One of the most common questions I loathe to give advice about is how to build a profile that will improve one’s chances for getting into a top b-school. Especially when it’s coming from folks who are more than a year away (and sometimes years away… I’ve had *high school* students ask me!). The reason … [Read more…]
Since 2004, I’ve been doing this under my own MBA Apply shingle. Surprising that I never put together something like this, but consider this some best practices I’ve learned in the decade-plus I’ve been working with tons of applicants from practically all walks of life. 1. GET THE GMAT OUT OF THE WAY FIRST BEFORE … [Read more…]
One of the most common aspirations of many MBA applicants and students is wanting to start a business of their own one day. In prior posts, I have cast doubts on whether an MBA is even worth it for aspiring entrepreneurs (at least those who are looking to start a business in the short-term), but … [Read more…]
One of the most basic but important question I get from folks is whether an MBA is worth it (and in particular, a full-time program). The debate seems to have been going on ad infinitum, with sentiment ebbing and flowing with the state of the economy. From a practical standpoint for many folks who are … [Read more…]
As an admissions consultant, what I do in a nutshell is to coach people on their applications – the essays, resume, recommendation letters, application forms, interviews, and just about any issue under the sun that pertains to business school: career goals, business school life, and whether even to bother applying to school at all. In … [Read more…]
Consider this: You walk into a college classroom where most of the faces are Indian and Chinese (or “South Asian” and “East Asian” for the more broad term – and in this context, it’s not really a question of citizenship i.e. Indian-American vs Indian but of race). If you were a recruiter for Goldman Sachs, … [Read more…]
I assume you’ll do your own research, and since there’s so much info out there on the websites, discussion forums, etc. which take a pretty dry approach in comparing schools, I’ve decided to stick with the car analogy – when you strip away all the discussion about GMAT averages, salary stats, career placement profiles, student … [Read more…]
One of the most common questions I get from readers is “What can I do to improve my chances in the next few months?” In short, there are really four things: (1) Get a “good enough” GMAT score. Your GMAT needs to be within range: for top 16 schools plus INSEAD and LBS, you realistically … [Read more…]
Over the years as an admissions consultant, I’ve worked with all kinds of applicants and seen all kinds of essay questions from a wide array of schools. Some of the questions are certainly enlightening (“what matters most to you and why”) and some are unintentionally comical and ridiculous (“if you were to choose the school … [Read more…]
I don’t often write about admissions geared towards specific cultural groups, since the admissions criteria for business schools transcend any nationality or occupation — an applicant needs to have a combination of strong leadership potential (career progression and extracurriculars that over time suggest greater responsibility for teams of people), exceptional communication/interpersonal skills, and analytical aptitude … [Read more…]