MBA Admissions - thread of gyans

[iday]

How to Evaluate Programs (from Kaplan)

For each school to which you choose to apply, you may have to select from several different MBA programs—different specializations and joint degrees. As a result, you may be faced with hundreds of options. When you sit back and imagine your ideal MBA program, what issues come into play? You need to decide what is important to you. Do you need a program with a flexible schedule? How much of a workload do you think you can handle? In what sort of learning environment do you thrive best? You will need to take a number of factors into account when assessing which MBA programs fit your wants and needs. Consider concentrating on the following:

Culture
Rankings
Average Starting Salary
Salaries at the 5-Year Mark
Placement Rate
Location
Campus
Class Profile
Cost
Specialized vs. General Curriculum
Class Size
Grading Policy

[iday]

Recommendations (from Kaplan)

Start thinking about your recommendations as soon as possible. The whole process of identifying good recommenders, lining them up, and then making sure they follow through with winning letters can take a lot of time.

Make It Personal

Choose people who like you and who think you're good at what you do. Choose good writers who can express their opinions clearly. If a potential recommender seems less than enthusiastic in any way, keep looking. That person's ambivalence is likely to come through in the letter.

Ask early and ask nicely. Start sizing up potential recommenders—let them know that you may soon ask them for a letter. The more time they have, the better job they'll do recommending you. A lunch invitation is a great way for the recommender to get to know you better.

Put stamps and addresses on all envelopes, provide your phone number, and clarify deadlines. Help the recommender to be specific about your accomplishments. Provide papers you've written, your resume, and any other supporting data. Make the process as easy as possible for your recommenders. And, of course, a thank-you note at the end of the process is appreciated and expected.

Keep your recommendation writers on schedule. Provide a gentle reminder when a deadline is approaching. Pave the way for this reminder when you first ask for the recommendation by mentioning a date for a follow-up call.
Consider These Questions

Ask yourself these questions when considering potential recommenders:

Have you worked closely with this person?
Does this person think favorably of you?
Does this person know you in more than one context (e.g., work plus an activity)?
Does this person know that you intend to go to business school?
Is this person an effective narrative writer?
If this person knows you from previous rather than current experiences, have you kept in touch?
Will this person complete your recommendation letter by the deadline you specify?

[iday]

Essays (from Kaplan)

Admissions officers are interested in getting to know you as a complete, three-dimensional person. The application essay is the best tool they have at their disposal to achieve that. What you choose to write sends clear signals about what's important to you and what your values are.

A Three-Dimensional Picture of You

Essays are the best way for admissions officers to determine who you are. So, don't hesitate to go beyond your current job experience for essay topics. Feel free to discuss other events that help define who you are. If you have overcome significant obstacles, say so. If you were honored with an award, describe the award and what you did to achieve recognition.

Business schools ask similar essay questions. Common topics include significant accomplishments, reasons why you are pursuing an MBA, career goals, and ethical dilemmas that you faced while in business.

Essay checklist:

Directly answer the essay question!
Match yourself with the school
Be your unique self
Tell stories that make your essays interesting
Ask other people to read your essay and give you feedback

[Neo2000]

A good post by demandez containing links for Beginners

http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/gmat-a...tml#post637784 (My GMAT Experience 730(VA 39; QA 50))

[mohayana]

Some links I collected

Solid Essay Gyan - like a mini book

Essay advice for career changers

Essay advice For IT applicants

On word count

On articulating leadership

10 tips to have a great MBA fair visit

[iday]

Obtaining effective Recommendations - the I-way

Of all the "gyan" posts i had written, i think i qualify best for this one

I have seen both extremes in the case of obtaining recommendations:

• One of my recommender was everything right - i only had to send him the requests and a bit of info about each school i was applying to (so that he could choose the right examples and project a suitable image). HE then got back to me himself whenever he required more info, handled ALL the recos himself and submitted them well within deadlines. He was so thorough that he submitted the Columbia reco in October (and i was planning to apply in Jan)
• The other recommender was everything wrong - he was not happy with so much writing (he wanted to do the recos though), wanted me to write all his recos, and was grossly bad in keeping up with deadlines (he submitted his stanford reco 2 hrs before deadline). If it was some other person - i would have changed recommender (i was not comfortable writing my own recos). But he was in the best position to analyze my performance (and hence his recos would eventually be strong) and hence i couldnt let go I guess this is something everyone should handle.

For me the reco process begins with the choice of recommenders. Big names and alums of famous schools are obviously an advantage - but all their name and fame would be blunted if they are in a position from where they will not be able to judge your performance. For example - as a team leader, i was reporting to my manager everyday and hence it made no sense for me to ask a reco from my BU head (who handles business worth millions of dollars every month), even when my manager said he can speak him into giving me a reco. These are decisions u have to take very early in the process.

Perhaps the best time to intimate the recommenders is when u r ready to write your essays! Why??? Because you will have to help your recommenders a LOT in this process. Many of the recommenders are not aware of the MBA application process. So it is important that you give them the correct info on important aspects of the reco - what kind of school u r applying to, what are the schools strong (and hence selling) points, what kind of an image u r presenting in ur app essays (eg: Leader for HBS, Team player for Kellogg).

Once they understand the process (and u make sure they've understood it correctly) meet with them and discuss the reco questions. When u meet them in this regard, make sure u r prepared. Carry a list of relevant incidents which he could use in his recos, a list of what you consider as your strengths and weaknesses (they struggle to find the right adjectives), your career aspirations and why it makes sense for u, how your career aspirations are in line with (or are related to) ur current work and anything else the reco questions might be asking about.

It is very important u do this school by school. Prepare one document for each school, take it to the meeting, go over each reco question of each school, discuss about the questions, and note down the key points of the discussion in this document. At the end of the meeting, handover these documents to the recommender - this will help him in the process greatly. Also - keep ur ears open. I found many good points for my essays during these discussions

After this - it is all your recommender's work, if he is of the first type. Else, the pain starts

Try as much as possible not to write the recos urself. If there is no way out of it, try to receive as much info from the recommender. The meetings are more in this method. After a string of meetings, you will have added "specific" info in the documents i mentioned above. You should have something like bullet points, from which you will have to make meaningful sentences to finish the recos. If you can cajole a friend into writing these recos - great (i did )! If even this does not happen, do it urself (and curse ur fate). Once u finish the recos, sit with ur recommender again and freeze the recos (and my second recommender took a LONG time to freeze these recos someone else wrote for him).

Make sure u inform the recommenders about the deadlines. They'll see it in the reco request mail, but keep reminding them about it. Let them know which comes first and which u wanna submit first. Give them this order and remind them of the order. Always keep them informed. It is very important - they have a lot of official duties to handle.

However close you are with this person, thank him after he submits the recos. And after u get in, make sure u gift him/her something. Remember that they've been an important part of u getting in and have gone through the reco writing ordeal for absolutely no gain

[cracked-it]

Some I-Gyan on 1 page MBA resume too?

[inblue]

Apparently Stupid but useful

1. Page margins ! Keep them 1/2 inch
2. Keep the blank spaces of less point 8 or 7. Keep font 10 point or 9 point (depending on what style and family you use). I am verdana 9 point.
3. Eliminate all fanciness, Bold horizontal lines, separators, tables etc. They take a lot of space.
4. Fit your name, address, contact details in the first 3 lines of the resume.

Find a lot of space in the page ??


Some suggestions:

Profession

1. If your HR title and work role are different, create a hybrid resume

e.g Software Engineer - ABC firm xyz date - lmn date , china town.
Project leader, project name, client-- etc
Developer/analyst, project name, client name

2. Keep the description of duties to 3 - 2 per role/project, Keep the most relevant and use MECE. i.e. all related duties should be covered in a single line
e.g. Presales, requirement gathering, feasibility analysis, Project costing and Project planning.

3. Keep the accomplishments relevant to the project immediately under the role (would suggest to be modest with the accomplishments section)

Education

1. It is not necessary to state your academic accomplishments, extra curricular in detail in the resume. Most schools have separate sections to list these awards and activities

2. It is not necessary to state the percentage/grade with which you graduated. The ad-com has the full transcript. The degree, institute, year and university should suffice.

3.If you have a certification which you can append, use it with you name.( if at all you want to highlight it). xys, PMP, CPA, CFA

Again, remember there is a separate section in the application for all Professional Certifications.

Misc

• We are applying to business school. C, C++, mainframe, Java doesn’t matter to them, Don't give them a lot of technology.
• Be general about duties; broaden the scope of work with words. Use numbers to highlight that you were really in a responsible position.
• Do not forget to give them the business perspective - So what exactly did this application do, was it a billing app, what for Telecom, what customer base
• Be uniform in the formatting, in the description of the projects, and in the style.
  If you wrote your 1st job as project based, don’t make the second job role based , Now what the heck is this ?

Here’s an example

Title 1 , firm 1, years, place.

Client 1, Role 1, time line

Title 2, firm 2 years, place

Job role, client, project name , time

Avoid this if possible. It confuses the reader

(I used the second one through out because I had multiple, diverse roles)

• Chronology is a matter of choice. I use reverse chronology. Latest job/project first. (I like it that way because most of my story/app was built in this fashion)

Disclaimer :
This comes from a less experienced person. I am sure a lot of people on PG have a lot more to add here.
Also this might appear baised to IT. Though I try as much, I just can't override the IT shades.

All the Best !
Inblue

[Neo2000]

Originally Posted by inblue

Apparently Stupid

I am veranda 9 point.

veranda??

Aahh!One more of inblue's spelling atrocity
Captured on PG by me for posterity
It's no wonder this lady can be
Admitted to a school like GSB
If her spelling causes me to break out into a Ditty

LOL!

p.s. inblue i am so sorry but I really couldn't resist

[inblue]

Dude !! Wow !! I am famous !! Ha ha you see Microsoft deceives too.

Anyway. I hope the matter is useful. I've been swearing to work on my spellling but you see i hate new year resolutions. They evaporate in a jffy.



PS: BTW I did a 6/6 on the GMAT AWA If that mitigates my bad spelling anyway .. ha ha. Now, Dont worry, I am not going to head the Corporate communications department at McKinsey !