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06 Feb 2018, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Columbia Business School’s Financial Studies Program and Increasingly Flexible Curriculum |
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Already well known as a finance powerhouse, Columbia Business School (CBS) stepped up its finance game in 2010 with the establishment of the Program for Financial Studies. This umbrella initiative connects faculty who approach financial studies from a variety of disciplines with students, alumni, and external organizations. The program’s main goals are to support research, to enhance the CBS finance curriculum and related resources, and to create opportunities for the exchange of ideas between CBS students and faculty and members of the external finance community. Finance enthusiasts will enjoy the program’s case studies, including “The Norwegian Government Pension Fund: The Divestiture of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.,” written by Professor Andrew Ang, and “Don’t Be Evil: Google’s 2004 Dutch Auction Initial Public Offering,” written by the program’s founding director, Professor Laurie Simon Hodrick. The structure of CBS’s core curriculum has also evolved in recent years. The school’s first-year curriculum was at one time very rigid—all first-year students took all their core courses with their cluster unless they were able to pass an exemption exam. Students complained, however, that this rigid system meant that they could take only one elective course their first year, which could put them at a disadvantage when competing for summer internships. For example, previously, a CBS student who accepted a summer internship at a bank may have taken only one finance elective by the end of his/her first year, but that student’s counterparts on the internship from other schools may have taken two or three—thus potentially putting the CBS student at a disadvantage with regard to being considered for a full-time job at the end of the internship. So, after an intense process of research and evaluation, CBS launched a more flexible core curriculum in 2008. Five years later in 2013, CBS implemented further changes to its core curriculum, including an increased emphasis on cross-disciplinary thinking, in addition to even more flexibility. The revamped core courses also make greater use of online teaching tools in an attempt to “free up more classroom time for deeper dives and discussions,” as a 2013 Poets&Quants article explains. In the second semester of the first year, students can pick three full-term electives and three half-term electives, replacing the school’s previous “flex-core” configuration and allowing students to better prepare for summer internships. In addition, students may take exemption exams in areas in which they are already proficient, thereby opting to replace core courses with electives. This revised curriculum was developed in response to student feedback that a full term was not needed to cover the “core” elements in certain courses, and the change has given students significantly more flexibility in the first year. CBS has thereby attempted to find a middle ground where students learn what the school considers fundamentals while having the latitude to specialize, and anecdotally, students have responded favorably. For a thorough exploration of what CBS and 16 other top U.S. business schools have to offer, please check out the free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
06 Feb 2018, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Wharton Team-Based Discussion 2018: What to Expect and How to Prepare |
 The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania plans to send out Round 2 interview invitations on February 8, and once again, the school is using its team-based discussion format rather than a traditional admissions interview to evaluate its candidates. Understandably, Wharton applicants get anxious about this atypical interview, because the approach creates a very different dynamic from what one usually encounters in a one-on-one meeting—and with other applicants also in the room, one cannot help but feel less in control of the content and direction of the conversation. Yet despite the uncertainty, here are a few things that interviewees can expect:
The 2018 Wharton Team-Based Discussion Simulation Round 2 schedule is as follows:
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07 Feb 2018, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Wharton Team-Based Discussion 2018: What to Expect and How to Prepare |
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The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania plans to send out Round 2 interview invitations on February 8, and once again, the school is using its team-based discussion format rather than a traditional admissions interview to evaluate its candidates. Understandably, Wharton applicants get anxious about this atypical interview, because the approach creates a very different dynamic from what one usually encounters in a one-on-one meeting—and with other applicants also in the room, one cannot help but feel less in control of the content and direction of the conversation. Yet despite the uncertainty, here are a few things that interviewees can expect:
The 2018 Wharton Team-Based Discussion Simulation Round 2 schedule is as follows:
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09 Feb 2018, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: What to Do When You Do Not Have Much Time to Prepare for the GMAT |
 With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. Some time ago, I flew over to London to give an all-day workshop at London Business School. The audience comprised about 35 students who had already been admitted to a weekend master’s program, but that admission was contingent upon taking the GMAT and getting a “good enough” score (as defined by the school). The students had only about a month or two to fulfill this requirement. What can you do in a six-hour crash course? Not much more than an introduction and orientation—but even that is incredibly valuable in helping people get started and know what to expect. So what should someone do who is in the position of taking the test in four to eight weeks and has not studied a ton yet? First, take a practice test under 100% official conditions. I always recommend this first step for anyone, but this is especially crucial for someone with limited time. You are going to have to prioritize heavily, and you have no effective way to do that without good practice test data. Next, identify the practice materials you want to use. You are going to need at least one source for official practice questions (perhaps the Official Guide 2018 Edition). You are also going to need some materials that help you get better in your areas of greatest weakness—for example, if you are struggling with word problems and sentence correction, then you are going to need some test prep materials that teach those specific areas. When determining which question types and content areas to prioritize, remember two important things: (1) All areas are not created equal. Struggling with Combinatorics? Great. Those are infrequently tested, so you can get away with just dropping that topic entirely. Struggling with exponents and roots? Those are much more common, so you are going to need to dig in there. Frequently versus infrequently tested areas can change over time, so ask an expert on an online forum at whatever point you need to figure this out. (2) Timing is an enormous factor on this exam. Everyone has timing problems, ranging from mild to severe. I cannot tell you how many students I have spoken with who study for months but do not get much better on their practice tests because they have not been practicing timing. Everyone needs to deal with timing right from the start—and this is especially true for someone who has only four to eight weeks to take the test. Last step: Start working! Tons of resources are available on the Manhattan Prep blog to help you in your studies, but I will point you toward two particular article compilations that should be the most helpful. Both articles were written as comprehensive articles for people who have months to study, so you will once again have to prioritize and cut out things for which you just do not have time—but these will provide you with the best starting point from which to make those decisions. |
11 Feb 2018, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: If I Do Not Get Accepted in R1, I Will Just Apply in R2 |
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As you consider the next application season, what kind of strategy do you have in mind? More than a few candidates, having likely read about the supposed advantages of applying in Round 1 on various Web sites and discussion boards, plan to submit all their applications in that first round—with the idea that if no acceptances are forthcoming, they will just submit another set of applications in Round 2. If this is your plan, we would like to explain why it is probably not your best course of action. Most Round 1 deadlines are in October, and even though often applicants may receive a kind of “progress report” in the form of an interview invitation in November, this is no guarantee of eventual acceptance. Ultimately, then, applicants will not know for sure whether they have won a spot at any of their target schools until mid- to late December. So let us imagine the worst-case scenario: you submit all your applications in Round 1 but are not accepted at any of your target schools. Now, feeling discouraged and unsure of your application strategy—not to mention dealing with the hustle and bustle of the holidays—you must quickly research and select new schools, rethink your approach, and crank out still more applications in the space of just a few weeks to be able to submit in Round 2—to schools that you may not even be that enthusiastic about. And do not forget that you will also need to pressure your recommenders during this busy time of year to produce more documents on your behalf on a very tight deadline! Are you rethinking your strategy yet? We recommend that instead, you change your mind-set from “If I do not get accepted in R1, I will apply in R2” to “I am applying to some schools in R1 and some in R2, and hopefully I will not have to finish my R2 applications.” With luck, you will not need to complete the applications you have slated for Round 2. But if you plan ahead, do not overload yourself with too many applications in the first round, and work steadily on your applications over several months, you will be in a much better place both mentally and with your required workload should you have to move ahead with your Round 2 submissions. And if, in the end, you get accepted early or receive multiple offers of admission from your first-round applications, you will have lost nothing more than a little time! |
12 Feb 2018, 12:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Kevin Murphy, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business |
 Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when they choose a business school. However, the educational experience you will have is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Today, we focus on Kevin Murphy from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In 2005, Chicago Booth professor Kevin Murphy—who has a joint appointment in the department of economics at the University of Chicago, where he teaches PhD-level courses—became the first business school professor to win the MacArthur Genius Grant, which he received for his groundbreaking economic research. Murphy’s course “Advanced Microeconomic Analysis” is affectionately called “Turbo Micro” because of its enormous workload. One recent graduate told mbaMission that a typical Chicago Booth class is supposed to be complemented by five hours of homework per week but that Murphy’s course demands roughly 20 hours. So why would students clamber to take the class? The alumnus with whom we spoke raved that it was taught at the PhD level and that Murphy is deserving of his “genius” title, pushing students to think about their opinions in profoundly different ways. A first year we interviewed identified Murphy’s course as the most impressive he had taken thus far, saying it offered “a very complicated but logical way to view the world.” For more information about Chicago Booth and 16 other top-ranked business schools, check out the free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
13 Feb 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: How to Approach Overrepresentation and Old Achievements in Your MBA Application Essays |
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Many MBA applicants worry that they are overrepresented—male investment bankers and Indian software engineers, for example. Applicants cannot change their work histories, of course, but they can change the way they introduce themselves to the admissions committee. Consider the following examples: Example 1: “As an investment banker, I…” Example 2: “Managing a team to code a new software product for ABC Corp., I…” In these brief examples, each candidate introduces the very overrepresentation that he/she would like to minimize. Many applicants feel they must start their essays by presenting their titles or company names, but this approach can immediately make the reader pause and think, “Here we go again.” Overrepresented business school candidates should therefore consider the opening lines of their essays especially carefully. Rather than stating the obvious, an applicant might instead immerse the reader in a situation or present a special aspect of his/her position: Example 1 (launching into a story): “At 5:30 pm, I could rest easy. The deadline for all other offers had passed. At that point, I knew…” Example 2 (stand out): “While managing a multinational team, half in Silicon Valley and half in Pakistan, I…” In the first example here, the banker candidate avoids drab self-introduction and instead plunges the reader into the midst of a mystery that is playing out. In the second example, the software engineer candidate introduces him-/herself not as a “coder” but as a multinational manager. Of course, every applicant’s situation is different, but with some effort, your story can be told in a way that avoids the pitfalls of overrepresentation. Another issue that aspiring MBAs should consider is the relevance of the stories they tell in their application essays. Because business school candidates must share examples of a variety of experiences with admissions committees, we encourage applicants to truly reflect on their lives and consider all potential stories, including academic, professional, community, extracurricular, athletic, international, and personal. However, candidates inevitably have questions about which anecdotes are truly appropriate and effective. “Can I use stories from high school and college?” “Can I use a story from four years ago?” “How far in the past is too far in the past?” Although no definitive rule exists, with the exception of questions that specifically ask about personal history or family background, schools generally want to learn about the mature you—the individual you are today. So we ask you, “How long have you been the you that you are today?” When considering experiences that occurred long ago, ask yourself, “Would this impress an MBA admissions committee today?” If you ran a few successful bake sales six years ago when you were in college, this clearly would not stand the test of time and impress a stranger today. However, if, while you were still a student, you started a small business that grew and was ultimately sold to a local firm when you graduated, you would have a story to tell that would likely impress an admissions reader. Inevitably, judgment is always involved in these decisions. Nonetheless, we offer this simple example as a starting point to help you decide which stories to share. |
14 Feb 2018, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Should I Consider Chicago Booth and Wharton for Marketing? |
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You may be surprised to learn that Chicago Booth is making inroads into an area that its crosstown rival (Northwestern Kellogg) is known to dominate: marketing. Through the James M. Kilts Center for Marketing—named for the Chicago Booth alumnus who was formerly CEO of Gillette and Nabisco (and is now a partner at Centerview Partners)—Chicago Booth offers students roughly ten marketing electives. In particular, the school is growing its experiential opportunities in the marketing field, with students taking part in marketing management labs (semester-long consulting projects) at such companies as Abbott Laboratories, Bank of America, and Honeywell International. Further, professors in the department saw opportunities for increased practical involvement and created “hybrid” classes in “Marketing Research” and “Developing New Products and Services” that involve a lecture component but also allow students to work on shorter-term consulting projects. Students can also sign up to be paired with an alumni marketing mentor or apply for Marketing Fellowships, which provide scholarship funds and a two-year mentoring relationship. Another potentially overlooked destination for marketing-driven MBA applicants is the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, which might be best known for its reputation in finance (as its original name, the “Wharton School of Finance and Commerce,” would imply). Nevertheless, the school prides itself on its breadth and depth of expertise in a multitude of business areas. For instance, consider these facts about Wharton’s highly regarded marketing program:
For a thorough exploration of what Chicago Booth, UPenn Wharton, and other top business schools have to offer, check out the free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
15 Feb 2018, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Ace the GMAT Essay? No, Thanks! |
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We all know that the GMAT essay is scored separately and that the schools don’t care as much about the essay score. We also know we have to write the essays first thing, before we get to the more important Quant and Verbal sections (or even IR), so we don’t want to use up too much brain-power on the essay. Still, we can’t just bomb this section; the schools do care about the essay somewhat. So how do we do a good enough job without expending so much energy that we’re negatively affected during the multiple-choice portion of the test? We need to develop a template, an organizational framework on which to hang our writing. The template will not, of course, tell us exactly what to write. For that, we need the actual essay prompt, which we won’t see until we take the test. We can, however, determine how to organize the information ahead of time, as well as the general kinds of messages we need to convey at various points throughout. The template should tell us:
As a general rule, essays should have either four or five paragraphs total. The first paragraph is always the introduction, the last paragraph is always the conclusion, and the body (middle) paragraphs are for the examples we choose to use. Each paragraph should contain certain things; these are listed in the below sections. The information does not need to be presented in the given order below, though; just make sure that each paragraph does contain the necessary information in some sort of clear and logical order. In addition, the information listed below is the minimum necessary info; you can certainly add more where appropriate. Brainstorming First, read the essay prompt. It will look/feel just like the Critical Reasoning arguments we see on the Verbal portion of the test, so tackle it in the same way! The argument will most closely resemble Assumption Family arguments, so find the conclusion and make sure you understand how the author is trying to support his/her conclusion. Next, brainstorm any assumptions* that you can think of and jot these down (or type them into the essay response area). *Note: if you haven’t started studying CR Assumption Family questions yet, assumptions are unstated pieces of information that the author is assuming must be true in order to draw his/her conclusion. Next, articulate flaws. Any assumptions are automatically flaws, because the author hasn’t established that those assumptions are, in fact, true. You may also think of other flaws along the way. Finally, pick your two or three best flaws; these will form the basis of your essay. This whole process should take roughly 3 to 4 minutes. Many people find this the hardest part of writing an essay; you can practice by opening up the essay chapter of your Official Guide book and simply brainstorming for one essay prompt. Don’t write the whole essay—just do the brainstorming portion once a day (only 5 minutes out of your day!) for a week or two and you’ll become much more skilled at this step. First Paragraph
The first paragraph should also contain a thesis statement. The thesis is typically one sentence and conveys to the reader your overall message or point for the essay that you wrote. For the argument essay, you can write most of your thesis sentence before you get to the test! You already know that the argument will contain flaws, and that you will be discussing how those flaws hurt the author’s conclusion. Guess what? That’s always your thesis! “While the argument does have some merit, there are several serious flaws which serve to undermine the validity of the author’s conclusion that XYZ.” DON’T USE THAT EXACT SENTENCE. They’re going to get suspicious if hundreds of people use the same sentence. (Besides, that’s my sentence. Come up with your own!) Note the opening clause: While the argument does have some merit. This is what’s called acknowledging the other side. We don’t say, Hey, your argument is completely terrible! There’s nothing good about it at all! We acknowledge that some parts may be okay, or some people may feel differently, but our position is that the flaws are the most important issue (that is, our thesis is the most important thing). Notice one other thing that I don’t say: I don’t say I think. I state my thesis as though it is fact and reasonable people surely agree with me. That’s a hallmark of a persuasive essay. Finally, the first paragraph needs to introduce whatever examples we’re going to use in the body paragraphs below. Don’t launch into the examples fully; that will come later. Do, though, mention the two or three flaws that you plan to discuss in the essay. Body Paragraphs Each flaw gets its own paragraph, so you’ll write either 2 or 3 body paragraphs of 4 to 6 sentences each. (I personally pick my 2 best flaws, so I write 2 body paragraphs. Remember, we just need to be good enough!) Your goal here is to support your thesis statement. In each paragraph:
While it’s certainly true that chopping half of your payroll will reduce costs, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the company will become more profitable! That loss of personnel may negatively impact revenues, reduce productivity, hurt morale of the remaining employees, and so on. The author is assuming that no such adverse effects will result from this action; that’s a flaw in his/her thinking. The author of such an argument could bolster the claim by, for example, presenting evidence that half of the employees are truly dead weight and firing them wouldn’t affect the company adversely. (Don’t worry about whether this is likely, whether such evidence actually exists, or even whether this is the best way to improve profitability. Your job is only to strengthen the author’s existing argument a little bit. If the author could actually produce evidence showing that there wouldn’t be adverse effects from such layoffs, then his conclusion would be strengthened. Period.) Conclusion Paragraph
Before you go into the real test, you should have a fully developed template, so that all you have to do is come up with your two examples, and then hang your words onto your framework. This doesn’t mean pre-writing and memorizing actual sentences, but do know in general the kinds of points you want to make in each paragraph. Practice with the above as a starting point until you develop something with which you’re comfortable. Don’t forget to leave some time to proof your essay; it’s okay to have a few typos, but systematic errors will lower your score. Manhattan Prep is one of the world’s leading test prep providers. Every one of its instructors has a 99th percentile score on the GMAT and substantial teaching experience. The result? 18 years and thousands of satisfied students. By providing an outstanding curriculum and the highest-quality instructors in the industry, it empowers students to accomplish their goals. Manhattan Prep allows you to sit in on any of its live GMAT classes—in person or online—for free! Check out a trial class today. |
17 Feb 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: My Work Performance Is All That Matters |
 Because you spend so many of your waking hours at work, and the MBA is the vehicle you are choosing to use to drive your career forward, you may naturally believe that your professional experiences are all that matter to the admissions committees. Do not get us wrong: you need to have strong professional stories to share, but top-tier business schools are looking for much more than just examples of professional excellence. If you discuss only your work experiences in your application, you will present yourself as a one-dimensional character, and today’s managers need to demonstrate that they can handle a multitude of tasks, situations, and personalities—both inside and outside the workplace. Occasionally, we at mbaMission post an offer on our blog to review applications submitted by candidates who did not use our services and who did not receive an offer of admission from a single program of their choice. We find that the most common error committed by these applicants is that they discussed only their work accomplishments and gave no sense of who they truly are as well-rounded human beings. Although professional accomplishments definitely have a place in your applications, do not go overboard and focus on this one aspect of your candidacy to the exclusion of all else—balance is crucial. To the best of your ability, strive to offer a mix of accomplishments from the professional, community, and personal fields. Your goal is to keep the reader learning about you with each essay. A diversity of stories will reveal that you have the skills to accomplish a great deal in many different fields and circumstances, which is the hallmark of a modern general manager. |
18 Feb 2018, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Kelley School of Business and Fisher College of Business Offer MBAs in the Midwest |
 As the demand for business-savvy health care professionals grows, business schools are taking notice. Leading the way is the Business of Medicine MBA at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, which is designed to train practicing physicians to assume management positions and face a changing health care business environment. As the Financial Times reports, the two-year degree program began in the fall of 2013 and presents a new kind of opportunity at the intersection of business management and medical practice. The degree combines the basic curriculum of Kelley’s full-time MBA with specialized health care courses supported by the school’s Center for the Business of Life Sciences. The Financial Times quotes Idalene Kesner, who was interim dean at the time of the article but has since been appointed dean, as saying, “With this degree, physician leaders will emerge with the full skillset to transform individual institutions, the broad healthcare field and, most important, patient outcomes.” Part of the Business of Medicine MBA program is taught online, drawing on Kelley’s pioneering strengths in distance learning, while the other part entails one weekend residence per month, allowing for a more flexible time commitment.  Despite the size of its parent institution, another Midwestern business school, the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University boasts a relatively intimate classroom experience—with approximately 100 students in each incoming full-time MBA class—and a close-knit community. Fisher students consequently benefit from the school’s wider university network (more than 550,000 alumni) and its proximity to major companies based both in Columbus and throughout the Midwest. Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Fisher 37th in its list of top U.S. full-time MBA programs in 2017. The Fisher curriculum consists of a core sequence spanning the first year of the program and offers 11 disciplines in which students can major (including a “Make Your Own Major” option). A particularly noteworthy highlight of Fisher’s MBA curriculum is its experiential Leadership Development program, which spans the full two years. The first program of its kind to be offered at a business school, the program organizes various workshops and assessments during the academic year, in addition to connecting students with corporate mentors who offer career guidance and networking opportunities. Also among the offerings are expert speakers, including such leaders as the chairman of Harley-Davidson and the founder and CEO of KRUEGER+CO Consulting, Inc. |
19 Feb 2018, 10:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Get an Early Start on Your Resume and Personal Goals |
 We at mbaMission try to encourage business school candidates to get as much “noise” out of the way as possible before the next admissions season, even if it is still months away. We want our applicants to have the freedom to reflect on their experiences, formally and thoroughly brainstorm, choose ideas, prepare outlines, and then focus on crafting powerful essays. Essentially, we want them to be unfettered as they engage in what is, for many, one of the most significant creative challenges they will ever face. Using this time to address a task such as preparing your resume—a process that often requires several rounds of revisions—will allow you to focus better on the other elements of your application later. By revising your resume now, you can dedicate the time needed to do so at a more leisurely pace, before “crunch time” hits. Further, you will lay the foundation for brainstorming for your essays later, by reminding yourself of your most significant accomplishments. If you prepare your resume now, you will definitely thank yourself later for having completed this task early. Note: We recognize that you may achieve additional accomplishments in the next several months. We nonetheless suggest that you update your resume now, however, and then revisit and amend your most recent entry one to two weeks before your application deadlines. A similar message applies to personal leadership—you always have time to take steps to bolster your chances of admission. Many candidates completely ignore the personal side of their candidacy. But if you have, for example, completed a triathlon, learned a language, published an article, or simply been an inordinately dedicated neighbor/sibling/mentor in an unofficial capacity, your story can provide an interesting point of differentiation. So, if you have an activity or adventure in mind that you would otherwise complete later anyway, go ahead and pursue it now. We are not suggesting that you start writing poetry tomorrow in hopes of getting something published—but if you are a dedicated poet and have poems that you have long intended to submit, do so now. If you can run 20 miles and have always planned to run a marathon, do it now. These kinds of personal stories can help set you apart from your fellow applicants. |
20 Feb 2018, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Saras D. Sarasvathy, the University of Virginia Darden School of Business |
 Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when they choose a business school. However, the educational experience you will have is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Today, we focus on Saras D. Sarasvathy from the University of Virginia (UVA) Darden School of Business. Saras D. Sarasvathy is the Paul M. Hammaker Professor of Business Administration at UVA Darden, and she also teaches doctoral-level courses at schools in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Sarasvathy wrote her dissertation at Carnegie Mellon on entrepreneurial expertise and has parlayed that into a specialization in the area of “effectuation,” which examines the creation and growth of new organizations and markets. Her book Effectuation: Elements of Entrepreneurial Expertise (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009) examines the way entrepreneurs think. In addition to serving on the editorial boards of various management journals, she writes a monthly column for the business newspaper, the Economic Times. In 2015, UVA awarded Sarasvathy the Mead-Colley Honored Faculty Award for her active engagement with students. In 2007, Fortune Small Business magazine named Sarasvathy one of 18 top professors in the field of entrepreneurship. Students we interviewed feel that Sarasvathy, who has been teaching at Darden since 2004, is one of the up-and-coming scholars of entrepreneurship in the world. One alumnus described her to mbaMission as “very encouraging, supportive. She allows people to share ideas rather than looking for the right answer.” Another told us that he found himself in her “Starting New Ventures” class by mistake; he had lingered too long in the classroom after his previous class had ended and was still there when Sarasvathy’s class began. He was so impressed by her teaching that he added her course to his schedule, even though he was already overloaded. He found even at that first lesson that she “challenged conventional beliefs,” and he was “impressed at her insights and the way that she articulated basic assumptions to bring out the less obvious, deeper levels.” For some interesting perspectives on entrepreneurship and business, see Sarasvathy’s presentations on BigThink at https://bigthink.com/sarassarasvathy. For more information about UVA Darden and 16 other top-ranked business schools, check out the free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
21 Feb 2018, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBAs for Professionals at Villanova School of Business and Krannert School of Management |
 In 2013, the Villanova School of Business (VSB) received a $50M gift from alumnus James C. Davis, founder of recruitment company Allegis Group, and his wife, Kim. The donation—part of a $600M capital campaign—was the largest in the school’s history and was reportedly “earmarked to improve academic and career advising, increase internship and study abroad opportunities, perform technology upgrades, and provide scholarships,” according to Bloomberg Businessweek. VSB also planned to use a portion of the funds to “beef up its faculty roster to include more professors focused on teaching as opposed to research.” With a satellite campus in Center City, Philadelphia, VSB specializes in part-time programs for working professionals, allowing them to enjoy the benefits of a full-time curriculum without leaving their job. In this vein, the school offers an accelerated, two-year, part-time Fast Track degree option, which meets twice a week, as well as the more customizable Flex Track degree option, which typically takes three years to complete and accommodates varying course loads. One advantage of the accelerated option is the opportunity to partake in the school’s two-part consulting practicum project, which includes the “Social Enterprise Consulting Practicum” and the “Global Practicum” capstone courses—each lasting 14 weeks. In the former practicum, students work with local nonprofit organizations to identify strategies in such areas as branding, funding, and membership retention. Alternatively, the latter practicum entails working with a multinational corporation to gain firsthand experience analyzing market issues. VSB also hosts a variety of elective international immersion courses, through which students may travel abroad over winter break or during the summer. Another option for professionals is Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management, whose two executive MBA programs focus on helping professionals gain their MBAs while maintaining a career. Students can choose from the traditional MBA program, which features five residencies at Krannert and one abroad, or the IMM Global Executive MBA program, during which students are divided into cohorts and take part in residencies in each of the four IMM partner schools (in addition to Krannert). Locations for the residencies include Brazil, China, and Italy. Both of these executive MBA programs take place over the course of 19 months and include online learning modules in addition to in-person studies. |
22 Feb 2018, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: “Complete the Passage” Critical Reasoning Arguments on the GMAT |
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With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. Have you run across any “fill in the blank” Critical Reasoning (CR) questions yet? These arguments end with a long, straight line, and we are supposed to pick an answer choice that fills in that blank. Try this example from the free question set that comes with GMATPrep: Which of the following best completes the passage below? People buy prestige when they buy a premium product. They want to be associated with something special. Mass-marketing techniques and price reduction strategies should not be used because ________________. (A) affluent purchasers currently represent a shrinking portion of the population of all purchasers (B) continued sales depend directly on the maintenance of an aura of exclusivity (C) purchasers of premium products are concerned with the quality as well as with the price of the products (D) expansion of the market niche to include a broader spectrum of consumers will increase profits (E) manufacturing a premium brand is not necessarily more costly than manufacturing a standard brand of the same product Officially, these are called “Complete the Passage” arguments. The interesting tidbit: they are NOT a separate question type! These questions fall into one of the same categories you have been studying all along; the format is just presented in this “fill in the blank” format. Most of the time, these are actually Strengthen questions. Every now and then, you will encounter a Find the Assumption question in this format. The real trick here is to determine the question type. If the word right before the underline is because or since (or something equivalent), then the question you are dealing with is a Strengthen question. If the argument is set up to ask you to insert a piece of information that would support the conclusion of the argument, that is a Strengthen question. The only real variation I have seen is when the sentence leading up to the blank asks what must be true or what must be shown. In those cases, you probably have a Find the Assumption question. Want to know how to do the GMATPrep question presented earlier in this post? I am so glad you asked! Take a look at this full article that explains how to do the question and takes you through the standard four-step process for all CR questions. The article on the Manhattan Prep blog is the first in a three-part series on CR; click the link at the end to read the second part, and so on. GMATPrep questions are used courtesy of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). Use of this question does not imply endorsement by GMAC. |
24 Feb 2018, 08:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: The Admissions Committee’s Glass Is 99% Empty |
 “I was the first in my class to be promoted at McKinsey. I have a 710 GMAT score and completed Level 1 of the CFA exam, but I had a B- in calculus during my freshman year. Will that grade ruin my chances for admission?” “My company has been under a hiring and promotion freeze for the past three years, but during that time, I have earned pay increases and survived successive rounds of layoffs. Will the admissions committee accept someone who has not been promoted?” “I have been promoted, but my company changed names. Will the admissions committee think I am going somewhere at a sketchy company?” Although these questions may seem somewhat silly—the individuals’ strengths are obvious and their “weaknesses” comparatively innocuous—we get asked about scenarios like these every day. In short, we can assure you that your candidacy, even at vaunted schools like Harvard and Stanford, is not rendered tenuous by such trivial “shortcomings.” The admissions officers do not consider you guilty until proven innocent, and they are not looking for little reasons to exclude you from contention. Many candidates have mythologized the “perfect” applicant and fear that any small area of concern means that they do not measure up to this myth—and thus that their candidacy is insufficient. Rather than fixating on small details that in truth are inconsequential, you should think about the big picture with respect to your overall competitiveness. You can take us at our word on this. Or, if you prefer, heed the words of J.J. Cutler, former deputy vice dean of MBA admissions, financial aid, and career management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, who explained to mbaMission that “everyone has something, or more than one thing, in their application that they need to overcome.” But he added, “We read with an eye toward wanting to find all the good things about an applicant. We look for their strengths. We look for things that make them stand out, that make them unique. We look for their accomplishments. We look for positive parts of the application.” |
26 Feb 2018, 07:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Vijay Govindarajan, Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business |
 Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when they choose a business school. However, the educational experience you will have is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Today, we focus on Vijay Govindarajan from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Vijay Govindarajan, affectionately known by students as simply “VG,” is the Coxe Distinguished Professor at Tuck and has been cited by Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, and The Times as a top-ten strategy professor. His research focus includes global strategy, strategic innovation, strategy execution, and strategic controls. Govindarajan has been a consultant to several well-known companies, including Walmart, FedEx, and Microsoft, and in 2008, he served as chief innovation consultant to General Electric. In addition to his residency at Tuck, Govindarajan was named a Marvin Bower Faculty Fellow at Harvard Business School in 2015 for a two-year period. He was also the 2015 recipient of the Association of Management Consulting Firms Award of Excellence. One alumnus told mbaMission, “VG’s class is great, and the cases have been interesting. Most of the cases are about manufacturing companies; however, they are not boring at all. He’s a great speaker and great lecturer.” Another graduate described Govindarajan’s classroom style to mbaMission by saying, “VG maintains a balance between lecture and class participation. He never cold-calls because he believes that students will be prepared. He doesn’t want students to comment for the sake of commenting and wants people to say something meaningful, which might be different from the approach at other schools.” Another alumnus shared that Govindarajan often brings great speakers to class. For more information about Dartmouth Tuck and 16 other top-ranked MBA schools, check out the free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
27 Feb 2018, 10:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: How to Use Parallel Construction in Your MBA Application Essays—and More on Being Appropriately Personal |
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Longer and more complex sentences often require parallel construction. Simply put, parallel construction ensures that any given longer sentence has a standard rhythm or construction. With parallel construction, each pronoun corresponds with another pronoun, each verb corresponds with another verb, each adjective matches with a corresponding adjective, and so on. Parallel construction can certainly be found in shorter sentences as well, and to great effect. Consider the example of Hamlet’s words “To be or not to be”—some of the most famous in the English language. Shakespeare wrote this short sentence in perfect parallel form; “to be” is matched perfectly with its corresponding negative “not to be” and is separated only by the necessary word “or.” Another short example of parallel construction from history is “I came, I saw, I conquered.” With these words, Julius Caesar spoke in perfect parallel construction—the grammatical form is a pronoun (the word “I”) followed by a verb in the past tense (“came,” “saw,” “conquered”). If we were to change that second famous phrase just a touch, the amazing quality it now has would be lost, and the phrase would become unremarkable. For example, if Caesar had said, “I came, I saw, and I became the conqueror,” he would likely not be quoted today because the rhythm would have been destroyed. Keep this rule in mind for everything that you write, especially for longer sentences. Here are a few more examples: Bad: We are successful for three key reasons: understanding our client, trying harder than our competition, and teamwork. Good: We are successful for three key reasons: understanding our client, trying harder than our competition, and working as a team. (In this example, gerunds [the words ending in “ing”] parallel each other, unlike in the previous, “bad” example.) Bad: We are in the forestry business. We sell wood to hardware stores and paper to stationery stores. Good: We are in the forestry business. We sell wood and paper. On another note, we have previously discussed the importance of thoroughly exploring and accessing your personal stories when writing your application essays. Of course, having too much of a good thing is always a risk as well—admissions committees can be put off by candidates who go too far and become too personal. Some stories are particularly challenging for admissions committees. For example, we strongly discourage candidates from writing about divorce as a moment of failure. If an individual were to take responsibility in an essay for a failed marriage, he/she would likely end up revealing intensely personal issues, rather than portraying him-/herself as having learned from a constructive professional or personal challenge. Always keep in mind that in many ways, the admissions committee is meeting you for the first time via your application. So, a simple way to judge whether you are being too personal in your materials is to ask yourself, “Would I be uncomfortable if, immediately upon meeting someone, he/she were to share this sort of information with me?” If your answer is “yes,” you should most likely consider changing your topic. |
28 Feb 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Addressing Sustainability at UCLA Anderson and Thinking Social at NYU Stern |
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Applicants to the UCLA Anderson School of Management may be well aware of the school’s strengths in media and real estate, but they might be surprised to learn that Anderson also offers a cutting-edge multidisciplinary program for students interested in environmental sustainability. The school’s Leaders in Sustainability (LiS) program is a certificate program that allows Anderson students to take courses at different graduate schools within the university network, thereby offering them opportunities to address issues of environmental sustainability in an interdisciplinary manner. Students must apply to the program, which typically has more than 190 participants from graduate programs across the university. Students in the LiS program must take four classes, including the LiS core course and three sustainability-related elective courses—at least one of which must be taught outside the students’ primary graduate school. In total, the greater university offers more than 50 sustainability-related courses that Anderson students may choose from, ranging from “Business and Environment” to “Economic Analysis for Managers” to even “Marine Ecology.” In addition to completing the program’s required four courses, LiS students must complete a project related to sustainability. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, New York University’s (NYU’s) Stern School of Business is perhaps not well known among the top MBA programs for sustainable enterprise or social entrepreneurship. However, the school in fact offers an array of resources for those interested in pursuing careers in such fields. The W.R. Berkley Innovation Labs serve as the hub of all entrepreneurial activities and events at the school, and in 2008, Stern introduced a Sustainable Business and Innovation (formerly Social Innovation and Impact) specialization, thereby formalizing an academic track for students with this career path in mind. Attending or helping to plan the “Think Social, Drink Local” marquee fundraiser is one of many options that socially conscious aspiring MBAs will find to fulfill their interests at Stern. With help from corporate sponsors such as Brooklyn Brewery and Crop Organic Vodka, the school’s Social Enterprise Association hosts the event in partnership with the Stern Luxury & Retail Club. In March 2017, the 12th annual event took place at The Prince George Ballroom and featured an open bar and the “I Heart New York” runway fashion show—a fundraiser for Stern’s Social Impact Internship Fund—in which Stern students and administrators modeled clothing by ecofriendly designers. The fashion show is a highlight of the evening each year and has raised more than $10K in past years. Through Stern Consulting Corps, students can partner on consulting projects with New York City–based nonprofits. And for those who also have the entrepreneurial bug, Stern added a Social Venture Competition—in which participants compete for a $75K prize—to its traditional for-profit $300K Entrepreneurs Challenge. In short, socially conscious Sternies have quite a bit to keep them busy! For a thorough exploration of what UCLA Anderson, NYU Stern, and 15 other top business schools have to offer, please check out the free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
01 Mar 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: March 2018 Event Roundup |
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Are you applying to business school this year? If so, you can enroll in one of our free business school workshops, which are offered both online and in person in major cities across the country! This March, the event lineup includes the following sessions:
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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  ➡️ Sayali narrates her experience of succeeding on the GMAT after 4 attempts & 2 years of preparations with 32 percentile improvement on GMAT verbal.
Tuck at Dartmouth
AGSM at UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE
 GMAT Club REWARDS
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