PhD Applicants: Show, Don’t Tell
When I was Admissions Director at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, I asked my colleague and friend, Dr. Robert Bloomfield, who led our Ph.D. program, “What characteristics do you seek in the Ph.D. candidates you invite to interview?” Rob’s answer sounded oddly familiar. A few weeks earlier, I had asked my brother Mark, who led U.C.L.A. Anderson’s Ph.D. program, the same question. In fact, as I began to ask faculty in various departments and schools what they sought in their doctoral candidates, the answers were always the same: intelligence, unquenchable curiosity, subject matter passion, persistent stamina, criticism-seeking, ethical, self-aware individuals who offer a well-written Statement of Purpose (SOP) and a solid academic foundation for their area of study.
While I am not an accountant, a few years back, I was reviewing information in FASRI and ran across an article Rob Bloomfield wrote that I always kept in the back on my mind when helping my Ph.D. and MFE clients outline their SOPs. The outline is great, but what really sticks out for me and works for any essay are five simple words, “Show me. Don’t tell me.” Maybe its because I love theatre and these words are a simplification of a line from writer/playwright/physician Anton Chekhov, “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
As an admissions director, “Show me. Don’t tell me” was my way of seeking evidence to support my applicants’ assertions of greatness, passion, achievement and even failure. Who knew Chekhov would help guide my clients into the best undergraduate and graduate programs in the world? Rob Bloomfield knew.
Offering examples, gives the reader the opportunity to understand the subject matter from your perspective and evaluate your claims: a responsibility the admissions committee must assume. So when you sit down to write your statement of purpose, essays or conduct an interview, rather than stating that you have subject matter passion, show that you have subject matter passion by describing recent readings, experiences and outcomes. For example, I could state that I have a passion for puzzles or I could explain that on Sunday, I solved the New York Times crossword in 40 minutes, a 4X4 Rubik’s cube in 10 minutes, and a complex logic puzzle in 5 minutes and watched my Netflix obsession The Bletchley Circle.
In other words, “Show me. Don’t tell me.”
By Natalie Grinblatt Epstein, an accomplished Accepted.com consultant/editor (since 2008) and entrepreneur. Natalie is a former MBA Admissions Dean and Director at Ross, Johnson, and Carey.
Related Resources:
• Plotting Your Way to A PhD: 6 Topics in PhD Admissions
• 6 Tips for Getting Started on Your Essays
• How to Prove Character Traits in Your Application Essays
Entrepreneurship at Stanford GSB: Carlypso Drives Down the Startup Street
Thinking of launching a disruptive start-up? Dying to attend a leading entrepreneurial MBA program? Well meet Nick Hinrichsen and Chris Colemen, founders of the start-up Carlypso, which Tech Crunch calls a “brilliant concept.” Oh, and they earned their MBAs in 2013 from Stanford GSB.
Listen to the recording of this intriguing interview as we discuss the founding of Carlypso, life as a Stanford GSB MBA student and the impact of the Stanford experience on the Carlypso launch.
00:1:37 – You asked, Linda answers! Linda explains why you should only give ONE example or story when application questions ask for one example. Adding more than one can do more harm than good.
00:5:08 – What is Carlypso?
00:7:30 – Where did the idea for Carlypso come from.
10:39 – Who benefits from using Carlypso?
12:40 – Did their Stanford MBA degree really help them?
19:10 – Are people overestimating entrepreneurship at Stanford?
21:42 – The Stanford MBA’s impact on Nick’s and Chris’s work.
23:10 – The $50,000 coffee that helped start Carlypso.
26:14 – Interested in attending Stanford? Nick and Chris give tips on how to get accepted (and rejected).
27:45 – Fail, and fail gracefully, but don’t do it again.
*Theme music is courtesy of podcastthemes.com.
Relevant Links:
- Carlypso
- Tushar’s comment and my response
- Carlypso Could Change Everything About How We Buy And Sell Used Cars
- Stanford GSB Essay Tips
Relevant shows:
- Life as an HBS MBA
- Dr. Douglas Stayman Shares the Scoop on Cornell Tech NYC
- Business, Law and Beyond: An Interview with John Engelman
- The Stanford MSx Program for Experienced Leaders
- Which Schools are Good for PE/VC and VC-Backed Entrepreneurship
- Jeff Reid on Entrepreneurship
Leave a Review for Admissions Straight Talk:
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3 Reasons Why You Should Take an MCAT 2015 Diagnostic Test
Worried about the new MCAT? Prepare yourself with Next Step Test Prep’s new MCAT 2015 diagnostic test. Here are three reasons why you should take this high-quality practice exam…
1. To better acquaint yourself with the new test.
The new test has an increased emphasis on bio and biochem, as well as a new psychology and sociology section. Taking old practice tests just won’t cut it if you want to be prepared for the 2015 MCAT.
2. To determine your weaknesses.
Next Step’s diagnostic test results will clarify for you which areas are your strongest and which are your weakest. Once you’ve received your “diagnosis” (individual section scores, a total score, and detailed analysis), you’ll be able to work on those weak spots until you feel confident in ALL areas of the exam.
3. To learn a thing or two about time management.
One of the more difficult aspects of the new MCAT is the increased length. It is not easy to sit for eight hours, and you will do little to prepare yourself for the exam if you practice in short 1-2 hour spurts. Next Step’s four-hour diagnostic will not just help you in terms of content, but in terms of getting used to sitting for long periods of time and time management.
Sign up today to gain access to this valuable free resource.
MBA Hiring Expected to Increase in 2015
72% of employers plan on hiring MBA graduates in 2015
GMAC’s 2014 Year-End Employer Poll
Here are some highlights from GMAC’s 2014 Year-End Employer Poll. Spoiler: It’s good news!
• 169 employers from 33 countries were interviewed. This is a relatively small sample.
• Overall, the job market remains strong for 2015 b-school grads.
• 90% of employers that expect to hire b-school graduates in 2015 expect to maintain or increase the number of job openings compared with hiring in 2014.
• 72% of employers plan on hiring MBA graduates in 2015, compared to 69% in 2014.
• The majority of employers (54%-74%) plan on increasing starting salaries at or above the rate of inflation in 2015.
• 64% of employers say that their companies are expanding and that they plan on hiring more business school graduates.
• 87% of employers expect to offer internships to students. Usually these internships will go towards bachelor’s graduates (73% of employers). This is followed by MBA grads (55% of employers).
• 96% of employers agree that business school graduates create value for their companies.
As usual, the greatest hiring demand is for MBA graduates; though Master in Management grads are projected to experience the largest increase in hiring.
According to GMAC’s Survey Research Manager, Rebecca Estrada Worthingon, “The solid job prospects for b-school talent seen over the past several years and again reflected in this poll, give prospective students good reason to consider pursuing these degrees as part of a strategy to drive their career goals….Our data show that even in the depths of the recession, business and management degrees can provide a measure of job protection and opportunity. Today, in a recovering global economy, management degrees can be a powerful driver of confidence and provide fuel for an individual’s career growth.”
See the 2014 Year-End Poll of Employers Report and the GMAC press release for more details.
Related Resources:
• MBA Admissions A-Z: 26 Terrific Tips
• Payscale: How Much Can You Earn, and How To Earn It
• 25 Top MBA Employers According to MBA Students
Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 2015
The 
Financial Times 2015 global MBA rankings were released this morning. Let’s see how our top schools fared this year…
Top 25 2015 Global MBA Programs (last year’s rank in parentheses)
1. Harvard Business School, USA (1)
2. London Business School, UK (3)
3. UPenn Wharton, USA (4)
4. Stanford GSB, USA (2)
5. INSEAD, France/Singapore (5)
6. Columbia Business School, USA (5)
7. IESE, Spain (7)
8. MIT Sloan, USA (8)
9. Chicago Booth, USA (9)
10. UC Berkeley Haas, USA (11)
11. CEIBS, China (17)
12. IE Business School, Spain (13)
13. Cambridge Judge, UK (16)
14. HKUST, China (14)
15. Northwestern Kellogg, USA (15)
16. HEC Paris, France (21)
17. Yale SOM, USA (10)
18. NYU Stern, USA (17)
19. ESADE Business School, Spain (22)
20. IMD, Switzerland (12)
21. Duke Fuqua, USA (17)
22. Oxford Saïd, UK (23)
23. Dartmouth Tuck, USA (20)
24. Michigan Ross, USA (23)
25. UCLA Anderson, USA (26)
The big news is how little the top 10 changed. More significant movement occurred outside the top 10, as is typical of most rankings. Here are some highlights:
• New to the top 10 in 2015 is UC Berkeley Haas which climbed one spot from 11th place last year to 10th place this year.
• Yale SOM, on the other hand, lost its top-10 berth and fell 7 places from 10th place last year to 17th place this year.
• Big jumpers in the top 25 include HEC Paris which moved from 21st place in 2014 to 16th place in 2015, and CEIBS which jumped from 17th place last year to 11th this year.
• IMD fell 8 slots this year from 12th place to 20th place. For possible reasons behind the drop, please see “5 Key IMD Officials Resign.”
• 7 of the top 10 business schools in 2015 are programs in the USA, which is the same number as last year.
• This is the third year in a row that Harvard Business School snagged the first place position.
• Further down the rankings (top 50), we see more big jumpers, including Imperial College Business School (UK) which jumped from 49th place in 2014 to 34th place this year; Manchester Business School (UK) which went from 43rd to 35th place; The Lisbon MBA (Portugal) which jumped from 52nd to 36th place; and Lancaster University Management School (UK) which jumped from 77th place to 50th place.
• The school that fell the most in the top 50 was Warwick Business School (UK) which fell from 25th place in 2014 to 38th place in 2015.
• Overall the FT rankings reflect the growing strength of Asian and European business schools.
The Financial Times rankings measure average salaries of alumni along with several other factors. Its lead article on the rankings notes that “the financial returns from completing a full-time MBA have fallen over the past three years and while a graduate can still expect to nearly double their salary, the average boost to earnings is down by almost a third from the qualification’s heyday.” It continues to explain that this is particularly true among b-schools in the U.S. (which account for 50 of the top 100 global programs). For an excellent critique of the FT methodology, please see P&Q’s analysis.
Here are some additional highlights from that article:
• In 2015, MBAs who were three years post-MBA reported salary increases of 92%. This is compared to 110% in 2012 and 153% in 2002 and 2003.
• In 2003, b-school alumni from 82% of programs ranked saw salary increases of more than 120% over 4-5 years post-MBA. This year, only 7% saw the equivalent increase.
• A factor contributing to this trend is the drop in MBAs heading into finance and banking (25% in 2015 compared to 29% in 2005). Survey respondents from the finance sector reported an average salary of $152,000 compared to the overall average salary of respondents of $133,000.
My take:
In terms of the flaws in the FT rankings, I suggest you see Poets & Quants excellent critique.
I also suggest you read “Boost to earning from MBAs falls.” The article reflects on the decline in earnings increase from the MBA as well as the weakness in the graduate business education market outside the top tier.
The two are related. Grads from the top business schools by definition snag the highest salaries and sometimes the biggest increase in salaries. The lower ranked schools are struggling to compete, keep themselves affordable, and provide an ROI. Consequently several traditional two-year programs have closed – notably Thunderbird and Wake Forest. One-year programs and specialized masters are increasingly popular and experiencing increasing recruiter demand along with ROI.
For you as a prospective student, you need to focus not on the overall trend in salary increase for MBAs, and not even your ROI today vs what it maybe could have been 13 years ago when you were middle school, but your anticipated return on investment today and which degree is most likely to maximize it.
Frankly 92% increase in salary can be a phenomenal increase depending on where you start at and what you paid for it. And it’s the gift that keeps on giving since the increased salary continues and usually climbs annually for the rest of your career.
By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools.
Related Resources:
• MBA Rankings: What You Need to Know
• 2014 BusinessWeek Rankings
• The Benefits of an MBA According to John Byrn
