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

JonFrank

Hey gang, Jon Frank here, your friendly neighborhood MBA consultant and relationship advisor.
Lets talk about relationships, shall we?
A client just emailed me, asking what bschool will mean for his relationship (with his girlfriend.) "How hard will it be to do a long distance relationship?"
First, some disclaimers. When it comes to relationships, I am NO expert (as my dismal track record will indicate). So all I can describe is what I saw while at HBS (where I graduated in 2005). And the answer is...when you get to school gang, you will be busy. BUSY. YOU WILL BE BUSY. Busier than you have ever been, most likely. The first semester at school is going to be among the busiest time of your life. This is why so many long distance (or otherwise tenuous) relationships do not last while one person is at bschool. It is VERY hard to maintain relationships while you are working til 3AM every night, and up for study group at 730AM every morning. Right? Right.
Is it possible? Of course it is, and many will do it. But ask any of em--that sh*t is HARD to pull off.
Now. This is of course not relationship advice. Yall need to do what you need to do--pop the question, dont pop the question, bring him/her with ya to school or dont. But whatever you do, dont kid yourself. Once you get to school gang, all your time will be BOOKED. Solid. At the very least prepare your significant other for that fact. There is no way around it.
And proceed with caution.

Jon Frank

simonwalker

Thanks Frank, great job here. you've brought some fresh thoughts and insights to us.
i was wondering what do you think of those applicants with pure entrepreneurship experience? i have been with the company I founded for three years directly upon graduation from college, got some good stories during these years. the monthly revenue of the firm is stabilized at around 40W RMB now(kinda in a bottleneck). I am currently facing a dillemma of choosing from applying B-schools and go to another large corporation in the same industry as my start-up. (middle-level manager). what do you think?

My concern is without large corporation experience, will schools question my professional ability? pretty rare to see someone enter a school without 'real work experience'(excluding stanford)another issue is the recommendation, my only option are partners if I stick here. if i take the offer from the big company, I can't see myself applying until 1.5 years later otherwise the rush may not seem reasonable.
Academic wise: undergraduate in China, master in top canadian schools, decent GPA, decent GMAT.
would be highly appreciative if you can offer some advice.

JonFrank

Thanks Frank, great job here. you've brought some fresh thoughts and insights to us.
i was wondering what do you think of those applicants with pure entrepreneurship experience? i have been with the company I founded for three years directly upon graduation from college, got some good stories during these years. the monthly revenue of the firm is stabilized at around 40W RMB now(kinda in a bottleneck). I am currently facing a dillemma of choosing from applying B-schools and go to another large corporation in the same industry as my start-up. (middle-level manager). what do you think?

My concern is without large corporation experience, will schools question my professional ability? pretty rare to see someone enter a school without 'real work experience'(excluding stanford)another issue is the recommendation, my only option are partners if I stick here. if i take the offer from the big company, I can't see myself applying until 1.5 years later otherwise the rush may not seem reasonable.
Academic wise: undergraduate in China, master in top canadian schools, decent GPA, decent GMAT.
would be highly appreciative if you can offer some advice.

-- by 会员 simonwalker (2011/3/20 11:48:58)

Hello my friend, always happy to offer up some feedback.  The first thing is that while you would be well-advised to get some “real” work experience, you don’t need it.  We work with clients every year (including from China and India) who will get in with purely their entrepreneurial background.  So is it harder?  Yes, of course it is.  But it IS possible.

If you can afford to wait 1.5 years (as long as you wont be in your mid thirties by the time you have spent those years) then it would improve your odds.  But you don’t absolutely NEED that experience.  It would just be helpful.  Hope this makes sense—let me know how we can help!

Jon Frank

simonwalker

Thanks Frank, great job here. you've brought some fresh thoughts and insights to us.
i was wondering what do you think of those applicants with pure entrepreneurship experience? i have been with the company I founded for three years directly upon graduation from college, got some good stories during these years. the monthly revenue of the firm is stabilized at around 40W RMB now(kinda in a bottleneck). I am currently facing a dillemma of choosing from applying B-schools and go to another large corporation in the same industry as my start-up. (middle-level manager). what do you think?

My concern is without large corporation experience, will schools question my professional ability? pretty rare to see someone enter a school without 'real work experience'(excluding stanford)another issue is the recommendation, my only option are partners if I stick here. if i take the offer from the big company, I can't see myself applying until 1.5 years later otherwise the rush may not seem reasonable.
Academic wise: undergraduate in China, master in top canadian schools, decent GPA, decent GMAT.
would be highly appreciative if you can offer some advice.

-- by 会员 simonwalker (2011/3/20 11:48:58)

Hello my friend, always happy to offer up some feedback.  The first thing is that while you would be well-advised to get some “real” work experience, you don’t need it.  We work with clients every year (including from China and India) who will get in with purely their entrepreneurial background.  So is it harder?  Yes, of course it is.  But it IS possible.

If you can afford to wait 1.5 years (as long as you wont be in your mid thirties by the time you have spent those years) then it would improve your odds.  But you don’t absolutely NEED that experience.  It would just be helpful.  Hope this makes sense—let me know how we can help!

Jon Frank

-- by 会员 JonFrank (2011/3/24 19:31:46)

thanks Frank, age is not a problem for me, still in middle 20s. So you were saying that entrepreneurship+corporation gives better chance than pure entrepreneurship? are there any particular reasons why pure entrepreneurs were not favored? what are those shools that are more entrepreneur-friendly?

gelukkig

XXX

chengya

Hi Jon,

I am now in the waiting list of Duke in Round 2 (Health Care Management Program).  Could you please tell me how much hope I still have to be accepted? What I should do now to pursue it? If I still have a little bit hope, I will take whatever it takes to do it.

My background: MD, PhD ( USA degree).  Have two years experience as  cardiologist. Couples years research and management experience in American biotech (startup) and pharmaceutical industries (currently in Covance).

Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you very much.

Chengya

JonFrank

Hi Jon, If I believe my relationship/break up with my ex influenced me a lot, can I mention  this in my essay?

-- by 会员 gelukkig (2011/3/25 5:06:21)

Hey there—the answer is that…there is a chance that this could be appropriate.  Off-hand it sounds a bit unprofessional—but in the event that you can make it sound as though you learned a lot, and as though it was a very mature relationship, then YES it can work.  Remember, it doesn’t really matter what you write about, so long as you describe some meaningful LEARNINGS along the way.  So if you have the learning to talk about, then yes, you might be able to make this work.  Good luck!


Jon Frank

JonFrank

Hi Jon,

I am now in the waiting list of Duke in Round 2 (Health Care Management Program).  Could you please tell me how much hope I still have to be accepted? What I should do now to pursue it? If I still have a little bit hope, I will take whatever it takes to do it.

My background: MD, PhD ( USA degree).  Have two years experience as  cardiologist. Couples years research and management experience in American biotech (startup) and pharmaceutical industries (currently in Covance).

Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you very much.

Chengya

-- by 会员 chengya (2011/3/26 7:00:40)

Hey there!  It is great that you’ve made some good progress—hopefully we can help here.  There are three ways to improve your chances on the waitlist:

1)      Submit an additional letter of recommendation.  (LOR).  Do you have someone whom you haven’t asked yet? Perhaps someone who can speak to a different aspect of your application?  Even someone connected to the program would go a long way.
2)      Visit.  While this is difficult from overseas, this is one way to improve your chances.  It is always great to help adcoms put a face behind the name.  Send em an email, and say that you are headed there to visit, and you’d love to “pop your head in and introduce yourself.”  If you can pull it off, that’s a great plan.
3)      An additional essay/letter.  Is there anything that you haven’t captured yet in your application?  Anything new or cool or interesting that you have done, worth updating them on?  Hope so—write a letter!  Tell them how interested you are in the program, and that you have achieved a great deal SINCE submitting your app.

If you do all these three things, you will maximize your chances of breaking through the waitlist…


           Hope this helps, and good luck to you!


Jon Frank

Knockoff

haha, my dear Jon, since when you tap into marriage counseling?

chengya

Hi Jon,

I am now in the waiting list of Duke in Round 2 (Health Care Management Program).  Could you please tell me how much hope I still have to be accepted? What I should do now to pursue it? If I still have a little bit hope, I will take whatever it takes to do it.

My background: MD, PhD ( USA degree).  Have two years experience as  cardiologist. Couples years research and management experience in American biotech (startup) and pharmaceutical industries (currently in Covance).

Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you very much.

Chengya

-- by 会员 chengya (2011/3/26 7:00:40)

Hey there!  It is great that you’ve made some good progress—hopefully we can help here.  There are three ways to improve your chances on the waitlist:

1)      Submit an additional letter of recommendation.  (LOR).  Do you have someone whom you haven’t asked yet? Perhaps someone who can speak to a different aspect of your application?  Even someone connected to the program would go a long way.
2)      Visit.  While this is difficult from overseas, this is one way to improve your chances.  It is always great to help adcoms put a face behind the name.  Send em an email, and say that you are headed there to visit, and you’d love to “pop your head in and introduce yourself.”  If you can pull it off, that’s a great plan.
3)      An additional essay/letter.  Is there anything that you haven’t captured yet in your application?  Anything new or cool or interesting that you have done, worth updating them on?  Hope so—write a letter!  Tell them how interested you are in the program, and that you have achieved a great deal SINCE submitting your app.

If you do all these three things, you will maximize your chances of breaking through the waitlist…


           Hope this helps, and good luck to you!


Jon Frank

-- by 会员 JonFrank (2011/3/27 17:55:24)

Thank you for your advice, Jon.  Couple more questions:


Duke provided us an email address (mbawaitlist@fuqua.duke.edu) to submit any additional information to them.   Should I just submit my additional recommendation and  letters to that email address or there is a better way to do it (such as, asking somebody in Duke to hand deliver it)?  


Can I provide more than one additional recommendation ( on the email from Duke, it says you can provide an additional recommendation), so I don't know whether the numbers of additional recommendation matters?


Somebody told me I could ask Duke's MBA student write an recommendation . So, if somebody already in Duke MBA write an recommendation, is that a better choice?


I am actually in DC now and work in a pharmaceutical industry (Covance). So, if I do the campus visiting, should I mention to the admission officer that I am on the round2 waitlist?


I am currently working with couple people in healthcare industry to establish a Linkedin group ( a subgroup of the nationally recognized ProActive HealthCare USA). The vision is to provide a forum for healthcare leaders ( pharma and biotech CEOs) to discuss key issue of healthcare industry. I am the ambassador manager/moderator of this new group. I want to write a letter to Duke regarding this. Do you think it's a good idea? If it is, can you give me some suggestions how I should approach this letter for the best effect?


We do have hope to get in if we are on waitlist, right?


Thank you very much, Jon


Chengya