Georgetown MBA student taking questions - ChaseDream

As a second-year MBA student at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, I would like to provide you an overview of our Full-time program and answer any questions you might have about the program from a student perspective.

Founded in 1789, Georgetown University has a deep-rooted Catholic and Jesuit tradition and enjoyed high prestige both domestically and internationally. The Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business has emerged as a top-notched institution for business and management education.

With an emphasis in global business, the full-time MBA program offers rigorous teaching and training in general management and leadership delivered by experienced and committed faculty. The integration of academic courses and the residency programs provides the students opportunities to experiment and exercise the learning.

This fall, we began the new school year in our new home, the state-of-art Rafik B. Hariri Building. Not only the new facilities complement our learning, the building brings together the entire community under the same roof. It quickly becomes the venue for a series of lectures and conferences with leading political and business figures.

A Chinese student myself, I understand your constraints in visiting the school physically. I, therefore, would like to take your questions about our curriculum, student life, career management, etc. You may post your questions here or send me a message.

Many of you are probably preparing for the test or working on the essays. I wish you all the best! Meanwhile, I encourage you start your application early. The online application to our program is now available on the school website. Below are the deadlines for those of you applying for Class 2012:

Sincerely,
Lin Qing
Candidate of MBA, Class of 2010
The Georgetown MBA Program at the McDonough School of Business

The situation this year is certainly challenging. As of end of end September, the placement of Full-time (Class'09) and internshi (Class '10) is 83% and 92% respectively. Speaking about the students from mainland, three out of five did their internship back in China, one in DC and one did not do internship due to family reason.

I believe the challenge is across the board among business school especially for international students. Students, especially career switchers, certainly need to remain flexible and prepare Plan B or even Plan C in their search. Having said that, there are still opportunities out there. We certainly remain positive for our career prospect next year.

The number of students from Chinese mainland (excluding green card holders/permanent residents status)

Are you asking about the profile of the Chinese students? It is a bit difficult to summarize for the entire group. We have mostly even number of male and female. Most students are about 27 - 30. The working experience ranges from 3 to more than 10 years. Students come from a variety of backgrounds, from non-traditional ones such as education, government to typical ones like consulting and investment. The career focus is also quite diverse.

Hope this answers your question. Let me know if you have any follow up questions.

Many of the Chinese students in Class '09 received scholarship. For Class '10, none of us had scholarship upon joining the program but three of us received the second-year scholarship this summer. So far as I know, one Chinese student received partial scholarship in Class '11.

以下是引用Lin_MSB_2010在2009/10/7 22:33:00的发言：

以下是引用echo_me在2009/10/7 15:56:00的发言：

With an emphasis in global business -- 能具体　elaborate一下么？

中国同学都有奖学金么？

Georgetown MBA's global mindset is demonstrated throught the following aspects

Diverse student body with international experience: a majority of students have experience living abroad and work in international environment. A high percentage of students are proficient in two or more languages.
International component in coursework: A large amount of cases used in the class are related to international companies or business. Most of the faculty members have relevant international experience. In addition, students can take the program of international business diploma, which is a joint program with School of Foreign Services at Georgetown.
Global residency: Students travel to international locations to do consulting work for clients. For Class '10, we are given the choice of Prague, Johannesburg, Ho Chi Min city, Shanghai and Sao Paolo.
Washington, D.C.: Located in DC, we have access to many international organizations, incl. World Bank, IFC. We are also able to meet many global leaders.

以下是引用Lin_MSB_2010在2009/10/7 10:21:00的发言：

以下是引用Lin_MSB_2010在2009/10/7 22:33:00的发言：

以下是引用echo_me在2009/10/7 15:56:00的发言：

With an emphasis in global business -- 能具体　elaborate一下么？

中国同学都有奖学金么？

Georgetown MBA's global mindset is demonstrated throught the following aspects

Diverse student body with international experience: a majority of students have experience living abroad and work in international environment. A high percentage of students are proficient in two or more languages.
International component in coursework: A large amount of cases used in the class are related to international companies or business. Most of the faculty members have relevant international experience. In addition, students can take the program of international business diploma, which is a joint program with School of Foreign Services at Georgetown.
Global residency: Students travel to international locations to do consulting work for clients. For Class '10, we are given the choice of Prague, Johannesburg, Ho Chi Min city, Shanghai and Sao Paolo.
Washington, D.C.: Located in DC, we have access to many international organizations, incl. World Bank, IFC. We are also able to meet many global leaders.

没有。但是学费横向比较一下不算贵，其他的学校动不动4w5，4w8的。而且现在有新楼用，硬件可比以前好的多的多了。

One did investment analysis in a mutual fund, one corporate finance in a bank(?) and one government relationship for a PR firm. It is true many Chinese companies do not have structured internship program. That might also be the case of the three students. The companies they worked for might not extend returning offer, therefore. However, their experience certainly paid off especially for those who are switching careers. Also I know the girl that worked for the PR firm is in talk with its New York office for full time opportunities.

We have 15 classrooms and 34 break-out rooms (all equipped with plasma display) in four floors, compared to 4 classrooms and 8 tiny team rooms in one floor in our first year.

I know the school marketing team is working on perhaps a virtual building tour on the website. Will keep you all posted.

The official figure as estimated by the school is $ 25, 000. I know many Chinese students certainly spend less than that.

Rental: approx. $ 1300 (an unfurnished one-bedroom apt near school, $700 if you have roommate)

I believe the numbers are on par with schools in other regions (except for rental...)

说说我去走访后的感想，这个新校舍应该是top20里最新最尖端的。很多美国学生也很看好这一点，今年georgetown会是热门。不知道是不是因为新校舍，我从admission了解的情况是今年奖学金funding有一定困难。可能给的奖学金没有往年多。

georgetown以出政界名人而著名。所以它比较看重社会活动。政治是个敏感话题，如果不是特别懂，千万不要在文章中发表意见。

哈哈，“当家的”，原来你要去主持那个Webinar啊，牛啊，顶顶！

另外，有没有大牛知道Katelyn Rosa Stephenson的个人风格，偏好，或者面试要注意啥的，多谢啦：）

我面的Hilary.觉得她挺难的。很随意的问题，跟你讲话顺序走，什么都问。

I just received the reply from the Admissions Office. I am afraid the school does not provide this type of loans.

While Georgetown, as most of the other business schools, would prefer candidates with working experience on par with the majority, ie 5 years. We certainly open up to young applicants with relatively short experience. After all, the quality counts more. We do have students who only worked for 2 years before coming to the school (roughly 1% of the program if I remember correctly) Fyi there is a Chinese girl with similar profile admitted this year.

So feel free to apply as long as you think now is the right time for you to pursue your MBA. You may also want to use your optional essay to address the issue if you like.

Just think about the community in a broader sense. It can be your company. If you have done anything outside your normal work scope, such as organizing sports activities, write about it.

I was also advised by the admissions staff you can still write about your community service in undergraduate if you think it was very important to you.

以下是引用aliciazu在2009/10/12 20:48:00的发言：
再请教关于最后一篇Essay的问题：

1. 今年学校最后一道essay题是一道纯Post graduate Community Service的题目。

ESSAY FOUR: COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS - Limit: one page

A) Please provide a bulleted list of your post-undergraduate
      involvement in the community. Indicate the nature of the activity or
  organization, dates of involvement, offices held, and average number of hours
  spent each month.

B) What motivates you to continue contributing to the
community? Limit: 250 words

这个题留出的余地很窄，对于中国人而言，我们没有成熟的Community service的概念。在学校里还有一些社会实践、志愿者活动。但是毕业之后，都在单位里活动，没有社区服务的概念（居委会？物业？……）这篇文章要怎么写才好呢？我除了能想到汶川大地震捐款，其他觉得很少有素材……

我个人认为这个是两个社会对社区服务的理解和体制造成的，我们中国是政府－单位－个人体制，而美国有强大的society组织。我在想，可不可以实话实说，把我对中国这一现状的理解解释一下……

Georgetown is certainly known for its School of Foreign Services which graduated many political leaders. However, the essay of community services is certainly new for these two years. (I did not have it back in 2008.) One of the reasons might be our business school is increasing its presence in the community of DC. The Dean's office recently established a team of DC initiative to tap into the area. Also in general business schools want to have student who are likely to get involved in the school as well as larger community, since students are the key drivers at school.

Being not metro accessible might be a hidden blessing since the district we are in are safter than the rest of the city.

以下是引用dlmmdajgal在2009/10/13 23:47:00的发言：

georgetown以出政界名人而著名。所以它比较看重社会活动。政治是个敏感话题，如果不是特别懂，千万不要在文章中发表意见。

校园很美，但是地铁竟然不通。。。。但校方有公车。

我也是申请人，大家一起努力哦！

Kately is really easy going. Just be yourself (and still be polished) and enjoy the conversation!

We are wrapping up our Mod 1 and having our finals next week. Following that will be the career week. A group of first- and second-year students will be travelling in Hongkong to visit companies there. If anyone interested I may have some Chinese students sharing their experience afterwards.

1. The Global Residency, as the other residencies, lasts for one week and pertains real life cases/projects. The difference is that all the students are traveling abroad to complete the projects. Starting from end of first year, students would choose one from five international locations (for our class, Shanghai comes back to the list again.) We then take classes in Mod 2 of our second year to learn about our destination countries and business practices etc. In the meantime, we will be assigned projects based on preferences and needs. We will travel to the international location in the end of Mod 3 (in March) to visit the clients and do the final presentations. Of course, the clients and the school arrange various activities during our stay. Students also would take the opportunities to tour nearby countries and regions before or end of the Global residency, since it is the spring break right after.

2. The admissions office only starts review the application once all official documents are received. If the TOEFL official score report is received in between the deadlines for Round 1 and 2, the application will be for Round 2.

以下是引用Lin_MSB_2010在2009/10/21 11:30:00的发言：

Dear, thanks for participating the webinar!

Hope this answers your questions.

另外在选修的management里有个sports leadership的课程，有没有达人给分析一下，是什么内容的。

School's website mentions that there is no concentratoin under this unified program. But in the Career Management section, four career tracks are provided. Could you talk a little bit about what the career track is. Are students required to choose a track before or at the beginning of the program and accordingly take a particular set of courses to pursue that track? BTW, the links to the details of four career tracks do not work. Thanks!

For your application, feel free to use your own format. This may sound cliche, but I want to remind Chinese applicants not including your personal information such as marital status, gender, age, etc.

For current students, we do have a template for resume here at MSB. All students would be provided with the template upon starting the program. However, you should certainly tailor your resumes according to the general standards of the region/country you are looking for a job.

I found the below description of the course from the university course website. Hope it helps.

The following topics will be covered in class:

1. Principles of Sports Leadership: Leadership is a critical element to success in any field, and sports is no different. We will discuss in class the basic elements of good leadership that are exhibited by Coaches and General Managers of sports teams. We will also discuss how to develop leaders. The principles discussed in class will be related to the business world.

2. Developing Teamwork: In sports, it is critical for all members of the team to understand their role on the team and the importance of their ability to work together towards a common goal of winning the game. In the class, we will show how a sports team achieves this and how this can be applied in the business world.

3. Motivation: It is easy to say that a company will only hire “self-motivated” individuals, but that is not always the case. Furthermore, those who are “self-motivated” are human and will still need motivation at times. In sports, you likewise try to recruit only “self-motivated” individuals, but you do not always end up with an entire team of them.

4. Media Relations and Crisis Management: A big part of sports is media relations. Everything done in professional sports – and to some extent, college and high school sports – is covered extensively by TV, radio, Internet, and print media. It is critical in sports to be able to deal with the media on a daily basis. In business, it is no less critical to be proficient in media relations, but the difference is that it is done on an infrequent basis. We will discuss in class the principles of media relations that will help the students have guidelines to deal with the media. In sports, when a crisis occurs with a team or player, it rarely escapes the news. In class, we will discuss how to deal with a crisis internally, as well as externally (with the media).

5. Selecting Talent: In sports – as well as business perhaps – the most critical factor in the success of a team is the talent on the team. The difference in sports, however, is that selecting talent for a team is much more restrictive due to the mechanisms you have to deal with, such as a draft, salary cap, and player contract restrictions. There are also restrictions on hiring front office personnel away from other teams so it is also important to be proficient in selecting talent, but also it is important to develop talent. In class, we will discuss what sports teams look for in selecting talent – both in players and head coaches (CEO).

6. Dealing with Different Situations: I have picked six common situations that happen in sports and will discuss how to handle each situation. These six situations are: Newly-named coach; Extended losing streak; Extended winning streak; Sustaining a winning streak; Sustaining success after a big season; and Rebounding from a poor season.

Georgetown MBA is a general management program. We will not have a specified concentration in our diploma. The career tracks in the career management session are for reference and students are not obligated to take a track or a set of courses under certain track (except for the core courses everyone takes.) However, the career tracks are very informative since the information is from comprehensive surveys of faculty, recruiters and alumni.

Hi Lin, thank you so much for sharing with us your Georgetown experience and insights! I am an applicant for the Fall 2010 admission. Profile includes: GMAT 740+5.5, GPA 2.95, 3-Yr energy consulting experience (with a top 20 U.S. consulting firm, in Canada) by the time of admission. I have completed my CFA Level II exam, doing the ERP (Energy Risk Professional) certification now.

I really like Georgetown's global business oriented program design. I am a Chinese, but I will apply as a Canadian citizen. How do I stand in this application? Somewhere close to the mainstream profile or way out of league? What are my chances?

Since my career thus far is concentrated in energy industry, especially renewable energy sector, my career goal is to eventually establish my own energy investment firm that promotes wider adoption of green energy technologies and projects in both China and North America. The main motivation to take this positioning is a call for socially responsible investment in the energy sector.

Thanks for your advice!

-- by 会员 topmba2009 (2009/11/14 2:57:58)