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18 Feb 2016, 13:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Diamonds in the Rough: Experiential Learning at the Carlson School of Management |
MBA applicants can get carried away with rankings. In this series, we profile amazing programs at business schools that are typically ranked outside the top 15. With approximately 20 Fortune 500 companies located nearby—including UnitedHealth Group, Target, and U.S. Bancorp—the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management boasts a robust network of corporate ties and high-profile recruiting opportunities. In fact, the Twin Cities placed first in Forbes’s 2011 rankings of the best U.S. cities for finding employment. Carlson also 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. The post Diamonds in the Rough: Experiential Learning at the Carlson School of Management appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
19 Feb 2016, 08:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Friday Factoid: Alumni Generosity at Dartmouth Tuck |
 The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth has roughly 9,500 living alumni, and although that figure may sound small compared with a larger school’s alumni base, numerous students and graduates we have interviewed report that Tuck has an active and close-knit alumni community. Through their continued involvement with the school as mentors, visiting executives, recruiting contacts, and internship providers, Tuck alumni maintain an open channel between the MBA program and the business world. Tuck students with whom we spoke could not say enough about the strength of student-alumni interactions, emphasizing that the vitality of Tuck’s close-knit community endures long after graduation. One second-year student shared that he had had pretty high expectations with regard to the school’s alumni network “but still underestimated how strong the network can be.” He explained, “The connections were instant. I received same-day responses, all the time. There is a strong pay-it-forward mentality and a genuine interest in seeing people from Tuck do well. Alums go out of their way to help with networking, job preparation, anything.” Tuck alumni also stay connected to the school through its annual fund-raising campaign. The school reportedly boasts the highest giving rate of all U.S. MBA programs. Tuck notes that its giving rate is “more than double the average giving rate of other business schools” in an August 2015 news article on the school’s Web site and boasts, “In addition to raising a record $6.4 million for Tuck Annual Giving, 2015’s effort marked an unprecedented fifth consecutive year where greater than 70 percent of alumni participated.” For more information on other defining characteristics of the MBA program at Dartmouth Tuck or one of 15 other top business schools, please check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides. The post Friday Factoid: Alumni Generosity at Dartmouth Tuck appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
19 Feb 2016, 12:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Learn How a Friendly Bet Led David Greenberg to Found Updater |
 David Greenberg Today, many aspiring MBAs and MBA graduates want to join start-ups or launch such companies themselves. Is entrepreneurship as exciting as it seems? Is it really for you? mbaMission Founder Jeremy Shinewald has teamed up with Venture for America and CBS Interactive to launch Smart People Should Build Things: The Venture for America Podcast. Each week, Shinewald interviews another entrepreneur so you can hear the gritty stories of their ups and downs on the road to success. Almost anyone who has moved is familiar with the hassle of sharing their new address with friends and family, utility companies, and other businesses. Updater, a tool designed to make this task easier, has grown rapidly from a business-to-consumer start-up to a business-to-business firm worth $15M. The man behind it all, David Greenberg, explained to Shinewald how he pulled it off. This podcast episode features these highlights and more:
The post Learn How a Friendly Bet Led David Greenberg to Found Updater appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
20 Feb 2016, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: Admissions Is a Science! |
 What does a 3.8 GPA + a 670 GMAT score + four years of work experience + three years of community service equal? It could equal a letter of admission or rejection. However, knowing with absolute certainty is impossible because admissions is not a science. If it were, the Admissions Office would just do away with the entire time- and resource-consuming admissions process and use a simple formula. Why not make life that much easier for everyone? In some countries, simple tests are used to establish benchmarks—a candidate gets into a top MBA program with a score of X but not with Y. In the United States, some graduate programs have cutoffs for GRE scores or situations in which GMAT/LSAT scores and grades are definitive. Plainly put, no clear-cut criteria exist with top global MBA programs. Instead, the admissions committee reads a file holistically and seeks evidence of the applicant’s ability to contribute in class and perform at the highest levels post-graduation. Although trying to reduce the MBA admissions process to a science can be tempting, doing so would be unwise. By listening to chatter on message boards or blogs about the “right GMAT score” or the “right amount of work experience”—rather than keeping in mind that the process is holistic in nature, meaning that the admissions committees evaluate all criteria with no particular scorecard—you are wasting valuable time and energy. Simply be your best candidate and present your full story, rather than focusing on stats. The post MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: Admissions Is a Science! appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
21 Feb 2016, 08:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: GMAT Impact: Story Problems: Love Them or Hate Them? |
With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. In this blog series, Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. Some people love story problems. They involve a story! So they should be easier than “pure” math. Others hate them. We have to figure out what the problem is talking about, and then we have to translate the words into math, and then we have to come up with an approach. You know what I mean, right? Those problems where you think everything will be fine, and then about two minutes in, you realize that everything you have written down does not make any sense, but you are sure that you can do it, so you try again, and you get an answer, but that answer is not in the answer choices, and now the clock is approaching 3.5 minutes and… argh! If that describes your typical relationship with story problems, then I have the solution for you. You need to learn how to make story problems REAL. Not standardized test questions… not abstract math problems… but real scenarios that you are living right now. When you want to calculate an 18% tip, do you pull out a calculator? If you need to figure out whether you are going to make it to the office before or after your boss, who started earlier but is driving at a slower rate, would you start writing equations? No way! Instead, you find a way to “work it out” using real-world logic and back-of-the-envelope calculations. Guess what? This works on the GMAT, too—you just need to learn how. Over on the Manhattan GMAT blog, I have a two-part article that will teach you how to make story problems real. Read the first part, but before you go to the second part, open up your Official Guide and look for some lower-numbered story problems. (You can even redo problems that you have done in the past.) Practice approaching the problem from the point of view of “What would I do if I actually had to figure this out in the real world?” After you start to feel more comfortable with this (which might take a week or two!), go ahead and take a look at the second half of the article, which discusses a harder problem of the same type. Just one note before I release you: getting used to approaching the problems this way will take time. You have been trained for 20+ years to approach math problems as, well, math problems! Expect to feel uncomfortable and slow as you develop this new skill to approach story problems as real-world problems. The post GMAT Impact: Story Problems: Love Them or Hate Them? appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
21 Feb 2016, 12:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: In Other News… A Mobile MBA, a Master’s Degree in Business and Fashion, and Harvard’s Gender Initiative |
 The new mobile MBA program would allow students to access learning materials and tutors on their smartphones. The business school world is constantly buzzing with change and innovation. Each week, in addition to our regular news posts, we briefly touch on a few notable stories from this dynamic field in one roundup. Here is what caught our eye this week:
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22 Feb 2016, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Monday Morning Essay Tip: How Will You Contribute to the Program? |
Many business schools use their essay questions as an opportunity to ask about the unique contributions you will make to their particular program. Many candidates unwittingly make the mistake of thinking that a bland summary statement like “I will bring my leadership skills to XYZ School” will sufficiently express their intended contribution. One reason we prefer to work with business school candidates “from start to finish” is so we can proactively prevent such problems. Simply relating a story about a past experience and then repeating the main point does not demonstrate that you can or will make a meaningful contribution to the school. Ideally, you want to go further, explaining how you would apply and use your experience and skills while at the school in a way that would offer some benefit to others, thereby demonstrating a true understanding of your fit with that particular program. Example 1: “My experience as a stand-up comedian will allow me to bring humor to the Kellogg environment.” With this statement, the MBA admissions committee is left wondering, “How exactly will this applicant bring humor to the environment? Does this person really know what our environment is about?” In contrast, consider the following: Example 2: “My experience as a stand-up comic will prove particularly useful at Kellogg, a dynamic environment where I will be constantly joining new and energetic study teams. I anticipate using my sense of humor to create more relaxed team environments, helping everyone feel comfortable contributing, though I will use my humor judiciously, such as to diffuse tense moments during late-night study sessions rather than as a distraction. I believe my skills and experience being funny on stage will also allow me to play an important role in the Kellogg Follies.” In this example, the writer has applied his/her personal experience and intended contribution directly to the Kellogg experience and has thereby shown a clear connection with the school, proving that the candidate truly identifies with it and accurately understands its nature. The post Monday Morning Essay Tip: How Will You Contribute to the Program? appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
22 Feb 2016, 12:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: B-School Chart of the Week: Where Was Your Business School Interview Conducted? |
Although quantifying a school’s profile certainly does not tell you everything, it can sometimes simplify the many differences among the various MBA programs. Each week, we bring you a chart to help you decide which of the schools’ strengths speak to you. During each admissions cycle, we at mbaMission conduct an optional survey with our clients about their business school interview processes. Last week, we began examining the results of our 2015–2016 admissions cycle survey and reported that the majority of our respondents had been interviewed by alumni. This week, we take a closer look at where the interviews took place. Although business schools constantly try to keep up with the latest technology, Skype interviews were quite rare this cycle—only six respondents said they had been interviewed via Skype or phone. The most common location was on campus, where 138 respondents reportedly were interviewed, followed by off-campus locations—typically coffee shops or the interviewers’ offices. The post B-School Chart of the Week: Where Was Your Business School Interview Conducted? appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
23 Feb 2016, 08:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Mission Admission: Considerations for a Part-Time MBA |
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Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips; a new one is posted each Tuesday. Recently, we have received a notable number of questions about part-time MBA programs. So, we thought a look at some of the pros and cons of this option would be in order. As for the pros, the one that business school candidates cite most frequently is that the part-time MBA involves a limited opportunity cost. Unlike a full-time MBA student, a part-time one does not miss out on two years of salary (and, in some cases, retirement savings) and can still earn raises and promotions while completing his/her studies. Furthermore, firm sponsorship seems to be more prevalent for part-time MBAs, so candidates who have this option can truly come out ahead, with a free education and continued earning throughout. Beyond the financial rationale, many part-time MBA students see an academic advantage; they can learn both in the classroom and at work and can then turn theory into practice (and vice versa) in real time, on an ongoing basis. Of course, a cynic might add that another pro is that part-time MBA programs are generally less selective. So, a candidate who may have had difficulty getting accepted to a traditional two-year program may have a better chance of being admitted to a well-regarded school in its part-time program instead. As for the cons, many part-time MBA candidates feel that the comparative lack of structure means that networking opportunities within the class are more limited. While one part-time student could complete a school’s MBA program in two years, another might complete it in five. As a result, with candidates progressing through the program at such different paces, students will not likely see each other regularly in the same classes, at the same social events, etc. In addition, in a traditional MBA environment, academics always come first; in a part-time environment, work typically comes first, and academics must come second or even third, after family. In other words, the full-time program generally involves greater intensity with regard to the classroom experience, given that it is the primary focal point of students’ lives. Another thing to consider is that some MBA programs do not offer their “star” faculty to part-time students—something that candidates should definitely ask about before enrolling—and offer limited access to on-grounds recruiting. Of course, we are not trying to offer a definitive “answer” or present a bias for a particular kind of program; we are simply sharing some objective facts for candidates to consider as they make informed choices for themselves. The post Mission Admission: Considerations for a Part-Time MBA appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
23 Feb 2016, 12:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MyTime Founder Ethan Anderson Discusses His Passion for Entrepreneurship |
Today, many aspiring MBAs and MBA graduates want to join start-ups or launch such companies themselves. Is entrepreneurship as exciting as it seems? Is it really for you? mbaMission Founder Jeremy Shinewald has teamed up with Venture for America and CBS Interactive to launch Smart People Should Build Things: The Venture for America Podcast. Each week, Shinewald interviews another entrepreneur so you can hear the gritty stories of their ups and downs on the road to success. Ethan Anderson, a graduate of Duke University and Harvard Business School, worked on the tech side of management consulting giant McKinsey & Company before discovering his passion for entrepreneurship. He is the founder of three companies: MyTime, an online appointment booking tool; Redbeacon, an online service that helps customers find home service providers (which was acquired by Home Depot); and QuickReturns, a provider of reverse logistics services. In this podcast episode, Anderson shares his entrepreneurial story, touching on these details and more:
The post MyTime Founder Ethan Anderson Discusses His Passion for Entrepreneurship appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
24 Feb 2016, 08:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: James E. Schrager, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business |
Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when they choose a business school, but the educational experience you will have is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Each Wednesday, we profile a standout professor as identified by students. Today, we focus on James E. Schrager from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Although he has a PhD from the University of Chicago in organizational behavior and policy, James E. Schrager is not just an academic, but also a practitioner who helped take the first private American company public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and helped turn around aspects of the Pritzker family holdings, which were ultimately sold to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Students we interviewed noted that Schrager brings his high-level experiences to class but remains entirely in touch with students’ more modest perspectives, adapting his anecdotes accordingly and creating practical learning points that pertain to what students will face early in their post-MBA careers. Schrager is a three-time recipient of the university’s Emory Williams Award for Excellence in Teaching (in 2007, 2001, and 1996) and was named one of the top 12 entrepreneurship professors in the country by . One second-year student told mbaMission, “He is not up in the sky, but very practical, and by the way, his class is always full.” Students’ grades in Schrager’s “New Venture Strategy” class are based in part on the success of a business idea the students present to their peers—the other students act as venture capitalists and give feedback on the idea. For more information about Chicago Booth and 15 other top-ranked business schools, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides. The post Professor Profiles: James E. Schrager, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
25 Feb 2016, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Beyond the MBA Classroom: Winning the Golden Briefcase |
 USC Marshall MBA students won the Challenge for Charity competition in 2015. When you select an MBA program, you are not just choosing your learning environment but are also committing to becoming part of a community. Each Thursday, we offer a window into life “beyond the MBA classroom” at a top business school. Founded by a Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) student in 1984, Challenge for Charity (C4C) is a well-attended annual fundraiser that brings students from eight business schools across the West Coast to the Stanford campus to compete in such events as billiards, bowling, and basketball to raise money for Special Olympics and a local nonprofit organization (each participating school selects a nonprofit organization in its area to support). Students earn points by winning the competitions in which their team participates and for each hour of volunteer work they completed during the year. Students who have committed a minimum of five hours of C4C service in one year are eligible to take part in sports competitions and trivia quizzes during this two-day event, which is held each spring, for the chance to win bragging rights and the coveted Golden Briefcase award. A first-year student told mbaMission about the “White Party,” also a C4C fundraiser, which takes place in early March: “Everyone wears white and raises a bunch of money for charities … Students offer whatever they can, and others bid, so it’s another good way for folks to interact more. Some examples that I can remember were cooking classes, a class on how to make sushi, other learning-type experiences, and tickets to a baseball game. Everyone tries to participate. I’d guess that over 80% of the students here give back.” For in-depth descriptions of social and community activities at the Stanford GSB, UCLA Anderson, UC Berkeley Haas, or 15 other top MBA programs, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides. The post Beyond the MBA Classroom: Winning the Golden Briefcase appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
25 Feb 2016, 13:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Diamonds in the Rough: Intimate Class Size at Mays Business School |
MBA applicants can get carried away with rankings. In this series, we profile amazing programs at business schools that are typically ranked outside the top 15. Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School offers a full-time, 49-credit MBA curriculum that can be completed in just 16 months (August to December) or customized for an extended period of time. Although the core curriculum is very rigid, with foundational management courses spanning the entirety of the program, Mays also offers the option of pursuing certificates and career specializations beyond the 16-month core.But what really stands out about the Mays program is its dedication to maintaining a strong sense of community. The school’s two cohorts of approximately 40 students each facilitate an intimate classroom setting and personalized attention from faculty and staff. The post Diamonds in the Rough: Intimate Class Size at Mays Business School appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
26 Feb 2016, 08:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Friday Factoid: Wall Street Experience at Michigan Ross |
 You may not realize that students at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan do not have to travel all that far to get hands-on Wall Street experience. Through the John R. and Georgene M. Tozzi Electronic Business and Finance Center (known as simply the Tozzi Center), students can find themselves “on” Wall Street without ever having to leave Ann Arbor. Housed in a 5,800-square-foot facility on campus, the Tozzi Center boasts a state-of-the-art mock trading floor as well as a flexible and wireless electronic classroom and an e-lab seminar room. The latest financial tools—including live news wires, trading systems, and data and research services—can be found at the center. The space has been designed to look and feel like the real thing, so do not be surprised if you hear “Sell, Sell, Sell!” when you walk by students in action. For more information on the defining characteristics of the MBA program at Michigan Ross or one of 15 other top business schools, please check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides. The post Friday Factoid: Wall Street Experience at Michigan Ross appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
26 Feb 2016, 12:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: mbaMission’s Exclusive Interview with Sara Neher, Director of Admissions at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business |
During our recent conversation with Sara Neher, the director of admissions at the University of Virginia’s (UVA’s) Darden School of Business, her enthusiasm for the program and its students was clear. Sara offered some intriguing insight and advice on a number of topics we believe would interest anyone applying to Darden or considering doing so, such as the following:
Sara Neher: It is an exciting time, yes. mbaMission: I don’t want to take up too much of your time, so I’d love to just jump into it if that works for you. What would you say is the number one reason someone pursuing an MBA should consider Darden? SN: Well, a couple of reasons. One is that we really focus on the experience the student has while they are here as a component of their learning. Learning in graduate education and business is not just about textbooks or what you might get from a professor; it’s also about the things you get to try out as a club leader or the interactions you have with your classmates and alumni. So we really focus on that holistically, the entire experience. As a result, we’re typically rated number one or number two for anything related to the student experience or faculty. A lot of that has to do with how amazing our faculty is. They’re very focused on teaching, and they use the case method, which is a very high-participation experience, where you’re expected to be prepared for class every day, because you might be called on. And you will need to think about class participation as a big part of your grade, because in business, being able to participate in a board meeting is a real success factor. We want to give you as much practice as possible at shaping your ideas, sharing with others, and learning from what others bring to the conversation. Our faculty are masterful at leading those classroom discussions, and all of that together leads to a really connected student body, a really connected faculty and staff, and therefore, really connected alumni support. mbaMission: Over the years, we’ve seen a trend toward fewer and shorter application questions among the top programs, and this year, Darden has just one 500-word essay that is required. What would you say is behind this trend, and how do you feel that having fewer or shorter essays affects the application evaluation process? SN: We went to the one essay quite a few years ago, actually, even before Harvard [Business School]. And I really found that when we had multiple long essays, most applicants were only writing one essay specifically for us and trying to repurpose the other one from something they were writing for another school. Because we were all asking for so many things, I can understand that that tactic was very practical. But when we switched to one essay, what I really liked was that everyone started answering our question. They were actually reading the question we wrote, and the question we choose each year is based on something we really want to know about you and how you think and how you interact with others and how you are in the workplace. And it has been really beneficial to have that focus from the applicant. So I find that applicants are doing much better with one essay than when there were multiple. We also ask for an essay that really is about something work related. I’m trying to imagine you in that case method discussion, so I want to know about some experience you’ve had that you might share with your peers and that other people might learn from. Our question is always trying to get at that. That does tend to be a little different from what some schools are doing, but I really like the focus people are applying. And we always have some short-answer questions that allow us to get at a little more of the applicant’s personality, what is important to them, and their job goals. But I don’t need 500 or 750 words about your short-term goal, because I know you don’t know that much about it yet. And that’s okay, because I’m expecting you to come to business school and be open to a world of opportunities you didn’t know existed. But I need you to have done some research, and 250 words is enough to show that. mbaMission: That makes sense. The Honor Code is a very important element of the UVA experience and environment, and it can be difficult for some people to adjust or adhere to, so how do you evaluate candidates within the context of the Honor Code? How do you assess whether someone would be a good fit with that kind of overarching ethical umbrella, so to speak? SN: It is very different, especially as an educational environment, for a lot of students, both in the United States and in other parts of the world. And it’s different on two levels: one, on the level of trust you have to exhibit for your peers and your faculty, and two, the level of trust that they give to you. There are a couple things we look for in the application, especially in the recommendations. We ask recommenders to rate the applicant’s level of integrity, and sometimes we get negative comments that would indicate that the person may not be a good fit for us. Also, the kinds of goals and values the applicant expresses in the short answers, in their community-based activities, can be informative. Are they involved in socially based community activities that might exhibit an interest in others, and trust, and trustworthiness? We see it in a lot of places in the application. mbaMission: That’s really interesting. The Darden MBA program is unique in several other ways as well, so how can applicants best convey to the admissions committee that they truly understand what the Darden experience is like and how they would fit into it? SN: I think there are some opportunities in the application where you can definitely show us things we’d like to see. One is taking initiative. Some of that we can see in your job progression, like if you’ve been promoted. But a lot of companies don’t promote young people, so we sometimes see it in the kinds of things you talk about in terms of your project work or things you’ve taken on and volunteered for. Or we see it in your recommendations and what your recommenders say about your level of initiative. We also see it in the interview, especially in terms of the genuineness with which people talk about Darden and the level of research they’ve done. I don’t ask the question of “Why Darden?” in the application, because when we did, all we got was sort of repeated comments from the Web site that could have just been copied and pasted. They may have been extremely genuine, but there’s no way to know in writing. Somebody could mean it and not mean it, and it would sound exactly the same. But in an interview, whether that’s by Skype or in person or with an alum or here in Charlottesville, we can really get a sense for—in asking follow-up questions or just in how an applicant expresses their interest—the genuineness of that research and of that desire to be here. This is a place where you really have to be prepared for class, you are going to be called on, and we can get a sense of whether they are ready for that. Not that it’s any more homework than any other MBA program, but it’s homework you have to do every day, which is a little different than some programs. mbaMission: We know that Darden doesn’t target a specific type of candidate and that you consider all applicants holistically, but in a broader, more general sense, what kind of person do you believe typically turns out to be most successful at Darden? Which characteristics tend to set students up for success in this particular program? SN: I think there are several things. What does really well in the case method is an equal balance of two things, and one is a desire and willingness to share your ideas and opinions with others. You have to be willing to express yourself in person and in writing to other people, or it typically doesn’t work. And the second half of that, and the part I think sometimes people miss, is you have to also be a really good listener. You are not going to be successful here if you don’t listen to other people’s ideas and opinions and understand them and then work to find a better solution together. Sometimes, the sort of stereotypical person that people might think would do really well here is exactly the person who doesn’t or who we don’t want, because they just want to talk and not listen. So those are some important qualities we’re always looking for in applicants. mbaMission: That makes sense. I read that increasing female interest in the MBA degree and enrollment in these programs is an important area of focus for you. What steps has Darden taken to address or achieve this? SN: A number of things. For one, we’ve signed on to the [U.S.] president’s White House document and agenda on attracting more women to business school and to business in general. Those were really excellent meetings that our former dean started and then our new dean and some faculty attended. And they found them very energizing from an industry perspective, but there are a number of other initiatives, too. We’re working with the Forté Foundation on some of the pipeline-building and things they do on college campuses and in school. They produced a video on a college campus asking young women what the GMAT is, and it was hilarious. I think there’s a real lack of awareness, especially among young women, not only about what the MBA is, but also about what it takes to get an MBA—and taking a standardized test is part of that. Our dean really understands that the research shows—and some of it is research Adam Grant and Cheryl Sandberg have done—that women tend to be more risk adverse and less likely to spend a certain dollar amount for an MBA, as opposed to just staying in their current job. It is a bigger challenge to make that mind shift and take that leap of opportunity for yourself. So we created a very well-funded scholarship grant out of our Darden School Foundation. I think we have 23 women here on those new scholarships, and this coming year, we expect to have at least twice that. So we’re very excited about the foundation’s commitment and our alumni’s commitment—we’ve had both male and female alumni giving to this effort to help us attract more women. mbaMission: Nice. So, Dean [Scott] Beardsley has been in place just over half of an academic year at this point, so it may still be kind of early to ask, but how do you feel his tenure is going, and how do you think his leadership might change the Darden program going forward? SN: I’ve been very energized. It’s been really exciting. I think some of it is just a new leader in general and some of it is the kind of leader that he is and the experience and network he brings to our community. He would tell you that Charlottesville and Darden have exceeded all of his expectations and even his French wife’s expectations. They are really loving living here and being a part of the community. So when he speaks to prospective students about making the transition to Charlottesville, he’s so genuinely excited about living here and all that we have to offer, and that’s been really fun to see. He also has a very prestigious consulting background from McKinsey [& Company], so he has very clear discipline around research, projects, and how we make decisions, and he has instituted that with a little more speed than I think a typical academic institution would have. That’s been exciting. I think in the next six months or so, he has plans to focus on our entrepreneurship area and business incubator and to do more things in the scholarship arena—that would be the two that would really affect the MBA. Then in the longer term, he has such deep connections with people and organizations all over the world that the way he defines global partnership is much broader. We were defining it before as more educational institution to institution, and he has more ideas around family-owned businesses and larger international corporations—like the World Economic Forum, which he visited for us in the fall—and how we could partner with those kinds of organizations to do different things than we were even thinking of before. mbaMission: That’s good to hear. How involved are you personally in the application evaluation process? Do you participate in every single round, for every single candidate, or do you kind of focus or step in only in certain areas? SN: I don’t do the first read of applications, the blind read where you don’t know anything about the person and you’re starting from scratch, but I read at the end of the process. I will see every application before a final decision is done. Depending on how many people have looked at an application before me, it’s sort of a different level of review, but there are multiple people looking at every application before it gets to me, so I know it’s in good hands. We have a lot of checks and balances. And then I interview candidates, but only on our busiest days, so some of the Fridays or Mondays when we’re interviewing. All of our interview assignments are random, but sometimes when people see me coming to get them, they get a little freaked out that there’s some reason for that. But it just happens to be that I drew their name, and they get to interview with me. So that’s fun. I like to meet a few people each round and get to know them a little more deeply. It’s also really helpful to see what their questions are for me as the interviewer and see what’s on people’s minds. I really like staying in touch that way. This year, we’re actually going to be having an event in Mountain View, California, at the Googleplex. Google is hosting us in February, and we’re going to be interviewing round two applicants there. We’re also inviting all of our round-two admits from the west to come out and see a mock case by one of our faculty members. We’ll have a bunch of our alumni that are at Google and a bunch of alumni that are not at Google. We actually have nine alumni in the San Francisco area who have been interviewers for us in the past couple years. So they’re going to help us there. Some of them work at Google, too. It’s been a lot of fun to put together. We have so much going on on the West Coast right now, especially with our entrepreneurship and innovation center and what our alumni are doing, so we’re really excited to showcase that a little bit and let some people interview closer to home. mbaMission: I hope that goes well. The last time we interviewed you, you said you were just starting to experiment with Skype videos. Is that now a standard practice, and if so, what impact do you feel this has had on the process of evaluating applicants? SN: It is. I find that Skype works just as well as an in-person interview. When I meet people that I’ve Skyped with, I feel like I’ve met them in person. When I see them here at the start of school, I’m like, “Oh, it’s so good to see you again!” when really, I just saw them on screen. I think it requires a slightly different skill set, and some people are more prepared for the Skype interview than others. You know, when we do an interview in person, people know not to have their notes out or to look at their notes while interviewing. But with Skype, people try to tape their notes to the monitor or different things, and we can see that they’re looking down or to the side and distracted. So don’t do that! If you treat the Skype interview as if it’s an in-person interview, you will be more successful. The people that assume that it’s exactly the same as if they were here in person, those are the best interviews. And we’ve expanded the way we use Skype. We offer everybody on the waitlist a chance to talk to one of two people on our team—one person who works with people living in the States and one who works with people living outside the States—and you can have a 15–20 minute Skype call with that person to get feedback on how you can improve your application to be admitted. And that has been great. Those used to be an email or a phone call, and having that as a Skype call now has made it really an opportunity for that applicant to have a second interview, to show themselves at their best and to get concrete feedback from us on whether there is something they can do, what it is, and how to go about it. We started that last year, and that’s been a really good expansion of our Skype usage. mbaMission: Sure. What kind of guidance would you give to someone who finds themselves on the waitlist? And how does someone end up on the waitlist in the first place? SN: The big thing is, if we tell you something we think you should do to improve your application, do it. If you don’t, it’s really hard for us to feel like you’re really that interested in us. One reason you could be on the waitlist is your test score. It may not be as high as we would like to see to have confidence in your ability to do the course work. And even if somebody doesn’t improve their score but takes the test again, that’s shows us that level of commitment. Because we all know the GRE and GMAT are not fun to do. I have actually taken them both, and I know they’re not fun. So, showing that level of commitment is really impressive, even if your score stays the same or goes down a few points; it’s showing us that you really do want to be here and that you’re going to do as much as you possibly can to make that happen. Another reason people might end up on the waitlist is perhaps we didn’t see that genuine interest in Darden and an understanding of the case method. And we might ask you to write something on that or do a Skype call on that. Sometimes it’s about career goals, and we don’t understand why you want to do what you say you want to do, and we want to hear a little more about that. So again, we might ask you to write something or do another call to explain that. Sometimes we like to see another recommendation. Sometimes recommendations are five or six years old, and that’s just not really what we’re looking for. Maybe that person doesn’t give us any information, or it’s a professor who put “not applicable” for half the answers. I don’t put anyone on the waitlist that I think is inadmissible. That’s not a good use of their time or our time, because we’re going to have that call with you. mbaMission: Sure. SN: Everyone on the waitlist has a chance to be admitted. It’s really about what they do and how quickly they can do it. We reevaluate all the people from round one that were waitlisted before we send out round-two decisions. So, if somebody who applied in round two is similar to a waitlisted applicant from round one, I’d rather have the round-one person than the round-two person. That’s partly why I tell people to apply in round one, because you have a chance to improve your application. And the same thing happens in round three and in June, when we have our second deposits, and in the summer. So, we definitely think very seriously about who we put on the waitlist, and we really want them to do things to improve their application so they can be admitted. mbaMission: Do you continue to consider people basically up until the very last minute before classes start? SN: It depends on the year. Some years, we’re overenrolled, and we tell people earlier that we don’t have any room. Usually, we narrow the list a little bit at some point in the summer and tell five or ten people, “You’re our people.” So please tell us how long you can wait, because we don’t know. This year, I think the global environment, especially as it relates to student visas and the uncertainty that the U.S. government has about people entering the country, could mean that some people we’ve admitted can’t get a student visa, so we may have places available for others. But that may not be known until July or August. So this year might be a year where there is some opportunity for people who are willing to be patient and wait until the last minute. I don’t like to do that, but there’s only a certain number of chairs in each classroom. And every year, we have one or two people who don’t get their visa. We offer them a deferral, and in my time here, those people have pretty much always come the following year. So we work very well with people who end up not getting a visa, and this year, I expect it to be perhaps a little worse than usual. mbaMission: I see. To what extent are candidates’ career goals considered in the evaluation process? Do you confer with the career development office when you’re making decisions? SN: Yeah, I guess some of it is only natural, since we are co-located on the same floor. This week, we have lots of first-year students interviewing for internships, so it’s really easy to see what’s happening, what’s successful, how it’s going, and really learn from our career colleagues in terms of what’s changing and trying to stay abreast of that. But at the same time, it does change; it is dynamic. The economy and who’s hiring changes from year to year. We really can’t predict that in the admissions office, so what we try to do is focus on core skills that are successful in a lot of industries and jobs and also on what I would say is the logic of what somebody says they want to do. I don’t actually care what you want to do. It’s actually the luxury of being at a general management school like Darden, where we have a really balanced portfolio of industries and companies. If you want to do consulting, great. McKinsey was here on Friday. If you want to do technology, Amazon is here today. There are so many choices in so many different areas that we can accommodate changes in that from year to year. There is not one particular industry I’m looking for people to want to do or not want to do. I don’t think that’s the case at every school, but for us, that’s really true. I’m looking to see in the application whether you have done enough research to get yourself started. Have you figured out something that works with your transferable skills? I don’t care if you want to make a big change or a small change; I want you to understand what a big change means and that you will need to network with alumni and students to understand the language of your target industry. I used to work at Procter & Gamble, and the consumer products industry has a lot of unique vocabulary. For example, a different scent of Tide is called a flavor. You’re not going to eat it, but it’s still called a flavor. And a stock keeping unit is the UPC code on the bottom of the box. So I will give tutorials for students sometimes. I worked with one person who was making a change from being a TFA [Teach for America] teacher to working for Colgate-Palmolive, and I said, “Okay, you need to come to my office, and I’m going to spend 15 minutes with you just giving you basic vocabulary, so that when you get to your internship, you don’t have to ask simple questions.” And we can do that for people changing careers. We have people all over the building and in our career office that specialize in that. So, I don’t mind if you’re making a big career change, I just want you to understand what that means and that it might take a little more legwork on your part to make that happen. mbaMission: Absolutely. Can you share any stories of outstanding applications or interview performance that you’ve seen in the past couple of years? What is something a candidate did or said that really stood out or impressed you? SN: So many of them impress me. It’s sort of a cliché, but how people today want to improve the world through business is so motivating, so impressive. Something that’s popular right now is impact investing. Some people who say that don’t really know what it means, but some people do. Last year, in the same day, I interviewed four candidates, all in a row. It was a very busy day, and somebody was out sick. And I had a woman who was half Argentinean, living in the U.S., and working a full-time job, and on the side, she was working for Kiva, the online, nonprofit microlending platform—actually working for Kiva, not just making loans on it. And the second person was really interested in impact investing and was a very traditional investment banker, so they absolutely had the finance skill set but really wanted to transition into something a little more social good oriented. They had really great ideas but didn’t know how to quantify the impact investing benefit. Then, the next guy I interviewed worked for the World Bank quantifying impact investing. I was like, “This is the coolest day!” The fourth person was also doing something in that space and really liked the videos of my dog on the video blog. So that was a fun day. I just felt like these applicants really had ideas that could change the world, and we need that right now. And putting them together in a case method classroom where they can get to know each other deeply and share those ideas—I just felt like, “This is good. These are some really impressive people all at once.” There are people like that throughout and people who want to do all kinds of good things, but that was a particularly fun day. mbaMission: I could see that. Before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like people to know about Darden or about applying to Darden? SN: Yeah, a couple of things. One I would say is always remember that GMAT and GPA averages are just averages, which means there are as many people below that number as there are above. I think sometimes people take themselves out of contention for a particular school when they shouldn’t. The only thing you really lose if you apply and don’t get in is the $250 fee. And we will actually do a Skype call with you in June and give you feedback on how to improve your application for us the following year, or for whenever. It’s sort of a $250 fee for direct personal feedback from an experienced expert. So I really encourage people to give it a chance. I went to business school, I worked at Procter & Gamble, now I work in education, and I also worked at a scholarship foundation. You can do anything with an MBA and be valuable to any kind of organization. Darden in particular is a really special place where we want you to be successful, we’re going to know your name, the faculty are going to know your name, and they’re going to do everything in their power to make sure that you grow and learn as much as possible and that you are as successful as possible in whatever you want to do. mbaMission: That’s great. Thank you again for your time and input. We really appreciate it. SN: Thank you! The post mbaMission’s Exclusive Interview with Sara Neher, Director of Admissions at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
27 Feb 2016, 08:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Love You So Much (That I Cannot Stop Writing About It)! |
Although admissions officers want to know that you are interested in their school, they do not want to read your repeated professions of love for their school. Some candidates mistakenly believe they must include numerous enthusiastic statements about how they will improve their skills at their target school in each essay, regardless of whether the school asks for such information. For instance, consider this entirely fictitious example of an individual who responds to the essay question “What achievement are you most proud of and why?” by writing the following: “In starting ABC Distributors, I learned a great deal about entrepreneurship, and I hope to formalize this knowledge at the XYZ School of Management. Only with XYZ’s vast entrepreneurial resources and profound alumni connections will I be able to take my next venture to a higher level. At XYZ, I will grow my business skills and potential.” We can identify numerous problems with this submission—including that the statements are cloying and have no real substance. However, the most egregious issue is that the school never asked the applicant to discuss how the program would affect his/her abilities. Thus, the “Why our school?” component is just empty pandering. As you write your essays, always focus on answering the essay questions as they are written—do not try to anticipate or respond to unasked questions. So, if your target school does not explicitly request that you address the question “Why our school?,” do not look for ways to sneakily answer that question in your essay(s). Of course, if the school does ask for this information, then certainly do your homework and provide it. Again, the key is to always respond to the school’s question and give the admissions committee the information it wants. The post MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Love You So Much (That I Cannot Stop Writing About It)! appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
28 Feb 2016, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: GMAT Impact: How to Solve Any Sentence Correction Problem, Part 2 |
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With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. In this blog series, Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. In Part 1 of this article, we talked about the five-step process to answer Sentence Correction (SC) problems:
Drills to Build Skills How do you learn to do all this stuff? You are going to build some skills that will help at each stage of the way. The drills are summarized in this post; if you want the full description of each, check out the original article on the Manhattan GMAT blog. Drill Number 1: First Glance Open up your Official Guide (OG) and find some lower-numbered SC questions that you have already tried in the past. Give yourself a few seconds (no more than 5!) to glance at a problem, then look away and say out loud what you noticed in those few seconds. As you develop your First Glance skills, start to read a couple of words: the one right before the underline and the first word of the underline. Do those give you any clues about what might be tested in the problem? For instance, consider this sentence: Xxx xxxxxx xxxx xx and she xxx xxxxx xxxx xxxx xxx xxx xxxxx. I have a strong suspicion that this problem might test parallelism, because the word and falls immediately before the underline. When I read the sentence, I will be looking for an X and Y parallelism structure. Drill Number 2: Read the Sentence Take a look at some OG problems you have tried before. Read only the original sentence. Then, look away from the book and articulate aloud, in your own words, what you think the sentence is trying to convey. You do not need to limit yourself to one sentence. You can also glance back at the problem to confirm details. I want to stress the “out loud” part; you will be able to hear whether the explanation is sufficient. If so, try another problem. If you are struggling or unsure, then one of two things is happening. Either you just do not understand, or the sentence actually does not have a clear meaning, and this is precisely why the choice is wrong! Decide which you think it is, and then check the explanation. Next Steps Spend the next week drilling these skills for steps 1 and 2. Then come back here to join us for the third part in the series, in which you will learn two more drills for the later steps of the SC process. The post GMAT Impact: How to Solve Any Sentence Correction Problem, Part 2 appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
29 Feb 2016, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Monday Morning Essay Tip: Vary Your Sentence Length |
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Many essay writers use medium-length sentences (like this one) in their essays. Few use short sentences (like this one). Likewise, few use long sentences in their essays, even though long sentences (like this one) can often play a useful role in an essay’s structure and story. Confused? Consider the following example: “At XYZ Inc., I was the manager in charge of leading a team of 12 staff members. Included in my team were four engineers, four marketing professionals, and four market analysts. Our goal was to develop a new thingamajig within six months. We worked really hard over the six months and succeeded. The new thingamajig is now on the market and is selling well. As a result of my efforts, I was promoted to vice president.” All these sentences have approximately the same number of words and the same rhythm/cadence, making the paragraph fairly boring to read. Nothing changes—the structure just repeats itself over and over again, with one medium-length sentence following another medium-length sentence. Now consider this example:* “At XYZ Inc., I was the manager in charge of leading a thingamajig development team of 12 staff members, four of whom were engineers, four were marketing professionals, and four were market analysts. We had just six months to launch our new product. The team worked really hard and succeeded, and the new thingamajig is now on the market, where it is selling well. As a result of my efforts, I was promoted to vice president.” The sentences in this paragraph are varied—the first is quite long, the second is very short, the third is medium-long, and the fourth is medium-short. Sentence variety makes for a much more interesting read, and one very short sentence in the middle of some longer ones can provide precisely the kind of contrast and drama that MBA application essays so often need. *Please note that this is a simplified example for illustration purposes. If this were an actual essay, we would encourage the applicant to offer greater insight into his/her experience launching the product. The post Monday Morning Essay Tip: Vary Your Sentence Length appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
01 Mar 2016, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Mission Admission: The Value of Current Community Service |
Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips; a new one is posted each Tuesday. MBA admissions committees try to identify applicants who are constantly active, challenging themselves in all spheres of their lives. So, extracurricular and community activities are not only powerful in showing an MBA candidate’s benevolence, but they also help create the impression that the applicant is always pursuing goals and is therefore predisposed to success. We regularly encounter candidates who say, “I have been so busy professionally that I haven’t had time to volunteer, but I was really active during college.” In almost all cases, however, as applicants get further from their college years, their undergraduate experience becomes decreasingly relevant. Although having a record of consistent achievement throughout college and into one’s professional life is best, MBA applicants are often evaluated on a “What have you done for me lately?” basis—meaning that contemporary community service is generally more important. MBA admissions officers know that finding time to commit to external activities can sometimes be challenging, but they still see many applicants from the most competitive fields who indeed find time to give back to others. So, if you had a rich and rewarding college experience filled with leadership, in short, keep that trend going. You have a powerful complement to your contemporary involvements, but not a substitute. The post Mission Admission: The Value of Current Community Service appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
01 Mar 2016, 12:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: B-School Chart of the Week: Who Conducted Your Business School Interview? |
Although quantifying a school’s profile certainly does not tell you everything, it can sometimes simplify the many differences among the various MBA programs. Each week, we bring you a chart to help you decide which of the schools’ strengths speak to you. During each admissions cycle, we at mbaMission conduct an optional survey with our clients about their business school interview processes. Last week, we began examining the results of our 2015–2016 admissions cycle survey and reported that the majority of our respondents had been interviewed on campus. This week, we take a closer look at who conducted the interviews. Of the more than 200 applicants who responded, we learned that the majority (76) were—perhaps surprisingly so—interviewed by alumni. Interviews conducted by (typically second-year) students followed closely behind, at 74. And though one might imagine that admissions officers conduct most interviews, this situation was only the third most common in our survey (69 respondents), while only three respondents met with undisclosed “other” interviewers. The post B-School Chart of the Week: Who Conducted Your Business School Interview? appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
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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
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