B-Schooled: Get Your MBA Admit

Laura, a Michigan Ross MBA alum and former admissions committee member during her second year, joins Erika -- a Ross BBA graduate -- to share advice for and insight into the Ross application and interview process. And they might gush a little over how awesome Ann Arbor, Michigan, is as well.

First off, many applicants do consider MBA rankings as a key input into their school selection process. With good reason. We consider MBA rankings too. But—and this is important—we belive these should be ONE factor in your decision making process. Not the ONLY aspect of your decision making process.  Leading entities ranking MBA programs typically evaluate a range of factors relevant to the MBA experience: from quality of instruction, to student/teacher ratios, to alumni resources, to prestige, to post-graduation employment rates, to starting salaries, and a range of other inputs. But the truth is that some of these criteria are probably more important to YOU than others. For this podcast, we encourage you to put down the rankings sheet (at least for the time being) and consider 12 specific questions to help you identify schools that might be the best fits for YOU. This podcast is the first of a two-part segment.

After working so hard on your MBA materials for months on end, it can be shocking and devastating if you're not accepted anywhere. What should you do now? This episode discusses 5 paths forward for MBA hopefuls who were dinged.

This episode offers a deep dive into an aspect of the MBA application process many forget about: connecting with students, faculty and alums at your target schools. There are SO MANY REASONS this is an important thing to do. Not only does this help give you a direct way to understand which school might be the best fit for you, but there are also indirect benefits –- from behind-the-scenes connections to admissions committees, to professional contacts, to networking opportunities, to new friendships. The list goes on and on.   In this episode we discuss seven ways to connect with students, faculty and alumni. Importantly, this episode has been specially tailored to those of you who might come from a non-traditional background and/or don't think that you have any connections in this category.  Topics covered in this episode include:   Taking advantage of Zoom and other opportunities hosted by the admissions office. Reaching out to co-presidents of professional student clubs you might be interested in. Connecting with students from affinity groups you identify with.   Approaching alumni, especially those you have something in common with.   Considering approaching faculty and staff.  Taking advantage of your networks (even if you don't think you have a network). Exploring national MBA affinity groups.

Alex, a GSB alum who's now on the SBC admissions consulting team, shares advice for Stanford's extensive MBA application, as well as insight into the program's culture and surrounding area in Silicon Valley.

For this episode of B-Schooled we sit down the Recy Dunn. Recy currently serves as the CEO of Ascend Public Charter Schools and oversees a network of 16 schools serving 6,000 students in grades K-12 across Brooklyn, NY.  Prior to his role with Ascend, Recy served as the Chief Strategy Officer of the NYC Department of Education as well as a variety of other education leadership roles at both the local and national levels.   Recy earned his MBA and his MA in Education from Stanford. In this episode, Recy and host Chandler Arnold share:  Suggestions for MBA students interested in the field of education Thoughts focused on how education is a central civil rights issue of our time  The value of an MBA for those working within school districts, drawing from Recy's experiences in California, DC, and New York The value of an MBA for those running education-focused social enterprises, drawing from Recy's experiences leading Ascend Public Charter Schools The value of an MBA for those working with philanthropists, drawing from Recy's experiences with the Broad Foundation and receiving an $11M gift from MacKenzie Scott Thoughts on diversity, equity and inclusion in the field of education Tips for current MBA students who are passionate about education We can’t thank Recy enough for joining us. Listening to this podcast is a must for anyone passionate about education, equity or leading social enterprises.

To celebrate our 150th episode, our founder Stacy Blackman joins us to talk about business school and the entrepreneurial journey. This episode is perfect for entrepreneurs, those who hope to work with entrepreneurs, or anyone interested in learning more about the entrepreneurial journey. For this episode, Stacy sits down with co-host Chandler Arnold to talk about their respective entrepreneurial experiences, in business school and beyond. For the first part of this conversation, Stacy and Chandler share a few SPECIFIC LESSONS THEY LEARNED IN BUSINESS SCHOOL. This conversation includes key takeaways including: The importance of testing and learning,  Identifying market gaps and unexploited domains,  The value of networking (even if you don't think you want to), and The power of trusting yourself, especially when others doubt you. For the second half of this conversation, Stacy and Chandler each share a few things THEY WISH THEY HAD DONE DIFFERENTLY in their entrepreneurial endeavors since graduation. This conversation includes such topics as: The value of connecting with people from different backgrounds and social/professional circles, Benefits of pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, personally as well as professionally, The power of believing in yourself--and being comfortable with not having all the answers,  How to make peace with the fact that you can't do everything,  The benefits of taking little steps forward each day, ... and much more.  We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we enjoyed making it. Plus, be sure to listen to the very end of the episode where Stacy shares some top-secret entrepreneurial advice she learned... from Yoda.

Hannah, a former member of the Columbia Business School adcom -- who's now on the SBC admissions consulting team -- shares advice for the CBS application, as well as details about the program's amazing outside-of-class activities and its new location in Manahattan.

In this replay, Erika talks with Anthony Penna, a fellow SBC admissions consultant who spent 10 years with the Wharton School in Career Management and as Associate Director of Admissions for the full-time MBA program. As Anthony served on the implementation and design team for Wharton's Team Based Discussion (TBD) interview format, this episode focuses on his insight advice for MBA candidates who will be interviewing with Wharton.

Many interviewers report that they make up a big percentage of their mind about applicants during the first few minutes of an interview. This podcast shares a number of very specific suggestions and tips to make yourself stand out during these first interactions. Our host shares his suggestions for something he calls a “personal MBA soundbite” – including how you can create this soundbite, how you can incorporate it into the beginning of your first question, and how you can use this language to provide a framework for your entire interview.  While each is different, the main goals of an personal MBA soundbite are to: summarize who you are in an interesting/memorable/dynamic/compelling way at the start of your interview, create a framework for the first part of your conversation so that the interviewer understands your life and work experiences in the appropriate context given your future goals, and   develop a short *elevator pitch* that can not only be useful as you prep for your interviews… but also in terms of other elements of your admissions journey–from speaking to current students, to alums, to admissions officers, etc.  This podcast is perfect for anyone wanting to start of on the right foot for that all-important MBA admission interview.