The Fuqua School of Business photo 10156794582960705
Making us proud at the INNOVATEChina 2016 Global Business Plan Competition!This team, featuring 3 Daytime MBAs, made it to the finals at CEIBS with their business plan that centered around connecting health insurance with the Internet of Things.
#CBSprof Matthew Quint says it comes down to brands' desire for timeliness. http://bloom.bg/1MZdw2T
Companies may consider being part of the conversation more important than good taste.
#CBSalum George Matouk Jr. is driving an American manufacturing success story. http://amex.co/1qUb3w0
Although Matouk is already known for its embroidered textiles, George Matouk Jr., the grandson of founder John Matouk, is aiming to make the...
In the second instalment of his blog for the FT, current Oxford MBA Stephen Morse writes about classmate Stephan Jensen, a former member of the Norwegian military, who has delivered the latest talk in the “Lessons from the Military: Leadership and Execution” lecture series.
Former officers in my MBA class organised a lecture series 'Lessons from the Military: Leadership and Execution'.
Raquel Lison, Associate Director of MBA recruitment at Oxford Saïd, spoke to Top MBA about the application process for the programme.
The winning team comprising Johan Krynauw, Alex Bertoli, Alastair Cottrill, Joshua Sacks and Eyad Albayouk, beat 25 other participating schools from around the globe to take home first prize.
A team of five MBAs from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford have won the 16th annual Wharton MBA Buyout Case Competition, which brings together teams from world leading business schools to evaluate and make recommendations for a proposed Private Equity buyout transaction.
One month since dedication and we are still loving the new version of Building E52!
The Morris and Sophie Chang Building, also known as Building E52, was formally dedicated March 3.
In high school or college—or maybe even recently on an important project at work—you might have been able to wait until the last minute to do something and still come out looking like a champ. But we can assure you that won’t be the case for anything having to do with your MBA application efforts. Procrastinating is a sure-fire way to weaken your materials.
Early in any candidate’s MBA journey comes preparation for the GMAT or GRE. If you believe you can wing this critical piece of the process, think again. Studying for these tests usually requires months of effort—as well as leaving enough time for a “do-over” if your first attempt doesn’t go so well.
Same thing applies for your resume, essays and data forms. You can’t just throw these things together as the clock ticks down. They require a lot of upfront thought and several rounds of edits in order to ensure your unique voice is coming through.
While this comes much later in the process, preparing for an interview is similar: if you don’t practice at all until the night before, you’re bound to realize you aren’t quite as smooth as you hoped you’d be. Then you’re either going to stay up late to work on your responses or not be able to sleep because you’ll be so worried about your upcoming performance. Neither helps put you in the best frame of mind when it’s “go time.”
And if you don’t do thorough research on two or more programs you’ve been accepted to and make your final decision on a whim or gut feeling . . . well, that could be a multi-thousand-dollar mistake. Enough said!
So if you are going to apply to business school this application year, do yourself a favor and ensure you have ample time to complete each part of the process. Daily progress—no matter how minimal—is much better than attempting to do everything right before the deadlines hit.
Think of it this way:
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Everyone knows that a huge part of the b-school experience is creating a network that you’ll be tapping into for the rest of your career. But what if you’re naturally shy, or simply hate the idea of networking because it makes you feel phony, opportunistic, or just plain “dirty”?
The majority of international students at U.S. MBA programs come from Asia, where the cultural differences related to networking are stark. Even European students often find it awkward to send introductory emails or chat up strangers at networking events. Career centers in turn worry these cultural differences put international students at a disadvantage during their internship and job searches.
In the May issue of Harvard Business Review, professors Tiziana Casciaro of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School, and Marvam Kouchaki of Kellogg School of Management share strategies for making networking not only more bearable, but perhaps even enjoyable for the networking-averse among us.
For example, at a networking event, take the focus off of yourself and instead focus on the other people at the event. The researchers discovered that when people focus on how they can help others — instead of how others can help them — the act of networking suddenly takes on a different tone.
“When you think more about what you can give to others than what you can get from them,” they write, “networking will seem less self-promotional and more selfless — and therefore more worthy of your time.”
The professors offer other strategies to help recast networking in a more positive light, including how you can make the focus about learning, identify common interests, or assign a higher purpose to the practice. Take a look at the original article on Harvard Business Review and see if their tips alleviate some of the discomfort you’ve been feeling up til now.
You may also be interested in:Use Your Network to help You Get Into Business School
3 Ways to Get a Head Start When Building Your B-School Network
After the many months of researching programs, gathering letters of recommendation and carefully crafting your essays, getting “waitlisted” for your top-choice MBA program can be an anti-climactic stop in your b-school journey.
But don’t give up hope! Receiving a waitlist letter means you’re not out of the running yet. Plenty of prospective students are admitted to business schools from waitlists each year. And there may still be something you can do to influence the admission committee’s decision. (There are also some definite “do-not do’s” during this crucial period.)
WHAT’S IT REALLY MEAN TO BE ON THE WAITLIST
As you might suspect, the word “wait” in waitlisted is key. It simply means that you’ll have to wait a while longer to hear whether your program of choice has decided to accept you as a student or not.
Before you panic, remember that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just as the program has notified you that you’re on a waitlist, they’ve also notified scores of other students that they definitely were not accepted into the program—so things could be worse.
Remember that admissions committees are carefully curating each class of MBA students. They want to ensure that prospects will not only be successful in graduate school, but also that they’ll be a fit for their particular learning community. They also want to make sure that student cohorts are well balanced. Perhaps there are a large number of incoming students with engineering backgrounds, but they’re really looking to include more communications majors or even diversify the class with students of varying ages.
Admissions committee members may also simply have a question mark next to your name because they want to know more about you, or have a question about some aspect of your application. While it can be frustrating, particularly after a long haul through the application process, being patient will pay off in the end.
WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN WAITING
Now that you know what being waitlisted really means, let’s talk about what not to do when you find out you’re on a waitlist.
Repeat after me: Re-read the information they’ve sent you. Most schools will make it very clear whether they want to hear more from you—or whether they discourage any further contact completely. Don’t make a move until you’re sure you understand which camp the school falls into.
In this communication, the admissions committee has likely taken great pains to articulate exactly what you can expect and when, and what the next steps are for you, if any. There is also likely to be a “drop-dead date” listed, by which you can expect to know whether or not you’ve been accepted.
Finally, this communication will also let you know what you have to do or could do next. Some programs will not want to hear from you at all—and it’s your job to respect that request. Others may ask for additional letters of recommendation, essays, videos or other materials, or will make it clear that while not necessary, these add-ons to your application would be welcome.
If no additional materials are requested (or are specifically banned), try to remember that you did your best in your original application. Landing on the waitlist may have less to do with your attractiveness as a candidate and may have more to do with other factors at play in the overall candidate pool.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
If the admissions team has left the door open to receiving additional contact from you or new materials to add to your application file, you can plan to check in with them at least once a month. But rather than bombard them constantly with updates, focus on well thought out, substantial updates that let the committee know more about you; or that tell them what you’ve been up to since you applied.
Start with an update letter that reiterates your interest in the program and informs them of your recent activities. Make sure that the information is new, so that it truly is an update. In terms of what to focus on, have you taken on new responsibilities in your job? Stepped up your volunteer work? Gone on a trip that changed your perspective? Learned a new language, or achieved a personal goal such as running a marathon? As you provide these updates, make sure to articulate how this makes you a better candidate than before.
Consider submitting an extra letter of recommendation. If you do, make sure it adds new information on a dimension of your personality that perhaps wasn’t well highlighted before. It could come from someone with whom you do volunteer work, to add a new perspective to your professional recommendations.
In some cases, an improved GMAT score can make a big difference. It may be best to check with the school to see if this would be the case. If so, get to work on boosting your score.
Finally, talking with an admissions committee contact may be helpful. Keep it restrained – don’t pester them with constant questions. The idea is to simply check in regularly to demonstrate your interest and keep them apprised of your situation.
Once you’ve followed these tips, it is true that all you can do is wait—but stay positive, and hopefully before long you’ll be seeing some definitive good news come through.
Stacy Blackman is the founder and managing director of Stacy Blackman Consulting
The post Waitlisted: What It Means, What To Do appeared first on Poets and Quants.
Miss our Idea Forum on Women in the Workplace? Watch a recording below.
Marie-Claude Nadeau, a Partner with McKinsey & Company in San Francisco and co-author of Women in the Workplace 2015, discusses why women are...
Some great advice from the CEO of Boston Consulting Group during a recent visit to Ross.
Donna Costa (TRIUM ‘13), the first female president at Mitsubishi, shares her views on leadership with #STERNbusiness: http://bit.ly/SBDonnaCostaMBA dinner will honor members of legal community Daily Journal of Commerce During the meeting portion of the program, the bar association will honor outstanding members of the local legal community, including Bonnie Richardson, the recipient of the 2016 MBA Professionalism Award. Tickets are $100 with early registration. and more » |
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