I have joined the Carnival of College Admissions. While most of this blog carnival is focused on undergraduate admissions, from this edition on, a graduate section has been opened and my recent post on waitlisting is mentioned. This edition of the Carnival of College Admissions is hosted by Mark Montgomery, an independent undergraduate college counselor. Thanks to Mark for putting this together.
- Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
February 12, 2009
BW on MBA compensation and Forbes on hiring
If you have not done so, I strongly suggest reading BusinessWeek's "MBA Pay: A Crystal Ball" because it provides a very useful perspective on compensation and another alternative way to rank programs. BusinessWeek commissioned a study of MBA pay over a period of 20 years for "45 top-ranked full-time MBA programs—BusinessWeek's 30 Best B-Schools of 2008 plus 15 additional second-tier schools." What the study shows is that BusinessWeek ranking is for some schools is a very good indicator of their 20 year performance, while for others it is not. Play with the interactive table and you can see the 20 year rankings compared to the BusinessWeek rankings. As the article makes clear, the study they did does have limits and past performance is no clear indicator of future performance, but still for those deciding where to apply or those who need to decide where to attend, it is quite useful.
Moving from long-term to more immediate considerations, Forbes' "It's A Good Time To Go To A B-Level B-School" reports that job expectations and placement for those graduating from second tier schools is in some sense better than at higher ranked programs. The article actually provides no real comparison data and seems to be a case of a writer gloating about the diminished opportunities for those who graduate from top schools:
Not that M.B.A. holders from the name-brand schools are going without work. With their first-choice jobs gone, they're finding there are plenty of smaller employers eager to hire them. They're just not starting careers as rich or as glamorous as they once expected. They're going to places they wouldn't have taken a second look at in the past.
Anyway, both articles are worth looking at.
Moving from long-term to more immediate considerations, Forbes' "It's A Good Time To Go To A B-Level B-School" reports that job expectations and placement for those graduating from second tier schools is in some sense better than at higher ranked programs. The article actually provides no real comparison data and seems to be a case of a writer gloating about the diminished opportunities for those who graduate from top schools:
Not that M.B.A. holders from the name-brand schools are going without work. With their first-choice jobs gone, they're finding there are plenty of smaller employers eager to hire them. They're just not starting careers as rich or as glamorous as they once expected. They're going to places they wouldn't have taken a second look at in the past.
What a difference a recession makes.
It certainly stands to reason that those graduating from top schools right now would be experiencing diminished expectations, but to assume that those at lower ranked schools are actually in a better position is a rather large assumption. Where is the data?Anyway, both articles are worth looking at.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
ビジネススクール MBA留学
アダム マーカス
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
ビジネススクール MBA留学
February 11, 2009
"Real" Global MBA Rankings for 2009: "The 100"
The "Real" Global MBA Rankings for 2009: FT Global MBA Rankings in Weighted US$ Salary Order
This is my second annual ranking of programs in salary order. This year, instead of 98 schools, FT has 100, so I have 100. The rankings below should hopefully be of value for both those engaged in initial school application selection and for admitted applicants who have been accepted to multiple programs and need to determine where to go.
“Methodology”: All FT "Global MBA Rankings 2009" Data was ranked in order of “ Weight Salary ($).” No other methods were employed.
Justification #1: Whatever they pay you when you graduate is the market value of your degree, all other factors are mere conjecture.
Justification #2: One may very well value an MBA beyond mere salary calculations, but salary will certainly be a factor for almost everyone.
Justification #3: Since each school reports its own data, assuming that data is good, the ranking is based on objective criteria that all programs have in common.
Disclaimer #1: I could use some other accumulation of salaries for this same purpose, but FT's list is global, so I decided to use it. If your school is not included on this list of the top 100, please don’t be offended. If FT ranked more programs, so would I.
Disclaimer #2: Actual market value will very much depend on your situation. The numbers below are only averages.
Disclaimer #3: Salary is but one measure of ROI. This survey does not account for relative increase in salary, opportunity costs, or other less tangible, but important factors.
Disclaimer #4: These rankings in no way measure the value of the educational experience at any of these programs, merely the likely post-MBA salary outcome.
School Selection Strategy for Those Admitted to Multiple Programs: Go to the highest salary ranked program if you want to obtain the most market value.
School Application Selection Strategy Based on Salary Approach.
Simply compare salaries to rates of admission. I will provide new data on this, but here is the old data. If you want new data, you should go to the various ranking lists to obtain Fall 2008 admission rates.
1. Apply to the highest ranked programs you think you can get it into.
2. Find bargains: Schools with a high salary and a high rate of admission.
3. Avoid application to schools with a relatively low admissions rates and lower salaries.
4. Caveat emptor.
1 Stanford University GSB U.S.A. $170,340
2 University of Pennsylvania Wharton U.S.A. $169,784
3 Columbia Business School U.S.A. $164,310
4 Harvard Business School U.S.A. $163,637
5 MIT: Sloan U.S.A. $156,451
6 Dartmouth College: Tuck U.S.A. $156,124
7 CEIBS China $151,641
8 IMD Switzerland $151,624
9 University of Chicago: Booth U.S.A. $150,272
10 Indian School of Business India $148,339
11 INSEAD France / Singapore $147,908
12 London Business School U.K. $146,565
13 New York University: Stern U.S.A. $144,125
14 University of Cape Town GSB South Africa $143,693
15 Northwestern University: Kellogg U.S.A. $142,645
16 UCLA: Anderson U.S.A. $141,065
17 Yale School of Management U.S.A. $140,803
18 University of California at Berkeley: Haas U.S.A. $137,699
19 University of Virginia: Darden U.S.A. $137,215
20 University of Oxford: Saïd U.K. $135,502
21 IE Business School Spain $132,925
22 University of Michigan: Ross U.S.A. $132,522
23 University of Cambridge: Judge U.K. $130,160
24 Duke University: Fuqua U.S.A. $128,692
25 Cornell University: Johnson U.S.A. $127,858
26 Australian School of Business Australia $127,474
27 Cranfield School of Management U.K. $127,004
28 Emory University: Goizueta U.S.A. $126,262
29 IESE Business School Spain $124,645
30 City University: Cass U.K. $124,026
31 Georgetown University: McDonough U.S.A. $121,786
32 ESADE Business School Spain $121,776
33 University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler U.S.A. $120,198
34 University of Strathclyde Business School U.K. $118,683
35 HEC Paris France $117,630
36 Imperial College Business School U.K. $117,119
37 Carnegie Mellon: Tepper U.S.A. $116,773
38 University of Southern California: Marshall U.S.A. $116,258
39 University of Rochester: Simon U.S.A. $115,867
40 University of Texas at Austin: McCombs U.S.A. $114,761
41 Warwick Business School U.K. $114,653
42 Vanderbilt University: Owen U.S.A. $110,768
43 Melbourne Business School Australia $110,290
44 RSM, Erasmus University Netherlands $109,997
45 Babson College: Olin U.S.A. $109,541
46 Washington University: Olin U.S.A. $109,507
47 Rice University: Jones U.S.A. $109,302
48 Manchester Business School U.K. $109,066
49 SMU: Cox U.S.A. $109,052
50 University of Maryland: Smith U.S.A. $108,404
51 Hong Kong UST Business School China $108,364
52 Boston College: Carroll U.S.A. $108,162
53 Indiana University: Kelley U.S.A. $107,653
54 University of Bath School of Management U.K. $107,613
55 Lancaster University Management School U.K. $106,960
56 University of Notre Dame: Mendoza U.S.A. $106,487
57 Pennsylvania State University: Smeal U.S.A. $105,728
58 U. of Washington Business School: Foster U.S.A. $105,558
59 Boston University School of Management U.S.A. $105,532
60 University College Dublin: Smurfit Ireland $104,934
61 SDA Bocconi Italy $104,859
62 University of Western Ontario: Ivey Canada $104,456
63 Nanyang Business School Singapore $104,294
64 Durham Business School U.K. $104,282
65 Michigan State University: Broad U.S.A. $102,897
66 Univ. of California at Irvine: Merage U.S.A. $102,010
67 Univ. of Edinburgh Business School U.K. $101,884
68 George Washington University U.S.A. $101,530
69 University of Florida: Hough U.S.A. $101,343
70 Vlerick Leuven Gent Mgnt. School Belgium $101,180
71 University of Arizona: Eller U.S.A. $101,066
72 Leeds University Business School U.K. $100,918
72 Purdue University: Krannert U.S.A. $100,856
73 Wake Forest University: Babcock U.S.A. $100,727
74 Nottingham University Business School U.K. $99,647
75 Arizona State University: Carey U.S.A. $99,624
76 Case Western Reserve U.: Weatherhead U.S.A. $99,238
77 Thunderbird School of Global Mngt. U.S.A. $99,187
78 Wisconsin School of Business U.S.A. $99,138
79 Texas A & M University: Mays U.S.A. $98,647
80 University of Minnesota: Carlson U.S.A. $98,451
81 Brigham Young University: Marriott U.S.A. $97,789
82 University of Toronto: Rotman Canada $97,413
83 Coppead Brazil $96,938
84 Hult International B. School USA/ UK/ UAE $96,915
85 Bradford School of Management/Tias
86.Nimbas Business School U.K. / Netherlands / Germany $96,144
87 NUS School of Business Singapore $95,926
88 University of Pittsburgh: Katz U.S.A. $95,633
89 Ohio State University: Fisher U.S.A. $93,744
90 U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign U.S.A. $92,863
91 University of Iowa: Tippie U.S.A. $92,166
92 U. of Miami School of Business U.S.A. $92,064
93 U. of South Carolina: Moore U.S.A. $91,774
94 EADA Spain $89,786
95 U. of British Columbia: Sauder Canada $89,682
96 York University: Schulich Canada $88,609
97 Aston Business School U.K. $86,364
98 Grenoble Grad. School of Business France $83,516
99 Birmingham Business School U.K. $82,624
100 University of Alberta Canada $75,084
One advantage of a salary-based list of programs worldwide is that it helps to see the rising global market value of MBA programs. It also means that those of us who help applicants considering worldwide application, start to pay more attention to such national leaders as the Indian School of Business, China Europe International Business School, and Australian Graduate School of Management.
For those with a US MBA bias, this ranking should be humbling because so many of what are usually ranked quite highly in the US, don't, at least at the salary level, look as attractive as a FT, Businessweek or other such ranking might suggest.
From a school selection perspective, I think looking at the stark reality of the expected financial outcome is critical. Looking at this solely helps to put the outcome into focus. "The 100" is only one possible way of doing this.
I am well aware that applicants don't simply make selection choices on the basis of salary, but I think evaluating programs on this basis is one important consideration.
Given the present grim economic situation, it stands to reason that we might see a decline in these salary numbers over the next couple of years. It will especially be interesting to see whether US and UK schools that are highly connected to the financial industry lose their present high rank on this list.
Finally, I would like to thank "my team" at FT for doing all of the hard work. They have this nifty way of generating excel documents that really reduced my work by hours.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
ビジネススクール MBA留学
This is my second annual ranking of programs in salary order. This year, instead of 98 schools, FT has 100, so I have 100. The rankings below should hopefully be of value for both those engaged in initial school application selection and for admitted applicants who have been accepted to multiple programs and need to determine where to go.
“Methodology”: All FT "Global MBA Rankings 2009" Data was ranked in order of “ Weight Salary ($).” No other methods were employed.
Justification #1: Whatever they pay you when you graduate is the market value of your degree, all other factors are mere conjecture.
Justification #2: One may very well value an MBA beyond mere salary calculations, but salary will certainly be a factor for almost everyone.
Justification #3: Since each school reports its own data, assuming that data is good, the ranking is based on objective criteria that all programs have in common.
Disclaimer #1: I could use some other accumulation of salaries for this same purpose, but FT's list is global, so I decided to use it. If your school is not included on this list of the top 100, please don’t be offended. If FT ranked more programs, so would I.
Disclaimer #2: Actual market value will very much depend on your situation. The numbers below are only averages.
Disclaimer #3: Salary is but one measure of ROI. This survey does not account for relative increase in salary, opportunity costs, or other less tangible, but important factors.
Disclaimer #4: These rankings in no way measure the value of the educational experience at any of these programs, merely the likely post-MBA salary outcome.
School Selection Strategy for Those Admitted to Multiple Programs: Go to the highest salary ranked program if you want to obtain the most market value.
School Application Selection Strategy Based on Salary Approach.
Simply compare salaries to rates of admission. I will provide new data on this, but here is the old data. If you want new data, you should go to the various ranking lists to obtain Fall 2008 admission rates.
1. Apply to the highest ranked programs you think you can get it into.
2. Find bargains: Schools with a high salary and a high rate of admission.
3. Avoid application to schools with a relatively low admissions rates and lower salaries.
4. Caveat emptor.
"THE 100"
Rank School Country Weighted Salary1 Stanford University GSB U.S.A. $170,340
2 University of Pennsylvania Wharton U.S.A. $169,784
3 Columbia Business School U.S.A. $164,310
4 Harvard Business School U.S.A. $163,637
5 MIT: Sloan U.S.A. $156,451
6 Dartmouth College: Tuck U.S.A. $156,124
7 CEIBS China $151,641
8 IMD Switzerland $151,624
9 University of Chicago: Booth U.S.A. $150,272
10 Indian School of Business India $148,339
11 INSEAD France / Singapore $147,908
12 London Business School U.K. $146,565
13 New York University: Stern U.S.A. $144,125
14 University of Cape Town GSB South Africa $143,693
15 Northwestern University: Kellogg U.S.A. $142,645
16 UCLA: Anderson U.S.A. $141,065
17 Yale School of Management U.S.A. $140,803
18 University of California at Berkeley: Haas U.S.A. $137,699
19 University of Virginia: Darden U.S.A. $137,215
20 University of Oxford: Saïd U.K. $135,502
21 IE Business School Spain $132,925
22 University of Michigan: Ross U.S.A. $132,522
23 University of Cambridge: Judge U.K. $130,160
24 Duke University: Fuqua U.S.A. $128,692
25 Cornell University: Johnson U.S.A. $127,858
26 Australian School of Business Australia $127,474
27 Cranfield School of Management U.K. $127,004
28 Emory University: Goizueta U.S.A. $126,262
29 IESE Business School Spain $124,645
30 City University: Cass U.K. $124,026
31 Georgetown University: McDonough U.S.A. $121,786
32 ESADE Business School Spain $121,776
33 University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler U.S.A. $120,198
34 University of Strathclyde Business School U.K. $118,683
35 HEC Paris France $117,630
36 Imperial College Business School U.K. $117,119
37 Carnegie Mellon: Tepper U.S.A. $116,773
38 University of Southern California: Marshall U.S.A. $116,258
39 University of Rochester: Simon U.S.A. $115,867
40 University of Texas at Austin: McCombs U.S.A. $114,761
41 Warwick Business School U.K. $114,653
42 Vanderbilt University: Owen U.S.A. $110,768
43 Melbourne Business School Australia $110,290
44 RSM, Erasmus University Netherlands $109,997
45 Babson College: Olin U.S.A. $109,541
46 Washington University: Olin U.S.A. $109,507
47 Rice University: Jones U.S.A. $109,302
48 Manchester Business School U.K. $109,066
49 SMU: Cox U.S.A. $109,052
50 University of Maryland: Smith U.S.A. $108,404
51 Hong Kong UST Business School China $108,364
52 Boston College: Carroll U.S.A. $108,162
53 Indiana University: Kelley U.S.A. $107,653
54 University of Bath School of Management U.K. $107,613
55 Lancaster University Management School U.K. $106,960
56 University of Notre Dame: Mendoza U.S.A. $106,487
57 Pennsylvania State University: Smeal U.S.A. $105,728
58 U. of Washington Business School: Foster U.S.A. $105,558
59 Boston University School of Management U.S.A. $105,532
60 University College Dublin: Smurfit Ireland $104,934
61 SDA Bocconi Italy $104,859
62 University of Western Ontario: Ivey Canada $104,456
63 Nanyang Business School Singapore $104,294
64 Durham Business School U.K. $104,282
65 Michigan State University: Broad U.S.A. $102,897
66 Univ. of California at Irvine: Merage U.S.A. $102,010
67 Univ. of Edinburgh Business School U.K. $101,884
68 George Washington University U.S.A. $101,530
69 University of Florida: Hough U.S.A. $101,343
70 Vlerick Leuven Gent Mgnt. School Belgium $101,180
71 University of Arizona: Eller U.S.A. $101,066
72 Leeds University Business School U.K. $100,918
72 Purdue University: Krannert U.S.A. $100,856
73 Wake Forest University: Babcock U.S.A. $100,727
74 Nottingham University Business School U.K. $99,647
75 Arizona State University: Carey U.S.A. $99,624
76 Case Western Reserve U.: Weatherhead U.S.A. $99,238
77 Thunderbird School of Global Mngt. U.S.A. $99,187
78 Wisconsin School of Business U.S.A. $99,138
79 Texas A & M University: Mays U.S.A. $98,647
80 University of Minnesota: Carlson U.S.A. $98,451
81 Brigham Young University: Marriott U.S.A. $97,789
82 University of Toronto: Rotman Canada $97,413
83 Coppead Brazil $96,938
84 Hult International B. School USA/ UK/ UAE $96,915
85 Bradford School of Management/Tias
86.Nimbas Business School U.K. / Netherlands / Germany $96,144
87 NUS School of Business Singapore $95,926
88 University of Pittsburgh: Katz U.S.A. $95,633
89 Ohio State University: Fisher U.S.A. $93,744
90 U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign U.S.A. $92,863
91 University of Iowa: Tippie U.S.A. $92,166
92 U. of Miami School of Business U.S.A. $92,064
93 U. of South Carolina: Moore U.S.A. $91,774
94 EADA Spain $89,786
95 U. of British Columbia: Sauder Canada $89,682
96 York University: Schulich Canada $88,609
97 Aston Business School U.K. $86,364
98 Grenoble Grad. School of Business France $83,516
99 Birmingham Business School U.K. $82,624
100 University of Alberta Canada $75,084
One advantage of a salary-based list of programs worldwide is that it helps to see the rising global market value of MBA programs. It also means that those of us who help applicants considering worldwide application, start to pay more attention to such national leaders as the Indian School of Business, China Europe International Business School, and Australian Graduate School of Management.
For those with a US MBA bias, this ranking should be humbling because so many of what are usually ranked quite highly in the US, don't, at least at the salary level, look as attractive as a FT, Businessweek or other such ranking might suggest.
From a school selection perspective, I think looking at the stark reality of the expected financial outcome is critical. Looking at this solely helps to put the outcome into focus. "The 100" is only one possible way of doing this.
I am well aware that applicants don't simply make selection choices on the basis of salary, but I think evaluating programs on this basis is one important consideration.
Given the present grim economic situation, it stands to reason that we might see a decline in these salary numbers over the next couple of years. It will especially be interesting to see whether US and UK schools that are highly connected to the financial industry lose their present high rank on this list.
Finally, I would like to thank "my team" at FT for doing all of the hard work. They have this nifty way of generating excel documents that really reduced my work by hours.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
ビジネススクール MBA留学
February 10, 2009
HBS MBA Interview Preparation: Rip Yourself Apart!
This is a short follow-up to my post on HBS MBA interviews. In that post I wrote:
You need to know your application very completely as you will be asked by adcom about its content. Review your entire application (not just resume and essays, but everything including the transcript) very carefully and consider what your interviewer might ask you to explain more thoroughly. Remember: Anything is fair game. Assume that the weakest parts of your application will be topics in the interview. Assume the worst-case scenario and be very prepared to address their concerns. Given the annual failure rate at HBS, if you have any academic weaknesses (low GPA, a relatively weak TOEFL, insufficient proof of a quantitative background), be ready to address those issues. Be prepared to tell new stories and alternative versions of the stories you told in your essays.
A point I will be making to own clients who have been invited for the HBS interview is that proper preparation for this interview really requires that you look for all the weak points in your application: Rip yourself apart in order to try and determine what you need to be especially ready to address. Getting a fresh perspective by reviewing your own application is certainly helpful. In addition, you should consider having one or more other people who can help you prepare for this, review your entire file. If you use any paid services, make sure that the mock interviewer (admissions consultant, admissions counselor, interview coach) will be reading your application first and developing a list of questions partially based on that review, otherwise they are not really helping you prepare for an HBS interview. When I do mock interviews for interview-only clients, I always ask to read their applications if they are not doing a blind interview. For schools like HBS and MIT, which are never blind, reading the whole application (especially the essays) is critical for simulating the real thing.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング MBA留学 インタビュー 面接
You need to know your application very completely as you will be asked by adcom about its content. Review your entire application (not just resume and essays, but everything including the transcript) very carefully and consider what your interviewer might ask you to explain more thoroughly. Remember: Anything is fair game. Assume that the weakest parts of your application will be topics in the interview. Assume the worst-case scenario and be very prepared to address their concerns. Given the annual failure rate at HBS, if you have any academic weaknesses (low GPA, a relatively weak TOEFL, insufficient proof of a quantitative background), be ready to address those issues. Be prepared to tell new stories and alternative versions of the stories you told in your essays.
A point I will be making to own clients who have been invited for the HBS interview is that proper preparation for this interview really requires that you look for all the weak points in your application: Rip yourself apart in order to try and determine what you need to be especially ready to address. Getting a fresh perspective by reviewing your own application is certainly helpful. In addition, you should consider having one or more other people who can help you prepare for this, review your entire file. If you use any paid services, make sure that the mock interviewer (admissions consultant, admissions counselor, interview coach) will be reading your application first and developing a list of questions partially based on that review, otherwise they are not really helping you prepare for an HBS interview. When I do mock interviews for interview-only clients, I always ask to read their applications if they are not doing a blind interview. For schools like HBS and MIT, which are never blind, reading the whole application (especially the essays) is critical for simulating the real thing.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング MBA留学 インタビュー 面接
HBS: 750 Round Two invitations go out with 50-100 more to follow
If you did not get an HBS 2nd round invite today, as the HBS Admissions Director makes clear on her 2/9 blog post, it is not over yet:
Today we are sending emails to about 750 applicants inviting them to interview. Detailed information will be included in the email. I think there will be between 50 and 100 additional invitations sent between now and April 2. These will be sent out as files are reviewed - not on a designated day or days.
So, if you applied to HBS, till you hear otherwise you are still under consideration.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Today we are sending emails to about 750 applicants inviting them to interview. Detailed information will be included in the email. I think there will be between 50 and 100 additional invitations sent between now and April 2. These will be sent out as files are reviewed - not on a designated day or days.
So, if you applied to HBS, till you hear otherwise you are still under consideration.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
February 09, 2009
Tuck Japan Trek 2009 Sponsor
The Japanese students at Tuck are putting on their first Japan Trek this year, which I think is wonderful way for them to teach their fellow MBA students about Japan. I am very pleased to serve as an official sponsor of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth's Japan Trek 2009 because I know such trips will build lasting bridges between individuals and nations. -Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
February 08, 2009
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Strategy
In this post, I have decided to simply comment on the mostly helpful advice that Wharton provides in Tips on the Wharton MBA Admissions Interview. In addition to my own knowledge of Wharton MBA interviews, I am drawing on the reports found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com.
For those who might be interviewing with J.J. Cutler, the new Director of MBA Admissions & Financial Aid, you should read my earlier post on him as you get can learn about his background, though I can't say that it will provide you with much insight on how he conducts interviews.
I have quoted that entire Wharton Tips text and inserted comments. Wharton's original text is in bold.
For those who might be interviewing with J.J. Cutler, the new Director of MBA Admissions & Financial Aid, you should read my earlier post on him as you get can learn about his background, though I can't say that it will provide you with much insight on how he conducts interviews.
I have quoted that entire Wharton Tips text and inserted comments. Wharton's original text is in bold.
Tips on the Wharton MBA Admissions Interview
Invited to an interview? Here are some tips directly from the Admissions Committee to to help prepare you…
PURPOSE
Interviews provide additional information about your candidacy that is included in the final reviews of your application. As such interviews, are not the decisive factor in your admissions decision. In most cases, interviews are fairly consistent with the application.
ADAM: At Wharton, interviews are just one factor that goes into the determination to admit, waitlist, or reject. That said, don't take this interview lightly because I think is fair to say that those who don't do a superior interview are unlikely to be admitted or at least waitlisted.
STRUCTURE
Interviews are blind, which reduces bias as your interviewer will have no preconceived ideas of your ability or personality based on your written application.
ADAM: While it is true that all interviews are blind in the sense that interviewers will not have read your application, if you interview with an admissions officer or alumni you have had previous contact with, the interviewer may very well have preconceived ideas of your ability based on that contact.
Interviews may include behavioral questions. Questions may center on specific examples or detailed descriptions of events, projects or experience that demonstrate how situations you’ve faced in the past have been handled and what you learned from them. Behavioral interviewing assumes that past performance predicts future behavior.
ADAM: Sure, this is possible, but a review of Wharton's interview reports indicates that the behavioral interview method is generally not used at all or used extensively. However, the fact that they have a statement like this means that you should be prepared to answer behavioral questions. See my post on MIT interviews for more about that.
No advance preparation is required. Questions are straightforward and cover topics such as why you seek an MBA, why you feel you are a good fit for Wharton (vice versa), what your career goals are, how you spend your spare time, what you value, about what you are passionate, etc. You will not be asked analyze a case study or demonstrate your mastery of particular subjects.
ADAM: A review of Wharton's interview reports indicates that the questions are almost always straightforward. You should certainly prepare for this interview by becoming comfortable answering the full range of such general MBA questions as well as being able to discuss everything on your resume. See here for more information about how to prepare for such questions. It is particularly important that you be able to express why Wharton is your first choice.
All interviews carry equal weight. There is no advantage to interviewing on-campus or with an admissions staff member. Arrange the type of interview that is most convenient for you.
ADAM: Based on my experience with clients, I can say that I have not ever noticed any real distinction in terms of outcome (admit, ding, waitlist) that was traceable to who the interviewer was. If you do an alumni interview, you will might have a choice of alumni to select from. The one advantage of this is that you can find out about the alums ahead of time. If you have an off-campus option of meeting with an admissions officer, you will be able to learn about him or her as well. Campus interviews are with students or admissions officers, but you will probably not have any information about your interviewer ahead of time. Each option has its inherent advantages and disadvantages. Alums and admissions officers are likely to be more experienced at interviewing, whereas students are more likely to be your peers. My suggestion is to select whoever you will feel the most comfortable with.
GENERAL TIPS
Interviews are dialogues or exchange between two people. Steer away from pre-rehearsed speech and over reliance on your résumé. We are interested in getting to know you as an individual, so follow the cues of the interviewer.
ADAM: This is really sound advice regarding the structure of the exchange. Successful Wharton interviews often become conversations rather than simply a question and answer session. Their advice "to follow the cues of the interviewer" is really applicable to any interview, so listen to each question and don't simply blurt out the first thing that comes to your mind. Also try to gauge how long your answers should be based on the conversational style of the interviewer. Instead of making speeches, make certain that you are engaged in a dialogue. One thing to practice is giving short, but very direct initial answers to questions.
The exact length of the interview does not indicate how well the interview went. While we schedule 30 minute interviews, they may vary a bit. Deviations from the schedule are random and unrelated to the candidate.
ADAM: Reported length is typically 30-45 minutes.
Do not expect the interviewer to give you feedback – literally or figuratively. Be careful to avoid any interpretation of verbal or non-verbal communication, as both may mislead you.
ADAM: I think asking for feedback is a particularly odd thing to do because it puts the interviewer in a difficult position. The advice to avoid interpretation of verbal or non-verbal communication is nonsensical and/or simply badly stated. As a human being we cannot avoid such interpretations. More specifically, Wharton has previously suggested following the cues of the interviewer, which is a form of interpretation of both verbal and non-verbal communication. What they probably meant to say was that one should not necessarily assume the absence or presence of positive verbal and/or non-verbal feedback from the interviewer indicates how well your interview is going. This might be true or it might not. It is certainly is the case that whatever way your interviewer acts, you need to stay positive and focused and not over-analyze the interviewer's reactions.Interviews are not a popularity contest. The interviewer is assessing your fit for the Wharton MBA program, not whether or not the two of you would make good or best friends.The key is to relax, be genuine, and enjoy the opportunity for us to get to know one another.
ADAM: While these interviews may not be popularity contests, your objective is make sure that the interviewer understands why should be a part of the Wharton community. As these interviewers are gatekeepers, convincing them that you belong at Wharton requires that you be well prepared as well as relaxed and genuine. Being both well prepared and genuine requires real practice, so don't focus on one at the cost of the other.
-Adam Markus
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If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
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If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
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February 07, 2009
UC Berkeley Haas MBA Interviews
Before reading this post on UC Berkeley Haas MBA, I suggest reviewing the Director of Admissions for the Full-time MBA Program's excellent Tips for Acing the Admissions Interview. I also suggest that you listen to the short podcast on interviewing found at http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/haas/podcast/audio/haas_mba_interview_tips1.mp3. The advice is very simple and clear and applicable to most schools. If you think you will get special insight about the Haas interviews from listening to this, you will likely be disappointed, but still it is worth a listen.
The reports of interviews found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com make it clear that you need to know your resume completely as you will be asked about content in it ("Walk me through your resume"). Review it carefully and consider what your interviewer might ask you to explain more thoroughly. If it is on your resume, it is fair game.
You also need to be prepared to answer routine MBA questions. Most reported interviews simply consist of them. See my previous post on basic interview strategy.
I see no reports and have not been told about any trick questions really. Be prepared to ask questions about the program. If you have an alum interview, be prepared to have a number of questions.
Interviewers (students, adcom, or alumni) are usually friendly and consistently try to create a very relaxed interview atmosphere. Most interviews are conducted with students on-campus or alumni off-campus. I did read some reports of relatively weak student interviewers, so don't be surprised if this should happen. Regardless of how your interviewer performs, just be relaxed and positive. This is an interview about fit and your own potential, so make sure you can explain in depth why you want to attend Haas, how you will contribute to it, and what you intend to do afterwords. Previous contact with alum, visits to campus, and/or intensive school research are all great ways to prepare. For more about Haas, you might want to read this.
Campus interviews are scheduled for 30 minutes and usually last 30-45 minutes. Alum interviews seems to last about 45 minutes to an hour.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
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ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング MBA留学 インタビュー 面接
The reports of interviews found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com make it clear that you need to know your resume completely as you will be asked about content in it ("Walk me through your resume"). Review it carefully and consider what your interviewer might ask you to explain more thoroughly. If it is on your resume, it is fair game.
You also need to be prepared to answer routine MBA questions. Most reported interviews simply consist of them. See my previous post on basic interview strategy.
I see no reports and have not been told about any trick questions really. Be prepared to ask questions about the program. If you have an alum interview, be prepared to have a number of questions.
Interviewers (students, adcom, or alumni) are usually friendly and consistently try to create a very relaxed interview atmosphere. Most interviews are conducted with students on-campus or alumni off-campus. I did read some reports of relatively weak student interviewers, so don't be surprised if this should happen. Regardless of how your interviewer performs, just be relaxed and positive. This is an interview about fit and your own potential, so make sure you can explain in depth why you want to attend Haas, how you will contribute to it, and what you intend to do afterwords. Previous contact with alum, visits to campus, and/or intensive school research are all great ways to prepare. For more about Haas, you might want to read this.
Campus interviews are scheduled for 30 minutes and usually last 30-45 minutes. Alum interviews seems to last about 45 minutes to an hour.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
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February 06, 2009
Wharton's Director of MBA Admissions & Financial Aid, J.J. Cutler
In January, Wharton announced they had had a new Director of MBA Admissions & Financial Aid, J.J. Cutler. This is what Wharton says about him:
Some more information about his experience can be found in the job announcement for his previous position:
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
-Adam Markus
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The first "J." stands for Jonathan, by the way. As he entered PENN undergrad in 1989, he is approximately age 38. As you can tell from the above, he has no adcom experience, but is clearly an involved Wharton alum. I think it is very interesting that the Wharton approach was to hire someone without prior admissions experience. It is also interesting that they did not promote someone internally. While I will not predict a shake up in their admissions processes for Fall 2010 yet, I would not be surprised to see one coming. In his (JC) interview with Clear Admit (CA), I found the only interesting part to be the following:
CA: How might the admissions process at Wharton change under your tenure? Do you have any plans to do things differently than your predecessor? JC: Yes. In the short term we are right in the middle of round two, so nothing is going to change today. And I am just a few weeks into the job, so I think it’s premature to make changes right away. Longer term, I do think that innovation is a hallmark of Wharton’s curriculum and a hallmark of the way in which we view all of our processes, including admissions and financial aid. Going forward, we will be looking for innovative ways to attract the right candidates, as well as to be innovative in terms of the transparency of our process. We want to continue to arm prospective applicants with the tools they need to provide us with the best applications they can. To that end, we will continue to providing opportunities for students to come tour our campus, to sit in on classes. And we’ll look for innovative ways to expand on these offerings. And we will also be going out and doing global presentations about Wharton so that applicants around the globe know what we have to offer. So I do think that there are lots of ways we will continue to be innovative. But in the short term, for rounds two and three of this year, we will continue with the process as it currently exists.
Some more information about his experience can be found in the job announcement for his previous position:
Prior to Lindi Skin, Cutler held the position of Senior Vice President of Marketing for ARAMARK Healthcare. In this role, he led the marketing team, driving its leadership position across the enterprise and innovatively communicating that position to the marketplace.
He earlier worked with Johnson & Johnson in roles with increasing responsibility for several divisions, including: Leading OTC brands at McNeil Consumer Healthcare, including Tylenol([R]) PM, Motrin([R]) IB and Pepcid([R]) AC; and Biologic products at Centocor, including the company's leading product, Remicade, where he led new market development for a variety of chronic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.
Cutler is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and a Senior Scholar of the Department of Health Policy at Jefferson Medical College. He earned his bachelor's degree in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania and his Master of Business Administration in Strategic Management and Operations from The Wharton School. Cutler serves on the Board of Directors for the Independence Visitors Center Corporation in Philadelphia.
---------------------------------------Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
-Adam Markus
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MIT Sloan MBA Interviews
Before reading the rest of this post, I strongly suggest downloading a copy of MIT's excellent guide to behavioral interviews, The MIT Sloan Interview Guide, because reading it first will maximize the value of my comments below.
The behavioral interview method is not old:
“Bill Byham, CEO and founder of Development Dimensions International, originated the behavioral interviewing method in 1970.”
In fact, the STAR technique outlined in MIT’s guide was developed by Byham as THE WAY to answer behavioral questions:
Byham calls an example of past behavior a STAR, because a complete example consists of a situation or task, the specific action you took and the result of your action. The result you describe doesn't have to be positive; it could be that you learned a valuable lesson from doing something the wrong way.
In his book "Landing the Job You Want: How to Have the Best Job Interview of Your Life" (Three Rivers Press, 1997), Byham tells candidates how to identify the skills for a job; explore their own "behavioral dimensions" (the behaviors they use every day to get things done); and recognize and present a STAR with positive impact in an interview.
In addition to the MIT SLOAN Guide, I suggest also taking a look at the slightly different guide to the Star Technique that MIT Career Services provides.
The STAR technique is really the core method you need to use for answering behavioral questions in MIT essays. It is simply this (taken from the MIT Sloan Guide):
• Situation: define the situation or “set the stage.”
• Task: identify the task/project performed.
• Action: describe the action you took.
• Result: summarize the outcome
Just keep in mind that you need to be introspective as well, so in an interview say what you thought as well as what you did. Don’t just present “the facts” but actively interpret your actions. There is really nothing overly complicated about this as long as you understand that you need to tell a DETAILED story. Pure abstractions disconnected from a concrete set of action steps are highly likely to result in a weak answer. Similarly, grand actions not told in any depth are also likely to be weak. Identify specific actions that contributed to the result so as to establish a clear link between cause and effect.
As when answering any kind of question, another important consideration is to think very critically about what your story selection, understanding of the task, actions taken, and results say about you. Keep in mind that the whole point of asking behavioral questions is to determine how someone acts and thinks as a basis for selecting or rejecting that person. It is obviously critical to be aware of your own message. Specifically think of examples you can use to highlight your intelligence, creativity, leadership skills, interpersonal communication skills, and conflict resolution skills.
Since your interviewer will know your file well, you need to have alternative stories for answering behavioral questions. Unlike MIT's behavioral essays, you need not limit your answers to topics from the last three years. My suggestion is to have a mix of stories ready to deliver from different times in your life.
You can find behavioral questions in the interview reports found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com. In addition, the list of behavioral questions found at MIT Career Services site is actually quite good for preparing for answers to wide variety of questions.
Beyond answering, behavioral questions, you need to know your own application completely as you will likely be asked about content in it. Re-read your essays and consider what your interviewer might ask you to explain more thoroughly.
You need to be prepared to answer routine MBA questions as well. While the answers may be analyzed using behavioral analysis, don't be surprised if you get asked questions like "What do you want to after your MBA?" or "Why Sloan." See my previous post on basic MBA interview strategy.
The interviewers, all admissions staff, are generally reported to be friendly. They are the only ones who conduct interviews.
Based on reports, interview length could be from 30 to 60 minutes with 45 minutes to 60 minutes being most common.
For more insight into MIT, please see here.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング MBA留学 インタビュー 面接
The behavioral interview method is not old:
“Bill Byham, CEO and founder of Development Dimensions International, originated the behavioral interviewing method in 1970.”
In fact, the STAR technique outlined in MIT’s guide was developed by Byham as THE WAY to answer behavioral questions:
Byham calls an example of past behavior a STAR, because a complete example consists of a situation or task, the specific action you took and the result of your action. The result you describe doesn't have to be positive; it could be that you learned a valuable lesson from doing something the wrong way.
In his book "Landing the Job You Want: How to Have the Best Job Interview of Your Life" (Three Rivers Press, 1997), Byham tells candidates how to identify the skills for a job; explore their own "behavioral dimensions" (the behaviors they use every day to get things done); and recognize and present a STAR with positive impact in an interview.
In addition to the MIT SLOAN Guide, I suggest also taking a look at the slightly different guide to the Star Technique that MIT Career Services provides.
The STAR technique is really the core method you need to use for answering behavioral questions in MIT essays. It is simply this (taken from the MIT Sloan Guide):
• Situation: define the situation or “set the stage.”
• Task: identify the task/project performed.
• Action: describe the action you took.
• Result: summarize the outcome
Just keep in mind that you need to be introspective as well, so in an interview say what you thought as well as what you did. Don’t just present “the facts” but actively interpret your actions. There is really nothing overly complicated about this as long as you understand that you need to tell a DETAILED story. Pure abstractions disconnected from a concrete set of action steps are highly likely to result in a weak answer. Similarly, grand actions not told in any depth are also likely to be weak. Identify specific actions that contributed to the result so as to establish a clear link between cause and effect.
As when answering any kind of question, another important consideration is to think very critically about what your story selection, understanding of the task, actions taken, and results say about you. Keep in mind that the whole point of asking behavioral questions is to determine how someone acts and thinks as a basis for selecting or rejecting that person. It is obviously critical to be aware of your own message. Specifically think of examples you can use to highlight your intelligence, creativity, leadership skills, interpersonal communication skills, and conflict resolution skills.
Since your interviewer will know your file well, you need to have alternative stories for answering behavioral questions. Unlike MIT's behavioral essays, you need not limit your answers to topics from the last three years. My suggestion is to have a mix of stories ready to deliver from different times in your life.
You can find behavioral questions in the interview reports found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com. In addition, the list of behavioral questions found at MIT Career Services site is actually quite good for preparing for answers to wide variety of questions.
Beyond answering, behavioral questions, you need to know your own application completely as you will likely be asked about content in it. Re-read your essays and consider what your interviewer might ask you to explain more thoroughly.
You need to be prepared to answer routine MBA questions as well. While the answers may be analyzed using behavioral analysis, don't be surprised if you get asked questions like "What do you want to after your MBA?" or "Why Sloan." See my previous post on basic MBA interview strategy.
The interviewers, all admissions staff, are generally reported to be friendly. They are the only ones who conduct interviews.
Based on reports, interview length could be from 30 to 60 minutes with 45 minutes to 60 minutes being most common.
For more insight into MIT, please see here.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング MBA留学 インタビュー 面接
February 05, 2009
Duke Fuqua MBA Interviews
In my experience, Duke interviews are all about fit. Frankly, I would not characterize them as hard when compared to those of other top schools. For some of my clients, I think the hardest part was that their interviews were conducted in a busy hotel lobby by a student interviewer. One would hope that Duke would have a budget to either have a room for this or at least take the interviewee to a hotel coffee shop. Other clients report better off-campus interviewing conditions.
In addition to my experience, I have reviewed reports of Duke University 's Fuqua School of Business interviews found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com
1. You need to know your resume completely as you will likely be asked about content in it. Review it carefully and consider what your interviewer might ask you to explain more thoroughly. If it is on your resume, it is fair game. That said, don't be surprised if the interviewer is using a standardized list of questions.
2. You need to be prepared to answer routine MBA questions. Most reported interviews simply consist of them. See my previous post on interviewing. Typical Duke questions include:
-Walk me through your resume.
-Why MBA?
-Why Duke?
-How will contribute to Fuqua?
-What are your short term and long term goals?
-Tell me about a time when you received a negative feedback and you did not agree with it?
-Tell me about a time when one of your team members did not participate well?What did you do?
-Discuss your strengths and weaknesses
- Tell me about a situation where you worked with a team and there was a difference in opinion and how you helped reconcile the situation to come to a solution.
-Do you have any questions for me?
3. While there are occasional unexpected hypothetical and/or critical thinking questions, especially from alum and adcom, this seems to be rare.
4. Interviewers (students, adcom, or alum) are friendly, passionate about Duke, and consistently try to create a very relaxed interview atmosphere. This is an interview about fit (just like Duke's essays), so make sure you can explain in depth why you want to become a part of Team Fuqua and how you will contribute to it. Previous contact with alum, visits to campus, and/or intensive school research are all great ways to prepare.
5. Reported interview length could be from 30 to 60 minutes, with most reported interviews taking 45 minutes.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング MBA留学 インタビュー 面接
In addition to my experience, I have reviewed reports of Duke University 's Fuqua School of Business interviews found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com
1. You need to know your resume completely as you will likely be asked about content in it. Review it carefully and consider what your interviewer might ask you to explain more thoroughly. If it is on your resume, it is fair game. That said, don't be surprised if the interviewer is using a standardized list of questions.
2. You need to be prepared to answer routine MBA questions. Most reported interviews simply consist of them. See my previous post on interviewing. Typical Duke questions include:
-Walk me through your resume.
-Why MBA?
-Why Duke?
-How will contribute to Fuqua?
-What are your short term and long term goals?
-Tell me about a time when you received a negative feedback and you did not agree with it?
-Tell me about a time when one of your team members did not participate well?What did you do?
-Discuss your strengths and weaknesses
- Tell me about a situation where you worked with a team and there was a difference in opinion and how you helped reconcile the situation to come to a solution.
-Do you have any questions for me?
3. While there are occasional unexpected hypothetical and/or critical thinking questions, especially from alum and adcom, this seems to be rare.
4. Interviewers (students, adcom, or alum) are friendly, passionate about Duke, and consistently try to create a very relaxed interview atmosphere. This is an interview about fit (just like Duke's essays), so make sure you can explain in depth why you want to become a part of Team Fuqua and how you will contribute to it. Previous contact with alum, visits to campus, and/or intensive school research are all great ways to prepare.
5. Reported interview length could be from 30 to 60 minutes, with most reported interviews taking 45 minutes.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング MBA留学 インタビュー 面接
McCombs MBA Interviews
My comments below are based on my experience and my review of McCombs School of Business in University of Texas at Austin MBA interview reports found at accepted.com.
I think that there are five key things to consider when preparing for McCombs interviews:
1. A recent report indicated that interviewers had a two page list of questions. In addition to common questions, there were a few interesting questions reported, See especially the 11.15.2007 report. Also make sure to take a look at the 7.7.2007 report as this shows that some interviewers use behavioral questions. For more about behavioral questions, see here.
Also see my previous post on strategic interviewing for more about how to handle many of these questions.
2. The interviewer will only have access to your resume, so know the contents well, but unlike with some other interviews, assume the agenda for your interview will be set by the list of questions that interviewer has and not your resume.
3. I see no reports of any trick questions really, but you must be prepared to address weakness, failure, and what you want to learn at McCombs. Be prepared to ask questions about the program. If you have an alum interview, be prepared to have a number of questions.
4. Interviewers (students, adcom, or alum) are friendly and try to create a friendly interview atmosphere. This is an interview about fit and your own potential, so make sure you can explain in depth why you want to attend McCombs, how you will contribute to it, and what you intend to do afterwords. You may want to look at an interview I conducted with a former client who was a McCombs Adcom member. Previous contact with alum, visits to campus, and/or intensive school research are all great ways to prepare.
5. Must interviews last about 45 minutes with some going for an hour and a few lasting only 30 minutes.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
-Adam Markus
I think that there are five key things to consider when preparing for McCombs interviews:
1. A recent report indicated that interviewers had a two page list of questions. In addition to common questions, there were a few interesting questions reported, See especially the 11.15.2007 report. Also make sure to take a look at the 7.7.2007 report as this shows that some interviewers use behavioral questions. For more about behavioral questions, see here.
Also see my previous post on strategic interviewing for more about how to handle many of these questions.
2. The interviewer will only have access to your resume, so know the contents well, but unlike with some other interviews, assume the agenda for your interview will be set by the list of questions that interviewer has and not your resume.
3. I see no reports of any trick questions really, but you must be prepared to address weakness, failure, and what you want to learn at McCombs. Be prepared to ask questions about the program. If you have an alum interview, be prepared to have a number of questions.
4. Interviewers (students, adcom, or alum) are friendly and try to create a friendly interview atmosphere. This is an interview about fit and your own potential, so make sure you can explain in depth why you want to attend McCombs, how you will contribute to it, and what you intend to do afterwords. You may want to look at an interview I conducted with a former client who was a McCombs Adcom member. Previous contact with alum, visits to campus, and/or intensive school research are all great ways to prepare.
5. Must interviews last about 45 minutes with some going for an hour and a few lasting only 30 minutes.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
-Adam Markus
I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.
February 04, 2009
Waitlisted? Now what?
Now that the 1st round results in all their joy, pain, and annoyance have more or less emerged, some people will find themselves in that netherworld known as waitlist. For some, the wait will actually end once 2nd round results are released, but for others, the wait might very well continue, well, for months and months.
Given the large number of applicants for Fall 2009, waitlisting is not likely to become less common. Schools waitlist because they actually are uncertain whether their estimated yield- the percentage of admitted applicants who accept an offer of admision, see here for more about it- will be sufficient to fill their class. They waitlist because they don't want empty seats. They waitlist because they have too many qualified applicants for too few slots, but want to reserve the possibility of eventually letting someone in. Schools don't waitlist because their are sadistic fiends, but from a waitlisted applicant's perspective, it might feel that way.
In the rest of this post, I will provide advice on what do if you are waitlisted by an MBA program.
IF YOU ARE WAITLISTED....
1. Don't panic or become depressed. The reason you were waitlisted is because there were too many qualified applicants and adcom likes you, but they don't know that they love you yet. Now is the time to think clearly and act effectively.
2. For those waitlisted in the first round, you should, of course, know that adcom likes you, but they really wanted to see the main pool of applicants, before making any decisions. You might be waiting for a quite a while longer, but be patient.
3. For those waitlisted in the second or third round, adcom also likes you, but they are not yet convinced that it would be right to give you a spot because there were simply too many qualified applicants. Your wait could go on for months. Consider other alternatives, but don't give up because it is possible to get off the waitlist.
4. Be proactive, but not aggressively annoying, with admissions. Adcom will let you know what additional materials they will accept and you should most certainly provide them. That said, the worst thing you can do is send a continuous stream of correspondence or otherwise annoy the admissions office. If you turn yourself into an annoying freak, you can assume you will not get admitted.
5. GMAT & TOEFL: If you can take it again, do it, if your score goes up report it. Higher scores always help.
6. Additional recommendation: If they will take one, provide it. It is fine to send more than one recommendation if the school allows it. Think very strategically about your selection(s). You don't want a recommendation that will not add something substantially different from what your previous recommendations stated. Try to use a recommender (or recommenders) who will do one or more of the following:
(a) A recommender who will provide support for any areas of professional weakness in your background.
(b) A recommender who will provide a perspective on different part of your background.
(c) A recommender who will provide support for earlier or more recent period of your life.
(d) If academic recommendations are acceptable and your GPA is not great, consider getting an academic recommendation if you can get a strong one.
(e) If your English ability maybe the issue, consider getting a recommendation from someone who can speak positively about your English communication skills. This is especially important if your ibt TOEFL or IELTS score is not that high or if you think your interview was not so strong because of your speaking skills.
Additionally, many schools will also take informal recommendations from alums or current students, so if you can get one from someone who knows you, it can't hurt.
7. Waitlist essay. Write one! The typical components:
-Additional reasons why you want to attend to show your real commitment and passion for the school. Think classes, school's culture, or any other reason that would make the school ideal for you.
-Discussion of changes that have taken place in your professional career after your applied. If anything new and great has happened, you should most certainly write about it.
- New content that was not emphasized in your application. Use some combination of the following possible topics:
(a) If you did not sufficiently discuss your leadership or teamwork abilities, you should most certainly do so.
(b) Write about contributions you can make to the school based on your experience, background, personality, and network.
(c) If your academic potential was not obvious, you should try to demonstrate that.
(d) If you have SUBSTANTIAL personal or professional accomplishments that you did not discuss, you should do so.
(e) If you did not focus very much on non-professional content in your application, focus on it here.
If the length is not stated, I would try to keep it to between 500 and 1000 words. More is not inherently better, quality is, so don't write about everything you can think of. This essay is quite important, so make sure that the content is at least as good as that of your original application.
8. If you have not visited the school and can visit the school, do so. Make a point of letting admissions know this, either in your waitlist essay or through contact with them.
9. Get a fresh perspective on your application by rereading it now. By doing so, you will probably have a good idea about what kind of recommendation to get and waitlist essay to write.
10. Consider seeking the advice of an admissions consultant. If you have already worked with one, you can go back to that person if you are otherwise pleased with their work. They know you and they could help you put something together that caught admissions' eye. On the other hand, you might want to pay for a fresh perspective. I offer waitlist, reapplication, interview, and comprehensive consulting services.
11. Do you need a PLAN B? If you are waitlisted and/or dinged everywhere you applied, it is now time to start thinking about whether you are going to apply for more schools for Fall 2009, reapply for 2010, or give up. Whatever the case, you need a Plan B in place. If you are thinking about applying to more schools for Fall 2009 or just reconsidering school selection in general, please see here.
Best of luck and may your wait be short and culminate in admission!
If you are interested in my waitlist counseling or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my recent post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング 大学院 合格対策 MBA留学
Given the large number of applicants for Fall 2009, waitlisting is not likely to become less common. Schools waitlist because they actually are uncertain whether their estimated yield- the percentage of admitted applicants who accept an offer of admision, see here for more about it- will be sufficient to fill their class. They waitlist because they don't want empty seats. They waitlist because they have too many qualified applicants for too few slots, but want to reserve the possibility of eventually letting someone in. Schools don't waitlist because their are sadistic fiends, but from a waitlisted applicant's perspective, it might feel that way.
In the rest of this post, I will provide advice on what do if you are waitlisted by an MBA program.
IF YOU ARE WAITLISTED....
1. Don't panic or become depressed. The reason you were waitlisted is because there were too many qualified applicants and adcom likes you, but they don't know that they love you yet. Now is the time to think clearly and act effectively.
2. For those waitlisted in the first round, you should, of course, know that adcom likes you, but they really wanted to see the main pool of applicants, before making any decisions. You might be waiting for a quite a while longer, but be patient.
3. For those waitlisted in the second or third round, adcom also likes you, but they are not yet convinced that it would be right to give you a spot because there were simply too many qualified applicants. Your wait could go on for months. Consider other alternatives, but don't give up because it is possible to get off the waitlist.
4. Be proactive, but not aggressively annoying, with admissions. Adcom will let you know what additional materials they will accept and you should most certainly provide them. That said, the worst thing you can do is send a continuous stream of correspondence or otherwise annoy the admissions office. If you turn yourself into an annoying freak, you can assume you will not get admitted.
5. GMAT & TOEFL: If you can take it again, do it, if your score goes up report it. Higher scores always help.
6. Additional recommendation: If they will take one, provide it. It is fine to send more than one recommendation if the school allows it. Think very strategically about your selection(s). You don't want a recommendation that will not add something substantially different from what your previous recommendations stated. Try to use a recommender (or recommenders) who will do one or more of the following:
(a) A recommender who will provide support for any areas of professional weakness in your background.
(b) A recommender who will provide a perspective on different part of your background.
(c) A recommender who will provide support for earlier or more recent period of your life.
(d) If academic recommendations are acceptable and your GPA is not great, consider getting an academic recommendation if you can get a strong one.
(e) If your English ability maybe the issue, consider getting a recommendation from someone who can speak positively about your English communication skills. This is especially important if your ibt TOEFL or IELTS score is not that high or if you think your interview was not so strong because of your speaking skills.
Additionally, many schools will also take informal recommendations from alums or current students, so if you can get one from someone who knows you, it can't hurt.
7. Waitlist essay. Write one! The typical components:
-Additional reasons why you want to attend to show your real commitment and passion for the school. Think classes, school's culture, or any other reason that would make the school ideal for you.
-Discussion of changes that have taken place in your professional career after your applied. If anything new and great has happened, you should most certainly write about it.
- New content that was not emphasized in your application. Use some combination of the following possible topics:
(a) If you did not sufficiently discuss your leadership or teamwork abilities, you should most certainly do so.
(b) Write about contributions you can make to the school based on your experience, background, personality, and network.
(c) If your academic potential was not obvious, you should try to demonstrate that.
(d) If you have SUBSTANTIAL personal or professional accomplishments that you did not discuss, you should do so.
(e) If you did not focus very much on non-professional content in your application, focus on it here.
If the length is not stated, I would try to keep it to between 500 and 1000 words. More is not inherently better, quality is, so don't write about everything you can think of. This essay is quite important, so make sure that the content is at least as good as that of your original application.
8. If you have not visited the school and can visit the school, do so. Make a point of letting admissions know this, either in your waitlist essay or through contact with them.
9. Get a fresh perspective on your application by rereading it now. By doing so, you will probably have a good idea about what kind of recommendation to get and waitlist essay to write.
10. Consider seeking the advice of an admissions consultant. If you have already worked with one, you can go back to that person if you are otherwise pleased with their work. They know you and they could help you put something together that caught admissions' eye. On the other hand, you might want to pay for a fresh perspective. I offer waitlist, reapplication, interview, and comprehensive consulting services.
11. Do you need a PLAN B? If you are waitlisted and/or dinged everywhere you applied, it is now time to start thinking about whether you are going to apply for more schools for Fall 2009, reapply for 2010, or give up. Whatever the case, you need a Plan B in place. If you are thinking about applying to more schools for Fall 2009 or just reconsidering school selection in general, please see here.
Best of luck and may your wait be short and culminate in admission!
If you are interested in my waitlist counseling or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my recent post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング 大学院 合格対策 MBA留学
Dartmouth Tuck MBA Interviews
Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth interview is about fit, so make sure you can explain in great depth why you want to become a part of Tuck's small intensive community in Hanover. If you interview on-campus expect to be asked about how you liked it. If you have never been to Hanover, contact with alum and intensive school research are all great ways to prepare. Keep in mind that the objective of this research is to determine what you really like about the school, about how Tuck is right for you, and how you imagine yourself contributing to it. Try to focus on what you need from the school, not merely stating obvious information about it.
Demonstrated enthusiasm to attend Tuck is very helpful. Based on my experience, that enthusiasm in combination with the ability to provide solid answers to routine MBA questions. Most reported interviews found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com simply consist of standard questions. See my previous post on interviewing. Expect questions about teams, friendship, and extracurricular activities.
You need to know your resume completely as you will likely be asked about content in it. Review it carefully and consider what your interviewer might ask you to explain more thoroughly. If it is on your resume, it is fair game. Even an admissions officer interviewer will only have your resume, but you should assume they will know the contents of it fairly well. As Clear Admit states, "Tuck employs a ‘blind’ interview process, using only the resume as a basis for the interview.
Interviewers, according to the Tuck FAQ:
Interviews on campus are scheduled primarily with admissions associates (second-year students) and occasionally with members of the admissions committee. Off-campus interviews with an alumni interviewer, admissions committee member, or admissions associate are scheduled by invitation only.
Reported interview length: 30 to 45 minutes.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my recent post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング MBA留学 インタビュー 面接
Demonstrated enthusiasm to attend Tuck is very helpful. Based on my experience, that enthusiasm in combination with the ability to provide solid answers to routine MBA questions. Most reported interviews found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com simply consist of standard questions. See my previous post on interviewing. Expect questions about teams, friendship, and extracurricular activities.
You need to know your resume completely as you will likely be asked about content in it. Review it carefully and consider what your interviewer might ask you to explain more thoroughly. If it is on your resume, it is fair game. Even an admissions officer interviewer will only have your resume, but you should assume they will know the contents of it fairly well. As Clear Admit states, "Tuck employs a ‘blind’ interview process, using only the resume as a basis for the interview.
Interviewers, according to the Tuck FAQ:
Interviews on campus are scheduled primarily with admissions associates (second-year students) and occasionally with members of the admissions committee. Off-campus interviews with an alumni interviewer, admissions committee member, or admissions associate are scheduled by invitation only.
Reported interview length: 30 to 45 minutes.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my recent post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング MBA留学 インタビュー 面接
USC Marshall MBA Interviews
University of Southern California Marshall School of Business interviews are by invitation only. You'll find that it may vary whether interviews are blind or not. The best advice is to be prepared and consistent about your story.
Interviews are conducted by admissions on-campus, by telephone, and at selected locations worldwide. USC interviews last 30-45 minutes.
Based on the reports found at accepted.com, I have noticed a recent trend towards asking hypothetical questions. Recent examples include:
-If you could do anything and time and money wasn't an issue what would you choose to do?
-Person you'd like to have dinner with, dead or alive?
-If you were to travel across the country and had to take two people with you (not family or friends), who would they be and why?
What is interesting about all three questions is that other schools ask or have asked them as essay topics. When encountering this sort of question, take a moment and think about it.
GIFT QUESTIONS: All three of these questions have something in common. They are magic wishes and can be thought of as gifts. Gift questions are always about making best use of the resource that is being given. Best use should directly connect to your most basic motivations and core values as expressed in your application and your answers to other interview questions.
-If you could do anything and time and money wasn't an issue what would you choose to do?
If the question, like this one, involves an alternative future for yourself, pick a future that has some connection to your values and/or motivations for pursuing an MBA and/or your goals. Think of it as an alternative way of expressing your motivations.
-Person you'd like to have dinner with, dead or alive?
-If you were to travel across the country and had to take two people with you (not family or friends), who would they be and why?
Both of these questions are essentially the same in one major respect because they involve you having the opportunity to learn from someone else. In the second question, you have to also consider group dynamics because you would be driving across country with two people for an extended period of time. Your dinner companion or fellow travelers would be people you want to learn from or otherwise benefit from. Select your dinner guest or driving companions on the basis of their potential positive impact on you.
The other questions that USC asks are rather typical. To prepare for them, see my general post on interview strategy.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my recent post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング MBA留学 インタビュー 面接
Interviews are conducted by admissions on-campus, by telephone, and at selected locations worldwide. USC interviews last 30-45 minutes.
Based on the reports found at accepted.com, I have noticed a recent trend towards asking hypothetical questions. Recent examples include:
-If you could do anything and time and money wasn't an issue what would you choose to do?
-Person you'd like to have dinner with, dead or alive?
-If you were to travel across the country and had to take two people with you (not family or friends), who would they be and why?
What is interesting about all three questions is that other schools ask or have asked them as essay topics. When encountering this sort of question, take a moment and think about it.
GIFT QUESTIONS: All three of these questions have something in common. They are magic wishes and can be thought of as gifts. Gift questions are always about making best use of the resource that is being given. Best use should directly connect to your most basic motivations and core values as expressed in your application and your answers to other interview questions.
-If you could do anything and time and money wasn't an issue what would you choose to do?
If the question, like this one, involves an alternative future for yourself, pick a future that has some connection to your values and/or motivations for pursuing an MBA and/or your goals. Think of it as an alternative way of expressing your motivations.
-Person you'd like to have dinner with, dead or alive?
-If you were to travel across the country and had to take two people with you (not family or friends), who would they be and why?
Both of these questions are essentially the same in one major respect because they involve you having the opportunity to learn from someone else. In the second question, you have to also consider group dynamics because you would be driving across country with two people for an extended period of time. Your dinner companion or fellow travelers would be people you want to learn from or otherwise benefit from. Select your dinner guest or driving companions on the basis of their potential positive impact on you.
The other questions that USC asks are rather typical. To prepare for them, see my general post on interview strategy.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my recent post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング MBA留学 インタビュー 面接
Report on the hottest MBA networking event in Tokyo
On Saturday the 31st of January, my colleague Vince Ricci (center) held a "fireside chat," which was by far the best gathering of MBA applicants and alums that I (right) have ever attended. In addition to 30 MBA applicants, 19 alums (HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, Chicago, Tuck, Berkeley, Duke, UCLA, Michigan, Cornell, Darden, INSEAD, LBS, IESE, and IE), Vince, Steve (my guest blogger), and I attended. As I have mentioned previously, Vince, Steve, and I have an interview referral program for our clients, so this was a good chance for our clients to do some networking, not only with alums, but with each other. It was also really great to see former clients who were kind enough to attend.I asked Vince to tell my blog readers a little about this event as well as explain why he organized it. Below are his comments:
I started these "fireside chats" because I heard from many of my clients that they preferred smaller more intimate gatherings. There is no shortage of information on MBA programs. Thanks to frequent adcom visits, alumni panels, and great blogs (like this one!), applicants can now access school-specific data and insights easier than ever. Still, I felt that there was a lack of "quality face time." I attended larger MBA events for years and sometimes felt that it was hard to connect or have meaningful conversations while worrying that others are still waiting in line to ask their questions.
We had our first event in August 2008. About 20 people came to a nice little spot in Shimbashi, including 3 of my former clients representing HBS, Stanford, and UCLA.
I spent the next five months building momentum for a slightly larger event. (I expected 35-40 people, but more than 50 came!) This time, I wanted to maximize alumni participation. On 1/31, we enjoyed a nearly 3:2 applicant to alumni ratio, better than any other MBA networking event in Tokyo, perhaps in the world.
Because I believe in the power of human-to-human communication, I want to maintain our small size and customized approach. I am already scouting new locations for our next "fireside chat."
ADAM:
I am looking forward to Vince's next event. As he keeps these things small, they are basically open to our current and former clients, with others joining on a case-by-case basis.
For more details about utilizing our services, please contact:
Vince Ricci (http://vinceprep.com/)
H. Steven Green (http://hstevengreen.com/home.
Adam Markus (http://adammarkus.com/)
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール MBA留学 カウンセリング
February 03, 2009
HBS 2nd Round Invites are coming on 2/9
HBS second round invites will be coming on 2/9:
On February 9 we will send out invitations to interview. The invitation will come in an email from HBS MBA Admissions and will contain detailed instuctions about how to sign up for interviews both on campus and in hub cities. Please be assured that if we see you haven't signed up for an intervew by the end of the week, we will contact you by phone...thus there's no reason to be anxious about lost emails, etc.
Some will smile, some will cry. In any case, if you applied for round 2, just keep interview prepping. The HBS interview is not a thing to be taken lightly. See here for how to prep this one.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my recent post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング 大学院 合格対策 MBA留学
On February 9 we will send out invitations to interview. The invitation will come in an email from HBS MBA Admissions and will contain detailed instuctions about how to sign up for interviews both on campus and in hub cities. Please be assured that if we see you haven't signed up for an intervew by the end of the week, we will contact you by phone...thus there's no reason to be anxious about lost emails, etc.
Some will smile, some will cry. In any case, if you applied for round 2, just keep interview prepping. The HBS interview is not a thing to be taken lightly. See here for how to prep this one.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my recent post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング 大学院 合格対策 MBA留学
February 02, 2009
Stanford GSB MBA Interviews
Stanford interviews, while so hard to get, are not necessarily that hard in any obvious way. This is interview about fit as determined by an alumni "gatekeeper." Chances are good that this gatekeeper might be in your industry or in some manner have a complementary background for assessing you. While I imagine in some places with few alumni, a high level of complementary assessment (e.g., McKinsey applicant interviewed by Boston Consulting Group alum) would be less likely, I can say that it is the rule rather the exception in Japan. Expect a lively exchange and whatever you do, don't make any plans for it to end on time as Stanford interviews are well known for going long. Based on my experience, I can say that every client who had a long interview got in. This might be coincidence, but I doubt it.
My analysis of Stanford is based on my own personal knowledge as well as reviewing the reports of Stanford University GSB interviews found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com.
Some key things to consider when preparing for Stanford GSB interviews:
1. My colleague, H. Steven Green, has put the following together by reviewing interview reports (I have reviewed Steve's list which he prepared in March 2008, but the questions for Fall 2009 1st Round interviews have not changed):
-Why do you need an MBA?
-What are your career goals?
-When did you realize that you wanted to go to business school, and why?
-Why do you need an MBA now?
-Why Stanford?
-What has been your most important accomplishment?
-Please tell me about a time when you received criticism? How did you respond to it? Did your relationship change with the person who made it ?
-What do you do outside of work?
-Who is your role model?
-What book are you reading currently that is not related to your profession? ADAM'S NOTE: THIS QUESTION IS VERY COMMON!
-Describe a time when you had to choose between two good options.
-Describe a failure. -Please tell me about a time when you let down your team.
-Tell me about a time when you let your team down as a leader?
-Why do you think you are successful?
-Tell me about a time when you had to interact with people in a difficult situation.
-Tell me about a time when you had a bad leader.
-Tell me about a time when you led people?
-What was your favorite class in college?
-Describe a tough manager.
-Describe an easy manager.
-What would you get involved with at Stanford?
-Describe a bad leader.
-How do your prioritize?
As you can see, the questions are pretty standard. Expect some behavioral style questions and prepare accordingly.
2. You need to be able to explain in-depth why you should be admitted to Stanford, what you can contribute, and what you want to learn. Be willing to openly discuss what soft and hard skills you need to improve/acquire. Show yourself to be open, dynamic, change oriented, and a highly motivated person because the alum will be.
3. Since there is supposed to be time for you to ask questions to the alum, you need to give some significant thought to formulating those. Consider what year the alum graduated and any other background information if you can determine that through Linkedin or other sources of information. Develop four or more questions to ask.
4. Whoever you interview with, they are likely to be quite friendly and the style of the interview is conversational. Stanford alums are provided with very clear guidelines for how to conduct interviews. Just because your interviewer is friendly, it does not mean that you are doing well. Don't assume a friendly interviewer is not actually a super critical one. Alums are the gatekeepers and Stanford can afford to reject anyone. Take nothing for granted. Also keep in mind that the admissions process at Stanford is holistic and a great interview is no absolute guarantee of success.
5. Reported interview length for interviews is official 45 minutes, but can go on for longer than that. It usually consists of 30-40 minutes of questions from the alum followed by 5-15 minutes of question to the alum, but often the interviews go longer, an hour or more is not uncommon. In my own experience with clients, I would say that if the interview goes for an hour or more, that is a good sign, but a 45 minute interview is not necessarily a bad sign. Interviews that last 75 minutes to 120 minutes are not uncommon.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my recent post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング MBA留学 インタビュー 面接
My analysis of Stanford is based on my own personal knowledge as well as reviewing the reports of Stanford University GSB interviews found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com.
Some key things to consider when preparing for Stanford GSB interviews:
1. My colleague, H. Steven Green, has put the following together by reviewing interview reports (I have reviewed Steve's list which he prepared in March 2008, but the questions for Fall 2009 1st Round interviews have not changed):
-Why do you need an MBA?
-What are your career goals?
-When did you realize that you wanted to go to business school, and why?
-Why do you need an MBA now?
-Why Stanford?
-What has been your most important accomplishment?
-Please tell me about a time when you received criticism? How did you respond to it? Did your relationship change with the person who made it ?
-What do you do outside of work?
-Who is your role model?
-What book are you reading currently that is not related to your profession? ADAM'S NOTE: THIS QUESTION IS VERY COMMON!
-Describe a time when you had to choose between two good options.
-Describe a failure. -Please tell me about a time when you let down your team.
-Tell me about a time when you let your team down as a leader?
-Why do you think you are successful?
-Tell me about a time when you had to interact with people in a difficult situation.
-Tell me about a time when you had a bad leader.
-Tell me about a time when you led people?
-What was your favorite class in college?
-Describe a tough manager.
-Describe an easy manager.
-What would you get involved with at Stanford?
-Describe a bad leader.
-How do your prioritize?
As you can see, the questions are pretty standard. Expect some behavioral style questions and prepare accordingly.
2. You need to be able to explain in-depth why you should be admitted to Stanford, what you can contribute, and what you want to learn. Be willing to openly discuss what soft and hard skills you need to improve/acquire. Show yourself to be open, dynamic, change oriented, and a highly motivated person because the alum will be.
3. Since there is supposed to be time for you to ask questions to the alum, you need to give some significant thought to formulating those. Consider what year the alum graduated and any other background information if you can determine that through Linkedin or other sources of information. Develop four or more questions to ask.
4. Whoever you interview with, they are likely to be quite friendly and the style of the interview is conversational. Stanford alums are provided with very clear guidelines for how to conduct interviews. Just because your interviewer is friendly, it does not mean that you are doing well. Don't assume a friendly interviewer is not actually a super critical one. Alums are the gatekeepers and Stanford can afford to reject anyone. Take nothing for granted. Also keep in mind that the admissions process at Stanford is holistic and a great interview is no absolute guarantee of success.
5. Reported interview length for interviews is official 45 minutes, but can go on for longer than that. It usually consists of 30-40 minutes of questions from the alum followed by 5-15 minutes of question to the alum, but often the interviews go longer, an hour or more is not uncommon. In my own experience with clients, I would say that if the interview goes for an hour or more, that is a good sign, but a 45 minute interview is not necessarily a bad sign. Interviews that last 75 minutes to 120 minutes are not uncommon.
If you are interested in my interview preparation or other graduate admission consulting services, please click here.
Questions? Write comments, but do not send me emails asking me to advise you on your application strategy unless you are interested in my consulting services. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see my recent post on "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant."
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング MBA留学 インタビュー 面接
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