MBA admissions home
MBA admissions services
MBA admissions about
MBA admissions media
MBA application consulting blog
MBA admissions contact
MBA essay space
Mater Admissions MBA admissions consulting logo
GMAT Review
GMAT Review
 

May 9, 2012

What You Can Do NOW to Boost Your MBA Application

Filed under: Application ideas,Chicago Booth,Harvard Business School,Stanford GSB — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 12:58 pm

With deadlines for MBA applications about six months away, you might think there's not much you can do to prepare right now other than take the GMAT or GRE. Even if you’re planning to apply to schools next year, you may think that your profile as a candidate is already set in stone.

Line up here

But the truth is, you can always improve—and whether you’re a few months or years out, you’ve got time to plan your campaign and enhance your application. Admissions officers are looking for several key things—ability to handle academic rigor, career progression, and leadership potential. "Virtually every MBA program looks for students who exhibit intellect and leadership," writes Derrick Bolton, Director of MBA Admissions at the Stanford Graduate School of Business

Here are three concrete ways you can demonstrate your potential to admissions officers—and even beef up your future employability, too.

 Take Undergraduate Quant Classes

Because business schools are very quantitative, they want to know that you can do the work that’s required. Plus, potential employers will be happy to see that you can handle numbers as well."We want to be sure that you will be able to handle the rigor of Tuck’s quantitative program." says Pat Harrison, associate director of admissions at Dartmouth's Tuck School.

You might think your GPA, that C+ in economics, or the fact that you’ve never taken calculus will doom you—but that’s not the case. You can take an online calculus or business statistics class from any number of accredited universities now, and use those grades on your business school applications. In many cases, accredited, graded courses can mitigate a less-than-perfect undergraduate record.

Another option is a specialized pre-MBA program, like the Tuck Online Bridge program, which offers courses in a number of disciplines, including managerial economics (statistics). If you’re just trying to beef up skills and don’t care about a grade, take a look at MBA Math, which offers very practical lessons in financial math, statistics, accounting, and microeconomics.

Demonstrate Your Career Progression
Admissions officers and potential employers are looking for people who have moved forward and will continue to advance in their careers. Chicago Booth's evaluation criteria includes "track record of success, resourcefulness,and sense of personal direction." Success doesn’t necessarily mean title advancement—rather, it’s about taking on an increasing level of responsibility. And not just when it’s offered.

Naturally, if your boss assigns you to spearhead a new product, run with it. But if that opportunity isn’t handed to you, you can volunteer to mentor new employees on your team, or develop an outreach program to educate internal clients about your group’s initiatives.

You can also ask for additional assignments that might teach you about a different part of the company. As long as your boss doesn’t think you’re leaving your current assignments unfinished, see if you can broaden your experience. Ask to join an existing firm-wide committee, or simply offer your services when you see someone else feeling overwhelmed.

These are little things that can expand your influence within your current position and propel you to a promotion, whether it’s official, unofficial, or even into another company. And even if you don’t get that promotion before you turn in that b-school application, the extra responsibilities and your initiative will reflect well on you.

Expand Your World
You can also look outward to the community to increase your leadership experience. "Our students...have to be seen as people who are creating value in society," said Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria.  I’m not suggesting that you merely add to your list of extra-curricular activities—the way you are involved in an activity can tell an admissions committee member more about you than can a lengthy list of organizations. So, look at what you’ve already been involved in and where you can deepen your leadership role and have a greater impact on your organization.

If you’ve been tutoring at-risk youth, for example, you might create and implement a strategic plan to bring on more volunteers to your group. Or if you’ve been raising funds for an annual 10K, you could develop relationships with corporate sponsors who may be able to help year after year. These types of activities can illustrate your initiative and long-term planning skills, and can be incorporated into the stories you tell in your essays.

As a business school applicant, you always have the potential to learn and grow—even in the months before you apply. Continuing to add to your portfolio of skills and achievements as you’re selecting schools and studying for the GMAT will show a propensity toward mature leadership—and that’s something admissions officers can’t wait to read about.

February 28, 2012

Leadership Do's & Don'ts Learned from the Oscars

Filed under: Application ideas,Inspiration — Tags: , , , , , , , , — admin @ 8:33 am

While Joan and Melissa Rivers commented on Oscar styles, Master Admissions focused on the lessons for leadership, especially for those

Surprise! Angie was a don't!

thinking about applying to business school, a job, or accepting an international award. Here are five takeaways from the Oscars that will resonate with MBA wannabees.

1. Have a brand, but be humble: The Oscars are known for glitz and glamour, not for authentic emotions. Some say the same for MBAs.  So even if the odds are in your favor, like they were for Octavia Spencer, show your humility. It’s a powerful way to command respect.

2.  But don’t go overboard on what you show and how you show it: Angelina Jolie didn’t need to strike a pose, and when she did, leg and all, she played the fool.  Prospective MBA’s want to know not to act too impressed with their talents.

3.  Use your age to your advantage:  Christopher Plummer had no apologies about his 82 years and showed the world that he was hardly over the hill.  Grace, maturity, and a sense of humor about yourself will always add to the conversation.

4. Give credit where credit is due: Meryl Streep thanked her husband first and her hair and makeup guy second.  She showed leadership by broadening the spotlight to include her important teammates.  And we loved her for it.

5. When in doubt, go global: Although the Oscars are in Hollywood, the stage was international.  Whether from France, Iran, or surprising the audience with fluent German like Sandra Bullock, we all speak the same language. It’s a small world after all.

These lessons are a good reminder that leadership shows up whether you are honored for your accomplishments--or letting the spotlight shine on your colleague. The world is a stage, and let's face it everyone has a little Hollywood in them.

---Betsy Massar

This post is a condensed version of the March 1 Forbes article.

Betsy Massar is founder of Master Admissions and author of Admitted: An Interactive Workbook for Getting into a Top MBA Program , published by 85 Broads. A graduate of Harvard Business School, she has worked on Wall Street for Goldman Sachs and in the financial markets in the US, Europe, and Asia. In addition, she has been a business journalist and a communications coach at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. 

March 9, 2011

GMAT, GRE, LSAT and Your Brain

Filed under: Chicago Booth,Harvard Business School,Inspiration,Stanford GSB,Wharton — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 7:42 pm

Starting to think about taking the GMAT, GRE or LSAT?  This is actually the time to start looking into courses, figuring out whether you want to take a class or get a private tutor, or whether doing the online/whiteboard route works for you. You can find variations that suit your timeframe, learning style, and temperament.

Test Anxiety is Normal
Taking tests is a subject that is near and dear to my heart.  I want you all to know that I was a TERRIBLE test taker. My SAT scores were so low that I was laughed out my top choice undergraduate schools. (I eventually had to transfer into Vassar from a state school).  So when I was thinking about applying to graduate school, the hold-it-all back side of my brain flipped out. Eventually, I ended up teaching that emotional bundle of neurons to shut up and let me be the test taker I thought I ought to be. And it worked: I scored in the 93rd percentile, with roughly equal math and verbal scores. Oh, and I got into HBS, Stanford Business School, Chicago, Wharton, and Darden.  Cool, huh?

I’ve been thinking about this experience because I’ve been reading an old classic of leadership training, Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman.  He describes a situation a lot of us know only too well: test anxiety. He describes, in scientific detail, an emotional hijacking.  This is where the limbic system, (the part of the brain that tells the body to breathe, pump blood, and run away from predators) disrupts the “working memory.”  So if you’ve ever been in a situation where you sit down at a computer screen in a noisy and unpleasant test center, here’s what’s probably going on.

The prefrontal cortex is the brain region responsible for working memory. But circuits from the limbic [most primitive brain part] brain to the prefrontal lobes [the rational/working memory part] mean that signals of strong emotion – anxiety, anger, and the like—can create neural static, sabotaging the ability of the prefrontal lobe to maintain working memory.

This limbic system is the hotbed of emotions. The limbic system, which includes the amygdala, if you’ve ever heard of it, is screaming to you as you look at the test questions, “Run away, it’s too scary! You will fail!”

Well, guess what. That amygdala is useful sometimes, but it tends to overreact. And that’s where the thinking, reasoning brain comes in. The prefrontal cortex tells the panic-stricken limbic system that all is not out of control.

The problem is that the cortex sometimes takes awhile to figure out that it needs calm your hysterical primitive, running from-the-burning-house brain. You are sitting in a noisy and fear-inducing test taking center. You know you should be spending no more than two minutes per question. And you are not even conscious of all this stuff going on inside your grey matter!

You Can Get Over It
The task is to teach yourself how to speed up the “thinking brain’s” work and quell those fears.  It takes lots and lots of practice, and it can be done.

I’ve got lots of suggestions, and most of them can be found in a previous article I wrote called “Train Your Brain for Test Success: Mastering Test Anxiety.” But if you want to cut to the psychological chase, pick up a copy of Dr. Ben Bernstein’s Workbook for Test Success. He’s an experienced psychologist who knows how to put that amygdala back in line.

If I figured out how to do it, anyone can. I personally know a few standardized testing (GMAT and GRE) tutors whom I like, and rather than shout out here, I am happy to take your calls and make recommendations.   Take a breath and good luck!

December 20, 2010

Advice from Warren Buffett on, yes, MBA essays

Filed under: Application ideas,Essays,Inspiration — Tags: , , , , , , , — admin @ 4:39 pm

Imagine this: an admissions interviewer has read hundreds of essays, maybe thousands, by eager students trying to gain admission to their school. Many of those essays are written by those who are fully qualified, but just put down a laundry list of their accomplishments, like a resume in prose.  And they will be dinged.

Admissions committee members spend a long time writing questions that they believe will bring out the best in a candidate.  They leave those questions deliberately open ended so that the student can write about whatever he or she wants, but there are some rules of engagement.  The first is to answer the question; something I’ve blogged about in the past.  Always worth remembering.

The second is to write in plain English, that is, English free of jargon. Most people think that those who speak English as a second language have a hard time writing essays. It’s true that those who haven’t grown up writing English may have to take more time and get a native speaker to proof their essays. But the most cringe-worthy essays are those written by students who have spoken only English all their lives, but write in stilted prose or gobbledygook.  Writers fall into passive so that nobody knows who is writing the essay, they let nouns become verbs (e.g., incentivize), or they use their limited word budget to educate the committee about some arcane subject. The reader is either bored silly or has no idea of the point of the essay!

Consider Your Audience

Plain English is simple, straightforward writing. You’d think it was only championed by high school English teachers everywhere, but one of Plain English’s greatest fans is one of the most influential investors in the world: Warren Buffett. Claiming that “stilted jargon and complex construction” often hinder good communication, Buffett may channeling the admissions officer when he writes, “I’ve been unable to decipher just what is being said or, worse yet, had to conclude that nothing was being said.”

Buffett is no comedian. His advice is sound.  His wisdom in writing his famed investment reports holds true for those writing an admissions essay: consider the audience.  Think of the person who is reading your words.  Not a blank admissions committee, but a specific person.  You may have even met that individual at an MBA outreach event, on a school tour, or an admissions panel.

She has a name (the reader is often, but not always, female), and wants you to win her over.

But don’t take my word for it.  Here’s what the “oracle of Omaha” says:

One unoriginal but useful tip: Write with a specific person in mind. When writing Berkshire Hathaway's annual report, I pretend that I'm talking to my sisters. I have no trouble picturing them: Though highly intelligent, they are not experts in accounting or finance. They will understand plain English, but jargon may puzzle them. My goal is simply to give them the information I would wish them to supply me if our positions were reversed. To succeed, I don't need to be Shakespeare; I must, though, have a sincere desire to inform. No siblings to write to? Borrow mine: Just begin with "Dear Doris and Bertie."

Actually, some of your readers may be experts in accounting and finance, but they are not experts in the subject of the essay, which is YOU.  It’s not dumbing down, it’s making your writing, and your story, accessible.

As for interesting…well, it’s about you isn’t it? How could it be otherwise?

December 9, 2010

Non-Traditional MBA Candidates and "Bizability"

Filed under: Application ideas,Harvard Business School,Wharton — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 8:44 pm

It’s funny, but almost everyone I know is a non-traditional candidate for their MBA. And it scares them.  They think everyone else applying to business school comes from consulting or finance, and those not from those fields should just give up. We all know a few consultants, investment banking types, and more than a few engineers at business school. And indeed, if you look at the profiles of many business schools (here’s a link to the Wharton MBA site, where you will see a combination of 37% for those in finance and private equity).  But thousands of others from backgrounds in the arts, social enterprise, hard science, start-ups, and the military will make their way to MBA program of their choice in the fall of 2011. Really.

It’s a Master of Business Administration

Here’s something that most people don’t understand: getting into business school is not just about leadership.  Indeed, leadership is very important, and may be one of the most important elements of the application, but understanding what makes a business enterprise work is probably just as important.  Dee Leopold, the famed director of admissions at Harvard Business School, calls this business acumen “bizability.”  I wrote about it in a previous blog post, last August after watching her presentation to prospective students. Bizability is so important, that it is worth going over again.

The term bizability reminds students that they are (nearly always) applying to a school of business.  The degree is called a Master of Business Administration.  The Yale School of Management had tried for two decades to sell its Master of Public and Private Management (MPPM) degree, but the school officially changed the name to the MBA in 2000.   Business is about commerce, about enterprise, and even in the case of non-profits, it’s about making money. Dee Leopold described it as being “grounded in the language of business.”

Bizability means that students have to, at some level, like business. I once met a student who wanted a joint degree in education and business to fund a school, but she hated business. She didn’t care about it; she didn’t appreciate finance, she just thought it was all evil.  That is not a great admissions strategy. You have to like business well enough to have been exposed to what makes a company tick and want to learn more.

Drawing upon your own experiences

It doesn’t mean that you have to work in the private sector to “get” business.  You have to be able to appreciate what makes businesses work well. For those of you who have only worked in non-profit or government, think hard about where you have used actual business skills to succeed. Have you run – or do you work with — the budget for your department? Do you know how to read financial statements?  Do you follow the business press?  Have you ever run your own little business? You don’t have to answer “yes” to all of these questions, but they cannot scare you.

So think about what business school is about and what having a career with a business degree means. Think about words like industry, commerce, management, enterprise, company, market, trade, and finance. Do you have an affinity for any of these ideas? If so, you are on your way, and are perhaps not so scarily non-traditional after all.

September 21, 2010

What have you learned from a mistake?

Filed under: Essays — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 8:36 am

The MBA essay that asks about learning from a mistake scares almost everyone. This is a question that, in various forms, can be found on many applications, notably that of Harvard Business School.

For those of you who are petrified of writing the “mistake” essay, take heart: it is ok to make mistakes. Why? Because you learn from them.

MBA essay question writers are smart. They know that learning from a mistake is a good thing. In fact, if you make mistakes, and admit you make mistakes, you learn more.

Google the two words together “mistake” and “learning” and you get 20 million hits. Research shows that making mistakes is one of the best ways to get continuous feedback on your learning. Mistakes are well known to be a critical part of the learning process.

Learning from Giants
Imagine that: learning from mistakes – it seems like a backwards way to build confidence, but it works. For example, Michael Jordan didn’t even make the varsity team in high school after attending a summer basketball camp. But he learned from being corrected, and then repeated those corrections over and over. He got better— much better—by continually improving the weakest part of his game. In a powerful Nike ad on YouTube, you can watch his inspirational message:

I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.
I’ve lost almost 300 games.
Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot.
And missed.
I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life.
And that is why
I succeed.

How Do You Pick?
So , you might think, I’ve made so many mistakes, how can I pick just one? I suggest you back into it by picking something you have appreciated learning. For me, I appreciate having learned how to slow down and think. I’m not very good at it all the time, but I can relate tale after tale of putting my foot in my mouth because I wasn’t thinking of anything other than being witty or sassy, or having people be impressed with me. Some of my mistakes are cringe-worthy, but I’ve learned, slowly, and imperfectly, to pace myself.

Neither you nor I are Michael Jordan, but hey, we’re on our way.

August 31, 2010

Answer the Question

Filed under: Essays,Harvard Business School,Northwestern Kellogg — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 9:28 pm

There are only a few real rules in writing. In fact, there are so few rules to good composition that the best-ever book on the subject, The Elements of Style, is only 105 pages and tucks tidily into a Kate Spade handbag.

In business writing, and especially in writing essays for business school applications, there’s one big rule above all else: Answer the Question.

Most of you reading this blog have written business memos – even if your boss hasn’t specifically asked you a question, you know there’s a question behind the assignment. For example, if you are working on a memo, or even a PowerPoint presentation on where to open a factory in China, the question is likely, “Where should Acme Company open a factory in China?” Your memo will answer the question, say, “Shenzhen” and then support that answer. In fact, the title of the memo or the PowerPoint might even be “Reasons for Opening a Factory in Shenzhen.” The rest of the document will support that answer. For example, “We should open a factory in Shenzhen because a)it has a special economic zone b)it has great infrastructure and c)it’s close to popular shipping routes.” I could be all wrong, but you get the idea.


No Beating Around the Bush
Business school essays are much like business memos. You are given a question, for example, “What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?” (Harvard Business School) -- it’s pretty straightforward, or here’s one that cuts right to the chase, “Why would you and your peers select you for admission, and what impact would you make as a member of the Kellogg community?” (Northwestern Kellogg). Remarkably, a lot of students are shy about coming right out and answering the question. What’s your career vision? Answer it: I want to be an entrepreneur, or I want to change the way health care is delivered around the world, or I want to use private equity to support clean tech investments. There are as many answers are there are people applying, because your answer will be unique to you. But you have to do one thing: answer clearly, and preferably, answer up front.
Also like with a business memo, you need to support the answer to the question. This is especially important with Kellogg’s style of “why should we pick you” question. Say, for example, you want to offer as one of your reasons that you will add to the classroom debate. You can support that statement the same way you would spell out support the argument for a factory in Shenzhen. You might say you add to the debate because you have a unique perspective from having been raised by wolves, or because you were an Olympic curling champion, or because you speak Esperanto. Or you might add to the debate because you are passionate about number theory. Whatever you decide to write about is up to you. But you have to frame your response so it answers the question, and support that response.

That’s all. Just remember that the writers of those questions write them that way because they wanted them answered. And remember, it’s no different from a business assignment. You’d answer your boss’ question, wouldn’t you?

August 21, 2010

A Treasury of Grad School Recommendation Resources

Filed under: Harvard Business School,Northwestern Kellogg,Recommendations,Stanford GSB — Tags: , , , , , , , , — admin @ 9:16 am

It’s about six weeks from the first deadlines for applying to business school, and thousands of aspiring MBA students are asking their bosses, former bosses, senior colleagues, and even clients for recommendations to business school. Some might argue that it’s already too late to hit up a busy executive for a b-school recommendation, but if you plan and execute right, the amount of time remaining should be reasonable.

Don't Overthink
You can find many opinions about how to strategize the recommendations all over the web. I only have three words to say about it: Don’t overthink it. Admissions officers have come right out on their websites and told students what they are looking for in a recommendation, and I encourage you to take them at their word.

A classic article/podcast on this subject can be found on the Stanford Graduate School of Business website. Kirsten Moss, the GSB’s Director of MBA admissions, offers some clear advice for all applicants, not just Stanford. She makes it very clear that the recommendation is “about about bringing this person alive. How, if they left tomorrow, would [the] organization have been touched in a unique way. “

Note too, that the people reading your letters of recommendation don’t want everything to be stellar. If all the recommenders say that the applicant is wonderful for the same reasons, or if the student looks like a demi-god, “it loses its authenticity.” says Stanford's Moss.

But here’s the money quote – why Kirsten Moss and her colleagues at the Stanford Graduate School of Business went to the trouble to spell it out for applicants and their recommenders. This is what they are looking for:

When I read a really great recommendation, the person jumps off the page and they really come alive. I feel like I know them; I know the good, the bad, the warts; if I walked into a room, I could almost pick out this person.

And from Harvard Business School...
Dee Leopold, the very experienced and candid Director of Admissions at Harvard Business School, has also given advice on recommendations. She advises that recommenders answer the questions posed, and be specific (good advice for applicants as well as recommenders!). Furthermore, “Many recommendations are well-written and enthusiastic in their praise but essentially full of adjectives and short on actual examples of how your wonderful qualities play out in real life,” she explains. “What we are hoping for are brief recounts of specific situations and how you performed.” Her blog is not indexed, so I recommend searching for her posts of August 24, 2009 and June 17, 2008.

Several students have chimed in on the recommendations process. One of my favorite applicant blogs, Palo Alto For Awhile, thoughtfully offered a very specific step-by-step guideline for the recommendation process. (S)he recommends asking two-to-three months out, so if you are a stickler, and are thinking of applying the second round, you are not too late.

Another generous soul is Jeremy Wilson, who is on the Northwestern Kellogg admissions committee and currently a JD-MBA student there. He offers some answers

You could get down on your knees and beg

on how to ask someone to write a recommendation who is very, very busy. Good question! His response is thoughtful, and action-oriented. I especially like his #3, “Highlight Why You Picked Them.”

Indeed, organizing and managing the recommendation process can be a challenge, especially if you are applying to a number of different schools. But it's a lot like managing a project at work: you've got to get buy-in and meet the deadlines.

I know you’ve got it in you.

June 24, 2010

What Admissions Officers Tell Us

Filed under: Application ideas,Harvard Business School — Tags: , , , , , , , , — admin @ 3:12 pm

The admissions process to business school is getting increasingly transparent. As a result, more students are focused on applying to the right school, rather than a scatter-shot of programs in the top rankings.

That’s a good thing – for you, the applicant, and for the school, that wants to attract a student that will be happy and thrive in its environment. Last week I had the privilege of learning this first-hand from admissions professionals from about 15 business schools, including MIT Sloan and Harvard Business School, our hosts.

The Real You
One thing all admissions officers agreed upon was authenticity. They wanted to see candidates who presented their authentic selves –not someone that can be found in a book of sample essays. The top programs look for work success, or as Rod Garcia from MIT’s Sloan School said, “Not work experience, but success, and where you are relative to your peer group.” Additionally, admissions officers were key in on emotional intelligence, particularly self-awareness. (I’ve blogged on emotional intelligence and admissions in the past; here’s a link to a post regarding Daniel Goleman’s five components of EQ.)

Emotional intelligence shows up everywhere – in every interaction with the school; admissions officers use your interactions all along the process as a proxy for how you will act at school, and in the real world with employers. This is all consistent with the 85 Broads Jam Session: 10 Tips to Make Your Application Rock.

A Worldly View
Many of the admissions officers were looking for students that can adapt to multicultural organizations – that goes beyond coming from a country different from the MBA program’s location. Peter Johnson of Berkeley’s Haas program told us that recruiters are looking for adaptability, and someone who “has the ability to move beyond what they already know.”
Admissions officers from INSEAD, Columbia, and Harvard Business School all referred to a global outlook.

And here’s an easy tip: every one of the admissions officers agreed that one-page resume trumped a two-pager. “Less is more,” they said.

The Sloan School
MIT Sloan impressed us with a wonderful description of all their programs – not just the MBA program, but a new executive MBA program, the Master in Finance Program, and the Leaders for Global Operations program, a Global Operations MBA & Masters in Engineering joint degree. We were lucky enough to see two faculty presentations, both of which underscored that MIT Sloan believes in “action-based learning.” I became a huge fan of Professor Steven Eppinger’s Product Design and Development Course – oh how I wish I could go back and do my MBA all over again!

Harvard Business School
The final day was at my alma mater, Harvard Business School. I was surprised and delighted to see that facilities don’t seem to have changed since I was last there, but have just gotten better and better. In Aldrich Hall, where first-year classes are held, HBS director of admissions Dee Leopold told us why the school is different – largely due to the case study method, where students “build muscles around judgment.” I was delighted by her reference to the Wizard of Oz in terms of a successful applicant’s qualities: HBS is looking for students with a combination of “brains, heart, and courage.” Dee also talked about different leadership styles (I’ve seen her talk about this in her road-show presentations to prospective applicants), and the rigor of the program. “It’s hard,” she said. You won’t get an argument from me on that one.

So keep doing your research on the programs. Ask yourself the hard questions: do I want to go to business school? Is it right for me? Is this program right for me or something that will impress my employer (Or my parents? Or my ex?). Think like a Harvard MBA student, where, as they say, self-examination is a varsity sport.

And what you learn from this process is yours to keep.

Taken while at the HBS library, June 2010

June 8, 2010

10 Tips for Getting Into Business School -- Tip 8: Talk Around

Filed under: 10 Tips,Application ideas — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 6:20 pm

Sorry for what may have appeared to be a break in the 10 Tips series, I gave a webinar for 85 Broads last week, where we reviewed all 10 Tips, complete with a snazzy PowerPoint presentation. In terms of blogging, I’ve still got three more tips to go, including today’s tip, Talk Around.

Along with Tip 6, Stay Sane, Talking Around is one of my favorite tips, because it is so beneficial – you can use it to test out your own ideas and then open yourself up to new ones. It has been said that the best ideas are talked about. Good ideas are inspired by, and refined with, conversation.

Right in Your Own Backyard
As you are mulling over your business school plans (Can I? Should I? When? Where? How?), you may start with friends and family, and then move on to a wider circle. If you can talk about it at work, find people who have gone down the route you are contemplating – recent MBAs, or my current favorite, people who might be in your town or your company for the summer. They are the ones right in the middle of it all, they’ve drunk the Kool-Aid of that particular school and are exploring or have decided upon an industry. What a fount of information!

Talking around is a great excuse to meet new people too. Many business schools have alumni ambassadors who make themselves available to prospective students. Columbia Business School even puts student names and email addresses on its website, so you don’t have to go through the admissions office to connect.

Getting the Real Lowdown
Current or recent students are great resources to help separate fact from fiction. Certainly each school has its own PR machine, and as I have said since the beginning, admissions offices are increasingly transparent about what they are looking for. But they cannot tell you about whether the career office is any good or not, or if the school felt too competitive, remote, lonely or overwhelming at times. Students can tell you whether the famous professors or the $150,000 price tag are worth it, or if all consultants are boring. Graduates, or professionals in your target industry, can tell you whether it is as fun and interesting as you hoped it would be. (Is private equity really that sexy?)

Talking around also has the benefit of teaching you to learn to think on your feet – a big part of business school and business training. You may even learn how to put together your own personal elevator pitch.

Hobnobbing for Fun and Profit
Another bonus is that you may meet new people simply for the fun of it. I know people who have, through networking, met romantic partners, buddies or roommates, been introduced to new hobbies, learned about new shops or restaurants, all while expanding their Linked In network! There’s really no downside to getting out; in fact, it’s good to get away from the computer now that social networking is all the rage. Yes, I have met friends through Twitter – my idol, Doug Barg, a of GeeMatters, is one, and we do have plans to meet at an event in Philadelphia in July. Indeed, a handshake is stronger than a tweet, and a lot more memorable!

Older Posts »
© 2008-2012 Betsy Massar, Master Admisisons, Berkeley, CA. All Rights Reserved.