Should I do my admissions counseling in English?

One of the regular Japanese readers of this blog has asked me the following:

I am thinking about whether to do my MBA admissions counseling only in English or in English and Japanese, which do you think is better? Why?

First, for readers outside of Japan, let me explain that some applicants here use Japanese language admissions counseling services either in addition to or in lieu of English language services. Second, just as is true of English language counselors, Japanese language counselors provide various kinds of services. See my general post on admissions consultants here.

I think the answer to this question really depends on you. I think you should consider using Japanese language counseling if you answer yes to any of the following:
1. I have no clear idea about what I really want to study.
2. I need career counseling.
3. My English language skills are very limited.

If you answered "yes" to statements 1 or 2, you may really need the advice of a certified career counselor. Before spending much money on admissions counseling services, I think you should consider getting the advice of a certified career counselor. There are certified industrial counselors and career consultants who also do admissions counseling, so you may want to consider working with one of them.

If you answered "yes" to statement 3, I think you may need Japanese counseling. However, if your English skills are too weak for you to prepare your applications in English, how will you survive and succeed in graduate school? If you are planning on doing an MBA and will have to interview in English, you really would benefit from doing your admissions counseling in English because this will force you to communicate your ideas in English and thus help you prepare for interviews.

If you do some of your counseling in Japanese, I suggest keeping the following in mind:

1. Focus your Japanese counseling on career counseling, school selection, and assistance with logistical issues. These are likely to be the areas where Japanese counseling will be of some benefit.

2. I don't see the value in doing any sort of essay or interview counseling in Japanese because inherent linguistic and cultural differences mean that you will only increase your work when you have to write and speak in English. Your English localization efforts may prove very inefficient, especially if your content does not translate well. In my experience, this is often the case.

3. While there may be some limited value in reading the analysis of essay questions in Japanese, the chance for misinterpretation is simply increased. If you can understand what I write on my blog, you don't need a Japanese language analysis of an essay question that you will have to answer in English. If you can't understand this blog, you will not have read what I just wrote! :)

While my comments have been made in relation to MBA, the answers apply generally to LL.M. and other graduate degrees as well.

I hope this answers your question. I know the admissions process can be hard and the opportunity to do counseling in your own language might seem attractive, but be absolutely certain that is what you really need.

Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス

ビジネススクール, 米国ロースクール、米国大学法学院, 大学院入学, カウンセリング, コンサルティング, 合格対策, エッセイ, インタビュー、面接, MBA留学, LLM留学, 大学院留学

A Reader's Questions Regarding Chicago GSB Question Three

One of the readers of this blog has asked me the following excellent questions regarding Chicago GSB Question Three:
1) In your opinion, should one use a minimalistic approach involving images to convey one's ideas?
2) Would a little bit of humor do good e.g. say a cartoon?
3) Is GSB looking for an analytical assessment of one's personality in these slides?

I will answer each of these questions in turn, but first here is the question again (taken from the online application, you can find the web version here, but the online application version is more clear regarding the length of the notes):
3. We have asked for a great deal of information throughout this application. In this portion of the application, we invite you tell us about yourself using a non-traditional application format--a PowerPoint presentation. In four slides or less, please provide readers with content that captures who you are.
[PLUS] PowerPoint Notes (200 words maximum)

I restate it here because I will refer to some of the wording below.

1) In your opinion, should one use a minimalistic approach involving images to convey one's ideas?

I think this will really depend on you. The important thing is to effectively convey something important about who you are to the admissions committee. If that can be done effectively with more images that is great, if it can be done effectively with minimal or no images that is also great. The important thing is that your reader understand the significance of any images you use. Luckily, you have the notes for that purpose. Just as in "real" PowerPoints, images or any graphic element can be used effectively or badly. Always ask yourself, why I am using this image? Does it really help them understand me? If it does, keep it. If it is mere decoration, think about eliminating it or replacing it with something that will have a positive impact on Chicago GSB's ability to understand who you are.

2) Would a little bit of humor do good e.g. say a cartoon?
Keeping in mind what I just wrote above, I think IT IS POSSIBLE to use humor effectively. You must practice extremely good judgment when using humor for any application. That said I have had a number of clients who successfully used humor in their applications for Chicago GSB both prior to and since Rose Martinelli started leading admissions.

3) Is GSB looking for an analytical assessment of one's personality in these slides?
I think they are looking for a meaningful assessment of your personality.

I will not say "analytical" because that is just one possibility. If by "analytical" you mean a detailed explanation for your character making use of standard forms of argument, it is fine to do it that way, but not the only way.

I use the word "meaningful" because it does not necessarily require logic or analysis to do so. For example, an image with some kind of description may provide Chicago GSB with great insight into who you are. Since Chicago is specifically being "non-traditional," you certainly can be as long as you answer the question.

Finally, please keep in mind that the use of the wording "content that captures" is a very open-ended requirement. Clearly that is Chicago GSB's intention. Think big and be creative. To answer this one effectively will take time, but if you want to get into Chicago GSB, put in the time.

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス

シカゴ、ビジネススクール, MBA留学

If You Missed The MBA Tour

We had a very strong typhoon here in Tokyo on the evening of the 6th of September. Unfortunately, it was also the night that The MBA Tour was in town. While I am sure someone braved the weather to go there, for anyone who could not make it to that event (or others like it elsewhere), I wanted to make some suggestions for what you can to do as a substitute.

1. Browse Business School Websites
If you are still at the early phase of your school selection process, you can use The MBA Tour, Businessweek, or other sites that include listings of MBA programs as a launching point for browsing websites. At this point, the information that you can find on the web about a school exceeds what you can learn from most paper pamphlets, so save a tree and read online. Many schools have podcasts and videos on their sites and those can be quite effective for learning about a school. I think the HBS site is really worth any applicants time (and they don't attend The MBA Tour) because it will provide you with great insight into the case study method. Wharton's Admissions Blog is also another absolutely useful site for any applicant because of the level of general advice provided. New York University's Stern School of Business has a series of short podcasts that are very much worth your time if you want to learn about admissions criteria.

2. Make Contact!
Many admissions offices now have online means for answering questions. Whether it is through chats with admissions (see chats on Businessweek and Accepted.com) or "Ask a Student," schools are increasingly able to provide the same or better interactivity with you online than can be done at a fair.

3. Read Student Blogs
Read my post about English and Japanese language MBA student blogs.

4. Contact Student Organizations
Student organizations are a great way to become informed about a school and to make contact with students. Based on my experience, I have seen my clients really benefit from information that they obtained from current students. For Japanese applicants, I strongly suggest getting in contact with the Japanese student organization at any school you are seriously considering because they are incredibly helpful.

5. Get Interviewed!
One of the great advantages of both The MBA Tour and World MBA Tour is that they bring a whole bunch of schools with them that are conducting open sign-up interviews. If you can get an open interview that will be conducted by phone, this is a way to make up for missing the Tours. The Tours are very good chance to interview if you are ready to do so. If you are not ready to interview with a school you are certain that you want to go to, this is a good chance to interview with another school in order to learn more about it and to get practice. Clearly don't let them know you are using them for practice.

6. Go to the World MBA Tour!
I know it is obvious, but in a mere couple of months you will have the opportunity to attend another tour if you are in Tokyo or another city the World MBA Tour visits. And remember, get free pens!

Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス

MBA留学

WARNING: Georgetown MBA is watching who attends their events

I applied for, but did not attend the Georgetown MBA reception that was held tonight here in Tokyo. The MBA Tour is in town and Georgetown did their own reception. Only a few hours after the event ended, I received the following email from Georgetown:
We regret you were unable to attend our recent event and hope to have the chance to see you at a future Georgetown MBA event.

If you have yet to visit campus, we hope you will choose to see why Georgetown MBA may be a perfect fit for you! Class visits and information sessions are available Mondays - Thursdays. Learn more about these opportunities and the Georgetown MBA Full-Time Program through our Web site at http://mba.georgetown.edu.

Sincerely,
Georgetown MBA Full-Time Program
Office of Admissions

If you wanted proof that admissions offices look at who attends events, this is it. I was curious to learn what Georgetown's McDonough School of Business does with the data, so I wrote them. I received the following reply very quickly:

Adam,

Sorry we missed you this evening. We do track who attends our events. It helps us know who is most interested in Georgetown, but of course we understand if candidates cannot make it sometimes.

If you do have questions, please feel free to visit with our Admissions Officer at The MBA Tour Fair in Tokyo this Thursday, September 6.
Best regards,
Wendy
The Georgetown MBA Admissions Team

GEORGETOWN IS WATCHING! If you want to go there, you better attend as many of their events as you can.
In the past other schools have indicated that they don't do this sort of tracking, but maybe times have changed. If you have any similar experiences with other schools, please write comments or email me at adammarkus@gmail.com.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
MBA留学

The MBA Application Process: A Test of Potential

One key way of thinking about the MBA application process is to see it as a test of potential. MIT puts it this way:
The Admissions Committee looks for excellence—applicants with high academic potential and achievement, and strong motivation and leadership potential. High academic potential and achievement are normally reflected in high GMAT scores, excellent academic records, and recommendations that go beyond the usual polite endorsement. Ability to achieve is usually shown in relevant experience, your essays, and recommendations.

NYU Stern admissions has a Podcast series with one episode focused specifically on academic potential. I highly recommend the whole series.

Potential itself can mean different things at different schools and so you must keep in mind differences between schools and in particular must pay close attention to what schools say really matters when they assess applicants. Harvard Business School Admissions states:
Genuine business talent cannot be narrowly defined. Instead of looking for an "ideal" candidate, HBS invites MBA applicants who exhibit a variety of skills, accomplishments, and temperaments. The true common characteristics of our students are demonstrated leadership potential and a capacity to thrive in a rigorous academic environment.

Therefore please keep in mind that while many key indicators will be discussed in this series of blog entries, a core part of your own application strategy should be determining which of these to emphasize both overall and for a particular school. For example, at HBS, clearly "demonstrated leadership potential" and a strong academic background are necessary. In fact, the latter is particularly important at HBS, especially because the forced grading curve makes it a particularly academically challenging environment. Read more about HBS essays here.

Potential can be measured by those characteristics that are really prerequisites for academic and professional success. As Chicago GSB says: The Admissions Committee looks for people who have demonstrated the ability to succeed through work experience, academic endeavors and extracurricular or community service involvement.

Chicago GSB then states that an applicant's demonstration of the above is compared against an overall framework:
Our evaluation criteria are applied against three broad themes: our curriculum, our community, and your career.
While schools will vary on the way in which they analyze you, it is certainly the case that you be evaluated both on the basis of who you are and your fit. Wharton states this very clearly: At Wharton, admissions is all about the right fit. Therefore the real issue is to be aware of that and to put together an application that best presents, in the words of Stanford GSB, The Total Package. Programs will be judging you holistically in comparison to other applicants. Kellogg explains it directly:
The Committee reviews the personal essays, academic record, GMAT score, TOEFL score (if applicable), Career Progress Survey, resume and evaluative interview report [(recommendation)] to assess each applicant’s candidacy compared to the overall pool of applicants.

And given that you have absolutely no control over the other applicants, you have to simply focus on making the best possible "Total Package." In the posts that will follow, I will discuss specific indicators of potential and how to demonstrate them so that you can put together your best "Total Package."

Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス

ハーバード, シカゴ, スタンフォード, ウォートン, MITスローン, ケロッグ, ビジネススクール, MBA留学