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

rabbitoma

Dear Jon:

Could I ask you a question? Now I finished my interview of Yale, and my mentor, Marketing Director TOP 500 company, who is also Yale MBA alumnus is willing to write me an additional recommendation letter to Yale. My question is, is the recommendation letter help? If yes, which mail address should the letter send. Just send to the admissions@yale.edu or send to the Associate Director? Which could ensure the Yale admissions consider the recommendation letter?

Thank you

JonFrank

Dear Jon:

Could I ask you a question? Now I finished my interview of Yale, and my mentor, Marketing Director TOP 500 company, who is also Yale MBA alumnus is willing to write me an additional recommendation letter to Yale. My question is, is the recommendation letter help? If yes, which mail address should the letter send. Just send to the admissions@yale.edu or send to the Associate Director? Which could ensure the Yale admissions consider the recommendation letter?

Thank you

-- by 会员 rabbitoma (2012/2/10 17:19:27)

Hello my friend.  The answer to your question is that YES!  Unless the folks at Yale have asked you specifically NOT to send any more info over (as they do at Wharton for example) then you should be able to send an additional LOR.  You will want to send it to whomever is emailing you, from the admissions committee.  ersonally, I would CC as MANY people on it as you think are relevant, including admissions, the Assistant Dean, etc.  Anyone whom you have had any contact with should receive the thing—just to be sure that “the right person” has a chance to see it.  Hope this helps, and good luck!


Jon Frank
Founder PrecisionEssay

needthat

Dear Jon,

I remember reading in your many posts somewhere that one should go to the best school one could possibly get in. When you say that, do you take into consideration of the financial situations?

I have been lucky to receive a full scholarship at Ross as well as acceptance to MIT. I am also trying for Wharton, interviewing on Friday. It's very difficult to turn down a full scholarship not to mention the fact that Ross is a great school. What is your opinion on this? How much does the reputation of the school you went to matter in your career?

Thanks a lot!

JonFrank

Dear Jon,

I remember reading in your many posts somewhere that one should go to the best school one could possibly get in. When you say that, do you take into consideration of the financial situations?

I have been lucky to receive a full scholarship at Ross as well as acceptance to MIT. I am also trying for Wharton, interviewing on Friday. It's very difficult to turn down a full scholarship not to mention the fact that Ross is a great school. What is your opinion on this? How much does the reputation of the school you went to matter in your career?

Thanks a lot!

-- by 会员 needthat (2012/2/14 3:48:55)

Hello my friend.  Yes, we DO take financial considerations into account—that is, our advice is to try hard to NOT take such considerations into account.  Why?  If you go to Wharton and not Ross, you will make up the $difference 60K in three years, five years max.  And then what happens after those 3-5-7 years?  20 year later?  You have a difference of MILLIONS!  BILLIONS!  J  You get the idea—don’t be “penny wise, pound foolish.”  Go to the best school you can get into.  If you get into Wharton, GO THERE.  MIT is better than Ross in most programs as well—use your scholarship offer to negotiate with MIT…then go to MIT, or Wharton.  Go to the best school you can get into.  $30K a year for 3 years will seem like a lot less in 5 -10 years time.  Hope this helps, and congrats on such a great set of choices！


Jon Frank
PrecisionEssay

needthat

Thank you Jon. What you said is inspiring.
penny wise, pound foolish
I learned a new expression too!

JonFrank

QUESTION:

I’ve just started working on my essays and I’m starting to second-guess my long-term goals. Are there any significant risks if your long-term goals are grand? Say, finding a treatment for AIDs or cancer, or, feeding the hungry in Africa?

ANSWER:

Wow, those are some big goals, dude. And some might say, unrealistic. Now, I don’t want to say that, because who am I to tell you that you won’t find a cure for cancer or feed the hungry in Africa? Gosh, I don’t even know you.

But… they’re a bit unrealistic. And as inspired and inspiring as those goals are, they aren’t going to cut it on your MBA application.

Here’s the deal: business schools are businesses. And businesses aim to make money. And business schools make money from alumni who go on to do great things and donate money, while also giving them a great success statistic to list on their site and lure in new students.

What all that means is that the schools are looking for students who are…well, going to go on and do great things. And while finding a treatment for AIDS is indeed a great thing (who’s gonna argue with that?!), it’s not the most realistic. And why would a school gamble on a guy with some huge (albeit, awesome) dreams, when they can accept the next guy who has a more realistic career path and the skills to get there?

See where I’m going here?

If your long-term goals are indeed to feed the hungry in Africa or rid the world of cancer, more power to you. The world can never have enough people like you. But for the sake of your application, dude, dial it back. Pick a long-term goal that is interesting and challenging, but still attainable.

Maybe that’s running a non-profit that raises money for cancer research. Or maybe it’s completely unrelated to those goals at all, and instead aligns quite nicely with whatever it is you’re doing now.

You don’t HAVE to do what you say you’re gonna do when you apply to b-school.  Getting in is a completely different game, and the way to win is to pick some career goals that make good, rational sense. Once you’re in, you can do whatever it is you want to do. But for the sake of GETTING in, I’d re-think those goals.

Make sense?

I hope so.

– Jon Frank

JonFrank

QUESTION:

I’ve got an interview coming up and I did some due diligence on my interviewer and found his current job and background. Could I mention it during the interview, or would that sound offensive?

ANSWER:

Ah, the old “stalk ‘em on the Internet” trick. I love it. And I love how you call it “due diligence”; sounds way less creepy than saying you “Googled their name, looked ‘em up on LinkedIn and even found their photos on Picasa.”

You should really consider a career in marketing. Something tells me you’d be really good at it….

Anyway, let’s answer that question.

I always tell aaaall of my clients that they should get to know their interviewer, so bravo for taking the first step. Now, I’m not saying you should scroll through their Facebook profile and find out what they did for Valentine’s Day, but you never want to walk into a conversation without knowing at least something about the person you’re about to speak with. How good can the conversation be when it’s totally one-sided?

OK, sure, the purpose of this little meeting is for them to interview and get to know you, but the best way to leave a mark on your interviewer is to do more than just answer their questions and impress them with your background. You gotta connect with them on some level.

And to do that, you gotta find some common ground. And to do THAT, you gotta know something about ‘em. That means knowing his or her current job/background is a great tool to have.

Now, you just need to figure out how to use it right.

What you DON’T want to do is walk in there and say, “So, I read online that you’re from Detroit and have worked your way up at Ford before moving to your current role at XYZ company, and you have a wife, 3 kids and a Golden Retriever named Charlie.”

What you DO want to do is steer the conversation in the right direction, knowing what you know, and get the interviewer to bite the proverbial bait:

You: “I spent some time in Detroit working on a project for ABC company.”

Interviewer: “Oh, you worked on a project in Detroit? I am originally from Detroit.”

You: “Oh yeah? Where abouts?”

See how that works? If you do it right, having that information on your interviewer can really enhance the entire interview experience. So find out whatever you can about the person who will be interviewing you, then figure out a smart way to work it into the thirty or so minutes you’ll have with him/her. That will get the conversation flowing… and a successful interview underway.

May the force be with you,

– Jon Frank

JonFrank

QUESTION:

I’m considering applying to MBA programs in Europe, but I’m a little worried. How has the debt crisis affected job placements in European business schools?

ANSWER:

A valid concern, my friend. And one I am sure maaaany MBA-aspirants are thinking at this very moment. Now, I’m no macroeconomist and I wouldn’t want to make any broad assumptions, but looking at employment statistics of the most recent MBA graduates, the biggest change we see is… well, no change at all.

For the most part…

Of course there are changes. Average salaries of IE students (a program in Spain) went down 23%, as opposed to the previous employment report. However, for graduates of IMD, HEC, IESE (also in Spain), salaries, on average, went up in the single digits. Now, of course, this doesn’t really mean anything statistically significant; it’s just a comparison between two years, and could have more to do with changes in the make-up of the class or the administration of a particular school than anything else.

But what we DO notice is that there is no definite trend. Maybe it is too early, as these are numbers for three years AFTER graduation, and maybe these salary numbers haven’t changed YET. But looking at another stat – that of student employability, for which we have numbers right after graduation – things look good.

Overall, some schools have had drops and others have had increases in the percentage of graduates employed within three months. Again, nothing statistically significant. And nothing we don’t see from year to year. So what it’s looking like is that your chances of getting a good job are pretty much what they were 2, 4, or 10 years ago.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t changes, of course. Certainly there are, but to find trends you will probably have to look at industry specific numbers, and regional or country by country breakdowns of the country in which b-school students DO and DON’T get jobs. (Keep in mind, nobody has numbers for the jobs people aren’t getting, so this is all hypothetical. Also, a lot of work, if you ask me.)

If you really want to know what’s going on in your case, I would say ask around — chat with people in the industry/school/country you are planning to go into. See what they have to say and make a calculated decision based on that.

But remember: by the time you get out, things may have changed already

That help? I hope so.

– Jon Frank

JonFrank

QUESTION:

I tried to get some applications in during Round 2 this year, but work got in the way and I had to push back to Round 3. Everyone I talk to says Round 3 is nearly impossible, but I’m eager to start b-school this fall. Am I making a mistake applying in Round 3? Is there anything I can do to increase my chances of getting in?

ANSWER:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, dude, but what everyone is telling you is right. Round 3 is tough. Really tough. But on the flip side, there wouldn’t BE a Round 3 if no one got in, so you just gotta build yourself an application that’s gonna beat the odds.

There’s no magic formula for that, and as much experience as I have working with MBA applicants (we’ve done nearly 12,000 here at PE), I can’t tell you with 100% certainty what’s gonna work for ya. What I DO know is this: there is no room for error on a Round 3 application.

Your essays are gonna have to be SPOT on. And I’m not just talking about answering the prompts; I’m talking creative, memorable, compelling, etc. The adcom is tired. He or she has spent the past 6 months reading application essays and, naturally, it’s aaaaall blending together. You’re gonna have to pop off the page if you wanna get his or her attention. And the way to do that is to have smart answers, strategic career goals, examples of leadership, and lots and lots of specific details to back it all up. Oh, and it’s all gotta be wrapped up into an essay that grips him or her, and holds on to the end.

And then your LORs will have to complement that nicely. And your resume will have to be TIGHT.

But there’s also one more VERY important thing you’re gonna have to work in there,  and it’s an explanation for why you waited so long to apply. Why didn’t you apply in Round 1 or 2? Why wait until the 11th hour? That’s gonna need to be addressed, dude. After all, if you really wanted to attend this particular b-school so badly, you would have crushed those applications earlier in the year. So you need to explain your reasoning while also proving to the adcom that you’re serious and passionate about getting an MBA.

Weaving aaaall of that together into an application isn’t easy… and that’s why Round 3 is so tough. It’s a complicated dance (not unlike The Dougie), but if you do it right, you can prove all those people wrong, and reach your goal of starting b-school this Fall.

If you’re up for the challenge, go for it. And if you need any help, well, that’s why we’re here.

– Jon Frank

JonFrank

Don’t mean to beat a dead horse here [side note: is there a less gruesome way to say that?], but Round 3 is a tough nut to crack. For many reasons. Which we’ve outlined before. People WILL get in during Round 3, of course, and there are many applicants out there who should apply. But there are also some who should put the breaks on MBA applications right now and come back in Round 1 next year.

And who are those people?

Same-year re-applicants:

So, you applied to Wharton in Round 1 and the news wasn’t so great. And now you wanna give it another go. Don’t. Why? Well, the key to a successful reapplication is proving to the adcom that you’re a stronger, smarter, better applicant this time around. And how on earth can you prove that when it’s only been, what, four months since the last time you applied?

IT’S NOT ENOUGH TIME.

You can’t possibly improve your profile in four months, at least to a noticeable level that’s gonna make the adcom’s mouth water. So don’t even try. Not only will most schools not accept a re-application in the same year, but if they do, it’s not gonna bode well for you. And when that app gets rejected again, which it will, it’s only going to hurt you for Round 1 next year when, again, not enough time has passed for you to improve your profile. See where we’re goin’ with this?

Desperate re-applicants:

Round 3 is already tougher than the others, and navigating it successfully requires some finesse. So the worst thing you can do is rush an application and submit it just because you want to go SOMEWHERE this fall.

If you applied in Rounds 1 and 2 and didn’t get good news, don’t use Round 3 as your final lifeline. The adcoms are smart people, and they can smell your desperation. They can also quickly pinpoint a rushed application, or tell when an applicant doesn’t want their school, just A school.

Instead, take a step back, give yourself some time to evaluate what went wrong earlier in the year, and then give yourself even MORE time to make it right moving forward. Don’t sell yourself short and apply haphazardly just to stick to some pre-determined timeline. B-school is a hugely important step in your life, and you’re only doing yourself a disservice by rushing the process.

Applicants with lower-than-average scores:

Is your GPA lower than last year’s incoming class? What about your GMAT? If the answer is yes, WAIT. The competition is FIERCE in Round 3, and if your application isn’t damn near perfect, you’re wasting your time. Your chances will be muuuuch better in Round 1 next year when there are more spaces available.

Got it? Good.

Now get out there and start working on those Round 1 apps. Yes, it’s early, but the smartest applicants use this extra time to fill in the gaps and improve their profiles. Do it, do it.

-Jon Frank