We believe that asking MBA candidates about their goals is plainly absurd, because so many students change their goals while they are in business school. Further, the pursuit of an MBA is supposed to be about career development and exploration, right? Regardless of how we feel regarding the subject, though, you must ensure that if a school asks about your goals in its essay questions or an interview, you have a compelling story about where you believe your MBA will take you. Several years ago, getting a banking job may have sounded compelling to you—are you really capable of making that transition today? Certainly, fewer jobs are available now in the real estate world—is this a likely next step for you during a prolonged real estate drought? Venture capital and private equity jobs are challenging to land even during the best of times—are you able to compete with the elite during a downturn?
These are just a few examples of questions you should honestly ask yourself. Keep in mind that not only are the admissions committees examining your story to determine what attributes you might bring to the next class, but if you are a borderline case, they may also send your profile to the career services office to help confirm whether your stated goals are realistic and if you will be difficult to place by or after graduation (i.e., whether you will hinder the school’s employment stats and thereby negatively affect its standing in the rankings). So, pay special attention to your goal statements and make sure that you can credibly stand behind them—and, as we have written in the past, even consider being prepared to discuss some alternate goals.
Many MBA students are preparing for job interviews right now, and we at mbaMission are noticing a number of common (yet easily correctable) mistakes our clients tend to make when responding to interview questions. In this post, we will address two in particular and give you strategies for correcting them.
Mistake #1: Taking too long to get to the main point of your story. This is problematic because you run the risk that your interviewer will stop paying attention and miss hearing how great you are and how you could help their organization.
We at mbaMission often receive questions about part-time MBA programs, so we thought we should offer a look at some of the pros and cons of this option.
As for the pros, the one that business school candidates cite most frequently is that the part-time MBA involves a limited opportunity cost. Unlike full-time MBA students, part-time ones do not miss out on two years of salary (and, in some cases, retirement savings) and can still earn raises and promotions while completing their studies. Furthermore, firm sponsorship seems to be more prevalent for part-time MBAs, so candidates who have this option can truly come out ahead, with a free education and continued earning throughout.
MBA programs regard military applicants highly because of their leadership experience, discipline, ability to work with a team, and commitment to goals. Admissions committees also know that recruiters view military applicants very positively because of these same attributes. But to make your business school application as compelling as possible, you should be aware of some important factors. Note that military applicants are usually compared to other military applicants, and many schools have admissions readers who specialize in that population, so you need to make sure you stand out from others with similar backgrounds, not just from the general applicant pool.
You might have gotten busy with fall activities or taken the GMAT or GRE a couple of extra times, and now you suddenly find yourself just a few weeks away from Round 2 deadlines. You might be wondering, “Can I get my applications submitted in time, or do I have to delay my plans by a year?”
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