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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 04 May 2018, 11:00
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: QS Ranks 2018’s Top EMBA Programs

If you have more than ten years of work experience, extensive career advancement and managerial experience, an Executive MBA is a great choice if you’re interested in remaining with your employer and have your company’s support to pursue a graduate management degree. Students typically report exceptionally high satisfaction rates with their decision to pursue an EMBA, as it results in better salary and increased career opportunities.

QS recently released its ranking of the top Executive MBA programs for 2018, and nine of the top ten are located in the United States or the United Kingdom, with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania taking the number-one spot.

QS’s Top Ten EMBA Programs
  • Wharton School
  • MIT Sloan School of Managemnt
  • London Business School
  • Kellogg School of Management
  • UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
  • University of Chicago Booth School of Business
  • Columbia Business School
  • Oxford’s Said Business School
  • UCLA Anderson School of Management
  • Cambridge Judge School of Business
“Wharton possesses the largest alumni network of any business school in the world,” QS CEO Nunzio Quacquarelli is quoted as saying in a statement, “—over 96,000 at the last count—and it’s a network that unites quantity with quality, with Wharton EMBA alumni going on to adopt executive roles at influential organizations in both the private and public sector. The Wharton EMBA remains a globally renowned indicator of alumnus quality for top employers.”

How are the rankings compiled?
  • Employer Reputation (30%): An investigation as to whether employers regard graduates from this prospective program highly.
  • Thought Leadership (25%): Whether the school has the capacity to innovate, and encourage innovation.
  • Executive Suite (15%): How experienced are the EMBA peers on the course and how much c-suite representation is in the program.
  • Career Outcomes (20%): How likely the program will support alumni careers in terms of salary increase and promotions after graduation.
  • Diversity (10%): Whether the program offers high levels of gender and international diversity.
Wharton attained perfect scores of 100 in three of five metrics QS used to rank the programs: Employer Reputation, Thought Leadership, and Career Outcomes, and was the only program to do so.

“In addition to rankings inputs this year, we also collected relevant insights from schools that are top of mind for candidates. Funding the educational experience is clearly a big consideration for today’s EMBA students, especially as tuition in parts of the world continues to increase,” says Alex Chisholm, Head of Business School Analytics at QS.

“Thankfully, many students pursuing EMBA degrees are fortunate to have financial support from their employers. Business schools reported to QS that nearly half of their students receive some level of corporate sponsorship, on average, with around 20 percent obtaining full funding. This willingness to invest in talent is a testament to the immediate and long-term value of the degree as perceived by global employers.”

SBC’s Advice for the EMBA Applicant
Starting the research for your EMBA journey is similar to the path of any full time applicant. Thinking first about your career goals and how an EMBA is going to accelerate your growth is key. Next you will want to research programs. Finally, you will want to start strategizing about your application process.

There are a few differences between the weight placed on the various factors between a full time program and an EMBA program. Your history of advancement at work and your perception as a high potential employee are far more important to your EMBA admission prospects than your GMAT score or GPA.

EMBA programs are interested in knowing who you are, and what your potential is. The admissions committee will expect maturity and introspection in a senior level candidate, and will want to understand your own personal business case. What do you see accomplishing with the EMBA degree? As you approach your essays, be as specific as possible. Your strategic thinking abilities have resulted in career success—apply those skills to explaining why an EMBA is the next step for you.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 07 May 2018, 11:01
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Wharton School Fall 2019 MBA Application Deadlines

The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has announced the following full-time MBA application deadlines for the 2018-2019 admissions season.

Round 1
Application due: September 18, 2018

Decision released: December 13, 2018

Round 2
Application due: January 3, 2019

Decision released: March 21, 2019

Round 3
Application due: April 2, 2019

Decision released: May 9, 2019

To be considered for a round, candidates must submit a completed application by 5 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the day of the deadline. If you need to apply for a student visa to study in the United States, Wharton recommends that you apply in Round 1 or 2. For more information, please visit the Wharton School MBA admissions website.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 08 May 2018, 06:01
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Professor Profiles: Goizueta School’s Daniel McCarthy
Having the opportunity to learn from the best and brightest minds in business is one of the top motivators for many applicants considering an MBA degree at an elite business school. The professors and lecturers you’ll encounter have worked in the trenches, and bring an incredible wealth of real-world experiences into the classroom setting.

In our new limited series of professor interviews on the SBC blog, readers will get to know a bit more about these brilliant academics, what fields most excite them, the trends they foresee, what they enjoy most about teaching at their respective universities, and how it all comes together with their students.


Today, let’s meet Daniel McCarthy, assistant professor of marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business.  McCarthy is also the co-founder and chief statistician of Zodiac, a predictive customer analytics platform.

Education: 

  • Ph.D. in Statistics, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 2017
  • B.S. Economics Summa cum laude in Statistics and Finance, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 2006
  • B.A.S. Summa cum Laude in Systems Science Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 2006
Course(s) taught: Marketing Research

What triggered your interest in your subject matter?
Customer-based corporate valuation, my main research topic, brings together all of the disciplines that I love the most – finance, statistics and marketing. I spent 6 years working at a valuation-based hedge fund before going back for my PhD in Statistics, and in the middle of my PhD, I pivoted into quantitative marketing. It was a match made in heaven.

Any surprising or unique applications of your field of study?
While my co-author Peter Fader and I have applied my valuation methodologies to several companies, the results of the analysis that I performed on meal kit delivery company Blue Apron yielded very striking results. I performed my analysis on Blue Apron the day after they filed their IPO prospectus, back when sentiment towards the company was very positive.

My assessment was decidedly less optimistic, revolving around rapidly rising customer acquisition costs and poor customer retention. The work ended up going viral, and has been featured in popular media such as the Wall Street Journal, FT, Fortune, BusinessInsider, Barron’s, and more.

What are you most excited about that’s happening in your field?
It is exciting to see how much mindshare customer-based corporate valuation has acquired in such a short period of time. I would have never predicted one year ago that CNBC’s Jim Cramer would be discussing my research on Wayfair during his show, but here we are.

Sell-side equity research firms are writing entire research notes dissecting and discussing the concept. Every new IPO comes with requests for comment from popular media outlets. It makes me very optimistic about where will be at this time next year.

Can you speak to interesting trends in your field?
We are starting to see corporations, and not just investment funds, adopting customer-based corporate valuation into their business operations. I anticipate that this trend will continue. It only makes sense that companies manage customer value and its behavioral determinants – customer acquisition, retention, and monetization – more diligently.

Best advice for an aspiring business mogul?
A traditional product-centric mentality will not cut it anymore. To create durable value, companies need to replace this with a customer centric mentality. When companies launch new products, the question is not how much sales those new products will generate. The question should be how much those products will expand the lifetime value of the company’s current and future customers.

Of course, before you can manage your business around customer value, you need to be able to measure customer value. The measurement problem may seem daunting, but it is (1) an essential prerequisite and (2) getting easier and easier by the day.

What can you do in the classroom to best prepare students for the real world?
I prepare students for the real world in two main ways. First, I spend a lot of time making sure my course content is relevant and actionable. Second, I do my best to bring my business background into the classroom to provide students with real-world examples of the concepts I teach “in my own voice.”

Third, a large components of my students’ final grade comes from a final project in which they use the tools they learn in class to perform marketing research on a new product or service, because what better way to internalize marketing research than through experiential learning.

What do you like about the school you are teaching at?
Emory has been a wonderful home on many levels. My marketing faculty colleagues could not be supportive of me. The administrative staff has been equally supportive, always looking for exciting new opportunities for me to shine. The students are sharp, engaged and interested. And who can beat Atlanta in the winter time?

Thank you Professor McCarthy for making time to share your insights with our readers!
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 09 May 2018, 13:00
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: FT Ranks the Best MBA Programs for Finance

The Financial Times has just released its 2018 ranking of the best business schools for finance, a spin-off from its Global MBA ranking that came out in January and based on the number of alumni who land positions in finance, banking, or fintech startups in the three years after graduating.

Schools in the US dominate the FT list, accounting for 27 out of the 50 ranked schools. British and Chinese schools form the next largest group with six members and both crack the top ten with one entry each.

Top Ten MBA Programs for Finance
Here are the locations and percentage of graduates going into finance from each of these elite business schools.

1. Stanford Graduate School of Business
U.S.
38%

2. The Wharton School
U.S.
34%

3. Chicago Booth School of Business
U.S.
37%

4. Harvard Business School
U.S.
28%

5. NYU Stern School of Business
U.S.
38%

6. MIT Sloan School of Management
U.S.
25%

7. INSEAD
France/Singapore
24%

8. Cambridge Judge Business School
United Kingdom
27%

9. CEIBS
China
26%

10. Columbia Business School
U.S.
35%

The percentage of MBA graduates from the Stanford Graduate School of Business who found work in finance increased to 38% in this year’s ranking data, up from 27%  just one year ago. Meanwhile, the  percentage going into entrepreneurship in the three years after graduation fell from 36% to 22%, these new FT rankings reveal.

Deborah Whitman, director of Stanford’s Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, tells FT that the revival of the US jobs market has lead to a growth in finance jobs and a decline in student startups.

“The incredibly strong jobs market is making the opportunity cost of entrepreneurship high enough that it is causing a few alumni to put their entrepreneurial dreams on hold for now,” she says.

Business schools with the greatest success in launching students’ careers in finance are those which have, as FT explains, “retained their value to the banks, venture capitalists and asset management firms by teaching skills for a changing world of disruptive business models and digital finance.”

Indeed, technology developments such as blockchain and cryptocurrencies overlap with the financial sector, and the surge in fintech startups have spurred the re-emergence of finance.

Over at NYU Stern School of Business, roughly one third of the 345 students making up the MBA Class of 2017 entered the finance sector—a proportion that has remained unchanged for years, Beth Briggs, assistant dean in NYU Stern’s careers service, tells FT.

“For us, banking is still a place where the cool kids want to go.”
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 10 May 2018, 13:01
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Personal Endorsements Boost MBA Applicants’ Chances, Cornell Researchers Find

As you think about every possible way to strengthen your MBA application, you might be considering asking an influential person in your life to submit a supplemental recommendation. A supplemental recommendation is typically an informal letter, email or call from a mentor of yours who is associated with your target school.

In our experience here at SBC, this strategy rarely hurts, and, according to empirical studies conducted by researchers at Cornell University, “Personal endorsements give applicants a leg up on the competition, both in getting interviewed and admitted, according to their study of applicants to a university MBA program.”

In “Best in Class: The Returns on Application Endorsements in Higher Education,” published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Ben A. Rissing, assistant professor of organizational behavior in Cornell’s ILR School, and his co-author, Emilio J. Castilla of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found that endorsed applicants were interviewed about 82 percent of the time, while those without endorsements scored an interview only 34 percent of the time.

Among those who interviewed, endorsed applicants received offers to join the program 64 percent of the time, while those without endorsements got offers only 52 percent of the time. “These are big differences,” Rissing said.

Endorsed applicants also tend to support the university at higher rates by taking on leadership roles as students and giving more generous monetary donations as alumni. However, colleges and companies may be missing out on valuable talent if they accept only endorsed applicants, the researchers note.

First-generation students, immigrants, and students without financial resources might not yet have contacts who are willing or able endorse them, Rissing said. “There are smart, qualified and community-minded individuals in all of these groups. Is their potential lack of awareness of these endorsement channels going to limit their opportunities?” he said. “Decision-makers must be attentive to the reality that access to these types of social connections, such as endorsements, are not ubiquitous.”

An SBC Client Case Study
Our client Jerry was applying to a highly competitive selection of schools—HBS, Wharton and Stanford. With an impressive resume and significant career progression at an energy firm, Jerry had several influential mentors. In fact, Jerry had a mentor who had attended each of his target MBA schools.

Jerry’s three mentors had the following circumstances:

1. Lisa: A Harvard MBA with ten years of post MBA experience at Jerry’s firm, Lisa was his former supervisor and knew his work extremely well. Lisa was a volunteer with her local HBS alumni group and retained some relationships at the school.

2. Seth: The SVP of Jerry’s department was a Stanford grad with sixteen years of post-MBA experience. He donated a significant amount of money to the school and his daughter was currently a freshman at the university.

3. Vipul: A graduate of the Wharton EMBA program, Vipul had gotten to know the director of admissions at Wharton fairly well, and had close ties to professors and the local alumni group.

We knew that Wharton was the most receptive to community endorsements of the three schools, and decided to ask Vipul to write a letter and submit it through those official channels. Seth’s deep connections to Stanford could be an asset to Jerry’s application, but we decided to ask him to call a former professor and talk to him about Jerry. Finally, because HBS requires three recommendations and Lisa wasn’t sure how to put in an informal endorsement, Jerry asked her to write his third HBS reference letter.

Jerry was admitted to Wharton and HBS, and though we couldn’t determine whether the supplemental recommendation made a significant difference in his application, Jerry approached the idea strategically and was ultimately successful.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 11 May 2018, 11:01
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: 2 SBC Consultants Make P&Q’s Top Ten List
When you choose Stacy Blackman Consulting to guide you during your MBA application journey, you can feel confident that you’re working with the best in the admissions consulting business. But don’t just take our word for it.

The website Poets & Quants recently published a list of the Top 10 MBA Admissions Consultants, culled from its directory of nearly 500 consultants, and we’re thrilled to report that two members from the SBC team have made it onto this exclusive list.

P&Q  independently vets the consultant reviews in the directory, which it began soliciting more than two years ago. “All told, some 140 consultants have gained reviews from more than 780 clients, a rich database of customer satisfaction,” editor-in-chief John A. Byrne notes in the Top Ten article. “These days, in fact, as many as 10 reviews a day are vetted by our editorial staff.”

So, who are these stellar SBC consultants highlighted by Poets & Quants? Let’s take a closer look.


Caryn Altman: A Kellogg MBA, Altman worked as an admissions officer for her alma mater where she read and evaluated written applicant essays and recommended admission to Kellogg. She also conducted numerous applicant interviews assessing candidate fit and future potential at Kellogg and beyond. Preceding her time at Kellogg, Altman was a senior marketing manager for Gatorade, leading Gatorade’s efforts to a variety of consumer targets. Concurrently, she co-led all of the Kellogg recruiting efforts for the PepsiCo Chicago office. Before earning her MBA, Caryn worked in corporate finance and public accounting with CPA certification.

Five-Star Review Excerpt: “Caryn takes her job very seriously. She treats your application as it is her own. Caryn would e-mail me daily, sometimes multiple times a day, with essay rewrites, tips, friendly hellos, etc. I should note that this is because I was very involved in the process and would constantly be e-mailing her first! I am thrilled by my results. After applying to 6 business schools, I got into three of them (one being a top 5 school where I plan to attend next year).”

Sherry Holland: A former assistant director of admissions for Duke University’s Fuqua
School of Business, Holland has been an MBA admissions consultant with Stacy Blackman Consultng for just over ten years. She has a bachelor’s degree in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University after which she worked in human resources for I. Magnin for three years. At Fuqua, from 2001 to 2005, Holland traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and abroad to recruit, interview and evaluate applicants to Duke’s MBA program.

Five-Star Review Excerpt: “I could not recommend Sherry highly enough. She made the entire process so much more manageable. From the start Sherry was responsive, understanding, and friendly. I had an interview at Duke the next weekend, and she immediately offered to walk me through a mock interview to help me prepare, even before we did the initial call. She read all of my essays and responded promptly – even essays that were for other, non-MBA programs that I was applying to. She completely reworked my resume and made me feel like I had a handle on the process more than I ever thought I would. After being in the working world for 4 years before deciding to go back to school, Sherry was exactly what I needed to get me through. She was honest but also comforting, and I would have never gotten into the schools I did without here.”

The Value of MBA Admissions Counseling
To help explain the role we play, I draw a comparison to the business schools themselves. An important issue that should be considered when you apply to business school is the career center. The career center is a great asset for a top school and the career centers play an important role in most MBA experiences. What does a career center do? Mock interviews, interview coaching, resume review, help with career selection and target companies, assistance with company research, strategy and messaging.

The career centers help an MBA applying for a job to package him or herself. This is very similar to what we do for our clients. We do not draft essays or resumes from scratch, we do not sit in on interviews for them, we do not cross that ethical line. We act as a coach, helping our clients in the same way that college counselors, career counselors, athletic coaches, executive coaches, writing coaches and many more…do for their clients.

Our goal is not in any way to “trick” an admissions committee. The stories are all true, the numbers are legitimate. However, we do have some clients whose numbers or background may make them appear to be a “stretch” on the surface. Of course we do. If all of our clients were obvious admits, we would not be adding much value. SBC serves the schools by helping them to find the applicants that are truly a good fit for their programs.

We work with these clients, who are fantastic, interesting, hard working and ambitious people, to achieve their dreams. This may be in spite of less than perfect credentials. Nonetheless, I feel that our clients, who have earned seats at top programs, deserve these seats and are valued contributors to their respective programs.

There’s no better time to start exploring your options for getting into the b-school of your dreams. Learn more about working with SBC, and request a complimentary assessment of your MBA candidacy. We look forward to meeting you!
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 14 May 2018, 07:01
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Do This One Thing Between Now and Round 1 Deadlines
If you plan to apply to MBA programs this fall, you have about four months until the first Round 1 deadlines hit. What’s one of the most important things you can do between now and then? Get a few more leadership experiences under your belt.

At work, seek out opportunities to manage projects or teams. When you have an idea for how to improve or streamline a process in your office or for a client, take the initiative to work on it in your spare time.

If your manager is supportive of your plans to go back to school, ask what other responsibilities you could take on. Perhaps you could mentor a junior employee or head up a company-sponsored volunteer event. All of these steps will likely result in additional accomplishments you can add to your resume, write essays about, or discuss in an interview.

Four months is also more than enough time to get involved — or get more involved — in a cause that’s close to your heart. Taking an active role in a community organization or nonprofit is an excellent way to differentiate yourself from the competition. If you’ve volunteered for a certain group before, see what else you can help them with that’s more high profile, or ask if there are any open leadership roles that would be a good fit.

While there are some aspects of your candidacy that are already set in stone — where you earned your undergraduate degree, your GPA, and your career choices up until now — there are other things that can certainly be improved over the next few months.

Think of it this way:



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until next time,

The team at Stacy Blackman Consulting

***Do you want to stay on top of the application process with timely tips like these? Please subscribe to our weekly newsletter and you’ll receive our expert advice straight in your mailbox before it appears on the blog, plus special offers, promotions, discounts, invitations to events, and more.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 15 May 2018, 14:01
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Harvard Business School Drops Round 3 Deadline Option

Today on the Direct from the Director blog, Harvard Business School admissions director Chad Losee dropped an MBA admissions bombshell: HBS will no longer have a third round as of the 2018-19 application cycle.

Admitted round three applicants have always faced a time crunch where finishing up work and moving to a new city is concerned, and this shift down to two rounds will allow both admitted (and rejected) applicants more time to better plan their next steps.

“Given that we’ve seen more applicants in Rounds 1 and 2 and fewer in Round 3 in recent years, this change feels consistent with the choices you are making about when to apply,” Losee explains, adding that, “getting a decision earlier will give admitted students better access to on-campus housing, more cohort options for HBX CORe, and more time for visa processing.”

For applicants hoping to join the Harvard Business School Class of 2021, you’ll need to apply in either Round 1 (September 5, 2018) or Round 2 (January 4, 2019). The admissions director assures they have no preference between the two rounds.

Come spring, the admissions team will focus solely on HBS’s 2+2 program for college seniors seeking deferred admission and the April deadline remains.

In an interview with Poets & Quants, Losee noted that the move was designed to give the Class of 2021 a jump on planning ahead for the September and January deadlines.

“When we bring students to interview on campus,” Losee tells P&Q, “we plan whole day of events for them with students and faculty to get a sense for what that’s like here. That has been harder to do in round three because since students and faculty are in finals and those types of things, so they won’t have as complete of a picture of what HBS is. We get to know the applicants and we hope the applicants get to know us as well as they can so they can make an informed decision.”

Image credit: Chris Han (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 16 May 2018, 13:01
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: B-School Research Advice for International MBA Applicants


 For many MBA hopefuls, particularly those targeting multiple programs and coming from abroad, a campus visit can be a real challenge during the application phase. Whether the problem is the prohibitive expense of air travel and lodging or the time off from work required, these candidates must turn to other sources to fill in the blanks as they decide on which programs to target.

A great starting point for any applicant is connecting with students and alumni at the schools you are considering. Top MBA programs host numerous events around the world each year, so plan on attending the event nearest you in order to meet admissions officers, alumni and current students, and to gain valuable application advice.

These individuals can offer the inside scoop on student life and what makes their school unique. Participating in online information sessions and virtual webinars is another valuable way for candidates to get a better sense of the school’s culture.

For instance, on Wednesday, June 6th, the HBS admissions team will hold a webinar walking through each element of the application, which goes live in early June.

Business schools often have programs that connect applicants via email or Skype with current and former students of similar backgrounds and profiles, and this is a great introduction to the program that can help you narrow down which schools to focus on for your MBA. Even if there’s no such formal program in place, most admissions officers will happily put candidates in touch with an alum or current student if asked.

Positive engagement with the admissions committee via social media is another excellent strategy and could help you stand out in a competitive applicant pool. Schools that actively monitor their social media sites can often answer an applicant’s questions in mere hours, whereas an emailed query could take days to receive a reply. Prospective students should also subscribe to the feeds of student and admissions blogs to find out immediately about any news that could influence their interest in the program.

Online research can’t replace the value of the in-person experience, but candidates who simply cannot visit their selected schools before applying should take comfort in knowing that there are many ways to thoroughly get to know a program without a campus visit to guide them. Diligence and motivation are all you really need.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 17 May 2018, 13:01
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Complementary Skills are Key to Team Success for MBA Students, Grads


More than a fifth of MBAs feel that half of the teams in which they’ve worked have not succeeded due to a lack of complementary skills, ground-breaking research from the Association of MBAs (AMBA) and The GC Index® has found.

The first global study of its kind, surveying 865 MBA students and graduates, found that MBAs are diverse when it comes to the contribution they make to team dynamics, despite gaining the same business qualification. The study looked at the ideas of influence within collaborative teams as well as leadership, conflict and defining the individual strengths that lead to shared success.

The GC Index doesn’t measure personality type or leadership qualities; instead, it focuses on an individual‘s preferred contribution style to a role or a company. The GC Index has identified five roles that contribute to team success:

  • The implementers
  • The game changers
  • The strategists
  • The polishers
  • The play makers
In terms of self-identification:
  • 27% of MBAs believe themselves to be ‘implementers’ (moving into action to get things done)
  • 22% of MBAs perceive themselves to be ‘game changers’ (bringing original ideas to people)
  • 21% of MBAs say they are ‘strategists’ (setting a direction for others to follow)
  • 18% of MBAs identify as ‘polishers’ (improving other people’s ideas and raising quality standards)
  • 12% of MBAs say they are ‘play makers’ (getting everyone to work together)

The study shines a light on key issues affecting team performance in the workplace, namely having a combination of skills and clarity around how these skills complement each other.

Participants were asked to state how often they felt their teams had the right make-up for success. Just three in 10 believed that their teams had the right make-up for success more than three-quarters of the time.

Almost half of the participants said their teams had the skills and individuals to succeed between 50% and 75% of the time. Meanwhile, 22% of respondents said that less than half of the teams in which they’d been a part of had the right personality and skills dynamics to succeed.

‘This research shows that student and graduate MBAs see themselves as having different styles of leadership,” said Will Dawes, Research and Insight Manager at AMBA. “This indicates that Business Schools enroll future leaders onto MBAs who may have varying approaches as leaders, or that MBA programmes influence students to think about themselves in different ways.”

Dr John Mervyn-Smith, Chief Psychologist at The GC Index, explained it this way: “The key to achieving long-term success is to transform individual action into collective power. In order to do this effectively, you need to not only understand how you can best contribute and make an impact but also how other team members make their impact – only then will you be able to place them in the right roles and right environments.”

“The GC Index shows we all have a role to play at some point in successful teams, whether we are an Implementer, Strategist, Play Maker, Game Changer or Polisher. We just need to know when and how to make a contribution.”

Photo Credit: Solent Creatives (CC BY 2.0)
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 21 May 2018, 09:01
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Procrastination: the Enemy of a Great MBA Application
In high school or college — or maybe even recently on an important project at work — you might have been able to wait until the last minute to do something and still come out looking like a champ. But we can assure you that won’t be the case for anything having to do with your MBA application efforts. Procrastinating is a sure-fire way to weaken your materials.

Early in any candidate’s MBA journey comes preparation for the GMAT or GRE. If you believe you can wing this critical piece of the process, think again. Studying for these tests usually requires months of effort — as well as leaving enough time for a “do-over” if your first attempt doesn’t go so well.

Same thing applies for your resume, essays and data forms. You can’t just throw these things together as the clock ticks down. They require a lot of upfront thought and several rounds of edits in order to ensure your unique voice is coming through.

While this comes much later in the process, preparing for an interview is similar: if you don’t practice at all until the night before, you’re bound to realize you aren’t quite as smooth as you hoped you’d be.

Then you’re either going to stay up late to work on your responses or not be able to sleep because you’ll be so worried about your upcoming performance. Neither helps put you in the best frame of mind when it’s “go time.”

And if you don’t do thorough research on two or more programs you’ve been accepted to and make your final decision on a whim or gut feeling . . . well, that could be a multi-thousand-dollar mistake. Enough said!

So if you are going to apply to business school this application year, do yourself a favor and ensure you have ample time to complete each part of the process. Start clearing your schedule over the coming months to ensure you’ll have enough time to pull together quality materials.

Daily progress — no matter how minimal — is much better than attempting to do everything right before the deadlines hit.

Think of it this way:



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until next time,

The team at Stacy Blackman Consulting

***Do you want to stay on top of the application process with timely tips like these? Please subscribe to our weekly newsletter and you’ll receive our expert advice straight in your mailbox before it appears on the blog, plus special offers, promotions, discounts, invitations to events, and more.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 21 May 2018, 10:00
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Columbia Business School Fall 2019 MBA Essay Questions

Columbia Business School has released its MBA application today for the 2018-2019 admissions cycle. Here are the revised essay prompts you’ll see this season.

ESSAYS
Goal: What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 characters)

Essay #1: Through your resume and recommendations, we have a clear sense of your professional path to date. What are your career goals over the next 3-5 years and what, in your imagination, would be your long term dream job? (500 words)

Essay #2: How will you take advantage of being “at the very center of business”? Please watch this short video featuring Dean Glenn Hubbard (250 Words)

Essay #3: Please provide an example of a team failure of which you have been a part.  If given a second chance, what would you do differently? (250 Words)

Optional Essay: Is there any further information that you wish to provide the Admissions Committee?  If so, use this space to provide an explanation of any areas of concern in your academic record or your personal history.  This does not need to be a formal  essay.  You may submit bullet points. (Maximum 500 Words)

The MBA application to Columbia Business School is now live. Please visit the CBS admissions website for more information.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 22 May 2018, 06:00
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Professor Profiles: UT McCombs’s Meeta Kothare
Having the opportunity to learn from the best and brightest minds in business is one of the top motivators for many applicants considering an MBA degree at an elite business school. The professors and lecturers you’ll encounter have worked in the trenches, and bring an incredible wealth of real-world experiences into the classroom setting.

In our new limited series of professor interviews on the SBC blog, readers will get to know a bit more about these brilliant academics, what fields most excite them, the trends they foresee, what they enjoy most about teaching at their respective universities, and how it all comes together with their students.


Today, let’s get to know Professor Meeta Kothare, who teaches Financial Innovation for Social Impact and Impact Investing at the University of Texas Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Policy.

Kothare is also leading the new Social Innovation Initiative at UT McCombs School of Business.

She is the founder and president of Neeva Solutions, a management consulting firm assisting organizations dedicated to social impact.

What triggered your interest in your subject matter?
After teaching corporate finance and investment banking classes for several years, I switched gears and worked in the social sector for a decade, first with a philanthropic organization and then as a consultant to nonprofits and social entrepreneurs.

My passion for social impact combined with my love of finance drove my attention to the nascent field of impact investing. I started teaching again, but this time it was impact investing and social entrepreneurship instead of traditional finance.

What’s changed since you entered the field?
Discussions of the role of business in society have changed considerably since I first started in finance. Sustainable and impact investing are making their way into the mainstream. Scholars and practitioners have begun to question whether the brand of capitalism that was practiced in the past fifty years is sufficient to deal with 21st century challenges such as extreme social inequity and climate change.

Companies are paying greater attention to the effects of social and environmental issues on their profitability. On the demand side, younger generations of investors are more engaged in these issues and consequently, asset managers are increasingly investing according to ESG (environmental, social, and governance) principles.

Any surprising or unique applications of your field of study?
Because so much of social innovation, whether it is impact investing or social entrepreneurship or corporate sustainability, requires collaboration among private, public, and nonprofit sectors, studying these areas is giving our students a range of skills and the ability to think about a problem from different perspectives outside the silo of business education.

I’ve had students tell me that even when they’ve interviewed for conventional corporate or consulting jobs, they’ve found themselves depending on the reasoning they’ve developed during our class discussions.

I’m not surprised when I hear that because in my classes and our programs, students learn how to make change happen, develop empathy for consumers, and co-create solutions with diverse communities, skills that you can apply to any work you are doing.

What do you like about the school you are teaching at?
The McCombs school embodies the culture of Austin – a unique camaraderie among students, a social consciousness that is part of the city, and a willingness to work together toward our mutual goals. I also have tremendous support to experiment and figure out what works in the new Social Innovation Initiative that I lead.

What can you do in the classroom to best prepare students for the real world?
There are two parts to that process: The first and obvious one is to give students a rigorous course that helps them develop a certain level of expertise in the subject. The other part is harder.

How do we prepare students for a real world that is ever-changing and more diverse than anything they can experience in the classroom? How do we teach them how to react when faced with tough professional and personal choices, successes and failures? I try different things.

I look for outside speakers who are experts in the subject matter, but who can also speak to these ambiguities and how they handled them. I weave in these topics in class discussions, cases and projects as much as I can. I try to create an environment in the classroom that puts the onus of learning on the student, respects diverse voices, challenges students to look beyond the easy answers and develop confidence in their ability to make change happen and bring others along on that journey.

What are you most excited about that’s happening in your field?
Technology is upending every field, not least of which is finance, but what excites me the most is the tremendous growth in ESG investing in the past couple of years has been exciting.

This January, we witnessed a defining moment on Wall Street when Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock, the world’s largest asset management firm, wrote a letter to CEOs saying that Blackrock expects companies to make a positive contribution to society in addition to producing financial returns.

In the letter, he also states that companies must benefit all stakeholders, not just shareholders. How this translates to action for Blackrock or the companies in which it invests remains to be seen, but the winds are definitely shifting away from the kind of capitalism that we’ve seen for several decades now.

Can you speak to interesting trends in your field?
All around the world, companies are beginning to pay attention to their social and environmental impacts. Several factors are driving these changes. Surveys show that over 75% of millennials are integrating social and environmental consequences into their consumption, employment, and investment decisions.

Around $40 trillion of wealth will transfer to this generation over the next three decades and we are already seeing some of the shift toward more sustainable investing. A quarter of managed assets around the world are invested with ESG (environmental, social, and governance) considerations, and this number is growing.

We are also seeing a growth in investments directly into social purpose businesses, commonly referred to as impact investing as more philanthropists and conscious investors find that a financial return, at or below market, allows them to extend their support of social enterprises.

Around 36 states now allow companies to incorporate as Benefit Corporations which means that their social and environmental missions are baked into their charter, making it easier to protect their missions legally.

What are you most excited about in your classroom?
Because of the content, my classes naturally tap into the desire of this generation to find purposeful lives and careers. I love their fierce idealism and even after teaching for so many years, fresh ideas from new students and new generations never ceases to enlighten me.

Any business predictions for 2068?
I’m optimistic about humankind’s capacity to innovate and adapt, so I’m going to bet that a new sustainable, regenerative form of capitalism will emerge that that will restore and replenish more than we extract from our society and planet.

Thank you so much Professor Kothare for sharing your insights and experiences with our readers! You can read more about her work in South by Social: Austin is the capital of impact entrepreneurship, too and Women lead second wave of giving sparked by Impact Austin experiences.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 22 May 2018, 09:00
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Tuesday Tips: Columbia Business School Fall 2019 MBA Application Essay Tips
Columbia Business School has released the application and essay questions for applicants starting in 2019. What we have heard from the admissions committee at CBS is that authenticity is key, and they are looking for candidates who are a great fit for the program and have the academic background to handle the rigor.

Columbia is a fast-paced program in a fast-paced city. The kind of MBA student who is a good fit for Columbia and it’s setting in New York City will be those that plan to take full advantage of the unique opportunities offered by the setting.

It’s up to you to prepare your case for admission with thorough research into the school. Speak to current students, alumni and research the classes and faculty at the school to understand the full offering at Columbia.

Columbia is looking for students who have big plans for their lives, MBA or not. Before you get started with this set of essays it will be helpful to brainstorm your career objectives, strengths and weaknesses, and to think about your overall future dreams.

Columbia offers several flexible options for admission, from full time MBA programs starting in the Fall, to a January entry session and an excellent executive MBA program. Columbia also offers an early decision option for candidates that are committed to attend the school.

The Columbia admissions cycle is rolling, so the earlier you submit your application the earlier you will receive feedback. We recommend you try to submit your application as soon as possible, while maintaining high quality.

Stumped by the Columbia essays? Contact Stacy Blackman Consulting to learn how we can help.

Goal: What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 characters maximum)

Examples of possible responses:

“Work in business development for a media company.”

“Join a strategy consulting firm.”

“Launch a data-management start-up.”

This is a deceptively simple question that requires you to condense your career goals into one clear career vision statement. As part of the question Columbia provides a few examples, which are concise and to the point.

If your goal is to work at an investment bank after graduation you could always just say: “Work in finance.” To try to add a bit more detail, consider adding a little more color. Something like: “Work in real estate finance for a private equity firm” tells the admissions committee far more about your interests and goals than just “work in finance” and sets the tone for the first essay.

Essay #1: Through your resume and recommendations, we have a clear sense of your professional path to date. What are your career goals over the next 3-5 years and what, in your imagination, would be your long-term dream job? (500 words)

This a question that drives at your short- and long-term goals and plans. The word “imagination” conjures up your aspirational dreams, not just your practical plans. Those who seek a top tier MBA at a school like Columbia have big dreams. You will be exposed to people and opportunities that will expand your horizons. Think about your true passions, and feel free to explore your big dreams.

As you talk about your future you may need to refer to your past career and personal experiences. As you consider what to say make sure you are citing only relevant examples from your career. Think about the experiences you can describe that were truly pivotal and can support your future goals. Your goals should have some logical progression from your past, but you can (and should!) show you plan to change and adapt.

For example, perhaps you want to be a general manager of a company or division, and right now you have been working primarily in marketing. You might spend your time at Columbia learning about finance and strategy, being part of consulting projects and interning at a start-up to round out your experience and start on your general management path.

Most importantly, Columbia wants to know who you are and how you are different from other applicants. Don’t try to be an ideal applicant, instead reveal your real personality, motivations, goals, and plans.

Essay #2: How will you take advantage of being “at the very center of business”? Please watch this short video featuring Dean Glenn Hubbard (250 words)

A theme of the linked video is that Columbia bridges theory and practice. Because of the location in New York City, Columbia is at the center of many industries including finance, media, fashion and technology.

Columbia specifically takes advantage of the location by employing adjunct professors from industry, encouraging internships during the school year for MBA students, and frequent lectures and mentoring from executives in various businesses.

The question posed here is how will you, specifically, use these resources that are unique to Columbia? Will you take classes from an industry expert you admire? Intern at a target company or within an industry that interests you? What other resources in New York City or within Columbia are particularly interesting to you?

A mix of personal and professional interests may be covered in this topic, and you may want to emphasize either one of those angles depending on the answers you present to the other core questions. Specifics, specifics and specifics help you set yourself apart with this essay.

Know yourself and know the school. As you address this question make sure your answer is tailored to your individual goals for learning and career along with your knowledge of Columbia’s academic and professional opportunities.

Essay #3: Please provide an example of a team failure of which you have been a part. If given a second chance, what would you do differently? (250 words)

The answer to this question can reveal quite a bit about how you work within a team, handle adversity, and turn around a bad situation. These type of behavioral essays work best with plenty of detail.

A structure like the STAR method is a good way to tackle any behavioral question. Make sure to set up the Situation, outline the Task you need to tackle, then describe the Action you took, and finally the Result of that action. Consider any team dynamics you want to describe and make sure to outline your own behavior.

Note that this a failure question, so your result may have been a bad one, and that’s perfectly acceptable for this essay. This question also provides a second chance for you. If the result of your story was not ideal, what would you change in retrospect? Did you learn anything that you have since applied?

Even if the failure was in the process and the result was positive, reflect upon how the team could have worked more productively along the way. Demonstrating the ability to reflect, refine your approach, and improve is a key signal of maturity.

Optional Essay: Is there any further information that you wish to provide the Admissions Committee? If so, please use this space to provide an explanation of any areas of concern in your academic record or your personal history. This does not need to be a formal essay. You may submit bullet points. (500 words)

We recommend keeping this essay brief and only focusing on specific areas such as a low demonstrated quantitative abilities, lack of a recommendation from a current supervisor, gaps in work experience, or particularly low grades. It is best to explain the issue factually and succinctly, then explain how you have addressed the issue and why it should not concern the admissions committee in terms of your aptitude for the program and studies.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 22 May 2018, 10:01
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Michigan Ross Fall 2019 MBA Application Deadlines

The Ross School of Business at University of Michigan has posted the following MBA application deadlines for the 2018-19 admissions season.

Round 1
Application due: October 1, 2018

Decision released: December 21, 2018

Round 2
Application due: January 7, 2019

Decision released: March 15, 2019

Round 3
Application due: March 18, 2019

Decision released: May 10, 2019

All applications are due by 11:59 EST on the day of the deadline in order to be considered within that round. Michigan Ross also encourages international students apply in Round 1 or Round 2 because of visa requirements and to ensure consideration for scholarships.

For more information, please visit the Ross MBA admissions website.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 22 May 2018, 10:01
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Michigan Ross Streamlines Fall 2019 MBA Essay Questions

The University of Michigan Ross School of Business has opened its application for the 2018-2019 admissions season, and this year’s app features slight updates to the required MBA essays, as follows.

Part 1: Short Answer Questions
Select one prompt from each group. Respond to your selected prompts using 100 words or fewer (<100 words each; 300 words total).

Group 1

  • I want people to know that I:
  • I made a difference when I:
Group 2

  • I was humbled when:
  • I am out of my comfort zone when:
Group 3

  • I was aware that I am different when:
  • I find it challenging when people:
“One of the things we heard from this year’s applicants was that they loved having the option to choose which essay prompt to respond to. So we’re keeping that feature but providing two options per short answer group rather than three,” Admissions Director Soojin Kwon explains on her blog.

“We kept the ones that seemed to provide the best platform for sharing something meaningful and unique about yourselves. We also made a minor tweak to the career goal essay to make it more straightforward, because that’s what we’re looking for — straightforward,” the director adds.

Part 2: Essay
Michigan Ross is a place where people from all backgrounds with different career goals can thrive. Please share your short-term career goal. Why is this the right choice for you? (300 words)

Optional Statement
This section should only be used to convey information not addressed elsewhere in your application, for example, completion of supplemental coursework, employment gaps, academic issues, etc. Feel free to use bullet points where appropriate.

***

If you’re interested in visiting the campus this summer, Michigan Ross does offer its Visit in Person program once in June and once in July. You may also find a Ross event near you throughout the summer and fall.

For more information about the Ross MBA program, please visit the admissions website.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 24 May 2018, 12:00
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: London Business School Fall 2019 Essay Questions

The London Business School has confirmed that the essay questions for the 2018-2019 admissions season will remain the same as last year. They are as follows:

Required Essay
What are your post-MBA goals and how will your prior experience and the London Business School programme contribute towards these? (500 words)

Optional Essay
Is there any other information you believe the Admissions Committee should know about you and your application to London Business School? (500 words)

***

Admissions dates for the August 2019 entry have not been set yet, but LBS expects them to be similar to the current cycle:

Round 1: Mid-September 2018

Round 2: Early January 2019

Round 3: Early March 2019

Round 4: Mid-April 2019

SBC will update the deadlines once they are confirmed. The MBA 2021 application will open in early August. For additional information on applying, please visit the LBS admissions website.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 24 May 2018, 12:00
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Duke Fuqua Announces Fall 2019 MBA Application Deadlines

The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University has announced the following MBA application deadlines for the 2018-19 admissions cycle.

Early Action:
Application due: September 12, 2018

Decision released: October 19, 2018

Round 1
Application due: October 10, 2018

Decision released: December 13, 2018

Round 2
Application due: January 3, 2019

Decision released: March 18, 2019

Round 3
Application due: March 20, 2019

Decision released: April 29, 2019

A note to applicants: 

All deadlines are at 11:59 pm ET. The Early Action option is ideal for applicants who have completed their MBA research and have decided that this is the best program for them.

If your ability to enroll is dependent upon receiving merit-based scholarship assistance, you should apply during Early Action, Round 1, or Round 2.

International Applicants: you must apply during Early Action, Round 1, or Round 2 for visa processing.

Re-applicants: reapply during Early Action or Round 1.

The 2018-2019 Daytime MBA application will be available in late-July.

For more information, please visit the Duke Fuqua admissions website.
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 25 May 2018, 06:01
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: Tuck School Plans to Drop Early Action, November Application Rounds
Earlier this month, Luke Anthony Peña, executive director for admissions at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, laid out plans on the Tuck 360 blog to “sunset” two of the program’s admissions rounds and rename the rest.


“My colleagues and I want your Tuck application experience to be as enjoyable and stress-free as possible,” Peña writes. “So the team and I looked at our admissions rounds, and one number jumped out…100. That’s the number of days between our November round application deadline, and when we give you a decision—the longest wait of any round at any of our peer schools!”

For the 2018-19 admissions cycle, applicants can bid farewell to the financially demanding Early Action round, as well as the lengthy-wait producing November round. Deadlines will now hit in late September, early January, and early April (exact dates forthcoming) and will no longer be named after the month. Expect to apply in Round 1, Round 2, or Round 3.

There’s a lot of excitement at Tuck School these days, including two things that will ease the financial burden of applicants:  a $15 million gift for scholarship funding that the school received in February, and the $250 million capital campaign. The top priorities of the campaign are new investments in students—increasing Tuck’s current scholarship abilities—as well as investments in support of faculty excellence, program innovation, and campus revitalization.

“I recognize that financing your MBA is an important consideration,” Peña writes. “If you want to be at Tuck, I want you to have the financial resources you need to be here. I’m thrilled that the campaign will bring us closer to that goal.”
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Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog 28 May 2018, 06:01
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FROM Stacy Blackman Consulting Blog: No Sure-Fire ‘Formula’ for MBA Admissions Success
As you begin to work on your Round 1 MBA materials, we have some advice for you: don’t try to be “Joe MBA.”

One of the biggest mistakes we see applicants make is assuming that the surest route to business school admission is playing it safe and doing what “everyone else” does. We hear things like, “Well my friend went to Stanford and he wrote about how he wanted to launch a start-up, so I’m going to say that, too.” Or, “My co-worker who got into Kellogg last year isn’t that different from me, so if she says my materials are fine then I should probably shouldn’t change anything.”

Remember: no two people are the same, and that’s a good thing! The key to a successful MBA application is showing exactly what you — and nobody else but you — can bring to the program. So please don’t be afraid to let your originality and your true personality come through in your materials.

On that same note, if you honestly tend to spew out multiple three- and four-syllable words in a normal conversation, then it’s fine to do so in your essays. But if you have a trusted friend review what you’ve written and they remark that it sounds nothing like you, that’s a red flag.

Did you include a bunch of “big words” — or worse, buzzwords and industry jargon — because you thought it would make you sound like a dream candidate? We’d suggest making your responses less formal and having your friend review them again to ensure your unique voice is represented.

Here’s an easy way to judge whether or not you’re on the right track: read over your materials and ask if you’d want to be in class with yourself. Are you coming across as someone who’s interesting, has a lot to share with others, and would be a great addition to any MBA program? Or do you sound like Joe MBA — accomplished, sure . . . but also pretty darn boring.

Think of it this way:



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until next time,

The team at Stacy Blackman Consulting

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