(Well, a post should not exceed 15000 characters, so here is much of the rest in another frame...)
The following is the fourth in a series of postings on preparing for the coming year.
Visiting Campuses and Networking with Students and Alumni
As I have noted in previous posts, it would be ideal for you as a prospective candidate to have nothing but your applications to manage come July (when most applications are released). While many take their GMAT and TOEFL exams by June in order to focus on their essays starting in July, few realize that there is a tremendous opportunity to visit campuses now -- both to learn about specific programs of choice and to ensure that the fall schedule is not too busy. It is difficult enough for many candidates to manage their professional, personal and community lives; the addition of five class visits in five different cities during a one or two month span can often be stressful and too much to manage.
Many schools (Stanford, HBS, Chicago, Kellogg, etc) still have campus visit programs that are in place until the end of their respective academic years and some offer visits throughout the summer, depending on their academic calendars. By visiting several of your schools of choice now, you will not only save yourself the stress in the fall, but you will also benefit from the visit itself.
Campus visits are not just checked boxes for the admissions committee, but are tremendous opportunities for you to gain an intimate understanding of various academic methodologies and academic and social environments. While your campus visits may help you choose which schools to apply to, they will also help you frame your thoughts and write far more personal essays. There is only so much that you can learn about a school via its website. Your campus visit will enable you to experience the true character of your MBA program of choice and then discuss your connection to it in a profound way. You can express a certain sincerity, if you can write about your personal interactions with professors and students as a catalyst for your decision to apply to a certain school.
Similarly, by meeting with any alumni or current students that you may know, you can gain a more intimate understanding of your school of choice. Current students in particular will have an awareness of specific programs and classes that may not hold a prominent place on their schools websites, but may be quite appealing to you and may enable you to strengthen your case for attending a certain school. By meeting with students and alumni and visiting classes and taking thorough notes on your experience, you will have a variety of data points which will help serve as a foundation for you to persuade the admissions committees that their school is most suitable for you, in a way that few others will be able to compare.
If you do not have connections with current students and alumni, you can politely contact current students who are heads of the clubs that are of interest to you and ask them for a few moments to discuss their schools attributes. If you aspire to be an entrepreneur for example, speaking with the President of the Entrepreneurship Club will enable you to quickly understand the various offerings at your school of choice and may even result in your finding an advocate for your candidacy.
The following is the fifth in a series of postings on preparing for the coming year.
Cultivating Relationships with Recommenders
While you may be like many others, worrying about your recommenders titles, what is far more important is that you select an individual who knows what is demanded of a recommender. Recommenders need to write very personal and intimate letters, discussing your talents, accomplishments, personality and potential. If the President of your firm can only discuss your work in vague and general terms, he/she will not help your cause. Conversely, if an Associate who is senior to you and supervises your work can offer powerful examples of the impact you have had on your company, he/she will help your cause far more.
As you contemplate those who you will select, try to gather some intelligence on your potential recommenders. Has he/she written letters for anyone else? Is he/she generous with his/her time when it comes to employee feedback and review sessions? Generally speaking, is your superior a good supervisor/boss? One of the best windows into your potential process will be previous colleagues, who you may even want to speak to discover how your supervisor managed the process. By identifying those who will be helpful and generous, you will alleviate the potential stress of missed deadlines and unpredictable letters.
While you should spend time right now doing your homework on your recommenders, another important step that you can take is getting in touch with previous supervisors with whom you have fallen out of contact. You do not want to be in a position where you are calling a former supervisor for the first time in years and asking him for a massive favor on a tight timeline. If you can identify a former supervisor whose time you will be needing, then make contact now and keep the relationship warm for the next few months. You will be far better off when the letter writing process begins.
You need to be careful in terms of who you ask to write on your behalf, especially when you are contemplating someone from your past. Certain individuals, such as military commanders, can often provide very valuable feedback, even if their experience with you was from years ago. Again, in the case of a former commander, you may need to locate him/her or warm that relationship up, after years of it being dormant. Under very particular circumstances, certain coaches and professors may also offer unique insight into your candidacy; but again, you may need to spend some time locating them and re-establishing your connection. Now is the time to make your connections; come September, it might be too late.
The following is the sixth in a series of postings on preparing for the coming year.
Selecting Additional Coursework
MBA programs are far more forgiving of previous academic problems than virtually any other graduate discipline. For most, their academic experience is far in the past and their GMAT, references and work experience are better indicators of their potential for success. This is not to suggest that poor grades dont matter; this is to suggest, however, that poor grades can be mitigated.
If your academic performance is worrisome to you, you should certainly consider enrolling in some additional coursework immediately. In particular, if you did poorly in math courses (even if your overall GPA is quite high), this will raise concerns about your ability to manage a heavily quantitative workload. Thus, you should consider a calculus, statistic or linear algebra class. Furthermore, in order to show an aptitude for management studies, you might want to consider taking an accounting, economics or corporate finance class. Needless to write, it is quite important that you get As in these courses to show not only that you have the aptitude but also that you have matured and take your academics quite seriously.
It is important to remember that additional coursework is not solely the domain of the academically challenged. Even those who did quite well in their undergrad classes might explore the option of taking additional coursework. Liberal Arts majors with 4.0s and no quantitative background can benefit from two As -- one in a math discipline one in a management discipline enabling them to make a strong statement about their competencies for their coming studies.
Again, you do not want to be going to classes while writing essays and applying to a variety of schools. So, it is important that you understand what is available to you and do your utmost to get these courses done before the applications become available in July, if that is still possible in your area.
The following is the seventh in a series of postings on preparing for the coming year.
Resume Preparation
Throughout this series, I have repeated a simple mantra get anything and everything (class visits, coursework, GMAT exams, etc.) done now so that you can focus on your applications come July. Your resume can be constructed now and the final update to your most recent position can be added in October during the latest stages of the process. Aside from the obvious timing benefits in completing your resume now, you will also benefit from reflecting on your accomplishments, a process that will help you brainstorm essay ideas and enable you to remind your recommenders of your major achievements.
As you strive to write a standout resume, you should think to yourself, What are my accomplishments? not What were my responsibilities? By re-hashing your responsibilities, you will essentially be offering only the most basic information on your position. Many candidates choose to write something like: Responsible for managing $10M media campaign, supervising staff of five junior brand managers, monitoring daily sales volumes and ensuring consistent supply of product from five production facilities in three countries. The problem with stating responsibilities is that the reader has no understanding of whether this individual is effective in his/her position. Was the media campaign successful? Did the staff of five progress? Did sales volumes increase? Did the supply of products reach its destination?
By breaking each of these bullet points down, elaborating on each task and then showing clear consequences of these actions, the reader learns of your decisive maneuvers and, more importantly, your results.
Instead of responsible for managing $10M media campaign offer more details on the task:
Initiated $10M television/internet Island Vacation promotion to introduce new Shine brand detergent
Then, offer clear results of your efforts
surpassing first year sales targets in three months.
By following an action/results formula, you will offer the reader a consistent record of success and show that you have excelled in your work, which is of course, your goal for your resume.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Shinewald
MBAMission
www.mbamission.com
646-485-8844
Skype: MBAMission
hi Jeremy,
Thanks for the Initiative taken for PGs. I want to ask one generic question.
This will be applicable to almost all MBA aspirants.
I am planning to do MBA in next 1-2 year from Ivy collegs either in India/US/Europe.
I am from IT sector with a 'not-so-good' college. My question is how i can improve my profile in order to make myself equip for applying to ivy league colleges keeping in mind that my academic college is not so good.
Few of the things i am doing is:
1. Industry best certifications - I just completed my project Mgt certification from PMI.
Now doing oracle ERP certification ( as i am working as Tech consultant in ERP domain).
2. few Extra Curriculars like Joining Public speaking club.
I have 3 yrs of IT experience and i am MCA. By the time i will join MBA college i will have around 4-5 yrs of exp.
So i have 1-2 yrs with me to improve my profile and get to the level where i can apply for TOP MBA colleges. I need your valuable suggestions /Tips on how i can improve my profile.
Thanks abd Regds,
HMG
:bad-word:)... So I wanted to be sure that I have worked on some of the basic question & qualities that I need to bring out along with instances from real life (in the essay's/Sop)... I know answer has to be modified from one b school to the other, but the basic structure would be the same ...
??: