Emory University : Students taking questions

[akshatpa]

Originally Posted by cog03

dear akshat,
currently i am doing B.Com so after completing this program it is difficult to get a good job, so i wanna know like if i have 2/2.5 yrs of W/E, then r there any good chances of securing admission?

thnx,

yash

yash,

as i said before. GMAT score is just one of the aspects that the adcoms uses to judge candidates. Other aspects include your academic performance, your leadership positions, professional certifications, community work, nature of work experience, your ability to learn from life (which gets reflected in your essays) etc.

Admission decisions are not pure objective statistical decisions but encompass a huge no: of subjective factors.

On a bright side as you are still in college and plan to apply after 2-3 yrs, you have ample time to work on your career. Start focussing on issues which would help you later in life.

Regards

Akshat

[akshatpa]

Originally Posted by righty

From their site:
Hope it helps!!

Rightzzz

Righty

thanks for posting this.

Akshat

[akorke]

In addition to all the informative posts by Akshat, I would just like to draw your attention to the following points:

To reiterate what Akshat has been writing in most of his responses, there is no fixed formula (a particular GMAT, no of years of w/ex, profile etc) which will get you to to B School. I dont think the schools look at it like a statistical process in which they check off items in a check list and take you if you have say 7 out of 10 items. Also B school is a lot about learning from your peers as much as it is learning from the faculty. So schools want to build a class which has enough diversity - this enriches the classroom experience for everyone as different people present different perspective on a topic in light of their past experience (Eg I was a tax consultant with a global professional services firm for 5+ years before coming to school - my experiences are very different from say Akshat's and so we bring different things to the table just like our other classmates). Its a process of you deciding the best fit school for yourself and the school evaluating whether you are fit for it. Gaming to be in a particular could work here, but the result may not be the best way to spend your two years if its a bad fit. Look carefully at the values the school lives by, see whether you resonate those and can demonstrate them. That might indicate to you what a good fit for you is and what your chances to get admitted to such a school could be.

Please take a step to evaluate what you want from this MBA, try and understand whether you will get that from a school you are targetting.

These are a few pointers I can think of - look out for this space as I will post more after midterms are over (I have 2 papers tomorrow and 2 day after) !!

Please feel free to post your queries and start some good discussions on this thread. Try and get to know as much from us about Emory. And remember, we are here to get you as much information as we can to help you make a conscious choice.

Cheers,

Aditya

Originally Posted by akshatpa

Righty

thanks for posting this.

Akshat

[razind]

Hi,

I am applying to Emory for the first round. I have some questions regarding the program

1) How is Emory generally as a business school. Last year it had quite high rankings
in the 15 -20 range. This year the rankings have not been very kind. Wall Street journal was especially poor and Businessweek too downgraded it to 23rd. Is these any specific reason for poor performance this year and what are the long term prospects in this college.

2) I heard that Emory is more of a regional college than a national college and its impact is limited to Atlanta area and very few have made it good in other areas where it is not that well known.

Please share your thoughts.

Thanks
Raj

[sanjeev florida]

Hi,
I have a few questions:

1) Will there be a huge difference bet. R1 and R2 applicants in chances of getting schols?

2) How is emory different from other similarly ranked univs?

3) Are there many students who get into finance jobs in Atlanta or is it mainly in NY?

[avsji]

Hello Akshat,

I did some home work on the Goizueta Business School and I have developed a liking for it. But before, I apply there, I wish to ask a few questions about Goizueta. I request you to please answer to my questions.
So, here we go:
1. Why did you choose Goizueta? (Besides Ranking, Avg. GMAT, and Location)
2. What did you like the best there? (I understand that Community is the strongest USP of Goizueta. What besides that?)
3. What do they look for in their candidates?
4. How many people from core engineering & public sector study there?
5. Will it be okay, if I stick to one, unified theme (out of the core values), say community, in my essays?
6. Are the people really oh-so-good in Goizueta (they say that it is more about people than business)?
7. I wish to go into consulting. What will you suggest to me? Will you advice me to take up something other at Goizueta?
8. How did you arrange the finances? Loan or personal savings?
9. Did your decision to join Goizueta go perfectly with your past experiences, background and future goals?
10. If there is anything that you will like to advice me with my application, please do.

Hoping to see your reply very soon.

avsji

[akshatpa]

Hi Everyone

Our Mid Terms are over (dont ask me how they went). We are back to answer your questions. Hope everyone had a nice deepawali and id celebrations.

Well we had a nice get together of the desi community for deepawali. Had a traditional puja with all the rituals, then excellent food and finally some wonderful dances. A few of us ended the night in a most traditional manner - gambling all through the night.

The end of exams also called for a reason to celebrate. You have de-stress obviously. Went to a Salsa Club. Learnt a few basic steps and watched an amazing troupe. All those Salsa nights organized in Mumbai disc are nowhere close to the real stuff.

Let me start by answering the backlog of questions.

Wish best of luck to all those applying in R1.

[akshatpa]

Originally Posted by razind

Hi,

I am applying to Emory for the first round. I have some questions regarding the program

Please share your thoughts.

Thanks
Raj

Hi Raj

Thanks for your interest in Goizueta. Best of luck for your applications. Please find my response below.

1) How is Emory generally as a business school. Last year it had quite high rankings
in the 15 -20 range. This year the rankings have not been very kind. Wall Street journal was especially poor and Businessweek too downgraded it to 23rd. Is these any specific reason for poor performance this year and what are the long term prospects in this college.

There are a number of rankings that rate us on a variety of data points and they should be looked at in perspective. Each ranking has a different methodology and uses different target groups for surveys. Businessweek focusses on student and rcruiter feedback, USNEWS on class profile and placement stats, WSJ on their major clients etc. To share with you our current standing in various rankings.

US News = 18
Economist = 16
BusinessWeek = 23

We retained our place in USNEWS, moved up a place relatively in economist (two top five schools did not participate last year in the BusinessWeek ranking), though did drop in businessweek. If you observe closely the Businessweek ranking, our students ranked us 15 and our faculty was ranked 15. Furthermore, we had the 5th best placement rate in the country last year. Goizueta recruiters are very happy with us. Ofcourse we do analyse the rankings and find out areas for improvements. Infact, in long term we will only move up from where we are.

However, because we have chosen to remain small, we don't have quite the outreach in general that larger schools do. As a small school we have a tight community, your professors know you, you can have a customized approach to business school, and we can have the #1 leadership development program in the country. Our programs are designed to help you recognize your physical and mental limits. We do not promote individual competition but encourage competition among teams. I would just give you a glipmse of the community engagement of the school.

I received my Visa quite late, just a week before my departure from india. As you can expect all my travel plans had been messed up. This was my first international trip and therefore i was in a near hysterical state. I was also supposed to search for housing in Atlanta, as the university housing was filled up. I could just meet my parents for 4 days before leaving. In the course of events i shared my anxieties with the school auhtorities. Three days before my arrival, i was allotted a university housing. And the biggest surprise was when i reached atlanta, guess who came to receive me? Whitney Kestner, Senior Associate Director of the program office was personnaly there to recieve me. She ensured that i did not feel lost and felt comfortable on my arrival. She took me for grocery shopping, and other odds. nearly took off four hours from her schedule to ensure that I adjusted comfortably in a new environment. I have not heard of many schools where the program office staff would do so much for personal care of students.

I would encourage you to Visit us or watch a Super Saturday webcast to know who we truly are.

I can only repeat the words of Kembrel Jones, Program Director and Associate Dean. "We're not for everyone - but we are for people who want to have a transforming experience, people who have values, and people who want to lead.

2) I heard that Emory is more of a regional college than a national college and its impact is limited to Atlanta area and very few have made it good in other areas where it is not that well known.

I would certainly dispute that.

It is true that a majority of our students choose to stay back in atlanta. But that would be true for any top school located in a major metropolitan area. Students in such schools generally do stay back in the city in which the school is loacted. I would take it as an advantage that we are located in Atlanta where a number of fortune 500 corporations have a significant presence. Our students find easy access to these organizations. Furthermore, if you observe the demographics in USA, South and West are the fastest growing regions while mid-west and north east are facing a decline. Infact a number of students join us because they want to settle in south.

Our presence in the NY region has been growing considerably. Our alums are in all major I Banks/ Financial Services in NYC. Our New York Trek is extremely well received by companies. Students do find successfull opurtunities for interships and placements there.
I would also admit that our presence in Mid-West and West is quite low. But, that is the way placements work in USA. If you want to work in a specific region (except NY), then you should look for schools in that region. If your constraint is a industry sector, then all major industries have a significant presence in south.

Do contact us in case you would like to clarify some doubts regarding your application.

Regards

Akshat

[akshatpa]

Originally Posted by sanjeev florida

Hi,
I have a few questions:

Hi Sanjeev

Thanks for your interest. Please fnd my response below

1) Will there be a huge difference bet. R1 and R2 applicants in chances of getting schols?

No the schols are decided based on academic merits. You should apply when you feel that your application is perfect. Though, i would add that applying early has its own set of advantages.

2) How is emory different from other similarly ranked univs?

Just read my post above, it would give you many points where we differentiate.

I am not sure, but it seems that you are based in Florida. If that is the case, would encourage you to visit the school. Meet the current students and faculty, attend a class most important, have a feel of our community.

Business School is a tremendous strain on your finances and time. If you do have an oppurtunity try to make a intelligent choice.

3) Are there many students who get into finance jobs in Atlanta or is it mainly in NY?

NY is the world's biggest financial hub. The number of jobs in the sector are obviously more there as compared to Atlanta. We do have good relations with most of the Big Wall Street firms and our students find significant placement and internship oppurtunities there. Many of our professors have a significant experience in Investment Banking and Financial Services, therefore even the course structure is quite helpful.

If you specifically want to work in Atlanta or South, there are oppurtunities here too. Atlanta is regional headquarter for south, therefore many companies have their corporate offices here. And you are aware that finance is a corporate function and therefore there are also significant oppurtunities here.

If I remember correctly finance is the major sector/function where our students find placements. The firms in these setors are also quite willing to hire international students as compared to many other areas.

[akshatpa]

Originally Posted by avsji

Hello Akshat,

I did some home work on the Goizueta Business School and I have developed a liking for it. But before, I apply there, I wish to ask a few questions about Goizueta. I request you to please answer to my questions.
So, here we go:

Hoping to see your reply very soon.

avsji

Hi avsji

Thanks for your interest in Goizueta. Please find my response below. Man you have a big list. Would have preferred talking to you. Have a big assignment tomorrow and slept for only 4 hours yesterday.

1. Why did you choose Goizueta? (Besides Ranking, Avg. GMAT, and Location)

Honest answer, was sold to it by my cousins one of whom is an alum, the other my batchmate. :=)
On a serious note. It suited my career goals and was a perfect fit for what i wanted in a b-school. personal attention, friendly atmosphere, and being with a group of individuals who are passionate in what ever task they undertake.

2. What did you like the best there? (I understand that Community is the strongest USP of Goizueta. What besides that?)

I would say that besides community, i would rank the professors. All of them have real world experience. They were leaders in their respective companies. Their knowledge is world class. There might be places where you could quote a theory without really understanding its practical applications, certainly you would not find those in our classrooms. Our cases, assignments etc are all based on real world data.

3. What do they look for in their candidates?

One Word "Leadership"

4. How many people from core engineering & public sector study there?

I am not sure i understand your question. If you mean engineering background you would have a big company here. Public Sector also has a significant presence. Though in the current batch none of the Indian students were in public sector in India. Though there is a good mix of candidates. It is not heavily concentrated in a particular sector such as IT.

5. Will it be okay, if I stick to one, unified theme (out of the core values), say community, in my essays?

Its a personal choice. some go for a unified theme, while others prefer showcasing different aspects. Whatever you choose do not contradict yourself.

6. Are the people really oh-so-good in Goizueta (they say that it is more about people than business)?

Is business different from people. Are great leaders only known for their business acumen or the way they handle the organization. What can you say about the work culture in the best corporations. Think about it. We train people to leaders.
Personal experience have yet to find someone who is unhappy with the experience. Optimism is contagious.

Meet our staff at our information sessions, if possible visit us, watch our webcast and then decide.

7. I wish to go into consulting. What will you suggest to me? Will you advice me to take up something other at Goizueta?

Can you be more specific, in terms of what you wish to ask.

8. How did you arrange the finances? Loan or personal savings?

Most students go for Students loans. Read my earlier posts would find info there.

9. Did your decision to join Goizueta go perfectly with your past experiences, background and future goals?

It was the best decision that i ever took (touchwood)

10. If there is anything that you will like to advice me with my application, please do.

Do more research. Do not ask repeated questions. :=)

Honest feedback : Differentiating factors between the top schools are extremely few and seldom visible on surface. You have to probe deeper to truly establish the fit.