BYU 2nd Year: Ask Me Anything

Hello David,

Welcome to GMATClub and thank you for taking time out to answer questions of prospective applicants. Could you please describe a typical day of BYU students?

Thank you!

Fabulous!
Thank you for the analysis and such great insights.
It will really help the students applying to BYU next fall.

As Narenn, I am also looking forward to knowing your typical day in life.
To add to that can you also comment on the alumni network.


Best
Stone

Narenn stonecold
Regarding a day in the life and the alumni network:

Day in the life - I'll do a general weekly layout to get a better feel
Typical week in a First semester - Attending 2-3 core classes per day(17 credit hours, 3-4.5 hours Monday-Thursday)+ 1-2 hours meeting/working with your team daily (same team across all classes for first semester) + 2+ hours of individual case prep and homework. Info sessions multiple times per week for on campus recruiting, 1-2 hours of meeting with "Sherpa" and recruiting team Friday (the Sherpa is a 2nd year student hired to assist you with your job search, resume, networking, mock interviews, technical interview skills, etc), 1 hour seminar from industry professionals and experts on technical skills or trainings on improving your job search. One or two nights per week participating in clubs or other social events. Several hours per week spent applying for jobs, practicing for interviews, informational interviews/networking, etc. Most students spend time in between classes and HW in the MBA lounge, where a lot of internal networking and relationships are built. A couple times during the semester most students take part in internal/external case competitions. These competitions are highly competitive and time intensive. Generally teams for core classes will pick up the slack for teammates during heavy recruiting times or case competitions

Second semester - Half of the classes are core classes, the rest are electives or geared toward your emphasis. Workload and study time is similar across all semesters (about 17 credits). For many people info sessions and recruiting slows down at this point because generally about half of all students land an internship during first semester from on campus recruiting or career fairs. This provides more flexibility for free time, case competitions, networking, etc.

Second year - Recruiting kicks up to full gear at the beginning of second year. No more core classes, but total class load remains similar. Many second year students choose to take on campus jobs in recruiting new students or in the Sherpa program as a mentor to first year students seeking jobs. In many ways second year students run the whole program. They are heavily involved in recruiting, they run clubs, recruit guest speakers for clubs and events, and many other things. All of these different roles provide opportunities for second years to connect directly with first years, which has a positive impact on our network.

The BYU MBA network has been exceptionally helpful in my experience. I've never reached out to an alumnus about a job opportunity who was unwilling to help and act as an advocate. Many people have the perception that BYU places primarily in Utah and the Mountain West, but that is untrue. We probably do place more in the western half of the United States (a lot go to Amazon and Dell, for instance), but we have plenty of students set to go to the northeast and Midwest as well. BYU also has a National Advisory Council that MBA students have access to at different times during the year. This council is comprised of BYU alumni in prominent positions in countries across the world.

Thanks for your time. Actually, I've been looking for someone like you. I'm writing from Mongolia and i'm really new to MBA program. Therefore, if i ask silly questions i hope you will understand me. My primary questions are as follows:
1. What are the essay topics for MBA at Marriot BS? /I just want to be familiar with topics ahead of registration opening and prepare myself/
2. What companies and what industries are the main employer of Marriot graduates? /According to Forbes the major employers of the Marriot graduates are the techs in Silicon Valley and Seattle. Is that true? If so what particular companies are the major employers and in what positions /like product manager, financial analyst/ they usually hire graduates? And what about the other employers and their positions that they usually hire graduates?/ I am asking this question because i haven't decided my MBA specialization and my career upon the completion of MBA.
3.Is there any particular pattern among grad students of Marriot? /For example, i heard most of the grad students at Columbia have work experience in wall street or consulting and they go to MBA in order to switch their company in their industry and to get promoted/
4.Is there any particular emphasis that Marriot lays on their operations and looking for it from its applicants? /For instance, i heard Duke lays emphasis on team play. Therefore, they look for someone who can be a good team player/
5.What factor does make Marriot's MBA program standout from those of other business schools? /For example, i heard University of Washington is located in Seattle which makes its graduates easier to be hired in Amazon, Microsoft/
6.Is Marriot's finance and strategy concentrations are good enough to pursue? /The reason i'm asking this question is that i heard Marriot is strong in accounting and entrepreneurship fields but there is no information about finance and strategy/
7.How well is Marriot at offering scholarship?
In order to help you to answer my questions, i think it is better idea to give my background information.
Major: Marketing /received my bachelor's degree from one of Mongolian state university/
Work experience: 4 years in Consumer electronics /worked as a brand manager of Mongolian consumer electronics brand/, 1 year in Mongolian pharmaceutical distribution /worked as a head of marketing department but spent most of my time on formulation and implementation of company's short and middle strategic plan/, 1 year in Mongolian FMCG distribution /worked as a head of marketing department/, 2 years in Mongolian boutique Marketing consulting /worked as a consultant/
English proficiency: IELTS 7.5 /so-so/
Future career aspiration: Strategic management, Corporate finance and Product management /i haven't decided yet, and what do you think is that feasible?/
Sorry for asking a lot of questions. To be honest, Marriot's MBA is the only program i can afford the tuition from top 40 business schools in States and that's the reason i'm asking those questions.

⚠ This discussion has been closed due to inactivity. Please start a new topic in the Business School Applications Forum if you have a similar question or a comment.

Thank you,
GMAT Club Moderator Team.