Stanford Graduate School of Business is considered by many to be the best business school in the world, and swaps the ranking of #1 with HBS or Wharton on any given day. With over 8,000 applicants per year and only about 1/10th of that number in the student body, it’s daunting to imagine them saying yes. If you happen to have a good-but-not-great GMAT score, you may struggle with your odds of admission at all. But is it even worth applying if you have a 650 or lower?
I wanted to get ahead of something - a problem I see with my clients to Harvard Business School (and Stanford GSB.) HBS calls it out as "overthinking, overcrafting and overwriting." I call it "overselling" yourself when writing.
Cornell’s early admission decisions for their one-year MBA will be released in a few days, so even if you did not apply to this program, it’s essentially the starting gun for this year’s results. Since over the next several weeks and months applicants the world over will be getting good and bad news from their target schools, it’s a great time to prepare yourself to receive the responses. Will you be getting a “yes” from your top choice?
In the last post, we talked about how important it is to be engaged outside the classroom and outside the workplace. But what if you decided to prepare for b-school a little late and have not really done much other than your job? You may be more engaged than you realize once you do a few things in your application (and your daily life) to cast your extracurricular life in a new light.
We get it---you’re busy. You’ve always been busy. Busy people are the ones going to good colleges andgood b-schools, and busy people are the one’s getting the good jobs and running good companies. But were you too busy to get involved outside the classroom in college? Have you been too busy to get involved outside the workplace? Does it really make a difference? You bet it does.
Getting graded. It’s been a necessary evil in everyone’s life since we were all old enough to hold a crayon. At every stage, we either cut the mustard or we don’t and then progress to the next level of grading. For those applying to graduate school, you may have thought those college grades were all but forgotten, but now find yourself having to face them once again. And guess what? The grading doesn’t stop with the application process, because very soon you’ll be back in the classroom. This begs the question…do grades really matter?
It’s hard to ignore the top ten business schools in America. Of all the applications that are submitted to b-schools each year, the top ten schools receive 75% of them. No wonder the process is so competitive! While it’s a great idea to apply to schools in the top ten if you feel you are competitive and a good fit, there are dozens of other great programs out there which you might want to consider as part of your broader application strategy. Here’s a list of pick-six programs you might want to investigate…
OK, So this blog is not only for those in the midst of their application avalanche, but also for those who applied last year and are starting b-school. My hope is that in considering these words you will be encouraged. And who doesn’t need a little encouragement these days?
So your career has been good but you think it could be better. You have seen co-workers in your company with an MBA get promoted and reach meteoric heights, so you are considering going back for your own degree, but wonder if it’s too late. Is there an age beyond which you can’t get an MBA? Would you be better off staying put and leveraging your experience? Read on…
One of the most oft overlooked profile characteristics is employability. Marketing yourself as a potential MBA candidate who will be not only highly qualified on the backend of the degree, but as someone whom recruiters will clamor over could be a great way to differentiate yourself in the application process.
It’s getting real. School packages are out. Applications are rolling into the top schools and the sorting and reading has begun. Unless you are way ahead of the pack, you have likely just begun to organize your approach to MBA application season. Do you know what to look out for?
India's growing economy has created many exciting opportunities, and with access to business education in the US widely coveted, thousands of Indians are applying to the top business schools each year. How can someone stand out in the eyes of the admissions committees? A good start to this process is to first understand what the typical Indian applicant reveals in her application. Let’s go…
Let’s face it—life is busy. But if you’re married, life is even busier. Now add business school to the mix and BOOM! Things could get out of control quickly if you don’t have a plan.
Some people plan out their lives with robotic precision, including things such as graduate school in a pre-determined place on the schedule. Others adopt a take-life-as-it-comes approach, and place graduate school on the back burner, waiting until it feels right to go back. But is there an ideal age to apply to business school?
One of the most contentious components of a business school application is the part where you detail your involvement in activities outside of work. Every year, hopeful b-school applicants face down the ghost of a busy career, one which often haunts them with the fact they have had very little time to do anything other than drive work results in their job since they graduated. But how much does it really matter to the admissions committees whether or not you are engaged in your community?
Did you get your MBA degree years ago? Or did you perhaps get your MBA from a school that didn’t live up to your expectations? Wouldn’t you like to get a do-over? Every year, we see applicants who already have an MBA degree, but who have decided to try and go back to get the degree again. Some find this to be more challenging than they realized.
When choosing what version of graduate business education is the right fit, the full time, two-year MBA program is what typically tops applicants’ wish lists. But can someone still achieve all they envision for themselves professionally with a one-year or part-time MBA option?
The MBA has always been the stalwart of business education. A terminal degree from the start, once achieving the MBA, graduates have always been able to call it quits on their formal education. While the prevailing arc of the MBA curriculum has remained fairly consistent over time, there have been some interesting changes over the years, which has resulted in a new world MBA bearing only a modicum of similarity to the degrees that came before it.
If the job at the end of the rainbow is the destination, then b-school is the journey. And one of the most critical parts of this journey is the summer internship. Have you thought much about it?
