[Program Fitting]Minnesota Carlson vs. UIUC?

Q: Minnesota Carlson vs. UIUC?

A:
明大是綜合管理學校

從課程編排就可以看出頗有小華頓的氣勢

對general management的各技能均衡程度相當高

招生重視個人獨特性,過去三四年觀察下來很愛招獨特背景的學生

學校華人眾多

有些超大型企業如3M, Target都在明州有地理鄰近性



UIUC一向是超級會計強校

這兩年積極轉型往綜合管理與營銷

學校出了一些世界名人如Jack Welch

因而是美國名氣響亮的學校

對亞洲學生招生友善

對年資的不那麼要求

成績也較有彈性

很愛年輕有活力的申請人

[Personal Branding]developmental needs和weakness有什么区别

Q:
developmental needs和weakness有什么区别

A:
用0到100分来看

数学只有20分叫做weakness

要进步到60分才叫及格

则20分到60分这段叫做developmental needs

除了两个东西指的区间不同之外

因为人不是机器

有太多人性化因素如：个性，意愿，能力，兴趣...等会产生个人差异

每个人都会有某些弱点是无法进步的

例如有些人有惧高症

硬逼他去开飞机可能才刚起飞就晕了

而weakness也不一定是negative

例如篮球场上的身高问题

天生就矮不一定是weakness

反而可以加快脚程在场上穿梭是个positive

但抢板子的时候就成了weakness

并且没有developmental needs

没办法叫他拔高就拔高
所以写这类题目要看仔细到底是问weakness还是问developmental needs

两个讲的根本还是不同

[Program Fitting]大家对chicago的essay 2怎么看？

Q:
大家对chicago的essay 2怎么看？
Option 1
a) Please provide an example of a time when you had to make a choice between two equally important obligations. How did you decide which obligation deserved your attention? b) Did you try and predict other people's reactions to your decision? If so, how accurate were you? Why do you think you were or were not accurate in your prediction? c) Reflecting on this experience, how do you think an MBA from Chicago GSB might have aided in your decision making process?

-or-

Option 2
a) Have you ever made a decision that caused you to go against popular opinion? Please describe that situation and your rationale for your decision. b) Did you feel at any point that people misperceived your motives? Explain. c) In retrospect, how do you think an MBA from Chicago GSB would have affected your decision?




A:
各間學校都有獨特的領導力與作風強項

去過Booth就知道

一進去就是一整面牆掛滿諾貝爾獎得主

在這匯集歷史上頂尖經濟學家之地

除了固有的硬經濟超牛之外

其中一項最強的領導力就是在團隊腦力激盪時"研究各種可能"

跟官網上強調的"Exam every idea."完全密合

也因此在招生時的根本重點

就是問申請人如何證明你有這項"檢視各項可能"的能力

這項能力本身就是一項leadership

因此若申請人對自身領導風格有深度瞭解

立刻可以看出是否欠缺這項"檢視所有可能方案"的領導力,而確定是否有school fit

OPTION 1,2 兩個是因為申請人經歷各有不同

方便讓申請人從經歷中選擇最能發揮自己的情境

但可以輕易看出所問的核心都相同

就是如何reasoning all alternatives to convince others

要直問analytical thinking的全面性以及communication中的persuasion能力

而另外這兩個option各著重在不同方向

option 1是對value的reflection以及independent thinking

option 2是在團隊中的vision, leadership, 以及conflict and relationship management

不管要回答那個option

都是要用同一個事件scenario來作主軸回答各小題

而如何運用Booth GSB的各種課程,教學模式,團隊互動與學生風氣,甚至社團與其他課外活動

還有教學資源中心與各項校內外競賽等等

來找出其中的核心技能,培養自己邁向管理成功

[Personal Branding]G 750, 兩年半經驗轉職,低GPA, top 20?

A:
前三年看过许多相似案例

有人上了前二十，甚至有人上了西北哈佛斯坦福

但大多还是落在二十名边上的学校

Georgetown或Emory就听过好几个

严格说两年半经验在前面牛校算是弱势

虽说今年全球经济衰退估计涌入大批申请人

但根本还是出在申请人的why now

初步条件来看主要有三大挑战

一是还不具备足够质量的经验

leadership能够发挥有限

二是除了为什么现在最根本的还是why mba

需要以长程策略考量来解释

重点不是在为何要换

而是要看why thy timing

第三是大幅度的GPA与GMAT差距会让adcom有两个反应

一是大学时候怎么了

二是这GMAT分数是怎么得到的

committee原则上都是相信人的

但必须要有很合理的逻辑

本科没念好 时间都用哪去了


在年资不够的状况下

只剩这些逻辑点可以解释

需要特别多花心思刻画动机

[Personal Branding]多少年经验对career changer能有多大用处呢？

Q:
多少年经验对career changer能有多大用处呢？MBA不只是general management。

A:
Everything is relevant

even if you switch career, you still need to leverage your experience to the maximum

or you did waste your life

mba is not just a pass

it's a life advancement process

or at least adcoms look it this way

US NEWS2008排名表,另选校问题请教各路牛人,尤其davidlee0222请进

(The article has been modified for Blogger setting.)
Q:
US NEWS2008排名表,另选校问题请教各路牛人,尤其davidlee0222请进

另,路过的朋友请帮忙支招
小弟概况:
本科大陆Top15经济学(xx大学,其实都不知道现在还有没有top15),GPA 79/100
5年政府部门工作经验,从事对外招商引资方面,有一定国际交流经验
Gmat760,Toefl 99
推荐信准备请同级别同事写,因为领导们外语不好不愿意
职业规划是希望毕业进入大公司直接投资部门,5年后回国做Private equity投资(目前essay是这么写的)
目前人在北美明州,准备申请09fall full time MBA

请大家帮我看看职业规划,选校计划可行不?
12月R1, U of minnesota Carlson, Emory(听说去年钱多)
1月R2,U of michigan(梦校), Rice U(Huston气候好), Cornell(博一下)

打算投6-9间选校,可是现在只选了5间,其他不知道如何是好,请指教
首要条件是奖学金,家里条件没有奖明年是读不起了只能再推一年,其次是职业出路和气候环境等等

p.s.明大暂时是首选,可是这里冬天太冷了,现在已经开始下雪了,对我这个南方人真是要命了

谢谢!

A:
严重感谢LZ抬举点名小弟

小弟两肋差刀前来相助


商学院排名原则上以BusinessWeek为主

美国名校与企业一致推崇，并以商业面向本位分析是他们家饭碗

US NEWS的排名主要是一般本科或研究所排名

以及各领域下细分的专业比BusinessWeek精致的多

但因商学院特例，学术质量只是其中一项指标

US NEWS其排名一般研究所学术质量的标准，

对商学院要求工作资历与未来出路的评核较难鉴定

FT的排名有参考价值

但在商学院以美国市场为主流的前提下

FT排名仍无法动摇BW的全球主导地位

虽说BW的排名也有不少面向让人诟病

各主修领域下的细节分析几乎空白

只有粗略四大归类 营销 财务 管顧 创业

各校特性几乎无法体现

只能由文字报导来函盖各校情势

又各校报导多出自学校自发新闻，各说各话

学生前程的自主选择与最核心的课程资源编排，却反而被排名迷思所盖过

但就小弟实地走访十多所top20名校的心得

排名的确高度影响学生竞争力与天才素质

排名越高的学校学生越聪明 资历与领导力越强





GMAT大牛分已经足以盖过GPA

充分证明学术能力与思考智能

又位居政府招引外资要职

五年资历正当中国经济起飞

会有众多惊人故事可以写

并且必定有一些史无前例的创举

找出其中的创新领导故事做小说式的深入视觉化体现

绝对可以挑战前十名校

唯一问题将出在需详细解释为何要往大公司投资部门发展

跟个人的三项生涯动力：Enthusiasm, Personal Characteristics, Professional Capabilities

有何深刻的个人化结合

建议LZ先不用将生涯目标完全限制在投资或PE

回头仔细检视三项生涯动力

由以往资历与三项动能总结后是否仍指向投资

总结内容将会是essay的核心



推荐信需要找目前直属主管或先前直属主管

越级或同级都不具参考效力

因为越级主管对申请人的了解程度并不深入
无法讲出申请人执行项目时的细节故事

而同级并没有对申请人正式进行过专业评核

只会褒不会贬

并且非出自管理角度

权力结构上并不是监督者与任用者角色



LZ还有非常多学校可以挑战,不用限制在明州

若真要走PE

靠LZ的政府要职资历

NYU甚至哥大都可以直申

Fuqua Ross也绝对在挑战名单

明大是综合管理学校,今年掉出三十名外

Emory注重领导力训练

从去年着重的软式领导力训练课程

转为今年的大众化多主修,符合各家口味

还有其他综合财务强校如UCLA，Cornell， UT Austin，Darden，U of Rochester

至于终极强校 芝大,华顿,哈,史,西北,MIT

则需要更强力的综合竞争力与领导力展现

甚至是长期的财务资历积累与热诚

[Personal Branding]請問關於政府背景的申請人(v)

(本文已經修改符合部落格閱讀環境)
請問關於政府背景的申請人
申請時提政令見解有用嗎?
推薦人找高官好嗎?
特殊名校招收政府背景的考量與偏好如何?

1 。有的 重点是要强调您在政策上的见解是否有前瞻性

而又能在这类思考的过程中 能够展现多少领导潜质

又能展现多少creativity

重点是在看思考的“过程” 而不只是看政策总结

2 。 adcom所要看的是推荐人对您长时间而密集的观察

要能够描述出您的细部个性与性格特质

并且需要大量证据支持

因此只有直属主管能有这样的角色与地位

找大官是没有帮助的 反而会让内容精细度降低

3 。原则上各名校都有政要背景出身的入学生

每年都有

华顿甚至有白宫经验的入学生

学校原则上不会有特别理由偏好政府背景

而是要看申请人的生涯规划有多完整

未来有何规划而为何需要MBA课程

有多少证据证明对特别学校MBA课程的fit

学校审核是以holistic evaluation为主
從intellectual capability, proven leadership potential, 及personal quality來審核申請人資格

[Personal Branding]Maryland Essay question

Q:
讨论 请问达人，maryland里有一道
How will you contribute to the legacy of the Robert H Smith School of Business?
legacy of the Robert H Smith School of Business是什么意思啊？跟whay this school是一个意思还是问你的diversity‘啊？

百思不得其解，求指点，谢谢~~



A:
legacy是讲前人遗留下的资产

这道题的意思是，当您未来加入这间学校成为Smith的一份子

您要如何贡献并传承Smith的校园精神

因此首先要了解Smith的校风

数码与创新

自身有哪些共通点能够先与学校产生共鸣

再将您身上学校所没有的特质做加强贡献

因此确实是school fit与value contribution的结合题

贡献可从各种面向

从您的出身背景，语言与市场文化

到您的独特生涯经历

以及最重要的您的人格特质与行事风格

将您的灵魂与学校精神作结合

[Personal Branding]Essay strategy and tips 81110

Whys: Why MBA, Why Now, Why this school
Long-Term and Short-Term Goals
and Persoanl Uniqueness

-You need to go much deeper on your whys

and be analytical, not just emotional expressions with adjectives

use fuctional and skill terms such as "advanced market forcast skills, sharpen negotiation skills, learn pricing strategy and fundamental finance analysis, also quality control on supply chain."

-More specific on your goals, and more details on what you needs

"to thrive my career to senior supply chain manager in 3 years after my mba, I need more strategic mindset on external partnership management, while supervise and motivate my team on efficiency control, also delegate subordinate on bahalf of senior executives, I need xxx MBA's 'Competing Through Supply Chain Logistics,' 'Procurement and Sourcing Strategies,' also 'Leading The Strategic Change Process.'"


-your long-term career aspiration needs to come our from your personality and soul

and supported by anecdotal stories and track evidence

"when I was in college club running xx charity event, my classmate Nancy accidentally notified that I was good at logistic details, and I was always good on interpersonal communications. Since then, I focused my career on supply chain management and have been constantly promoted 3 times in 4 years to a department supervisor."

-For your why now, you need to explain clearer about the urgency

"When my VP promoted me to this position and expected me to take bigger responsibility on executive level in 3 to 4 years, I felt empty on corporate strategy and cross-business negotiation, and I don't see the systemetic training in company to prepare me for senior position in short run, so studying an MBA now is a better opportunity cost for me."


-Need to show your uniqueness through your diverse background and personal experiences

and you need to walk adcom through the details with stories, at least 2 to 3 levels down

or you can see most people say the same thing as your statement

it should be like this: "coping with 6 countries across Europe, Asia, and South America shaped my unique personality. The enthusiasm from Brazil partner, the strictness from Japan supplier,and the emotional Euperean-style negotiation experience taught me how to manage unpredictable schedule. One time when I led the outsourcing project with Japanese partner, I....."


-For long-term aspiration, it needs to be realistic and feasible through specific short-term steps.

"When I discussed the outsourcing strategy with my CEO, I felt I could see through his vision with more systemetic on risk management, and also more strategic on competition...To be a supply chain executive focusing on East Europe strategic alignment, I know I'm lack of turing vision into corporate policies, and also I need more social skills on both networking with senior business partners and also time management. Also on capital raising and finance optimization, I need to improve those skills from my short-term goal "senior supply chain manager in Asia regional market first."

It needs to be much deeper from the "invisible motivation," "underlying reasoning," and your "seasoned personality"

[Personal Branding]How about 32+ years old applicants?

Q:
How about 32+ years old applicants? Do I have a chance for top MBA?

A:
Don't worry

32 is very normall age in b-schools

about 1/4 of MBA students in the States are at this age

in the States

the more experienced, the more contribution you can give

and also the deeper you'll learn

also bigger chance to find job (except some consulting jobs require young graduates)

since you're more prepared in career

just try to focus more on your seasoned experiences in application