Hello MBA applicants!

Just want to introduce myself. I’m Janet, one of the hosts of MBA Podcaster. We produce audio podcasts on everything MBA - how to get in, what to do once you’re there, and where you can go afterwards.

Since our launch in early 2006, we’ve grown to include a variety of shows covering topics such as the importance of the GMAT, how to write great essays, and how to choose a MBA program, just to name a few.

On MBA Podcaster, you hear advice directly from admissions directors at top programs like Wharton, Kellogg, Chicago GSB, Columbia, MIT Sloan and Harvard. We also regularly hear from career management directors, MBA recruiters, and alumni to bring you post-MBA career advice.

You can browse through our archives and download the shows that apply to you!

Here are some of our most popular shows:

- The 360 Degree Guide to Applying For & Getting Your MBA

- Getting an MBA vs. Masters in Finance or Economics: Which Option is Right for You?

- MBA Admission Strategic Plan: What You Can Do Now to Help Get Accepted Next Year

- Part-time versus Full-time MBA: Which One is Right for You?

- Acing the MBA Interview: How to Prepare Yourself for Your In-Person Inerview

- MBA Quantitative Skills: Sharpening You Skills Before You Begin Your MBA

Our newest series is called a “Day in the Life“. We’re visiting business schools around the world to bring you an in-depth perspective of campus life. We follow a current student for a day, speak to deans, admissions committee members, career management directors, alumni, and others. It’s a great way for you to get to know the different programs out there!

- UCLA Anderson School of Management

- UNC Kenan-Flagler Weekend Executive MBA Program

- RSM Erasmus University

- INSEAD 

- Ross School of Business

- Hawaii Pacific University

- Chicago GSB

- And many more coming soon including Wharton and OneMBA!

Visit us at www.MBAPodcaster.com

Good luck on applying to Bschool and we hope to help you in the process!

Best wishes,
Janet Nakano
Host/Producer

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Like many of you I’m an applicant for the MBA class of 2010. I already knew in college that I wanted to get my MBA and hence started my research already back in 2004. All the info I gathered and all the advice I have to offer I put on my website:
http://www.skoolix.com/AdmissionTips.aspx

Good luck to everyone!

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Check out this interesting new blog chronicaling the experience of some “young MBAs” - students who made the jump directly from undergrad to business school. Here is a little taste to whet your appetite:

MBA: “Young” can do it

There is this myth among potential MBAs that you have to have solid work experience before you can apply to top b-schools. And here is my response: False!

Every year, the average age at top MBA programs all around the world are decreasing; and there is a reason behind it. More and more top business schools are considering exceptional young applicants right out of college. So, before you throw out the idea of getting your MBA right out of college, please take a moment and read what we have to say.

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A friend of mine sent me this very interesting email chain conversation he had with some of his buddies regarding the issues they are grappling with as they decide whether or not to attend business school. I imagine this discussion is very relevant to lots of bschooler readers. (Please note we have removed all of the participant names and instead use WWWWW, XXXXX, YYYYY, and ZZZZZ to represent the four people involved in this chain).

For additional reading on this topic, check out these other relevant bschooler postings:
The MBA, is it really worth it ; How worthwhile is an MBA

The Email Chain:

On 10/4/07, XXXXX <XXXXX@yahoo.com > wrote:

so whats up with us taking a class?

On 10/4/07, YYYYY <YYYYY@yahoo.com > wrote:

I am game. But I was actually talking to WWWWW about it, because he wants to take it with us - maybe we should wait until Jan or so, because with all the holidays (TG, x-mas, etc) coming up I don’t want to miss any classes….

Your thoughts?

On 10/4/07, XXXXX < XXXXX@yahoo.com > wrote:

works fine for me. love all these articles, i was getting mentally prepared to do the mba thing now am totally unsure again. uggh. might as well take the test though

On 10/4/07, YYYYY < YYYYY@gmail.com> wrote:

Yea that’s how i feel. But notice how are the articles are all $ centric… if your only goal is to make a ton of $ then MBA may not be right thing…But hopefully if you get into a good school then education and networking should mean something, right?

On 10/4/07, ZZZZZ <ZZZZZ@yahoo.com > wrote:

YYYYY, while I agree a lot of these are $ centric, I am not 100% convinced that an MBA is the only route even for networking. It’s just food for thought… it will certainly be one of the best times of your life. I’m in the same position as you guys, don’t get me wrong… might as well try, but might also try to get a gig that will lead me to the gig i’d have out of school as well. Food for thought… everyone has differing opinions. You can always take a work sabbatical as well… I have to think it through just like ya’ll

On 10/4/07, WWWWW <WWWWW@wwww.com> wrote:

You need to figure that getting an MBA and not getting paid at work probably costs almost half a million dollars depending on your job.

It’s a touch choice to leave that much money on the table for a degree that might not help you that much. I know that people I work with are tending to skip it.

If you are good and the market is good – you get promoted…and once you are promoted its almost pointless to go for the MBA

On 10/4/07, YYYYY < YYYYY@gmail.com> wrote:

Don’t disagree with you… However, I think for those like myself who are not 100% convinced that a career in high finance is what I ultimately want, an MBA can give you the opportunity to step back, try out different things, get different people’s perspectives, and then make a calculated decision about where you want to end up.

I think if you want to stay in finance then the CFA is probably the way to go. Unless, like me again, you’d rather drink beer on the weekend then study your ass off for 3 years!

What’s key is that some of these articles assume that everyone wants to stay put on their current career track - what they fail to mention is that most people don’t have a fuckin clue about what makes them tick… That’s where the real value of going back to school is in my opinion - because we all work too hard to do any real thinking about career goals and all that shit.

On 10/4/07, ZZZZZ <ZZZZZ@yahoo.com > wrote:

WWWWW, speaking of which, I owe you a resume… coming soon.

YYYYY - good point. We aren’t educated enough about what each career entails. What happens is you start a job and then you’re like, this isn’t what I wanted. If they held seminars and we can really see what it’s like (which b-school provides) that is very valuable in the long-term. However, you can probably find this out even without b-school (network and eat out with people), and also meet people without the degree.

Also, once in b-school, what I hear is that you have a few weeks to make a decision about where you want to intern, and then you ultimately receive that full time offer the next year. I doubt you’d have a clue within a few weeks what you want to do…

On 10/4/07, XXXXX <XXXXX@yahoo.com > wrote:

mmmmm beer. do you need an mba to become gm of the yankees? thats the only thing i know id like to do.

On 10/4/07, WWWWW <WWWWW@yahoo.com > wrote:

I’m going to try and convince my company to buy them when Steinbrenner sells…

I’ll see what I can do for you

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Building off of Eli Portnoy’s post on Preparing for the Interview, I have another suggestion towards a successful interview – it’s all about the conversation.

The difference between an OK interview and a GREAT interview lies in your ability to have a conversation with your interviewer. Tell a joke, ask sincere questions, discuss shared interests – whatever it is that you do, make sure to conversationally connect with your interviewer. Remember, the interview is really about “fit” – it is the schools attempt to determine if you fit well with the personality of its community. Engaging a conversation will allow you to show off your shining character and is your best bet to nailing the interview.

Some schools even offer the ability to “select” your own interviewer. At Columbia and Wharton you are given the opportunity to choose your interviewer from a list of choices. This provides a great opportunity to tailor your interview towards a conversation. As awkward as this suggestion may seem, go ahead and try to learn what you can about your interviewer - before you select one. In the Google world in which we live you should be able to glean some basic information that could help you select just the right interviewer with whom you can best connect.

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For most business schools getting an invitation to interview means that you have passed the first hurdle for gaining admissions.  For a school like Harvard or Stanford it means that you have been selected among the 20 or 30% top applicants for the school, and your likelihood of admission has increased significantly. Other schools, such as Columbia and Wharton, interview a larger percentage of their applicant pool, but nonetheless, being interviewed is a very important accomplishment.

My first invitation to interview came from Harvard. I was absolutely overjoyed and began my 8 to 10 hours of preparation. I started by reading blogs, businessweek.com’s newsgroups, Clear Admit, and other online resources. I did additional research on Harvard and what I could expect from the interview.

Once I had a better understanding for the type of questions that would be asked I proceeded to re-read my application. I looked for holes or issues that weren’t fully explained and thought of questions that might be asked of me. I then prepared a list of 40 questions that I thought would most likely be asked.

I then wrote down 15 or 20 examples of stories about my experiences, examples of things I had done, and other anecdotal information I could think of. I practiced answering the questions I had prepared elaborating with one of the stories or examples. I wanted to get comfortable using any of the 15-20 anecdotes to answer any of the questions.

When I finally had enough control and versatility in my answers that I could use any story to answer almost all questions, even those that I hadn’t prepared for, I took to participating in mock interviews. I had my wife and my family question me from my list and also make up random question as they went along. I did this a few times and thought I was ready.

All the preparation ended up being very helpful when interview time came.  Most of the questions asked where part of my list and I had ample examples to illustrate my answers with. But they say there will always be one question you are unprepared for, and that proved to be the case for me as well. Towards the end of the interview I was asked “and what is the one misperception people have of you?” – fantastic question and very typical of HBS in that it is so open ended and difficult to answer…I had not prepared for it and so I stumbled a little bit , but I had enough  stories that I ended up saving face.

I guess the interview went well, because after a long two months of waiting I was granted admissions.

Good luck in your preparations.

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“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.” - Robert Heinlein

The first piece of advice I offer my friends starting along the path of the business school application process is simple: start early, and if you think you’re starting early, start even earlier!

Unfortunately, applying to business school is not for the weak of heart. The application itself serves to self-select those with the stamina and innate drive to join the b-school community. The barriers to entry include not only completing a somewhat standard long questionnaire (the “easy part”) and successful marks on the GMAT (the “long-winded part”), but also four to six very challenging essays (the “hard part”) - per school! Compounding the problem is the fact that just about all prospective students are currently employed in the workforce, many with high stress and extremely demanding jobs.

Remember, your decision to go to business school is both life and career altering, and it is definitely the type of thing that demands and begs for your best effort. Starting early will allow you to put forth that best effort through the inevitable rounds of brainstorming and countless revisions, and it will also allow you to better manage the stress of applying. Trust me it can get very stressful worrying about 20+ unique essays while applying to just four schools.

To put a more concrete timeframe around this discussion, let’s work backwards. Most schools offer multiple rounds to submit your application (although these may differ from school to school); first round submissions are generally due around October, second round due around January, and third round due around March. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit applications during the first two rounds when the vast majority of slots are filled. By the third round, with few openings left available, your chances for admissions deteriorate significantly.

Now envision the following (very likely) scenario. You are somewhat on top of your game, attempting to apply to six schools for the first submission deadline. As the dreaded (and celebrated!) date approaches you quickly realize you have no chance in hell to make the date. If you’re lucky, you will have one application nearly complete. You focus on finishing that one up, pushing off the others to the next round. Soon you realize that applying to six schools is way too difficult given your schedule and the unique application requirements of each school. You decide to drop three of your remaining applications and finish the final two. With pressure mounting as the second deadline approaches, you begin spending every waking free moment turning revisions on essays, filling in the final details of your application, and praying that you didn’t overlook a simple mistake which may cost you admissions to your dream school. The deadline finally hits, and you turn in your application cursing yourself in the back of your mind wishing you had just started the process a bit earlier.

Mark my words, this will happen to you.

To avoid this fate, as much as possible, here are a few tips to help you position yourself well for the long haul:

• Take the GMAT as early as possible (I took mine 3 years before applying!). At the very least have it complete and out of the way the summer before applications are due (no later than August if you are applying for the October and January rounds). The application is hard enough as is; you do not want to compound the issue by having to simultaneously worry about the GMAT.
• Prioritize your applications. Although you many enter the process excited about the seven schools you want to apply to, it is likely you won’t have the bandwidth to apply to more than four or five. Prioritize your options and focus on getting your top choices out first, then focus your remaining energy on the next few choices.
• Shoot to submit applications during the first round, this way when you inevitably fall behind schedule and find yourself running out of time you have the option of pushing off your submission to the second round. If you wait to make your big push during the second round, you may find yourself missing the deadline and being forced to apply in the third (and least promising) round.

Check out this post that offers an interesting way to think about the application from another good bschool blog, The Dearborn Supper Club, on the