Ask Jon Frank- P69-Q&A:WHY MBA? 7 OVERLOOKED REASONS TO GET AN MBA

kasulty

Hi Jon,

For the goal essay, how much proportion should be spent on explaining the career progression, and how much on clarifying the career goal/aspiration, and how much on explaining why-MBA and why-School? (For example, 50%, 25%, 25%)

Also, should I state the goal at first or after the career progression? I guess it sounds more resonable to place it after, but I'm not sure if placing at the beginning may have an advantage of clarity.

Hope to hear your opinions.

Thanks!

DeeGao

Thanks for you answer Jon
Looks like i have lots of thinking to do ..sigh..

JonFrank

Hi Jon,

For the goal essay, how much proportion should be spent on explaining the career progression, and how much on clarifying the career goal/aspiration, and how much on explaining why-MBA and why-School? (For example, 50%, 25%, 25%)

Also, should I state the goal at first or after the career progression? I guess it sounds more resonable to place it after, but I'm not sure if placing at the beginning may have an advantage of clarity.

Hope to hear your opinions.

Thanks!

-- by 会员 kasulty (2010/10/8 13:11:24)

Hey there!  Well it all depends—each school asks the questions in a slightly different way.  Some ask only about your career goals, and others ask about your career progression to date.  If they don’t specifically ask about your career progression, you will still wanna talk about it—but make it just one paragraph.  If they do ask about your career progression, you can go with more.  Generally, we recommend one paragraph on Why MBA.  Then, we recommend one paragraph on why Tuck/Haas etc., academically, talking about specific courses, professors, etc.  Then, one paragraph on Why Tuck/Haas outside the academics.  We cant break it into percentages sadly, but this should give you some guidance.  Hope this helps!

m1nt

Hi Jon Frank, i assume you are a white male, American maybe. and i am curious why you think GMAT is soooo important?
http://forum.chasedream.com/North_American_MBA/thread-490501-1-1.html

Please see this post. some CDer challenged that.

JonFrank

Hello there!  Thank you so much for your kind note.  You are correct, we do place a high premium on GMAT scores.  And having worked on 5,000 applications or so through the years, there is a good reason why! J

But let’s talk a bit more specifically if we can.  There are obviously exceptions to the rule—there will of course be people who get into Stanford with GMATs of 700 or less.  And there will be people who get rejected from Stanford with GMAT scores of 780.  Let me try to help everyone understand exactly how a GMAT score is used by MBA programs.  And hopefully this will help clear up some of the confusion!

In order to be considered at any top school, you will need to clear a GMAT hurdle.  So if you have a score of 500 for example, just to keep the example nice and simple, you will not make the “cut.”  Now, if you have a 650-700 or so, and if you are shooting for a top-three school, you would be what we call a “stretch” to get in.  Now again, this isn’t to say that it is impossible of course!  J  It is possible, as some of our other friends have pointed out.  But it is a “stretch.”

To make things simple for our applicants each year, we try to help everyone split the schools into three categories—stretch, in-range, and safe.  My goal for my clients, is that at the end of the process, they have options!  That is always my goal.  So if someone asks if they should apply to Stanford with a 700 GMAT, I would say…absolutely!  But it will be a stretch.  It is an exception to the rule, if you get in.  Remember the math problem here—a class of 350 people, 1/3 is international, etc.  So absolutely, apply…but do yourself a favor, and apply to a goooood range of schools.  Stretch programs, in-range programs, and safety programs.  That is all we are trying to help our friends understand.
I hope this clarifies it for you—and good luck to you!
Best regards,

Jon Frank

JonFrank

Julia!  Thanks so much for the note.  Of course we can recommend some schools to you.  Now remember, these are just “rankings,” and they never tell the whole story.  But they are a good starting point:

Here is the list of top schools on the marketing side of things:

Kellogg

Penn

Duke

Stanford

Harvard

Columbia

Ross

Haas

UCLA

Stern

UNC

And here is the list of top schools in international business:

Thunderbird

Penn

South Carolina

Ross

HBS

Columbia

USC

Indiana

Duke

NYU

Haas

Stanford

I hope this is helpful, and good luck!


Jon Frank

Knockoff

hey, Jon
How is Notre Dame Mendoza? Is a reputable program, at least locally? Do you know anything about its job placements?

mmfruit

Hi, Jon, I would like to know how Precision Essay helps candidates. Only online, right? It helps total package or just essays?
I am considering using it but want to know some details. Thank you!

JonFrank

hey, Jon
How is Notre Dame Mendoza? Is a reputable program, at least locally? Do you know anything about its job placements?

-- by 会员 Knockoff (2010/10/18 21:26:28)

Hey there!Yes, Notre Dame is a good school.It does have a religious affiliation, which may or may not be appealing to you.Either way, it is worth your considering.Recruiting around Notre Dame tends to focus in the Midwest as well, which is either good or bad, depending on how you feel about the Midwest! JThe school does place most of its grads into either finance or marketing roles.And of course, the Notre Dame alumni network is one of the strongest in the USA!

Hope this helps, and good luck!
Jon Frank

JonFrank

Hi, Jon, I would like to know how helps candidates. Only online, right? It helps total package or just essays?
I am considering using it but want to know some details. Thank you!

-- by 会员 mmfruit (2010/10/19 2:17:31)

Hey there!  Yes we do all aspects of the MBA applications, not just essays.  And we do not limit the number of phone calls--our deluxe clients especially have unlimited access to us.  although most of the work will happen behind your computer.  i hope this helps and free feel to reach out to me with your case.
Good luck


Jon Frank