MBA Admissions - thread of gyans

[iday]

I am starting this thread as an effort to accumulate all gyan-wali posts all over PG. Based on inblue's recommendations, the focus will be on the following three areas of the application:

1. Essay Writing
2. Obtaining effective Recommendations
3. Resume Writing

This is how it works. The next three posts will be a link dump, where i intend to accumulate pointers to numerous posts across PG which provided acclaimed gyan about each of areas. If any of you find any such posts, please leave a post with the link details and i will update this list. In the coming days, we will request successful and willing candidates to offer their gyan, for which we will provide pointers from this list. (PS: Other ideas to populate the list are definitely welcome )

This of course is not gonna be possible for a single homo sapien. And given the fact that this single homo sapien is me, who has not seen a lot of PG.com during my visits here, it is gonna be all the more difficult. So i request all puys to kindly contribute towards this effort.

Mods - request you to spread the news and get more hands working.

If there are other gyan posts, i'll post them here

inblue's post on School Selection
susie's addendum to inblue's post
iday's post on School Selection
itsrahul presents his views on School Selection
Suggestions on school evaluation - from (MBA Admissions - thread of gyans)Kaplan
(My GMAT Experience 730(VA 39; QA 50))demadez does a link dump - pointers to lotsa resources
(MBA Admissions - thread of gyans)cryonerve's strategy on school selection and identifying FIT
inblues's strategies on tackling the entire application (MBA Admissions - thread of gyans)

[iday]

Posts on Essay Writing

(Chicago GSB Admit: Any Questions Anybody??)Keya's ideas on essay writing
(Chicago GSB Admit: Any Questions Anybody??)Iday's ideas on essay writing
(Chicago GSB Admit: Any Questions Anybody??)Susie Derkins presents her alternate views (actually a beginning of an interesting discussion)
Essay Writing gyan from (MBA Admissions - thread of gyans)Kaplan
Some "hat ke" views from (Chicago GSB Admit: Any Questions Anybody??)mohayana

If you find any posts which you think are worth mentioning here, please leave a message...

[iday]

Posts on Obtaining effective Recos

inblue's post on obtaining recos (dont miss the discussion that follows)
Reco gyan from (MBA Admissions - thread of gyans)Kaplan
(MBA Admissions - thread of gyans)iday's post on recos

If you find any posts which you think are worth mentioning here, please leave a message...

[iday]

Posts on Resume Writing

(MBA Admissions - thread of gyans)Inblue's "apparently stupid but useful" words on Resumes
(MBA Admissions - thread of gyans)deba_s56 has some useful material
(MBA Admissions - thread of gyans)mohayana points to a resume template on the net

If you find any posts which you think are worth mentioning here, please leave a message...

[eng_harsh]

Great job Iday . And ya, Congrats for your admit in Chicago (albeit a bit late )

[Neo2000]

Would love to see a post on How to Research Colleges. How did you go about it, what you did, whom did you speak to, what and where did you read, how did you connect........

[inblue]

Originally Posted by Neo2000

Would love to see a post on How to Research Colleges. How did you go about it, what you did, whom did you speak to, what and where did you read, how did you connect........

While 'I' will answer your query, here are my 2 cents.

Filters to apply

1. Post MBA career
Start with schools that place students in their desired fields.

If Finance/ consulting are your aim, its prettly much the same. All top schools place 30-40 % of the class there. In this case,research which schools place most students in ur desired concentrations. Eg : Chicago has a lot many ppl going to Hedge Funds, Tuck places 10% of the class in McKinsey. Hass has great placements in the Biotech industry and so on.

If you have a specific goal, Health care management, Real estate, read the placement stats well.

2. Preferred Location /size ( urban / non-urban)
Where would you rather study- in a big urban place like NY ( Stern, Columbia ) or in a remote place like Hanover ( Tuck). There are disticnt advantages to both location and size and it entirely depends on you , your interests and your life style. Also consider where you want to work after your MBA. Some school have great placement irrespective of the location. Some other schools place good in their vincinity.

3. Program strength, teaching methods :

How many electives does a particular school offer?
What is the breadth of the courses offered ?
What is the teaching method, Case/ Lecture, experimental and what percent ?
What subjects are taught in which way?
Needless to say if you are a Humanities student, you'll be stumped out in a case based financial accounting class- lecture would suit you better.

How much is experimental learning popular ?- like leadersip lessons in mountain treks, economics in fare-wars. Wharton is a great experimental school. Again Experimental learning is also dependent on professors- so watch that.


These should be A band filters.

Then drill down to specifics. Band B filters


1 Business network fostering
Most top schools are good at these. Schools like Tuck are very strong at alumni contacts. alumni contribute to like 65% of the endowment each year. Every student is at times place in one-one mentorship program with an alumnus in the field.

One good way to know this is watch how many jobs at the school originated from alumni contacts. Second way, how many alumns are present in the country you want to work / firm you want to work with. Three, just talk to an alumnus. It helps.

2. School Environment
Try to learn about the school beyond the site and the brochure.
Talk to students - that's the best. What do they exactly do at the clubs ?
How much does the career services help in switching careers ( if that is what you are looking to )
What it the party scene like ? How tough is the competition ?
How is the faculty- student interactions ?

3. Rankings

Frankly, they do not matter as much. Any top 10 schools is good. Top 5 is better . Try to look for a pattern of a school in the ranks over the 2 3 years and acrosss all the lists. You must discount the influences and ignore real numbers.
H/W/S are the best no matter who ranks them where

[inblue]

Going further.

There are some subtle things you might /might not want to consider.

Research your post MBA career. Talk to people in that industry, find out what most do you need to be there School brand or fundamental knowledge. High flying carrers like VC/PE work on brands. Others careers might not so much value brand.

Salaries at Hass and Columbia will be definitely higher given the places where they are located and that
they place most students in NY and Silicon Valley respectively. Do not go by the raw numbers only. keep such facts in mind.

Small schools ( 250 -300 students ) are choosy: that recudes your chances of getting in. Keep this in mind too. Can you actually make it to this school ?
Large school : You might tend to be lost. The overwhelming entropy of 800 -1000 people is not what you might enjoy. Again a matter of personal choice.


PS:
I accidentally posted twice instead of posting a follow up.

[Susie Derkins]

Originally Posted by inblue

<snip>How much experimental learning popular - like leadersip lessons in mountain treks, economics in fare-wars. Wharton is a great experimental school. Again Experimental learning is also dependent on professors- so watch that.

Hmm.. guess you mean experiential learning.

Anyway... my take is this...
1) Apply to schools where you won't be embarrassed to attend.
2) A couple of months into the process of researching B schools and you'll understand the meaning of 'fit'.
3) If guarenteed loan without cosignor is an important factor, be serious about your apping coz only about 10 - 12 schools offer this.

[iday]

Inblue:
u make the same post twice and get thanked for it twice???
Unfair

Neo:
i guess i work best at nights. So will put up a post tonight