Below are some discussions I had with other Whartonites about the application in general on ChaseDream.
Q: Is Wharton looking for certain types of candidate?
A:No. Wharton is looking for good candidates in every industry. As Ialways say, if you have unique background/experience, you are likely tohave better chance to get in than typical consultants/bankers as a lotof them are applying and every school is trying to diversify itsstudent pool.
Response from Vickiyan, class of 08:
I would like to elaborate this point a little bit more:
I'm not quite sure that Wharton is looking for candidate in every industryintentionally, but I believe what Wharton is looking for are goodcandidates. No bias on the background, and I don't think the diversityis intentionally designed and picked out: good candidates happen to bespreading out in every industry. What impressed people most are alwaysthe personal qualities: achievements, solid skills (hard+soft) andpersonality.
For your reference.
Response from Jason, class of 10:
To elaborate even further, I'm not sure that there even exists a 'typical consultant/banker'. Everyone has had such a variety of experience, growing up in different places, attending different schools, and many have a lot of different jobs in addition to being a consultant/banker. Indeed, even within consulting/banking, there are so many ways to distinguish yourself, to seek out your own path, and etc. At the end of the day, what it really comes down to is who you are: which is why I'm always against someone using a 'profile' to determine whether he/she is suitable for a school. Indeed what is most important is not your profile, but the stories that you can tell about your life! For your reference as well :)
Response from myself:
Jason, it's great to see current student being active and help prospective students here on CD. Your background is impressive, too.
Let me elaborate more on what I meant about "typical consultant/banker." For consultant, if you join those big consulting firms right after college, it is a natural or sort of mandatory move to apply business school after 2 to 3 years of work because those big consulting firms need you to have a MBA degree to move up. Also for banker, even though you don’t need a MBA to be promoted from analyst to associate, many analysts tend to go to business school to 1) take a break 2) try something else after work 100+ hours per week for 3 years.
From my observation, 5-10 years ago, you can see many top b-school students with this type of “typical” background/experience”. 3 years in consulting/banking and then go to top b-school. However, I do see the percentage of this type of students is decreasing, especially for candidates with pure banking/consulting experience. Two main reasons:
1. Average age or years of working experience to enter business school becomes higher. (You are an extreme case which is very rare. The average age for class of 07 is 28.6 and average year of working experience is 6 years.) Understand HBS and Stanford started to look for young talents these years but you can see the average year of working experience is still higher than say 5 or 10 years ago. Having said that, people with 3 year pure banking/consulting experience need to try hard to persuade adcom to admit them.
2. Bankers and consultants are too busy to work on GMAT and application. Imaging if a person works till mid-night everyday, has almost no weekend and travel every week, it will be tough for him/her to focus on application and we both know MBA application is not just filling the forms.
However, from my perspective, consultants are at better position than bankers to apply business schools. Few reasons
1) The firm will prepare and sponsor them to go to business school. For Mckinsey, they have very comprehensive training and materials to help BAs to apply business school. Also their senior people all have MBAs and know the application process well.
2) Consultants tend to have more diversified working experience from and hours is not as crazy as bankers.
3) Many consulting firms have the policy “up or leave.” You need to have an MBA to move up.
4) Bankers were paid too well before. If you can earn +200K (USD) a year, spending 70K to go to business (a year) means your yearly opportunity cost is 270K.
I can’t agree more on there is no typical candidate/career path to promise you to get into top business school. The most important thing is you need to tell and persuade adcom why you need a MBA and why you.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Should I apply later round?
Again, I have been asking by many friends/students recently about this question. Below is an article from business week which provides candid analysis.
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/feb2009/bs20090212_798608.htm
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/feb2009/bs20090212_798608.htm
Wharton Interview Tips
Recently I have been asked by many prospective students about this topic. Let me try to share some thoughts in a Q&A format
Q: What does Wharton interview look like?
A: 1) It's a blind interview, which means the only thing interviewer has is your resume. 2) The interviewers tend to ask more detail about your background/experience to help the adcom cross check what you wrote on your essays is consistent with what you say. 3) For international students, the interviewers also need to make sure the candidate's English is good enough to study the courses and contribute to the class discussion.
Q: Should I choose hub interview or alumni interview?
A: It depends (cliché). For hub, the interview will be conducted by people from adcom. It means you will be interviewed by well-trained interviewers. Good things are 1) the questions will be more "standard" and it is unlikely to see "unexpected" questions. 2) they could be more objective to examine your candidacy. However, on the other hand, it will be more difficult to "impress" the interviewer and you can be easily compared with other candidates on a relative performance basis.
For international students whose native language is not English, if you speak English well and have strong communication skill, maybe hub interview will help you stand out. On the other hand, if you know some alumnus with the same background/career path like you and he/she happens to be on your interviewer list, maybe you will find chemistry with that person.
Q: Is Wharton looking for certain types of candidate?
A: No. Wharton is looking for good candidates in every industry. As I always say, if you have unique background/experience, you are likely to have better chance to get in than typical consultants/bankers as a lot of them are applying and every school is trying to diversify its student pool. Wharton doesn't care how many other business schools you are applying and interviewer will not grill you on this. As long as the school thinks you are good and wants you, you will be admitted.
Q: What type of questions should I expect to be asked?
A: In general, interviewer will evaluate a candidate on the following areas. 1) Professional Development & Career Goals: what's your career path, progress, short-term and long-term goals? Why MBA? Why now? Why Wharton? 2) Soft Skills: communication skill, passion, energy, interpersonal skill, attitude, maturity, poise, etc. 3) Contributions: extracurricular activities, social services, hobbies, etc. In addition, you should expect some unconventional questions because the interviewer wants to see how you think and whether you can communicate effectively.
Q: Any special tips to crack the Wharton interview?
A: Unfortunately, no. Be well-prepared, be confident, be open-minded. Show your urgency, your passion and your commitment to have a MBA degree from Wharton at this stage of your life. Also, practice makes things perfect.
Q: What does Wharton interview look like?
A: 1) It's a blind interview, which means the only thing interviewer has is your resume. 2) The interviewers tend to ask more detail about your background/experience to help the adcom cross check what you wrote on your essays is consistent with what you say. 3) For international students, the interviewers also need to make sure the candidate's English is good enough to study the courses and contribute to the class discussion.
Q: Should I choose hub interview or alumni interview?
A: It depends (cliché). For hub, the interview will be conducted by people from adcom. It means you will be interviewed by well-trained interviewers. Good things are 1) the questions will be more "standard" and it is unlikely to see "unexpected" questions. 2) they could be more objective to examine your candidacy. However, on the other hand, it will be more difficult to "impress" the interviewer and you can be easily compared with other candidates on a relative performance basis.
For international students whose native language is not English, if you speak English well and have strong communication skill, maybe hub interview will help you stand out. On the other hand, if you know some alumnus with the same background/career path like you and he/she happens to be on your interviewer list, maybe you will find chemistry with that person.
Q: Is Wharton looking for certain types of candidate?
A: No. Wharton is looking for good candidates in every industry. As I always say, if you have unique background/experience, you are likely to have better chance to get in than typical consultants/bankers as a lot of them are applying and every school is trying to diversify its student pool. Wharton doesn't care how many other business schools you are applying and interviewer will not grill you on this. As long as the school thinks you are good and wants you, you will be admitted.
Q: What type of questions should I expect to be asked?
A: In general, interviewer will evaluate a candidate on the following areas. 1) Professional Development & Career Goals: what's your career path, progress, short-term and long-term goals? Why MBA? Why now? Why Wharton? 2) Soft Skills: communication skill, passion, energy, interpersonal skill, attitude, maturity, poise, etc. 3) Contributions: extracurricular activities, social services, hobbies, etc. In addition, you should expect some unconventional questions because the interviewer wants to see how you think and whether you can communicate effectively.
Q: Any special tips to crack the Wharton interview?
A: Unfortunately, no. Be well-prepared, be confident, be open-minded. Show your urgency, your passion and your commitment to have a MBA degree from Wharton at this stage of your life. Also, practice makes things perfect.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Still want to be an I-Banker?
Below is an article I posted on a forum in 2006 after I accepted a Summer Associate offer from Goldman Sach HK office. Hope this is helpful for Chinese MBA candidates who are thinking about being an I-banker in HK.
[delete]...well, you probably ask the right person. I just accepted the IBD offer in HK. However, the information is only for this year (2006).
From the perspective of an international student, it is "extremely competitive" to get a IBD position even in Hong Kong. Why? Below are my 2 cents:
1. Who are going to apply IBD positions in HK?
a. People from Asia (including China, Korean, India, Singapore, etc)
b. Asian from US (ABCs)
c. Some US native students who can speak Asia language or are interested in Asia. (believe or not, this number is increasing significantly every year)
2. How many IBD summer offers in HK? (2006) Goldman (8), Morgan (around 5-7), Merrill (around 5), JP (around 6), Citi (around 5), UBS (not sure, but probably fewer than 5), Lehman (probably fewer than 5), Credit Suesse (3), DB (around 5), HSBC (around 10) --> In total, there are around 40~50 openings.
Honestly, our major competitors are those people, especially Asian from US. They are native in English, conversational to native level in Mandarin and have decent US experience. And also some people they had banking or related experience before. They are strong candidates too.
3. Maybe this year (2006) is more competitve because the media kept saying how much bonus bankers earn and therefore more people applied banking job. Goldman told me that if they pile up all the resumes they received this year from top b-school, it's higher than 4 feet.
4. As far as I know, at Wharton this year, there are around 15 people received the offer and around 11 people are pretty sure to accept the offer. Out of 15, only 6 are directly from Greater China (Mainland, HK, and Taiwan)
5. I met some students from other top b-schools during the HK career trek and Super Days. I have to say some of them are pretty strong candidates especially from those top financial-orieted schools. As I mentioned before, good MBA program could open doors for you. You will have equal chances to compete. But how to stand out among all these strong candidates, that's the question you have to think about.
[delete]...well, you probably ask the right person. I just accepted the IBD offer in HK. However, the information is only for this year (2006).
From the perspective of an international student, it is "extremely competitive" to get a IBD position even in Hong Kong. Why? Below are my 2 cents:
1. Who are going to apply IBD positions in HK?
a. People from Asia (including China, Korean, India, Singapore, etc)
b. Asian from US (ABCs)
c. Some US native students who can speak Asia language or are interested in Asia. (believe or not, this number is increasing significantly every year)
2. How many IBD summer offers in HK? (2006) Goldman (8), Morgan (around 5-7), Merrill (around 5), JP (around 6), Citi (around 5), UBS (not sure, but probably fewer than 5), Lehman (probably fewer than 5), Credit Suesse (3), DB (around 5), HSBC (around 10) --> In total, there are around 40~50 openings.
Honestly, our major competitors are those people, especially Asian from US. They are native in English, conversational to native level in Mandarin and have decent US experience. And also some people they had banking or related experience before. They are strong candidates too.
3. Maybe this year (2006) is more competitve because the media kept saying how much bonus bankers earn and therefore more people applied banking job. Goldman told me that if they pile up all the resumes they received this year from top b-school, it's higher than 4 feet.
4. As far as I know, at Wharton this year, there are around 15 people received the offer and around 11 people are pretty sure to accept the offer. Out of 15, only 6 are directly from Greater China (Mainland, HK, and Taiwan)
5. I met some students from other top b-schools during the HK career trek and Super Days. I have to say some of them are pretty strong candidates especially from those top financial-orieted schools. As I mentioned before, good MBA program could open doors for you. You will have equal chances to compete. But how to stand out among all these strong candidates, that's the question you have to think about.
申請MBA突出不完美 國外商學院更欣賞
It is an interesting article which provides good insight of applying top b-school from adcom's perspective.
來源：網路 編輯：Adam Cheng
在世界頂級商學院參加的MBA巡展上，申請技巧和成功率總是申請者最關心的問題。商學院招生人員普遍認為，中國申請者的申請材料過於完美，而商學院一般更欣賞那些指出自己不足的申請材料。中國申請者在申請國外商學院時到底應該注意哪些細節？
- 國際化: 海外申請者可以提升學院價值
Duke Fuqua商學院招生辦公室副主任Meghan Leypoldt說，商學院的國際化和多樣性不僅體現在國際學生的比例上，而且其全球學術旅行體驗為學生提供了學習其他國家文化和經濟、與全球的企業領導會面的機會。杜克總是確保加強多文化的學校環境，這才是商學院國際化實力的體現。
Stanford商學院招生主任Mansour認為，國際化可以給學校帶來很多不同的活力因子，這是包括中國申請者在內的海外申請者能夠帶給商學院的價值所在。首先，從職業層面來講，來自不同文化背景的學生可以把從工作中總結出的啟迪智慧的經驗和同學分享。其次，從個人層面講，有的學生來自軍營，有的曾隨父母在世界各地生活過，這些學生獨特的生活經驗將給周圍的學員帶來一種有益的體驗。
-職業規劃: 國際學生頗受職業規劃照顧
商學院培養學生的目標就在於就業，所以很多商學院在學生進校之初就開始替學生張羅著“找工作”了。Stanford商學院招生主任Seda P. Mansour表示，Stanford的每個MBA都會有非常嚴謹的職業規劃設計，在他們進入校園的第一天，商學院就會給他們安排職業顧問，這些職業顧問可能將陪伴他們度過兩年短暫而緊張的時光。Seda P. Mansour還透露，學校將給國際學生配備專門的職業規劃師負責他們的職業生涯指導，可以說外國人在Stanford商學院是頗受照顧的。
-申請過程面試機會: 學校招生政策決定面試名額的數量
Duke Fuqua商學院招生辦公室副主任Meghan Leypoldt透露，Duke 給每個申請者都提供面試機會。儘管面試不是硬性規定的，但它增加了申請者展現多方面特點的機會。據了解，美國的CMU商學院、North Carolina、Thunderbird、Maryland等著名商學院都會提供給中國申請者提前面試的機會。
不過，Stanford商學院招生主任Mansour表示，因為申請者太多了，而且每個申請者的機會都應該是均等的，所以斯坦福不會給任何一個申請者提前面試的機會，而是在經過申請材料的遴選之後才決定面試名額的歸屬。
其實對於申請頂尖商學院的人來講，有些學校獲得面試機會就等於成功了一半，故而美國頂尖商學院的哪怕一次面試機會都是非常寶貴的。
-申請技巧: 要學會向招生人員表明自己的目標
沃頓商學院招生主任托馬斯·卡裏指出，大部分中國申請者把自己所有優點全部羅列在申請材料上面。對於此類的中國申請者，沃頓一般是不予考慮的，因為每個人都有自己的特質，不可能包含這麼多大家都有的優點。沃頓所希望看到的中國申請者應該具備三種素質：第一是強烈的求知慾望；第二是激情，看他是否擁有一種激情能從早上的夢鄉中突然醒來；第三必須要有一種強烈的感染力，感染周圍的學員，將優秀的個性和品格在沃頓與同學分享。
加州Berkeley大學Hass商學院招生委員會主席Mr. Pete Johnson表示，大部分中國申請者都具有很強的專業技術背景和很高的GMAT分數，以及豐富的工作經驗。但是這一疊看似完美的申請材料往往會由於申請者缺乏必要的英文溝通能力，而不能得到很好的展示。一個常犯的錯誤就是中國申請者總是在試圖回答問題，希望以此來取悅招生委員會，但這個答案並沒有表明他們的目標和志向。
-訪談: 中國學生“軟技巧”不足
專訪對象：Seda P. Mansour，Stanford 商學院MBA招生主任
Q: Stanford商學院是否針對中國制定了招生名額分配計劃或者限制標準？
A: 2008年我們在全球共招收了370名學生，中國學生大約有四個。學院很難對每個地區給出具體的名額，我們招收學生以人為標準，每一個地方獲得Offer的多少，取決於申請者的品質高低。
Q: 學院如何比較和評判有國有企業、中小企業和跨國公司工作經驗的申請者？
A: 在招生委員會眼中工作經驗只是考察的二十個方面之一，我們不是按照行業錄取的。來自跨國企業的申請者錄取人數最多，但是這是由於中國的國有企業和中小企業申請者人數本來就較前者少了很多。
Q: 在你印象裏，中國學生在Stanford商學院表現如何？
A: 中國學生的數學出奇地好，完全可以做其他學生的老師。不過，中國學生在商務溝通、市場行銷等課程上則顯得“軟技巧”存在不足。
來源：網路 編輯：Adam Cheng
在世界頂級商學院參加的MBA巡展上，申請技巧和成功率總是申請者最關心的問題。商學院招生人員普遍認為，中國申請者的申請材料過於完美，而商學院一般更欣賞那些指出自己不足的申請材料。中國申請者在申請國外商學院時到底應該注意哪些細節？
- 國際化: 海外申請者可以提升學院價值
Duke Fuqua商學院招生辦公室副主任Meghan Leypoldt說，商學院的國際化和多樣性不僅體現在國際學生的比例上，而且其全球學術旅行體驗為學生提供了學習其他國家文化和經濟、與全球的企業領導會面的機會。杜克總是確保加強多文化的學校環境，這才是商學院國際化實力的體現。
Stanford商學院招生主任Mansour認為，國際化可以給學校帶來很多不同的活力因子，這是包括中國申請者在內的海外申請者能夠帶給商學院的價值所在。首先，從職業層面來講，來自不同文化背景的學生可以把從工作中總結出的啟迪智慧的經驗和同學分享。其次，從個人層面講，有的學生來自軍營，有的曾隨父母在世界各地生活過，這些學生獨特的生活經驗將給周圍的學員帶來一種有益的體驗。
-職業規劃: 國際學生頗受職業規劃照顧
商學院培養學生的目標就在於就業，所以很多商學院在學生進校之初就開始替學生張羅著“找工作”了。Stanford商學院招生主任Seda P. Mansour表示，Stanford的每個MBA都會有非常嚴謹的職業規劃設計，在他們進入校園的第一天，商學院就會給他們安排職業顧問，這些職業顧問可能將陪伴他們度過兩年短暫而緊張的時光。Seda P. Mansour還透露，學校將給國際學生配備專門的職業規劃師負責他們的職業生涯指導，可以說外國人在Stanford商學院是頗受照顧的。
-申請過程面試機會: 學校招生政策決定面試名額的數量
Duke Fuqua商學院招生辦公室副主任Meghan Leypoldt透露，Duke 給每個申請者都提供面試機會。儘管面試不是硬性規定的，但它增加了申請者展現多方面特點的機會。據了解，美國的CMU商學院、North Carolina、Thunderbird、Maryland等著名商學院都會提供給中國申請者提前面試的機會。
不過，Stanford商學院招生主任Mansour表示，因為申請者太多了，而且每個申請者的機會都應該是均等的，所以斯坦福不會給任何一個申請者提前面試的機會，而是在經過申請材料的遴選之後才決定面試名額的歸屬。
其實對於申請頂尖商學院的人來講，有些學校獲得面試機會就等於成功了一半，故而美國頂尖商學院的哪怕一次面試機會都是非常寶貴的。
-申請技巧: 要學會向招生人員表明自己的目標
沃頓商學院招生主任托馬斯·卡裏指出，大部分中國申請者把自己所有優點全部羅列在申請材料上面。對於此類的中國申請者，沃頓一般是不予考慮的，因為每個人都有自己的特質，不可能包含這麼多大家都有的優點。沃頓所希望看到的中國申請者應該具備三種素質：第一是強烈的求知慾望；第二是激情，看他是否擁有一種激情能從早上的夢鄉中突然醒來；第三必須要有一種強烈的感染力，感染周圍的學員，將優秀的個性和品格在沃頓與同學分享。
加州Berkeley大學Hass商學院招生委員會主席Mr. Pete Johnson表示，大部分中國申請者都具有很強的專業技術背景和很高的GMAT分數，以及豐富的工作經驗。但是這一疊看似完美的申請材料往往會由於申請者缺乏必要的英文溝通能力，而不能得到很好的展示。一個常犯的錯誤就是中國申請者總是在試圖回答問題，希望以此來取悅招生委員會，但這個答案並沒有表明他們的目標和志向。
-訪談: 中國學生“軟技巧”不足
專訪對象：Seda P. Mansour，Stanford 商學院MBA招生主任
Q: Stanford商學院是否針對中國制定了招生名額分配計劃或者限制標準？
A: 2008年我們在全球共招收了370名學生，中國學生大約有四個。學院很難對每個地區給出具體的名額，我們招收學生以人為標準，每一個地方獲得Offer的多少，取決於申請者的品質高低。
Q: 學院如何比較和評判有國有企業、中小企業和跨國公司工作經驗的申請者？
A: 在招生委員會眼中工作經驗只是考察的二十個方面之一，我們不是按照行業錄取的。來自跨國企業的申請者錄取人數最多，但是這是由於中國的國有企業和中小企業申請者人數本來就較前者少了很多。
Q: 在你印象裏，中國學生在Stanford商學院表現如何？
A: 中國學生的數學出奇地好，完全可以做其他學生的老師。不過，中國學生在商務溝通、市場行銷等課程上則顯得“軟技巧”存在不足。
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