|
It is currently 07 Jun 2023, 18:20 |
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
08:30 AM PDT
-09:30 AM PDT
08:00 PM PDT
-06:00 AM PDT
08:30 AM PDT
-09:30 AM PDT
03:30 PM PDT
-04:30 PM PDT
08:00 PM PDT
-09:00 PM PDT
03:00 PM EDT
-04:00 PM EDT
01:00 PM PDT
-02:00 PM PDT
17 Dec 2014, 13:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA News: CBS Students Take Aim at Sexism in Viral Video |
|
After claiming the spotlight in this year’s Follies production at Columbia Business School (CBS), a parody created by CBS students of Meghan Trainor’s hit song “All About That Bass” went viral last week on BuzzFeed. With the title “*complain* in Business,” the mildly NSFW video is described by its three MBA student producers as “a love letter to all the badass bitches who aren’t afraid to be themselves in the business world.” The students’ feminist anthem levels playful criticism at the entrenched sexism of business culture by calling out gender disparities and unequal professional expectations of women and men. “She’s really talented, but she comes on too strong and should be less abrasive,” the song begins, aping familiar double standards women tend to face in the business arena. Bloomberg Businessweek‘s Francesca Levy reserved some skepticism for the video’s merit in combating sexism, gibing, “We’re happy to see a highly ranked business school take these issues seriously.” The Huffington Post was more sanguine about the effectiveness of the parody’s message, explaining, “If a woman is viewed as too ‘abrasive’ or too ‘pushy,’ she runs the risk of being labelled a *complain*, but those same qualities in a man might brand him as a strong leader. Everyday sexism at its finest.” To learn more about the CBS Follies and social and community activities at 15 other top MBA programs, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
17 Dec 2014, 18:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Gautam Kaul, Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan |
Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when they choose a business school, but the educational experience itself is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Each Wednesday, we profile a standout professor as identified by students. Today, we profile Gautam Kaul from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Gautam Kaul (“Finance and the Sustainable Enterprise”), the John C. and Sally S. Morley Professor of Finance at Michigan Ross, teaches both core curriculum courses and electives. In addition to referencing his intellectual capabilities, students with whom mbaMission spoke described Kaul as extremely friendly and having a great sense of humor. He is also known for his willingness to help students both inside and outside the classroom. In 2005, in direct response to student interest, Kaul developed the course “Finance and the Sustainable Enterprise.” In return, students recognized his efforts and awarded him the Sustainability Pioneer Award and a plaque in his honor on one of the chairs in the main auditorium of the university’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. Kaul has been nominated for an MBA Teaching Excellence Award (which is voted on by the student body) numerous times and won the award in 1996, 2006, 2009, and 2011. He is also the 2009 recipient of the Victor L. Bernard Leadership in Teaching Award from the university’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. For more information about Michigan Ross and 15 other top-ranked business schools, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
18 Dec 2014, 07:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: mbaMission’s 2016 MBA Class Profile Infographic |
|
Choosing the right MBA program for your needs can be challenging. How do you identify the best one for your specific personal, educational, and professional goals? An important element of your business school experience will be your fellow students—the other aspiring MBAs with whom you will be living and studying every day. Using Class of 2016 profile statistics from the top ten U.S. programs (according to U.S. News & World Report 2015), we at mbaMission have created this infographic to help show how the different programs compare. Enjoy! Want to share our infographic on your site or blog? Copy and paste the code below. Be sure to use the buttons at the bottom of this post to share on social media! <p><a href=’https://www.mbamission.com/blog/2014/12/18/mbamissions-2016-mba-class-profile-infographic’><img src=’https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/mbaMission-Class-Profile-Infographic-2014.png’ alt=’mbaMission’s 2016 MBA Class Profile Infographic’ width=’650px’ border=’0′ /></a></p><br /><br /> <p> 
|
18 Dec 2014, 17:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Beyond the MBA Classroom: Tuck ‘Tails |
|
When you select an MBA program, you are not just choosing your learning environment, but are also committing to becoming part of a community. Each Thursday, we offer a window into life “beyond the MBA classroom” at a top business school. Tuck ‘Tails are “happy hours” that occur almost every Thursday at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Open to everyone on campus, they are typically sponsored by a different student group each week. Faculty and students gather over beer, wine and other refreshments. A recent graduate we interviewed noted, “The Tuck ’Tails are fun and usually linked to different events and clubs. They are chill but sometimes lead to bigger parties!” The events are generally held on campus in Stell Hall, but when the weather is nice, the festivities are sometimes moved to a tent outside or onto the new deck in the school’s Living and Learning Complex. For in-depth descriptions of social and community activities at Dartmouth Tuck and 15 other top MBA programs, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
19 Dec 2014, 14:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Friday Factoid: Small Town Life, Global Opportunities at Tuck |
|
The Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth is located in the quaint town of Hanover, New Hampshire, which has a population of approximately 11,000 and is thus considered a small college town. However, “Tuckies,” as the school’s students are known, have no shortage of access to global learning opportunities. Students gain hands-on international experience through the “Tuck Global Consultancy” course, which gives second years the chance to put their education into practice worldwide. Since 1997, students have consulted with approximately 120 global organizations on more than 180 projects in more than 55 countries. 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 and September or November and December 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 Dartmouth Tuck or one of 15 other top business schools, please check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
20 Dec 2014, 14:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: GMAT Impact: The Master Resource List for Reading Comprehension (Part 2 of 4) |
|
With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. In this blog series, Manhattan GMAT’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 discussed how to read Reading Comprehension (RC); if you have not yet read that post, do so now and then continue with this post. The RC Question Types Do you remember the last thing I said at the end of the Part 1 post? When you have mastered the reading skills, you are then ready to tackle the questions. Do not make the mistake of thinking that you can ignore the previous post and just go straight for the questions. You will be slower, and you will make more mistakes if you do that. RC has three main question types: Main Idea, Specific Detail, and Inference. Each of those question types can have nuances or subtypes. We will tackle the first two in this post and cover Inference and the minor Why question type in next week’s post. Main Idea Most passages will include one Main Idea category question. Most commonly, you will be asked for the “primary purpose” (i.e., the main idea) of the entire passage, though a question could also ask for the primary purpose or role of just one paragraph. If you are asked for the purpose of the entire passage, then the correct answer has to cover the overall “real estate” of the passage as a whole. Wrong answers will often be too narrow (e.g., something that applies primarily to just one paragraph) or too broad (e.g., something that includes the main idea but goes beyond it to encompass ideas that were not presented in the passage). Follow the link at the beginning of this paragraph to get some practice. Specific Detail This category refers to questions that ask about a particular detail in the passage. Most commonly, these questions will begin with “According to the passage,…” Your task on these is to find an answer choice that matches something stated specifically in the passage. That sounds easy—if the information is stated right there in the passage, how hard can it be? As you already know very well, they can make it quite hard. First, the language in the passage is seriously complex; it is not always easy to understand what they are talking about. Second, right answers will often contain synonyms for words that appeared in the passage, while some wrong answers will often contain the exact language used in the passage. If you are not careful, you will be tempted to cross off that right answer because the language does not match exactly! Specific Detail Rule: Use the question wording to figure out where to go in the passage. Then reread that detail carefully. Do NOT rely on your memory! Why not? I was once taking a standardized test (not the GMAT, but similar), and I was about to pick an RC answer. Then I remembered that I should check the proof in the passage first, so—even though I was sure I was right!—I made myself find the proof. The passage was about some mammals, one of which was the kangaroo rat. I looked at the passage, glanced back at my answer…and suddenly realized that the answer said kangaroo not kangaroo rat! I would have been really mad to get a question wrong for that reason! The moral of the story: find the proof in the passage. Every single time. Try this specific detail question to get started. Want another? Here you go. Join us next week, when we will discuss the third major category, Inference, as well as the minor Why question type. |
21 Dec 2014, 15:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: They Will Not Notice My Weakness! |
|
At mbaMission, 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], 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 will notice a low GMAT score or a low GPA, and if you do not use the optional essay to address the issue, they will be left with unanswered questions about why that weakness occurred. Rather than putting the committee in the position of having to guess at an explanation, take control of the situation yourself and grab the opportunity to explain the details behind the weakness. For example, let us say you have a weak GPA overall because in your first two years of college, you worked full-time, 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 full 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 notice all aspects of your profile. They are not punitive, but they are also not careless and will certainly note any weaknesses like those we have 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. |
22 Dec 2014, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Monday Morning Essay Tip: Convey a Confident Tone |
|
You must ensure that the tone of your essays allows the admissions committee to readily recognize your certainty and self-confidence. Being clear and direct about who you are and how you envision your future is vital. Consider the following example statements: Weak: “I now have adequate work experience and hope to pursue an MBA.” Strong: “Through my work experience, I have gained both breadth and depth, providing me with a solid, practical foundation for pursuing my MBA.” —— Weak: “I now want to pursue an MBA.” Strong: “I am certain that now is the ideal time for me to pursue my MBA.” —— Weak: “I have good quantitative skills and will succeed academically.” Strong: “I have already mastered the quantitative skills necessary to thrive in my MBA studies.” —— Weak: “With my MBA, I hope to establish myself as a leader.” Strong: “I am certain that with my MBA, I will propel myself to the next levels of leadership.” The key in all these examples is the use of language that clearly projects self-confidence—instead of “hope,” use “will;” rather than saying you have “good” skills, show “mastery.” Although you should avoid sounding arrogant, by being assertive and direct, you will inspire confidence in your reader and ensure that you make a positive impression. |
23 Dec 2014, 13:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Mission Admission: Do Not Neglect Short Answers |
|
Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips; a new one is posted each Tuesday. Many MBA candidates will work painstakingly on their essays, prepare rigorously for their interviews, and endlessly contemplate their choice of recommenders. However, applicants tend to leave the short answer section of their applications to the last moment, and some simply paste in information from their resumes or from their applications to other schools. The short answer sections—meaning the actual questions within the application about your work and community experiences, hobbies, etc.—should definitely not be ignored and should be completed with the same spirit of diligence that you would bring to all the other aspects of your application(s). We advise candidates to refrain from just pasting bullet points from their resumes into the short answer section and to instead take time to truly contemplate the questions that are asked and write out the answers in full sentence form. (Further, bullets from a resume often lack the necessary context, so they rarely make effective answers for this portion of the application.) Although the information conveyed in the short answer section is important, we believe that what is really crucial is that candidates give care and thought to all aspects of their applications. |
23 Dec 2014, 16:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Career Advice: What Does Leadership Mean to Me? |
|
In this weekly series, our friends at MBA Career Coaches will be dispensing invaluable advice to help you actively manage your career. Topics include building your network, learning from mistakes and setbacks, perfecting your written communication, and mastering even the toughest interviews. For more information or to sign up for a free career consultation, visit www.mbacareercoaches.com. The title of this post is not a cheesy essay question from your 7th grade Sociology final. It’s an extremely important question that you need to answer before any interview. Think about it. You know that there is a core set of questions that you would be foolish not to expect in an interview. Questions that ask you to discuss your experiences in these areas:
But in order to decide how to answer these questions, you need to have an intelligent understanding of what these concepts mean to you. For example, what do you mean when you talk about leadership? Is it…
Then, envision your answers to questions like, “Tell me about a leadership experience,” in a way that reflects your definition. This might entail opening with something like the following: “Well, when I think about leadership, I believe it happens when someone is taking ownership and responsibility for a final outcome and then seeing it through whether or not he or she has any authority or positional power. I did that most recently in my current role, when I was the junior member of a project team tackling…..” Speaking this way conveys a degree of self awareness that will differentiate you from other applicants. It will also make your answer sticky in the listener’s mind. She will come away with a very clear sense of who you are and what you value. And that is the best possible outcome of all! |
24 Dec 2014, 13:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Jeremy Siegel, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania |
Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when they choose a business school to attend, but the educational experience itself is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Each Wednesday, we profile a standout professor as identified by students. Today, we profile Jeremy Siegel from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Jeremy Siegel (“Macroeconomics and the Global Economic Environment” and “Monetary Economics and the Global Economy”) is arguably one of the most recognizable and renowned professors at Wharton, and not just because he regularly appears on CNN, CNBC, and NPR to weigh in on the financial markets. One first-year student we interviewed referred to Siegel as “THE professor at Wharton.” Siegel, who has taught at the school since 1976, combines his expertise with a passion for teaching. On the long list of teaching awards he has received is Bloomberg Businessweek’s Best Business School Professor (worldwide) accolade in 1994. What is more, Siegel’s expertise gives him almost unparalleled street cred in the eyes of Wharton students—not an easy lot to win over on the topic of the stock market. At the beginning of each class session for his macroeconomics course, Siegel pulls up live market data and quickly interprets what is going on in the markets that day. Interestingly, even students who are not enrolled in this course commonly stand at the back of the room to watch this summary. Siegel has been recognized often for his writings, having won numerous best article awards, and is a bestselling author. The Washington Post named his book Stocks for the Long Run: The Definitive Guide to Financial Market Returns and Long-Term Investment Strategies (McGraw-Hill, third edition, 2002) “one of the ten-best investment books of all time.” And in 2005, Bloomberg Businessweek named another of Siegel’s works, The Future for Investors: Why the Tried and the True Triumph Over the Bold and the New (Crown Business, 2005), one of the best business books of the year. Also in 2005, Siegel received the prestigious Nicholas Molodovsky Award from CFA Institute, awarded to “those individuals who have made outstanding contributions of such significance as to change the direction of the profession and to raise it to higher standards of accomplishment.” For information on other defining characteristics of the MBA program at Wharton or any of 15 other top business schools, please check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
25 Dec 2014, 13:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Beyond the MBA Classroom: Fuqua Fridays and End-of-Term Parties |
|
When you select an MBA program, you are not just choosing your learning environment but are also making a commitment to a community. Each Thursday, we offer a window into life “beyond the MBA classroom” at a top business school. Every Friday evening, students, partners, professors and administrators at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business meet for drinks and snacks at the Fox Center for Fuqua Fridays. One second year told mbaMission, “Fuqua Friday’s a really great way to bring everyone together in the same place. It provides a chance to unwind.” It is the primary regular event at which the school’s greater community comes together—one-half to three-quarters of the student body usually attends. Some Fuqua Fridays have themes, such as Casino Night, a version of television’s Top Chef or Iron Chef, an International Food Festival and Green Week. Another second-year student we interviewed insisted that Fuqua Friday is one school event that is not to be missed, adding, “It brings everyone together when we are in a positive mind-set.” At the end of each term, students let off steam at an End-of-Term Party organized by the MBA Association—including a Halloween party, a luau and a black-tie optional party. These events sometimes draw as many as 500 attendees, if not more. A second-year student told mbaMission, “[The] end-of-term parties are crazy. [They’re] a huge part of our fabric and a way to spend social time bonding with people you might not see outside of class. They’re a huge reason why I love this school.” For in-depth descriptions of social and community activities at Duke Fuqua and 15 other top MBA programs, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
25 Dec 2014, 18:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Diamonds in the Rough: The Carey School of Business at Arizona State |
|
MBA applicants can get carried away with rankings. In this series, we profile amazing programs at business schools that are typically ranked outside the top 15. Arizona State University, the largest public university in the United States, is home to the W.P. Carey School of Business. Despite its extensive global network of more than 90,000 alumni, Carey boasts a small, tight-knit MBA program—with an incoming class size numbering just 67 students in 2014 (and only 74 in 2013). Throughout the four quarters of their first year, students are exposed to a core general management curriculum that incorporates hands-on and experiential learning opportunities. Notable within Carey’s core course sequence is a business plan lab, taken in the fall of the first year, which culminates in a business plan competition in January. Through this offering, students learn entrepreneurial and general management skills applicable to a broad range of professional interests. Starting in the second half of the first year, students are able to customize their curriculum to fulfill up to two (of seven possible) areas of professional specialization. The Carey curriculum also offers the option of selecting from among seven areas of emphasis, designed to allow students to explore a given field more broadly. Students can also combine an MBA with one of six other degree offerings from the university in a dual-degree program. In addition, Carey boasts an internationally diverse class and strong global opportunities, including International Elective courses with destinations all over the world. |
26 Dec 2014, 14:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Friday Factoid: NYU Stern’s Concourse Project |
|
In 2008, New York University (NYU) commenced work on the Concourse Project, a $35M renovation undertaking intended to link the school’s three buildings—Tisch Hall, the Henry Kaufman Management Center, and Shimkin—unite its programs and modernize its facilities. Although much of the work focused on the university’s undergraduate facilities, the renovation at Stern proved to be the business school’s most significant one since the program moved to its current location in 1988. Architectural highlights of the project include new pathways to connect the buildings, new plaza skylights to introduce more natural light, MBA lounges to provide more gathering and study space, and the modernization of some classrooms to create more flexible learning environments. The project was completed in early 2010, and a first-year student we interviewed expressed that the “building looks very modern,” while a second year offered, “The new lobby is very nice, and the new lounges are great places to gather and study.” Gone are the dark, cinder block–lined hallways of old, replaced by modern open spaces that allow students to congregate, share ideas, and connect! For more information about NYU Stern and 15 other top-ranked business schools, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
27 Dec 2014, 15:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: GMAT Impact: The Master Resource List for Reading Comprehension (Part 3 of 4) |
|
With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. In this blog series, Manhattan GMAT’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. |
28 Dec 2014, 11:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Admissions Myths Destroyed: My Recommender’s Grammar Will Ruin My Chances |
|
At mbaMission, we are always emphasizing the need for effective written communication. Indeed, gaining admission to your target school involves no real “trick”—earning that coveted letter of acceptance depends on your ability to tell your story in a compelling way 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 more true 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. |
29 Dec 2014, 11:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Monday Morning Essay Tip: Start with Your Strongest Accomplishments |
|
When preparing personal statements that require significant information about career progress, many MBA applicants choose to discuss their accomplishments in chronological order. Although the simplicity of this approach makes it an attractive one, we encourage you to consider an alternative—showcasing more recent and thus potentially stronger accomplishments first. By choosing this alternate approach, you may capture your reader’s imagination more quickly and reduce the risk of being lost amid similar candidates. Consider the examples of a software analyst who is now a project manager managing a budget and leading a team of 20 programmers, and of an investment banking analyst who is now in his/her third year with a company and has been sent abroad to work directly with a CFO: The Project Manager: Chronological: “Joining ABC Technology as a software programmer, I…” Reverse: “Scrutinizing my plan one last time, I waited to present my team’s $3.7M proposal to our client…” The Investment Banker: Chronological: “As an investment banking analyst at Deutsche Bank, I started…” Reverse: “Arriving in Taipei, I was admittedly nervous to finally meet the CFO of XYZ Co. and lead my firm’s due diligence process…” In these examples, the candidates immediately present their standout accomplishments and thrust the reader into the excitement of their stories. Although this kind of reverse introduction is not “all purpose,” it can be a feasible option in many circumstances. Still, in choosing this approach, the candidate must also be able to fluidly return to earlier moments in his/her career later in the essay—a task that requires creativity and skill. |
29 Dec 2014, 16:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA News: Longreads Names Wired Article Featuring HBS Grad One of 2014’s Best |
|
If you are not checking the Longreads Web site regularly, you should be—Longreads combs the Internet for the best long-form writing, thereby saving you significant research time while bringing you fascinating stories. Longreads recently selected what it considers the best business writing of 2014 and chose an article from Wired magazine in April: “One Startup’s Struggle Survive the Silicon Valley Gold Rush.” Wired tells the story of Boomtrain, a seemingly doomed start-up whose founders are in a state of perpetual anxiety, striving to keep a few small pieces of their business together by bringing enough angel investors on board to make payroll. Boomtrain is led by Harvard Business School (HBS) graduate Nick Edwards, but HBS is a mere footnote in the story. In fact, the only degree that anyone seems to care about is that of Tevye Krynski, who holds a PhD in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is thus a bankable/marketable software engineer. What is fascinating about the Wired article is that it recasts Silicon Valley as a place not where billionaires are born every minute, but where dreams are dashed each second. It shows just how many Boomtrains are out there and how challenging the fund-raising environment can be. And—relevant to our audience—although an HBS MBA is certainly not a liability in Silicon Valley, it does not seem to be the ticket to Easy Street that many believe it is. The Wired article is well worth reading for any would-be MBA entrepreneur but also for anyone interested in a riveting article about the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. We will leave the ending for you to discover yourself… |
30 Dec 2014, 13:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Mission Admission: When to Schedule Interviews |
|
Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips; a new one is posted each Tuesday. With MBA admissions offices releasing second-round interview invitations in a few weeks, we thought we should explore an issue that brings endless paranoia to business school candidates: scheduling interviews. Many programs will give applicants a significant window in which to schedule their interview. So, does scheduling an interview early convey that you are being too aggressive and do not have any other irons in the fire, or instead that you are eager to act and impress the admissions committee? Does scheduling an interview later imply that you are less interested in the program, or rather that you are highly sought after and are interviewing at multiple schools? The reality is that scheduling your interview to occur during the early days of the school’s set time frame is really no different from scheduling it near the end. Neither option confers any advantage or disadvantage (nor does any day in between). The MBA admissions committees recognize that you, like all candidates, are busy and that your schedule is in flux as a result of work, community, and personal commitments. The committees focus on the interviews themselves, not on when they are scheduled. So pick a date that works for you—a day and/or time when you know you can be comfortable and relaxed, not distracted—and start preparing! |
30 Dec 2014, 18:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Career Advice: Effective Networking Openers |
|
In this weekly series, our friends at MBA Career Coaches will be dispensing invaluable advice to help you actively manage your career. Topics include building your network, learning from mistakes and setbacks, perfecting your written communication, and mastering even the toughest interviews. For more information or to sign up for a free career consultation, visit www.mbacareercoaches.com. Remember elementary school, when meeting new kids on the playground was fun? Whether you were playing a sport or just sitting at a table in the cafeteria, getting to know people used to be an exciting and interesting activity. So why do we hate networking events so much? One reason, no doubt, is the anxiety you feel anticipating the inevitable moment when someone turns to you and asks, “So, what do you do?” Thankfully, this anxiety can be entirely alleviated if you get used to introducing yourself. The first thing to remember is that at a networking event, you are engaging in a dialogue, an ongoing conversation among a group of people who are all getting to know one another. Your objective is not to get in and out as quickly as possible and grab as many business cards as you can, but to bring yourself fully into a dynamic conversation with others. If you do this correctly, you will never introduce yourself exactly the same way twice. The specific words you choose will arise spontaneously in the moment, depending on the person to whom you are talking. But planning the highlights of what you want to say in advance will help you engage confidently in these interactions. Effective introductions have three components. Characterizing your salient passion Consider these examples: Person A: “In the last three years of my career I have been most focused on helping people communicate more effectively in a professional context.” Person B: “I’ve been an engineer since college, and I have really loved breaking down different business problems and using technology to solve them.” Person C: “During my consulting years, I realized that the experiences I most valued were those that allowed me to help build something new. So I joined STARTCO where I helped launch new products for a year before starting business school.” Author Simon Sinek made a splash with his Ted Talk about “Starting with the ‘why.’” This—your passion—is your “why.” Notice that the bolded terms in these examples give the listener a window into what really matters to the speaker. Conveying your passion in your introduction allows the connection to start on the basis of your enthusiasm and values. Vividly Illustrating the Passion with an Example or Two Person A: “For example, I lead workshops for students in business school and teach them how to tell their personal stories in a way that inspires them and employers. I use the ideas of Hollywood movies to help people uncover their natural storytelling abilities.” Person B: “In fact on my last project, I examined a resuscitation device designed specifically for premature babies and discovered a way to make it more flexible and consistent, leading to a 20% better outcomes.” Person C: “The coolest product I helped launch is called a ‘widget.’ In a span of only six months, we got the thing designed, manufactured, and distributed to a small market in Southern California. It’s already profitable, so the company is planning to scale up production for a National launch in the next year.” These examples are abbreviated and brief, but you could easily expand much more in this section. Concluding and Opening the Conversation to Others Person A: “I love my work because it’s fun and it really makes a difference for people. It also allows me a lot of flexibility to travel, which is something else that is really important to me.” Person B: “It has been very rewarding to see my work make a real impact on young lives. I always love to ask people what problems they have that technology could help solve. Does anyone have any good ideas?” Person C: “My goal after business school is to transition into a marketing role at a larger company. I have so much more to learn and I hope to get some good training and mentoring in the nuances of customer insights in my next job.” See how these statements invite someone else to either ask a follow-up question, chime in with their own perspective, or draw a connection between the speaker and what they do? At this point, you want to clear a path for others to enter and participate in the conversation. Play with a few different ways of introducing yourself, and see if you can surprise yourself each time by coming up with something different that is exciting and inspiring. With just a little practice, you might even find that networking events start to be fun. |
|
|
||
Hi Guest,
Here are updates for you:
ANNOUNCEMENTS Thursday, June 8, 11:30am NY; 3:30pm London; 9pm Mumbai ✅ Greg discusses how to network with BSchools and how to use the insights you gather to communicate your unique fit in your essays, applications, and interviews. ✅ Subscribe to us on YouTube AND Get FREE Access to Premium GMAT Question Bank for 7 Days
YouTube, Instagram Live, & Chats This Week!
June
11
9:30 AM PST | 12:30 PM EST | 10:00 PM IST Everything you wanted to know about MBA Admissions with ARINGO  ✅ Kelly, a current Duke Fuqua MBA student talks about her favourite classes at Duke Fuqua. ✅ Subscribe to us on YouTube AND Get FREE 7-Day Access to our Premium GMAT Question Bank  ✅ Jai had an interesting 7 weeks preparing for the GMAT, and he hopes this video can help you prepare for your GMAT journey. ✅ Subscribe to us on YouTube AND Get FREE 7-Day Access to our Premium GMAT Question Bank  ✅ Diana Economy, former Ross AdCom, provides strategic advice on how to make the best use of MBA spotlight fair ✅ Not Registered for MBA Spotlight yet? Spot are Limited. Reserve your spot now ✅ Subscribe to us on YouTube AND Get FREE Access to Premium GMAT Question Bank for 7 Days
AGSM at UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE
Tuck at Dartmouth
GMAT Club REWARDS |
close
