FINAL WORDS Commencement 2010: Goodbye B-School, Hello World Still reeling from the economic crisis, the Class of 2010 could use a little inspiration. This year's commencement speakers are happy to oblige
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FINAL WORDS Commencement 2010: Excerpts Business leaders bid adieu to the Class of 2010, sounding an optimistic tone at a time of great economic upheaval
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Visit BW Online's interactive forums for wide-ranging discussions about management education. Search through over 1,359,000 posts for topics that interest you. Join in today! Here are a few samples of recent messages:
Getting into B-School — Scored 480 On 1st Pract Test Am I Doomed
From: fstep To: All
long story short i have a very high gpa from undergrad and a successful marketing business i've ran for 10 years but i've been out of school for a while and forgot all math so on my first practice gmat i scored a 480. i have to take the gmat in 3 months, is that enough time to improve the score enough to get into a worthy program if i put in the time, etc or is it just too far off?
From: ex_MHC To: fstep
Are you asking whether you should give up now and not even bother with the GMAT/business school?
Here's your dose of reassurance: it's entirely doable for some people to improve a couple hundred points in a few months. I think my first practice score was about 580. I ended up scoring a 750 after 3 months of studying.
From: SDG To: fstep
I was in the exact situation last Oct. I scored a 490 because I hadn't done any math for about 10 years. I took a prep coure and it all seemed to come back to me. I was able to improve a couple hundred points on my first try.
From: EChopeful To: fstep
GMAT problems are like riding a bike in that you know all of the basic principles but you just need to be refreshed a little. I suggest taking a course and/or getting some private tutoring. You will improve a great deal most likely and will be able to fulfill your greatest dreams of b-school and unicorns.
From: jazzblues To: fstep
here's an honest answer. not boasting or anything. I took my first test around Dec 1st of 2007 and got around 510 or something. i completely freaked out. i remember. i have a hardcore engineering and pure science background and i was like...WTFFFf...basically my english was all doomed. any how...by then, i had already taken the test date for 23rd December or something and I was like, i'll have to push this out by another 2 months or so.
Quite frankly...it came very easily. within the next weeks, things started to look good. i pushed out the date to December 30th and was done. Got a good 700++ score that got me into top 10 programs. Don't fret. it can easily be done in 3 months. easily...in fact, very very easily. good luck!!
From: jvastephanie To: fstep
I too graduated from undergrad a decade ago. Assuming you just sat down and took a practice test you can definitely up your score a lot with only a little studying. Not saying you should only do a little, but put a couple of weeks in and see how you do on another practice test. I didn't take any classes, but I did buy one of the books and went through the quantitative and sentence correction parts cover-to-cover. Don't panic; you just need to dust your brain off.
Getting into B-School — Waitlist Success
From: bschools2011 To: All
I'm currently on a waitlist and I'm interested to know what the success of getting off any waitlist at any school has been so far. So if you've gotten off a waitlist, reply with when and where! And congrats!
From: hawksfan666 To: bschools2011
Hi, I got off the WL at Booth (Weekend MBA) recently . Had sent 2 additional letters of recommendation, one from an Alum and the second from a current student.
good luck with your waitlist!
From: dfsmba To: bschools2011
I think there's going to be a lot causation vs correlation errors in finding out "how" people got off waitlists. There are many admissions consultants who say that doing nothing is the best route. There are others that will swear that sending in updates about big projects at work, additional letters, etc helped people get off the waitlist.
For me, I did send in some updates about major promotions and projects at work. But is that what got me off the waitlist? I have no idea.
From: vastephanie To: dfsmba
While most schools say you don't need to send in anything, it may indicate continued interest and show that you're still likely to attend if admitted rather than just sitting on the waitlist while planning on going somewhere else. Especially this late in the game.
From: bschools2011 To: dfsmba
Oh I'm not really interested on what you did, just when you got off the waitlist and where. I'm just interested to see if there has been little, moderate or a lot of movement off waitlists thus far.
B-SCHOOL BLOGS
View over 4,500 blogs in our MBA Blogs community today! Share your journey, meet new friends, and expand your network. Connect with MBA students, applicants and alumni from Columbia, Kellogg, Notre Dame, and more! Become a blogger today! Here's an excerpt:
Accepted Kellogg: A Current MBA Student Interview
By Linda Abraham
Accepted.com has started a new blog series offering our readers a behind-the-scenes look at selected MBA programs. We hope to offer you a candid picture of student life, and what you should consider as you prepare your application.
Here are some excerpts from an interview with a current Kellogg MBA student from a financial services/retail background.
What is your goal for getting the MBA?
I plan to start my own company in my country (probably grocery or other retail) or join the family retail business to lead new initiatives and ultimately manage a new line or division; so in general I take a highly entrepreneurial focus. My classes at Kellogg have been in general management, family business, and entrepreneurship.
How well has Kellogg met your expectations in these areas?
- Academic/curriculum—I've been very happy with the program overall. One nice thing is that many of my professors have extensive field experience, so they bring a lot of practical knowledge to the theory they teach. This makes them much more credible. I especially enjoyed Professor Hennessy's Marketing core course—she highlighted different ways of approaching markets and targeting consumers and positioning products, much of which came from her real-world experience. Also, I came to b-school to shift from a finance focus to general management and entrepreneurship, but learned a lot from a core Finance course I had to take, and my current Corporate Finance class has been great. Learning so much within finance has been an unexpected surprise.
- Students—They are a very bright group. Very committed. Very analytical, and with good communication skills. Everyone seems to do all the reading for every class, which doesn't seem humanly possible! But the geographic diversity of my class is not as high as I hoped—Kellogg's "30% international" breaks down a bit when you consider people who have been living here a long time (e.g., moved as a child from their country to the US). Professional diversity is also limited, too—lots of consulting and banking people, but that's probably true of most top schools.
- Extracurricular/outside of class activities—Has been as valuable, if not more, than the academics. I'm very involved in Center for Family Enterprise events, so I'm getting to know CEOs of family business and lots of future family business execs. We also have great speakers on a regular basis—almost every week we get to hear from the CEO of major company. Last week we had the President of the European Central Bank and the CEO of 7-11 speak at different events. I've really enjoyed being part of the Family Enterprise Club and LAHIMA, through which I'm helping to plan the Latin America Business Conference.
What about the Evanston/Chicago location? How did that affect your experience?
This has been a great surprise. I've really enjoyed Evanston—it's a nice little city with an urban feel. The location makes the Kellogg community stronger because everyone lives here. We enjoy the lake and lots of outdoor activities. It's also very easy to go to Chicago—I go twice a week, on average; definitely every weekend.
What have been the trade-offs associated with Kellogg/b-school in general?
There's a lot going on in my home country, and sometimes I wish I could be part of it, but I'm getting a lot out of the program, so the tradeoff is worthwhile. In terms of my personal life, b-school hasn't been too challenging. After my tough work schedule, business school isn't so bad. I make my own schedule, which is a nice change after working as a trader.
What did you find out the school offers that you couldn't find out from the website or an information session?
The collaborative community/environment. Everyone knows about it, but you don't really understand its value until you experience it firsthand. It's very genuine here. People are bright and ambitious, but not overly competitive. Friends at other programs report that their classmates are more cutthroat. Everything here is student-led. It's really all up to the students. I was surprised by the extent of this, and have gained great teamwork skills because of it.
Any effects of the gap between deans (Kellogg's Dean Dipak Jain left last year, and incoming Dean Sally Blount starts this July)?
Not really. Interim Dean Chopra has been great, and everyone's excited about incoming Dean Blount. But I don't really know what effect she'll have on the curriculum and culture.
What kind of leadership training or mentoring do you receive at Kellogg?
There's a lot of teamwork. Fits with the culture. I've definitely learned leadership skills from working with diverse teams. But there hasn't been much formal leadership training.
How much help has career services been to you? How much of the job search have you had to do on your own?
I was looking for a non-traditional internship, so I had to do a lot of my search on my own. But I worked with Career Management Center coaches and learned from their seminars. They are very thorough; it's a great resource overall. The downside is that it's hard for international students to find opportunities outside the US. It doesn't seem to be as much of a focus for Kellogg.
Best thing about Kellogg?
The contacts I've made through the Family Enterprise Club and the coursework in this area. Regardless of industry/seniority, all the visiting executives face the same challenges and are willing to connect. I've made lots of friends from family businesses, and I know we'll be great collaborators and sources of support in the future.
The biggest challenge about Kellogg?
Some people do get caught up in academics and focus on grades or just on getting the right job, rather than other types of learning experiences. So much of what I've learned here has been outside of courses/recruiting, but some people focus almost solely on those.
Words of advice for current applicants?
Even if you think youâ?Td like Kellogg, it's very important to visit and really experience the environment—that's what helped me get a feel for the school and ultimately choose Kellogg over other programs. And I've never regretted that decision.
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Ah yes, spring is in the air, and commencement speeches are ringing from podiums across the land. This year, the speakers have their work cut out for them. As Francesca Di Meglio writes, graduates are leaving the cozy confines of the ivory tower at a time when jobs are hard to come by and, for MBA grads at least, the value of the degree they just spent a fortune attaining is perceived in some circles as, well, questionable.
For those of you who are fans of the form, we provided a compilation of recent commencement speeches by business leaders, including a few whose choice as commencement speaker was the subject of protests. Despite the challenges ahead, all are optimistic. To quote Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase: "The opportunities that you'll create and seize may not yet be evident. They may not yet exist. But you will change the world for the better. Of this I am sure."
Well said.
Louis Lavelle Business Schools Editor Bloomberg BusinessWeek
UCLA Anderson: Admissions Q&A MBA Admissions Director Mae Jennifer Shores explains what UCLA's Anderson school has to offer and what it takes to get in
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