Winning the Graduate Admissions Game Presentation

On April 6, 2008 at 6:30pm, I made a presentation, “Winning the Graduate Admissions Game,” at Good Day Books in Ebisu, Tokyo.
My presentation focused on how MBA applicants should develop a winning strategy for playing the graduate admissions game on their own terms. I want to thank everyone who came.
-Adam Markus

アダム マーカス
MBA留学、LLM留学、大学院留学

School Selection: Paying for It

This is the third in series of posts on school selection for both those in the process of selecting where to apply to and those deciding where to attend. The first post is here. The second post is here.

How I can pay for tuition and all related costs? Except for the rich, the cost of education is always a consideration. You will need to figure this out for any school you attend, so look carefully to see what you will actually need, what you can borrow, and what kind of scholarships might be available. Don't be afraid to ask admissions questions about this because it is too important a topic to guess about.

For those who have now been accepted to one or more schools, it is time to start paying! If you are making a decision about which program to attend, finances are likely a critical consideration for you. Now is the time to figure out exactly how you will really pay for your graduate degree. Of course, you should have already figured this out before you applied, but you have not, you need do it now. Where you eventually decide to go may very well be the result of the calculations you make.

For those who are deciding where to apply to, you need to have a clear plan for how you will finance your education. Many applications will require that you state this, so you might as well do your homework at the initial stage. If you will be coming to the US as an international student, you will need to demonstrate that you have sufficient funds in order for the school to issue you an I-20 (the document you need to get a student visa). While much of your plan will likely be a function of your finances and those of your family, your plan might also rely upon support from the school or from loans.

What scholarships are available to me and how likely is it that I can get one? Depending on your background, financial need, academics, and GMAT, and the program you are applying to, schools have very different levels of funding available. If you are expecting to get scholarships, look closely at their availability when selecting schools.

The availability of part-time work, research assistantships, and teaching assistantships is another consideration. If you are an international student, your ability to work will greatly vary depending on where you go. The US has very stringent rules on part-time work for those on international student visas, so don't count on being able to work. For those pursuing Ph.D.s one primary source of funding would be a research or teaching assistantship, but the availability of such positions varies widely.

Loans: MBA programs often have great programs for all admitted applicants to obtain loans, but this is less often case with other types of degrees. Look at what will be available to you before you apply. If you are international student, depending on your situation, you may need to obtain loans in your country, so look into this before you apply.

ROI: Return on Investment. Simply calculating costs is not enough, you have to look at the return you can expect as well. It may very well make good financial sense to leave school with $100,000 in debt if the return justifies it. Regardless of what type of program you attend, you really do need to do some cost calculations so that you have a sense of what your graduate degree will be costing you and what kind of potential return you can expect from it. It is an investment of time, energy, and money, so make your decisions carefully. For more about ROI, see the Businessweek ROI calculator.

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. If you are planning to apply for an MBA, LL.M., Ph.D., or a Masters and would like to learn more about my consulting services, please visit http://adammarkus.com/. I offer a free initial consultation.
-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 大学院 合格対策 合格率

School Selection: Location Matters!

This is the second in series of posts on school selection for both those in the process of selecting where to apply to and those deciding where to attend. The first post is here. The third post is here.

LOCATION really does matter. Be sure that you will be able to thrive in whatever kind of place you will be studying in. Some people really do need less distracting (rural) environments, others need warm locations, and students with school age children really do need to think about this issue as well. I certainly would not say location is necessarily the most important factor, but if you are thinking of being somewhere for a year or more, it should certainly be taken into consideration. For those who don't want to relocate, location obviously is a primary factor, but what follows are for those who are planning on doing so.

Some questions to think about:

1. Will the location help or hinder my studies? For some people, going to school in a small town would be a great way to stay focused, but for other people it would be torture. For some the distractions of a big city would be fatal to their studies, while for others it would only facilitate them. If your studies are highly dependent on or will be greatly enhanced by access to location specific specific resources, think carefully about this issue.

2. Is the school located in a safe place? Everyone has different conceptions of what a safe place is. For US schools, see College and University Campus Crime Statistics. Also take a look at the crime rates in the city that your school will be located in. Given the recent horrible tragedies to hit US schools, I know that some applicants will be looking closely at this issue, especially because of pressure from parents. For a Wharton student's perspective on crime in Philadelphia, see here.

3. What is the availability, cost, and quality of housing?
Related to location, really think about what kind of place you need/want to live in. There is such huge variation on this and it is unlikely to be fully revealed by the estimated cost of housing that schools will provide you with. I strongly suggest asking students once you are admitted. In addition to the school's housing office, craigslist is one great resource for finding housing.

4. The transportation infrastructure: (public transportation and availability of parking). Invariably campus parking is a pain, but that said, if you are going to be doing a commute to get to school, you should at least look into this. For those who don't know how or don't want to drive (For the record, I fit into both categories), you should really consider this issue.

5. If the school is not located in a major city, how easy is it to get access to a major airport? Easy airport access is quite important if you will need to travel for job interviews, academic conferences, or just to get away from your little college town.

6. Does the school's location support my personal or family's needs? For some individuals, such as Orthodox Jews and observant Muslims, having easy access to appropriate places of worship as well as acceptable food are critical. For others, it will be access to good schools for their kids. Whatever your personal or family needs are, you should consider them when applying to a school. It is best to do your homework on this issue first and take nothing for granted, especially if you are applying to school located in a small town.

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. If you are planning to apply for an MBA, LL.M., Ph.D., or a Masters and would like to learn more about my consulting services, please visit http://adammarkus.com/. I offer a free initial consultation.

-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 大学院 合格対策 合格率

MIT Sloan MBA 1st-Year Student Interview

(CLICK HERE FOR FALL 2009 MIT SLOAN CLASS OF 2011 ESSAY QUESTION ANALYSIS. )

First-year MIT Sloan MBA student and blogger, Kaz, was kind enough to answer a series of questions. Before coming to MIT Sloan, Kaz worked for one of Japan's large trading firms for nine years. He spent three years in the Tokyo headquarters doing work in the oil and gas infrastructure business and six years in the New York office focused on IT and telecom sectors. Kaz moved to Boston with his wife and two sons last August. As some of the Japanese readers of his blog know, he is my former client.

Adam: What was the First Semester Core like? What did you learn? How hard was it?

Kaz: The core classes are basic subjects such as Statistics, Micro Economics, Accounting, Communication, Organizational Processes, and Finance Theory (Links are to Kaz's blog entries). As an E&I student, I had an extra class, Introduction to Entrepreneurship, and a study trip to the West Coast.

I felt that the learning in the Core was important, but very basic at the time. For example, the Accounting and Communication classes were relatively easy for me because I have a background in those areas based on my career. Some other people might have felt those two courses were tough. On the other hand, finance was tough for me because I did not have any knowledge prior to coming Sloan. Other people might have felt it was easy. In sum, I think the Core is important because the students, no matter what background they have, will gain knowledge for the electives taken in later terms.

Time management in the Core term was very tough. It is not because the class assignments were too hard. As I said, most of the work required in the Core is reasonable level. What made my time management tough was the fact that there were a lot of things to do outside the class. As a Sloan student, you have numbers of exciting events literally everyday: Speaker sessions featuring famous CEOs and CFOs, Socialization events, Career related events, etc. After starting my life here, I was so excited that I attended as many events as possible. But soon I found myself extremely exhausted, and there was no time to study! Then in December, I started to reduce involvement in outside class activities in order to concentrate on the classes. Here there are a number of incredible opportunities outside class, so my advice is still “go and take as many as possible,” but at the same time, I feel now that it is important to find the right balance.

Adam: What are you studying now?

Kaz: From the second term, classes are 100% elective. You can choose what you study. I decided to focus on Finance related skill development in this term, so most of the classes I am taking are related to Finance. Here is the list of the classes:
Finance Theory II
Financial Statement Analysis
Investment
Strategy Management
Marketing Management
Applied Macro & International Economics
While the Core classes were mainly lecture style (they dealt with cases only once in a week or so), the elective classes that I am taking now are mostly case discussion. So it became far more interesting than the Core classes. But still, I believe Core is valuable because it gave foundation of each subject. With the theoretical background, I think the case study became more profound and interesting.

Adam: Can you tell us about the C-Function?

Kaz: C-Function is a monthly night event for Sloan students and their families. Every month a group of students from different part of the world organize the event with cultural and entertaining activities. Some examples are “Latin C-Function” “China C-Function” “Euro C-Function”, etc. It is not only fun, but also a great opportunity to know the other Sloan students in the outside class setting. “C” stands for “Culture,” but also means “Consumption,” since we consume a lot of food and beer at the event.

“Japan C-Function” is the biggest among all C-Functions. Last fall, we had over 1,000 attendees in our event. “Japan C-Function” is also recognized as one of the most organized of all the Sloan events. While 2nd year Japanese students organized the event overall, the 1st year students, including me, performed a 30 minutes dance and comedy show. We started practice for the show two months before.
Yes, I performed in a dance and comedy show with my colleagues. Can you imagine an over 30 years-old somewhat conservative Japanese businessman dancing and doing comedy in front of 1,000 foreigners? I would say that it would never have happened if I did not come here and became a student again. “C-Function” was truly back-to Gakuen-sai (School Festival) experience.

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

Kaz: Generally, I think MIT Sloan will fit perfectly to the people who has eagerness to try, and who has action-oriented mind. The reason for it is because a lot of the opportunities are available at MIT Sloan, but you have to be proactive to get the real fruit out of it. A class project in one of the Core classes, Organizational Processes, is a good example. In this project the students are requested to identify and negotiate an outside organization (company, non-profit, public sector, etc) to cooperate. The student team (consists of 5-7) interviews and analyzes its organizational structure and present it in the class. This is not typical learning by sitting and listening to a professor. It deal with the real organization and real people, so you have to think in a way that a real business person think. Also, you have to be proactive to learn something, because it is really open-ended assignment.

MIT heavily emphasizes the value of Teamwork. So if you are comfortable with teamwork situation (or try to enhance your teamwork skills), MIT Sloan is the place for you.

In fact, I did not know before coming here, but I would say that teamwork for Sloan is leadership for HBS. It’s that important for Sloan. That is why every activity involves elements of teamwork. You need to form a team in most of the classes. For example, 4 out of 6 classes I currently have requires team formation. Numbers of people in one team varies, but in total, I am teaming up with 11 people now (3 Americans, 3 Latinos, 2 Europeans, and 3 Asians). Team members regularly have meetings to discuss the class assignments. In busy days, meetings are sometimes held on weekends.

Overall, I can say that MIT Sloan is definitely one of the best MBA schools that you can attend. There are a lot of opportunities available inside and outside classes, and the curriculum is very flexible. But most importantly, the fellow students are outstanding people. They are very smart and mature. I feel that the major part of learning in the MBA education attributes to the fellow students. So in general, the top ranked schools are better not only for branding, but also the quality of learning since you will have better chance to work with smart people.

One of the frequently asked questions is “The curriculum at MIT Sloan has rigorous mathematical element?” The answer is definitely no. While MIT is famous for its excellent engineering school, but Sloan is a business school. Quantitative skills are required, but no more or less than the other top schools. So don’t worry.

Adam: You have been actively doing a blog (MIT MBA留学日記 〜 二度学ぶブログ) in Japanese since you started at MIT. What has motivated you to do that?

Kaz: I started it as my personal diary to remember what I learned in MBA. I choose blog as the media because I am a typical Mikka-bozu [Someone who stops doing something easily] person. I hoped to force myself to continue keeping diary by revealing it to public. It fortunately worked somehow and I wrote more than 100 entries now. It started in that way, but now communication through my blog is another motivation. I occasionally receive personal questions about MBA, MIT, and Boston from somebody who knew me through my blog. Those people contacted me because they read my blog and shared my view. Sometimes they share what they think to me personally. It is a great feeling to have such interaction. It is an unexpected, but valuable learning opportunity for me
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I want to thank Kaz for taking time to answer my questions.

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to.

-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス

ビジネススクール MBA留学

School Selection: Where to apply? Where to go?

Updated on March 21, 201-.

This is the first in series of posts on school selection for both those in the process of selecting where to apply to and those deciding where to attend. See my other related posts on academic fit, ranking, location, financing your education, and prestige.

From my perspective, when deciding where you are going to spend one, two, or in the case of PhD, three to five or more years of your life, it is worth going through a formal process of analyzing your options.

I view school selection as the foundation for a successful admissions strategy. Honestly, there are times, when I, as an admissions consultant, have basically been put in the position of helping a client try to execute a school selection strategy that I have had serious doubts about. I have always expressed these doubts, but I have respected the decisions of my clients to make their own choices.

For those doing initial school selection, I have tried in this post to provide you with a core strategy for selecting schools.

For admitted applicants what follows in this post really applies only if you are not happy with where you have been admitted to. For admits making the happy choice between programs they like, please see the rest of the posts in this series.

You need to be both ambitious and realistic about your application strategy. Being ambitious means applying to where you really want to go, while being realistic means defining for yourself how much risk of total rejection you want to take. For example, if you apply to the “only school you really want to go to,” you meet the admissions criteria, and it happens to have a 15% chance of admission and you are wiling to take on an 85% chance of rejection, you are being both realistic and ambitious. If your GPA and/or test scores are below the average, if you don’t exactly meet the typical criteria for admission, or there is some other factor that on objective level makes you look weaker than the statistical average, assume your chances for admissions are less than 15%. In the latter situation, I still think it may be worth applying, but just be aware of what your chances are.

Related to my first point, I think you should objectively evaluate your chances of admission against a program’s stated quantitative and qualitative criteria to determine whether it is worth applying. Admissions offices generally have a holistic approach to the process of selecting candidates, so you should have a holistic approach to selecting schools.

I don’t believe in the utility of applying to any school that you would not want to attend unless you simply must get in; in other words, I don’t like the concept of backup schools. Clearly those who are company-sponsored often must get in somewhere, but for most other people this is not the case. If you will be unhappy going to a school, unless you have no other options, why do so? You should define your overall minimum requirements and apply only to programs that meet or exceed that standard. For some applicants that might mean only applying to the top programs in their field, but for others it might mean applying to a very wide range of programs

I think you need to build a portfolio of options for yourself so that your chances of admission are maximized. Depending on the degree and the schools you are applying to, there maybe very good information on rates of admission or perhaps none at all. For MBA applicants to US schools, the admissions data is easy to obtain. For non-US schools, the actual rates of acceptance and yield (percentage of admitted applicants who attend may not be reported. For LL.M. admissions numbers, see my previous post. Regardless of the type of graduate degree program you are applying to, if you can’t find any information on admissions rates, but you seem to meet the criteria for admission, assume your chances are about 10%-15% for a top ten program in your field, 15%-25% for a top 25 program, 25%-50% for a top 50, and 50% for a top 100. This is only an approximation and no perfect substitute for real numbers, but is a good indicator of why the safety strategy involves a mixed portfolio of schools. I have worked with applicants who have applied to only 1 school and some have applied to 10 or more. Both strategies are viable and, under the right conditions, reasonable.

You should be able to have a “Plan B” in event that you are not admitted anywhere. There a few reasons to do this. First, it is simply a practical consideration. Second, it is a useful mental exercise that will help you really understand what your minimum school requirements are. Third, it is simply a viable strategy to be ready to make reapplication.

"Reapplication" is not a dirty word. If time is on your side, knowing that you may fail initially is really nothing to worry about. For many top MBA programs, re-applicants typically have higher rates of admission than the overall pool of admits. Therefore, if initial failure is option that you can live with, you might initially aim high to see how it goes. Finding some school to go to is usually never the issue, going where you want to often is. For more about reapplication, see here.

Finally, no matter whether you are deciding where to apply to or where to attend, you have to make comparisons. All the questions in the posts in this series should ultimately be looked at in that context. Using the criteria in the posts that follow, identify which criteria matter to you and make your decisions accordingly.

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. If you are planning to apply for an MBA, LL.M., Ph.D., or a Masters and would like to learn more about my consulting services, please visit http://adammarkus.com/. I offer a free initial consultation.

-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 大学院 合格対策 合格率