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MBA admissions Q&A: GPA, Integrated Reasoning score, alumni engagement

By on July 18, 2016 in Uncategorized

Some MBA admissions questions from clients and friends — answers below

On the Integrated Reasoning score

q and a

Q: My overall score was 770, but my IR was only 5….I was wondering if this low IR (integrated reasoning) score would have a negative impact on me please? How do the schools look at IR scores, and are there any that use this as a criteria? Should I retake it?

A:  No! Do not retake the GMAT. At this stage (summer 2016) admissions officers are still pretty agnostic about the IR score. I’ve heard them say in conferences that there is not enough data to make a real assessment on the IR score alone.  I’ve also heard from GMAC people that the IR correlates pretty well with the quant score.  So if you have a high quant score and a low IR, your quant score outweighs it.  If you have a low quant score and a high IR score, that’s actually less powerful, sadly.

On a low-ish GMAT, but from one of the best schools in the USA in chemical engineering

Q: How much does our GPA from undergrad matter, especially if it is lower than the average reported GPA from the business school? Does this significantly disadvantage us?

A: Not all GPAs are alike.  You’ve told me that you have a degree in chemical and biological engineering. That major and those courses will offset courses everyone knows are just not as hard. I was a political science major and I know, (as does every admissions officer) that my GPA in should be discounted against a chemical engineer.

The other thing they look at is the trend.  They are ok if it gets better over time.  Most schools weight your junior and senior years higher than your first 2 years. That makes logical sense as well.

Finally, they do look at the whole picture, and your work experience, international experience, and publishing experience will all play into the whole picture.

If you have one course where you really did poorly, that might require an unemotional explanation in an optional essay.  But that’s really only the case if you got a D, or something like that. I don’t think that a C is really that big a deal.

SPECIAL BONUS: Answered from Tuck Admissions Officer Kristin Roth

Q:  Why is alumni engagement at Tuck so strong?

A: This is an immersive experience, whether you’re on campus in Hanover or around the world for on-the-ground learning opportunities. People don’t disappear after classes are over; they stay together in a living, learning, and social environment. This intimate experience requires students to learn how to engage with each other, support and challenge each other, and work through problems collaboratively. They also experience the support of alumni during their time as students which translates into strong alumni engagement. People pay it forward to the next generation of Tuckies, because they experienced that themselves. It’s a virtuous circle.

Annual San Francisco MBA Admissions Workshop

By on June 10, 2016 in Uncategorized

MBA admissions workshopEvery year in July I organize a workshop for potential applicants. It’s an interactive event — not just me talking, but you helping each other figure out what are the stories and themes in your life that will help you stand out in the competitive MBA admissions process.

The workshop is hosted by the Harvard Club of San Francisco, and has produced successful candidates who have gone on to all of the top business schools: HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Yale, Kellogg, MIT, Booth, Kellogg, Tuck…and more.  Plus, you don’t have to be a Harvard graduate to attend!

I’ll do bit of talking to de-mystify the admissions process, but you will do the work to kick-start your application — not just the essays — and make it shine.

 

At the workshop, you’ll go through exercises to help you identify unique personal and career successes. You will brainstorm ways to tell your own story in an inviting and compelling way. You will join small teams get to know each other, using both the left and the right side of your brain to identify what makes you stand out from just any old applicant.

We’ll have food on hand to keep you nourished, and by the end of the workshop, you will have at least one story that admissions committees can’t wait to read about.

Date: Tuesday, July 12
Time: 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Place: Sandbox Suites, 404 Bryant St (@2nd St), San Francisco
Cost: $25 members, $30 non-members. Includes food

For more information and registration, please click here.

RSVP requested by July 10

After Round 2 — And Some Interview Tips Too

By on January 25, 2016 in Interviews, Uncategorized

This is the in-between season for MBA applicants, characterized by anxiety for everyone, including me. Reason: those who have already met their first-round deadlines have nothing to do but wait, and are suddenly overwhelmed with free time and unused gym memberships. Those who are applying in round 2 realize that they have to go through the crazy deadlines and last-minute rush they saw their friends go through.
But here’s the good news: For round 1 folks, you will know what is going on by Christmas. Either way. In the meantime, you’ve got interviews to go through, which are actually fun. I mean, what better way to talk about yourself for half-hour?  It’s not that hard, even at HBS, where the interview really does make or break the application. So, for those of you who are getting ready to make their case in person, here are three handy tips:

1. Be over-prepared. About your story (why MBA, why you) about your leadership examples, and about why this school. You want to be confident, and with most type-A people (the kind of people applying to business school), the best way to be confident is to practice, practice, practice.

2. Look at the interview as a fraternity/sorority rush experience. The most important thing an interview is going to tell the admissions committee is whether they think classmates will benefit from having you around. Remember, your sectionmate/team member is paying $150,000 for the privilege of learning from you. Your interviewer is looking not only at what value you add, but how likeable you are. Face it, there’s an element of popularity here.

Having said that, you are not the interviewer’s best friend, so don’t get too cozy or flip. This is business.

3. Be prepared to talk about a fun fact.  If you don’t have a fun fact on your resume (glassblowing, member of the national darts team, lived in Suriname for a year), be prepared to talk about something a little unusual. Or at a minimum, be prepared to talk about what you are reading. Interviewers want to know something about you that’s just a little different from the others. Knowing every word from “The Big Lebowski” doesn’t count.

BONUS

4. Know your industry’s headlines. This is a new one, something I picked up from an interview guide published by HBS students. If you are in social media, there’s a good chance that the interviewer may ask you to opine on Twitter’s newest change (as of this writing it’s the ability to be able to direct tweet anyone). If you work for JPMorgan, you should probably be aware of what the media is saying about Jamie Dimon, even if it bears little influence on your division. You just don’t want to get caught off guard if an interview says, “Oh, you work in consumer tech, what do you think of Apple’s new head of retail sales?”

So remember, practice, stay interesting, and enjoy the process.

Tuck School Also Debunks MBA Application Myths

By on December 12, 2013 in Inspiration, Uncategorized

tuck blog

As students rush to get their applications in for the second round of MBA admissions, schools are reaching out to students to separate true from false. Part of it is because everyone runs to forums to get their information rather than directly from schools. So when I see an admissions director write up a “Mythbusting” blog post, I feel I need to pass it on. Stanford debunked myths last month, offering useful information about the GSB admissions process.

This time it’s from one of the best schools in the world, the beautiful and close-knit Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Here are the words of the straightforward Director of Admissions, Dawna Clarke (also a very nice person).

The Real Story

Dawna Clarke, addresses some of the most common questions she hears from prospective applicants in this video.

Some of the most common misconceptions about Tuck’s application process are:

Tuck allocates a specific number of admit slots per round: Not true. The number of applicants who are admitted in each round is greatly influenced by the overall quality and size of the application pool each year.

International students are less likely to be admitted after the November round: We’re not really sure how this one got started, but this is also not true. Again, because the overall makeup of the applicant pool varies from year-to-year, how and when applicants are admitted is partly the result of the ongoing application process.

If you haven’t applied by the November round, you should wait to apply early the following year: Again, not true. We admit lots of applicants in the January round and, while the April round is typically the most competitive, a strong application will stand out–regardless of the round it is received in. The important takeaway here is that you should focus on submitting the best application you can and apply when the timing works best for you.

Applicants often think that admissions directors are not as truthful about their process as they can be. I see why it’s confusion, but I suggest paying attention to the words of people like Dawna Clarke — if only to make yourself less anxious!

Stanford GSB Debunks MBA Application Myths

By on November 13, 2013 in Uncategorized

 

Students who are applying to business school are rightfully nervous about their chances for getting in. And there are some urban myths that certainly go around the blogosphere about interviews, campus visits and chances. Thankfully, the admissions office at Stanford Graduate School of business has taken on the job of myth-buster, at least according to the GSB.  This is from their admissions blog post of November 8, 2013:

LET THE MYTH BUSTING BEGIN

— by the Stanford Graduate School  of Business Admissions Team

MYTH 1: The interview has a lot of weight so if I blow the interview, I have blown my chances of being admitted.
THE TRUTH: There is no specific weight assigned to the interview; the interview is one part of a comprehensive process. A positive interview does not guarantee admission, while a less than favorable interview does not, by itself, preclude admission. The written application, including the essays and letters of reference, is a critical part of the evaluation process. The interview is a key source of supplemental information.

MYTH 2: I received my interview invitation early in the round so it must mean I have a better chance of getting admitted.
THE TRUTH: The timing of your interview invitation reflects only the order in which your application was reviewed (and the order in which your application was reviewed doesn’t mean anything, honest!). Applications are not reviewed in any particular order, and applicants are not ranked.

MYTH 3: Visiting campus before or after I’ve submitted my application is an important way to demonstrate my interest in Stanford and increase my chances of being admitted.
THE TRUTH: Visiting campus does not affect your chances of admission whatsoever. Think of it this way – we wouldn’t want to bias the process towards only people with the proximity, time, or resources to visit. You may wish to visit if it’s helpful to your research and decision-making process about schools. Of course, we always welcome visitors! But we also understand that for some of you that may not be feasible. If you have only one chance to visit, save your time and money and come after you’ve been admitted for Admit Weekend, where you’ll meet students, alumni, faculty, and your future classmates.