[Career Explorer]What can i do now

http://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?msg=69913.1&nav=messages&webtag=bw-bschools
Q:
I am a Chinese student , study at a characterless university and Computer Science is my major. Teacher give me C language, C++ language ,Assemble language and many other language like these to learn. I assuredly have learnt a lot about computer basic science, but after two years' studying on this major I find I have lost myself at school at studying.I nerver have any spirit that i have had in my high school period in studying my major.I still don't know why for the sterile class or for other ? I think have to give up my major now and find another that can give me the spirit i want to have.What can i do now?

A:
if you're not passionate in the field anymore, it'll be meaningless to have that degree, and the degree itself might even restrain you from other desired opportunities.
Find out your passion for life, and pursue it persistently.

[Career Explorer]plz help

http://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?msg=69281.1&nav=messages&webtag=bw-bschools
Q:
hey...... i am in my second year of graduation, pursuing hospitality mngm. from RMI, affiliated by Thames Valley University, London (one of the best schools for HM in U.K.). I want to know whether my college will be considered when i aplly for an MBA in any UK/US B-school (as it is affiliated by a foriegn university with its campus in India and the degree is not recognized by AICTE, Indian government but recognized globally). I have 1 year work exp. with Hilton group of hotels as a trainee and has 6 months w/e in a call centre and in a cargo trading company. I also did 20 weeks of charity and have won a lot of cerificates for cricket, drama and various other extracurricular activities. I wish to appear for the GMAT in my fourth year (2008) and get more w/e after giving my GAMT as we can apply on the basis of five year old scores. I'll be grateful to you if you can help me in any way and tell me from your experience that whether or not i'm going in a right direction and what else is there that i need to do.......????

A:
Simply work at least 2 years longer. So far you only have preliminary work exp that has very limited inspiration on your managerial capacity.

Don't worry about your school name as long as it's a internationally recognized.
You have great opportunity if you're passionate in hospitality industry since you got a decent degree in the field and a prestigious training program in the field. Also you have the front-line customer relationship management experience in a call center. The only thing is why you transferred to a less related cargo industry. And why you want to pursue an MBA in this timeframe.

You also need to depict why you dedicated in charity activities and what's the meaning of those certificates for your career or for your life. Then find out what's the relevance to the MBA program.

Find out your career passion, set up your career objectives, find out the gap between ideal and now, the the fit MBA programs will emerge by themselves.
David

[Program Fitting]Ding dong ding :(

Q:
770/Indian/M/26/3+ WE/Decent Community service/academically strong profile/extra-currics great till college - dinged at Wharton/Stanford/Chicago/Harvard - without even an interview!!! :) hoping to make it this year to a few of the other programs...

A:
It depends heavily on your career goals, and what part of MBA you need.
You are a bit too young compare to the majority of students in these schools. They have 5~6 yr exp on average.
Although your GMAT score is really high, you need convince adcoms where's your managerial potential to allow you study in such competitive programs now. Probably you're fast-tracker that you achieve the comparable scope with those 6 yr exp mgers.
Also, these four schools have totally different positioning that Wharton is conglamerate management with superior consulting, Standford is innovative and entrepreneurial corporate management, Chicago is corporate strategy and quantitative economy consultancy, where as Harvard is corporate restructuring and intrapreneurship.
You need to find out your career direction and passion first, then the fit schools will emerge by themselves. Then do the personal marketing on essays.
David

[Program Fitting]McCombs Vs USC Marshall

http://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?msg=74363.1&nav=messages&webtag=bw-bschools

Q:

My friend has been accepted at both, McCombs and USC Marshall. He is in Sapient as a tech consultant and wants to be in tech marketing. Please let me know which school would be better with your reasons. I appreciate...thanks

A:
It's a pretty close call here. Generally McCombs ranks slightly higher than Marshall, and student body is also very similar with 5-year experience. A half of McCombs graduates works in investment and finance field, with very decent 90,000+ salary. This should be one of the critical reason for better ranking than Marshall.

McComb is a supreme #1 accounting school, while quite balanced in general management. Some improvement in marketing field this year that they now have brand management course which used to be absent. Quite generic in marketing strategy whereas Marshall is more detailed in marketing communication and execution.

In terms of finance, McCombs is not bad that offers general finance cources, but Marshall offers larger selection in this field. This is the blind spot that the rankings cannot measure the qualitative sophistication and completeness of course offering.

Marshall is now more dedicated in entrepreneurship development that is the trend of the most competitive programs are now heading.

So it really depends on what's your friend's career path in future.

David

[Program Fitting]請教一下這樣的分數跟經歷

問:
GMAT只有610+3.5 TOEFL PBT 623+4 工作經驗 義務役排長1.8 yr 某美商記憶體模組公司senior engineer 5 yr 推薦人:直屬老闆+日本記憶體大廠客人 這樣還有資格申請第三輪嗎??真的很怕但是很想再申請前知道一下機率 我是希望能到30~60deadline 還沒到的學校


答:
有 頂多只是分數問題 大約是40~70名左右的學校 這樣的AT分數要進40以上有一定難度

[Career Explorer]對不起，我有些問題想要請問一下?

問:
我現在還沒考AT跟Toefl， 而我的工作經驗有兩年然後就跑去考研究所， 大學念的是交大，研究所念的是台大， 都是電資方面的而現在準備在工作兩年， 但是我大學的GPA分數很低，可能不到3吧， 原本打算研究所是出國念，誰知道體檢後要當兵， 所以也就一邊工作一邊等體檢，所以大學畢業的那兩年 就不是在甚麼大公司上班。 而研究所畢業後，很幸運得找到了一間很不錯的外商， 所以我打算工作兩年後出國念mba，因為我之前看了板上的文章， 說當兵有算進去工作經驗，而我當兵的時候是當預官， 而我打算在這一間外商工作兩年後出國念書， 這樣對於我的規劃會有甚麼問題嗎?? 因為我很擔心我大學的gpa不夠高，而我研究所有發表過paper可以彌補嗎?? 我覺得要念就要念不錯的mba，不然其實有點浪費時間跟浪費金錢， 我想利用兩年的時間一邊準備AT跟toefl，順便想一想我的essay要怎麼寫， 希望板上的各位可以給我一點意見，讓我知道我要如何彌補我的gpa。 這樣算一算我的工作經驗有五年多，這樣申請的話可以把gpa的因素降到最低嗎?? 謝謝大家，也希望大家可以給我多一點意見。

答:
有.
會成為很典型的倒果為因 why mba? so far you don't have any motivation but a degree.
need to find why you need this training,
what part do you need,
and how do you want to leverage that after this degree.
what's your short-term and long-term goals,
where's your passion,
why you need this degree to fulfill your passion?
工作經驗與paper 都可以彌補GPA,
or you can have an explanation during your master study.

其他要等GMAT與托福出來才有辦法討論

[Career Explorer]Please Gui de :Supply chain mgmt MBA

http://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=bw-bschools&tid=74332

Q:

Hi ,I have got admission in 2 B schools.I wanted to MBA in Supply Chain management.But yesterday i was searching in google Supply chain jobs in USA i could se only Truck transporation and very local (non reputed ) companies in my search results.Now i have two doubts:One is if i do Supply chain MBA what type of profile i will get after grad. I wanted to be in strategic consulting in Supply chain domain. I have 3 years expeience in IT Consulting.What are he companies which take supply chain grads.Second is the type of comanies i cud see in my google i was confused if such coimpanies do sponsor the H1B job for international students . In other words, leaving finance and IT does the US copmanies sponsor fo r H1B for SCM doamin?Thanks

A:
Supply chain has very broad application in real-world operations. Sourcing, procurement, logistics, transportations, lean productions, inventory management, assembly line...etc., you name it.
Basically from the manufacturing line til market, everything from outside the factory are related to supply chain. Automobile industry is a typical field to go. Also manufacturing industries. IT industry need it too.
You can go IT industry to consult them the efficiency inhancement on supply chain management.
For the H1B issue, it really depends on what specific skills or advantages over American MBAs you've got and what specific position and functionality the recruitor needs from you.
You may have some cultural or language advantage to help your future company grow. The American companies are more likely send you back to your country, while you can try the companies from your country but now based in the U.S. might be easier.

[Program Fitting]How good are these schools?

Q:
Hi,i am an international college senior looking to do an mba straight out of college.Ive applied to many schools but its my backups that i want some feedback on:How do you think the university of alabama (manderson), the university of missouri-columbia (Crosby MBA) and Claremont Graduate University (Drucker) fare as a decent place to get an mba and expect a job after graduation?i dont care that much about regions, would be happy to stay within the region, just want to know how good are these programs to actually pursue them............(given i expect to receive great financial aid offers)i know they are great regional programs......just wanted everyone's opinions of them.....Thanks.Gus


A:
Hi
No big difference among these 3 schools for your future job
no matter what fin aid they offer you
and generally speaking, MBA are more effective for 3+ yr work experience pro-managers
students with more solid experience can extract more from the MBA learning
and you can also contribute more in your classes
with several experience can significantly help you apply for more competitive schools
Cheers!
dave

[Personal Branding]Georgetown MBA (McDonough) in person interview

[傷咖]:
大概問題如下, 不按次序:
Why MBA Why Georgetown Short-term/ Long-Term goals (這題我是包含在我Why MBA + Why Georgetown裡回答, 然後她再問一些她比較想知道的)
Your contribution to the class
Negative leadership experience
Which activities do you like (因為某題答了backpacking travel, 我就多答了reading, 她有問我最近念完那一本書, 我...開始free的回答了@_@") 再來就是問問題時間, 但我只夠問兩個問題...

解析:
樓主被問到一題相當關鍵 Negative leadership experience
這題的重要性將比positive leadership還要高出好幾倍
可以看到潛力領導人的許多人格面向與改進方向
有強勁領導慾望卻又有過negative leadership將會像困獸一般
想盡辦法擺脫失敗經驗
但也要看潛力領導者如何自我檢討與學習
如何體驗領導的奧義
這是領導學的真意
Leadership is love

[Career Explorer]什麼人適合去美國讀MBA (v)

MBA是為了個人的生涯發展念的，每個人要的不一樣。

有人要錢，有人要瞭解如何經營事業，有人要用興趣工作，也有人只想找個人嫁了......

有人家裡事業錢多到不行，只是想出來逛逛，看別人念自己也來念一個; 

有的為名利，名校出來別人會刮目相看，或是有個響亮頭銜......等。

問題是你過的快不快樂？

快樂是用錢買不到的。

尤其在事業上，不管再強的名校畢業出來，

後面三、五十年餘生，你每天將有一半以上的時間要花在工作上。要是工作本身無法帶給你快樂，那後半餘生將會在痛苦中度過。

無論如何，MBA是個綜合管理課程教學。

不管誰念了出來，即使名校，也不一定讓你找的到工作。

只有一步步體驗，瞭解自己的生涯熱情與需求，結合MBA的各項細部課程，如:行銷, 財務, 生產管理, 供應鏈, 領導學, 組織行為學......等。

畢業出來之後，面對餘生三、五十年，要如何每天開開心心過日子？

做自己想做的工作，賺取所需，經營家庭度過理想的生活......等，

只有自己的快樂，才是別人搶不走的。

古今中外的成功者，絕大多數都是因為找到自己的生涯熱情，靠著興趣與熱情，一步一步經營事業，才會名留千古。

也只有不斷嘗試、不斷朝自己的事業熱情趨近，再來配合MBA的商業學問模型，來增強自己事業經營的能力與規模，最終能同時獲取事業成就;

並且能快快樂樂地度日，實現非你不可的熱情生涯使命，脫離一切競爭，以獨特的方式貢獻世人，創造出爐火純青、登峰造極的傑作，活出自己的價值;

並且因為物以稀為貴的經濟規則，而能突破財務自由。