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13 Nov 2018, 12:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Finding “Safe” Writers for Your Recommendation Letters |
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Letters of recommendation are an important part of your overall application package. However, one of the most stressful parts of the application process can be choosing your recommenders. The first question you should ask is who can write a valuable letter on my behalf? Many candidates believe that recommenders must have remarkable credentials and titles to impress the admissions committee. However, selecting individuals who can write a personal and knowledgeable letter that discusses your talents, accomplishments, personality, and potential is far more important. If senior managers at your company can only describe your work in vague and general terms, they will not help your cause. Lower-level managers who directly supervise your work, on the other hand, can often offer powerful examples of the impact you have had on your company. As a result, their letters can be far more effective. Nonetheless, not everyone who knows you and your capabilities well will make a good recommender. For starters, you should of course feel confident that your potential recommender likes you and will write a positive letter on your behalf. As you contemplate your choices, try to gather some intelligence on your potential recommenders. Have they written letters for anyone else? Are they generous with their time with regard to employee feedback and review sessions? Will they devote the effort and time necessary to write a letter that will really shine? One step that you can take to ensure you submit the strongest applications possible is doing some research on your recommenders to confirm that your choices are indeed “safe.” After all, if you are playing by the strictest interpretation of the rules of recommendations, you will not get to see what your recommenders ultimately write about you. By doing a little intelligence work in advance, you can better understand whether you are making the right decision before committing to a certain individual. By doing some “intelligence,” we mean—where possible—contacting past colleagues in a discreet and diplomatic way to find out what their experiences were like with your potential recommender. For example, was your potential recommender a generous advocate or was he/she a disinterested third party who had a tendency to be harsh? Clearly, learning more about your target recommender’s approach in advance can help you understand whether or not you should offer him/her this important responsibility. Past colleagues can also guide you in how best to manage your recommenders, which can be just as important as choosing them. Knowing up front that your recommender is a procrastinator or performed better after being given a list of accomplishments from which to work can help ensure the best letter possible and can prevent you from inadvertently antagonizing your recommender or delaying the process. If your prospective MBA program asks for two letters of recommendation, you should generally approach two of your recent supervisors, with one ideally being your current supervisor. Your letters will have added credibility if they are written by individuals who are senior to you, because your recommenders are in evaluative positions and will not have anything to lose by critically appraising your candidacy. |
13 Nov 2018, 12:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Stanford GSB Tops the Bloomberg Businessweek MBA Ranking for the First Time |
 Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) Bloomberg Businessweek released its 2018 ranking of U.S.-based MBA programs last week with a new name in first place: the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), which was ranked at the top for the first time in the Bloomberg ranking’s 30-year history. The GSB, which came in fifth last year, was the only school this year to receive a perfect 100.0 point score. The overall score is calculated from the scores the school receives from students, alumni, and recruiters in such factors as compensation, learning, networking, and entrepreneurship. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania came in second with a 92.6 overall score, while Harvard Business School rounded out the top three with a 91.9 score. Harvard and Wharton were ranked first and second last year, respectively. The USC Marshall School of Business was among the year’s biggest surprises as the school rose from 2017’s 30th place to this year’s 13th spot. The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, on the other hand, fell notably from last year’s 7th place to land at 19th. The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia both entered the top ten at 6th and 9th places, respectively, after climbing through the top 20 and top 30 charts for years. Bloomberg reports that the international MBA ranking will be released in early December. Whether last year’s number-one international program, INSEAD, will be defeated remains to be seen… |
14 Nov 2018, 10:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: See the World During Your Studies at Michigan Ross and NYU Stern |
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For incoming first-year students at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business who want to get a head start on building friendships within their class or make use of some time off before school begins, the MTrek program may be just the answer. MTreks, which were first offered in 1999, are small-group, multiday, outdoor adventure trips that take place before the academic year begins. Organized in locations around the world, the trips are entirely student led (by second-year MBA students) and are designed to provide a team-based environment similar to that found at Ross and to promote leadership in a team setting. MTreks look to be as inclusive as possible—trips are available to suit a wide variety of interests and thus range from hard-core adventure to relaxing sightseeing excursions. In 2018, students were able to participate in such treks as “Fast and Furious: Sing-a-laysia Edition,” which took place in Malaysia and Singapore; “Alpaca Your Bags,” a hiking trip in Peru; and “We Like to Port-y,” a trip to Portugal. 2017 treks included “A Song of Fire and Ire,” which took participants to Iceland and Ireland; “African’t Stop, Won’t Stop,” an off-the-beaten-path trip to South Africa and Swaziland; and “Netflix and Chile,” an outdoor adventure in Chile and Argentina. In 2016, treks ranged from “Not Your Basic Beaches,” during which participants explored private beaches and the countryside of France and Spain, to “Guate Get Down,” which took place in the historic areas of Belize and Guatemala. So, whether you are interested in hiking and rafting in Iceland or beaching and snorkeling in Mexico, MTreks provide a chance to build friendships and develop leadership skills while having a great time. Similar to Michigan Ross, New York University’s (NYU’s) Stern School of Business provides ample opportunity for its students to spend time abroad during one- or two-week trips, through its “Doing Business in…” (DBi) program. DBi trips take place between the fall and winter semesters, during spring break, and in May (after classes conclude). Each course (trip) is tailored to its specific locale and includes a mix of lectures given by Stern faculty as well as by local business practitioners and/or government representatives. Complementing the classroom learning are hands-on field experiences at corporate headquarters, factories, ports, development sites, and other such locations. DBi destinations in recent years have included Costa Rica, Spain, Brazil, Singapore, Israel, and Australia, just to name a few. Students who participate in the DBi program gain a new perspective on conducting business in a different culture while making some great memories with fellow “Sternies” along the way. For more information on other defining characteristics of the MBA program at NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, or one of 15 other top business schools, please check out the free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
15 Nov 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: The Master Resource List for GMAT Reading Comprehension, Part 3 |
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With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. Part 1 of this series covered how to read Reading Comprehension (RC), and Part 2 introduced the first two major question types: Main Idea and Specific Detail. Start with those posts and then continue with this post. Inference In this section, we are going to talk about two big things: how to handle inference questions and how to analyze RC problems in general (you can then use these techniques on any question type). Inference questions ask about specific details in the passage, but they add a twist: we have to deduce something that must be true, given certain facts from the passage. For example, if I tell you that my favorite type of book to read is biography, what could you deduce? Watch out for the trap: do not use your “real world” conclusion-drawing skills. In the real world, you might conclude that I like reading books in general or perhaps that I am interested in history or maybe that I am a nerd. (Really? Biographies are my favorite?) These things do not have to be true, though. What has to be true? I do not like fiction as much as I like biographies. I have read at least one book in a nonbiography category (otherwise, I would not be able to tell that I prefer biographies, which implies a comparison). What is the difference? GMAT deductions are usually things that would cause us to say “Duh!” in the real world. “My favorite category of book is biography.” “Oh, so you must not like fiction as much as you like biographies.” “Uh… well, yeah, that’s what ‘favorite’ means. I don’t like anything else better.” A GMAT deduction should feel like a “duh” deduction—something totally boring that must be true, given the information in the passage. Here, try out an Inference question. That article also explains how to analyze your work and the problem itself. Did you miss something in the passage? Why? How can you pick it up next time? Did you fall for a trap answer? Which one? How did they set the trap, and how can you avoid it next time? And so on. Why Questions Specific questions can come in one other (not as common) flavor: the Why question. These are sort of a cross between Specific Detail and Inference questions: you need to review some specific information in the passage, but the answer to the question is not literally right in the passage. You have to figure out the most reasonable explanation for why the author chose to include a particular piece of information. Test out this Why question to see what I mean. Timing As I mentioned earlier, we really do not have much time to read RC passages. Aim for approximately two to two and a half minutes on shorter passages and closer to three minutes for longer ones. Of course, you cannot possibly read everything closely and carefully in such a short time frame—but that is not your goal! Our goal is to get the big picture on that first read-through. Aim to answer main idea questions in roughly one minute. You can spend up to two minutes on the more specific questions. In particular, if you run across an Except question, expect to spend pretty close to two minutes; Except questions nearly always take a while. As always, be aware of your overall time. If you find that you are running behind, skip one question entirely; do not try to save 30 seconds each on a bunch of questions. Also, if RC is your weakest verbal area, and you also struggle with speed, consider guessing immediately on one question per passage and spreading your time over the remaining questions. Great, I Have Mastered RC! Let us test that theory, shall we? Your next step is to implement all these techniques on your next practice test while also managing your timing well. Good luck! |
16 Nov 2018, 10:01
| 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. |
18 Nov 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: My Months of Work Experience Will Not Count |
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“I had an internship from June to August of 2016. Will the admissions committee count it as work experience?” “I was running a lab during my Master’s program—is that part of my total number of months of work experience?” “I ran a small business that ultimately failed—will I get credit for my time as an entrepreneur?” Business schools have not seriously considered a candidate’s number of months of work experience as a factor in admissions decisions for a long time. In fact, with such programs as Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business increasingly open to younger candidates, work experience on a strictly quantitative level is actually being devalued at some schools. A candidate’s quantity of work experience is just not relevant—quality is what is important. An “average” employee who has merely fulfilled expectations during a five-year stint at a Fortune 500 company could certainly be said to be at a disadvantage compared with an individual who has made the most of a three-year stint elsewhere and has been promoted ahead of schedule. Think about it—which of the two would you admit? So, if you are asked on an application how many months of work experience you will have prior to matriculating, you should simply answer honestly. If you have any gray areas or are unsure about any aspect of your professional experience as it pertains to your application, you can always call the Admissions Office for guidance—most Admissions Offices are actually surprisingly helpful with this kind of simple technical question. Thereafter, stop worrying about the number of months you do or do not have and instead focus on revealing that—and how—you have made an impact in your professional life. Your essays, recommendations, interviews, resume, and other application elements will ultimately make a qualitative impact that will outweigh any quantitative data. |
19 Nov 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: How to Take Ownership of Your Post-MBA Goals and Show They Are Attainable |
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When admissions officers read your MBA application, they want to feel inspired by your personal statement; they want to know that you have a strong sense of purpose and will work energetically to attain your objectives. Thus, you must ensure that you are not presenting generic or shallow goals. Although this problem is not industry specific, it occurs most often with candidates who propose careers in investment banking or consulting but do not have a true understanding of what these positions entail. For example, a candidate cannot merely state the following goal: “In the short term, when I graduate from Wharton, I want to become an investment banking associate. After three years, I will be promoted to vice president, and then in the long term, I will become a managing director.” This hypothetical candidate does not express any passion for his/her proposed course, does not show any understanding of the demands of the positions, and does not explain the value he/she could bring to the firm. To avoid these kinds of shortcomings, conduct this simple test when writing your personal statement: if you can easily substitute another job title into your career goals and the sentence still makes perfect sense (for example, “In the short term, when I graduate from Wharton, I want to become a consultant. After three years, I will be promoted to vice president, and then in the long term, I will become a managing director.”), you know you have a serious problem on your hands and need to put more work into your essay. To effectively convey your goals, you need to truly own them. This means personalizing them, determining and presenting why you expect to be a success in the proposed position, and explaining why an opportunity exists for you to contribute. For example, a former forestry engineer could make a strong argument for joining an environmental impact consulting firm. (Note: This candidate would still need to explain why he/she would want to join one.) Similarly, a financial analyst in the corporate finance department at Yahoo! could connect his/her goals to tech investment banking. Although the connection need not be so direct, especially for candidates seeking to change careers, relating your past experiences and/or your skills to your future path is still extremely important. This approach will add depth to your essay and ensure that the admissions committee takes you seriously. While some candidates struggle to effectively convey their post-MBA goals, many also have difficulty defining their long-term goals. Although short-term goals should be relatively specific, long-term goals can be broad and ambitious. Regardless of what your short- and long-term aspirations actually are, what is most important is presenting a clear “cause and effect” relationship between them. The admissions committee will have difficulty buying into a long-term goal that lacks grounding. However, do not interpret this to mean that you must declare your interest in an industry and then assert that you will stay in it for your entire career. You can present any career path that excites you—again, as long as you also demonstrate a logical path to achieving your goals. For example, many candidates discuss having ambitions in the field of management consulting. Could an individual with such aspirations justify any of the following long-term goals?
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20 Nov 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Roberto Rigobon, MIT Sloan School of Management |
 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 Roberto Rigobon from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Roberto Rigobon, the Society of Sloan Fellows Professor of Management and a professor of applied economics, specializes in international economics, monetary economics, and development economics. At an awards ceremony in 2005, Sloan students described him as someone who “epitomized the fine line between madness and genius.” Other award-related descriptions of Rigobon refer to him as “serious but hilarious,” “crazy and brilliant,” and “high energy.” He teaches the reportedly very popular “Applied Macro and International Economics” course, which is said to be often taken by up to 30% of Sloan students at a time. He has won numerous teaching awards during his time at Sloan (including the school’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2000, 2003, and 2005, and Teacher of the Year in 1999, 2002, and 2004) and is primarily recognized for his accessibility. As one second-year student blogged, “The door to his office was always open.” For more information about MIT Sloan and 16 other top-ranked MBA schools, check out the free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
21 Nov 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: International Opportunities at Wharton and Dartmouth Tuck |
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To think that the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania excels only in churning out investment bankers and management consultants would be a mistake. In fact, Wharton boasts a truly international program that was ranked #3 in this area in the 2019 U.S. News & World Report MBA specialty rankings. International students constitute 33% of the school’s Class of 2020 and represent 80 countries, and 11.3% of the school’s 2017 graduates took jobs outside the United States. Students who wish to study international business at Wharton have no shortage of options for doing so, including the following:
Students gain hands-on international experience through the “OnSite Global Consulting” (formerly “Tuck Global Consultancy”) course, which gives second years the chance to put their education into practice worldwide. Since 1997, students have consulted with 159 global organizations on more than 226 projects in 58 countries, according to the Tuck website. On-site consulting projects are led by small teams of students working under the supervision of Tuck professors with extensive consulting backgrounds. A large percentage of the second-year class participates in this elective, defining projects in the spring or early fall, then traveling to their assigned countries in either August, November and December, or March to perform on-site research and analysis. At the end of the program, students present their findings to their clients. Past clients include major corporations such as Alcoa, British Telecom, DuPont, Hewlett-Packard, Home Depot, John Deere, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Nike, and Walmart. For more information on other defining characteristics of the MBA program at Wharton, Dartmouth Tuck, or one of 15 other top business schools, please check out the free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
23 Nov 2018, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: The Master Resource List for GMAT Reading Comprehension, Part 4 |
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With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. Part 1 of this series covered how to read Reading Comprehension (RC), and Part 2 introduced the first two major question types: Main Idea and Specific Detail. In Part 3, we discussed Inference questions and Why questions. If you have not already done so, start by reading those posts, and then continue with this final post in the series. Put It All Together All right, now you have all the pieces:
Next, test your understanding of the passage on this Inference question, and then try this Why question. Timing As I mentioned earlier, we really do not have much time to read RC passages. Aim for approximately two to two and a half minutes on shorter passages and closer to three minutes for longer ones. Of course, you cannot possibly read everything closely and carefully in such a short time frame—but that is not your goal! Our goal is to get the big picture on that first read-through. Aim to answer main idea questions in roughly one minute. You can spend up to two minutes on the more specific questions. In particular, if you run across an Except question, expect to spend pretty close to two minutes; Except questions nearly always take a while. As always, be aware of your overall time. If you find that you are running behind, skip one question entirely; do not try to save 30 seconds each on a bunch of questions. Also, if RC is your weakest verbal area, and you also struggle with speed, consider guessing immediately on one question per passage and spreading your time over the remaining questions. Great, I Have Mastered RC! Let us test that theory, shall we? Your next step is to implement all these techniques on your next practice test while also managing your timing well. Good luck! |
25 Nov 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: The Admissions Committee Will Not Notice My Weakness(es) |
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Our clients frequently ask, “If I write the optional essay about my [low GMAT score, low GPA, bad semester in college, long stretch of unemployment, etc.], will it call attention to that weakness and overemphasize it?” In short, no. Writing the optional essay about a weakness will instead allow you to control the narrative and thereby better mitigate any negative effects of that weakness. The admissions committee very likely will take note of a low GMAT score or a low GPA and will be left with unanswered questions about that weakness if you do not use the optional essay to address the issue. Rather than putting the committee in the position of having to guess at an explanation, take control of the situation and grab the opportunity to explain the details behind the weakness. For example, let us say you have a weak GPA overall because you worked full time in your first two years of college, but your GPA from your last two years is much stronger. Not writing the optional essay means that you are hoping the admissions committee will take the time to search through your transcript, note the change in the GPA, and then examine your job history to learn that you worked full time during your first two years—then make the connection between your two years of full-time work and your subsequently lower grades during those years. On the other hand, if you use the optional essay to explain exactly what happened, you no longer have to simply hope that they will put in that extra effort and will know for sure that they are evaluating you using complete information. Likewise, they will not have to guess at the reason behind your low GPA, because you will have proactively filled in the story. The bottom line is that the admissions committee is made up of professionals whose obligation is to examine all aspects of your profile. They are not punitive, but they are also not careless and will certainly note any weaknesses like those mentioned here. At the same time, they are only human and are dealing with thousands of applications. Any way that you can save them time and effort by guiding them through the story of your application can only work to your advantage. |
26 Nov 2018, 10:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Visiting B-School Campuses Multiple Times—and a Reminder on Best Behavior! |
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Many MBA applicants set their sights on more than one school. In the fortunate case that a candidate does gain admission to multiple business schools, how does he/she choose between two (or more)? If you cannot determine a definitive “winner” based on specific academic or professional criteria, you may now need to make a campus visit or, for some, another campus visit. If you have not yet had a chance to visit your target school(s), we advise you to get to know the program(s) better before deciding where to invest up to two years and $100K or more. However, even if you have already visited your target campuses, this may be a good time for a second, more focused trip. Many candidates go on marathon tours of business school campuses in the fall but have only a limited window in which to get to know each program they visit. After the admissions committees have defined your choices and shifted the decision power back to you, you can really devote some time to familiarizing yourself with your target schools and completing diligence that may not have been possible before. For example, as a nervous prospective student, you may not have truly pushed the students you met to define a program’s weaknesses, or you may not have felt that delving deeply into the recruiting situation on campus was appropriate during your initial visit. Similarly, you may not have experienced the social environment on campus, preferring to maintain a strictly professional profile. Although attending “welcome weekends” will allow you to meet and mingle with your potential future classmates, visiting campuses now—while classes are in session and the schools are operating as they will next year—will provide valuable insight that will facilitate one of the most important choices of your life. Visiting target schools can not only help prospective students make a positive impression on the admissions committee, but also give candidates the opportunity to personalize their applications (essays and interviews, in particular—depending on the timing of the visit) and may even help them select their schools. But remember, whenever you visit campuses, you should always be on your best behavior. Although the receptionist in the Admissions Office is not a “spy,” and your tour guide’s main concern is not to inform the admissions committee of your actions or comments, both of these individuals will likely feel compelled to report any bad behavior to the committee. We spoke with one former receptionist (now an admissions committee member) at a top-ranked school who said that if she encountered rudeness from a visiting candidate, she would make note of it and send a message about the incident to the admissions director—who would subsequently remove the candidate from consideration for admission. Although we imagine most candidates plan to be on their best behavior during any school visit, we nevertheless offer this important reminder. |
27 Nov 2018, 09:01
| 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. |
28 Nov 2018, 10:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Career Opportunities at the SMU Cox School of Business and the UMN Carlson School of Management |
 Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business Corporate connections are a major selling point at the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Cox School of Business. Located in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, the school offers its MBA students access to a large network of corporate representatives and recruiters—from the 22 Fortune 500 companies with headquarters in the area to a global university alumni base in excess of 125,000. One highlight of the networking resources Cox provides is its Alumni Association, which has chapters in more than a dozen countries. The Economist ranked Cox’s small, collaborative program 16th for “potential to network” in 2017. In addition, Entrepreneur magazine has ranked business-friendly Dallas second among U.S. cities for entrepreneurs. With 19 Fortune 500 companies located nearby—including UnitedHealth Group, Target, and U.S. Bancorp—the University of Minnesota (UMN) Carlson School of Management also boasts a robust network of corporate ties and high-profile recruiting opportunities. In addition, Carlson prepares its students with a pronounced hands-on approach to building leadership, management, and problem-solving skills.  Carlson School of Management 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 $38M 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. |
29 Nov 2018, 10:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: How to Solve Any Sentence Correction Problem on the GMAT, Part 1 |
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With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. Manhattan GMAT has developed a special process for Sentence Correction (SC). Some students and classes have seen it, but here we are sharing it publicly! Read on and let us know what you think. The Five Steps for Sentence Correction The full article on the MGMAT blog goes into more detail on each step.
In this post, I briefly introduce each step, but the full article goes into more detail, so make sure to follow up by reading that.
– the problem type (in this case, SC) – the length of the whole sentence – the length of the underline (or the length of the answers) This first glance will help you formulate a plan of attack. [*]Read the Sentence[/list] Next, read the sentence as a complete sentence, not just a collection of potential grammar issues. Pay attention to the overall meaning that the sentence is trying to convey. [*][b]Find a Starting Point[/b] [*]Eliminate Answers[/list] When you spot something you know is wrong, immediately cross off answer (A) on your scrap paper. Check that same issue (and only that issue!) in the remaining answer choices; eliminate any answers that repeat the error. [*]Repeat Steps 3 and 4[/list] SC is a bit annoying in that your initial starting point often will not allow you to cross off all four wrong answers. You usually have to find multiple starting points. Once you have dealt with one issue, return either to the original sentence or to a comparison of the answer choices, wherever you left off. What to Do When You Are Stuck In general, once you get stuck, give yourself one shot to “unstick” yourself. Try comparing different answers to see whether anything new pops out at you. If not, guess and move on. Half the battle on the GMAT is knowing when to stop trying. Set explicit “cutoffs” for yourself—rules for when to let go—and stick to them! Next Steps Got all of that? Good! In the second and third parts of this series, I will give you some drills that you can use to build the different skills needed to get through an SC problem. Until then, go ahead and practice the overall process until you internalize the different steps. Good luck! |
01 Dec 2018, 09:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: My Recommender’s Grammar Will Ruin My Chances |
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At mbaMission, we emphasize the need for effective written communication. Indeed, gaining admission to your target business school involves no real “trick”—earning that coveted letter of acceptance depends on your ability to tell your story in a compelling way and in your own words. But is good grammar vital to good communication? And if so, will your recommender’s bad grammar be detrimental to your chances? We can assure you that no MBA admissions committee will reject a candidate’s application because he/she incorrectly used a semicolon instead of a comma. The committee is seeking to learn about you as an individual to evaluate you and your potential, both as a student at the school and in the business world after graduation. What is most important in your application is that you convey your unique stories—and ideally captivate your reader—in your own voice. Of course, you should always strive to perfect your presentation, but in the end, the quality and authenticity of your content carry more weight than your verbiage and punctuation. And if you are not a native English speaker, you can certainly be forgiven for the occasional idiosyncrasy in your expression. This is even truer for your recommender. The committee is not evaluating this individual for a spot in the school’s program, so his/her grammar is largely irrelevant to your candidacy. And again, if your recommender is not a native English speaker, the admissions committees can be even more forgiving. The school will not penalize you for having a recommender who grew up in another country or whose English skills are not very polished for any other reason. As long as your recommender can offer anecdotes about your performance that create a strong impression about you and complement the abilities and qualities you have presented elsewhere in your application, you should be just fine. The substance of the recommendation is always what matters most. |
14 Dec 2018, 20:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Campus Facilities and Development at Duke Fuqua and MIT Sloan |
 The Fuqua School of Business is located on Duke University’s West Campus near the intersection of Science Drive and Towerview Drive. Students often congregate in the Fox Student Center, a 70,000-square-foot facility that was built in 2002. Linking the main wings of the school and featuring a café, enormous windows, and a spacious indoor winter garden, the Fox Student Center is the hub of the school. Students can eat breakfast and lunch there, grab a coffee, conduct team meetings, or just take a breather between classes or during the 15-minute break in each class period. In August 2008, Fuqua opened the 91,000-square-foot Doug and Josie Breeden Hall, the “new front door of the School for students and visitors,” as it was described in the student newspaper, the Fuqua Bulletin. Named after former dean Douglas Breeden (2001–2006), the building boasts a three-story atrium, two auditoriums (which seat 126 and 146 people), the expanded Ford Library, three 70-seat lecture rooms, and a suite of team rooms. All told, Fuqua’s campus covers nearly 500,000 square feet, with 58 team rooms, 10 classrooms, and 7 seminar rooms. In 2015, the school undertook a major renovation project for the R. David Thomas Executive Conference Center, turning it into the JB Duke Hotel. The hotel, which officially opened in January 2017, encompasses the Thomas Executive Conference Center as well as more than 90,000 extra square feet, including nearly 200 hotel guest rooms—some of which are occupied by the school’s executive students, who stay at the hotel during their residencies at Fuqua. The hotel is connected to the main Fuqua campus by a footbridge.  In 2006, MIT’s then president Susan Hockfield announced a major campus development program that would invest approximately three-quarters of a billion dollars in new and renovated facilities on the school’s 154-acre Cambridge campus, and which included the Sloan School Expansion. This expansion added a new classroom building, E62 (address: 100 Main St.), with approximately 210,000 square feet of space that houses 205 offices, 6 classrooms, more than 30 group study rooms, a dining area, an Executive Education suite, lounge areas, and new, usable outdoor spaces. It was completed in time for the start of classes in fall 2010 and dedicated in May 2011, to coincide with MIT’s 150th anniversary. Another MIT Sloan building, E52, was closed for construction in 2013 and reopened in January 2016. The building features many of the school’s administrative offices, a conference center, and the Department of Economics. The classroom building, E62, is described on the MIT website as “the ‘greenest’ building at MIT.” A student from the Class of 2012, the first class to enter Sloan after the new building opened, described E62 to us at mbaMission as “the social hub at Sloan. It’s where students meet to socialize, eat—the cafeteria provides some of the best food in the neighborhood—and work on class projects. It’s probably one of the more significant things Sloan has done recently, as it provides the ideal networking space not only for students but also for the many professionals who come to check out the new building and recruit MBAs. The new building really adds to the Sloan experience, and I can’t imagine life before it!” For a thorough exploration of what Duke Fuqua, MIT Sloan, and other top business schools have to offer, please check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
14 Dec 2018, 20:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: How to Solve Any Sentence Correction Problem on the GMAT, Part 3 |
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With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. In Part 1 of this article, we talked about the five-step process to answer Sentence Correction problems, and in Part 2, we discussed some drills to build the needed skills. Make sure to read both of those before continuing with this third article in the series. Drill Number 3: Find a Starting Point Once again, open up your Official Guide and look at some problems you have done before. This time, do not read the original sentence. Instead, cover it up. Compare the answers, and try to articulate all the things that the problem is testing. Note that you can tell what is being tested even if you cannot tell how to answer. For example, you might see a verb switching back and forth between singular and plural. If the subject is not underlined, then you have no idea which verb form is required, because you literally have not even seen the subject. You do, though, know that subject-verb agreement is at issue. Drill Number 4: Eliminate Answers Once again, this drill involves problems you have already done. (Sensing a pattern? We learn the most when we are reviewing things we have already done!) This time, though, you are going to get to use the whole problem. Right after you finish a problem, add the following analysis to your review: (1) Why is the right answer right? Why is each of the wrong answers wrong? (2) How would you justify eliminating the right answer? What is the trap that would lead someone to cross this one off? (3) How would you justify picking any of the wrong answers? What is the trap that would lead someone to pick a wrong answer? You are probably already doing the first one, but most people skip the second and third steps. The first is important, but you can learn more! When you learn how you (or someone) would fall into the trap of thinking that some wrong answer looks or sounds or feels better than the right one, you will be a lot less likely to fall into that same trap yourself in the future. Next Steps Practice these steps until they start to feel like second nature to you. At the same time, of course, learn the grammar rules that we all need to know. Put both pieces together, and you will master sentence correction! |
16 Dec 2018, 10:01
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Do Not Have to Rework My Resume |
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Many MBA candidates do not thoroughly consider and revise their resumes for their applications, often dismissing this element because an existing version may already be saved on their computer. We strongly caution you not to underestimate the value of this document—the admissions committees, in fact, review applicants’ resumes carefully, because they serve as a road map of each candidate’s career. In the past, we have highlighted that your resume is not the place to “stuff” all of your life experiences. Somewhere between the two extremes—cramming your resume with information and ignoring it altogether—lies the ideal: a clear, easily scannable, action-/results-oriented resume, one that tells a story that will capture the attention of an admissions officer who has reviewed hundreds of similar files. One of the most common errors that candidates make is leaving their resume in an industry-specific format, filled with jargon and acronyms recognizable only to an expert in their field. Remember, the admissions committee is not hiring you for a task, but is trying to understand your progress, your accomplishments, and even your character. Each bullet point in your resume needs to highlight achievement more than positional expertise. As you prepare your resume to be included in your application, think about your audience and recognize that your resume can be a strategic tool to reinforce certain characteristics that are important to you—characteristics that may complement information provided in other parts of your application. For example, if you aspire to a career that is international in nature, you may place more emphasis on your international experience in your resume. Or, if you come from a field that is not known for its management orientation—you were a teacher who administered a school’s $50,000 student activities budget, for example—you may use your resume to emphasize disciplines that are important to an MBA admissions audience. Some candidates are surprised to realize that one page can communicate so much and thus deserves a significant level of attention, but investing some time in this short but crucial document is definitely worth the effort. |
17 Dec 2018, 10:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: How to Introduce Without an Introduction and Own Your Story in MBA Application Essays |
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Most high school students in the United States are taught to write essays that have a formal introduction, a body that supports that introduction, and a conclusion that reinforces the main point presented in the introduction. Although this approach and structure yield easily comprehensible academic work, business school application essays are constrained by word count—so candidates often must use alternative, less lengthy openings because they do not have the luxury of “wasting” 100 words to introduce their topic. We recommend sometimes using the “non-introduction” introduction, depending on the context and pace of your story. If you have a gripping opener that places your reader in the middle of a scenario, we suggest you launch right into your story to grab and keep the reader’s attention. Consider this traditional introduction: “Throughout my career, I have strived to continuously learn and develop as a manager, frequently taking enrichment courses, seizing mentorship opportunities, and seeking frank feedback from my superiors. When my firm staffed me on its $4.5M Oregon Project (our highest-profile product launch in a decade), I considered it a tremendous opportunity to deliver and never imagined that it would become the greatest test of my managerial abilities. When I arrived in Portland, I discovered a project deemed so important by our firm that it was overstaffed and wallowing in confused directives from headquarters in Chicago. I quickly surveyed the situation and began to create support for changes to…” What if this essay, under the pressure of word limits, were to begin with a slightly modified version of the body? “When I arrived in Portland, I discovered that my firm’s $4.5M Oregon Project—our highest-profile product launch in a decade—was overstaffed and wallowing in confused directives from headquarters in Chicago. I quickly surveyed the situation and began to create support for change…” In this case, approximately 70 words are saved, and the reader is immediately thrust into the middle of the story, learning how the writer jumped into the project and ultimately saved the day. Although the “non-introduction” introduction should not be used for every essay, it can be a valuable tool when applied with discretion. In addition, applicants should consider how to assert a sense of ownership in their essays. Many business school candidates unwittingly begin with platitudes—obvious or trite remarks written as though they were original. For example, when responding to the essay question, “Tell us about a time when you made a difficult decision,” an applicant might mistakenly write the following: “Managers constantly face difficult decisions. Still, everyone hates indecision.” The applicant does not “own” this idea and cannot lay claim to this statement. A simple alternative would be to insert his/her personal experience and viewpoint into the sentence: “I found myself back in the boardroom with Steve, anticipating that yet again, he would change his mind on the mbaMission file.” By discussing your personal and unique experiences, you demonstrate ownership of your story while engaging your reader. Avoiding platitudes and generalities—and ensuring that you are sharing your experience, rather than one that could belong to anyone else—is a simple but often overlooked step in creating a compelling message. |
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