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

JonFrank

Jon，AWA score is very important?? Mine is 740/4.5, and another one earlier is 660/5, but my tofle writing is 27. Don't scare me here. would be this score has problem if i apply for a top 10 b-school?

-- by 会员 kongkong57 (2010/10/27 20:48:23)

Hello there—Im not out to scare anyone!  ?  Not on purpose anyway.The answer here is that you are right on the borderline.  If you write an AMAZING app, then you will be competitive.  If you write a mediocre
one, you will be less competitive.  Your score isn’t so good that you have nothing to worry about --but it isn’t so bad that all bets are off either.  So, sorry I cant give you a definitive yes or no—you are  literally riiiight in the middle.  With a great app, you should be
fine this year.  That is where you should focus for now…

Jon Frank

JonFrank

Hi Jon,

Thank you for your contribution here in the forum. Your contribution is truly appreciated. I've got some concerns and questions about my background and the choice of schools. If you could give me some insight, it would be very helpful.

My background:
1. Undergraduate: GPA 8.5/12.0 from Top 3 Uni in HK
2. GMAT: 760 +5.0
3. 3yr IBank Analyst Exp with CFA + now out of job
*I quitted the bank early this year because I had been employed under contract but my team could not get any permanent headcount for me (*my dept head and my seniors all wanted to keep me but the bank policy didn’t allow. We got no associate in the team and only hired analysts by 2yr contract). Since then, I worked for a 2month online volunteering project for an US NGO to set up a program in South Africa. After that, I also started a small business which is about selling products in online auction page and social network.
4. Short-term career: some strategic job after mba, such as management consulting or business dev. in international corp. Long-term career: work in NGO to advice corporations in developing countries

My key concern is about my working exp and "out of job status".  
1) I can get my senior and boss to be my recommenders. Is it a good proof that I didn’t get a permanent position just because of bank policy? (During these 3 years, I actually worked as an associate to lead the transaction solely.)
2) Can you advice me how I could tell my story during my out-of-job period? I started my business because I wanted to start a short-term project before mba to learn about business. But so far it is small and operates badly. I am worried that the school might think I have no better choice so I apply for school.

Lastly, given my background, is it too risky that I just apply for the following mba only?
1. Harvard        2. Stanford    3. Wharton    4. Kellogg    5.Michigan

Thank you again Jon. Have a great week ahead!

Thanks,
Raiy

-- by 会员 raiy (2010/10/24 9:38:08)

Raiy, thank you for the thoughtful email.  Yes, you find yourself in a bit of a bind here.  And I believe that we can help.  You will need to do a few things here, and maybe it will work.  First of all, you need, need, need to add a few safer schools to your list.  Add two more programs—perhaps Cornell and UCLA.  Also, consider Babson, both because it is the best entrepreneurship program in the world, and because you will likely get in.

Now, next you will need to write an optional essay that is VERY effective indeed.  Let me try something different for ya.  What if you said…that you left your job.  On purpose.  Could you spin your current role as a full time gig?  That you left your full time job and all its glory, to do something more exciting and entrepreneurial?  You had these two exciting opportunities, and you wanted to pursue them?  THAT would be the most strength you could portray dude.  That you did it all on purpose.  What are our chances we could pull that off?  Might your supervisors sign off on that story?

Jon Frank
Founder,
jfrank@mba2005.hbs.edu

-- by 会员 JonFrank (2010/10/26 15:10:19)

Thank you very much for your advice. I will certainly look at the schools you recommended. But in your opinion, does my background have a chance to those top mba schools?

Actually, I have some potential job opportunties, i.e. research analyst (sell side) and investment analyst (buy side) coming to me these days. Just a little bit concern over here. As the new opportunties are quite different from my previous job (IBD Analyst) or post-MBA career path, would the new/upcoming job (if I put it on my CV) be questionable by the admission officers? Or I would rather choose to hide the new job and present myself as working FT for my business (while I expect myself to continue the business part-time if I get a FT offer) to give a stronger story?

Thanks,
Raiy

-- by 会员 raiy (2010/10/27 20:29:51)

Raiy, yes you do have a chance at the schools that we have mentioned. After all, that is why we suggested them.  ?  And yes, I agree with you—stick to your own business for now from an admissions perspective. If you switch to a new job, especially if it is a new role, the adcom will just be confused.  Given your story, we wanna keep things niiiice and simple here if we can.  Take the job if you need to, but complete the application “before you have to report the new position,” if you know what I mean.  Hope you understand our perspective here…
Good luck my friend!


Jon Frank

raiy

I get the point you made. Your advice makes my story stronger and more sense. Thank you for your patient and advice here.

Have a good day!

Raiy

kongkong57

Jon,
i found in tuck's essay requirement, there is no words restriction. it says we don't have words restriction but most of our applicants use 500 words. Does that mean actually i could write 400-800 words  in each essay?
Thanks for any assistance.

JonFrank

Jon,
i found in tuck's essay requirement, there is no words restriction. it says we don't have words restriction but most of our applicants use 500 words. Does that mean actually i could write 400-800 words  in each essay?
Thanks for any assistance.

-- by 会员 kongkong57 (2010/10/28 19:48:44)

Hey there!  You could write a few more or less than 500.  But I wouldn’t stray further than 100 or so words one way or the other.After all, any story that can be told in 800 words can also be told in 600.  I assure you.  ?  So don’t stray too much—shoot for 400-600. And then you should be juuust fine.  Remember, if your essay is 800
words, it had better be good; it will be one of the longest they will read this year… And that’s a lot of responsibility for you!  Hope this helps…


Jon Frank

JonFrank

Hey my friends ,thanks for checking in, just want to share some tips about interview here

Good luck everyone !!

Hi Jon, I just got an interview invitation from Wharton. I am in China mainland and working for a Chinese commercial bank for 4 years.

Hey there! First of all,congrats on the Wharton interview! That is great news. we do offer some interview guidance for sure,you can find it at our website.

We already shared this info a couple days ago, but here goes again… At the end of the day, our pointers for interviews can be boiled down to three main concepts:

1.  Go in with YOUR stories--no matter what they ask, you will havethe 3-4 stories that YOU need to tell.  No matter what strange, or unusual questions are thrown at you, you will always have an answer ready.  After all, with juuust a little bit of tweaking, any story can answer ANY question.  In this way, you will NEVER be stuck on any question--you will have answers ready to go.  This way, your English will be better as well, because you can rehearse your stories.
2.  Make sure you know all the basic questions and answers--bschool interviews are notoriously simple.  All of the typical questions are listed here: http://www.accepted.com/mba/questions.aspx and you should absolutely be 100% bulletproof on these.  These will guaranteed be 80% OR MORE of what is asked of you at the interview.  Also, be ready to address the idea of a BACKUP PLAN.  That is, what happens if you dont get in?  What if you dont get the consulting job after college?  Or if you cant raise the start up funds?  The market is BAD these days--be ready to speak to a backup plan...

3.  eople like to talk--let them.  MBA folks are notoriously self-centered.  Ask questions, and INTERACT.  This shouldnt be a
simple Q and A--it should be a conversation.  Check in with your interviewer as you go, go back and forth, and get him talking about HIMSELF!  The best interview I ever gave was the one where I had laryngitis--I hardly said a word!  And at the end of the interview, the interviewer felt like a million bucks...

Congrats on the interview!  And let me know if there is anything more
we can do to help!

Jon Frank
Founder

iporcelain

thanks for the notes here.. making me more relaxed as i'm waiting for news to come
wish everyone good luck!

dreamdreamy

Hi Jon~I'm new here. Thanks for your help in advance.
I submitted my online application days ago, however, unfortunately I just found out a mistake in there. I named out an alumni in the Why XX School question, and stated that she is now working in X company. Actually, she worked in that company, and now she is working for the school, more exactly for the adcom! How can I make a huge misunderstanding like this? Shame on me...What do you think I can do to fix this problem? I'm really worried about the committee's decision when they see my misstatement.
Thank you again!

kongkong57

Here is my questions.
I would like to know who are the persons edit the essay in PE, there is a team or only you and Raj? if there is a team, what's their backgrounds? how much time do you put on editing each essay?

i am thinking if i need the service.

JonFrank

Hi Jon~I'm new here. Thanks for your help in advance.
I submitted my online application days ago, however, unfortunately I just found out a mistake in there. I named out an alumni in the Why XX School question, and stated that she is now working in X company. Actually, she worked in that company, and now she is working for the school, more exactly for the adcom! How can I make a huge misunderstanding like this? Shame on me...What do you think I can do to fix this problem? I'm really worried about the committee's decision when they see my misstatement.
Thank you again!

-- by 会员 dreamdreamy (2010/11/3 10:02:21)

Hello there!  Wow, this is an unusual situation indeed.  It is clear that the adcom will look at this situation, and probably have a good laugh.  You NEED to write SOMETHING.  In fact, you will want to turn this situation into a strength.  You have to write something.  I would recommend a short letter explaining the situation.  You cant hide from this—you should likely work in some kind of short, classy joke.  Sometimes, self-effacing humor can go a long way. Allude to the fact that you realize how foolish the error was, and that you hope this doesn’t keep them from taking your candidacy seriously.  You do need to address it though.  It is to silly not to!


Jon Frank