B-Schooled: Get Your MBA Admit

In this episode we share an extensive profile of an applicant Stacy Blackman Consulting worked with. We explain how the former admissions committee members on our staff assessed her candidacy, what advice they gave to strengthen her materials, and what ended up happening.

This episode gives advice (and warnings) to those attempting to pull together MBA applications in the final weeks before the deadlines.

In this episode, Roxanne Mendez, Executive Director of the Riordan Programs, joins us to talk about the experiences of underrepresented minority applicants applying to business school. For nearly 30 years, the Riordan Programs have been helping underrepresented and minority students excel at the country’s top MBA programs. Roxanne will give insight into why the number of underrepresented minority candidates considering top MBA programs is still lower than it should be, and will also share what underrepresented minority applicants should keep in mind if they do decide to consider pursuing a graduate business degree.

In this episode, Erika is joined by her SBC colleague Lisa, the former Director of MBA Admissions for the full-time and part-time MBA programs at Rice University’s Jones School, to have a discussion about when it is and isn't a good idea to share deeply personal stories in your MBA essays or interview responses.

Communicating what your classmates will learn from you and how you’ll be an asset to the MBA program you attend is monumentally important. This episode covers ways to get that information across through your resume and essays.

Often times, it's quite a challenge to fit an application, data-form or essay response into the space provided when restrictive character or word counts are in play. This episode focuses on specific ways MBA applicants can edit down essays and short-answer responses without compromising the power of their stories, anecdotes or statements.

This episode covers a quick admissions update from Harvard Business School before diving into why it's important for you to demonstrate your knowledge of and fit with the MBA programs you’re applying to – and how you can do so in both your written materials and your interview responses.

This episode discusses why all business school candidates need to be able to clearly explain why they need an MBA, especially if they are in one of four applicant buckets where it's important to clarify the need for a business degree. Common reasons for getting an MBA are covered, as are reasons that might be realistic but are best left out of one's application materials.

Our host Erika is joined once again by former Kellogg admissions director Beth Tidmarsh for a discussion specifically about behavioral MBA interviews (i.e., "Tell me about a time when..." questions). They cover the types of behavioral questions candidates can expect, advice on how to answer those questions, pitfalls to avoid, and more. They also role-play a few questions and responses for listeners.

In this episode, we welcome back Jay Bryant, a former MBA admissions director who is now a liaison between business schools and ETS, the company behind the GRE® General Test. Our host Erika and Jay will answer questions that listeners sent in about: Differences between the GMAT and the GRE General Test How MBA programs view the two main admissions tests Why admissions tests cover specific subjects When applicants should take their admissions test ... and much more!