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12 Nov 2020, 13:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Am Too Old to Get into Business School |
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We at mbaMission often receive panicked phone calls from applicants in their late 20s, asking if they are too old to get into business school. Why do so many candidates have this concern? Over the past decade or so, several top schools have declared their openness to younger candidates and have even been courting them. Harvard Business School has welcomed “direct admits” (those entering immediately after completing their undergraduate degrees) and started the 2+2 Program to encourage undergraduates to consider deferred acceptance. Chicago Booth followed suit and launched the Chicago Booth Scholars Program, which grants deferred admission to undergraduate seniors from all schools, in addition to various Early Career Candidate programs to attract candidates with one to three years of experience. Such schools as MIT Sloan and Northwestern Kellogg have also launched deferred MBA programs more recently. Although the Stanford Graduate School of Business does not publish the average age of its students, it does state that its students have an average of approximately four and a half years of work experience. So, if you are an “older” candidate at 27, 28, 29, or—dare we even write it?—30, should you even bother applying? First of all, we must note that not all schools have jumped on the bandwagon with admitting younger candidates. Dartmouth Tuck, for example, states on its Admissions FAQ page that “in general,” it does not accept applicants with fewer than two years of work experience. The average work experience of students at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business is listed as four years, with a range of one to ten—meaning that the school typically does not accept direct admits, though the school notes on its website that it does not have an official minimum work experience requirement. Michigan Ross requires that students complete their undergraduate degree before applying, meaning that college seniors are ineligible. However, if you are focused on a school that is open to younger candidates, you should still think logically about the situation: you cannot get any younger, so you can either self-select out of the application process or let the admissions committee read your application and make its own decision. Further, applicants should not confuse an openness to younger candidates with an aversion to older candidates. If you have something special to offer, you are still in the running—no secret cutoff is in play that would immediately eliminate you from the applicant pool. As we have written before, business schools are governed by self-interest. They want the best candidates they can get! If you are among the best, your age will not be an obstacle. |
14 Nov 2020, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: How to Take Ownership of Your Post-MBA Goals and Show They Are Attainable |
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When admissions officers read your MBA application, they want to feel inspired by your personal statement; they want to know that you have a strong sense of purpose and will work energetically to attain your objectives. Thus, you must ensure that you are not presenting generic or shallow goals. Although this problem is not industry specific, it occurs most often with candidates who propose careers in investment banking or consulting but do not have a true understanding of what these positions entail. For example, a candidate cannot merely state the following goal: “In the short term, after graduating from Wharton, I want to become an investment banking associate. After three years, I will be promoted to vice president, and then in the long term, I will become a managing director.” This hypothetical candidate does not express any passion for their proposed course, does not show any understanding of the demands of the positions, and does not explain the value they could bring to the firm. To avoid these kinds of shortcomings, conduct this simple test when writing your personal statement: if you can easily substitute another job title into your career goals and the sentence still makes perfect sense (for example, “In the short term, when I graduate from Wharton, I want to become a consultant. After three years, I will be promoted to vice president, and then in the long term, I will become a managing director.”), you have a serious problem on your hands and need to put more work into your essay. To effectively convey your goals, you need to truly own them. This means personalizing them, determining and presenting why you expect to be a success in the proposed position, and explaining why an opportunity exists for you to contribute. For example, a former forestry engineer could make a strong argument for joining an environmental impact consulting firm. (Note: This candidate would still need to explain why they would want to join one.) Similarly, a financial analyst in the corporate finance department at Yahoo! could connect their goals to tech investment banking. Although the connection need not be so direct, especially for candidates seeking to change careers, relating your past experiences and/or your skills to your future path is still extremely important. This approach will add depth to your essay and ensure that the admissions committee takes you seriously. While some candidates struggle to effectively convey their immediate post-MBA goals, many also have difficulty defining their long-term goals. Although short-term goals should be relatively specific, long-term goals can be broad and ambitious. Regardless of what your short- and long-term aspirations actually are, what is most important is presenting a clear “cause and effect” relationship between them. The admissions committee will have difficulty buying into a long-term goal that lacks grounding. However, do not interpret this to mean you must declare your interest in an industry and then assert that you will stay in it for your entire career. You can present any career path that excites you—again, as long as you also demonstrate a logical path to achieving your goals. For example, many candidates discuss having ambitions in the field of management consulting. Could an individual with such aspirations justify any of the following long-term goals?
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15 Nov 2020, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: The Master Resource List for GMAT Reading Comprehension, Part 1 |
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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. The Pep Talk So, let me get this straight. The GMAT test writers are going to give me somewhat obscure, very dense topics with very complicated ideas and sentence structures. I am going to have about three minutes to read this passage, and then I have to start answering questions about the material. That is a completely artificial setup; it would never happen in the real world! Actually, yes it will. You are going to do lots of case studies in business school. You often will not be given enough time to read through every last detail carefully; instead, you will have to determine relative levels of importance and concentrate on the most crucial pieces, while putting together a framework for the main ideas and the big changes in direction or opinion. At work, you often have to make decisions based on incomplete information. At times, you actually do have a ton of information—but not enough time to review it all before you have to take action. These situations are far from rare in the real world. So when you find yourself a bit unmotivated because you know you have got to study boring Reading Comprehension (RC) today, remind yourself that RC will actually help you develop much-needed skills for business school and beyond! The Disclaimers First, this list includes only free resources, no paid ones. Second, this list is limited to my own articles simply because I am most familiar with my own material. There are a lot of good resources out there that cost some money and/or were not written by me—those resources are just not on this list! How to Read Before you dive into individual question types, you must know some overall processes for RC, starting with how to read! You already know how to read in general, of course, but do you know how to read RC? You will notice that the first article, linked to in the previous paragraph, discusses not only what to read but also what not to read. When you have only a few minutes, you also need to know what you can skip or skim (and how to make that decision). For more, check out this lesson on what not to read. If, after trying the suggestions from this article, you still find yourself really struggling with either reading speed or comprehension, here are some resources to help you improve your reading skills. This article is especially important for people who do not read regularly in English, either for work or for fun; this is particularly true if your native language is also not English and you did your undergraduate studies in another language. Finally, one of our two main goals when first reading a passage is to find the main point. (The other main goal is to take some light notes on each paragraph to understand the organization of the information.) When you have mastered those skills, you will be ready to learn how to tackle the questions. Check back next week to learn how! |
17 Nov 2020, 13:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Terry Taylor, UC Berkeley 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 focus on Terry Taylor from the Haas School of Business at the University of California (UC), Berkeley. After stints at Columbia Business School and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, Terry Taylor joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business in 2007, where he is currently the Milton W. Terrill Chaired Professor of Business Administration. Considering that Taylor, who has a PhD from Stanford in management science and engineering, is often named in student blogs and online student chats as a favorite among the school’s aspiring MBAs, he not surprisingly won the Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2009 and again in 2011. He was also named the fifth most popular professor at a top U.S. business school by Bloomberg Businessweek in 2011. Taylor’s academic interests include the economics of operations management and supply chain management. His “Operations Management” course looks at operational issues confronted by manufacturing and service companies. In addition to reportedly having both a curriculum and classes that are well organized—the latter of which include “no down time,” according to a second year we interviewed—Taylor can make technical subjects very interesting, sometimes even using references to Seinfeld episodes to illuminate concepts. A second year told mbaMission, “He’s pretty young and has a style that mixes high energy with a dry sense of humor.” 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 our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
18 Nov 2020, 12:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Cold Calls and Capital Management at Darden |
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MBA students at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business are known to work quite hard amid the rigors of the case method. Each day, they are expected to read a business case and perform their own analysis of the situation presented. Then, they must compare and reason through their analysis with a small, diverse group of fellow students—their Learning Team. Students can often spend two to four hours prepping on their own and then two to three more with their teammates to arrive at an answer (as opposed to the answer). And what might be the reward for all this work? The student may be selected for a “cold call” to start off the class. At Darden, most first-year and some second-year classes begin with a professor randomly selecting a student to lead the day’s discussion by presenting their case analysis. This student can be subjected to anywhere from five to 20 minutes of questioning, as the professor teases out key points of discussion for the broader class to explore. Many students have sweated through a cold call only to gain the applause of their peers at the end. (Others, of course, may not do as well.) These cold calls can be daunting, but they force students to prepare thoroughly and think on their feet—a key feature of the Darden learning experience. Outside the Darden classroom, students can apply principles of the school’s general management program in the Darden Capital Management (DCM) club, where they evaluate equities to understand the entire firm while also specializing in asset management to further their careers in this finance industry niche. Many think that because Darden casts itself as offering a general management program, the school has no specialties. General management, however, is a philosophy that suggests that no business problem can be viewed in isolation—for example, a finance problem relates to marketing, a marketing problem relates to operations, and so on. Through DCM, first-year students pitch long and short investment ideas to second-year student fund managers who oversee approximately $18M of Darden’s endowment, which is divided among five funds, each with its own focal area. The first years ultimately “graduate” and run these funds themselves for credit as second years, reporting on their investment decisions and performance to Darden’s finance board. Students who manage these funds report that they have had an advantage breaking into asset management, because this hands-on experience gives them plenty to discuss in interviews. Managing around $18M will do that… For more information on Darden or 16 other leading MBA programs, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
19 Nov 2020, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: mbaMission Checklist for Delivering Compelling Interview Answers |
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This post was written by our resident Career Coach, [url=https://www.mbamission.com/who-we-are/team/elissa-harris/]Elissa Harris[/url]. To sign up for a free 30-minute career consultation with Elissa, please [url=https://www.mbamission.com/consult/career-coaching/]click here[/url]. As many of you are busy preparing for upcoming MBA internship interviews, we recommend that you review mbaMission’s interview checklist. If you can answer yes to the following questions, you are crafting compelling answers! [list] [*][b]Am I relevant? [/b]Know your audience; showcase your ability to contribute and meet the requirements for the role. For example, after listening to your response to the prompt “Tell me about yourself,” the interviewer should know two or three reasons you are qualified for the job. Here is another example: when responding to “Tell me your greatest strengths” or “Tell me your biggest accomplishment,” select an example highlighting skills or experiences that will reassure the interviewer you have the skills to do the job for which you are applying. (Do not discuss your biggest accomplishment in a vacuum!) [/*] [*][b]Did I answer the question? [/b]You should prepare [b][url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/2020/01/14/selecting-the-right-stories-to-share-in-interviews/]six to eight stories[/url][/b] in advance—and during the interview, you will decide which story to tell the interviewer based on their prompt. It is important to select the best story for the question asked. To clearly signal that you are answering the interviewer’s question, repeat key words from the prompt in your response. For example, if the prompt is “Tell me about a time when you convinced somebody about your way of thinking,” your response should begin with “I’d love to tell you about a time when I convinced….”[/*] [*][b]Did I sell myself? [/b]The interview is the time in the process to highlight your accomplishments. When telling your stories, be clear about your specific role in projects and how you contributed. The interviewer does not care what the team did; they care about what you did. Use “I” to take ownership of your work and accurately reflect your actions.[/*] [*][b]Did I structure my answer effectively? [/b]Although you can use PAR, SAR, STAR, or other behavioral interview frameworks, you must make it easy for the listener to follow your story. Concise answers (90 to 120 seconds) with an “[b][url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/2020/01/22/fixing-common-interviewing-mistakes-part-1-follow-the-answer-first-model/]answer first[/url][/b]” approach are effective. From there, quickly explain the point of tension that you faced (i.e., what you had to overcome or what was at stake in the situation) and devote sufficient answer time to explaining your actions. [/*] [*][b]Did I communicate my thought process?[/b][b] [/b]The interviewer asks behavioral questions (e.g., “Tell me about a time when…”) to see how you behaved in the past. When talking about the steps you took to address the situation, explain what you did and why you did it. This will help the interviewer see how you think and how you would respond to similar situations in the future. This approach also applies to the “Tell me about yourself” prompt. Your resume shows what you did, so the interviewer wants you to add more perspective by discussing your motivation for taking specific roles.[/*] [*][b]Did I demonstrate confidence and enthusiasm? [/b]Interviewers want to hire candidates who really want the job. Your tone and body language contribute to this perception. In preparation for upcoming virtual interviews, record yourself in advance and analyze your delivery to ensure that your energy is coming through the screen to the interviewer.[/*] [/list] In addition to the tips listed above, be sure to practice aloud with peers, friends, family, and/or career center coaches to help you deliver compelling interview answers. And perhaps check out [b][url=https://blog.linkedin.com/2020/april-/30/introducing-new-ways-to-get-ready-for-the-virtual-job-interview]LinkedIn’s new interview practice tool[/url][/b], which presents sample questions by functional role and enables you to record yourself answering those questions. |
24 Nov 2020, 11:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Are You Employable in the Eyes of the Admissions Committee? |
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We believe that asking MBA candidates about their goals is plainly absurd, because so many students change their goals while they are in business school. Further, the pursuit of an MBA is supposed to be about career development and exploration, right? Regardless of how we feel regarding the subject, though, you must ensure that if a school asks about your goals in its essay questions or an interview, you have a compelling story about where you believe your MBA will take you. Several years ago, getting a banking job may have sounded compelling to you—are you really capable of making that transition today? Certainly, fewer jobs are available now in the real estate world—is this a likely next step for you during a prolonged real estate drought? Venture capital and private equity jobs are challenging to land even during the best of times—are you able to compete with the elite during a downturn? These are just a few examples of questions you should honestly ask yourself. Keep in mind that not only are the admissions committees examining your story to determine what attributes you might bring to the next class, but if you are a borderline case, they may also send your profile to the career services office to help confirm whether your stated goals are realistic and if you will be difficult to place by or after graduation (i.e., whether you will hinder the school’s employment stats and thereby negatively affect its standing in the rankings). So, pay special attention to your goal statements and make sure that you can credibly stand behind them—and, as we have written in the past, even consider being prepared to discuss some alternate goals. |
24 Nov 2020, 11:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: The Master Resource List for GMAT Reading Comprehension, Part 2 |
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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 series, we discussed how to read Reading Comprehension (RC); if you have not yet read that post, do so now, and then continue with this post. The RC Question Types Do you remember the last thing I said at the end of the first post? When you have mastered the reading skills, you are then ready to tackle the questions. Do not make the mistake of thinking that you can ignore the previous post and just go straight for the questions. You will be slower, and you will make more mistakes if you do that. RC has three main question types: Main Idea, Specific Detail, and Inference. Each of those question types can have nuances or subtypes. We will tackle the first two in this post and cover Inference and the minor Why question type in the next post. Main Idea Most passages will include one Main Idea category question. Most commonly, you will be asked for the “primary purpose” (i.e., the main idea) of the entire passage, though a question could also ask for the primary purpose or role of just one paragraph. If you are asked for the purpose of the entire passage, then the correct answer has to cover the overall “real estate” of the passage as a whole. Wrong answers will often be too narrow (e.g., something that applies primarily to just one paragraph) or too broad (e.g., something that includes the main idea but goes beyond it to encompass ideas that were not presented in the passage). Follow the link at the beginning of this paragraph to get some practice. Specific Detail This category refers to questions that ask about a particular detail in the passage. Most commonly, these questions will begin with “According to the passage….” Your task on these is to find an answer choice that matches something stated specifically in the passage. That sounds easy—if the information is stated right there in the passage, how hard can it be? As you already know very well, they can make it quite hard. First, the language in the passage is seriously complex; it is not always easy to understand what they are talking about. Second, right answers will often contain synonyms for words that appeared in the passage, while some wrong answers will often contain the exact language used in the passage. If you are not careful, you will be tempted to cross off that right answer because the language does not match exactly! Specific Detail Rule: Use the question wording to figure out where to go in the passage. Then reread that detail carefully. Do NOT rely on your memory! Why not? I was once taking a standardized test (not the GMAT, but similar), and I was about to pick an RC answer. Then I remembered that I should check the proof in the passage first, so—even though I was sure I was right!—I made myself find the proof. The passage was about some mammals, one of which was the kangaroo rat. I looked at the passage, glanced back at my answer… and suddenly realized that the answer said kangaroo not kangaroo rat! I would have been really mad to get a question wrong for that reason! The moral of the story: find the proof in the passage. Every single time. Try this specific detail question to get started. Want another? Here you go. |
25 Nov 2020, 12:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Gavan Fitzsimons, Duke University’s Fuqua 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 focus on Gavan Fitzsimons from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Students and administration members alike sing the praises of Fuqua’s “fun” and “engaging” marketing professor, Gavan Fitzsimons, who spearheaded the creation of the Duke-Synovate Center for Shopper Insights in 2011 and serves as its faculty principal today. Fitzsimons is the Edward and Rose Donnell Professor of Marketing and Psychology at Fuqua and has received an Excellence in Core Teaching Award at the school three times, in addition to two honorable mentions. His work, which focuses on the ways in which consumers are subconsciously influenced, has been published and popularized in prestigious academic journals and media outlets from the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Marketing Research to NPR, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal. Fitzsimons has also served as an associate editor of the Journal of Consumer Research and an editorial board member for such publications as the Journal of Consumer Psychology, Marketing Letters, and the Journal of Macromarketing. For more information about Duke Fuqua and 16 other top-ranked business schools, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
27 Nov 2020, 10:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: A Sense of Community at UC Berkeley Haas and Stanford GSB |
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The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, is one of the smaller top MBA programs in the United States, with an average class size of between 250 and 300 students. Despite its small size, however, Berkeley Haas offers a diverse community, both regionally and professionally. Roughly 40% of each incoming class is made up of international students, and each entering class as a whole reflects a wide array of interests and professional backgrounds. Each of Berkeley Haas’s incoming classes is divided into smaller groups, called cohorts, and students remain in their cohort for the first semester, taking all core courses together. Within the cohort, students are further divided into study groups. Study group members work together to prepare for presentations and exams as well as to study cases, and these small groups help enhance and reinforce the relationships between classmates. Noted a second-year student with whom mbaMission spoke, “With everyone trying to work out their identity at the start,” the cohort “makes everything less overwhelming.” Located just an hour’s drive from Berkeley Haas, the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) is similarly well known for its close-knit atmosphere, though its typical class size is a bit larger, with approximately 400 students. However, the school’s relatively small class size allows it to provide students with individualized coaching. First-year students at the GSB receive academic advising to help them create a customized plan for fulfilling their core requirements based on their strengths, weaknesses, experiences, and interests. Students can also take advantage of Career Management Center advisors, who can offer new perspectives on life beyond the GSB, and Arbuckle Leadership Fellows, who work with first-year students through lab sessions and one-on-one meetings. For more information on Berkeley Haas, the Stanford GSB, or 15 other leading MBA programs, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
28 Nov 2020, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: My Months of Work Experience Will Not Count |
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“I had an internship from June to August of 2019. Will the admissions committee count it as work experience?” “I was running a lab during my Master’s program—is that part of my total number of months of work experience?” “I ran a small business that ultimately failed—will I get credit for my time as an entrepreneur?” Business schools have not seriously considered a candidate’s number of months of work experience as a factor in admissions decisions for a long time. In fact, with such programs as Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business increasingly open to younger candidates, work experience on a strictly quantitative level is actually being devalued at some schools. A candidate’s quantity of work experience is just not relevant—quality is what is important. An “average” employee who has merely fulfilled expectations during a five-year stint at a Fortune 500 company could certainly be said to be at a disadvantage compared with an individual who has made the most of a three-year stint elsewhere and has been promoted ahead of schedule. Think about it—which of the two would you admit? So, if you are asked on an application how many months of work experience you will have prior to matriculating, you should simply answer honestly. If you have any gray areas or are unsure about any aspect of your professional experience as it pertains to your application, you can always call the Admissions Office for guidance—most Admissions Offices are actually surprisingly helpful with this kind of simple technical question. Thereafter, stop worrying about the number of months of experience you do or do not have and instead focus on revealing that—and how—you have made an impact in your professional life. Your essays, recommendations, interviews, resume, and other application elements will ultimately make a qualitative impact that will outweigh any quantitative data. |
29 Nov 2020, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Limit the Use of “I” When Beginning Sentences in MBA Application Essays, and Never Use “Etc.” |
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Although putting yourself at the center of the stories in your MBA application essays is certainly important, a common mistake applicants tend to make is beginning too many sentences with the word “I.” As a general rule, you should never begin two sentences in a row this way. Consider the following example: “I worked for three years at ABC Plastics, a small injection molding company. I was responsible for overseeing the overall management of ABC Plastics, from day-to-day operations to strategic planning. I managed 100 people. I worked very long hours, but I learned more than I could have ever imagined.” Now, consider the same statement reworked to avoid using “I” at the beginning of subsequent sentences: “For three years, I worked at ABC Plastics, a small injection molding company. My responsibilities at ABC included overseeing the overall management of the company, from day-to-day operations to strategic planning. Because I supervised more than 100 staff members, my days were long, but the experience taught me more than I could have ever imagined.” As you can see, the second example reads much better than the first—and none of the sentences in the second example begin with “I.” Our next tip applies to the entire essay, instead of just the beginning of a sentence. As a general rule, “etc.” should never appear in the text of your MBA application essays. Consider the following sentences:
We are at a loss to think of one instance in which “etc.” could be used appropriately in a business school essay. Very simply, ensure your essays do not include this term. |
01 Dec 2020, 12:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: The Master Resource List for GMAT Reading Comprehension, 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. Part 1 of this series covered how to read Reading Comprehension (RC), and Part 2 introduced the first two major question types: Main Idea and Specific Detail. Start with those posts and then continue with this post. Inference In this section, we are going to talk about two big things: how to handle Inference questions and how to analyze RC problems in general (you can then use these techniques on any question type). Inference questions ask about specific details in the passage, but they add a twist: we have to deduce something that must be true, given certain facts from the passage. For example, if I tell you that my favorite type of book to read is biography, what could you deduce? Watch out for the trap: do not use your “real world” conclusion-drawing skills. In the real world, you might conclude that I like reading books in general or perhaps that I am interested in history or maybe that I am a nerd. (Really? Biographies are my favorite?) These things do not have to be true, though. What has to be true? I do not like fiction as much as I like biographies. I have read at least one book in a nonbiography category (otherwise, I would not be able to tell that I prefer biographies, which implies a comparison). What is the difference? GMAT deductions are usually things that would cause us to say “Duh!” in the real world. “My favorite category of book is biography.” “Oh, so you must not like fiction as much as you like biographies.” “Uh… well, yeah, that’s what ‘favorite’ means. I don’t like anything else better.” A GMAT deduction should feel like a “duh” deduction—something totally boring that must be true, given the information in the passage. Why Questions Specific questions can come in one other (not as common) flavor: the Why question. Why questions are sort of a cross between Specific Detail and Inference questions: you need to review some specific information in the passage, but the answer to the question is not literally right in the passage. You have to figure out the most reasonable explanation for why the author chose to include a particular piece of information. Timing As I mentioned earlier, we really do not have much time to read RC passages. Aim for approximately two to two and a half minutes on shorter passages and closer to three minutes for longer ones. Of course, you cannot possibly read everything closely and carefully in such a short time frame—but that is not your goal! The goal is to get the big picture on that first read-through. Aim to answer main idea questions in roughly one minute. You can spend up to two minutes on the more specific questions. In particular, if you run across an Except question, expect to spend pretty close to two minutes; Except questions nearly always take a while. As always, be aware of your overall time. If you find that you are running behind, skip one question entirely; do not try to save 30 seconds each on a bunch of questions. Also, if RC is your weakest verbal area, and you also struggle with speed, consider guessing immediately on one question per passage and spreading your time over the remaining questions. Great, I Have Mastered RC! Let us test that theory, shall we? Your next step is to implement all these techniques on your next practice test while also managing your timing well. Good luck! |
02 Dec 2020, 15:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Irv Grousbeck, Stanford Graduate 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 focus on Irv Grousbeck from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. One of the founders and former directors of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), Irv Grousbeck first began teaching at the business school in 1985 after co-founding Continental Cablevision (later Media One) in 1964 and teaching at Harvard Business School (1981–1985), where he helped found the entrepreneurial management department. He is a co-owner, a managing partner, and an executive committee member of the Boston Celtics, a National Basketball Association team. One of Grousbeck’s popular classes, “Conversations in Management,” features role-play with characters ranging from mid-level executives to external respondents. In addition to his work at the GSB, Grousbeck has in recent years taught a course at the Stanford Medical School titled “Managing Difficult Conversations” that is available to medical students and second-year business school students “who aspire to improve their ability to deal effectively with difficult interpersonal situations,” the GSB website states. For more information about the Stanford GSB and 16 other top-ranked business schools, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
03 Dec 2020, 16:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Career Opportunities at the SMU Cox School of Business and the UMN Carlson School of Management |
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Corporate connections are a major selling point at the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Cox School of Business. Located in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, the school offers its MBA students access to a large network of corporate representatives and recruiters—from the 24 Fortune 500 companies with headquarters in the area to a global university alumni base in excess of 126,000. One highlight of the networking resources Cox provides is its Alumni Association, which has members in more than 80 countries. The Economist ranked Cox’s small, collaborative program sixth for “potential to network” in 2019. In addition, Entrepreneur magazine has ranked business-friendly Dallas second among U.S. cities for entrepreneurs. With 16 Fortune 500 companies located nearby—including UnitedHealth Group, Target, and U.S. Bancorp—the University of Minnesota (UMN) Carlson School of Management also boasts a robust network of corporate ties and high-profile recruiting opportunities. In addition, Carlson prepares its students with a pronounced hands-on approach to building leadership, management, and problem-solving skills. Among the school’s more distinctive offerings, Carlson’s four Enterprise programs expose students to the areas of brand, consulting, funds, and ventures. The Enterprise learning experience is rather unique insofar as it operates as a full professional services firm, serving multiple clients and allowing students to work through real-world business challenges with senior management at major companies. In the Brand Enterprise program, for example, Carlson students have developed key marketing strategies for such brands as Cargill, Boston Scientific, Target, 3M, General Mills, and Land O’Lakes. Students in the Consulting Enterprise program have offered services to such companies as Best Buy, Northwest Airlines Cargo, Medtronic CRM Division, and Polaris. With approximately $35M in managed assets, the Carlson Funds Enterprise program ranks among the three largest student-managed funds in the world. Finally, the Carlson Ventures Enterprise program puts aspiring entrepreneurs in contact with experts, professionals, and investors. |
04 Dec 2020, 13:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: The Admissions Committee Wants a “Type” |
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Many business school applicants believe that MBA admissions committees have distilled their criteria for selecting candidates over the years and have in mind a specific “type” of individual they want. For example, within this world of stereotypes, applicants believe that Harvard Business School (HBS) is looking only for leaders, Kellogg is looking only for marketing students, Chicago Booth is looking only for finance students, and even that MIT Sloan is looking only for “eggheads.” Of course, these stereotypes—like most stereotypes—are inaccurate. Chicago Booth wants far more than one-dimensional finance students in its classes, and it provides far more than just finance to its MBA students (including, to the surprise of many, an excellent marketing program). HBS is not a school just for “generals”; among the approximately 950 students in each of its classes, HBS has a wide variety of personalities, including some excellent foot soldiers. So, at mbaMission, we constantly strive to educate MBA candidates about these misconceptions, which can sink applications if applicants pander to them. By way of example, imagine that you have worked in operations at a widget manufacturer. You have profound experience managing and motivating dozens of different types of people, at different levels, throughout your career, in both good economic times and bad. Even though your exposure to finance has been minimal, you erroneously determine that you need to be a “finance guy” to get into NYU Stern. So you tell your best, but nonetheless weak, finance stories, and now you are competing against elite finance candidates who have far more impressive stories in comparison. What if you had told your unique operations/management stories instead and stood out from the other applicants, rather than trying to compete in the school’s most overrepresented pool? We think that attempting to defy stereotypes and truly being yourself—trying to stand out from all others and not be easily categorized—is only natural. Of course, for those of you who are still not convinced, allow us to share a quote from Stanford’s former director and assistant dean of MBA admissions, Derrick Bolton, who wrote on the school’s admissions website, “Because we want to discover who you are, resist the urge to ‘package’ yourself in order to come across in a way you think Stanford wants. Such attempts simply blur our understanding of who you are and what you can accomplish. We want to hear your genuine voice throughout the essays that you write, and this is the time to think carefully about your values, your passions, your hopes and dreams.” Makes sense, right? |
05 Dec 2020, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Look Beyond Business School Rankings |
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We at mbaMission have tried repeatedly to persuade business school candidates who are evaluating MBA programs to downplay the various schools’ rankings, which can fluctuate wildly, and instead focus on fit, which is enduring. Now, as we enter admissions season and “rankings season”—such publications as Bloomberg Businessweek, The Economist, and Poets&Quants typically release their rankings in the fall—we recommend that you accelerate and broaden your evaluation process. One way to look beyond rankings is to speak with MBA students. Even if you do not have direct access to students, reaching out to them in a targeted way—via email, club websites, and social media—can be quite easy. Do not feel as though you are being “pushy” when contacting students this way, because most take pride in their school and are open to speaking with candidates. They are a de facto part of the school’s marketing arm. For example, if you are interested in a certain program for its entrepreneurship offerings, you can get in touch with the individual(s) leading the entrepreneurship club to learn more about the program (and the club!). Of course, you should be respectful of each individual’s time and be well prepared for your conversation. If you are conscientious, you will be able to gain some great insight into the school’s academic environment and then have time to learn more about the atmosphere on campus. Networking now should enable you to begin narrowing your search and more effectively focus your limited “free” time throughout the rest of the admissions season. |
06 Dec 2020, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: The Master Resource List for GMAT Reading Comprehension, Part 4 |
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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. Part 1 of this series covered how to read Reading Comprehension (RC), and Part 2 introduced the first two major question types: Main Idea and Specific Detail. In Part 3, we discussed Inference questions and Why questions. If you have not already done so, start by reading those posts, and then continue with this final post in the series. Put It All Together All right, now you have all the pieces:
Next, test your understanding of the passage on this Inference question, and then try this Why question. Timing As I mentioned earlier, we really do not have much time to read RC passages. Aim for approximately two to two and a half minutes on shorter passages and closer to three minutes for longer ones. Of course, you cannot possibly read everything closely and carefully in such a short time frame—but that is not your goal! The goal is to get the big picture on that first read-through. Aim to answer Main Idea questions in roughly one minute. You can spend up to two minutes on the more specific questions. In particular, if you run across an Except question, expect to spend pretty close to two minutes; Except questions nearly always take a while. As always, be aware of your overall time. If you find that you are running behind, skip one question entirely; do not try to save 30 seconds each on a bunch of questions. Also, if RC is your weakest verbal area, and you also struggle with speed, consider guessing immediately on one question per passage and spreading your time over the remaining questions. Great, I Have Mastered RC! Let us test that theory, shall we? Your next step is to implement all these techniques on your next practice test while also managing your timing well. Good luck! |
08 Dec 2020, 11:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Katherine Schipper, Duke University Fuqua 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 focus on Katherine Schipper from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business. Katherine Schipper is the Thomas F. Keller Professor of Business Administration at Fuqua and has typically taught one of the MBA program’s core accounting courses, “Financial Accounting.” She previously served in several roles for the American Accounting Association and is currently the president of the International Association for Accounting Education and Research. Schipper was editor of the Journal of Accounting Research for many years and was a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board from 2001 to 2006, before joining Fuqua. In 2007, Schipper was the first woman inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame. A second-year student we interviewed who had taken the course “Global Institutions and Environment” with Schipper said, “She was outstanding. It was amazing to have professors of their caliber teaching the first class we experienced at Fuqua.” Another second year told us, “I was really nervous about accounting, but she made it very accessible, and even occasionally fun.” When asked which professor impressed her most, a second year we interviewed named Schipper, praising her rigor in the classroom: “She held every single person to an impeccably high standard and set the tone for graduate level expectations.” For more information about the Duke University Fuqua School of Business and 16 other top-ranked business schools, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
09 Dec 2020, 12:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Earn an MBA in Pennsylvania at the Tepper School of Business or Smeal College of Business |
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Students aspiring to sharpen their analytic and quantitative skills are well served at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. Boasting a faculty that includes multiple Nobel Prize winners, Tepper has pioneered “management science,” a supplement to traditional case studies that draws on more scientific—rather than historical—strategies for complex business decision making. Management science depends on tools such as computer modeling, organizational behavior, and economic theory. In addition to this overall “quant” emphasis in its curriculum, Tepper offers an MBA track for Business Analytics. In the track, students are immersed in highly focused computational analysis, examining different theories of finance, stochastic calculus modeling, and statistical methodologies, in addition to the managerial skills they learn in the MBA program’s marketing, strategy, communications, and operations courses. While such schools as Chicago Booth and Columbia Business School may garner a higher rank for careers in finance, few MBA programs offer such uniquely intensive academic resources for a specialization in business analysis. Elsewhere in the state, Pennsylvania State University’s Smeal College of Business is perhaps best known for balancing traditional course work with immersive learning. Smeal’s modular curriculum structure includes eight modules over the course of the two-year MBA program. The program begins with the week-long orientation program, after which students take the week-long course “Concentration Intensive,” during which they participate in various seminars to learn more about the program’s four available main concentrations. The second course module, for example, focuses on such themes as “Risk and Decision” and “Economics for Managers.” The “Communication Skills for Leaders” course runs through the entire first year and is described on the school’s website as “a signature hallmark of the Penn State Smeal MBA experience.” Smeal’s curriculum also includes a required international experience component, the “Global Immersion,” which takes place in the second year. Students travel to such countries as Chile, India, and China to visit international organizations across various industries. |
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Hi Generic [Bot],
Here are updates for you:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
 Wednesday, Apr 24, 2024 11:30am NY / 3:30pm London / 9pm Mumbai Watch earlier episodes of DI series below EP1: 6 Hardest Two-Part Analysis Questions EP2: 5 Hardest Graphical Interpretation Questions
Tuck at Dartmouth
AGSM at UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE
 GMAT Club REWARDS
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