple essays and revising their resume. Often in the midst of all this, an alarming question suddenly springs to mind: “What if my recommenders do not get their letters done by the deadline?” In our opinion, the easiest way to ensure that your recommenders complete their letters on time is to present them with your own deadline—one that is a bit earlier than the school’s—when you first ask them to provide a recommendation for you. If the application to your school of choice is due on January 15, for example, tell your recommenders that you are submitting on January 8. Incidentally, submitting your application early can be good for your sanity as well. By setting this advanced deadline, you can put some additional pressure on your recommender on the 8th if he/she has not yet finished the letter, so you should still be able to submit by the school’s official deadline. Most people work to deadlines. Alleviate unnecessary stress by setting your recommenders’ deadlines one week early, and “enjoy” the application process a little bit more. |
20 Dec 2017, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Health Management Studies at Kellogg and Wharton |
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An often unsung program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management is the school’s Health Enterprise Management program. The Health Enterprise Pathway includes three study modules, beginning with two foundational courses titled “Health Economics” and “Healthcare Strategy.” Students are recommended to take at least one foundational course, after which they can choose from two “depth” options: Life Sciences/Products, which features such courses as “Pharmaceutical Strategy” and “Critical Issues in the Pharmaceutical, Biotech, and Medical Device Industries,” and Payer/Provider, which offers such courses as “Population Health” and “Service Operations.” In the third module of the pathway, students partake in experiential or field studies. Among these options are “Medical Product Early Stage Commercialization” and “Medical Technologies in Developing Countries.” Another experiential offering in the third module of the pathway is the multidisciplinary “NUVention: Medical Innovation” lab class, which brings together industry leaders, top faculty members, and students from several of Northwestern’s graduate schools (Law, Engineering, Medicine, and Business). In this two-term course, students experience the “entire innovation life cycle” from a variety of perspectives: scientific, legal, and entrepreneurial/managerial. Students even shadow surgeons and observe clinicians to facilitate their own brainstorming sessions for an innovative product—an actual product is created and presented to potential investors. Clearly, Kellogg provides students interested in health care with an opportunity to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty (and then sanitize them after, of course). The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania offers students the possibility of majoring in Health Care Management. Unlike the school’s other majors, however, the Health Care Management major must be declared during the application process. The requirements for this program include two mandatory courses, “The Health Services System” and “Health Care Field Application Project,” and three electives from a list including such titles as “Private Sector Development in Global Health Development,” “Legal Aspects of Health Care,” and “Financial Management of Health Institutions.” The required “Health Care Field Application Project” course is taken in the second semester of the first year in learning teams of five to six students, in partnership with a real company in the field that has a current problem for the students to work on. |
22 Dec 2017, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Barry Nalebuff, Yale School of Management |
 Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when they choose a business school. However, the educational experience you will have is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Today, we profile Barry Nalebuff from the Yale School of Management (SOM). Perhaps best known as one of the founders of Honest Tea, Barry Nalebuff is the Milton Steinbach Professor of Management at the Yale SOM. An expert in game theory and strategy, Nalebuff has been a professor at the SOM since 1989. A second year told mbaMission that in the classroom, Nalebuff “is a favorite for his sharp wit and insights.” Nalebuff is also an accomplished author with more than 300,000 copies in print. His book The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist’s Guide to Success in Business and Life (W.W. Norton & Co., 2008), for example, explores how almost all interactions—business and personal alike—have a game theory component. Nalebuff and Adam Brandenburger, a professor of business economics and strategy at NYU’s Stern School of Business, developed the concept of a new business strategy called “co-opetition,” which they write about in the book Co-Opetition: A Revolutionary Mindset That Combines Competition and Cooperation: The Game Theory Strategy That’s Changing the Game of Business (Crown Business, 1997). The book’s listing on Amazon.com describes co-opetition as “a business strategy that goes beyond the old rules of competition and cooperation to combine the advantages of both. Co-opetition is a pioneering, high profit means of leveraging business relationships.” A first year noted in a Yale SOM Community Blog post, “Prof. Nalebuff never misses an opportunity to illustrate the ways in which companies can cooperate to grow the PIE (potential industry earnings). Of course, he then always reminds us that these same companies should compete aggressively to secure the biggest piece of that newly expanded PIE.” For more information about the Yale SOM and 16 other top-ranked business schools, check out the free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
22 Dec 2017, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: When Will I Be Ready to Take the GMAT? |
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Trying to figure out when you should take the GMAT and how to fit studying into your schedule can be stressful. Manhattan Prep instructor Elaine Loh explains how to organize your study process to succeed. How long do I need to study for the GMAT? When will I be ready? How much time per week should I invest? These are the questions I get over and over and over, particularly from students who haven’t started studying yet. They’re usually trying to figure out whether or not they can manage class, and they’re on the verge of a mild freak-out. You want the quick, bullet-point answer? OK, here ya go. We offer a nine session class (typically once a week), and we say you’ll probably want two to three weeks following the class to finish up studying. That’s assuming that you do all of the homework, and that’s also assuming that the homework takes you five to ten hours to complete between sessions. Now, here’s the longer answer that you are not going to like. I can’t answer those questions for you. Like, at all. Everybody is different, and there is no magic bullet, one-size-fits-all plan to studying for the GMAT. I can make a prediction for you based on your current life schedule and your previous academic habits. But what it really comes down to is this: How much do you want it? Seriously. That’s the number one determining factor of how long it will take. If you’re not sure that you want to go to B-school and you’re just checking out your options, chances are, you’ll drop out of class. Truly. It happens all the time. And that’s okay! But why invest a lot of time, money, and effort toward something that you maybe would give a three on a scale of one to ten? If that’s you, that’s cool. Stop reading now and go grab a latte with all the money you’ll save from not taking class at the wrong time. We’ll be here for you when you’re ready. If, however, you know you want to make this life change, then here are some questions to help you figure out when you’ll be ready: Do you have a full-time job? If so, it’s going to be relatively harder for you to find time and energy. Therefore, it will take you longer to study. For example, you might study after work two to three times a week for an hour and a half, and once on the weekend. You must give yourself days off—from both work and studying—or you will burn out. You might end up needing several months after class is over to catch up on homework and feel ready. Have you not done math since 11th grade? If you’re out of college and you haven’t done math for a while, it will take you longer to study. You’ll need to invest a lot of time up front learning foundational math skills. What I don’t recommend is trying to study math on your own first before enrolling in a class or getting a tutor. I’ve seen people do that a million times, and 990,000 of them end up giving up and not taking the GMAT at all. (Figure out that percentage as a quick math check!) Math is too overwhelming, and frankly, too complicated to teach yourself! You need someone to guide you even more at the beginning. Once you have your foundation, you can work on it on your own. But that will take time. Do you have family obligations? Kids? Friends? Relationships? Refer to question #1. Life takes time and energy, so again, it will take you longer to study. But the good news is that these people who take your time and energy can also give you time and energy, through their love and support. Make sure you tell the right people what you’re doing and how they can help. Very often, family members and friends don’t even know what a challenge it is to go from a 560 to a 720, so they don’t understand what you need. Spell it out for them. Set your study schedule and have them help you stick to it! And on the flip side, don’t tell those family members or friends who won’t actually support you. You know who those people are. Just be ready to sidestep them for the next few months. Now, if you don’t have a job, are independently wealthy, are a math genius, and don’t have any obligations that eat up your time—tell me how you did that, because clearly, I am living the wrong life!! The truth of the matter is that most of you reading this will answer yes to one (or more!) of these three questions, so take heart that you are all in the same boat. Thousands of people manage to find the time to study and do well on the test every year, and you can be one of them. Take the anxiety you feel about finding that time, and channel it into creating a study schedule that is realistic and that you can stick to. If you’re not sure how to do that, start here. Know that the road will be at least several months long, possibly even a year long. And that’s okay. But go into it with realistic expectations. This will be hard and it will take a while. But if you really want it, it will be worth it. |
23 Dec 2017, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: Do Alumni Connections Help You Gain Admission? |
 From time to time, we at mbaMission visit admissions officers at top-ranked business schools, which gives us the opportunity to ask rather frank questions. On one such visit to a prestigious MBA program, we pushed an admissions officer on the extent of alumni influence in the admissions process and ultimately received a surprising response: “We get ten letters each year from [a globally famous alumnus], telling us that this or that MBA candidate is the greatest thing since sliced bread. He gets upset when we don’t admit ‘his’ applicants, but what makes him think that he deserves ten spots in our class?” Many applicants fret about their lack of personal alumni connection with their target schools, and the myth persists that admission to business school is about who you know, not who you are or what you can offer. Of course, these latter qualities are much more important, and a standout applicant who knows no graduates at all from the school he/she is targeting is still a standout applicant and should get in—just as a weak applicant who knows a large number of alumni or a particularly well-known graduate is still a weak applicant and should not get in. Clearly, some extreme exceptions exist where influence can be exerted, but “standard” applicants do not need to worry that every seat at the top programs has been claimed by someone with good connections, before he/she even applies. Keep in mind that the admissions committees want to ensure that a diversity of ideas and experiences is represented in the classroom. Every top MBA class includes people from various socioeconomic backgrounds, nationalities, religions, professional backgrounds, ages, etc. Harvard Business School, for example, has approximately 900 students in each incoming class, and the vast majority of these students do not personally know a CEO or the president of a country. And who knows—these days, such connections could even be a liability. |
25 Dec 2017, 10:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Clarifying Lead vs. Led and Avoiding the Overuse of Techniques in MBA Application Essays |
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A very common mistake we see in our clients’ MBA application essays is misuse of the verb “lead.” A deeply entrenched and widespread misunderstanding seems to exist as to which spelling connotes present tense and which one connotes past tense. One of our consultants even had a client raise his voice to her in passionate defense—of the wrong usage! In case you are not completely confident about this word yourself, we hope this blog post helps clear up the issue for you! Lead or Led?
Confusing the spelling and/or pronunciation of this verb’s different tenses is a simple mistake but one that stands out clearly to admissions professionals who have probably seen this verb more times in the past year than most people do in a lifetime! So, pay close attention to which is which, and be sure you are using the correct version every time. Another essay-related issue encountered by some applicants is changing the structure from one essay to the next. For example, a candidate might choose to use a quote at the beginning of an essay to create a sense of urgency: “This cannot be fixed. This cannot be fixed!” I stared blankly at the broken machinery and knew that the next few hours would be crucial… Using this kind of attention-grabbing technique is certainly acceptable, but you should never use the same technique more than once in an application. By starting more than one essay in the same manner, you are effectively sending the admissions reader the message that you understand how to use a gimmick but not how to tell a compelling story in your own way. This is also a quick way to lose the reader’s interest! So, be sure to vary your approach with each new essay within a single application. We work with our candidates to ensure that their ideas are presented in fresh and different ways, to captivate the admissions committee with each introduction and, indeed, each essay. |
27 Dec 2017, 10:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Dean Profiles: R. Glenn Hubbard, Columbia Business School |
 Business school deans are more than administrative figureheads. Their character and leadership often reflect an MBA program’s unique culture and sense of community. Today, we profile R. Glenn Hubbard from Columbia Business School (CBS). R. Glenn Hubbard was appointed dean of CBS in 2004, having been at the school for nearly 20 years and having served as the Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics, the school’s senior vice dean, and codirector of the entrepreneurial program. He is also well known for having been an economic advisor to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012 and a leading designer of the 2003 Bush tax cuts, which he helped implement while serving as chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers. In 2017, he became a member of the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission. After being criticized for his ties to the financial services industry in the 2010 documentary Inside Job, Hubbard has made a more concerted effort to bring professional responsibility to the fore of the CBS curriculum and to require faculty to fully disclose their professional activities outside of teaching. While many business schools responded to the financial crisis by adding standalone ethics courses to their curricula, Hubbard told the Wall Street Journal in 2011, “I don’t think students pay attention to [ethics] the way they do when it’s integrated into your marketing course, into your operations course, into your finance class.” With the launch of a new flexible curriculum in 2008 and further curricular changes in 2013, the school has reportedly worked to incorporate this integrated approach to teaching ethics directly into its core components. The updated curriculum also engenders what Hubbard has promoted as the three most essential directives for business students: “analyze, decide, and lead.” Hubbard is often the good-natured subject of student sketches in the CBS Follies comedy show and has been known to even make a personal appearance now and then. Videos from past Follies in which the dean has been featured can be found on YouTube, including a musical parody of “Every Breath You Take” by The Police, in which Hubbard covets Ben Bernanke’s 2006 appointment as chairman of the Federal Reserve. For more information about CBS and 16 other top-ranked business schools, check out the free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
28 Dec 2017, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Improved Facilities at Washington University’s Olin Business School |
 Olin Business School Washington University’s Olin Business School announced in 2011 that lead gifts totaling $25M from two of its benefactors would support a plan to construct two new facilities for its graduate program—Knight Hall and Bauer Hall. The $90M expansion was completed in the spring of 2014—several months earlier than expected—and added seven new classrooms, 75 faculty offices, a 100-seat café, graduate student services, lounges, an Active Learning Lab, and a new event space called The Forum. A three-dimensional rendering of the buildings, which received LEED Gold certification in 2014, can be seen here. Although Olin is a smaller sized program (145 full-time MBA students in the Class of 2019) and is noted for its highly collaborative culture, the expansion allows the school to grow its class size while providing more space and resources. One of Olin’s older buildings, Simon Hall, was first opened for use in 1986 and underwent major renovations in spring 2014. The renovation project was completed in two phases before finishing in fall 2015. The building now features six new classrooms, a marketing research lab, lounge areas, and an improved auditorium. In addition to its constantly improving facilities, Olin may also be well positioned to tap into St. Louis’s burgeoning start-up sector. According to a 2013 report by the career hub Dice, “The number of St. Louis–based technology jobs posted on Dice jumped 25 percent year/year. And those new tech jobs are coming at a higher price tag too: average tech salaries are up 13 percent year/year to $81,245. … St. Louis is becoming a start-up town.” In Dice’s 2017 report, year-to-year change was more modest at 3.1%, but the average annual salary in the technology field had climbed to $83,717. |
29 Dec 2017, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: The Process for Tackling Any Critical Reasoning Problem on the GMAT |
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With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. I want to share a four-step Critical Reasoning (CR) process with you, a process that can be used on any CR problem. Here is the overall process: Step 1: Identify the question. Step 2: Deconstruct the argument. Step 3: State the goal. Step 4: Work from wrong to right. Those steps might sound obvious to some people and very vague to others. I will explain each in more detail, but I want to say first that each step is there for a very important reason, and each step has been split off from the others for a very important reason. You can find the full article on the Manhattan Prep blog, as well as additional articles that illustrate how to use this process with each of the various CR question types. Here are a few additional details for each step: Step 1: Identify the question. Use the question stem to identify the question. Each question type has certain characteristics; learn them. Step 2: Deconstruct the argument. Arguments can contain up to four main building blocks: premises, counter-premises, conclusions, and background. Every argument has premises, but that is the only component common to all. In addition, some arguments “contain” assumptions—that is, the assumptions are not written but can be implied based on the premises and conclusion. Step 3: State the goal. Each question type asks us to do a certain kind of reasoning; we need to make sure we know what it is. Each question type also has common error categories; remind yourself what they are, and you will be less likely to fall for them! Step 4: Work from wrong to right. This is just a fancy way of saying find and eliminate the wrong answers until only one answer is left. Your first focus is elimination; get rid of everything you know is wrong. Do not even ask yourself what might be the right answer until you have gone through all five answers once. Then compare any remaining, tempting answers. |
30 Dec 2017, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: Title Trumps All |
 In the past, we have addressed (and debunked!) the myth that you must personally know alumni from the top MBA programs to gain acceptance into those schools. Another admissions myth that is somewhat similar—in that it pertains to who you know instead of who you are—is that your recommendation must be written by someone with a flashy title. Each year, many candidates will persuade either someone from outside their workplace (e.g., a congressman) or an insider who does not know their work all that well (e.g., a managing director or CEO) to write a recommendation on their behalf. Unfortunately, when you obtain a recommendation from someone because of his/her title and not because they actually know you and your work, the result is a vague endorsement. Consequently, the admissions committee will not get to know you better through this individual’s recommendation letter, and this undermines the very purpose of recommendations. Even if you can educate someone far above you in the corporate hierarchy about your achievements and he/she can write a seemingly personal letter, it still will not make sense that a CEO, for example, knows what you—one of hundreds of employees—are doing on a daily basis. So the intimacy of this person’s letter just might seem absurd. Of course, if your CEO does actually know you and can write a personal letter that makes a logical connection between your position and his/hers, that could be helpful. Rather than focusing on titles when considering possible sources for your recommendations, strive to identify an individual who knows you well and can write about your strengths—and even your weaknesses—with sincerity. If your supervisor has a less than impressive title, this will not reflect negatively on you; what will matter is what he/she writes about you. If that person can discuss your performance while providing powerful examples of standout achievements, he/she will help you to the fullest. |
01 Jan 2018, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: January and February 2018 Event Roundup |
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Are you applying to business school this year? If so, you can enroll in one of our free business school workshops, which are offered both online and in person in major cities across the country! This January and February, we invite you to join us in NYC and online! The event lineup includes the following sessions:
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03 Jan 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Cameron Anderson, Haas School of Business |
 Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when they choose a business school. However, the educational experience you will have is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Today, we profile Cameron Anderson from the Haas School of Business at the University of California (UC), Berkeley. Cameron Anderson, who received his PhD from UC Berkeley in 2001, came to Haas from New York University’s Stern School of Business in 2005. His teaching awards include Professor of the Year at Stern in 2005 and the Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching at Haas in 2008. He was also named a Bakar Faculty Fellow in 2010. A second year described Anderson’s “Power and Politics in Organizations” course to mbaMission as “easily one of the most sought-after classes at Haas.” Another second-year student we interviewed said the class “teaches students how to gain power and influence people without formal authority” and added that Anderson “teaches applicable skills based on academic research and case studies of great leaders from history. He uses assignments to force students to uncover their own tools of influence and develop strategies for acquiring power in our immediate careers after Haas. I think his class is popular because it’s academic, directly applicable, and introspective all at once.” For more information on the defining characteristics of the MBA program at UC Berkeley Haas or one of 16 other top business schools, check out the free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
04 Jan 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Avoid Negativity and Multiple Famous Quotes in Your MBA Application Essays |
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Sincerity. Honesty. Candor. We encourage MBA candidates to incorporate these attributes into their applications, and when they do, successful essays tend to follow. Yet, can an applicant go too far? The answer is “yes,” especially when candor turns to negativity. Sometimes, when MBA candidates believe they are being candid, they are in fact revealing themselves to be predisposed to pessimism; as a result, the admissions committee has difficulty identifying with their file. Such situations are unfortunate, but luckily, they are often also avoidable; an ostensibly “negative” idea can almost always be expressed in a positive and optimistic manner. Example: “In my current position, I am no longer learning and am afraid I will continue to stagnate without my MBA. I cannot achieve my objective of becoming a leader in the marketing department at my firm unless…” Common sense would say that the admissions committee would likely not be very excited about accepting an applicant who believes he/she has stopped learning or that his/her career progress can be thwarted by basic obstacles. Revised Example: “As I look to the future, I recognize that with MBA training, I could dramatically increase my impact on my firm. With an eye toward a leadership position in our marketing department, I am…” In this revised example, the candidate is expressing the exact same need for an MBA in positive terms and is thus making him-/herself a more warm and engaging prospect, while still candidly stating a need for further education. Before submitting your file, check for unnecessarily negative statements. Although we would never suggest that every line in your essays must be full of sunshine, you should certainly take steps to avoid portraying yourself as a pessimist. Like negativity, you should also avoid relying on quotes in your MBA application essays. Sometimes, incorporating a famous quote (or perhaps a lesser-known quote by a well-known person) can add a little something special to the story you are trying to tell. If the quotation truly enhances your message in a significant way, it can serve as an effective tool, making your submission that much more compelling. Consider the following examples: Example 1: “The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” – Theodore Roosevelt Roosevelt’s words are as true today as when he spoke them. The essence of a manager is… Example 2: As Peter F. Drucker said, “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” I have found the distinction between management and leadership especially important… However, some candidates may be tempted to use a quotation as a kind of crutch, essentially relying on someone else’s clever or poignant wordsmanship in place of their own. Think of using a quotation as a way of enriching an already interesting narrative, rather than as an easy shortcut to a more impressive essay. Before using a quotation in your writing, ask yourself these three questions:
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05 Jan 2018, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Two Boston-Based MBAs: Experience Public and Nonprofit Management at BU and “Core Values” at BC |
 Boston University (BU) Questrom School of Business Since 1973, the Boston University (BU) Questrom School of Business (formerly the School of Management) has offered a Public & Nonprofit Management MBA (PNP), specifically designed to cultivate business management skills that can make a real difference in the world. Standing at 51st among U.S. MBA programs in the The Economist’s 2017 rankings, Questrom exposes PNP students to a robust general management core curriculum and also offers specialized courses and resources targeting the governmental, public, and private nonprofit sectors. Nearby, at Boston College’s (BC’s) Carroll School of Management, students enjoy a close-knit classroom environment in which they gain exposure to broad management skills, with a particular emphasis on business ethics. Both the curriculum and the student community at the school engender a set of core values: “honesty,” “integrity,” “mutual respect,” “the relentless pursuit of excellence,” and “accountability to self and others.” In addition to, for example, taking four courses on data analytics, students at the Carroll School must complete a community service requirement, which the school believes will help instill an appreciation for and a spirit of giving back to the community in its MBAs. Boston College’s (BC’s) Carroll School of Management These values are also reflected in the school’s core “Management Practice Experience” simulation, in which students learn to think critically about the challenges involved in business leadership. As one graduate commented in a past Bloomberg Businessweek profile of the Carroll School, “In the background of your core classes, and many electives, is a strong consideration on the moral and ethical dilemmas that often arise in the business world. I never felt that ‘morality’ was being pushed on us, but the consequences of each decision we make were always placed in front of us and we were left to make up our own mind.” |
06 Jan 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: My Supervisor Graduated from HBS—He Knows! |
 We at mbaMission know of a man now in his 70s who graduated from a virtually unknown Canadian undergraduate school in 1963 and who, with no work experience at all, applied to Harvard Business School (HBS), Wharton, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), earning acceptance at all three (though the GSB deferred his entry for one year so he could gain a little more experience first). He ultimately studied at HBS and now runs a small grain-trading business. You could not meet a nicer man, and although he is certainly wise in many respects, one thing he knows nothing about is MBA admissions. “I attended so long ago, things must have changed since then,” he says. “I did not have any work experience at all. I had studied four years of commerce, and that was it!” Why are we telling you this? Many candidates each year tell us that their bosses, who applied to business school during far different times, have given them “sage” advice about applying and that they feel they should follow it—after all, what worked for their boss in 1966, 1976, 1986, or even 1996 must still be applicable today, right? Not quite so. For a long time, the MBA was actually not all that desirable a degree, so the admissions process was not so competitive. To give you an idea of the MBA’s relative popularity, Duke University (Fuqua) did not even start its MBA program until 1970, but its law school was founded in 1868. Yale University was founded in 1701, but it did not have an MBA program until 1976. So, the MBA is a relatively new degree that has only recently (as of the late 1990s) reached its current level of popularity and prestige. What does all of this mean with regard to your boss’s advice? Although your supervisor may have gotten into one of your target schools, he/she likely did so years ago and therefore may not have had to contend with the steep competition you now face. Your boss may also not know anything about what the admissions process is like today and could be—however inadvertently—leading you astray. If your supervisor starts any bit of his/her well-intended advice with the phrase “when I applied,” you should view the coming declaration with tremendous caution. |
07 Jan 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: First Glance Exercises for Sentence Correction in the GMAT |
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With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. Previously, we have learned the four-step Sentence Correction (SC) Process. People are excited about the opening step, the First Glance, and have asked for more exercises to help them learn how to become a First Glance Expert. For instance… Does the length of the underline tell you anything? If so, what? What about the very first word of the underline? Or the last word right before the underline starts? And what about the differences among the first words of each answer choice? Does anything strike you there? Fantastic clues often exist in these areas, but you need to learn how to translate them. As with any study we do for the GMAT, our real learning comes before the clock starts ticking. Take all the time you need to analyze already-completed questions to figure out how to spot and react to certain types of clues. Then, when the test starts, you will know what to look for, and you will be able to react immediately when you spot a useful clue! First, read the SC Process posts. Next, grab your copy of the Official Guide for GMAT Review 2017. Finally, start trying out the exercises detailed in the article “Get the Most Out of Your First Glance.” Plan to spend a few weeks working on this a little bit every day before you start to spot most of the types of clues that can pop out at you during your first glance at the problem. Have fun! |
08 Jan 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Will I Get In? And If I Do, Will I Want to Attend After All? |
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Not surprisingly, one of the most common questions we receive from MBA candidates is “Will I get in?” Of course, this is an important question to consider before applying, and we suggest that you honestly assess and understand your candidacy and risk profile within the context of your target school’s typical student body before completing or submitting an application to that school. However, once you have determined that you will in fact apply to a particular school, you should not let this question haunt you or halt your progress. Many applicants spend too much time worrying and not enough time working. Your admissions decision is ultimately out of your control, so just focus on submitting the best application you possibly can. The following scenario may be hard for you to imagine when you are still in the midst of applying to business schools, but every year, we at mbaMission see clients get accepted to an MBA program only to realize it is not a place they actually want to attend after all. Alternatively, we occasionally see applicants who are not accepted to any school and realize they must remain in a job they were more than ready to leave. So, how do some candidates end up in these kinds of situations? In both of these scenarios, the applicants chose and applied to schools without first taking an honest look at their candidacy, goals, and alternatives. We encourage all applicants to very thoroughly consider where their true tipping point lies in terms of attending business school. At what point would not going to school be better than going to X school? Some candidates feel that if they do not go to Harvard Business School, they may as well not go to business school at all. Others believe they must attend a school in the top ten. Still others think, “I really hope to go to a top ten program, but I’ll be happy to attend any top-30 school.” Having a frank discussion with yourself (or perhaps with us) on this topic may help you pinpoint where this cutoff point is for you. Start by researching all the MBA programs at which you believe you would be competitive, and then organize them into three clusters: dream schools, reasonable schools, and safer schools. Next, further investigate the schools you deemed “reasonable” and “safer,” and as you do so, ask yourself, “Would I rather be at this school next year or not be in school at all?” Essentially, we are suggesting that you imagine your worst-case scenario—not getting into any of your dream schools—and decide what you would do in that situation. Then, in addition to applying to your dream programs, apply only to those reasonable and safer schools for which you felt going would be preferable to not attending any MBA program at all. This way, you can avoid finding yourself in either of the situations we described at the beginning of this post and instead will be well positioned to embrace the choices you ultimately have. |
09 Jan 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: mbaMission and Manhattan Prep’s GMAT vs. GRE Infographic |
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Applying to business school is a process rife with decisions—which schools to target, which recommenders to choose, which essays to write—and a common one giving candidates some serious pause these days is which exam to take, the GMAT or the GRE? As the number of programs accepting the GRE continues to grow, aspiring MBAs are becoming more and more confused about this element of the application process. In hopes of helping clarify the issue, mbaMission has teamed up with Manhattan Prep to create this new infographic comparing the classic GMAT and the increasingly popular GRE side by side. Quickly see how they differ, which test certain MBA programs accept, how the content and scores relate, and other useful details—and move a little closer to crossing another important decision off your to-do list! Want to share our infographic on your site or blog? Copy and paste the code below. <h3>mbaMission and Manhattan Prep’s GMAT vs. GRE Infographic</h3><a href=”https://www.mbamission.com/blog/2018/01/09/mbamission-and-manhattan-preps-gmat-vs-gre-infographic-new/”><img src=”https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/mbaMission-Infographic-2017-update-v5.jpg” alt=”mbaMission and Manhattan Prep’s GMAT vs. GRE Infographic” width=”700px” /></a><br><p><a href=”mbamission.com”>eg: Infographic By Domain.com</a></p>  *Data collected in December 2017. Any subsequent variance in figures may be due to finalization or adjustment of data by the schools after our publication date. |
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