Preparing for an interview at top business school

You have already applied to the business schools for an MBA. After several weeks of efforts on presenting the best resume and essays, its your time off. And then, comes the most awaited news. You have landed an interview at one of the top business schools! Firstly, if you have obtained an interview, Congratulations! You have cleared the biggest obstacle and now things are somewhat under your control. Secondly, if you have received a call from one of your most-desirable schools, then your palms must be sweating and heartbeats might not be following the regular pattern. But, do yourself a favor, don't freak out. You are better off preparing for the interview rather than thinking about the outcome of that interview.

The list of probable questions is long, so I have mentioned some core questions, which you need to concentrate on.

• Why do you want to attend an MBA program?
• Why are you planning an MBA at this point in your life?
• What are your career goals upon graduation?
• Why ..... university/ school?
• How can you contribute to our school?

You might notice that some of these questions are similar to the ones you may have faced in yout job interview/s. That's true. Getting an admission is serious business and hence the interviewers make sure that only worthy applicants are granted admission in their school. The below mentioned tips will help you crack these questions.

• Know your resume in and out. Have an explanation ready for every statement that you have made
• Create a list of stories (personal or professional) that highlight initiative, team-building, leadership skills and innovation
• Prepare a list of your successes and failures. Tell them in the PAR -Problem, Action, Result- format
• Do your research on the school with which you are interviewing (some of the resources include blog, newsletters. Look at my post http://topbusinessschoolsguide.blogspot.com/2011/02/mba-application-tips-for-top-business.html for more tips)
• If given an option of telephone or personal, I would recommend going for a personal interview. This will help you create a good first impression. However, you should go with what you are comfortable with.
• Another good idea is to go through your essays, so that you are consistent in stating your facts and figures
• A thing to remember: Duration of the interview does not mean much. It does not reflect your performance, so don't sweat if the interview ends 10 minutes before the scheduled time

Usually, you would hear things like 'Prepare well', 'Practice 50 times before the interview' or some ridiculous number like that. But, if you are a spontaneous person and have gotten results being like that, just treat this the same way. The only thing you want to do is be consistent, honest and sincere. Don't try and communicate to the interviewer the person you are not. Be yourself, give it your best and leave the rest.

Good Luck!

MBA application tips for top business schools

Image Courtesy: cartoonstock.com

In an MBA newsletter from the Ross School of Business (University of Michigan), admissions director Soojin Kwon Koh explains how treating your resume like a first impression can help you put your best application forward. "Admissions officers weigh your resume quite heavily to assess your candidacy, so make sure this first impression is a good one", says Soojin. If you would have had the opportunity to give an elevator pitch to the admission directors at the top business schools, you would not have had to worry about creating a great resume. But, that is not the case. Hence, the responsibility of marketing you well and giving your MBA application a nudge lies on the shoulders of your resume. It HAS to convey your background and accomplishments.

Here are some of the pointers that will help you create that perfect resume:

1. Make the resume look professional and concise. You have to ensure that it does not become cluttered
   
2. Avoid using jargon and if you are not working with the Yahoos and Microsofts, defining the context of your organization will help. Sometimes simple and straightforward essays that convey the message are a welcome change for the admissions staff
   
3. Do not delve only on particular accomplishments. You do not know what they are looking for. Highlight all your achievements
   
4. Confidence helps and overconfidence kills. Doing a spell check and getting a second eye to review your resume will help create a good resume
   
5. Take time to polish this crucial element of your application and it can open the doors to the business school you seek
   
6. Once you have written the essay, read the question again and ensure that you have answered the question. It may happen that sometimes in the flow of writing the essay and listing your experiences, you may lose relevance and end up writing a essay which has no connection with the question
   
7. Be sincere and honest

Moving on the second aspect of your application - Essays.

Admissions Director have to read hundreds of essays per day. Some are interesting and some are outright boring. Obviously, the essays that are loosely written, do not have substance and contain false claims (trust me, they will see through false information) do not stand a chance in being considered. The way you write your essays makes a lot of difference. You be the judge and decide which of the following sentences will prod you to read further:

1. I loved sports from an early age and started taking tennis lessons at the age of 5      OR
2. I was 5 when my father enrolled me in tennis lessons and since then, my love for the sport has only deepened

There has to be an element of thrill in the story, it has to encourage the reader to keep reading and wanting more information. Like any other piece of writing, your essays need to have a great, engaging introduction and a solid conclusion.

Asking 3 different people from varied fields to review your essay will help you get a good understanding of your writing style and the flow of the essay. Before you decide on the final draft, ensure that you haven't lost your focus throughout the essay and be sure to review it as many times as possible.

Besides a good resume and tight essays, here are some other things that will help you stay on track:

1. Preparing a schedule:- Make your schedule and include details such as timeline for drafting, editing and getting your essays reviewed. Also, you need to know the date by which you want to finalize each essay
   
2. Go @ one application:- You may feel that schools have similar essays and hence it makes sense to use the same essay for each school. But, that is not a wise thing to do. Each essay has to cater specifically to the schools you’re applying to. It is a good idea to finish the application package for each school at a time
   
3. Customize experiences:- Try and use different experiences and accomplishments for each question. Evaluate which experiences work best for a specific question

You know that you need to write stuff that is relevant to the school, but how do you understand the school? What are the various sources that will help you know your dream school better? Here are some pointers for the same:

1. Visit the School:- School visit will help you gain a better insight into the school and you may learn things which you were not aware of and which were not mentioned online
   
2. Sign-up for everything:- Every single school has blogs, presence on twitter & Facebook pages and conduct online web chat events. Sign-up for these! It will help during your essays
   
3. Read different blogs:- To give you a better perspective on the school that you are about to apply to. Knowing the culture of the school is as important a knowing its courses and faculty
   
4. Met the alumni:- If you live in the same city or if you are scheduling a visit to the school, make sure that you take the first steps to building your network by contacting the alumni and meeting with them
   
5. Get information from current students:- Meeting current students is a great idea. If that is not possible, exchange a few emails with them. This will give you a better idea of the latest on-goings at the university

Application packages have some common contents. Here is a checklist of the items that will constitute your application package:

1. Online application form
2. Official transcripts
3. Official GMAT scores
4. Official TOEFL or IELTS scores (if applicable)
5. Letters of Recommendations
6. Essays (the number of essays may vary from one school to another)
7. Résume
8. Application fee

Out of these, essays and resume are the only two elements over which you have a great degree of control. The schools are aware of these and it will benefit you immensely if you spend more time and effort on these and give it your best shot.

Do your best and leave the rest. Good Luck!

Who hires an MBA graduate?

Image courtesy: digitalrevolutions.biz

All this big hoopla about getting an MBA from the top business school - but who really hires an MBA these days?

Which industries can afford the high salaries that go hand in hand with an MBA degree?

Does an MBA have the same value today as it did 5 years ago? Yes, it does.

In fact, the demand for MBA is increasing across industries. Traditionally, financial institutions and consulting firms have been the biggest MBA benefactors. But, that is not true anymore. According to a report by CNN Money, the top 100 employers of MBAs comprise of financial services, information technology, pharmaceutical & health care and,  of course, consulting firms.

Here is the % break-up of the hiring trend.

Industries hiring MBAs

As you would observe, these industries are located in specific pockets of the country. For instance, the pharmaceutical and financial investment industry is in the Northeast region of US and the information technology industry is mainly located in the Golden Coast. It is a safe bet that the hiring patterns for these industries will be highly influenced based on the location and the kind of positions that you seek.

According to a report in Wall Street Journal, "64% of executives, managers and recruiters polled plan to hire new M.B.A. grads in 2011, up from 60% who said they did so in 2010". To read more about the poll and its results, please visitonline.wsj.com.

Typically, before you start applying, it may not seem most important to you to pick a specialization, but it would definitely help to know what industries you prefer. Your application decision can be based on your industry preference. But, this is just one way of looking at your application choices.