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The mbaMission Blog 22 Sep 2021, 15:00
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FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: George Geis, UCLA Anderson 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 profile George Geis from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

George Geis has been voted Outstanding Teacher of the Year five times while at UCLA Anderson, most recently in 2012. In the past, Geis has served as the associate dean and faculty director of the Anderson Executive MBA program as well as faculty director of the school’s Mergers and Acquisitions Executive Program. Geis has also maintained a mergers and acquisitions blog and a biotech corporate development blog.

One alumnus described Geis to mbaMission as an experienced investor and a funny and credible guy. The graduate added that he had very much enjoyed the guest speakers Geis brought to class, as well as the strategic analysis of the board game industry, covered in a case discussion about the game Trivial Pursuit.

For more information about the UCLA Anderson School of Management and 16 other top-ranked MBA schools, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides.
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The mbaMission Blog 23 Sep 2021, 14:00
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FROM mbaMission Blog: Alumni Generosity and Research-to-Practice at Dartmouth Tuck
The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth has approximately 10,700 living alumni. Although that figure may sound small compared with a larger school’s alumni base, numerous students and graduates we have interviewed report that Tuck has an active and close-knit alumni community. Through their continued involvement with the school as mentors, visiting executives, recruiting contacts, and internship providers, Tuck alumni maintain an open channel between the MBA program and the business world. The Tuck students with whom we have spoken cannot say enough about the strength of student-alumni interactions, emphasizing that the vitality of Tuck’s close-knit community endures long after graduation.

One second-year student shared that he had had pretty high expectations with regard to the school’s alumni network “but still underestimated how strong the network can be.” He explained, “The connections were instant. I received same-day responses, all the time. There is a strong pay-it-forward mentality and a genuine interest in seeing people from Tuck do well. Alums go out of their way to help with networking, job preparation, anything.”

Tuck alumni also stay connected to the school through its annual fund-raising campaign. The school reportedly boasts the highest giving rate of all U.S. MBA programs. Tuck noted that its giving rate is “more than double the average giving rate of other business schools” in an August 2015 news article on the school’s website, and in an August 2016 article, the school noted, “More than two-thirds of Tuck’s [alumni] gave to their alma mater this year, continuing the school’s tradition of unparalleled alumni loyalty and participation.” This pattern continued in 2017, when more than two-thirds of the Tuck alumni pool donated to the school, for the 11th year in a row. In 2018, Tuck set a new record when it raised $51.3M from its alumni. In April 2018, the school launched a new capital campaign titled “The Tuck Difference: The Campaign for Tomorrow’s Wise Leaders.” The fundraiser is part of the larger university’s $3B campaign, for which Tuck has set an investment target of $250M. As of June 2021, the campaign has raised nearly $233M.

Tuck takes pride in not only its active alumni pool, but also its close-knit community and small faculty-to-student ratio. The school’s Research-to-Practice Seminars complement these characteristics and allow incoming students to quickly get acquainted with the Tuck culture. An article on the school’s Tuck Today website explained that “International Entrepreneurship” was the first of several such seminars designed to give students insight into a real-world business issue. The courses bring together a small group of second-year students with top faculty for a “deep dive” into a specific topic. Research-to-Practice Seminars that have been offered in the past include the following:

  • “Corporate Takeovers”
  • “Deconstructing Apple”
  • “Management of Investment Portfolios”
  • “Marketing Good and Evil: Consumer Moral Judgment and Well-Being”
  • “Strategy in Innovation Ecosystems”
  • “Time in the Consumer Mind”
For more information on other defining characteristics of the MBA program at Dartmouth Tuck or one of 16 other top business schools, please check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides.
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The mbaMission Blog 24 Sep 2021, 09:00
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FROM mbaMission Blog: All About Critical Reasoning Questions on the GMAT (Part 1)
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.

Which type of Critical Reasoning (CR) question drives you crazy? Boldface? Find the Assumption? Inference?

The Critical Reasoning Process

Before you dive into individual question types, knowing the overall CR process is critical. Here are a few key notes:

  • There are four major* and five minor question subtypes, and each one has its own particular technique details. We will talk about the four major types in this post; check back soon for more information on the five minor types.
  • Your job is to learn the overall process/strategy for CR as well as the techniques specific to each question subtype.*Note: Major types show up more frequently than minor types.
To master CR, you should be able to answer the following questions about each question type:

  • How do I recognize this question type?
  • What kind of information should I expect to find in the argument, based on this question type? What kind of information is going to be the most important?
  • What is the goal for this question type? What characteristics must the correct answer have?
  • What kinds of traps will be set for me? What are the common wrong answer types for this question type?
The Assumption Family

Assumption Family questions always involve a conclusion. This group consists of five subtypes overall. Here are the three major ones in this category:

Find the Assumption: What does the other assume is true when drawing the conclusion? Want to try another?

Strengthen the Conclusion: What new information would help to make the conclusion a little more likely to be true?

Weaken the Conclusion: What new information would help to make the conclusion a little less likely to be true?

The Evidence Family

Evidence Family questions really do not have conclusions (never “big” conclusions, like the Assumption arguments, and usually no conclusions at all).

This group consists of two subtypes overall, but only Inference questions are a major type:

Inference: Given the information in the argument, which answer choice must be true?

Spend some time mastering those four major types, as well as the overall CR process.
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The mbaMission Blog 25 Sep 2021, 08:00
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FROM mbaMission Blog: The Five Most Common MBA Interview Mistakes
So, you applied to business school and finally landed that coveted interview! Excited, you rush to prepare—researching the most likely questions you will be asked, memorizing your answers, and rehearsing them in front of a mirror, right?

Wrong.

MBA interviews are not about memorizing answers but rather having thoughtful conversations regarding who you are. Here are the five most common mistakes you can make when approaching a business school interview:

  • Overpreparing: Walking into an MBA interview with all of your answers scripted and planned prevents your interviewer from getting to know you and creates distance between you and your interviewer. Instead of having a thoughtful conversation and truly listening to them, you are busy shifting through your mental file to find which answer to give. It also puts you at risk of getting thrown off if the interviewer asks a question that you have not prepared for. Instead, know your story and think about the types of questions you could be asked, but then go into the interview prepared to listen and engage.
  • Not “reading the room”: It is important to be aware of your surroundings and build rapport with your MBA interviewer. For example, if you are meeting your interviewer in their office at an investment bank in the middle of the week, do not show up in jeans and a blazer. Similarly, if you are meeting at a Starbucks on a weekend and the interviewer tells you in advance to dress casually, do not show up in your best suit. In addition, be aware of your interviewer’s reactions during your answers—if the interviewer starts to look disinterested or attempts to interrupt, try to finish your answer. Just as you would in any conversation, be aware of give and take, and do not ramble for too long.
  • Not knowing about the school: Interviewers have a connection to the school and are proud of it. You do not have to know every single professor’s name or course number, but you should scan recent press releases to be aware of any major school news and be able to articulate in detail how the school will help you achieve your career goals. A great resource to get to know your target schools is the mbaMission Insider’s Guides series, which covers 17 top-ranked MBA programs. You can download these guides for free to brush up on defining characteristics of the schools, notable courses, clubs, experiential opportunities, and popular social/community events.
  • Asking inappropriate questions: Most interviewers will conclude the interview with “Do you have any questions for me?” Please, we urge you—do not ask questions about the application process or about what the interviewer thought of you. Do not ask questions that are easily answered by the school’s website. If the school is facing any negative press, do not ask about it. And do not ask questions that might be perceived to be tricking the interviewer, such as those about obscure courses.
  • Giving the interview too much weight: We often hear clients say, “I aced the interview, so I’ll definitely get in” or “I didn’t get in, so I must have blown the interview.” Likely neither of these situations is true. The interview is just one factor in the MBA admissions decision—just one! You could have a terrific interview and not get in or a weak one and get in, just as you could get in despite a subpar GMAT score and not get in with an amazing one. The business school interview is just one part of the application, and giving it too much weight can cause you to be so nervous that you cannot engage in an authentic conversation.
mbaMission has created a ton of great free resources to help you prepare for your MBA interview:

  • The mbaMission Interview Guide describes the different kinds of interviews you may encounter and the types of questions typically asked. It also includes valuable tips on what to do before, during, and even after the interview.
  • mbaMission’s Interview Guides to the top business schools provide insight into what each school is evaluating and hoping to gain from the interview along with an explanation of the school’s specific approach to interviewing; lists of the school’s most common interview questions and themes as well as advice on how to respond to them; and our tips on managing the interview process from scheduling to thank you notes.
If you are looking for one-on-one help preparing for your MBA interview, check out these mbaMission services:

  • Mock Interview Sessions: Meet with an experienced mbaMission admissions consultant who will use actual questions your target school’s interviewers have posed to previous applicants.
  • HBS Mock Interview and Post-Interview Reflection Support: Speak with an experienced mbaMission consultant who will have read your entire Harvard Business School (HBS) application and prepared customized questions based on your candidacy. Plus, get feedback on your post-interview essay.
  • HBS Intensive Interview Simulation: If you are invited to interview at HBS and want to practice with someone who has years of experience interviewing hundreds of HBS candidates, sign up for our intensive interview simulation with mbaMission’s Devi Vallabhaneni.
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The mbaMission Blog 26 Sep 2021, 09:00
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FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: You Need a 750 GMAT to Get into Business School
We often hear MBA applicants ask some form of the following question: “Do I need a 750 to get into a top MBA program?” Although a 750 on the GMAT can certainly be helpful, it is not a prerequisite. We wanted to dispel this myth and put some who believe it at ease. Here are a few simple reasons why this is just not true:

  • The average is lower. Average GMAT scores at the top MBA programs range from approximately 700 to 730. Clearly, if the high end of the GMAT average range is 730, the schools cannot expect applicants to have a 750. That would mean that every applicant would be above average, which is not possible. Still, if a candidate’s score falls below the average, this generally places a greater burden on the other components of the individual’s application—so, for example, maybe their work experience would need to be stronger than that of other applicants, or maybe their extracurriculars would need to stand out even more. The bottom line is that mathematically speaking, many people have a GMAT score below 750.
  • Too few applicants have a 750 or higher. The top MBA programs accept thousands of applicants each application season. Only approximately 2% of GMAT test takers earn scores of 750 or higher, and some are earned by people who do not ultimately apply to business school at all, do not apply to any of the leading schools, take the test only to become GMAT instructors, pursue an EMBA or part-time MBA instead, are rejected because other aspects of their profile render them uncompetitive… and the list goes on. Basically, the top MBA programs do not receive applications from enough applicants with 750s to entirely populate their incoming class, as evidenced by the schools’ mid-80% GMAT ranges, which are typically 660–760.
  • All schools accept the GRE. Applicants do not really even need to take the GMAT anymore. Of course, if you do take the GMAT, you should strive to achieve the highest score possible. However, if the GMAT is not even required, you obviously would not need to score a 750 to be accepted.
We want to be unequivocal: 750 is a great GMAT score, and anyone who earns that score should be delighted. However, if you do not fare as well on the exam, you should still be quite hopeful and keep a positive mindset, because the admissions process is holistic.
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The mbaMission Blog 27 Sep 2021, 09:00
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FROM mbaMission Blog: Set the Tone Early, and Employ Active Verbs in Your MBA Application Essays
Any good journalist will tell you that the key to writing a good news story or opinion piece is to grab the reader’s attention with the very first line. Many book authors employ this same tactic. Although only a small percentage of people have actually read Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, most know that the novel begins with three famous words: “Call me Ishmael.” A powerful first line can stick with readers long after they have finished reading something (and sometimes with those who have not even read it!). For example, we all likely recognize the statement “It was a dark and stormy night,” but few may know that it is the opening line of a book by an obscure writer (Paul Clifford by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton).

Although beginning an essay with a very short introduction is the norm, sometimes a punchy opening line can capture a reader’s attention in a useful way. Consider the differences between the following pairs of openers. Which line in each example better captures your attention?

Example 1: A “Why MBA?” essay

A: “After I graduate with my MBA, I want to work in the wine industry.”

B: “Blood runs in the veins of all humans, but wine also runs in mine.”

Example 2: A “What are you most passionate about in life?” essay

A: “I enjoy nothing more than playing ice hockey.”

B: “As soon as the nearby river freezes, I wake at 6 a.m. each day and join my teammates for a prework hockey scrimmage.”

No set formula exists for opening lines—the possibilities are endless, and each opener depends on the context of the story being told. Nonetheless, our point is that you must carefully consider your opening line, because it will set the tone for your essay and determine whether your reader will want to read more.

Now let us examine the role of active verbs in your essays. Anyone who has ever written an email that has been misunderstood—let alone an MBA application essay—is no doubt aware of the subtleties of language and the nuances that can change a message’s meaning. Indeed, you can enliven a basic sentence simply by choosing more active verbs.

For example, consider the verb “earn.” By using “earn” rather than a more passive verb in the following examples, we can alter the meaning and impact of each sentence. Suddenly, you are in control. Suddenly, you worked hard and, as a result, accomplished great things.

Passive/poor example: “I was promoted from junior to senior analyst.”

Active/good example: “I earned a promotion from junior to senior analyst.”

Passive/poor example: “After being awarded my MBA, I will be able to…”

Active/good example: “After earning my MBA, I will be able to…”

Once you have finished your application essays, review them to see how often you can replace certain words with “earn” or a similar verb—such as “achieve,” “gain,” and “attain”—that denotes action on your part.
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The mbaMission Blog 28 Sep 2021, 09:00
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FROM mbaMission Blog: My Harvard Business School Interview: A Firsthand Account from Our Harvard Interviewer in Residence

Prepare for Your HBS Interview with a Former HBS Interviewer: Devi Vallabhaneni, mbaMission

I arrived at my interviewer’s office in Chicago’s Loop a few minutes early. His assistant showed me in and offered me a seat at an empty table. While waiting, I looked around the office. Between the nerves that were causing my heart to jump out of my throat and the weight of the moment, it took me a few seconds to focus on the wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling color photo of my interviewer (a Harvard Business School graduate) and his wife skiing with Michael Jordan and his wife—all four looking sporty and stylish on top of a mountain under the bluest of skies.

Gulp.

Luckily, I had no time to overthink the situation because my Harvard Business School interviewer walked in and began our conversation. In 30 minutes we touched on many topics: growing up as an only child, deciding to study accounting and finance, working with the Royal Hong Kong Police Force on what was then its largest white-collar-crime case, having lunch every day with the last Hong Kong governor’s former bodyguard, debating British influence in India and Hong Kong, traveling through Russia and Romania, and exploring my goals.

When the interview ended, I thanked him for the opportunity. As I walked through the skyscraper’s lobby, a rush of emotions stopped me in my tracks. I was thinking, If the road to Harvard Business School ends now, I will not be sad because I think I just received a bigger gift—what it feels like to observe yourself reaching a personal best. The outcome felt so farfetched that I could not focus on it. I was just a happy-go-lucky, studious kid from Chicago who had somehow been drawn to business at a young age. In high school, we had had to pick a biography to read, and I chose a book about Lee Iacocca and how he saved Chrysler. I was reading Mark McCormack’s What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School alongside Flaubert and Dostoevsky.

Harvard Business School admits people, not applications. The interview is a human experience, more of a right-brain than left-brain exercise. You have no spreadsheets to crank out during the interview, and no one is going to ask you to recite the Black–Scholes formula. Instead, you have to express who you are, what you have done, and where you want to go—in a simple, self-reflective, and comprehensive manner. Doing so is easier said than done, so work backward from how you want to feel afterward as you plan what you want to say and how you should say it.

Do you want to feel like you barely scraped by? 

Do you want to realize that you had the answers in your head but had trouble verbalizing them?

Do you want to know that the interview was conversational and straightforward? 

Do you want to feel that you achieved a new personal best? 

Do you want to feel like you had fun? (This question shocks people. How could something so stressful be fun? Practice, I say.)

Even now, more than 20 years later, I return to that moment in the lobby whenever I have to push myself to achieve a new personal best. Yes, my goals have evolved, but the feeling is the same. Attending Harvard Business School has many benefits, and this one is, by far, my most cherished. Do not wait for business school to give you confidence. Bring it to your interview. Practice wisely! By practicing for your HBS interview, you create your new personal best by seeing yourself differently. This is my goal for each of my clients.

Do you want to prep for your HBS interview with Devi? Click here to learn more about her HBS Intensive Interview Simulations and sign up for a session with her!
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FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Dan Ariely, Duke University’s Fuqua 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 Dan Ariely from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business

Dan Ariely’s “Behavioral Economics” class is reportedly a popular one at Fuqua. “It always has the longest waiting list,” remarked one second year we interviewed, and an alumna said of Ariely, “He was wonderful.” When mbaMission asked a first-year student about Ariely’s class, he said jokingly, “I’m pretty sure you have to snag that class within one or two seconds of it becoming available!” The course explores how people actually act in the marketplace, as opposed to how they might act if they were being completely rational. (Note: “Behavioral Economics” is not available during the 2020–2021 academic year, according to the Fuqua course catalog.)

Ariely is also author of the books Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter (Harper, 2017, with Jeff Kreisler), Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations (Simon & Schuster/TED, 2016), The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves (HarperCollins, 2012), The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home (HarperCollins, 2010), and Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (HarperCollins, 2008).

An alumna told mbaMission, “He got us to think about everyday things in a totally new way,” and a second-year student commented, “Everyone takes his course. Everyone. He’s our rock-star professor.” Another second year agreed, saying, “He is one of the superstar professors here. He explains more complex research in an easy-to-understand way.”

Ariely maintains a blog that can be found at https://danariely.com. He also writes an advice column for the Wall Street Journal titled “Ask Ariely,” bits of which were published in book form under the title Irrationally Yours: On Missing Socks, Pickup Lines, and Other Existential Puzzles (Harper Perennial, 2015).

For more information about Duke Fuqua and 16 other top-ranked business schools, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides.
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FROM mbaMission Blog: Career Opportunities at the SMU Cox School of Business and the UMN Carlson School of Management

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 of nearly 127,000. One highlight of the networking resources Cox provides is its Alumni Association, which has members in more than 40 countries. The Economist ranked Cox’s small, collaborative program sixth for “potential to network” in 2019. In addition, Entrepreneur magazine has ranked business-friendly Dallas second among U.S. cities for entrepreneurs.

With 18 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 $35M in managed assets, the Carlson Funds Enterprise program ranks among the three largest student-managed funds in the world. Finally, the Carlson Ventures Enterprise program puts aspiring entrepreneurs in contact with experts, professionals, and investors.
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FROM mbaMission Blog: All About Critical Reasoning Questions on the GMAT (Part 2)
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 overall process for solving Critical Reasoning (CR) problems and reviewed the four major CR question types (the ones that show up most often on the test).

Now let’s take a look at the five minor types.

The Assumption Family

Assumption Family questions always involve a conclusion. This group consists of five subtypes, two of which are minor types:

Flaw: This is the “flip” of Find the Assumption. The author assumes something, but that thing might not be true. What is the flaw in the author’s reasoning?

Evaluate the Argument: What information would help to determine whether the conclusion is more or less likely to be valid?

The Evidence Family

Evidence Family questions really do not have conclusions (never “big” conclusions, like the Assumption arguments, and usually no conclusions at all). This group consists of two subtypes overall, but only one of these is a minor type:

Explain a Discrepancy: The argument contains some surprising information or outcome. Which answer choice provides some new information that clears up this surprising situation?

The Structure Family

Like Assumption questions, Structure questions do involve conclusions. The answer choices are usually in more “abstract” form, discussing characteristics of pieces of the argument. Both question types here are minor types.

Describe the Role: These are also known as boldface. The boldface portion plays what kind of role in the overall argument?

Describe the Argument: These are a variant of the boldface question, and they are so rare that I do not have an article for you. If you are really worried about these, you can take a look at our CR Strategy guide—but my best advice for you is not to worry about these.

Now what? Soon, we will talk about overall CR study strategies based on your scoring goals.
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FROM mbaMission Blog: Simple Strategies for Increasing Your Visibility on LinkedIn 
Optimizing your LinkedIn presence requires gaining visibility among your target audience. An effective strategy includes adding relevant content to the LinkedIn platform and crafting a compelling profile.

Here are five suggestions for attracting attention to your LinkedIn content:

  • Be strategic. Your content should reinforce your brand and areas of expertise/interest. Think about why people would follow you. What is your edge? What do you want to be known for? Use this as a guide for the type of content you post or share. Focus on demonstrating how you can help potential employers.
  • Post frequently. Post at least once a week but not more than once per day. You can comment on content, share existing content, or create your own content.
  • Reach your target audience. Use relevant hashtags in your posts but not more than three in any one post. Tag others in your industry (though no more than three people), especially those who are likely to share your content and comment on your post.
  • Encourage interaction to signal the relevance of your posts. Get early engagement with at least five comments on your post within the first 60 minutes. Post when your network is available to respond. Respond or react to each comment that is made on your post. Interact with other posts within 60 minutes of posting your own content.
  • Drive engagement with your posts. Posts with images are twice as likely to get comments as text-only posts. Videos are also a great tool for visibility! Ask questions of your audience, and encourage them to share their opinions. Limit links to content that originated outside of the LinkedIn platform.
In addition to posting content to gain visibility on LinkedIn, you can make the following tweaks to your profile:

  • Customize your LinkedIn URL. Click on “Edit public profile & URL” on your profile page to make it more search engine friendly. Remove unnecessary numbers and letters at the end of the URL. Use this clean URL on your resume and in your email signature.
  • Include a headshot and background image. Profiles with photos get 21 times more views. Choose a photo with a professional tone for your industry. Check out Snappr’s LinkedIn photo analyzer for tips.
  • Use relevant keywords—especially in your “Headline” and “About” section. Recruiters search LinkedIn for ideal candidates using keywords listed in the job description (look at the responsibilities section for ideas).
  • Add more connections. The more connections you have, the higher the likelihood you will be found by recruiters. Aim for more than 500 connections.
  • Follow target companies. This will enable you to learn more about what is happening at companies of interest while also signaling interest to any recruiters looking at your profile.
We also recommend reading LinkedIn News for business, career, and economic insights. For example, in a recent post (“Not All of Us Feel Great Purpose in Our Careers”), Fuqua professor and author Dorie Clark highlights small steps you can take to make your work more meaningful. Another article, “Does Remote Work Stall Careers?,” addresses the debate over promotions and return to work.

The bottom line is this: LinkedIn has more than 774 million members across 200 countries, with 81 job applications being submitted every second, making it the place to be seen if you want to invest in and advance your career.
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FROM mbaMission Blog: Are You Ready for Your HBS Interview?

Harvard Business School will send out Round 1 interview invitations on October 5 at noon eastern time.

Harvard Business School (HBS) will send out Round 1 interview invitations today, October 5, at noon eastern time. HBS will send only one batch of interview invites, along with notifications of “release,” which are sent to candidates who will not be moving forward in the application process. HBS’s managing director of MBA admissions and financial aid, Chad Losee, addressed the impending invitations in a blog post.

Now is the time to get ready for this crucial step in your application process. Check out these important resources created by mbaMission specifically for Harvard Business School interview candidates.

INTENSIVE SIMULATION

Prepare for Your HBS Interview with a Former HBS Interviewer: Devi Vallabhaneni

Devi Vallabhaneni, a former HBS alumni interviewer, former HBS admissions board member, and mbaMission’s HBS Interviewer in Residence, offers candidates the opportunity to prepare for their Harvard Business School interviews via live intensive interview simulations. With more than 20 years in MBA admissions and readiness and having conducted thousands of real and mock HBS interviews with candidates across all industries, geographies, backgrounds, and personal stories, Devi has the experience and passion to help applicants feel confident and ready for their HBS interviews. The live interview simulation includes the following components:

  • Two or more 30-minute interview experiences customized to your application. Before your first session, Devi will spend several hours reviewing your written application, following the same process she used when conducting candidate interviews for HBS. This allows her to target her questions based on what she discovers about you from your application.
  • Personalized feedback. After each interview session, Devi will provide you with targeted feedback, talking you through her impressions and offering strategic advice for improving your Harvard Business School interview skills.
  • A reflection period. You will have time between your interview sessions with Devi to internalize the feedback and adjust accordingly before trying again.
  • Post-Interview Reflection support. After their interviews, intensive-simulation clients who are not already working with an mbaMission Consultant can have Devi provide targeted support on their HBS Post-Interview Reflection.
For more information and to secure your spot, please visit our HBS Intensive Interview Simulation page.

MOCK INTERVIEW AND POST-INTERVIEW REFLECTION SUPPORT


Another resource to help you prepare is our HBS Mock Interview and Post-Interview Reflection Support service. Through it, you work with an experienced mbaMission Senior Consultant or Managing Director who will have read your entire Harvard Business School application and prepared customized questions based on your candidacy. Via Q&A, feedback, and thorough response planning, we will help you improve the content of your answers, your time management skills, and your overall presentation.

HBS asks all interviewed applicants to write a post-interview essay and submit it within 24 hours of their interview. This essay has no word limit, and HBS suggests that candidates think of it as an email they would write to a friend or colleague, rather than as a formal essay.

As part of our targeted HBS interview package, an mbaMission advisor will help you strategize your approach to this special essay. Your Consultant will also review a draft of the essay and provide feedback intended to assist you in making it stronger and more effective. Please note that because the HBS admissions office explicitly states that applicants are not to write anything in advance or receive outside help with this essay, your mbaMission Consultant will not edit your writing but will instead offer detailed strategic direction via comments only.

To purchase your HBS mock interview preparation session, click here!


Download your complimentary copy of mbaMission’s Harvard Business School Interview Guide today.

HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL INTERVIEW GUIDE


Download your complimentary copy of mbaMission’s Harvard Business School Interview Guide today.

In creating our interview guides, we have drawn on countless communications with MBA students, alumni, admissions officers, and applicants, in addition to our vast library of interview reports submitted by current and past clients. Our HBS Interview Guide provides the following information:

  • Insight into what the school is evaluating and hoping to gain from the interview
  • An explanation of the school’s approach to interviewing (e.g., self-scheduled or invite only, blind versus comprehensive)
  • Past applicants’ firsthand accounts of their interview experiences and multiple sample interview question sequences
  • Tips on preparing for and responding to the questions that most often vex applicants
  • Help in formulating compelling questions of your own
FREE INTERVIEW WORKSHOP


Find out exactly what you need to do to prepare for your interview during our free “MBA Interview Workshop” webinar on October 20, 2021. Led by mbaMission Senior Consultant Nisha Trivedi, the webinar will cover the following topics:

  • Best practices to help you prepare for and succeed in your business school interviews
  • The different types of interviews you might encounter
  • What admissions committees are looking for
  • Tips for time management
Enroll for free today!

Good luck to all Round 1 applicants! If you believe you might benefit from one of our interview-planning services—or if you would simply like more information on these offerings or on the interview process in general—feel free to contact us anytime!
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FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: My Work Performance Is All That Matters
Because you spend so many of your waking hours working, 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.
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FROM mbaMission Blog: The Value of Current—and Enthusiastic—Community Service
MBA admissions committees try to identify applicants who are constantly active, challenging themselves in all spheres of their lives. As a result, extracurricular and community activities are not only powerful in showing an MBA candidate’s benevolence, but they also help create the impression that the applicant is steadily pursuing goals and is therefore predisposed to success.

We regularly encounter business school applicants who say, “I have been so busy professionally that I haven’t had time to volunteer, but I was really active during college.” In almost all cases, however, as candidates get further from their college years, their undergraduate experience becomes less and less relevant. Although having a record of consistent achievement throughout college and into one’s professional life is best, MBA applicants are often evaluated on a “What have you done for me lately?” basis—meaning that contemporary community service is generally more important.

MBA admissions officers know that finding time to commit to external activities can sometimes be challenging, but they still see many applicants from the most competitive fields who indeed find time to give back to others. So, if you had a rich and rewarding college experience filled with leadership, in short, keep that trend going. You have a powerful complement to your contemporary involvements, but not a substitute.

Showing enthusiasm for your volunteer work is as important as committing to the work itself. If you are slogging through your time as a volunteer, you are certainly not helping yourself or your candidacy. “Time served” is not the most important factor of your community work in the eyes of the MBA admissions committees—what is meaningful and revealing is the impact you have on others. Indeed, the spirit with which you have served your community is what will impress the committees.

As you consider your options for community involvement (and we hope you began doing so long before now), be sure to choose a cause or group about which you are passionate and to which you can commit yourself entirely. By dedicating yourself to an organization about which you are sincerely enthusiastic (just as you would do in choosing a job), you will naturally find yourself in situations that will lend themselves to quality essays and powerful recommendations.
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FROM mbaMission Blog: Addressing Sustainability at UCLA Anderson and Thinking Social at NYU Stern
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) certificate program 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” and “Oceanology.” In addition to completing the program’s required four courses, LiS students must complete a leadership 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 Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship (formerly known as the W.R. Berkley Innovation Labs) serves 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. Courses available within the specialization include “Global Markets, Human Rights, and the Press,” “Investing for Environmental and Social Impact,” and “Strategy with a Social Purpose.”

Attending or helping to plan the “Stern Struts” (formerly “Think Social, Drink Local”) marquee fundraiser is one of many options that socially conscious aspiring MBAs will find to fulfill their interests at Stern. The school’s Luxury & Retail Club hosts the event with help from corporate sponsors, which in the past have included Brooklyn Brewery and Crop Organic Vodka. The April 2018 event (the most recent we could find information on) took place at the 1 OAK NYC nightclub and featured an open bar and a “Style Icons” runway fashion show, in which Stern students modeled clothing from designers. The fashion show is a highlight of the evening and has raised more than $10K in past years.

Through the Stern Consulting Corps program, 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 $50K 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 our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides.
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FROM mbaMission Blog: How to Think about the Harvard Business School Interview
Devi Vallabhaneni, a Harvard Business School (HBS) graduate and former HBS MBA interviewer, is mbaMission’s Managing Director and HBS Interviewer in Residence and conducts HBS Intensive Interview Simulations. Here she shares some of her insights on the HBS interview.

So much misinformation is disseminated and exchanged about the Harvard Business School interview, so I would like to mitigate some of that by sharing the way I see it. Let me first clarify for you what the HBS interview is not.

A Monologue

I have seen applicants start answering a question and then ramble on for minutes, covering topics that had not even been asked about. Unfortunately, these candidates often lose connection with the interviewer, who is not able to just jump into the conversation and might feel forced to cut them off midstream, which does not feel good for either party.

A Performance

This happened to me last year. My interviewee rehearsed all of his hand gestures and facial expressions to accompany his words and treated our mock interview as a dress rehearsal instead of a true representation of what to expect in the actual interview. In a performance, the temptation is to become someone else—like an actor in a play—which goes against the entire philosophy of the Harvard Business School interview.

An Oral Exam

MBA applicants often feel the need to defend the path not chosen, such as a certain college major or job. Focus on the path you chose by sharing the why—your reasons for doing so. If you felt any regret or disappointment along the way, talk about how it shaped you, how it informed future decisions, and how you incorporated your learnings. We have all second-guessed ourselves at some point, but this is not the right venue for dwelling on them.

A Sales Presentation

How do I sell myself? How do I stand out? How do I impress the MBA admissions committee? These common questions lend themselves to a sales mentality. The Harvard Business School interview is not about “selling yourself”; it is about “expressing yourself.” The admissions board has seen every type of background, personality, life experience, and so on. By communicating the most compelling and salient parts of your story, you automatically differentiate yourself.

A Therapy Session

I have seen interviewees misinterpret “authenticity” and “vulnerability” and share too much information about themselves. Remember the context: this is an interview for Harvard Business School; it is not a support group meeting!

A Speech

By thinking of the interview as a speech, some applicants inevitably memorize their talking points, which gives them a false sense of security. Really listening and being present in the moment is difficult when you are busy trying to recall your prepared answers. So these candidates end up answering questions that were not even asked.

Instead, the HBS interview is a conversation—a high-level, cogent, yet personal dialogue between two people. The best way to think of the interview is as a chat with a C-level executive at your company or with a business school dean. They both know a lot about business and can understand you quickly. Your HBS interviewer is the same.

People often say that leadership is about competence and character, and I believe this is just as true for the HBS interview.

As a professional artist outside of my life in MBA admissions, I will leave you with a little art history metaphor:


Jackson Pollock, Number 23, 1948.

This is what it feels like when you are asked a question you do not know the answer to and need to think on your feet during the high-stakes HBS interview.


Pablo Picasso, Le Colomb Volant, 1952.

This is your first attempt at formulating a cogent response. Your answers might feel overworked, heavy, and full of unnecessary information.


Pablo Picasso, Blue Dove, 1961.

This is your response based on self-reflection, deliberate practice, and connecting the dots in your path. Your answers are light and effortless while showing depth and simplicity.

If you are preparing for your HBS interview, be sure to read my previous post, How to Prep for Your HBS Interview the Right Way. If you would like assistance preparing, I would love to work with you. Check out my HBS Intensive Interview Simulation. I look forward to helping you reach Picasso’s “Blue Dove” level of preparedness!
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FROM mbaMission Blog: All About Critical Reasoning Questions on the GMAT (Part 3)
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 series, we talked about the overall process for tackling Critical Reasoning (CR), as well as the four major CR question types. In Part 2, we reviewed the five minor question types. Now, let’s put it all together!



What is my strategy?

As we discussed in Part 1, the four major CR types are Find the Assumption, Strengthen, Weaken, and Inference. The majority of your CR questions will be in one of those four categories. If you are going for up to about 75th percentile on Verbal, concentrate on those.

Of the minor types, discussed in Part 2, the most common are Discrepancy, Describe the Role, and Evaluate. If you want to break the 75th percentile on Verbal, then also take a look at those three minor types, but still spend more time on the four major types. If CR is your weakest Verbal area, you can also skip whichever of those three minor types is hardest for you—some people really hate boldface questions, and others think Evaluate questions are the worst.

If you are looking to break the 90th percentile on Verbal, then you have to study everything. You can still pick one minor type as your “I will guess/bail quickly if I have to” question type, but you still have to try to learn how to do it and, during the test, take a crack at the question unless you are already behind on time and must bail on a question.

Great, I have mastered CR!

Let us test that theory, shall we? After you have studied all of the above and you feel pretty comfortable with CR, try this problem. I am not even going to tell you which type it is (in fact, that is one of the things that makes this problem so hard—what is it, in the first place?).

If you struggle with it, do not get discouraged. It is a very challenging problem. Instead, use it as an opportunity to get even better! By the way, the best outcome is not necessarily to get it right. Depending on your score goals and your other strengths and weaknesses, the best outcome may very well be to recognize that the question is too hard and to make a guess before the two-minute mark.

Happy studying!
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FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Am a Simple Product
Many candidates who approach us are concerned that they cannot get their stories out in one sentence or worried that their personal branding is too muddled. Some candidates feel that they must have a single narrative and continuously speak to it to make an impression on the admissions committees. But, of course, you are not a simple product with just one or two attributes—a Budweiser beer, for example, which can be represented with a straightforward slogan, “The Great American Lager.” MBA candidates are far more complex than consumer products. So, presenting yourself as one-dimensional (“I am an entrepreneur in everything I do,” “I am a finance guy”) is definitely a mistake that prevents you from revealing your depth of character and experience.

Let us consider a basic example: Jon built a lawn care business from a single truck into ten trucks, and he also coached Little League baseball, becoming a de facto “big brother” to one of the kids on the team. Why should Jon address only his entrepreneurial side in his applications and ignore his empathetic and altruistic treatment of this young baseball player? Why would Jon not reveal his depth and versatility instead, telling both stories and revealing distinct but complementary strengths?

We at mbaMission encourage candidates to brainstorm thoroughly and consider each of their stories from as many different perspectives as possible. No one simple formula exists for presenting yourself to the admissions committee. In fact, showing that you are a multitalented and sophisticated individual is incredibly important. After all, admissions committees are looking for the world’s next great business leaders, and the true legends of international business cannot be easily summarized in a mere handful of words.
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FROM mbaMission Blog: How to Take Ownership of Your Post-MBA Goals and Show They Are Attainable
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, after graduating 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 their proposed course, does not show any understanding of the demands of the positions, and does not explain the value they 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 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 they would want to join one.)

Similarly, a financial analyst in the corporate finance department at Yahoo! could connect their 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 immediate 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 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?

  • Climbing the ladder and becoming a partner in a consulting firm
  • Launching a boutique consulting firm
  • Leaving consulting to manage a nonprofit
  • Leaving consulting to buy a failing manufacturing firm and forge a “turnaround”
  • Entering the management ranks of a major corporation
The answer is yes! This candidate could justify any of these long-term goals (along with many others), as long as they connect them to experiences gained via their career as a consultant. With regard to your goals, do not feel constrained—just be sure to emphasize and illustrate that your career objectives are logical, achievable, and ambitious.
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The mbaMission Blog 17 Oct 2021, 09:00
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FROM mbaMission Blog: Networking in a Virtual Age
This post was written by our resident Career Coach, Elissa Harris. To sign up for a free 30-minute career consultation with Elissa, please click here.

MBAs know that networking is a big part of a successful job search, but it typically causes many candidates a good bit of anxiety, especially when it needs to happen virtually. Although some firms are beginning to host in-person events again, because of COVID-19 and its variants, other firms are electing to keep networking efforts virtual.

Here are a few networking concepts to help build your confidence at either virtual or in-person events:

  • Networking is an exchange of information, offering the opportunity to meet new people, learn new things, and engage in conversations about topics of interest.
  • Effective networkers build relationships rather than simply engaging in transactional conversations. The interaction is about forming a connection with the contact; read the situation for cues as to whether overtly selling yourself is appropriate.
  • Prepare to maximize every networking opportunity. Research the company/contact. Know your story and how it relates to the event/person. Determine your goal before the event begins.
  • Establishing a deep relationship with a contact at a large event is uncommon—even with in-person events. However, you can still use your connection with them to learn how the firm represents itself, gather information on why you might want to work at the firm, and identify new contacts.
  • Personalize your follow-up emails. In them, mention something specific you found compelling from your conversation, and consider asking for more time to discuss a particular topic in more depth. Graciousness is an important theme in networking.
If you are networking virtually, make the most of such events by following these six tips:

  • Learn about the format of the event. Will there be small or large group interactions? Should you use the direct message/chat function during the presentation? Will there be breakout rooms? Should you dress in formal business attire?
  • Commit and engage fully. Turn on your camera. Show verbal cues that you are paying attention; do not try to do a problem set while an employer presentation is taking place in the background. Participate in the breakout rooms and Q&A or polls.
  • Prepare interesting questions based on the presentation content. Ask questions about things the speaker expressed knowledge about or was passionate about.
  • Speak, but avoid talking too much and interrupting others. Find the appropriate venues for engagement, and let your peers get airtime, too! Make the session feel like a group conversation instead of an interview or several separate conversations.
  • Follow virtual meeting best practices. Mute yourself to avoid background noise. Make sure your background is professional. Look into the camera when speaking, not at the image of the speaker. Show up if you sign up.
  • Recognize that firms will expect you to be comfortable with virtual engagement, given that most of us have been working in some sort of virtual or hybrid environment for the past 18 or so months.
Finally, access more networking advice in our previous career blogs: “Do You Know What Networking Is?,” “Take the Transaction Out of Networking,” “Effective Networking Openers,” “Stop Talking about Work at Networking Events,” and “Overcoming Networking Nerves.”
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