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

chengya

Hi Jon,

The Wharton essay " if you were able to create a Wharton course on any topic, what would it be?"  I don't understand what they really want you to say here. Could you give me some insight?

The other one " discuss a time when you navigated a challenging experience in either a personal or professional relationship".  Here the "relationship" refers to the relationship between people, right?  Can you give me some insight about what i need to address in this essay?   Thank you very much.

jueasign

Hi Jon, I've been following your tips for long. Thank you so much for the generous sharing! I believe all of us appreciate that a lot! Wanna ask a general question: Some schools' essays or interviews would ask about the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate. "ay too much attention to details" and "pursue perfection" are attributes that are being talked about too often. But for "too little experience", it might not be appropriate if the weakness should be a personality one. Therefore, wonder what do you think are the good answers here? Anything that can be improved via MBA program and at the same time are real weaknesses? Many thanks!

JonFrank

Hi Jon,

The Wharton essay " if you were able to create a Wharton course on any topic, what would it be?"  I don't understand what they really want you to say here. Could you give me some insight?

The other one " discuss a time when you navigated a challenging experience in either a personal or professional relationship".  Here the "relationship" refers to the relationship between people, right?  Can you give me some insight about what i need to address in this essay?   Thank you very much.

-- by 会员 chengya (2010/12/12 12:20:27)

Hey there!  First of all, make sure to check out our website—we do have analysis on most of the schools’ essays.  But let me try to shed some light here.  As you write your Course essay, keep in mind that other people need to want to take the class.  So…if you are a specialist in traffic studies, for example, you might be tempted to make a class in “Traffic Studies.”  That way, you could write an essay aaaaall about your expertise.  But here’s the thing—your classmates would need to WANT to take the class.  Right?  Why would your Wharton classmates care about “Traffic Studies?”  Instead, you may need to make the traffic class RELEVENT to everyone else.  “The Business of Traffic in the Developing World.”  Now THAT sounds cool—that could be relevant to many of your peers.  Right?  Anyone interested in China, India, developing markets, entrepreneurs, you get the idea.  So that’s one of the keys to this Wharton essay, remember—it has to be a class that people will wanna take.  J  And yes, the answer to your other question is that the relationship will most likely be between people.  They wanna see how you deal with difficult interpersonal circumstances.  They wanna know that you can solve problems not just w the company, but also…with people.
Good luck!


Jon Frank

chengya

Hi Jon,

The Wharton essay " if you were able to create a Wharton course on any topic, what would it be?"  I don't understand what they really want you to say here. Could you give me some insight?

The other one " discuss a time when you navigated a challenging experience in either a personal or professional relationship".  Here the "relationship" refers to the relationship between people, right?  Can you give me some insight about what i need to address in this essay?   Thank you very much.

-- by 会员 chengya (2010/12/12 12:20:27)

Hey there!  First of all, make sure to check out our website—we do have analysis on most of the schools’ essays.  But let me try to shed some light here.  As you write your Course essay, keep in mind that other people need to want to take the class.  So…if you are a specialist in traffic studies, for example, you might be tempted to make a class in “Traffic Studies.”  That way, you could write an essay aaaaall about your expertise.  But here’s the thing—your classmates would need to WANT to take the class.  Right?  Why would your Wharton classmates care about “Traffic Studies?”  Instead, you may need to make the traffic class RELEVENT to everyone else.  “The Business of Traffic in the Developing World.”  Now THAT sounds cool—that could be relevant to many of your peers.  Right?  Anyone interested in China, India, developing markets, entrepreneurs, you get the idea.  So that’s one of the keys to this Wharton essay, remember—it has to be a class that people will wanna take.  J  And yes, the answer to your other question is that the relationship will most likely be between people.  They wanna see how you deal with difficult interpersonal circumstances.  They wanna know that you can solve problems not just w the company, but also…with people.
Good luck!


Jon Frank

-- by 会员 JonFrank (2010/12/13 0:08:31)

Thanks for your advice, Jon. I read the articles on your website. They are really great. But I still have a question on this Course essays. What I should write there? Explain the content of the course? or explain why I want to create this course? What kinds of business mind should show here,  leadership (doesn't sounds like), innovative thinking or others?


I can think of a course I want to create, but I am not sure what kind of content I should write about this essays? BTW, i am in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry.  Thank you very much.

honeybutter

Hi Jon,

Thank you for helping here.  I think all the applicants here will be grateful for your inputs.  Most of your answers gave me insights to the application process.

If you got the chance to choose between Columbia, Harvard and Wharton, which would you pick? Is location really important to recruiting and school life? Please do a simple summary of the comparision among these 3 schools. such as pros and cons.

Regards,
christy

honeybutter

Hi, Jon

Here is another question for you from my friend.  How to do the explaination of work gap for a housewife for more than one year if she decides to go back to school and gets her MBA? She had almost 4 years w/e in finance industry and two master degrees both in science and finance before her off work. Any extra infor needed to answer the question? Thanks.

honeybutter

Hi, What's your website again? I couldn't find it.

ben3ben4

Hello Jon,

My reference wrote a letter of 4 pages to UCLA (5 questions in total), and she asked if that would be too long. Do you think a long reference letter is a little boring for the admission committee? Will that affect my application? After all I don't want to bore the admission officers.

Thank you!

Ben

JonFrank

Hi Jon,

Thank you for helping here.  I think all the applicants here will be grateful for your inputs.  Most of your answers gave me insights to the application process.

If you got the chance to choose between Columbia, Harvard and Wharton, which would you pick? Is location really important to recruiting and school life? Please do a simple summary of the comparision among these 3 schools. such as pros and cons.

Regards,
christy

-- by 会员 honeybutter (2010/12/13 13:27:32)

Christy, happy to offer up some thoughts here.  Well I would pick…Harvard of course.  After all, that is where I went.  I got into all the schools you mentioned, and chose Harvard because of its reputation, network, and being surrounded by the smartest people…on earth.  Next I would pick Wharton—it has a slightly better reputation than CBS, although still not quite as competitive (or exclusive) as Harvard.  But it is great for finance, and international aspects also.  While Im not a huge fan of specialized programs (real estate, Lauder, etc.) it does offer some benefits in those areas as well.  And finally, there is CBS.  Great access in NYC especially, although not a ton of school spirit.  Remember tho, CBS is VERY hard to get into at this stage of the game—they’ve already accepted a BIG chunk of their class.  As of today, Wharton is most likely the easiest (of the schools you’ve listed) to get into.  J Good luck!


Jon Frank

JonFrank

Hi, Jon

Here is another question for you from my friend.  How to do the explaination of work gap for a housewife for more than one year if she decides to go back to school and gets her MBA? She had almost 4 years w/e in finance industry and two master degrees both in science and finance before her off work. Any extra infor needed to answer the question? Thanks.

-- by 会员 honeybutter (2010/12/13 13:53:18)

Hey there!  This is…a bit hard to manage.  But if I were you?  I would be…100% honest about it.  I took time off to raise a family.  And this is a benefit to my class—I learned work life balance, I learned AAA and BBB.  Now, beyond just the work life balance stuff, I would also make a point that you did other stuff during this time too.  Like…taking classes?  Learning a language?  What did you do to better yourself during this time?  Hopefully, you have soooomething that you can point to here.  In that way, you can split your answer into two.  Family stuff, and then work-ish stuff.  Not ‘worl’ in the traditional sense, but ways that you were bettering yourself while you stayed home.  Hope this helps!


Jon Frank