Tag Archives: applications

[Guest Blog] 10 Questions to Ask Yourself: How To Choose The Right Grad School Program for You and Your Career

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When I began my pursuit of grad school, I did all of the right stuff you’re supposed to do to get into an MBA program. I filled out admissions cards at MBA fairs, talked to admissions reps and alumni grads about their B-school experiences, and toured business schools across the country. I stocked my bookshelf with purple Kaplan guides to study for GMATs, and read books like Richard Montauk’s How to Get Into Top MBA Programs and Robert Miller’s Business School Confidential.

Then I started to question myself. Was an MBA what I really wanted, or was it what others expected of me? Why did I REALLY want the degree?

The truth is, something in my gut kept holding me back. I had networked with and met so many accomplished and amazing MBA graduates and visited beautiful campuses. But I couldn’t relate to their ambitions such as making a lot of money, and didn’t see myself working for top investment banks or climbing the ranks at management consulting firms.

Getting an MBA was the next logical step in my career. It was supposed to teach me about more areas of business, open new doors in the corporate world, and give me better career opportunities.

But for some inexplicable reason, it just didn’t feel right.

Be Honest with Yourself

When I put my MBA pursuit on hold and really thought about what I wanted to do and what I was passionate about, I realized that it actually had nothing to do with getting an MBA. Continue reading →

Working with Beat The GMAT!

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You might have seen my tweet last week, but I wanted to post a blog explaining what is happening with MBAchic and Beat The GMAT. I’m happy to announce that going forward, MBAchic articles will be syndicated on BeatTheGMAT.com. If you are already a reader of MBAchic (you can subscribe in the sidebar!), not much will change, but this provides an opportunity to reach a larger audience of MBA applicants. As always, your Facebook posts and retweets and shares are much appreciated, All that will happen is that any articles that Beat The GMAT finds relevant will be reposted to the BTG homepage.

On that note, I have been in touch with Eric Bahn, the founder of Beat The GMAT, and he has shared some new things they are putting together. MBA Watch is a new tool developed by the BTG team. I asked him some questions about the new tool:

MBAchic:  What is MBA Watch?

Eric Bahn, founder of Beat The GMAT: MBA Watch (www.mbawatch.com) is a free service that makes researching MBA programs easy.  There are three main features of MBA Watch as of today: Continue reading →

Make Sure You Stop By: QS World MBA Tour

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Hope you are enjoying your Friday, and that you are ready for the weekend! Before you pack up and head out, quickly jot this down:

You may remember my tweet from earlier this week…today is the first day of the Latin American leg of the QS World MBA Tour. I have attended this tour twice: once in Miami, and once in NYC. It is a great way to ask questions and get some facetime with adcoms and alumni. Sure, you can email any school your questions, but this event brings some of the best programs in the world together in one place — why not take the opportunity to show your interest and make a great first impression?

The North American leg of this tour kicks off in Toronto on September 10. For registration information and a list of participating schools, click here.

North America Dates and Locations: Continue reading →

Some Quick Housekeeping

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Hey there!

Been a while, huh? I just wanted to make a quick post to address some questions/concerns some of you have.

Some of you are asking about more Keep It MBAchic posts… I am so glad they are helpful! More are definitely on the way. Any requests? Bring ‘em on.

Some of you have asked about writing for MBAchic after seeing how cool Rachel’s guest blog was. Well, come on down! This blog is not meant for me to simply ramble on about my experiences. I want to hear what you are going through as you try to balance it all – and I am almost positive I am not the only one.

Also, some ask if I will be posting to a regular schedule… I cannot commit to a schedule right now, but I really just let it flow and write more when I can. This blog is a creative outlet- really, it’s like a diary – a shared diary, I hope – and I am just having fun sharing with and learning from everyone else out there.

The BEST and really, truly, the NICEST thing you can do is to subscribe to this blog. Type in your name up there, a little to the right, and SUBSCRIBE to MBAchic. That way, you always get an immediate email when the next post goes up, and I get an idea of who actually reads this stuff!

…Following on Twitter (@MBAchic) or liking on Facebook are great, too. Why not do it all?!?

Anyway, hope you are reading this as you get some fun weekend plans together for this Fourth of July… International readers, if you are out there: have a great, regular, fun weekend.

Hope to hear from you (even when it is just a quick line to say hi)!

Jen

Recommendation Letters: Get Moving!

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I recently read a Clear Admit article that offers tips on recommender selection, and started thinking about my own application process (link to Clear Admit article HERE – make sure you read this article. GREAT advice.)…

I had two advisors write on my behalf: the first was a professor with whom I had taken two classes – he wound up advising me on which classes to take in the finance program. Every so often I would pop into his office to ask about another class or professor, and he gave me sound advice about school and life after college. He understood my work ethic and how I would perform in the program, and was an obvious choice.

My other letter came from a mentor who really helped shape my undergraduate experience. He was not an academic advisor, but the director of the volunteer and leadership office at my school. He challenged me to step out of my comfort zone and really pushed me to become a better leader. We keep in touch from time to time and he was a huge part of my college career (it was a no-brainer that I wanted him to write my letter).

But not everyone has the time to join community service groups, and not everyone has a great relationship with one professor or advisor. Let’s face it – life is busy and what if you haven’t had a chance to foster lasting relationships with people outside of your classes?
Right?

…Wrong.

You’re an MBA now (or you plan to be one very soon). These opportunities to foster relationships with people in different areas of your life are not a waste of time. At this point, you have to be able to market yourself and let people know who you really are – and that requires developing relationships with people you meet in your professional and personal lives. No one is going to vouch for you if you don’t give them good reason. And because you want to put your best foot forward in your applications, your recommendation letters cannot fall short. Continue reading →