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Finding the Right MBA Program for YOU
A new client asked me to help him with his MBA application essays to Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon, and MIT Sloan. Although he has several years' work experience, including in the financial services industry, his GMAT scores (he took it three times) and lack of demonstrated leadership simply will not make him competitive for these schools.
Like most of our clients, this gentleman is smart and ambitious. But like too many of our clients, he did not at first consider many other outstanding MBA programs where he has a far better chance of gaining acceptance. While Accepted.com editors have helped countless applicants gain acceptance to the most fabled names in the MBA pantheon (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, etc.) even with less than average stats, we encourage our clients to look for the programs that are the best match for them. This isn’t just about scores and grades – it’s about matching an applicant with a school’s personality, academic strengths and flexibility, career placement opportunities, and other factors.
For example, the client I'm talking about wanted strong a general management program with entrepreneurship, but until I mentioned them he hadn't considered Darden, Michigan, Duke, University of Texas, and University of North Carolina – each of them excellent general management programs. Additionally, he didn't want to move to a cold climate, making most of these schools well suited to his personal preferences as well.
If an MBA is your goal, look beyond the "Hollywood" names and give careful consideration to the other top-25 schools that really might be a good fit for your strengths and career aspirations, and where you’ll have a better chance of getting in. Fortunately, it’s never been easier to do your homework. Here are a few of the many wonderful information tools to help you learn about various schools and what each one has to offer.
- Don't focus on a school's overall ranking as much as on its category ranking. Your dream school may be in the top 25 overall, but in the top 5 in entrepreneurship, so if entrepreneurship is your goal, that school is worth investigating.
- Look at where the graduating MBAs end up in the workplace. Are many of them flowing to the field of your choice?
- If your formal business educational background is skimpy, choose a school with a more structured core curriculum. Already a CPA? Look for a more flexible curriculum.
- Check out what student bloggers are saying about the schools and their programs at the Hella - MBA Student Blog site. This site will give you information that’s about as current as you can get for your target schools.
- Check the web sites of the MBA programs you are interested in to see if they have their own newspaper or blog. For a list of MBA program forums/blogs, go to this ever-growing resource page on Accepted.com (the MBA blogs are about halfway down the page).
You are investing considerable time, effort, and money into your MBA education, so take the time to learn as much as you can about each school’s strengths, curriculum, personality, environment, and even location. You may be surprised to discover there are more “dream schools” out there than you thought. By Judy Gruen, who would be delighted to help you find and get accepted to your dream school.
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Admissions Consultant's Conference
The AIGAC conference was great. Worthy of all my anticipation, excitement, and gushing. Twenty-six graduate admissions consultants representing 15 consultancies from six countries and four continents gathered to improve skills, talk shop, and share best practices on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. I am proud to say that seven Accepted editors participated in the conference, the largest contingent from any consultancy. On Wednesday morning we toured Chicago GSB, met with Rose Martinelli -- who addressed us and took questions -- and other Chicago staff. In the afternoon, we traveled to the other end of Chicago, and met with Kellogg staff, a student in Kellogg’s 1Y program, and then heard from Beth Flye. On Thursday we had three presentations. I served on a panel discussing “Best Practices in Admissions Consulting.” Later that morning, directors of admission from Anderson, Haas, Kenan-Flagler, London Business School, and Tuck, participated in a panel discussion hosted by AIGAC. In the afternoon we had a chance to speak to additional admissions directors including representatives of Michigan Ross, Georgetown, Cornell, Indiana Kelley, Haas, Anderson, Tuck, Kenan Flagler, INSEAD, and Yale. It was a wonderful learning experience for all who attended. OK. Enough about us. A few points of interest to you: - Chicago plans to release the 2009 questions in roughly two weeks. There will be changes in the questions. The PowerPoint question will return.
- Kellogg plans to release its question in two weeks.
- We discussed the current high interest in CSR. The panelists emphasized that interest in CSR has to be substantiated by previous behavior. They also emphasized that while idealism is wonderful, they are teaching business skills. Show that your goal requires what they teach.
- Although HBS has made the goals essay optional and other schools may move away from it, these panelists stressed the importance of goals. While acknowledging that goals do change, they unanimously believed that direction and a good reason for pursuing an MBA are valuable. Furthermore, if you don’t know what to do after your MBA and are in “self discovery” mode, you will suffer from stimulation overload and an inability to prioritize among the many activities and recruiting events that begin as soon as classes start.
- Christie St. John of Tuck emphasized the importance of refreshing or acquiring quant skills before you arrive on campus. The others agreed. If you haven’t had or aren’t comfortable with accounting, calculus, and statistics, take courses either at a local community college or online.
- We asked about trends: Their response: Increased applications last year and this year.
A couple of pictures:
 Accepted Editors at the AIGAC Conference (from left to right) Linda Abraham, Cydney Foote, Sonia Michaels, Sachin Waikar, Tanis Kmetyk, Robbie Walker, Katherine Kidd (non-staff ), and Judy Gruen.
The Best Practices in Admissions Consulting Panel and Discussion with (from left to right) Jeremy Shinewald, Linda Abraham, Anna Ivey, Chioma Isiadinso, and Maxx Duffy.
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Additional Posts about Michigan Ross
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Average 2007 GMAT: 700
Average 2007 Acceptance Rate: 20%
Average 2007 GPA: 3.3
Class Size: 430
2008 application deadlines: November 1, 2007, January 3, 2008, March 1, 2008
University of Michigan (Ross) Admissions
Michigan Ross MBA Application Tips
The following editors have had clients accepted to this school:
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