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Tips from the Recruiting Ambassadors
Make sure the essays you write for
admissions really tell a good story
about who you are and what you want to
achieve. I have heard from a lot of
friends that they felt that the essays
did not paint a clear picture of who
they were because the question stems did
not ask for it -
Anuj Desai
 Many
of us cringe at the thought of the word
“Interview”. Take a deep breath and
relax! You will find that business
school interviews are very relaxed,
informal, and about the topic that you
are an expert on- YOU! Make sure to
present yourself in a professional
manner, be polite, well dressed, and
don’t forget to thank the interviewer
for their time. Afterwards, follow up
with an email or thank you letter
regardless of how you think the
interview went -
Derek Vlcko
Allow
yourself and those providing letters of
recommendation plenty of time to get
applications ready. It is generally not
a good idea to attempt to crank out all
three or four essays in one sitting.
Take you time and be creative and honest
with your responses. Reflect on your
essays and be sure that you truly
believe in what has been written. Most
importantly, have fun with your
application. The process provides a
great opportunity for self-discovery, by
requiring you to define your short and
long-term goals -
Derek
Vlcko
During the interview, don't answer
questions immediately. Take a few
seconds to compose your thoughts and
formulate a logical and coherent answer
-
Alice Chen
Manage the application as if it were a
professional project. Start the
application process as early as
possible. To complete a quality
application, you do not want to scramble
to get your recommendation letters
together and essays completed. If you
start early and budget and plan your
time, you shouldn't have any problems -
Joel Scales
Before you
begin to write your essays, get your
mind ready for the writing experience.
Brainstorm
about positive and negative experiences
related to work, friendships, personal
endeavors, and teamwork. Then, think
about what each experience revealed
about you (e.g., personality, values,
etc.). You'll need a "bank" of
ideas/experiences to pull from when you
write the essays and tell your story to
the admissions officials -
Kristie Curameng
Proofread essays and check for format
errors. I have been told that there were
cases that some applications were
addressed to other schools or mention
other school in the body of the essays.
That is one of the worst things that can
happen! -
Silvana Muguerza
Be
yourself - they want to know about who
you really are, not who you think they
want you to be. I wrote an essay about
my grandfathers and how their sense of
moral imperative had been passed down to
me. It had little to do with business
and a lot to do with who I am and who I
hope to be -
Ben
Cope
 On
the application and during the
interview, be you. Don't write or say
what you think the admissions committee
wants to read or hear, say what you
really think. The application and
interview are your chance to shine, show
off your personality, and showcase what
makes you unique -
Alice Chen
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Visit
each school in person! It was amazing
how much my perception of a school
changed after I visited. You are going
to be spending 2 years of your life
earning an MBA and you should make sure
the facilities, program staff, and
atmosphere are all what you are really
looking for -
Andrew Roberts
Before you can begin to find the right
M.B.A. program, it is important to
identify what you are looking for. Where
do you want to be geographically? Are
you looking for large or small program?
What are the strengths of the program?
There are a lot of things to consider
when making this type of investment.
There are many good resources out there
to help get you started like the Wall
Street Journal and Business Week Online.
Once you determine a handful of schools
that fit your preferences, hit the road
and visit! -
Derek Vlcko
Before you look at rankings or check out
school websites, brainstorm the
attributes of an MBA program that are
most important to you. These attributes
could be location, public/private
school, curriculum, culture, strengths
in specific academic disciplines,
diversity, etc. Compare this mental map
against the schools you research to
determine matches. This approach eases
your selection and application process -
Yoss Missaghian
Find
a MBA program that fits you. It should
fit your academic needs and help you
reach your professional goals, but it
should also fit your personality. When
visiting a school, get a feel for the
culture of the program and whether or
not it is the right fit for you -
Alice Chen
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Take some time off! You graduated from
college and have worked your tail off
ever since. This is your chance to sneak
in that long deserved vacation or
road-trip. Business school requires a
lot of energy; make sure you come into a
program energized and ready to hit the
ground running. If you are unfamiliar
with Microsoft Excel, taking a class
beforehand could also be beneficial -
Euclydes Oliveira
Let's
face it: chances are, you've been out of
school a few years and working at a job
where you haven't been keeping up with
all of those wonderful classes you took
in College. Everyone's a little rusty
when they think about heading back for
that coveted graduate degree; whether
it's Math or even basic writing skills,
everyone could use a little polishing.
Here's what I'd target: Accounting,
Intro to Finance, and/or Business
Writing. During your first few weeks in
a program, you're going to be hit with
problem sets, group projects, and
reading. If you have prepared and taken
a class at your local college prior to
jumping into the deep end of the pool
that is b-school, you're going to float
to the top -
Rick Smith
Part of
preparation for returning to business
school is an evaluation of your skill
set. It you realize that you may be
behind or a little rusty a supplemental
courses can be extremely helpful not
only for refreshing your memory on
certain subjects but also getting you
back in the swing of school. Life gets
real busy real fast and the more
prepared you are prior to the beginning
of the semester the better of you will
be -
Shane Anderson
 Regardless
of how strong your background in
quantitative courses may be, it is a
very good idea to take an accounting,
statistics, or calculus class. I would
suggest the accounting class the most.
It has helped me tremendously. It helps
to have that one class throughout the
semester where the subject matter is
fresh in your mind. This can be
particularly helpful to those without
business undergrad degrees -
Etim Edim
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Prepare all
documents you need as soon as
possible. Visas can be a huge
headache, and you need to have
time to solve any problem that
may appear. And when you arrive,
try to get your driver’s license
quickly – then you won’t need to
carry your passport around and
if you have plans to buy a car,
having your US license will make
things easier…-
Federico Montealegre
If you do
not know the area, try to get in
touch with current students
before you arrive – they will
give you some guidance about
areas that are better to live,
and maybe give you a hand as
soon as you arrive. You can’t
imagine how helpful people are –
specially the ones who had the
same difficulties some time ago!
–
Eduardo Mihura
 Once
you arrive, things will start to
roll really fast! So, get
yourself settled and start
working. I found out that most
of the people who doing better
in the MBA are very organized
(besides being smart, of
course…). School will take most
of your time, and after classes
start you will be grateful for
not worrying about buying
furniture or waiting for the
phone or cable guy to arrive… –
Fernando Leao
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