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

叶之舞

Hi Jon,

Appreciate your answers and comments here, quite useful.

eswee

Hi Jon,


I read your comment on career changing and it brought more questions from me.
I am an engineer. It means, well, I WILL switch to a new career path after business school.
I would say admission officers are already sure about the fact that engineer applicants are career switchers, and they accept it.


My question is, is it better to tell them I want to stay in my current company/industry and to work my way up to management level, or, to tell them I want to work as consultant who focuses the industry he had worked in prior to business school? The latter is my real passion. And I think it assures the adcom because it does imply transferable skills & background knowledge.


Cheers,
Han

QUESTION:

I believe most b-school applicants intend to land a different job (either in another industry or in another position, or both) after they get their MBA. But I’ve heard you say that adcoms don’t like career-switchers. So how do I deliver an essay that speaks my mind and is honest, and, at the same time, convinces the adcom?

ANSWER:

It’s easy, dude.

Don’t talk about career changes in your essays for the adcom.

I know that doesn’t seem to make sense but stick with your past background. Speak your mind…as though you were going to stay along the lines of your current job. That is your best bet for sure.

Career changes make adcoms nervous. Why? Well, here’s the deal. Adcoms like people who prove they will be wildly successful one day. (Wildly successful people make b-schools look good. They also make a lot of money….and then donate that money back to the school that helped them get there. Yes, even business school is a business.) And for adcoms, someone who has experience in a field are much more likely to be successful than someone who doesn’t.

Think about it. If you were reading two applications and both people wanted to own their own hedge fund one day, but one applicant has worked at a hedge fund for 5 years and other has spent the past 5 years in consulting ….who do YOU think would have a better chance at achieving that long-term goal?

The truth is, it doesn’t matter how badly to WANT to make that career change; the adcom is going to go for the sure thing. And that, my friend, is not the career switcher.

So…why bother? Why stick with the career-change story? Why take that risk? Just stick to what you know in your application and show those adcoms that you’re a sure thing.

Then, once you’ve got that MBA under your belt, you can switch careers as many times as you want.

It worked for me….

– Jon Frank

-- by 会员 JonFrank (2011/10/14 23:52:37)

JonFrank

Hi Jon,


I read your comment on career changing and it brought more questions from me.
I am an engineer. It means, well, I WILL switch to a new career path after business school.
I would say admission officers are already sure about the fact that engineer applicants are career switchers, and they accept it.


My question is, is it better to tell them I want to stay in my current company/industry and to work my way up to management level, or, to tell them I want to work as consultant who focuses the industry he had worked in prior to business school? The latter is my real passion. And I think it assures the adcom because it does imply transferable skills & background knowledge.


Cheers,
Han

QUESTION:

I believe most b-school applicants intend to land a different job (either in another industry or in another position, or both) after they get their MBA. But I’ve heard you say that adcoms don’t like career-switchers. So how do I deliver an essay that speaks my mind and is honest, and, at the same time, convinces the adcom?

ANSWER:

It’s easy, dude.

Don’t talk about career changes in your essays for the adcom.

I know that doesn’t seem to make sense but stick with your past background. Speak your mind…as though you were going to stay along the lines of your current job. That is your best bet for sure.

Career changes make adcoms nervous. Why? Well, here’s the deal. Adcoms like people who prove they will be wildly successful one day. (Wildly successful people make b-schools look good. They also make a lot of money….and then donate that money back to the school that helped them get there. Yes, even business school is a business.) And for adcoms, someone who has experience in a field are much more likely to be successful than someone who doesn’t.

Think about it. If you were reading two applications and both people wanted to own their own hedge fund one day, but one applicant has worked at a hedge fund for 5 years and other has spent the past 5 years in consulting ….who do YOU think would have a better chance at achieving that long-term goal?

The truth is, it doesn’t matter how badly to WANT to make that career change; the adcom is going to go for the sure thing. And that, my friend, is not the career switcher.

So…why bother? Why stick with the career-change story? Why take that risk? Just stick to what you know in your application and show those adcoms that you’re a sure thing.

Then, once you’ve got that MBA under your belt, you can switch careers as many times as you want.

It worked for me….

– Jon Frank

-- by 会员 JonFrank (2011/10/14 23:52:37)

-- by 会员 eswee (2011/10/30 20:50:04)

Han, yes it is true that no engineer would go to business school hoping to remain an engineer.  After all, that would be a good reason to go to engineering school (not BUSINESS school.)  So your challenge will be to talk about SOME kind of career where there is a STRONG connection to engineering.  roduct management, or consulting could BOTH work.  just be sure to draw a VERY strong connection between your past experience and your future goals…


Jon Frank
Founder PrecisionEssay

可乐罐子

Getting Over Writer’s Block
QUESTION:

I finally decided on the list of schools I’ll be applying to in Round 2 this year and now it’s time to start my essays. I just… don’t really know where to start. Or how. Got any tips for getting over writer’s block and getting words on paper?

ANSWER:

Hey there, happy to answer this question.  We get it often–it’s “an oldie but goodie” around these parts.  Let’s get into it.

If you are stuck in front of a complicated-looking batch of questions, the first thing to do is… ignore them.  All of em.  Ignore the questions.  Instead, focus on the stories you’ve gotta tell.  List ‘em, write ‘em down.  What are your greatest hits?

The key is for you to tell YOUR stories.  So, no matter WHAT the questions are, you need to make sure that you talk about the best, coolest, most impressive things that you have done.  Back when I was younger (and I’m not thaaat old) we used to buy CDs.  And nobody really knew anything about Bob Marley, but everyone had the Legend album.  So why am I talking about this?  Because THAT album is Bob’s legacy.  What are YOUR greatest hits?  Don’t pick the essay question that is easiest to write. Forget the essay questions all together!  Think about what your GREATEST HITS are, what your best stories are.  Then figure out how to fit your stories into THOSE questions.

Now, there is a risk here.  The risk is that you ignore the essay questions, and somehow find a way to write essays that have NOTHING to do with the question asked.  Hmmm. That would be bad. Don’t do that. What you should do is find a way to make YOUR stories ACTUALLY answer the question.  So, how will you do that? That’s what you’ve gotta figure out.  But I’ve gotta tell ya, the same story can be tweaked a zillion ways to answer…ANY question.

When I applied to bschool, my best story was the time I built my very first building as a real estate developer.  And if need be, I could tell that as my greatest success (building the thing), my greatest failure (it didn’t get done til after I left the company), a great leadership exercise (I had a team working for me), a great teamwork exercise (I worked with a team)…you get the idea.  But no matter WHAT they asked me in the app, one thing was for certain: I was gonna tell that story in every single app.

And it worked. For every school I applied to…

So for those of you dealing with writer’s block, step away from the computer, channel your inner Bob Marley and think about what would be on your Legend album. Then get writing.

Good luck,
– Jon Frank

-- by 会员 JonFrank (2011/10/25 23:43:25)

hi John, after reading your suggestions on the essay, I have a quick question.
I worked as an auditor in the big 4 for about 4 years. I mean I certainly have some stories in the big 4 to tell but these stories seems would be a little bit overlapped with the stories of other big 4 applicants, which is a big pool of competitors.
On the other hand, I really had an interesting life when I was in the university, so I have some cool stories to tell as a students(took part in the first Shakespear Play in our university, led the cheer leading teaming of the school to win severial competitions and many backpacking experiences), so should I focus on the stories during the work or should I mention my stories as a student? will the adcoms think school lifes are too far away for the MBA applicants? Or the best option is mention both the experiences in work and as a student, but how to allocate the percentage?
Oh, another question. About the recommendation letters. Almost every school require two recommendations. But since I have only worked in one company, should I get both the letters from one company or should I get one of them from one of my internships? I mean if I get both letters from one company, will the adcoms be bored? But I got the internship almost 4 years ago and I only did it for 2 month.
And about the reference letter, which is better? The letter come from a manager (one know me a lot) or one come from a partner( higher level but just a nodding acquaintance)?

ballackahn

Hi Jon,

Appreciate your answers and comments here, quite useful. Could you please help to evaluate my background below and give some advice?

My background:

W/E: 2 yrs in in a Fortune 500 company as management trainee, mainly do some sales and marketing job.
      from this July, I joined my father's company, assuming general manager, the company focusing on mining.
G: 760+3.5 T :100 I plan to retake T to get a higher score for R2
Bachelor in Eningeering In China top school GPA:3.6+
Other: a founder of a charity foundation which donates 0.5M USD a year to help orphans ,permanent director of the 3rd council of China Charity Federation
Career goal: entrepreneurship in US in short-term, developing my home business in long-term  
Target School: R2: HBS CBS Stanford(dream school)  Yale  Wharton R1:MIT Duke Tuck

Thank you for your help.

JonFrank

Getting Over Writer’s Block
QUESTION:

I finally decided on the list of schools I’ll be applying to in Round 2 this year and now it’s time to start my essays. I just… don’t really know where to start. Or how. Got any tips for getting over writer’s block and getting words on paper?

ANSWER:

Hey there, happy to answer this question.  We get it often–it’s “an oldie but goodie” around these parts.  Let’s get into it.

If you are stuck in front of a complicated-looking batch of questions, the first thing to do is… ignore them.  All of em.  Ignore the questions.  Instead, focus on the stories you’ve gotta tell.  List ‘em, write ‘em down.  What are your greatest hits?

The key is for you to tell YOUR stories.  So, no matter WHAT the questions are, you need to make sure that you talk about the best, coolest, most impressive things that you have done.  Back when I was younger (and I’m not thaaat old) we used to buy CDs.  And nobody really knew anything about Bob Marley, but everyone had the Legend album.  So why am I talking about this?  Because THAT album is Bob’s legacy.  What are YOUR greatest hits?  Don’t pick the essay question that is easiest to write. Forget the essay questions all together!  Think about what your GREATEST HITS are, what your best stories are.  Then figure out how to fit your stories into THOSE questions.

Now, there is a risk here.  The risk is that you ignore the essay questions, and somehow find a way to write essays that have NOTHING to do with the question asked.  Hmmm. That would be bad. Don’t do that. What you should do is find a way to make YOUR stories ACTUALLY answer the question.  So, how will you do that? That’s what you’ve gotta figure out.  But I’ve gotta tell ya, the same story can be tweaked a zillion ways to answer…ANY question.

When I applied to bschool, my best story was the time I built my very first building as a real estate developer.  And if need be, I could tell that as my greatest success (building the thing), my greatest failure (it didn’t get done til after I left the company), a great leadership exercise (I had a team working for me), a great teamwork exercise (I worked with a team)…you get the idea.  But no matter WHAT they asked me in the app, one thing was for certain: I was gonna tell that story in every single app.

And it worked. For every school I applied to…

So for those of you dealing with writer’s block, step away from the computer, channel your inner Bob Marley and think about what would be on your Legend album. Then get writing.

Good luck,
– Jon Frank

-- by 会员 JonFrank (2011/10/25 23:43:25)

hi John, after reading your suggestions on the essay, I have a quick question.
I worked as an auditor in the big 4 for about 4 years. I mean I certainly have some stories in the big 4 to tell but these stories seems would be a little bit overlapped with the stories of other big 4 applicants, which is a big pool of competitors.
On the other hand, I really had an interesting life when I was in the university, so I have some cool stories to tell as a students(took part in the first Shakespear Play in our university, led the cheer leading teaming of the school to win severial competitions and many backpacking experiences), so should I focus on the stories during the work or should I mention my stories as a student? will the adcoms think school lifes are too far away for the MBA applicants? Or the best option is mention both the experiences in work and as a student, but how to allocate the percentage?
Oh, another question. About the recommendation letters. Almost every school require two recommendations. But since I have only worked in one company, should I get both the letters from one company or should I get one of them from one of my internships? I mean if I get both letters from one company, will the adcoms be bored? But I got the internship almost 4 years ago and I only did it for 2 month.
And about the reference letter, which is better? The letter come from a manager (one know me a lot) or one come from a partner( higher level but just a nodding acquaintance)?

-- by 会员 可乐罐子 (2011/11/7 22:41:58)

Hey there—gosh lots of questions!  J  I will do my best to answer all of them for you.  Yes, since it is business school, you will need to focus more than 50% on BUSINESS, and not on undergraduate work.  The college stuff is okay for one essay, but no more than that for sure.  And it is ideal to have a letter of recommendation from two different places; perhaps someone at university?  Or someone who is connected with your extra-curriculars?  That would be ideal for you, to have two kinds of people.  The Internship is better than two recs from the same place.  Hope this helps my friend!


Jon Frank
Founder PrecisionEssay

可乐罐子

Getting Over Writer’s Block
QUESTION:

I finally decided on the list of schools I’ll be applying to in Round 2 this year and now it’s time to start my essays. I just… don’t really know where to start. Or how. Got any tips for getting over writer’s block and getting words on paper?

ANSWER:

Hey there, happy to answer this question.  We get it often–it’s “an oldie but goodie” around these parts.  Let’s get into it.

If you are stuck in front of a complicated-looking batch of questions, the first thing to do is… ignore them.  All of em.  Ignore the questions.  Instead, focus on the stories you’ve gotta tell.  List ‘em, write ‘em down.  What are your greatest hits?

The key is for you to tell YOUR stories.  So, no matter WHAT the questions are, you need to make sure that you talk about the best, coolest, most impressive things that you have done.  Back when I was younger (and I’m not thaaat old) we used to buy CDs.  And nobody really knew anything about Bob Marley, but everyone had the Legend album.  So why am I talking about this?  Because THAT album is Bob’s legacy.  What are YOUR greatest hits?  Don’t pick the essay question that is easiest to write. Forget the essay questions all together!  Think about what your GREATEST HITS are, what your best stories are.  Then figure out how to fit your stories into THOSE questions.

Now, there is a risk here.  The risk is that you ignore the essay questions, and somehow find a way to write essays that have NOTHING to do with the question asked.  Hmmm. That would be bad. Don’t do that. What you should do is find a way to make YOUR stories ACTUALLY answer the question.  So, how will you do that? That’s what you’ve gotta figure out.  But I’ve gotta tell ya, the same story can be tweaked a zillion ways to answer…ANY question.

When I applied to bschool, my best story was the time I built my very first building as a real estate developer.  And if need be, I could tell that as my greatest success (building the thing), my greatest failure (it didn’t get done til after I left the company), a great leadership exercise (I had a team working for me), a great teamwork exercise (I worked with a team)…you get the idea.  But no matter WHAT they asked me in the app, one thing was for certain: I was gonna tell that story in every single app.

And it worked. For every school I applied to…

So for those of you dealing with writer’s block, step away from the computer, channel your inner Bob Marley and think about what would be on your Legend album. Then get writing.

Good luck,
– Jon Frank

-- by 会员 JonFrank (2011/10/25 23:43:25)

hi John, after reading your suggestions on the essay, I have a quick question.
I worked as an auditor in the big 4 for about 4 years. I mean I certainly have some stories in the big 4 to tell but these stories seems would be a little bit overlapped with the stories of other big 4 applicants, which is a big pool of competitors.
On the other hand, I really had an interesting life when I was in the university, so I have some cool stories to tell as a students(took part in the first Shakespear Play in our university, led the cheer leading teaming of the school to win severial competitions and many backpacking experiences), so should I focus on the stories during the work or should I mention my stories as a student? will the adcoms think school lifes are too far away for the MBA applicants? Or the best option is mention both the experiences in work and as a student, but how to allocate the percentage?
Oh, another question. About the recommendation letters. Almost every school require two recommendations. But since I have only worked in one company, should I get both the letters from one company or should I get one of them from one of my internships? I mean if I get both letters from one company, will the adcoms be bored? But I got the internship almost 4 years ago and I only did it for 2 month.
And about the reference letter, which is better? The letter come from a manager (one know me a lot) or one come from a partner( higher level but just a nodding acquaintance)?

-- by 会员 可乐罐子 (2011/11/7 22:41:58)

Hey there—gosh lots of questions!  J  I will do my best to answer all of them for you.  Yes, since it is business school, you will need to focus more than 50% on BUSINESS, and not on undergraduate work.  The college stuff is okay for one essay, but no more than that for sure.  And it is ideal to have a letter of recommendation from two different places; perhaps someone at university?  Or someone who is connected with your extra-curriculars?  That would be ideal for you, to have two kinds of people.  The Internship is better than two recs from the same place.  Hope this helps my friend!


Jon Frank
Founder PrecisionEssay

-- by 会员 JonFrank (2011/11/8 13:25:43)

Thanks Jon, now I know what to do

ballackahn

Hi Jon,

Appreciate your answers and comments here, quite useful. Could you please help to evaluate my background below and give some advice?

My background:

W/E: 2 yrs in in a Fortune 500 company as management trainee, mainly do some sales and marketing job.
     from this July, I joined my father's company, assuming general manager, the company focusing on mining.
G: 760+3.5 T :100 I plan to retake T to get a higher score for R2
Bachelor in Eningeering In China top school GPA:3.6+
Other: a founder of a charity foundation which donates 0.5M USD a year to help orphans ,permanent director of the 3rd council of China Charity Federation
Career goal: entrepreneurship in US in short-term, developing my home business in long-term  
Target School: R2: HBS CBS Stanford(dream school)  Yale  Wharton R1:MIT Duke Tuck

Thank you for your help.

JonFrank

Hi Jon,

Appreciate your answers and comments here, quite useful. Could you please help to evaluate my background below and give some advice?

My background:

W/E: 2 yrs in in a Fortune 500 company as management trainee, mainly do some sales and marketing job.
     from this July, I joined my father's company, assuming general manager, the company focusing on mining.
G: 760+3.5 T :100 I plan to retake T to get a higher score for R2
Bachelor in Eningeering In China top school GPA:3.6+
Other: a founder of a charity foundation which donates 0.5M USD a year to help orphans ,permanent director of the 3rd council of China Charity Federation
Career goal: entrepreneurship in US in short-term, developing my home business in long-term  
Target School: R2: HBS CBS Stanford(dream school)  Yale  Wharton R1:MIT Duke Tuck

Thank you for your help.

-- by 会员 ballackahn (2011/11/10 12:27:38)

Hey there—I will make this simple for you my friend.  I LOVE your profile…if you can raise your TOEFL score.  J  With your current TOEFL, you will have a hard time getting into any of these places.  With a new TOEFL (105 or better) you WILL have a shot.  You don’t need the 109 to get into HBS, but you DO need to be 105 or better—your 100 is y our biggest liability right now for sure.  if you can fix that, you will be in great shape this year.  And of course, you will need amazing essays of course….  Hope this helps and good luck!


Jon Frank
Founder PrecisionEssay

JonFrank

QUESTION:

I planned on applying for my MBA last year but my GMAT score just wasn’t good enough and I had to re-take it. Now I’m 31 years old and want to start an MBA program in 2012. Am I too old to get into a full-time top 15 program? Is it easier to do part-time? And if so, will that look as good for employers?

ANSWER:

At age 31 it is late to get in. But it’s not impossible. Military guys and international students will make up most of the peeps who are at school in their 30′s. If you don’t fall into either of those categories, however, you still have a shot. And a good one at that.

First of all, consider European programs where the average ages tend to be older.  Also, there are some US programs that also have older average ages. Tuck, Wharton and Ross are open to older applicants, as well as others. Some other schools, like HBS and Stanford, will be virtually impossible to crack at this point. Do some research and find out the average ages for students at various b-schools.  I know US News and World report has that information, as do b-school forums like Beat the GMAT and GMAT Club.

Since part-time programs are SO much easier to get into, I’d say at age 31 that it’s still worth trying to get into a full-time program.  That’s where you meet the most folks, learn the most, tap into the best networks, etc. Give the full-time thing one last try before digging into other programs.  At age 31 (assuming your test scores are solid now), you should be juuuust fine.

Good luck this year!

– Jon Frank

Founder