My friend Teeba was always a force to be reckoned with, ever since our undergraduate days. We clicked. And she quickly became one of the closest people to me. I always knew she'd go places in her life, and I was right. She is now a semester away from attaining her MBA from Harvard Business School - better known to her and her peers as HBS(1).
During my 2-week vacation to visit Teeba, I was surrounded by HBSers(2) (or so they call themselves) and visited her campus several times. Just the aura of the school makes you feel inadequate, because you know that you are among some of the most brilliant, most unique, most intellectual minds in our world.
The students come from all walks of life which makes them all the more interesting. Right off the bat you can assume they are all smart as hell. They all seem to know something about everything or everything about something! Give them any topic, ask them any question and you can be sure that they'll answer you (even if they don't know what the answer is, they'll make you think that they do… key phrase: H- BS).
They are well educated dedicated individuals who know how to have a good time as well. But, they all have one major… "flaw", if you will: they go to HBS: the ultimate "cult" - and I use the term very loosely.
HBS is all they can talk about. I cannot count the times Teeba started a conversation with: "At HBS…" "My friends from HBS…" "My section(3) at HBS…" "Is she/he HBS?" "With HBS…" "HBSers…"
It was always "HBS this" and "HBS that." And it's not only her. It's all of them. At times, when with "HBSers" (there it is again), I found my self daydreaming as they talked about: How they loved Professor Vietor's controversial teaching style, how Professor Kaplan was the VP of Goldman Sachs (ring a bell? It's ok if it doesn't!), how the new "RCs(4)" are not as much fun as the "ECs(5)", how the dining hall at "Spangler" gets too busy at noon, how Dalia can be so pessimistic about everything, how Abdulla (an RC) is sitting in the same seat as Teeba when she was an RC, how Matt's partner(6) was a non-HBSer, how Danish attained his reputation for saying the most outrageous things in class (AKA the "Kimono" comment - sorry, HBS inside joke - one of many I had to sit through), or how section D was not as diverse as the other sections.
You have to know that these people are beyond well rounded. They've been to some of the best undergraduate schools across the world, worked with the biggest companies, accomplished some of the most amazing things, and most are trilingual. So, you think when amongst them that you'd be consumed by invigorating conversations and debates. But, HBS is all they talk about.
Alright… I think I've taken out all my 2-week frustration of being an undercover HBS observer. I'd like you to meet the real HBS:
Osman: the daily planner and go-to guy if you need anything to be done
Matt: possibly one of the kindest people I've met
Nico: the Greek "survivor"
Marwan: the walking tour book
Danish: who always had something to say (appropriate or not… mostly not)
Cristin: the postcard collector
Tevia: who cuts her own hair!
Pato: the health nut
Sara V: the cookie-baker
Christine: the laugh-a-holic
Shilpa: the bachelorette
Dalia: the firecracker
Ghassan: the unpredictable soul
Abdullah: the owner of the coolest eye glasses collection
Yousef: the guy who ran across Harvard square with me
Section A Boys: Teeba's section boys - the funniest, craziest group of boys - thanks to the "shoulder game" (another HBS inside joke and one of few I can actually participate in!)
So, as you can see… on the flip side, two weeks with these people gave me some of my most treasured memories, which I will never forget. Yes they are in HBS. Yes they are smart. Yes they are dedicated, diligent students. But, the genuineness they all carry and their ability to just be silly with all the pressures they endure, well… that's what makes the "HBSers" approachable, lovable, missable. I'd go back in a heart beat.
HBS Glossary
(1) HBS: Harvard Business School
(2) HBSers: Students who attend Harvard Business School
(3) Section: In their first year, they are
divided into sections between A-J
(4) RC: Required Curriculum students
(1st year)
(5) EC: Elective Curriculum students
(2nd year)
(6) Partner: The term used for the spouses of HBS students
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
BizWeek: MBA Writing Tips
"MBAs may be good at analyzing spreadsheets and reading financial statements, but many cringe when faced with a lengthy academic writing assignment. The task can be especially difficult for students who have been in the work force for four or five years and haven't written a serious academic paper or report since college.
Writing classes typically aren't on most business schools' list of core required courses, but business schools are starting to recognize that MBAs' rusty composition skills could benefit from a brush-up. In Minneapolis, the University of St. Thomas' Opus College of Business requires that all students take a writing and spoken communication course during their first year. The school's writing communication lab professors helps students improve their writing skills, coaching them on everything from how to write a case study analysis to lengthy academic papers.
Rosanne Bane, an Opus faculty member, has taught the school's Business Writing Communication Lab for the school's full-time MBA program for the past four years and currently teaches and coaches the school's Executive MBA students. She will be offering a workshop on business writing this month called "The Write Stuff: Writing for MBA Courses" at Opus. Bane agreed to share some tips on how MBA students can make their writing sharper and more effective:
DON'T BE LONG-WINDED
One of the things most valued in business writing is the ability to get to the point—quickly. "In business writing, conciseness is a prime virtue," Bane says. Students often lose sight of this in business school, and will sometimes "just add fluff" for the sake of getting to a required page count for a paper. Bane counsels students to look over their papers closely after they've written the first draft, taking out unnecessary words or flowery phrases. While some extra words and elaboration may be permissible on an academic paper, students need to show restraint when they are writing documents for business clients. For example, second-year students at Opus typically prepare a market research report for business clients and often feel the need to try to fit every data point into the paper. "It's going to be a long report anyway, so don't make it any longer by throwing in words or phrases you don't need," Bane says.
KNOW YOUR MEDIUM
Students often come into B-school tending to rely too muchon e-mail, a habit many developed at their former workplaces. This can be a mistake, especially if you are trying to communicate an important or sensitive message. E-mail communication is "context poor" and doesn't always express the senders' intended intonation or emotional state, Bane says. Business school, with its emphasis on teamwork and community, is an ideal place for students to experiment with other forms of communication. Making a phone call, writing something in a letter or memo format or talking to someone in person can often be a lot more effective.
UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE
Before starting an assignment, students should step back and think about who will be reading their essay or report. Things to consider: What does your audience already know? What will the people need to know? What is the significance of the information you are trying to communicate? Students should also keep in mind the demographic they are writing for and the education level of their audience. This will make it easier to develop an outline and game plan for their writing assignment. "Identify the purpose of your communication, consider the context of the situation, and then select the message accordingly," Bane says.
SCHOOL AND BUSINESS ARE DIFFERENT
B-school students have to become comfortable doing a blend of academic writing and more practical business writing during their years in business school. It's helpful to have an understanding of the key differences between the two, Bane says. Academic writing tends to have a much more complex sentence structure with a "more elevated, polysyllabic vocabulary",; while business writing tends to have a brisker tone. "It should be faster and easier to read so people can absorb the information quickly," she notes.
PRACTICE WRITING OFTEN
Leaving an assignment to the last minute can be tempting, especially if you are juggling four or five projects for different classes. Fight this urge if possible, Bane says. Students should set aside time to write drafts, edit, and be thoughtful about their work. One easy way to do this is to set aside 5 or 10 minutes for "free writing" time a day, a practice of just writing without any defined purpose. That allows students to get over any inertia or writer's block. "I encourage them to do this so that they are able to practice and develop their skills," she says. "It lets you know where you need to focus your attention."
Damast is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com. "
Writing classes typically aren't on most business schools' list of core required courses, but business schools are starting to recognize that MBAs' rusty composition skills could benefit from a brush-up. In Minneapolis, the University of St. Thomas' Opus College of Business requires that all students take a writing and spoken communication course during their first year. The school's writing communication lab professors helps students improve their writing skills, coaching them on everything from how to write a case study analysis to lengthy academic papers.
Rosanne Bane, an Opus faculty member, has taught the school's Business Writing Communication Lab for the school's full-time MBA program for the past four years and currently teaches and coaches the school's Executive MBA students. She will be offering a workshop on business writing this month called "The Write Stuff: Writing for MBA Courses" at Opus. Bane agreed to share some tips on how MBA students can make their writing sharper and more effective:
DON'T BE LONG-WINDED
One of the things most valued in business writing is the ability to get to the point—quickly. "In business writing, conciseness is a prime virtue," Bane says. Students often lose sight of this in business school, and will sometimes "just add fluff" for the sake of getting to a required page count for a paper. Bane counsels students to look over their papers closely after they've written the first draft, taking out unnecessary words or flowery phrases. While some extra words and elaboration may be permissible on an academic paper, students need to show restraint when they are writing documents for business clients. For example, second-year students at Opus typically prepare a market research report for business clients and often feel the need to try to fit every data point into the paper. "It's going to be a long report anyway, so don't make it any longer by throwing in words or phrases you don't need," Bane says.
KNOW YOUR MEDIUM
Students often come into B-school tending to rely too muchon e-mail, a habit many developed at their former workplaces. This can be a mistake, especially if you are trying to communicate an important or sensitive message. E-mail communication is "context poor" and doesn't always express the senders' intended intonation or emotional state, Bane says. Business school, with its emphasis on teamwork and community, is an ideal place for students to experiment with other forms of communication. Making a phone call, writing something in a letter or memo format or talking to someone in person can often be a lot more effective.
UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE
Before starting an assignment, students should step back and think about who will be reading their essay or report. Things to consider: What does your audience already know? What will the people need to know? What is the significance of the information you are trying to communicate? Students should also keep in mind the demographic they are writing for and the education level of their audience. This will make it easier to develop an outline and game plan for their writing assignment. "Identify the purpose of your communication, consider the context of the situation, and then select the message accordingly," Bane says.
SCHOOL AND BUSINESS ARE DIFFERENT
B-school students have to become comfortable doing a blend of academic writing and more practical business writing during their years in business school. It's helpful to have an understanding of the key differences between the two, Bane says. Academic writing tends to have a much more complex sentence structure with a "more elevated, polysyllabic vocabulary",; while business writing tends to have a brisker tone. "It should be faster and easier to read so people can absorb the information quickly," she notes.
PRACTICE WRITING OFTEN
Leaving an assignment to the last minute can be tempting, especially if you are juggling four or five projects for different classes. Fight this urge if possible, Bane says. Students should set aside time to write drafts, edit, and be thoughtful about their work. One easy way to do this is to set aside 5 or 10 minutes for "free writing" time a day, a practice of just writing without any defined purpose. That allows students to get over any inertia or writer's block. "I encourage them to do this so that they are able to practice and develop their skills," she says. "It lets you know where you need to focus your attention."
Damast is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com. "
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sample MBA Admissions Essays accepted by Anderson and UCLA
"Sample MBA Admissions Essays - Accepted by Anderson and UCLA (Courtesy of EssayEdge)
What do you consider to be your most important personal and professional accomplishments to date? (Please limit to three.)
With no money, no direction, and no goals, I graduated from high school in 1987 not knowing if I would ever be a man, if I would ever know what life means. Unable to afford college tuition, I worked odd jobs for a few months before deciding to join the United States Marine Corps. A scrappy kid who needed structure and support, I entered the Marines unprepared for the next thirteen weeks of extraordinary physical and mental challenges.
Arriving at the recruit-training depot in Parris Island South Carolina on February 3,1988 not knowing what to expect, I watched my hair fall off my head, had vaccinations for every disease ever discovered, and learned to live with sixty other young men in close quarters. The days were long. I would wake up at 4 a.m. and work nonstop for 18 hours until I could collapse on my bed. Exposed to individuals from many different cultural and economic backgrounds, I learned the value of teamwork and the work ethic essential to leadership. When we first arrived on the island, my platoon was a jumbled mess of disobedient, out of shape, undisciplined boys. After three months of exhausting training we were molded into a group of highly motivated, physically fit men. On the proudest day of my life, I marched in the graduation parade to become a United States Marine.
After being discharged from the United States Marine Corps, I became determined to attain an electrical engineering degree from Florida State University. I wisely invested in the GI Bill early on in my Marine Corps career in order to go to college. Although a substantial amount of money, the GI Bill only covered my tuition; to pay for food and rent, I took a full time job with the VA work-study program. In the beginning I had difficulty adjusting to working full time while maintaining a full coarse load, and I began to feel hindered by my years outside the classroom. However, determined to succeed, I learned to manage my time well, and I established good study habits, which have continued to the present. In the spring of 1997 I obtained a Bachelors degree in Electrical engineering, a full year ahead of schedule. I take pride in the fact that I am the first person in my family to obtain a college degree.
I moved to Los Angeles after graduating from college and accepted a position at an aerospace company as a design engineer. Although I had multiple offers, I chose to work at my particular company to further my education. Putting in long hours at work while devoting most of my personal time to obtaining a Masters degree in electrical engineering, I felt like I was in college again with my full time job and academic responsibilities. To keep some sense of sanity and maintain good spirits, I decided to learn how to snowboard. Although at first snowboarding seemed a most impossible mission given the long drive to the resort and my inexperience with cold weather, I persevered and by the end of my first day could navigate my way down the mountain. I have since become an accomplished snowboarder, but nothing matches the exhilaration I felt at the end of that first day when I completed my first run without falling.
Why have you decided to enter the Fully Employed MBA program? Why is it the appropriate time for you to begin?
With the drive, determination, and discipline to both work at my career and attend an MBA program, I am excited to pursue a high quality MBA at UCLA. Interested in acquiring the skill set and technical knowledge necessary to become a hi-tech consultant, the UCLA program will prove central to my future success.
As an engineering major in college, I developed excellent analytical skills and improved my problem-solving ability, but I never had the opportunity to take courses exploring business strategy, finance, or market forces. To realize my career goal, I clearly must enhance my abilities in these as well as other areas of business. I believe that the management core at Anderson will provide me with the necessary knowledge to enhance and develop my capabilities. Also, in order to become a successful consultant, it is imperative that I gain a more thorough education in foreign markets, business technology, and competition. As a hi-tech consultant in the twenty-first century, the ability to understand business on a global scale will be highly prized. The International Field Study at Anderson would suit my needs well by allowing students to learn about business by working with foreign companies.
Moreover, I look forward to interacting with the highly qualified, diverse students of the Anderson FEMBA program. With only 132 students forming numerous study groups, the program ensures the intimacy necessary to learn from each other's varying perspectives and backgrounds. I know I could both contribute and grow in this unique environment where all students are fully employed. From my time as an officer in US Marine Corps and as an employee at a high-tech aerospace company, I have both developed strong team abilities and have seen the value and synergies of combining people with different backgrounds, knowledge, and experience levels. The dynamics created by these teams help produce the most innovative and creative ideas, whether in the Marines or an Anderson classroom.
While I will never regret joining the Marine Corps, the five years I spent serving my country led me off the beaten path for achieving my career goals. Although I developed a strong work ethic and a goal-oriented nature, I have not followed the standard path. The FEMBA program will be the great equalizer, ensuring future employers that I have both the personal qualities and rigorous academic training necessary for success. By working full time and working on my masters degree in engineering from the University of Southern California, I have shown that I have what it takes to manage my work schedule while attending a prestigious institution. Now, I seek only the opportunity to prove this again by being admitted to the Fully Employed MBA program. AT UCLA, I will start my way down the path that will lead me to career success and fulfillment as a hi-tech consultant.
For access to 100 free sample successful admissions essays, visit EssayEdge .
Sample Application and Admissions Essays:
Sample Admissions Essay - Cornell
Sample Admissions Essay - Darthmouth
Sample Admissions Essay - Harvard
Sample Admissions Essay - Princeton
Sample Admissions Essay - Stanford
Sample Business School Essay - Wharton
Sample Business School Essay - Tuck
Sample Business School Essay - Columbia
Sample MBA Essay - Anderson
Sample MBA Essay - NYU
Sample MBA Essay - Stern
Sample MBA Essay - UCLA
Sample MBA Essay - Harvard
Sample Admissions Essay - Med School
Sample Admissions Essay - Med School
Sample Admissions Essay - Law School
Sample Admissions Essay - Law School
Admissions Essay Writing 101
Used by admissions officers to decide between two (or even two hundred) candidates with almost identical profiles, the application essay is often the only guide admissions officers have of your ambition, personality, and interests. As a result, your essay must be unique, captivating, and informative. Try the free online entrance essay course offered by Essay Edge and Cyber Edit. Named "the world's premier application essay editing service" by The New York Times, EssayEdge has helped more applicants write successful application essays than any other company in the world.
This course offers extensive advice on how to write outstanding admissions essays. "
What do you consider to be your most important personal and professional accomplishments to date? (Please limit to three.)
With no money, no direction, and no goals, I graduated from high school in 1987 not knowing if I would ever be a man, if I would ever know what life means. Unable to afford college tuition, I worked odd jobs for a few months before deciding to join the United States Marine Corps. A scrappy kid who needed structure and support, I entered the Marines unprepared for the next thirteen weeks of extraordinary physical and mental challenges.
Arriving at the recruit-training depot in Parris Island South Carolina on February 3,1988 not knowing what to expect, I watched my hair fall off my head, had vaccinations for every disease ever discovered, and learned to live with sixty other young men in close quarters. The days were long. I would wake up at 4 a.m. and work nonstop for 18 hours until I could collapse on my bed. Exposed to individuals from many different cultural and economic backgrounds, I learned the value of teamwork and the work ethic essential to leadership. When we first arrived on the island, my platoon was a jumbled mess of disobedient, out of shape, undisciplined boys. After three months of exhausting training we were molded into a group of highly motivated, physically fit men. On the proudest day of my life, I marched in the graduation parade to become a United States Marine.
After being discharged from the United States Marine Corps, I became determined to attain an electrical engineering degree from Florida State University. I wisely invested in the GI Bill early on in my Marine Corps career in order to go to college. Although a substantial amount of money, the GI Bill only covered my tuition; to pay for food and rent, I took a full time job with the VA work-study program. In the beginning I had difficulty adjusting to working full time while maintaining a full coarse load, and I began to feel hindered by my years outside the classroom. However, determined to succeed, I learned to manage my time well, and I established good study habits, which have continued to the present. In the spring of 1997 I obtained a Bachelors degree in Electrical engineering, a full year ahead of schedule. I take pride in the fact that I am the first person in my family to obtain a college degree.
I moved to Los Angeles after graduating from college and accepted a position at an aerospace company as a design engineer. Although I had multiple offers, I chose to work at my particular company to further my education. Putting in long hours at work while devoting most of my personal time to obtaining a Masters degree in electrical engineering, I felt like I was in college again with my full time job and academic responsibilities. To keep some sense of sanity and maintain good spirits, I decided to learn how to snowboard. Although at first snowboarding seemed a most impossible mission given the long drive to the resort and my inexperience with cold weather, I persevered and by the end of my first day could navigate my way down the mountain. I have since become an accomplished snowboarder, but nothing matches the exhilaration I felt at the end of that first day when I completed my first run without falling.
Why have you decided to enter the Fully Employed MBA program? Why is it the appropriate time for you to begin?
With the drive, determination, and discipline to both work at my career and attend an MBA program, I am excited to pursue a high quality MBA at UCLA. Interested in acquiring the skill set and technical knowledge necessary to become a hi-tech consultant, the UCLA program will prove central to my future success.
As an engineering major in college, I developed excellent analytical skills and improved my problem-solving ability, but I never had the opportunity to take courses exploring business strategy, finance, or market forces. To realize my career goal, I clearly must enhance my abilities in these as well as other areas of business. I believe that the management core at Anderson will provide me with the necessary knowledge to enhance and develop my capabilities. Also, in order to become a successful consultant, it is imperative that I gain a more thorough education in foreign markets, business technology, and competition. As a hi-tech consultant in the twenty-first century, the ability to understand business on a global scale will be highly prized. The International Field Study at Anderson would suit my needs well by allowing students to learn about business by working with foreign companies.
Moreover, I look forward to interacting with the highly qualified, diverse students of the Anderson FEMBA program. With only 132 students forming numerous study groups, the program ensures the intimacy necessary to learn from each other's varying perspectives and backgrounds. I know I could both contribute and grow in this unique environment where all students are fully employed. From my time as an officer in US Marine Corps and as an employee at a high-tech aerospace company, I have both developed strong team abilities and have seen the value and synergies of combining people with different backgrounds, knowledge, and experience levels. The dynamics created by these teams help produce the most innovative and creative ideas, whether in the Marines or an Anderson classroom.
While I will never regret joining the Marine Corps, the five years I spent serving my country led me off the beaten path for achieving my career goals. Although I developed a strong work ethic and a goal-oriented nature, I have not followed the standard path. The FEMBA program will be the great equalizer, ensuring future employers that I have both the personal qualities and rigorous academic training necessary for success. By working full time and working on my masters degree in engineering from the University of Southern California, I have shown that I have what it takes to manage my work schedule while attending a prestigious institution. Now, I seek only the opportunity to prove this again by being admitted to the Fully Employed MBA program. AT UCLA, I will start my way down the path that will lead me to career success and fulfillment as a hi-tech consultant.
For access to 100 free sample successful admissions essays, visit EssayEdge .
Sample Application and Admissions Essays:
Sample Admissions Essay - Cornell
Sample Admissions Essay - Darthmouth
Sample Admissions Essay - Harvard
Sample Admissions Essay - Princeton
Sample Admissions Essay - Stanford
Sample Business School Essay - Wharton
Sample Business School Essay - Tuck
Sample Business School Essay - Columbia
Sample MBA Essay - Anderson
Sample MBA Essay - NYU
Sample MBA Essay - Stern
Sample MBA Essay - UCLA
Sample MBA Essay - Harvard
Sample Admissions Essay - Med School
Sample Admissions Essay - Med School
Sample Admissions Essay - Law School
Sample Admissions Essay - Law School
Admissions Essay Writing 101
Used by admissions officers to decide between two (or even two hundred) candidates with almost identical profiles, the application essay is often the only guide admissions officers have of your ambition, personality, and interests. As a result, your essay must be unique, captivating, and informative. Try the free online entrance essay course offered by Essay Edge and Cyber Edit. Named "the world's premier application essay editing service" by The New York Times, EssayEdge has helped more applicants write successful application essays than any other company in the world.
This course offers extensive advice on how to write outstanding admissions essays. "
MBA Essay Samples - MBA Game Plan
Here are sample MBA essay evaluations that four applicants received from us on their initial essay submission and their free follow-up submission. These will give you a good idea of what you can expect from our business school essay evaluation services. Details have been changed to protect the applicants’ identities.
John's Wharton MBA Essay (First Submission)
John's Wharton MBA Essay (Second Submission)
Michael's Michigan MBA Essay (First Submission)
Michael's Michigan MBA Essay (Second Submission)
Manish's Chicago MBA Essay (First Submission)
Manish's Chicago MBA Essay (Second Submission)
Jennifer's Columbia MBA Essay (First Submission)
Jennifer's Columbia MBA Essay (Second Submission)
John's Wharton MBA Essay (First Submission)
John's Wharton MBA Essay (Second Submission)
Michael's Michigan MBA Essay (First Submission)
Michael's Michigan MBA Essay (Second Submission)
Manish's Chicago MBA Essay (First Submission)
Manish's Chicago MBA Essay (Second Submission)
Jennifer's Columbia MBA Essay (First Submission)
Jennifer's Columbia MBA Essay (Second Submission)
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Perfect GMAT
For the many professionals affected by the current economic downturn, enrolling in a leading MBA program is emerging as an increasingly attractive option. Veritas Prep, a leading GMAT prep and MBA admissions consulting provider, today announced plans to hold Veritas Prep MBA Admissions Blueprint -- a two-day, boot-camp style MBA admissions tutorial to help students craft winning applications for the second and third-round application deadlines.
To be held December 6-7, 2008 at New York University's Kimmel Center, Veritas Prep MBA Admissions Blueprint will feature a crash-course introduction to the business school admissions process as well as individual access to some of the leading minds in business school admissions consulting. Designed primarily for bankers and other last-minute applicants affected by the economic slowdown, Veritas Prep MBA Admissions Blueprint will give applicants access to proven strategies for acing the business school application and securing coveted spots in leading programs.
"In light of one of the most competitive MBA admissions landscapes in recent history, former bankers and others affected by the economic downturn may find it especially difficult to set themselves apart from a crowded field of similar-looking applicants when they apply to business school," explains Scott Shrum, director of MBA admissions research at Veritas Prep and co-author of "Your MBA Game Plan: Proven Strategies for Getting Into the Top Business Schools."
In addition to a series of general information sessions, registered attendees at Veritas Prep MBA Admissions Blueprint will receive a personalized application advice session with a highly experienced business school admissions consultant who comes from a top business school. Depending on the unique needs of each student, this one-on-one session can help to objectively evaluate their candidacy for particular programs and select the programs that best match their goals, perfect their overall application strategy, review their application essays, or prepare for the business school interview.
The cost of attendance is $250 and space is limited. Online registration is available now at http://www.veritasprep.com/blueprint/ or by phone at 1-800-925-7737.
About Veritas Prep
Veritas Prep is a leading GMAT prep provider that offers effective learning programs to help students improve their GMAT scores and gain admission to the world's best graduate schools. Founded in 2002 by graduates from the Yale School of Management, Veritas Prep offers live GMAT prep instruction in more than 70 cities worldwide, as well as interactive online courses. In addition to the most comprehensive GMAT prep courses available, Veritas Prep offers industry-leading admissions consulting to applicants seeking admission to the world's most competitive MBA programs and law schools.
Contact:
Lisa Weiner
303.433.7020
lweiner@csg-pr.com
To be held December 6-7, 2008 at New York University's Kimmel Center, Veritas Prep MBA Admissions Blueprint will feature a crash-course introduction to the business school admissions process as well as individual access to some of the leading minds in business school admissions consulting. Designed primarily for bankers and other last-minute applicants affected by the economic slowdown, Veritas Prep MBA Admissions Blueprint will give applicants access to proven strategies for acing the business school application and securing coveted spots in leading programs.
"In light of one of the most competitive MBA admissions landscapes in recent history, former bankers and others affected by the economic downturn may find it especially difficult to set themselves apart from a crowded field of similar-looking applicants when they apply to business school," explains Scott Shrum, director of MBA admissions research at Veritas Prep and co-author of "Your MBA Game Plan: Proven Strategies for Getting Into the Top Business Schools."
In addition to a series of general information sessions, registered attendees at Veritas Prep MBA Admissions Blueprint will receive a personalized application advice session with a highly experienced business school admissions consultant who comes from a top business school. Depending on the unique needs of each student, this one-on-one session can help to objectively evaluate their candidacy for particular programs and select the programs that best match their goals, perfect their overall application strategy, review their application essays, or prepare for the business school interview.
The cost of attendance is $250 and space is limited. Online registration is available now at http://www.veritasprep.com/blueprint/ or by phone at 1-800-925-7737.
About Veritas Prep
Veritas Prep is a leading GMAT prep provider that offers effective learning programs to help students improve their GMAT scores and gain admission to the world's best graduate schools. Founded in 2002 by graduates from the Yale School of Management, Veritas Prep offers live GMAT prep instruction in more than 70 cities worldwide, as well as interactive online courses. In addition to the most comprehensive GMAT prep courses available, Veritas Prep offers industry-leading admissions consulting to applicants seeking admission to the world's most competitive MBA programs and law schools.
Contact:
Lisa Weiner
303.433.7020
lweiner@csg-pr.com
Sunday, November 9, 2008
UCLA B-School Sees a Surge in Applicants
With financial markets crumbling and capital for startups harder to find, what should would-be entrepreneurs do? For a growing number, this might be just the time to head back to the classroom. Judy Olian, head of the business school at the University of California at Los Angeles, says that applications typically increase during bad times. "When the market contracts in terms of employment, people come to school," says Olian, dean of the UCLA's Anderson School of Management. While it's too early to say just how much bigger the applicant pool will be this year, she says "we have preliminary indications it's up."
Chances are, a good number of those applications are coming from Asia. UCLA Anderson is popular among students from there, says Olian, who was in Hong Kong on Oct. 27 on an trip to promote partnerships with Asian schools. UCLA Anderson is partners with 17 schools in Asia, including four in Japan, four in China, three in India, and two in Hong Kong. Those connections help boost the popularity of the school in Los Angeles: Last year, 25% of UCLA Anderson's 3,700 applicants came from Asia. "It's a robust applicant pool," she says.
One reason for the school's popularity, Olian believes, is UCLA Anderson's highly ranked entrepreneurship program. Compared with other parts of the U.S., "Los Angeles is a much more entrepreneurial economy," she says. That emphasis on entrepreneurs "suits this part of the world," Olian believes, pointing to the importance of private business in the rise of the Chinese economy. "China's ascendancy has to do with entrepreneurs and taking risks, so in that sense there's a kindred spirit with the California risk-taking spirit."
Deepening Gloom
There are some things about launching a startup that not even the best B-school can teach, Olian concedes. "Nobody can inject you with risk tolerance or preference," she says. Still, Olian argues there's plenty that aspiring entrepreneurs can get from an MBA program. "There are a variety of ingredients in the entrepreneurial process that can be learned," she says. For instance, students can gain insights on how to test ideas, develop business plans, attract capital, market products, and structure deals.
Business schools can also teach would-be entrepreneurs about another, less appealing, topic: What happens when things go bad. "Entrepreneurship requires a high level of tenacity in the face of failure," says Olian. That's why a good entrepreneurship program will, among other things, "prepare people for the risk of failure, the likelihood of failure."
The deepening gloom about the global economy might make the odds of failure seem even higher for many young Asian entrepreneurs, but Olian says there's reason to be hopeful. Opportunities and rewards for creativity are going to be there in spades," she says. Despite the huge losses suffered by investors, "it's not as if there's isn't money," she says. "There's a lot of money waiting on the sidelines for the right ideas and the right time to get into the markets.".
Chances are, a good number of those applications are coming from Asia. UCLA Anderson is popular among students from there, says Olian, who was in Hong Kong on Oct. 27 on an trip to promote partnerships with Asian schools. UCLA Anderson is partners with 17 schools in Asia, including four in Japan, four in China, three in India, and two in Hong Kong. Those connections help boost the popularity of the school in Los Angeles: Last year, 25% of UCLA Anderson's 3,700 applicants came from Asia. "It's a robust applicant pool," she says.
One reason for the school's popularity, Olian believes, is UCLA Anderson's highly ranked entrepreneurship program. Compared with other parts of the U.S., "Los Angeles is a much more entrepreneurial economy," she says. That emphasis on entrepreneurs "suits this part of the world," Olian believes, pointing to the importance of private business in the rise of the Chinese economy. "China's ascendancy has to do with entrepreneurs and taking risks, so in that sense there's a kindred spirit with the California risk-taking spirit."
Deepening Gloom
There are some things about launching a startup that not even the best B-school can teach, Olian concedes. "Nobody can inject you with risk tolerance or preference," she says. Still, Olian argues there's plenty that aspiring entrepreneurs can get from an MBA program. "There are a variety of ingredients in the entrepreneurial process that can be learned," she says. For instance, students can gain insights on how to test ideas, develop business plans, attract capital, market products, and structure deals.
Business schools can also teach would-be entrepreneurs about another, less appealing, topic: What happens when things go bad. "Entrepreneurship requires a high level of tenacity in the face of failure," says Olian. That's why a good entrepreneurship program will, among other things, "prepare people for the risk of failure, the likelihood of failure."
The deepening gloom about the global economy might make the odds of failure seem even higher for many young Asian entrepreneurs, but Olian says there's reason to be hopeful. Opportunities and rewards for creativity are going to be there in spades," she says. Despite the huge losses suffered by investors, "it's not as if there's isn't money," she says. "There's a lot of money waiting on the sidelines for the right ideas and the right time to get into the markets.".
Four Truths About Today's MBA
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/nov2008/bs2008114_924879.htm?chan=bschools_bschool+index+page_top+stories
Until this year, you could say with near certainty that an MBA from a well-respected business school was a ticket to a good job and a respectable salary.
But with the financial crisis, a lot of those certainties are gone. Looking at the business school landscape, however, you can say at least four things with confidence.
1. You will face more competition for slots
Business schools aren't increasing their class sizes to accommodate the anticipated surge in applications. This can only mean that in a year when more people are applying to business school, admissions will be more competitive and a smaller percentage of applicants will get in.
The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) reports a jump of more than 11% in the number of GMAT tests taken this September compared with a year earlier. And schools report an increase in interest—both at information sessions and in online discussion forums and blogs.
For those students who think they can bank on getting into a middle-tier school, think again. If getting in has become harder across the board, students will likely apply to more schools to increase their chances. With a fatter stack of applications to choose from, middle-tier schools could shock prospective students with rejection letters they didn't expect.
One silver lining: For top students, getting into the elite business schools may not be any harder. After all, says Peter Johnson, the executive director of admissions at Berkeley's Haas School of Business' full-time MBA program, "An increase in the number of applicants does not mean an increase in the quality."
2. International students are going to find loans tough
International students face a new obstacle after the rigorous process of getting into a B-school has long passed. With the credit crunch, student loan programs are tightening up or disappearing entirely. For instance, this fall, Citibank (C) cancelled its CitiAssist loan program. That means many international students are out of luck unless they have lived in the U.S. or have a co-signer here.
The cutbacks have some administrators stumped. Rosemaria Martinelli, admissions director of the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, says that fixes to the problem are only short term and the school is still searching for a solution. Still, Martinelli remains committed to a diverse student body.
Besides the near impossibility of getting loans, international students face difficulties after they get their degrees. In a weak market, where companies have the luxury of sifting through more applicants, international students may find it even harder to obtain scarce H1-B work visas.
The end result: the continuation of a trend in which more and more students are choosing to go to business school in their home countries.
3. Quitting a job is risky
People in steady, well-paying jobs have always had to weigh the benefits of quitting to attend business school. This is especially true in a down economy, when no one knows what the job market will look like in two years. Viable options now include either putting off the MBA or joining a part-time program while staying employed.
According to Judith Hodara, admissions director at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, prospective students most frequently ask about opportunities for summer internships and post-graduation employment and are both "nervous" and "concerned."
Traditionally, students who quit jobs at the start of a recession graduate with an MBA when the economy is in an upswing. But no one is able to predict with certainty how long this recession will last.
Erin Nickelsburg, admissions director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Business, said that predictors of the "opportunity cost" of going to business school in a downturn have been skewed by the apparent end of big salaries and juicy bonuses in investment banking.
Still, Nickelsburg warns that opportunities could be missed, as well. "Not making an investment in yourself can turn around and haunt you when the economy goes back up," she said.
4. The learning is still valuable
While the return on investment on an MBA is still up in the air, no one is disputing that what you learn in business school will be extremely valuable as the economy recovers. Case studies have new meaning, now that executives face tougher decisions and large-scale business problems.
According to Chicago's Martinelli, now is a "cool time to study this, learn from this position, and figure out how you can add value"—meaning it's a great time to be able to learn about not just hypothetical but real issues.
Still, students may need to adjust their career goals and possibly their salary expectations. "This is a good time to park yourself in an MBA program and build up your portfolio of intellectual capital," says David Wilson, GMAC's president. "Graduates will emerge in two years or so and be in a different market."
Until this year, you could say with near certainty that an MBA from a well-respected business school was a ticket to a good job and a respectable salary.
But with the financial crisis, a lot of those certainties are gone. Looking at the business school landscape, however, you can say at least four things with confidence.
1. You will face more competition for slots
Business schools aren't increasing their class sizes to accommodate the anticipated surge in applications. This can only mean that in a year when more people are applying to business school, admissions will be more competitive and a smaller percentage of applicants will get in.
The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) reports a jump of more than 11% in the number of GMAT tests taken this September compared with a year earlier. And schools report an increase in interest—both at information sessions and in online discussion forums and blogs.
For those students who think they can bank on getting into a middle-tier school, think again. If getting in has become harder across the board, students will likely apply to more schools to increase their chances. With a fatter stack of applications to choose from, middle-tier schools could shock prospective students with rejection letters they didn't expect.
One silver lining: For top students, getting into the elite business schools may not be any harder. After all, says Peter Johnson, the executive director of admissions at Berkeley's Haas School of Business' full-time MBA program, "An increase in the number of applicants does not mean an increase in the quality."
2. International students are going to find loans tough
International students face a new obstacle after the rigorous process of getting into a B-school has long passed. With the credit crunch, student loan programs are tightening up or disappearing entirely. For instance, this fall, Citibank (C) cancelled its CitiAssist loan program. That means many international students are out of luck unless they have lived in the U.S. or have a co-signer here.
The cutbacks have some administrators stumped. Rosemaria Martinelli, admissions director of the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, says that fixes to the problem are only short term and the school is still searching for a solution. Still, Martinelli remains committed to a diverse student body.
Besides the near impossibility of getting loans, international students face difficulties after they get their degrees. In a weak market, where companies have the luxury of sifting through more applicants, international students may find it even harder to obtain scarce H1-B work visas.
The end result: the continuation of a trend in which more and more students are choosing to go to business school in their home countries.
3. Quitting a job is risky
People in steady, well-paying jobs have always had to weigh the benefits of quitting to attend business school. This is especially true in a down economy, when no one knows what the job market will look like in two years. Viable options now include either putting off the MBA or joining a part-time program while staying employed.
According to Judith Hodara, admissions director at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, prospective students most frequently ask about opportunities for summer internships and post-graduation employment and are both "nervous" and "concerned."
Traditionally, students who quit jobs at the start of a recession graduate with an MBA when the economy is in an upswing. But no one is able to predict with certainty how long this recession will last.
Erin Nickelsburg, admissions director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Business, said that predictors of the "opportunity cost" of going to business school in a downturn have been skewed by the apparent end of big salaries and juicy bonuses in investment banking.
Still, Nickelsburg warns that opportunities could be missed, as well. "Not making an investment in yourself can turn around and haunt you when the economy goes back up," she said.
4. The learning is still valuable
While the return on investment on an MBA is still up in the air, no one is disputing that what you learn in business school will be extremely valuable as the economy recovers. Case studies have new meaning, now that executives face tougher decisions and large-scale business problems.
According to Chicago's Martinelli, now is a "cool time to study this, learn from this position, and figure out how you can add value"—meaning it's a great time to be able to learn about not just hypothetical but real issues.
Still, students may need to adjust their career goals and possibly their salary expectations. "This is a good time to park yourself in an MBA program and build up your portfolio of intellectual capital," says David Wilson, GMAC's president. "Graduates will emerge in two years or so and be in a different market."
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Booth Donates Record $300 Million to Chicago Business School
Investor David Booth, who credits his success to the ``life-changing'' experience studying at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, donated $300 million to the school, the largest gift in the university's history.
The business school, which will be renamed in honor of Booth, may use the funds for any purpose, such as attracting new faculty and expanding its campuses overseas, the university said yesterday in a statement.
Booth, 52, is the chief executive officer of Dimensional Fund Advisors Inc., with $140 billion under management, according to the investment company's Web site. He received a master's degree in business administration from Chicago in 1971. He said the theories he learned from Eugene Fama, a finance professor at the school, inspired him to start his Santa Monica, California- based company in 1981, and have been instrumental in its success.
``It would be hard to find anyone who benefited more from a University of Chicago education and from the faculty at Chicago than I have,'' Booth said in the university's statement reporting the gift. ``The school is already in a strong position. This gift is intended to help it keep moving forward.''
The University of Chicago, like other universities, is concerned the current financial crisis may hurt its endowment by lowering returns and deterring donors, said Steve Kloehn, a spokesman for the school, in a telephone interview.
Topping Rockefeller
Booth's gift is three times as large as the $100 million that retired banker David M. Rockefeller Sr. gave to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in April to finance studies abroad and advance the arts, and more than twice the record $125 million that the Swiss philanthropist Hansjoerg Wyss gave Harvard last month to fund a bioengineering institute. It is the largest gift to any business school, Kloehn said.
Other major gifts to universities from individual donors include $400 million in 2007 from John W. Kluge, former chairman of Metromedia International Group Inc., to Columbia University and $350 million from International Data Group Inc. founder Patrick J. and Lore Harp McGovern to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000 to fund research on the human brain.
The University of Chicago business school's past and current students and faculty have won 25 Nobel Memorial Prizes in economics led by the late Milton Friedman, the late Friedrich Hayek, and Paul Samuelson.
`Life-Changing'
``The very first course I took at the University of Chicago was taught by Eugene Fama and it was a life-changing event for me,'' Booth said in the statement. ``I remember Professor Fama standing up the first day of class and saying `This is the most practical course you will ever take,' and it turned out to be true. We built Dimensional Fund Advisors around his set of ideas.''
Fama, 69, who has been referred to as the father of modern finance, is best known for his theory that capital markets are so efficient they embody the collective wisdom of all buyers and sellers, according to the university. In 1980, Fama accepted Booth's invitation to put his theories to work as a member of the management committee of Dimensional Fund Advisors. He thanked Booth today for what he called an incredible gift.
The company, founded in a brownstone in Brooklyn, promotes itself as investing in ``the science of capital markets'' rather than speculation about how the market will perform, according to the Web site.
Booth is a trustee at the University of Chicago. He is also a trustee of the endowment association that raises funds for the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where he obtained his undergraduate degree.
The University of Chicago dates from 1892, when it was founded by John D. Rockefeller, who was then embroiled in an intense public debate over monopolistic business practices at Standard Oil Co.
Friedman Looms Large
For 30 years, starting in 1946, the university's economics department was dominated by Friedman. He won a Nobel Memorial Prize in economics for showing, among other things, that consumers decide to save money on the basis of expectations for what they'll earn over their entire lifetime, not on short-term fluctuations that may be prompted by government attempts to fine- tune aggregate demand. He also advised such free-market, limited government advocates as Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Thatcher.
After Friedman left for the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in 1977, the limelight shifted to such finance professors as Fama.
Booth's donation isn't related to the proposed Milton Friedman Institute for the study of economics, the subject of a faculty controversy. While advocates of the institute wish to honor Friedman, critics say the institute would represent a misuse of university funds and may fail to embrace a range of economic ideas.
Friedman's influence still made itself felt during a ceremony today announcing the gift.
``Together, we will do great things for the world's market- oriented economies,'' Ted Snyder, the business school's dean, said today while thanking Booth.
The business school, which will be renamed in honor of Booth, may use the funds for any purpose, such as attracting new faculty and expanding its campuses overseas, the university said yesterday in a statement.
Booth, 52, is the chief executive officer of Dimensional Fund Advisors Inc., with $140 billion under management, according to the investment company's Web site. He received a master's degree in business administration from Chicago in 1971. He said the theories he learned from Eugene Fama, a finance professor at the school, inspired him to start his Santa Monica, California- based company in 1981, and have been instrumental in its success.
``It would be hard to find anyone who benefited more from a University of Chicago education and from the faculty at Chicago than I have,'' Booth said in the university's statement reporting the gift. ``The school is already in a strong position. This gift is intended to help it keep moving forward.''
The University of Chicago, like other universities, is concerned the current financial crisis may hurt its endowment by lowering returns and deterring donors, said Steve Kloehn, a spokesman for the school, in a telephone interview.
Topping Rockefeller
Booth's gift is three times as large as the $100 million that retired banker David M. Rockefeller Sr. gave to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in April to finance studies abroad and advance the arts, and more than twice the record $125 million that the Swiss philanthropist Hansjoerg Wyss gave Harvard last month to fund a bioengineering institute. It is the largest gift to any business school, Kloehn said.
Other major gifts to universities from individual donors include $400 million in 2007 from John W. Kluge, former chairman of Metromedia International Group Inc., to Columbia University and $350 million from International Data Group Inc. founder Patrick J. and Lore Harp McGovern to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000 to fund research on the human brain.
The University of Chicago business school's past and current students and faculty have won 25 Nobel Memorial Prizes in economics led by the late Milton Friedman, the late Friedrich Hayek, and Paul Samuelson.
`Life-Changing'
``The very first course I took at the University of Chicago was taught by Eugene Fama and it was a life-changing event for me,'' Booth said in the statement. ``I remember Professor Fama standing up the first day of class and saying `This is the most practical course you will ever take,' and it turned out to be true. We built Dimensional Fund Advisors around his set of ideas.''
Fama, 69, who has been referred to as the father of modern finance, is best known for his theory that capital markets are so efficient they embody the collective wisdom of all buyers and sellers, according to the university. In 1980, Fama accepted Booth's invitation to put his theories to work as a member of the management committee of Dimensional Fund Advisors. He thanked Booth today for what he called an incredible gift.
The company, founded in a brownstone in Brooklyn, promotes itself as investing in ``the science of capital markets'' rather than speculation about how the market will perform, according to the Web site.
Booth is a trustee at the University of Chicago. He is also a trustee of the endowment association that raises funds for the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where he obtained his undergraduate degree.
The University of Chicago dates from 1892, when it was founded by John D. Rockefeller, who was then embroiled in an intense public debate over monopolistic business practices at Standard Oil Co.
Friedman Looms Large
For 30 years, starting in 1946, the university's economics department was dominated by Friedman. He won a Nobel Memorial Prize in economics for showing, among other things, that consumers decide to save money on the basis of expectations for what they'll earn over their entire lifetime, not on short-term fluctuations that may be prompted by government attempts to fine- tune aggregate demand. He also advised such free-market, limited government advocates as Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Thatcher.
After Friedman left for the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in 1977, the limelight shifted to such finance professors as Fama.
Booth's donation isn't related to the proposed Milton Friedman Institute for the study of economics, the subject of a faculty controversy. While advocates of the institute wish to honor Friedman, critics say the institute would represent a misuse of university funds and may fail to embrace a range of economic ideas.
Friedman's influence still made itself felt during a ceremony today announcing the gift.
``Together, we will do great things for the world's market- oriented economies,'' Ted Snyder, the business school's dean, said today while thanking Booth.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The Admissions Interview: Your Questions
During every business-school admissions interview, there's a moment where the tables turn. Usually, it's near the end, after you've been probed ("What sets you apart?") and prodded ("How was the workforce?"), and you're ready to head home. "So," the questioner chirps, "do you have anything to ask me?"
This is, of course, an optional request. But it's also an opportunity to make an impression, or blow your chances, says Randall Sawyer, director of admissions at Cornell University's Johnson School of Business. "You have to be prepared," says Sawyer. While asking smart, informed questions can set you apart, soliciting information that's readily available on a school's Web site ("What's your class size?") might irritate your interviewer.
What constitutes a "good" question? BusinessWeek recently spoke with several private consultants and deans of admission, all of whom recommended a variety of questions. Following are a selection, and some tips on how to ask them. And remember, these are general guidelines; the most impressive inquiries are case-specific.
What to ask deans, board members, and other officials:
In your opinion, what really sets this school apart?
Officials know this is an important inquiry, especially if you're choosing between multiple schools. To win points, Sawyer suggests prefacing your question with some original thought (e.g., "I've read that Professor X just received the Nobel prize" or "As an entrepreneur, I was impressed with your 'Fund My StartUp Program"). Otherwise, you may get the retort: "Well, what do you think sets this school apart?"
Can you talk a little about the student job search?
When you're about to drop $100,000-plus on an MBA, you're entitled to ask about career prospects, especially during the current financial crisis. But tread carefully, says Chioma Isiadinso, the CEO of Expartus, an admissions consulting company. Putting an official on the spot ("Can your school find me a job?") is awkward and offputting. Before you broach the subject, show enthusiasm ("I've heard great things about your alumni network") and emphasize that you're willing to be proactive.
For students, current and former:
How have you most benefitted from attending this school?
This question is crucial, especially if the interviewer pursued your concentration. According to Sawyer, it shows that you're "in the game, and interested in success." Be careful with phrasing, though: "How have you most benefitted?" is much more engaging (and much less skeptical) than "Have you benefitted?"
What was your favorite class? Who were your favorite professors?
O.K., these two are pretty obvious. But they're still good bets, says Dawna Clark, director of admissions at Tuck School of Business. Students (and former students) love to impart wisdom, especially with like-minded interviewees. Give them time to shine, and everyone wins: They'll get to relive a positive academic experience, and you'll pick up some inside information.
What's a typical day like?
Beyond engaging your interviewer, this question shows you care about more than academic factoids, says Linda Abraham, president of Accepted.com, an online hub for college counseling. After all, you're applying for an experience. It's only human to care about the little things, like when and where you'll eat, sleep, learn, and let loose.
For anyone:
Is there anything else I can further address?
This should be your final question, says Beth Flye, the assistant dean and director of admissions at . It's proactive, it's accommodating, and it's a great way to hint that you're eager to attend (as opposed to, say, asking when you'll get your acceptance letter). Also, on the off-chance that you made a mistake on your application, this request could spawn a shot at redemption.
This is, of course, an optional request. But it's also an opportunity to make an impression, or blow your chances, says Randall Sawyer, director of admissions at Cornell University's Johnson School of Business. "You have to be prepared," says Sawyer. While asking smart, informed questions can set you apart, soliciting information that's readily available on a school's Web site ("What's your class size?") might irritate your interviewer.
What constitutes a "good" question? BusinessWeek recently spoke with several private consultants and deans of admission, all of whom recommended a variety of questions. Following are a selection, and some tips on how to ask them. And remember, these are general guidelines; the most impressive inquiries are case-specific.
What to ask deans, board members, and other officials:
In your opinion, what really sets this school apart?
Officials know this is an important inquiry, especially if you're choosing between multiple schools. To win points, Sawyer suggests prefacing your question with some original thought (e.g., "I've read that Professor X just received the Nobel prize" or "As an entrepreneur, I was impressed with your 'Fund My StartUp Program"). Otherwise, you may get the retort: "Well, what do you think sets this school apart?"
Can you talk a little about the student job search?
When you're about to drop $100,000-plus on an MBA, you're entitled to ask about career prospects, especially during the current financial crisis. But tread carefully, says Chioma Isiadinso, the CEO of Expartus, an admissions consulting company. Putting an official on the spot ("Can your school find me a job?") is awkward and offputting. Before you broach the subject, show enthusiasm ("I've heard great things about your alumni network") and emphasize that you're willing to be proactive.
For students, current and former:
How have you most benefitted from attending this school?
This question is crucial, especially if the interviewer pursued your concentration. According to Sawyer, it shows that you're "in the game, and interested in success." Be careful with phrasing, though: "How have you most benefitted?" is much more engaging (and much less skeptical) than "Have you benefitted?"
What was your favorite class? Who were your favorite professors?
O.K., these two are pretty obvious. But they're still good bets, says Dawna Clark, director of admissions at Tuck School of Business. Students (and former students) love to impart wisdom, especially with like-minded interviewees. Give them time to shine, and everyone wins: They'll get to relive a positive academic experience, and you'll pick up some inside information.
What's a typical day like?
Beyond engaging your interviewer, this question shows you care about more than academic factoids, says Linda Abraham, president of Accepted.com, an online hub for college counseling. After all, you're applying for an experience. It's only human to care about the little things, like when and where you'll eat, sleep, learn, and let loose.
For anyone:
Is there anything else I can further address?
This should be your final question, says Beth Flye, the assistant dean and director of admissions at . It's proactive, it's accommodating, and it's a great way to hint that you're eager to attend (as opposed to, say, asking when you'll get your acceptance letter). Also, on the off-chance that you made a mistake on your application, this request could spawn a shot at redemption.
How to get into b school
With thousands of applications flowing in to universities every year, it can seem impossible to find the formula that will help your application earn a second glance. I tell anyone who asks me that the "key" to the whole deal is to find your own way to stand out from the crowd.
Of course, doing this is not easy, so here are a few tips.
What Makes You Unique?
Your mother can answer that one easily, but you're facing a much more critical audience this time.
Consider using a tool called a Positioning Statement that helps you define, in a few simple phrases, what is unique and special about the product you are trying to sell.
The product here is "you", and the principle can be directly applied. A blank Positioning Statement for a Business School applicant might look something like this:
For (target university)
which(statement of need/opportunity)
the applicant (name) is a (key feature/category)
that/who (core benefit proposition).
unlike (primary competitive alternative),
this applicant (point of difference).
How can we apply this framework to you?
Let's say you've been working for a little longer than the average applicant, and have dealt with large teams for many years. Maybe you also worked in some exotic part of the world, preferably one of the flavors of the month in U.S. business circles such as China or Russia. To top it off, your target school-let's call it Stanvard--places special emphasis on global business and managing in large organizations.
What might your Positioning Statement look like? Here's one option.
For Stanvard
which needs diversity in the classroom
the applicant (name) is an experienced manager
that/who has worked in Russia and China.
Unlike most other applicants,
this applicant has excelled in a sport Stanvard happens to take great pride in.
Of course, this framework is just one option to help you figure out the few key points that truly set you apart from the person sitting next to you. However you choose to define yourself, make sure you have that picture in your mind with great clarity as you begin the essays and answers in the application. Refer to it several times as you go along, and critically examine your work to make sure this positioning easily stands out at first reading - that might be the only reading your application gets!
Getting Noticed
So you've got your positioning figured out - now what will make someone pay attention long enough to read the whole essay, and actually remember you? Remember, in the same day they read your essay, an admissions officer reads several other essays: some of those might be by Olympic swimmers working with factories in China, Reconnaissance Marines planning to change the way poverty alleviation works around the world, British schoolteachers who hike through the least known corners of the world taking photographs and meditating, and Bulgarian Tae-Kwon Do playing pilots (these are all real MBA students, no joke).
What are the most interesting stories you can tell about yourself? Not the ones you like to tell - the ones other people want you to re-tell. Ideally, the stories should not be all about you, but should give you an opportunity to gently bring in the positioning you want the reader to remember while keeping them engaged with an interesting narrative.
These stories can be about anything - maybe you will write about how your cricket team came back from a precarious position to win a crucial match, or how the students of your school organized an all-new event, or it might be about something more "relevant"-sounding such as a project at work or a research topic you undertook at university.
Diversity
Coming from a country that most Americans have a hard time locating on a map, you already possess one of the most sought-after attributes of all - diversity. There may be many other factors that contribute to your overall "diversity quotient" - talk about them all. Maybe you are a woman, or you worked in a unique industry, or your age or years of work experience place you outside the normal ranges of the schools you're applying to. Don't play down such facts - express why you think the diversity you bring to the table can make for a particularly rewarding classroom experience for everyone involved. The average student exists only in class statistics; every student deviates from this average in some direction, and admissions officers are always on the lookout for the unusual individual who will bring a fresh perspective to the conversation.
The Developing Nation Angle
In a globalized world, one of the most prized attribute any manager can possess is familiarity with the context of a developing nation. Congratulations, you were born into it. It may not help you during your visa interview, but it will count for a lot in the classroom, and Admissions Officers know it.
Classmates will keep looking to you when such topics some up. In fact, you'll find yourself contributing time and again on a side of life most of your classmates have only read about in elementary school. Make sure you highlight this aspect in your application.
Be the Man (or Woman) with the Plan
Admissions Officers get weak in the knees when applicants lay out clear, well-thought-out plans for how they plan to use their education. This is where all the introspection pays off. Go five, ten, twenty and fifty years into the future and talk about what you want to achieve. Then lay out a rough plan of how you're going to get there, using the education you get at business school as a vital tool. The more authentic and well thought out you can make this, the better the impression you will make.
Don't Stand Out for the Wrong Reasons
By the time you get to the end of your third essay, you won't remember which essay asked which question and where you narrated which story. The price of trying to keep things fresh and unique is that there's so much to keep track of. It's easy to go off topic or leave in entire paragraphs of gibberish.
Get a trusted colleague or family member (one you can freely disagree with on creative points) to read your essays and tell you whether you're clearly talking through your hat and whether they can say it's really you who wrote it.
Have a schoolteacher or education counselor look through the essays for obvious mistakes and to help you with your writing style.
One of the most interesting games to play is to not show them the question or topic and have them guess it instead. This is a good way to figure out whether you are writing to the point and whether your writing is clear enough to convey the message you're going for.
Keep Copies
You're ready to send off the applications complete with proof-read essays and stellar exam scores. Congratulations! But, before you hit the "send" button, save it and print a copy. You may be asked about a particular question, or you may be able to refer to large chunks of it in a different application. You may even apply to the same university next year, when a lot of the information may still be relevant.
J. Charitha Ratwatte (Junior).
Charitha is entering the second year of his MBA program at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, California.
Of course, doing this is not easy, so here are a few tips.
What Makes You Unique?
Your mother can answer that one easily, but you're facing a much more critical audience this time.
Consider using a tool called a Positioning Statement that helps you define, in a few simple phrases, what is unique and special about the product you are trying to sell.
The product here is "you", and the principle can be directly applied. A blank Positioning Statement for a Business School applicant might look something like this:
For (target university)
which(statement of need/opportunity)
the applicant (name) is a (key feature/category)
that/who (core benefit proposition).
unlike (primary competitive alternative),
this applicant (point of difference).
How can we apply this framework to you?
Let's say you've been working for a little longer than the average applicant, and have dealt with large teams for many years. Maybe you also worked in some exotic part of the world, preferably one of the flavors of the month in U.S. business circles such as China or Russia. To top it off, your target school-let's call it Stanvard--places special emphasis on global business and managing in large organizations.
What might your Positioning Statement look like? Here's one option.
For Stanvard
which needs diversity in the classroom
the applicant (name) is an experienced manager
that/who has worked in Russia and China.
Unlike most other applicants,
this applicant has excelled in a sport Stanvard happens to take great pride in.
Of course, this framework is just one option to help you figure out the few key points that truly set you apart from the person sitting next to you. However you choose to define yourself, make sure you have that picture in your mind with great clarity as you begin the essays and answers in the application. Refer to it several times as you go along, and critically examine your work to make sure this positioning easily stands out at first reading - that might be the only reading your application gets!
Getting Noticed
So you've got your positioning figured out - now what will make someone pay attention long enough to read the whole essay, and actually remember you? Remember, in the same day they read your essay, an admissions officer reads several other essays: some of those might be by Olympic swimmers working with factories in China, Reconnaissance Marines planning to change the way poverty alleviation works around the world, British schoolteachers who hike through the least known corners of the world taking photographs and meditating, and Bulgarian Tae-Kwon Do playing pilots (these are all real MBA students, no joke).
What are the most interesting stories you can tell about yourself? Not the ones you like to tell - the ones other people want you to re-tell. Ideally, the stories should not be all about you, but should give you an opportunity to gently bring in the positioning you want the reader to remember while keeping them engaged with an interesting narrative.
These stories can be about anything - maybe you will write about how your cricket team came back from a precarious position to win a crucial match, or how the students of your school organized an all-new event, or it might be about something more "relevant"-sounding such as a project at work or a research topic you undertook at university.
Diversity
Coming from a country that most Americans have a hard time locating on a map, you already possess one of the most sought-after attributes of all - diversity. There may be many other factors that contribute to your overall "diversity quotient" - talk about them all. Maybe you are a woman, or you worked in a unique industry, or your age or years of work experience place you outside the normal ranges of the schools you're applying to. Don't play down such facts - express why you think the diversity you bring to the table can make for a particularly rewarding classroom experience for everyone involved. The average student exists only in class statistics; every student deviates from this average in some direction, and admissions officers are always on the lookout for the unusual individual who will bring a fresh perspective to the conversation.
The Developing Nation Angle
In a globalized world, one of the most prized attribute any manager can possess is familiarity with the context of a developing nation. Congratulations, you were born into it. It may not help you during your visa interview, but it will count for a lot in the classroom, and Admissions Officers know it.
Classmates will keep looking to you when such topics some up. In fact, you'll find yourself contributing time and again on a side of life most of your classmates have only read about in elementary school. Make sure you highlight this aspect in your application.
Be the Man (or Woman) with the Plan
Admissions Officers get weak in the knees when applicants lay out clear, well-thought-out plans for how they plan to use their education. This is where all the introspection pays off. Go five, ten, twenty and fifty years into the future and talk about what you want to achieve. Then lay out a rough plan of how you're going to get there, using the education you get at business school as a vital tool. The more authentic and well thought out you can make this, the better the impression you will make.
Don't Stand Out for the Wrong Reasons
By the time you get to the end of your third essay, you won't remember which essay asked which question and where you narrated which story. The price of trying to keep things fresh and unique is that there's so much to keep track of. It's easy to go off topic or leave in entire paragraphs of gibberish.
Get a trusted colleague or family member (one you can freely disagree with on creative points) to read your essays and tell you whether you're clearly talking through your hat and whether they can say it's really you who wrote it.
Have a schoolteacher or education counselor look through the essays for obvious mistakes and to help you with your writing style.
One of the most interesting games to play is to not show them the question or topic and have them guess it instead. This is a good way to figure out whether you are writing to the point and whether your writing is clear enough to convey the message you're going for.
Keep Copies
You're ready to send off the applications complete with proof-read essays and stellar exam scores. Congratulations! But, before you hit the "send" button, save it and print a copy. You may be asked about a particular question, or you may be able to refer to large chunks of it in a different application. You may even apply to the same university next year, when a lot of the information may still be relevant.
J. Charitha Ratwatte (Junior).
Charitha is entering the second year of his MBA program at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, California.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
A 100-year health check for Harvard
Last week the world's stock markets continued their frenzied orgy of value creation and destruction. World leaders huddled in Paris and Washington, desperate to construct a new financial order out of the chaos. The future of capitalism itself seemed in doubt.
But just outside Cambridge, Massachusetts, on a golden Sunday evening, a trio of young classical musicians filled the air with sweet melodies as alumni of Harvard Business School sipped champagne and chatted fondly about old times. A photograph of the scene in HBS's handsome Baker library that evening would have had to be labelled: "Crisis, what crisis?"
Harvard students, young and not quite so young, had come together to celebrate 100 years of HBS. Founded in 1908 as a "delicate experiment" - academic talk for "it's sure to fail", according to HBS's current dean Jay Light - the school has outlasted most of its critics. But no Harvard graduate, however gifted, would have been able to predict that their centennial "global business summit" would coincide with the most dramatic financial earthquake for several generations.
You would have to have a heart of stone not to be amused by this piquant accident of timing. Here, at the spiritual home of the Masters of the Universe, distinguished graduates could only look on as that same universe threatened to implode.
The turbulence seemed wholly out of place in HBS's orderly and tranquil environs. The site, developed on marshland in the 1920s on the wrong side of Boston's Charles river (the school had initially been a temporary resident in Harvard University's economics faculty), stretches over 40 acres and comprises 33 buildings. For decades many of the world's sharpest young graduates have been coming to HBS to acquire that vital passport to a career at the very top: the Harvard MBA.
But just outside Cambridge, Massachusetts, on a golden Sunday evening, a trio of young classical musicians filled the air with sweet melodies as alumni of Harvard Business School sipped champagne and chatted fondly about old times. A photograph of the scene in HBS's handsome Baker library that evening would have had to be labelled: "Crisis, what crisis?"
Harvard students, young and not quite so young, had come together to celebrate 100 years of HBS. Founded in 1908 as a "delicate experiment" - academic talk for "it's sure to fail", according to HBS's current dean Jay Light - the school has outlasted most of its critics. But no Harvard graduate, however gifted, would have been able to predict that their centennial "global business summit" would coincide with the most dramatic financial earthquake for several generations.
You would have to have a heart of stone not to be amused by this piquant accident of timing. Here, at the spiritual home of the Masters of the Universe, distinguished graduates could only look on as that same universe threatened to implode.
The turbulence seemed wholly out of place in HBS's orderly and tranquil environs. The site, developed on marshland in the 1920s on the wrong side of Boston's Charles river (the school had initially been a temporary resident in Harvard University's economics faculty), stretches over 40 acres and comprises 33 buildings. For decades many of the world's sharpest young graduates have been coming to HBS to acquire that vital passport to a career at the very top: the Harvard MBA.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Studying for an MBA means learning to multi-task
"It is with good reason that the MBA is known as a macho qualification. In addition to the cut-and-thrust of classroom debate, there is the information-heavy syllabus to absorb, a task that requires students to invest significant amounts of time both in and out of the classroom. But even this, it appears, is not enough of a challenge for some.
"It sounds melodramatic to say you do not have any time but physically there are just not enough hours in the day," says Andy Hancock, who is combining an EMBA at the University of Southampton School of Management with running his own business, Excedo Travel, a luxury adventure holiday company. "At busy times I start work at 7.30am, finish at 8pm, start my MBA studies at 9pm and finish around 11pm," says Andy, 28. "You do have to make sacrifices – in this case a social life. And buy a dishwasher because there's no time to do any washing up!"
Andy signed up for an MBA to enhance his job prospects in the UK after eight years of working overseas for a leading holiday company. But then he was talent spotted when the BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary, The Great British Holiday Experience, filmed him setting up a new hotel in Turkey.
"The financial backer of Excedo saw me on TV and contacted me because he wanted a travel arm to go alongside his existing corporate events business," says Andy. "I warned him I was already signed up to do an MBA and he was totally supportive."
Andy started the EMBA in September 2007 and Excedo started trading five months later. "There are a lot of hours involved in setting up a business but the MBA workload comes in peaks and troughs so I am managing to fit the studying around work. Luckily I'm a single man so I can be selfish with my time. There are friends on my course who have two kids and a husband and they're getting up at 5am to study because that's the only spare time they have."
Those who do have family commitments face a constant struggle to fit everything in and retain their sanity. Alain Khoury, CEO of Paris-based IT consultancy SNK Intertrade and an EMBA student at ICN Business School in Nancy, France, found that something had to give. For the first five months of the programme, Alain freed himself from professional commitments every other Friday and personal commitments every other Saturday but, as the months went by, the hours of personal study required to keep up with the course workload began to tell.
"How do you find time to carry out an EMBA, run a company and take care of your family when you have exhausted all sources of energy? Knowing that I couldn't change the EMBA workload nor make any more concessions on my family life, the only alternative was to reconsider how I was running my company," he says.
While unable to handover his CEO functions, Alain, who founded the company in 1994, decided to delegate the technical consultancy role he still played. "I chose to reduce my personal revenue and company turnover to free up additional time for the EMBA," says Alain, who remains convinced the short-term sacrifice will pay off in the end.
Many MBA students combine their studies with demanding jobs and, far from treading water in the workplace while tackling their studies, decide to seek out additional responsibilities and challenges. Accountant Claire Baty, for example, signed up for an MBA with Manchester Business School Worldwide while holding down a job that required 70-hour weeks and frequent trips overseas.
"It was quite tough to fit everything in," recalls Claire, now 32. "The MBS programme was very flexible which meant I could leave the studying for a couple of weeks when things got really busy and then cram it all in when work calmed down again."
Completing the course took a lot of organisation and self-discipline. Claire set up a spreadsheet to structure her studies – "a typical accountant," she laughs – and she booked into a hotel for several nights in order to write her dissertation free of all distractions, husband included.
It was a tough schedule and, at times, dispiriting. "It can be depressing when all your friends are going away for the weekend and you can't go because you have to study. You have to keep your mind on the end game."
For Claire, the end game was a long sought-after promotion. "I'm now group reporting manager for a media company, where I've got a department of 40 people underneath me ," she says.
There is, it seems, a common checklist of skills for those planning to juggle an MBA with running their own business or climbing the corporate ladder: excellent time management skills, an iron will and plenty of stamina. An understanding spouse and a dishwasher are also helpful.
'You have to multi-task, fill every minute and stay busy'
Bemi Odunlami, 29, has just completed the fulltime MBA at Lancaster University Management School while working as a self-employed locum pharmacist at the weekends and managing a portfolio of buy-to-let properties.
"I'm not sure I would recommend working while doing a full-time MBA as it's been really tough to fit everything in. I’m constantly busy and always on the phone. But I wanted to stay liquid and not completely run out of cash. It meant I had some peace of mind because I had an income whereas some people on the course were starting to worry about their finances and the impact of the economic downturn. The property management business is not too time-intensive: it's more a question of making phone calls and sorting things out if there are any problems at the properties. But as a self-employed locum pharmacist, I wouldwork 9am to 6pm on a Saturday and then work all evening to catch up on the studying I should have been doing during the day. You have to multi-task really easily, fill every minute and stay busy. You also have to be really disciplined. After lectures at6pm, people tended to hang around chatting for an hour, which is a really valuable part of the MBA experience, but I would have to limit myself to 15 minutes and then be out of there because I always had something pressing to do elsewhere.""
"It sounds melodramatic to say you do not have any time but physically there are just not enough hours in the day," says Andy Hancock, who is combining an EMBA at the University of Southampton School of Management with running his own business, Excedo Travel, a luxury adventure holiday company. "At busy times I start work at 7.30am, finish at 8pm, start my MBA studies at 9pm and finish around 11pm," says Andy, 28. "You do have to make sacrifices – in this case a social life. And buy a dishwasher because there's no time to do any washing up!"
Andy signed up for an MBA to enhance his job prospects in the UK after eight years of working overseas for a leading holiday company. But then he was talent spotted when the BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary, The Great British Holiday Experience, filmed him setting up a new hotel in Turkey.
"The financial backer of Excedo saw me on TV and contacted me because he wanted a travel arm to go alongside his existing corporate events business," says Andy. "I warned him I was already signed up to do an MBA and he was totally supportive."
Andy started the EMBA in September 2007 and Excedo started trading five months later. "There are a lot of hours involved in setting up a business but the MBA workload comes in peaks and troughs so I am managing to fit the studying around work. Luckily I'm a single man so I can be selfish with my time. There are friends on my course who have two kids and a husband and they're getting up at 5am to study because that's the only spare time they have."
Those who do have family commitments face a constant struggle to fit everything in and retain their sanity. Alain Khoury, CEO of Paris-based IT consultancy SNK Intertrade and an EMBA student at ICN Business School in Nancy, France, found that something had to give. For the first five months of the programme, Alain freed himself from professional commitments every other Friday and personal commitments every other Saturday but, as the months went by, the hours of personal study required to keep up with the course workload began to tell.
"How do you find time to carry out an EMBA, run a company and take care of your family when you have exhausted all sources of energy? Knowing that I couldn't change the EMBA workload nor make any more concessions on my family life, the only alternative was to reconsider how I was running my company," he says.
While unable to handover his CEO functions, Alain, who founded the company in 1994, decided to delegate the technical consultancy role he still played. "I chose to reduce my personal revenue and company turnover to free up additional time for the EMBA," says Alain, who remains convinced the short-term sacrifice will pay off in the end.
Many MBA students combine their studies with demanding jobs and, far from treading water in the workplace while tackling their studies, decide to seek out additional responsibilities and challenges. Accountant Claire Baty, for example, signed up for an MBA with Manchester Business School Worldwide while holding down a job that required 70-hour weeks and frequent trips overseas.
"It was quite tough to fit everything in," recalls Claire, now 32. "The MBS programme was very flexible which meant I could leave the studying for a couple of weeks when things got really busy and then cram it all in when work calmed down again."
Completing the course took a lot of organisation and self-discipline. Claire set up a spreadsheet to structure her studies – "a typical accountant," she laughs – and she booked into a hotel for several nights in order to write her dissertation free of all distractions, husband included.
It was a tough schedule and, at times, dispiriting. "It can be depressing when all your friends are going away for the weekend and you can't go because you have to study. You have to keep your mind on the end game."
For Claire, the end game was a long sought-after promotion. "I'm now group reporting manager for a media company, where I've got a department of 40 people underneath me ," she says.
There is, it seems, a common checklist of skills for those planning to juggle an MBA with running their own business or climbing the corporate ladder: excellent time management skills, an iron will and plenty of stamina. An understanding spouse and a dishwasher are also helpful.
'You have to multi-task, fill every minute and stay busy'
Bemi Odunlami, 29, has just completed the fulltime MBA at Lancaster University Management School while working as a self-employed locum pharmacist at the weekends and managing a portfolio of buy-to-let properties.
"I'm not sure I would recommend working while doing a full-time MBA as it's been really tough to fit everything in. I’m constantly busy and always on the phone. But I wanted to stay liquid and not completely run out of cash. It meant I had some peace of mind because I had an income whereas some people on the course were starting to worry about their finances and the impact of the economic downturn. The property management business is not too time-intensive: it's more a question of making phone calls and sorting things out if there are any problems at the properties. But as a self-employed locum pharmacist, I wouldwork 9am to 6pm on a Saturday and then work all evening to catch up on the studying I should have been doing during the day. You have to multi-task really easily, fill every minute and stay busy. You also have to be really disciplined. After lectures at6pm, people tended to hang around chatting for an hour, which is a really valuable part of the MBA experience, but I would have to limit myself to 15 minutes and then be out of there because I always had something pressing to do elsewhere.""
Neil the 700b man
Not everyone remembers what they learned in school. But the nation must hope that Neel Kashkari will.
The 35-year-old Kashkari, interim head of the Office of Financial Stability, is largely unknown to the world outside Goldman Sachs, Silicon Valley or the Treasury Department.
People are looking for clues on the experiences that helped form the thinking of the one-time rocket scientist, Republican contributor and Goldman Sachs banker. Since 2006, Kashkari has been one of Paulson’s regular advisers, sharing with his mentor a hairstyle, Midwestern roots, a Goldman alumni card and even the same taste in popular soft drinks. Kashkari has only 45 days to hire a team before the November elections and devise a “lightning-speed” solution to problems including systemic risk and liquidity, stabilizing the markets and all the auctions, funds, cash infusions and swaps that come into play. Has he ever been in that position before? Probably not during his brief career as a banker.
So Deal Journal called Michael Useem, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business who taught Kashkari in 2002 as Kashkari was earning his M.B.A. Useem didn’t want to talk about Kashkari himself–he considers student-teacher relationships privileged, and doesn’t discuss student performance–but he gave us some perspective on a leadership training program that Kashkari participated in at Wharton that holds lessons for his time at Treasury.
In the winter of 2002, Useem took his students to the U.S. Army base at Fort Dix, N.J., for a computer-simulation exercise the Army uses to train its officers for battlefield experience. The eight-hour simulation forced the Wharton students to come up with plans to save 300 Bosnian refugees. The Wharton group broke up into 14 teams, including those representing the Red Cross, the Army and operational intelligence. The mission was how to make decisions in chaotic situations. “This is a microcosm of what Neel is doing as he walks into the office each day,” Useem said. “It’s a microcosm where the interests of different, competing groups have to be taken into account. He has to consider the banks, the home mortgage holders, and then, like in his experience in the Bosnia experiment, keep a clear head and preserve an ability to reach good decisions in a timely fashion. In the circumstances that Treasury faces now, they’re going to have to make enormous decisions at a rapid pace. It takes a stomach of iron to do that.”
It also takes a cooperative cast of characters. Useem pointed out that the Wharton students working with Kashkari didn’t achieve their mission, partly because the faculty planted three or four Army officers among them. “Just when things were going swimmingly well, these Army officers would send into the simulation a couple of dozen armed opponents of the Bosnian refugees, who would send sniper fire into the convoys carrying refugees,” Useem said. (Sounds a little like Congress to us.)
Useem, known for his love of Outward Bound-type expeditions to toughen up his students, no longer offers the Fort Dix simulation. Instead, he takes students to Patagonia, where they spend five days shivering and trying to learn leadership lessons. “People get worn down in a leadership position after a while,” he told us. “And that’s the point.”
Useem noted that Kashkari probably has learned much of what he knows already from Paulson, but he hopes the Wharton experience helped as well. “He’s prepared to take on the big job of the moment. In our philosophical view here, the need for speed and reaching tough judgment calls will help people do exactly what they have to do in the tough circumstance he’s walking into,” Useem said.
Permalink | Trackback URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/10/08/the-mba-experience-that-may-help-neel-kashkari-manage-700-billion/trackback/
The 35-year-old Kashkari, interim head of the Office of Financial Stability, is largely unknown to the world outside Goldman Sachs, Silicon Valley or the Treasury Department.
People are looking for clues on the experiences that helped form the thinking of the one-time rocket scientist, Republican contributor and Goldman Sachs banker. Since 2006, Kashkari has been one of Paulson’s regular advisers, sharing with his mentor a hairstyle, Midwestern roots, a Goldman alumni card and even the same taste in popular soft drinks. Kashkari has only 45 days to hire a team before the November elections and devise a “lightning-speed” solution to problems including systemic risk and liquidity, stabilizing the markets and all the auctions, funds, cash infusions and swaps that come into play. Has he ever been in that position before? Probably not during his brief career as a banker.
So Deal Journal called Michael Useem, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business who taught Kashkari in 2002 as Kashkari was earning his M.B.A. Useem didn’t want to talk about Kashkari himself–he considers student-teacher relationships privileged, and doesn’t discuss student performance–but he gave us some perspective on a leadership training program that Kashkari participated in at Wharton that holds lessons for his time at Treasury.
In the winter of 2002, Useem took his students to the U.S. Army base at Fort Dix, N.J., for a computer-simulation exercise the Army uses to train its officers for battlefield experience. The eight-hour simulation forced the Wharton students to come up with plans to save 300 Bosnian refugees. The Wharton group broke up into 14 teams, including those representing the Red Cross, the Army and operational intelligence. The mission was how to make decisions in chaotic situations. “This is a microcosm of what Neel is doing as he walks into the office each day,” Useem said. “It’s a microcosm where the interests of different, competing groups have to be taken into account. He has to consider the banks, the home mortgage holders, and then, like in his experience in the Bosnia experiment, keep a clear head and preserve an ability to reach good decisions in a timely fashion. In the circumstances that Treasury faces now, they’re going to have to make enormous decisions at a rapid pace. It takes a stomach of iron to do that.”
It also takes a cooperative cast of characters. Useem pointed out that the Wharton students working with Kashkari didn’t achieve their mission, partly because the faculty planted three or four Army officers among them. “Just when things were going swimmingly well, these Army officers would send into the simulation a couple of dozen armed opponents of the Bosnian refugees, who would send sniper fire into the convoys carrying refugees,” Useem said. (Sounds a little like Congress to us.)
Useem, known for his love of Outward Bound-type expeditions to toughen up his students, no longer offers the Fort Dix simulation. Instead, he takes students to Patagonia, where they spend five days shivering and trying to learn leadership lessons. “People get worn down in a leadership position after a while,” he told us. “And that’s the point.”
Useem noted that Kashkari probably has learned much of what he knows already from Paulson, but he hopes the Wharton experience helped as well. “He’s prepared to take on the big job of the moment. In our philosophical view here, the need for speed and reaching tough judgment calls will help people do exactly what they have to do in the tough circumstance he’s walking into,” Useem said.
Permalink | Trackback URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/10/08/the-mba-experience-that-may-help-neel-kashkari-manage-700-billion/trackback/
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
George Washington University
"he George Washington University School of Business has revolutionized its Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) programs through the launch of the first-ever curriculum in the country fully imbued with theories and practical applications on ethical leadership, corporate responsibility, and globalization. The new Global M.B.A. and World Executive M.B.A. programs incorporate values, theory, and international residencies to produce ethical leaders primed for success in today's global marketplace.
"We are not content with teaching business the way it always has been taught," said Susan M. Phillips, dean and professor of finance. "The global business paradigm has shifted, and it is our fundamental responsibility at the GW School of Business to inspire students to act responsibly, lead passionately, and think globally. Our new M.B.A. curriculum will cultivate business leaders empowered with the knowledge and practical skills to navigate the complex global marketplace, from developed to emerging economies. Our graduates will be grounded with solid values, ethical responsibility, and personal integrity."
"We are not content with teaching business the way it always has been taught," said Susan M. Phillips, dean and professor of finance. "The global business paradigm has shifted, and it is our fundamental responsibility at the GW School of Business to inspire students to act responsibly, lead passionately, and think globally. Our new M.B.A. curriculum will cultivate business leaders empowered with the knowledge and practical skills to navigate the complex global marketplace, from developed to emerging economies. Our graduates will be grounded with solid values, ethical responsibility, and personal integrity."
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Yale Harvard
"William Perera, a recent Saratoga High School graduate, competed in the Pacific Crest Half Ironman Triathlon held at Sunriver, Ore., in June, and was a winner in his age group.
The course started with a 1.2-mile swim in the Wickiup Reservoir, followed by a 58-mile bike ride around Mount Bachelor and a 13.1-mile run. Perera finished the triathlon in six hours and five minutes, faster than all other competitors in the 16-19 age division.
It was the fourth triathlon of the year for Perera, who plans to attend UCLA this fall. Earlier in the year he completed the Mount Diablo, Granite Bay and Berkeley Triathlons."
The course started with a 1.2-mile swim in the Wickiup Reservoir, followed by a 58-mile bike ride around Mount Bachelor and a 13.1-mile run. Perera finished the triathlon in six hours and five minutes, faster than all other competitors in the 16-19 age division.
It was the fourth triathlon of the year for Perera, who plans to attend UCLA this fall. Earlier in the year he completed the Mount Diablo, Granite Bay and Berkeley Triathlons."
anderson ucla
"Former Marine Sgt. Shawn James has found moving from the military world to the business world a difficult journey.Add a disability, and potential partners shy away in droves, said the 33-year-old San Diego resident, who dreams of starting a company involving hybrid vehicles."
Thursday, August 28, 2008
It was the quintessential college scene: dozens of students from the Harvard Black Men’s Forum and the Association of Black Harvard Women picnicking on the Radcliffe Quad, playing capture-the-flag and running relay races at their end-of-the-year field day.
But just an hour into the festivities on the sunny afternoon in May 2007, the fun screeched to a halt. Two campus police officers rode up on motorcycles. Were they students? the officers asked. Did they have permission to be there? The young men and women, dressed in Harvard T-shirts, would discover that a fellow student in a nearby dorm had mistaken them for trespassers, according to students who were there and whose account was confirmed by Harvard officials.
The incident, which ignited criticism from black students and faculty, highlighted the prejudices that many black students say they continue to face at Harvard — not only from police, but from classmates as well.
But just an hour into the festivities on the sunny afternoon in May 2007, the fun screeched to a halt. Two campus police officers rode up on motorcycles. Were they students? the officers asked. Did they have permission to be there? The young men and women, dressed in Harvard T-shirts, would discover that a fellow student in a nearby dorm had mistaken them for trespassers, according to students who were there and whose account was confirmed by Harvard officials.
The incident, which ignited criticism from black students and faculty, highlighted the prejudices that many black students say they continue to face at Harvard — not only from police, but from classmates as well.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Tips For Getting Into A Top Business School - Forbes.com
"With banks laying staffers off and the mortgage industry imploding, lots of people think it's a good time to attend business school. One indicator: The number of people taking the GMAT, a requirement for getting in, is up 12%, compared with this time last year.
That means more competition than ever to get into a top school. But getting into the school of your dreams isn't an impossible feat, if you follow certain tricks of the trade.
'The chance of getting into a top business school is 10% to 15%,' says Chioma Isiadinso, a former admissions board member at Harvard Business School and author of The Best Business Schools' Admissions Secrets. 'If you make good choices during the application process, you can up it to 80%.'"
That means more competition than ever to get into a top school. But getting into the school of your dreams isn't an impossible feat, if you follow certain tricks of the trade.
'The chance of getting into a top business school is 10% to 15%,' says Chioma Isiadinso, a former admissions board member at Harvard Business School and author of The Best Business Schools' Admissions Secrets. 'If you make good choices during the application process, you can up it to 80%.'"
Monday, August 25, 2008
The Harvard Crimson :: Harvard Tops Princeton, But Students Dismiss Rankings
"For the first time in a dozen years, Harvard won an unchallenged first in the U.S. News 'Best Colleges' ranking, an achievement that knocked Princeton off of the pedestal on which it had sat for the past eight years.
A handful of Ivy League schools plus Stanford, MIT, Caltech, the University of Chicago, and Duke round out the top ten.
Robert Morse, U.S. News' director of data research, said that because the difference between the top three schools has been small, 'it didn't take a great amount of movement to push Harvard ahead of Princeton.'
A few media outlets had reported that changes in class size allowed Harvard to pass Princeton, but Morse said that small changes across the board—in areas such as student retention, financial resources, faculty resources, and peer assessment score—also played a role."
A handful of Ivy League schools plus Stanford, MIT, Caltech, the University of Chicago, and Duke round out the top ten.
Robert Morse, U.S. News' director of data research, said that because the difference between the top three schools has been small, 'it didn't take a great amount of movement to push Harvard ahead of Princeton.'
A few media outlets had reported that changes in class size allowed Harvard to pass Princeton, but Morse said that small changes across the board—in areas such as student retention, financial resources, faculty resources, and peer assessment score—also played a role."
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
After earning a Harvard degree, Yoshito Hori gave up the life of a salaryman to start a school for would-be entrepreneurs
"When Yoshito Hori quit Sumitomo Corp. in the early 1990s and started a business school, many of his colleagues thought he was taking too great a risk. As it turned out, he was on the leading edge of the venture boom."
"Hori founded Globis Management School in Tokyo in 1992 and then launched the venture capital fund Globis Capital Partners in 1996.
Hori was a Kyoto University graduate and got his MBA from Harvard Business School. Unlike in the United States, becoming an entrepreneur was not common in Japan in the early 1990s, especially for those who had graduated from a prestigious university and had a job at a large company.
All that has changed.
"These days, young people don't think of starting a new venture as a risk," Hori, 46, said at his company's headquarters in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. He notes the growing number of young Japanese entrepreneurs in high-tech and other sectors.
In 1992, when he was 30, Hori began offering classes in a small classroom in Shibuya Ward. He and other MBA holders taught marketing and finance to young, career-minded businesspeople.
Some 20 students joined his academy, Globis Management School. Tailored for the Japanese business environment, the program was structured around case studies, which the students analyzed and debated.
The school was popular with those who wanted a brief, less expensive taste of an MBA experience in Japan rather than attending courses in the U.S. or Europe. A business course like this was rare in Japan at the time, Hori said.
The school was accredited as an official graduate school of management in December 2005 and now offers MBAs. It became an educational corporation this April and will open a new campus in Nagoya next year. "
"Hori founded Globis Management School in Tokyo in 1992 and then launched the venture capital fund Globis Capital Partners in 1996.
Hori was a Kyoto University graduate and got his MBA from Harvard Business School. Unlike in the United States, becoming an entrepreneur was not common in Japan in the early 1990s, especially for those who had graduated from a prestigious university and had a job at a large company.
All that has changed.
"These days, young people don't think of starting a new venture as a risk," Hori, 46, said at his company's headquarters in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. He notes the growing number of young Japanese entrepreneurs in high-tech and other sectors.
In 1992, when he was 30, Hori began offering classes in a small classroom in Shibuya Ward. He and other MBA holders taught marketing and finance to young, career-minded businesspeople.
Some 20 students joined his academy, Globis Management School. Tailored for the Japanese business environment, the program was structured around case studies, which the students analyzed and debated.
The school was popular with those who wanted a brief, less expensive taste of an MBA experience in Japan rather than attending courses in the U.S. or Europe. A business course like this was rare in Japan at the time, Hori said.
The school was accredited as an official graduate school of management in December 2005 and now offers MBAs. It became an educational corporation this April and will open a new campus in Nagoya next year. "
Monday, August 4, 2008
Harvard MBA Leaves With Great Access, Nice Book, No Job!
Review by Caroline Baum Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- What do some of the world's mostsuccessful business leaders, savviest entrepreneurs and reviledfelons have in common? Six initials: HBS MBA. A Master of Business Administration degree from HarvardBusiness School is an elite calling card. It opens doors,provides a network worthy of Who's Who and can be the first stepon a path to untold riches. (So what if former Enron CEO JeffreySkilling ended up in jail?) Intrigued by the opportunities open to someone with thisgolden degree, journalist Philip Delves Broughton quits his postas Paris bureau chief for London's Daily Telegraph to attend HBS.``Ahead of the Curve'' is the funny, insightful story of hisexperience. Delves Broughton, class of 2006, was one of 895 studentsselected from a field of 7,100 applicants, a 12.6 percentacceptance rate. Once you're in, though, it's ``almost impossibleto fail,'' the author writes. Students in the bottom 10 percentare given ``every kind of support.'' The only involuntary way outis failing to show up for class and being ``mean to everyone whotried to help you.'' That doesn't mean the program isn't without its challenges.The competition is intense, the workload daunting and thepressure to secure a $400,000-a-year job with a hedge fund orprivate equity fund never far from students' consciousness.
Cold Calling
Students are taught business using the case method, adaptedfrom the law school. Instead of listening to lectures, they learnbusiness principles by analyzing real situations in class.Professors ``cold call'' students to present the assigned case,intensifying the pressure to be prepared. The first year's required curriculum -- 10 courses, five persemester -- covers the fundamentals of business, includingfinance, accounting, marketing, organizational behavior,leadership and corporate accountability. The second yearcurriculum is elective. Some students come to HBS with a purpose: Their companiessend them, or they want to make a career change. Others come tofind themselves. Our narrator falls into the second category. He struggles with technology (Word is the only Microsoftapplication he's ever used), concepts (liabilities are the moneybanks have, assets the money they don't) and a constant sense ofbeing behind his classmates, many of whom have started companies,run factories, served in the military and worked as consultantsand public servants.
Vice Presidents Anonymous
Where Delves Broughton excels is in applying hisjournalist's eye for detail. He's at his best -- and mosthilarious -- when describing his classmates and, by design ordefault, deprecating himself. For some members of his class, accustomed to 80-hourworkweeks, the 55 hours of academic work expected of studentsseemed like a vacation, he writes. One veteran of a privateequity firm ``did not expect to learn much, but she was lookingforward to sleeping, working out and taking long vacations.'' HBS is all about leadership, starting with the school'smission statement: ``to educate leaders who make a difference inthe world.'' Even lowly positions at student clubs are advertisedas ``leadership opportunities'' and carry the title of vicepresident. ``One day we, too, might be part of corporate America'sbulging vice-presidential class, so we may as well get used tothe weightlessness of the title,'' the author writes.
Advice and Consent
Delves Broughton wrestles with the prospect of corporatelife. He tries to reconcile the advice of the business luminarieswho come to HBS to share their wisdom -- do something you love,the money will follow, family comes first -- with the reality formost graduates. ``The degree enabled them to get jobs that robbed them oftheir private lives,'' he says. The consolation is that the moneythey accumulate eventually allows them ``to live the lives theywanted.'' After many job applications, dozens of interviews and aseries of rejections (McKinsey & Co.) from employers he didn'treject first (Google), Delves Broughton comes up empty-handed.(``You went to Harvard Business School and couldn't find a job?''he imagines people thinking when they meet him.) That doesn't mean the two years and $175,000 for tuition andliving expenses was for naught. In the end, he realizes HBS isn'tabout getting a job. ``It was about putting up the structure fora more interesting life,'' he writes. That may sound like a rationalization, but if this book isany indication, Philip Delves Broughton got his money's worthfrom Harvard Business School.
``Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School''is published in the U.S. by the Penguin Press (283 pages,$25.95). It's published in the U.K. by Viking under the title``What They Teach You at Harvard Business School'' (12.99 pounds,paperback).
(Caroline Baum, author of ``Just What I Said,'' is aBloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)
For related news:Top arts and lifestyle stories: MUSEBook reviews: TNI BOOK MUSE More by Caroline Baum: NI BAUM
--Editors: Laurie Muchnick, Yvette Ferreol.
Cold Calling
Students are taught business using the case method, adaptedfrom the law school. Instead of listening to lectures, they learnbusiness principles by analyzing real situations in class.Professors ``cold call'' students to present the assigned case,intensifying the pressure to be prepared. The first year's required curriculum -- 10 courses, five persemester -- covers the fundamentals of business, includingfinance, accounting, marketing, organizational behavior,leadership and corporate accountability. The second yearcurriculum is elective. Some students come to HBS with a purpose: Their companiessend them, or they want to make a career change. Others come tofind themselves. Our narrator falls into the second category. He struggles with technology (Word is the only Microsoftapplication he's ever used), concepts (liabilities are the moneybanks have, assets the money they don't) and a constant sense ofbeing behind his classmates, many of whom have started companies,run factories, served in the military and worked as consultantsand public servants.
Vice Presidents Anonymous
Where Delves Broughton excels is in applying hisjournalist's eye for detail. He's at his best -- and mosthilarious -- when describing his classmates and, by design ordefault, deprecating himself. For some members of his class, accustomed to 80-hourworkweeks, the 55 hours of academic work expected of studentsseemed like a vacation, he writes. One veteran of a privateequity firm ``did not expect to learn much, but she was lookingforward to sleeping, working out and taking long vacations.'' HBS is all about leadership, starting with the school'smission statement: ``to educate leaders who make a difference inthe world.'' Even lowly positions at student clubs are advertisedas ``leadership opportunities'' and carry the title of vicepresident. ``One day we, too, might be part of corporate America'sbulging vice-presidential class, so we may as well get used tothe weightlessness of the title,'' the author writes.
Advice and Consent
Delves Broughton wrestles with the prospect of corporatelife. He tries to reconcile the advice of the business luminarieswho come to HBS to share their wisdom -- do something you love,the money will follow, family comes first -- with the reality formost graduates. ``The degree enabled them to get jobs that robbed them oftheir private lives,'' he says. The consolation is that the moneythey accumulate eventually allows them ``to live the lives theywanted.'' After many job applications, dozens of interviews and aseries of rejections (McKinsey & Co.) from employers he didn'treject first (Google), Delves Broughton comes up empty-handed.(``You went to Harvard Business School and couldn't find a job?''he imagines people thinking when they meet him.) That doesn't mean the two years and $175,000 for tuition andliving expenses was for naught. In the end, he realizes HBS isn'tabout getting a job. ``It was about putting up the structure fora more interesting life,'' he writes. That may sound like a rationalization, but if this book isany indication, Philip Delves Broughton got his money's worthfrom Harvard Business School.
``Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School''is published in the U.S. by the Penguin Press (283 pages,$25.95). It's published in the U.K. by Viking under the title``What They Teach You at Harvard Business School'' (12.99 pounds,paperback).
(Caroline Baum, author of ``Just What I Said,'' is aBloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)
For related news:Top arts and lifestyle stories: MUSE
--Editors: Laurie Muchnick, Yvette Ferreol.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
GMAT
"Question: What's a Good Score on the GMAT Test?
Answer: Every business school program has a different understanding of what constitutes a "good" GMAT score, and there's usually not a fixed cut-off point required for admission. Admissions committees will also be looking at your past GPA and work experience, so you can think of your GMAT score as being balanced by those other considerations. Some schools may accept lower GMAT scores if you have a rich work history and a good past GPA; others may let you in because of high GMAT scores if you only have a few years of work experience.
Your first step should be to research the average GMAT test scores of the students who were accepted into the specific business schools you're interested in. Most schools publish these numbers online, so find them and take note of the average scores.
You should aim for a higher than average GMAT score to make yourself a competitive candidate for business school admissions.
Here's an idea of what you're up against: The most prestigious US business schools, including the Ivy Leagues, report that their students scored 700 on the GMAT on average. Less prestigious business schools, such as those at many state universities, report an average GMAT score of 550 - only slightly higher than the average score earned by all GMAT testers. In between those extremes, scoring 650 on the GMAT will beat the average and make you a competitive candidate at most business schools around the US.
So find out the average GMAT score for students accepted into the schools you're interested in, and target your test prep to match or beat that score.Business Week has 2 great resources that will help you understand the relationship between GMAT scores and schools:
An MBA Program Search to find the schools that would be the best match for you, considering your work experience, GMAT score, preferred state or region, and other factors.
MBA Program Profiles for most business schools in North America. Click on the schools you're interested in to learn the average GMAT score for accepted students in the past few years as well as the cost, the program length, and other vital information."
Answer: Every business school program has a different understanding of what constitutes a "good" GMAT score, and there's usually not a fixed cut-off point required for admission. Admissions committees will also be looking at your past GPA and work experience, so you can think of your GMAT score as being balanced by those other considerations. Some schools may accept lower GMAT scores if you have a rich work history and a good past GPA; others may let you in because of high GMAT scores if you only have a few years of work experience.
Your first step should be to research the average GMAT test scores of the students who were accepted into the specific business schools you're interested in. Most schools publish these numbers online, so find them and take note of the average scores.
You should aim for a higher than average GMAT score to make yourself a competitive candidate for business school admissions.
Here's an idea of what you're up against: The most prestigious US business schools, including the Ivy Leagues, report that their students scored 700 on the GMAT on average. Less prestigious business schools, such as those at many state universities, report an average GMAT score of 550 - only slightly higher than the average score earned by all GMAT testers. In between those extremes, scoring 650 on the GMAT will beat the average and make you a competitive candidate at most business schools around the US.
So find out the average GMAT score for students accepted into the schools you're interested in, and target your test prep to match or beat that score.Business Week has 2 great resources that will help you understand the relationship between GMAT scores and schools:
An MBA Program Search to find the schools that would be the best match for you, considering your work experience, GMAT score, preferred state or region, and other factors.
MBA Program Profiles for most business schools in North America. Click on the schools you're interested in to learn the average GMAT score for accepted students in the past few years as well as the cost, the program length, and other vital information."
UCLA Anderson MBA
The Anderson School at UCLA offers graduate degrees in management.
www.anderson.ucla.edu
Friday, August 1, 2008
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