We falsely put hope in our intuitions, or in plain English “fuzzy logic reached through biases, our limited life experiences, and exposure to Business School’s marketing.” Life-changing decisions can falter with this limiting method.
Instead of relying on intuition, let us go systematically through the attributes that are important to you.
First Part of the Series - Insead MBA vs London Business School MBA Program. Also include living cost comparison between London, Paris, Abu Dhabi and Singapore.
Compare over 9 Factors and find out which school is better for you
Our innate curiosity has made us a species that is dominant over all the animals. The “Why”, “When”, “What”, “Where”, and “How” questioning is useful not only for our daily lives but extremely useful for MBA Admissions. Each stage of the admission process requires us to ‘ask questions’.
One data that applicants have always assumed to be valid and thorough is the business school ranking survey response rate. Most surveys get anywhere between 20-30% responses from the entire alumni pool. This is much worse than the average voter turnout in leading democracies – United States (48%) and India (58%). Citizens in these countries are vocal about the apathetic state of the election process. However, when it comes to a $75,000 to $200,000 decision, our ability to question data seems to be suppressed by the constant PR articles about Business School ranking.
Find out why Curiosity is important for GMAT Prep, Essays, Interviews and Business School Research
As a mean to measure loyalty, Reichheld, Bain & Company, and Satmetrix introduced Net Promoter® (NPS) score, a scale from 0 to 10 that measures an Alumni’s likelihood of recommending the Management program. A score of 9 to 10 means highlight likely, 0 to 6, least likely and 7-8 neutral. A 45+ score mean, the Alumni highly recommend the program.
MBA Satisfaction Score
IE Business School and IESE have retained the top spot in all major ranking publications including The Economist, and the Financial Times. In spite of Spain's Shrinking Economy, IESE and IE Business School have maintained the top spot.
Find out what makes them stand out and their differences!
F1GMAT: William & Mary’s MBA program has put emphasis on leadership development and experiential learning. How is the curriculum structured to help MBA students?
Amanda Barth: The structure of our program mirrors the business world by combining theory with practice. The 1st year core curriculum is fast-paced and rigorous, but supportive with diverse learning teams which allow our students to exchange ideas and achieve their full potential. William & Mary’s Leadership Development Experience fosters mentorships from day one, pairing every MBA with their very own personal coach through our truly unique and expansive Executive Partner Network, a cohort of over 100 senior business executives from more than 20 different industries. Active, semi-retired or retired, these leaders are like no others. They are an integral part of our community and Mason Family.
Google Trends gives us insight into the search demand for various keywords. We have collected data for Top 5 MBA Programs to learn how the MBA programs are measuring up against each other in online search space, and the general demand for these MBA programs from Feb 2004 to Sep 2016.
The demand is going down steadily for top MBA programs. Find out more >>
Italy is among the 9th largest economies, with the 2015 GDP reaching $1,814 billion. More than 90% of Italian companies are small and medium-sized entities that manufacture top class consumer goods all over the world.
F1GMAT: HHL MBA has put emphasis on balancing theory with practical experience in its curriculum. Tell us how the curriculum is designed to help MBA Students.
Raluca Modoiu(HHL Full-time MBA): At HHL we try to structure our program in the way that would best prepare our MBA students to the real world practices. Because our class is very diverse and not all students have the same background and practical experience, our practice-oriented courses and projects allow them to apply their knowledge to real business scenarios even before they leave HHL and thus prepare them for their professional career after the studies. This includes company visits as part of some program where students get a chance to analyze real cases using the skills and knowledge acquired during the course.
Learn more about HHL from the Full-time MBA Admission Team
MIT Sloan and Stanford GSB are two of the top B-schools in the world. Both are next door to exceptional undergraduate programs that regularly usher in radical new technologies. Students with a tech background and an entrepreneurial attitude are naturally drawn to the schools.
We have picked five factors for your consideration before picking one over the other
Diversity is not a differentiating factor anymore. It is the norm with schools setting targets on bridging the gender gap every year. Getting the right mix is not restricted to nationality, gender, or minority groups in each host country, but also includes candidates with different undergraduate degrees, pre-MBA experience, and post-MBA goals.
Why Diversity? Here is why..
Unless you are working in Oil & Gas or Mining where human, political, environment and market dynamics along with innovation in technology determine the future of the industry, don’t take an MBA based on the ‘carrot’ that with an MBA, you can climb the middle manager ladder.
Last year alone, the worldwide luxury market is estimated to have grown at 10%, with revenues reaching $275 billion. It is the third consecutive year that the Luxury sector saw a double-digit growth.
Find out the top MBA in Luxury Management!
Pioneered by Harvard Law School in 1870, and taken up by Harvard Business School in 1920, Case Study Method is the most popular means of teaching at Business Schools across the world. In experiential learning, students handle real-life business decisions. It could be a ‘live’ project, being on the board of a company or even a business simulation. Find out more about Case Study vs Experiential learning.
Harvard Business School is one of the most sought after B-schools in the world. It is also one of the schools with the lowest acceptance rate. While IIMA in India boasts of an acceptance rate of just 0.1%, among US B-schools, HBS has the lowest acceptance rate after Stanford. The rate has historically hovered around the 10-12% mark.
Find out how to get into Harvard MBA
There is a myth on how we make decisions and the information we collect to reach a conclusion. Analysis paralysis is often associated with the vast amount of information that is under our disposal. The truth is different. We are not paralyzed by the additional information but by the narrower choices that we have reached after eliminating several other equally viable options.
We can use Moral Algebra Method to shortlist the best MBA programs. The process is simple and effective.
Find out how!
Devaluation of Euro will make top European MBA program affordable for International students, but the latest GMAC report shows the growing disparity between job offers received by domestic and international students. Unfortunately, the disparity in percentage job offers during the course is common across MBA programs in Europe.
Find out why European MBA is not good for Career Switchers
Zappos move to “Holacracy” – a self-governing, flat organization structure where there are no Managers has been reported with suspicion, for one the motivation to climb the ladder is removed from the career path. When productivity becomes the only metric to measure performance, the workforce might feel disoriented. Over 200+ Employees resigned from Zappos. They didn’t find any motivation to work in an organization where there was no transition in Job Titles.
Read: Don’t pick Tier-2 General Management Programs
Business Schools are not going to back down from their search for diversity in nationality, gender, and profile. Whether your profile captures experience diversity depends on how you spin your story and position your personal brand, but regions and nationalities are reserved by the school based on a hidden quota system for each application cycle. The report is your first data point.
F1GMAT has summarized the Post-MBA Goals Trend
It is interesting to see how with each career level, the alumni starts appreciating the value of the program over other career success factors: Hard work, Networking, Attitude towards life, Innate Ability, Other Education and Good Luck.
Read: Management Program & Influence on Career Levels
The rivalry between UNC and Duke is not limited to College basketball; the competition as a favorite MBA destination is much fiercer. While the casual researcher favors UNC for the good-looking crowd, serious applicants should consider five factors: ranking, curriculum, location, class profile, and post-MBA jobs.
Find out who wins
Never has your chances been better to apply to European based 1-year MBA programs. For the first time in 5 years, majority of 1-year MBA programs (60%), of which over 80% are from Europe has reported a steady decline in application volume. The decline is the result of low interest from foreign applicants.
Read More
Most applicants have completed their GMAT preparation. They are ready to send their GMAT test scores to five Business Schools. One common mistake that we have seen applicants committing while selecting their top five schools is that they don’t put too much thought into selecting the last Business School in the list.
Here are 4 Reasons why picking a Backup program might be counterproductive
Most MBA students use their degree for career advancement, but nearly 1/4th of the participants chose an MBA program to change their career path. Unlike entrepreneurship where the need for an MBA program is often debated, in other career tracks like consulting, marketing, finance and HR, an MBA program is invaluable. Alumni have vouched that more than anything else, an MBA gave them the confidence during their post-MBA journey
Read More
In 1968, Zajonc showed how even the repeated exposure of words without any meaning, random photographs, and incomprehensible Chinese calligraphy were enough to form a positive association with the object. We are terrible at distinguishing between quality as an idea and real quality. Advertisers have minted millions of dollars with our shortcoming, and schools have cleverly adapted the idea in a more subtle way.
Find out how to avoid the Mere Exposure Effect
F1GMAT's Winning MBA Essay guide will teach you how to transform your essay into a life journey with trials and tribulations that will move the admission team.
+ Over 245 Sample Essays (Read Previews of F1GMAT's Winning MBA Essay Guide Sample Essays here)
F1GMAT's Essay Guides
Harvard MBA Essay Guide (20 Sample Essays)
Example #1: Persistence Narrative
Background Information: The applicant – a design and music talent, shares her journey through several setbacks. She attributes curiosity to her growth.
Curiosity: Philosophy
Curiosity (Explained): Curiosity as a philosophy is tough to translate into a narrative unless you are from the creative industry or your contributions had an influence on a solution or an initiative.
MBA Essay Strategy: I wanted to capture the humanity of the applicant and her influence in music instead of just highlighting how she overcame multiple roadblocks to gain attention as a designer.
Theme: Persistence
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Life Starts at NO (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #2: International Community Building
Background Information: The applicant, a Machine Learning (ML) entrepreneur specializing in healthcare diagnostics, shares how his curiosity to learn other ML algorithms’ evolution in diagnosing Alzheimer’s, cancer, and heart disease transformed his platform into a global community.
MBA Essay Strategy: I wanted to show the applicant’s contributions in diagnostic from 2020 to 2024 by citing two events. Such examples build credibility instead of engagements that were recent. The evolution of the platform from an AI development community to a community for discussing the application of AI in diagnostics is captured through a ‘curiosity’ angle.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Growth through Collaboration (AI in Healthcare) (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #3: Culture
Background Information: The applicant, an Entrepreneur from India narrates his first entrepreneurial experience – facilitating exchange of stamps in the late 1990s.
Theme: Culture
MBA Essay Strategy: Instead of addressing the biases in the investor community that could turn preachy, I wanted to focus on the applicant and his entrepreneurial journey by citing two entrepreneurial experiences – a platform(club) for stamp collection and his Grocery delivery App.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – The American Dream (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #4: Addiction
Background Information: The applicant – a beneficiary of the foster home system, captures the sacrifice his adopted grandparents made to save him from a path of addiction. Paying it back through early intervention among teenagers and community engagement is the curiosity narrative.
Theme: Addiction
MBA Essay Strategy: My strategy is to capture a gratitude narrative in the first one-third of the essay to demonstrate motivation for starting the venture and dedicate the latter part of the essay to the unique solution
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Drug Addiction and Gaming (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #5: Scarcity
Background Information: The applicant, an education major, recognizes that 70% of all students in Kenya don’t have a computer. The curiosity that drives him to pivot from one solution to another is the growth narrative.
Theme: Innovation
MBA Essay Strategy: Often, innovation is captured with a ‘hero’ narrative where the applicant is the sole originator of an idea. I wanted to break that cliché and include a person from whom the applicant learned to use a concept called ‘scaffolding.’
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Scarcity (Growth-Oriented HBS Essay Example)
Example #6: FinTech
Background Information: The applicant captures a vulnerable moment of a beneficiary to compare his journey of side hustle before a technology giant noticed his talent. Although cryptocurrency is not a flavor for the year, capture niches where innovation is still happening.
Theme: Education, Child Welfare
MBA Essay Strategy: Empathizing with a techno solution is tough without a strong backstory around the beneficiary. For the essay, I wanted to clearly establish the beneficiary – Rami, before the applicant narrates the similarities to his journey and finally shares the solution that emerged from his curiosity.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – FinTech as a Tool for Good (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #7: Learning from the best
Background Information: The applicant – a Remote Engineer in the Oil and Gas industry, reflects on a value that has helped her learn from the best regardless of her geographical limitations.
Theme: Learning
MBA Essay Strategy: The effectiveness of the case-study method depends on the assumption that peers in a Harvard MBA class will help elevate your learning experience. For the essay, I have highlighted the applicant’s recognition of this value proposition with three examples.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Learning from the Best (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #8: Military & Search for IMPACT
Background Information: The most common narrative for US military applicants is to quote 9/11 and the reaction your immediate family had while watching the events unfold. The horrifying moment is captured as a motivation to join the Military. On digging deeper, most applicants would share that their motivations were diverse.
Theme: Career Choice
MBA Essay Strategy: I wanted to quickly highlight that the applicant had the choice of entering any industry. One achievement to demonstrate his curiosity that I shared in the first half is the invention of a game. Since the game is mentioned in the resume and verifiable through search, I didn’t quote the name. By clearly highlighting the person’s curiosity and career options, the family legacy is used as a factor in joining the military.
Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Career Choice after a Military Career (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
Leadership-Focused Essay: What experiences have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become? (up to 250 words)
Example #9: Small Business Values
Background Information: The applicant - a second-generation Asian American, is familiar with the values of fiscal conservatism, building relationships, and understanding the daily struggles of the community through his family’s department store.
Theme: Customer-Centric
MBA Essay Strategy: The applicant’s role in developing an App for the store is highlighted in the essay at a crucial part of the narrative so that the essay is not all about his father. I have also humanized the journey – by sharing how upset the father was when the revenues fell by 40%. The essay is about the transformation in the applicant’s value from a person chasing productivity and optimization technique to someone who is truly thinking about the customers.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Small Business Values (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #10: Breaking Away from Family Business
Background Information: A unique challenge that applicants whose parents are public figures or CXOs of businesses or entrepreneurs are the pressure to live up to the parent’s standards or milestones. For the leadership narrative, the burden of legacy is established before the narrative addresses his leadership principles.
Theme: Authenticity
MBA Essay Strategy: For the essay, I want to capture an entrepreneur’s journey to rise above his entrepreneur father’s image. But I didn’t want to make the entire essay about this complex dynamics. The narrative is around the applicant’s focus on customers and surrounding with teams who keeps him grounded.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Breaking Away from Family Business(Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #11: Creativity and Communication
Background Information: When the overall percentage of users with internet access is 62% in South Africa and the inequality accentuated by the rural and urban divide, the applicant endured the lack of digital infrastructure, and spending close to 22% of the family income on gaining relevant information on schools, global exams, and financial assistance.
Theme: Creativity, Communication
MBA Essay Strategy: The strategy is to share why the applicant values no distraction in a child’s home for optimum education experience. Then I highlight the many roadblocks the applicant’s non-profit faced in receiving fee waiver for their cooperative run ISP.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Non-Profit (Telecom) (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #12: Mental Health
Background Information: The applicant like most didn’t pay much attention to the mental health epidemic until tragedy hit home.
Theme: Communication, Innovation
MBA Essay Strategy: A question we frequently get from applicants is whether they should cite tragedy in the family as a motivation for a venture or a non-profit initiative. As long as you don’t linger too much on the tragedy and offer a balanced narrative, there are no restrictions on leveraging unique stories from your life.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Mental Health (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #13: Trauma, Healing & Finding Authentic Self
Background Information: The applicant narrates the absurdity of war in the narrative about the duties in Kabul, and the trauma. Instead of wallowing in on the horror, the applicant takes what makes military applicants strong and guides unprivileged children build life and leadership skills.
Theme: Resilience
MBA Essay Strategy: Capturing PTSD in an essay, the healing process, and the cues that helped the applicant are too sacred to be shared in a Harvard MBA application essay. However, with the right motivation and narrative arcs, you can capture the essence of your journey without sharing the darkest secrets. That is what I did by merging two stories – the horrors of the war with a non-profit engagement.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Military & PTSD (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #14: Addiction, Setback and Leadership Mantra
Background Information: In this narrative, the applicant captures Peru’s Silver mining boom of 2006. The growth experienced in her father’s business shifted the family’s economic status to a new stratosphere. Through the changing economic and family dynamics, the applicant finds her voice in a unique way, initially to record her unheard voice but later as one of the youngest subject matter experts in mining and commodities.
Theme: Failure
MBA Essay Strategy: For the essay, the strategy is to show how life’s unpredictability is a blessing. By narrating two setback events, the essay demonstrates the applicant’s resilience and her acknowledgment of people who made a comeback possible.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Addiction, Setback and Leadership Mantra (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)
Example #15: War, Immigration and Starting Over Again
Background Information: Despite a raging war in Syria, the family of the applicant was unblemished by the chaos. The strategic government assets near the applicant’s house would have made the region an easy target, but it was not. The calmness of her journey is shattered in one event. From the privileges of a cocooned life, the applicant is forced to think about survival, her sister’s future, and her future in the US. The second half of the narrative captures the change that was forced on her.
Theme: Gratitude, Resilience
MBA Essay Strategy: I consciously chose not to start the essay with a dialogue or trauma. Two lines are allocated to set up the narrative before the trauma event.
Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – War, Immigration and Starting Over Again (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)
Harvard MBA Business-Minded Essay: Please reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations and the impact you will have on the businesses, organizations, and communities you plan to serve. (up to 300 words)
Example #16: Creative or Finance
Background Information: The applicant starts the narrative with the origin of her talents. The unbridled enthusiasm receives a reality check when in high school, the applicant’s father has a conversation with her about academics. While the applicant picked up her quant skills, she was reaching over 50,000 loyal fans, and her videos captured 1 million views.
Theme: Passion, Talent
MBA Essay Strategy: Capturing vulnerability is the toughest part for Harvard MBA applicants. For this essay example, I have captured the applicant’s uncertainty about career choice throughout the essay. Here the goal is to show vulnerability in the career choice essay while for leadership and growth essay, I could capture one example each from creative and PE industry respectively to balance the narrative. So don’t follow this example without a strategy.
Read: Harvard MBA Business-Minded Essay – Creative or Finance (Business-Minded HBS MBA Essay Example)
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