The Cornell Executive MBA Program has three required essay questions, and the word count for all three is short. While no one is going to be counting individual words, the short word count guideline is a clear indicator that you should work on clarity of thought with all of your answers. Cornell interviews every applicant…
Top MBA Programs for Entrepreneurs
Poets & Quants has just released their inaugural rankings for the top MBA programs for entrepreneurs, and Washington University’s Olin Business School tops the list. 20.7% of its graduates from 2016-2018 launched companies within three months of graduation, and has a whopping $1 million in annual funding available for student entrepreneurs. By comparison, the second…
Six Advantages of Starting Your MBA Application Early
How much time is too much time to prepare your MBA application? The answer: there is never too much time! To apply successfully to business school, you can’t be hasty. You need to clarify your goals, take the GMAT or GRE, research schools, prepare your essays, fill out the online application, gather your transcripts, and…
5 Things Engineers Have to Do to Get Accepted to B-School
You are a highly skilled technical expert in your engineering field, and in recent years you have been asked to (or anticipate being asked to) take on a leadership role, which has required you to evaluate your skillset. You are no longer just writing code or working on the development of a new jet engine,…
EMBA Programs and the GMAT
With full time MBA programs, it is fairly obvious why the GMAT is such an important component to one’s application – with less work experience, admissions committees need to find other measurements to gauge potential success in a program. Academic preparedness can clearly be evidenced with a strong undergraduate GPA coupled with a strong GMAT…
Why Do You Need an MBA? [MBA Interview Questions Series]
This blog post is part of a series of articles analyzing some of the most popular MBA interview questions and offering tips on how to best respond to them. In this post, we’ll address “Why do you need an MBA?” “Why do you need an MBA?” This is one of the most common questions asked…
Tell Me About Your Weaknesses [MBA Interview Questions Series]
This blog post is part of a series of articles analyzing some of the most popular MBA interview questions and how to best respond to them. In this post, we’ll address “What is your weakness?“: Reason for asking the question: To ensure the applicant is humble enough to recognize that nobody is perfect, and to see…
Why Do You Want to Attend This MBA Program? [MBA Interview Questions Series]
This blog post is part of a series of articles analyzing some of the most popular MBA interview questions and how to best respond to them. In this post, we’ll address “Why This MBA Program?“: Reason for asking the question: To gauge the sincerity with which the candidate is approaching the school. How to prepare:…
Tips for Executive MBA Reapplicants
If you have been rejected by an Executive MBA program, it often comes down to one of four reasons (or combination thereof): Your academic record was not strong enough to convince the admissions committee you could handle the rigor of an EMBA program, Your work experience was not sufficient/relevant enough yet to be considered a…
15 Reasons MBA Applicants are Rejected
If you are reading this, you are most likely considering applying or in the midst of applying to business school. Your goal is to be admitted, of course, and eliminate any obvious reasons to be rejected. What follows are several of the common reasons people are not offered admission: 1. Low Undergrad GPA The bad…
Non-Traditional Work Experience in MBA Admissions
A common concern from prospective clients with non-traditional work experience is whether or not that experience will be considered relevant in an MBA classroom. I have heard this from doctors, lawyers, military officers, and more. Believe it or not, the less traditional one’s work experience, (often) the more an admissions committee is interested! When putting…
Self-Employed MBA Applicant? Here’s How to Present Your Work Experience
Creating a resume as a self-employed individual presents some challenges. If you already have an established business, some of this information is superfluous, but if you have been doing contract work, there are details to manage beyond the summary of the work you have been doing. Company Name If you own an established business, you…
Four Ways to Enhance Your Brand Name Work Experience for MBA Admission
In my last blog post I wrote that brand name company experience matters less than having substantive experience. I am not changing my tune on that in this post, but will let you know how brand name experience might be viewed by members of an admissions committee and potentially give you an edge, at least…
What Qualifies as “Good” Work Experience to an MBA Admissions Committee?
MBA Admissions Committees Care About More Than Brand Some of you may think that because you have worked in marketing but not at P&G, worked in banking but not at Goldman Sachs, or worked in technology but not at Google that your experience may not count as much to admissions committees when compared against applicants…
Cornell 2015 Executive MBA Essay Tips
The Cornell Executive MBA Program has three required essay questions and one optional question in its application. One of the most important things to keep in mind is brevity. While no one is going to be counting individual words, the guideline of short word count is a clear indicator to work on clarity of thought…
MBA Interview Questions: What Questions Do You Have?
Reason for asking the question: To make sure the candidate has all pertinent information necessary about the school, as well as to confirm that he or she has thoroughly researched the program and consequently has thoughtful questions. How to prepare: This will most likely be your last opportunity to ask questions of the program before…
MBA Interview Questions: Why This MBA Program?
Reason for asking the question: To gauge the sincerity with which the candidate is approaching the school. How to prepare: You need to make sure you show that your reasons for applying to the program go well beyond the obvious reputation, location, or network. Your job in answering this question is to convey your sincere…
The GMAT and EMBA Programs
With fulltime MBA programs, it is fairly obvious why the GMAT is such an important component to one’s application – with less work experience, admissions committees need to find other measurements to gauge potential success in a program. Academic preparedness can clearly be evidenced with a strong undergraduate GPA coupled with a strong GMAT score….
Cornell 2014 Executive MBA 2014 Essay Tips
The Cornell Executive MBA Program has three required essay questions and one optional question in its application. One of the most important things to keep in mind is brevity. While no one is going to be counting individual words, the guideline of short word count is a clear indicator to work on clarity of thought…