Visits to Booth and Kellogg and some thoughts on learning about MBA programs

I know my blog has been quiet since April 2nd.  For spring vacation, I went to Chicago, where I froze most of the time in very un-spring-like conditions.  My parents and brother live there, so it was time to spend some quality time with the family. In addition, I visited both Booth and Kellogg. Both visits were very productive as it was a chance to meet with admissions at Booth and talk with some of my former clients who are attending Booth and Kellogg.

I had a great opportunity to have a private meeting with a couple of admissions officers at Booth, who were kind enough to take time out of their schedules to meet with me.  It was a frank and off the record meeting, so I will not directly be writing about it.

I tried to also arrange such a meeting at Kellogg, but my prior contact in the admissions office is no longer there and I could not even get a reply to my request for meeting. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to try again when I am back in Chicago.

Still I visited Kellogg to see it again after not having done so for about six years.  As everyone who has been there knows, the place is too small and a new campus will surely be welcome.  According to the Northwestern University website, construction is supposed to start this summer and be completed by 2016.

The main purpose of my visit was to meet with a couple of my former clients who are first year students there.  They explained how their first year had gone. I was happy to learn that both had excellent internships for the summer.   I hoping to have interviews up with both of them later this year.

I met with first and second year students at Booth.  What was particularly interesting for me was the very different perspectives my former clients had on Booth, something which again reinforces my belief that especially in a program as flexible as Booth, students experiences will really vary greatly.   Differences in perspective also reminded me of why  it is so important that applicants to MBA programs make their own determination about a school and don’t just take any single one perspective on it.   Visiting for yourself and talking to multiple students and/or alumni is really the best way to determine whether you really fit.

Applicants, including the many I have been talking with for initial consultations the last couple of months, often ask me what to do in the spring.  My advice is always to visit schools if you have not done so. Going to them while they are still in session is best.  If you are planning on making round one applications, waiting to visit till the fall can be too late.  Best to do it now and fully account for your visit in your essays.

-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.

Q&A with a Member of the HBS MBA Class of 2014

"HBS2014" was kind enough to answer my questions. HBS2014 is a former client and a member of the Harvard Business School MBA Class of 2014. HBS2014 is Asian and in his early 30s.

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Adam: How hard has the first year at HBS been for you?

HBS2014: The day-to-day work is not as bad as I thought, but making an impactful comment in front of a class of 90 students is not an easy task – not necessarily hard, but challenging in a good way.

Adam: What parts of the program have you liked the most? The least?

HBS2014: I am always impressed how well structured and integrated all the Required Curriculum (RC) courses are. For instance, a new concept learnt in Marketing appears in the next case you read for Operations, and vice versa. No complaints on the program so far.

Adam: What has most surprised you about your first year?

HBS2014: Something I should have known better before entering, but the section experience has been surprising in a pleasant way. Taking all classes with the same people in the same room in the same seat for the entire year gives you an opportunity to consistently see how classmates approach different problems, and is part of the uniqueness of HBS.

Adam: You are older than most of your classmates. Do you think this has mattered at all?

HBS2014: Not really. I feel the pressure myself that I will be leaving my early 30s by the time of commencement, but I don't care about this when I am at school.

Adam: Do you actually have any time for clubs?  If so, which ones are you active in?

HBS2014: No. Not that I am swamped with studying, but more because I haven't prioritized clubs too much. I plan to spare more time in the second year for clubs such as Asia Business Club and Greater China Club, given my intent to work in Asia after HBS.

Adam: Are there any common characteristics you find amongst your classmates?

HBS2014: Many are really humble and hardworking. For one of the first mid-term exams we had, the mean score of the class was around 90 out of 100 with marginal deviation. Many are genuinely smart, but on top of that, people do make effort.

Adam: What are hot topics, activities, classes, etc. at HBS right now?
HBS2014: Strong focus on entrepreneurship, whether it is one of the RC courses (The Entrepreneurial Manager), FIELD program, and the iLab.

Adam: Are there any changes coming to HBS?

HBS2014: Not that I am aware of.

Adam: What advice do you have for those considering application to HBS?

HBS2014: Visit the campus. The class environment is one of the biggest differentiating factors of HBS, and I highly recommend prospective students to pay a visit before application. If you happen to have no contact with current students, please let Adam know so we can get in touch.

Adam: Anything else you would like to tell us?

HBS2014: In general, HBS requires more commitment to class compared to other programs. You have 2-3 cases to read every day which are each 10-20 pages long, and class participation counts for 50% of your grade. In return, it offers everything you need for your learning experience – great campus, committed faculty, amazing classmates etc. If this is an atmosphere you like, HBS is a school of choice, and I guarantee that you will enjoy the time here.

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I want to thank HBS2014 for answering my questions.

-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.

Rumours Regarding New MBA Essay Questions for the Class of 2016

Disclaimer:  While none of the following can be confirmed at this time, based on past posts prepared with the assistance of my Indian colleague, Mada Sukram,  this is surely worthy of my readers’ consideration. 

The ever shrinking Why MBA question at HBS

As appears to be the pattern from last year, top MBA programs are continuing to alter and shrink their essay sets.  For class of 2015 entry, HBS  gave 500 characters (about 100 words) for explaining why the applicant wanted an MBA based on the industry and function they will pursue. Industry and function were determined by selecting from a drop down menu of limited options.   According to Mada’s most reliable sources in the greater Cambridge area, this question will be replaced with something like the following:
“Which of the following reasons best describes your motivation for applying to HBS:
1.  The will to power.
2. Greed.
3. My obsessive helicopter parents who continue to control every aspect of my life.
4.  I believe an HBS MBA is the ideal platform upon which I can then go onto bring about world peace.
5.  I really need to get out of investment banking.
6. I’m no good at my current chosen career path, so I want to double down on it.
7.  HBS graduates like President George W.  Bush and Gov. Mitt Romney inspired me with their powerful rhetorical strategies that they had clearly cultivated in the HBS classroom. “
It is believed that the list of options will eventually include about 10-15 choices.  As far as Mada and I know, there is no indication that the HBS application will allocate space for an explanation of the applicant’s selection.

Location Matters Essay Question at Wharton

Mada’s sources on this one are literally not to be believed. Assuming their potential accuracy, Wharton’s new MBA branding strategy will be to emphasize “The Philadelphia Difference.”  To that end, a new essay question is be a part of the Class of 2016 application:

“Why are you passionate about spending two years in Philadelphia?” 

According to Mada’s sources, this question will be in addition to a more standard Why MBA/Why Wharton question.  Applicants who have not actually been to Philly are likely to have a  psychological advantage over those who have.  If you can’t understand what I mean, you have not been to Philly.


Haas replacing their song question with something even more cute

Last year, Haas asked “ If you could choose one song that expresses who you are, what is it and why?”, but this year they have an even cuter question, according to Mada’s sources in the People’s Republic of Berkeley, the following question will be replacing the song question:

“If you could choose one animal to express who you are, which animal is it and why?”

I suspect that many applicants will ask whether it is better to Oski or not to Oski.  I pity prospective Golden Bears who have to puzzle this one out.

Stanford alters “What matters most to you, and why?”

Finally, Mada’s sources in the greater Silicon Valley, indicate that Derrick Bolton and crew have decided it is time to radically alter the sacred unchanging question.  The new version may strike some as shocking in its direct and extremely aggressive attitude, not to mention unmitigated candor.

“Stanford GSB rejects the vast majority of applicants. Why should you matter to us?”

There is some speculation that has actually always been the real question anyway.

I want to thank Mada for his continued efforts on my behalf. Mada and I have worked together for as long as I can recall.

-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.

Q&A with IESE’s Dr. Kimio Kase

I had the pleasure of meeting IESE's Dr. Kimio Kase in February.  While that conversation was off-the-record, Dr. Kase was kind enough to answer my questions below.  Dr. Kase has had extensive experience assisting Japanese applicants with IESE's MBA program.  While his remarks below will be of particular interest Japanese applicants, I believe anyone considering application to IESE will find his insights quite useful.

Dr. Kase's official IESE biographical summary is as follows:

"Prof. Kase participated in the joint UK-Japan research project on the corporate-level strategy, which was conducted under the aegis of Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry and Manchester University. He was visiting professor at the prestigious China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai in 2001  and taught at Japan’s International Christian University (ICU) in 2006/2007, Peru's PAD, Korea's Yonsei University and Japan's Rikkyo University in these last years. He also served on the faculty of the International University of Japan, where he taught strategy for two years.

Prof. Kase has extensive corporate experience in the fields of global trade and management. He started off by working for a Japanese global trading house, where he specialized in industrial marketing. He was later appointed director of Price Waterhouse European Firm. Another firm on his curriculum is the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC.

Prof. Kase has written and contributed to several books and articles, published both in Spanish outlets and international journals such as the International Marketing Review and Harvard Deusto Magazine. 2005 saw the publication in the UK of a book he co-authored, titledTransformational CEOs: Leadership and Management Success in Japan, the Japanese version of which was published in November 2006. He also co-authored the books, CEOs as Leaders and Strategy Designers: Explaining the Success of Spanish Banks, which was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2007, Asian versus Western Management Thinking in 2011, etc., etc. Prof. Kase has also drawn up numerous case studies on a wide range of companies and organizations.

As a member of IESE’s Center for Sport Business Management, Prof. Kase conducted extensive research on business and sports activities. His current research, however, mainly centers on knowledge management in collaboration with Hitotsubashi University's Professor Ikujiro Nonaka.

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Adam: What makes IESE unique amongst MBA programs?

Dr. Kase: Caring attention to every detail and every human relationship is one main characteristic of IESE Business School and its MBA Programme (and other programmes of ours, too).

Support staff, professors, etc., are always ready to hold out a helping hand to the students.

Regarding more academic aspects we may point out that this is a general management-oriented programme. Functional knowledge is fully taught but the integration of various functional fields to foster the general manager's attitude and aptitude is our hall-mark.

Adam: I know that you have the opportunity to meet many applicants to IESE, what would your advice be to those who are considering applying to IESE?

Dr. Kase: First of all they should shop around and get as much information as possible. For that I suggest that they talk to the alumni and current students.

In a school such as ours personal contacts to get the real "feel" of the environment and the content of the programme is essential. There are things that cannot be explained on paper. The "tacit knowledge" is the key for the decision-making if the applicant to come to IESE.

Of course they can contact me personally and I will be more than happy to oblige them by giving my advice. Moreover from this autumn on we will count on a Japanese MBA graduate based in Tokyo to represent IESE, whom applicants will be able to contact.

Adam: I know you are very involved in IESE's recruiting efforts in Japan and elsewhere in Asia.  Based on my observation, IESE has been incredibly successful at building a reputation amongst Japanese applicants.  Why is that?


Dr. Kase: The fact that somebody liaises the applicants and IESE offering palpable contact points could have been one factor for IESE's success. We may call this more personalised attention or human-centric approach. This was made possible thanks to our alumni network in Japan. Also, I am glad to express my personal satisfaction that I may have been part of all this.

IESE does not use advertisements on the media to increase the awareness of our possible "clients". In lieu of it we at IESE prefer to give something warmer and more humane through personal contacts and attention.

Rankings on various magazines of reputation have been also instrumental as a first approach to potential applicants.

Adam: As a faculty member at IESE, I wondered if you could give my readers, your perspective on the role of the professor within the IESE classroom.

Dr. Kase: The level of lectures and classes is a result of the combination between the expertise and skills of professors and the willingness to learn on the part of students.


In Zen Buddhism there is a nice concept that quite well explains this: sottaku doji (The hen should start pecking at the egg only when the chick is starting to peck its way out). In order to break the egg-shell both the chick from inside and the hen from outside have to peck it together at the same time.

In a similar way, professors help their students to learn how to define problems and set in place a framework to analyse them, based on their academic and professional bagage and the inductive case method, but the students also have to render as much effort as possible.


Therefore the learning takes place in the classroom as a consequence of the sottaku doji phenomenon between the professors and students.


Adam: IESE's first year curriculum is well known for being amongst the most challenging, what if any "survival tips" to do you have for those who are planning on attending IESE or other top MBA programs?

Dr. Kase: For Japanese students my usual advice is to study together with other non-Japanese colleagues to lessen the cultural bias we may have in approaching problems and analysing cases.

In the case method a way to analyse a given situation may have some basic direction (though it may not totally converge on one exclusive way of analysis). Only by getting mixed with other people from other cultural backgrounds you may live to learn it, namely, the mixture of deductive Westerners and inductive Asians (See my 2011 book, Asian versus Western Management Thinking: Its Culture-Bound Nature on the topic).

Other more prosaic tips are: to take a good care of one's health, to consult one's mentors as soon as one encounters with any problem, not to seclude oneself from other students, etc.

Adam: What role do you see and/or hope to see Asian IESE alumni playing in Japan and more generally?

Dr. Kase: For me this is the essential purpose of getting students from Asia, especially from Japan.

After a couple of decades of stagnation Japanese corporate system is in dire need of leaders who can change the existing paradigm.

I hope changes brought about by our graduates trickle down to other organisations and the society in general.

As to Asia at large the bringing-in of most updated management knowledge (which one can get from any other excellent B-schools in the US or EU) assimilated and integrated as practical and implementable skills will help Asian countries to catch up with other advanced nations and to consolidate their positions in the century of Asia.

Adam: I recently had an opportunity to attend IESE Dean Jordi Canals' presentation here in Tokyo. One point he made was that ethics are incorporated into all the courses at IESE.  What role do you think ethics should play in a business education and how do you personally bring ethics into the classroom?

Dr. Kase: Insofar as managers are not machines, their behaviour will not be judged only by economic results (which are essential) but also by their ethic of work and ethics.

For a business school to manage to instil 100 percent in the mind of students the code of behaviour and ethics in two years will be next to impossible, but it may sow the basic ideas of what ethics is expected from them.

Students may also learn it not only from classroom discussion but from the interaction with their classmates, professors, support staff, etc., etc.

I guess in this the selection process must be very important. Students willing to learn it may be encouraged to join IESE.

I want to thank Dr. Kase for taking the time to answer my questions.

-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.

Stanford GSB MBA Admissions Interviews

My five-part analysis of the application for admission to the Stanford Class of 2015 (2013 entry) begins with Stanford GSB MBA Essay Questions for Class of 2015. The following post focuses on admissions  interviews for Stanford GSB. 


Stanford GSB’s is the hardest MBA admission interview invitation to get on the planet.  If you have been invited, your chance of admission just went from about 6.5% (depends on the year) to 50%.   The odds are much better, now you must close the deal.  While a poor interview is unlikely to result in admission,  the admissions process at Stanford is holistic and a great interview is no absolute guarantee of success.

Stanford GSB MBA admission  interviews, while so hard to get, are not necessarily hard interviews because (1) most of the questions are relatively predictable,  (2) the overall style of the interview is typically  conversational,  and (3) time constraints are either minimal or non-existent.  This is interview about fit as typically determined by an alumni “gatekeeper.” Interviews with admissions or other Stanford staff do happen as well, but this is relatively rare (I will discuss this point below).  Chances are good that this gatekeeper might be in your industry or in some manner have a complementary background for assessing you.  For example, if you might be perceived as lacking a particularly important attribute (professional experience in the field related to your goals or English skills for example), don’t surprised if the alumni is someone who is in a good position to judge this. While I imagine in some places with few alumni, a high level of complementary assessment (e.g., McKinsey applicant interviewed by Boston Consulting Group alumnus) would be less likely, I can say that it is the rule rather the exception if you reside in a location with numerous Stanford alumni.

Interacting with the interviewer
You can typically expect a lively exchange and hopefully a good conversation. If your interview is scheduled for late on a workday or on a weekend or outside of the interviewer’s office, whatever you do, don’t make any plans for it to end on time as Stanford interviews are well known for going long. 

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 alumni 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.
Whoever you interview with, they are likely to be quite friendly and the style of the interview is conversational. Stanford alumni are provided with very clear guidelines for how to conduct interviews. The alumnus will be provided with a list of questions,  which they utilize.  The extent to which the alumnus does this appears to be highly variable. You may get more of an informal conversation with the occasional behavioral question or you might get something consists of many of the standard interview questions mentioned below.
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. Alumni are the gatekeepers and Stanford can afford to reject anyone. Take nothing for granted.

Preparing for the interview
Given the mix of standard interview questions and behavioral  questions, I do suggest you prepare extensively for both kinds of questions.   For my  detailed suggestions on overall interview preparation, please see:
-MBA Application Interview Strategy
-Interview Practice is ABOUT SPEAKING!
-Further Comments on MBA Admissions Interviews 
-General Characteristics of Admissions Officers, Students, and Alumni Interviewers
-Recovering from a bad answer during an MBA admissions interview
-10 Ways to Blow an MBA Admissions Interview
The above posts are my general remarks on MBA admissions interview strategy and apply here.  For  answering behavioral questions, please see MIT Sloan MBA Interviews, which will teach you how to be a STAR (if you don’t know what I am talking about, read the post for sure).


Typical Questions
My colleague, H. Steven Green, has put the following together by reviewing interview reports of Stanford University GSB interviews found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com.
RESUME

• Tell me about your background/walk me through your resume.
• Tell me a bit about yourself
• What extracurricular activity are you most proud of?
• What did you take away from your undergraduate experience?
• What do you like to do outside of work?
• Tell about a time you streamlined operations/made things more efficient? What did you do?  How did you measure its success?
• What metrics did you use?
• Tell me about your international experience.
• What is your favorite place you've traveled?
• What is your company's strategy?  Is it succeeding?

GOALS, REASONS FOR MBA, REASONS FOR STANFORD

• Tell me about a specific time when you realized you needed an MBA.
• Why a Stanford MBA?
• Why do you need an MBA?
• Why now?
• Why Stanford?
• How would you decide between schools if you got into multiple MBA programs?
• What will you bring that is unique to the program?
• How will you contribute to Stanford?
• What are your short-term goals? Long-term goals?
• Where else have you applied? How have those worked out?
• Explain how you are ready for academic rigor.

CHARACTER & CHALLENGES TO YOUR BELIEFS AND VALUES

• Tell me about a time you faced an obstacle and what did you do about it?
• Tell me about a time you faced an ethical situation.
• Tell me about a time you had your beliefs challenged.
• Tell me about a time you had to stand your ground and how did you do it?
• Tell me about a time your values were challenged and you had to consult your moral compass?

DIFFICULT WORK RELATIONSHIPS

• Tell me about someone difficult to work with that was in a position above you and what you learned from it.

CRITICISM AND FEEDBACK FROM OTHERS

• Tell me about a time when others have pointed out a weakness of yours.
• Tell me about the most valuable piece of feedback you’ve ever received. How did it change your relationship with that individual? Why was it important?
• What is a valuable piece of feedback you have received?

FAILURE

• Tell me about a time things didn't go according to plan and you failed? What did you learn from it?
• What did you learn from a failure?
• Tell me about an individual or group failure.
• Tell me about a time when you failed. What did you learn from that event and how have you implemented what you learned from that failure?
• How do you deal with failure?

BOOKS YOU'VE READ

• Name a book that you’ve read recently that was not for work. We then discussed that book.
• What is your favorite book that is not work related?
• What are your 3 favorite books?

INSPIRATION, PASSION

• Tell me about what inspires you.
• Is there anything you've done merely out of passion?
• If money were not an issue, what cause would you pursue most vigorously?
• Tell me about a time you wanted to give up but found the motivation to keep going?
• What is your greatest accomplishment?
• Tell me about a time you had to make a trade-off between two equally attractive opportunities?

TEAMWORK

• Tell me about a time you worked with a difficult team member or manager.
• Tell me about an individual or group failure.
• Tell me about a team experience.
• Have you ever led a team?

LEADERSHIP

• Tell me about a time when you had to lead a team of individuals. What did you learn about yourself? What did you learn about leadership?
• Tell me about a leadership experience.
• Tell me about a time you knew you were an effective leader and how did you know?
• What is your leadership style? Give me an example of how you’ve led that way.
• When have you led peers and how?
• Tell me about a time when a leader fell short and you had to step up and lead.
• Tell me about a time when you’ve been challenged as a leader and what you learned from it.

Demonstrate Fit
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.

Prepare good questions
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.

For more about my interview services, please see http://www.adammarkus.com/services/.
-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.

-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.