We are not designed to notice gradual changes. Each of us has an attention threshold, and small changes go unnoticed. Only when a change is considerable does our brain signals that the stimulus is worth noticing. When Business Schools makes small changes in the number of scholarships or report changes in the percentage placement within 3-months of graduation, the change is negligible.
MBA Research: It's about Salary & Job
Joining an MBA program when the job market is going through depression is a strategy that has been adopted by professionals over the past 10 years. But looking for an additional MBA, an MBA from an International school to compensate for a low branded MBA is a strategy that can backfire, even if the school accepts your candidacy.
We are witnessing a super specialization within MBA programs. It is no longer sufficient to say that you would like to switch careers into consulting, finance, or Luxury.
Learn about the latest trend
In 2011, the estimates were that the industry would grow at 30% per annum. In reality, the growth fell to 7% in 2012 and 2% in 2013. Although Chinese Govt’s anti-corruption drive were held responsible, Chinese economy was showing signs of fatigue. Schools that are focusing back on Europe are also at greater risk.
We have shortlisted key points that you should consider before selecting an MBA program offering specialization in Luxury Management.
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Why do career experts keep repeating the mantra “Follow your heart”?
What they really mean is “Follow your heart but figure out your real strengths”.
Our heart’s desires are many and the career paths after an MBA diverse. If you follow ‘Expert’ advice, you will be miserable after 2-3 years. Resentment of investing $1,75,000 and 1-2 years on an MBA won’t die down even if you get a high-paying job.
If you define your MBA career paths by Employment report then you are limited by the job functions and industries.
Follow your heart but read this first
In this first part of the Bocconi vs MIP MBA series; we will look at three key comparative factors: course structure, exchange programs, & ranking. In the second part, we will look at post-MBA statistics and class profile.
Compare Bocconi with MIP MBA
Tuck MBA students have retained the median salary at $115,000 with the lowest salary dropping further by $9,000 at $56,000 compared to last year’s trend and highest salary reaching $175,000 a jump of $6,000. What most MBA applicants have asked us about the trends in Tuck MBA Employment report is the demand for Finance and Consulting jobs.
Read the Complete Summary
Most of us are optimists or ‘dutiful’ pessimists when it comes to decision making. It is no different when we are selecting MBA programs. We don’t have to deal in the extremes but take a middle of the path thinking when it comes to decision making. Chip and Dan Heath in their extremely popular book – Decisive: How to make better choices in life & work, have shared how Byron Penstock, an investment analyst, uses bookending to make optimum investment decisions.
Let us calculate your chances to get into a top MBA program based on bookending
There are plenty of reliable sources covering Business School comparison, Interview with Admission Officers, Interview with Alumni & Current Students, and Business School ranking.
What MBA aspirants must develop is a process of questioning that would help them with decision making. The process that we recommend is useful after you have collected all relevant information about Business Schools, and MBA programs. It follows 3 steps.
With a 24x7 connected world, the constant communication and pressure of work creates a situation where an average sleep is limited to 6 hours, 2 hours short of an ideal sleep cycle. Short-term sleep deprivation will impair your decision-making, especially selecting top MBA programs that require shortlisting a large list of schools, revising the list, and finally picking the top five. Sleep on it before picking the MBA Program
When Business School & MBA research start, aspirants will analyze the curriculum, and evaluate the effectiveness of the program to fulfill their post-MBA goals. Customizing the learning experience through electives, and experiential learning often happens during the second half of the program. With $80,000 to $120,000 investment in an MBA every year, it is important to understand how much control the student has in customizing the curriculum.
Learn how to Apply this 3-Step Process for MBA Career Planning
2013 MBA Recruiters Survey conducted early in the year had shown indications that the job openings in 2013 are slowly matching the Pre-2008 levels. This has been confirmed with the B-School Follow-up Survey conducted in September 2013. This survey was conducted for the Class of 2013 by surveying 915 students from 129 Business School around the world. Find out the latest MBA Job Trends
RSM MBA Director of Marketing and Admissions, Maryke Luijendijk-Steenkamp reveals some interesting changes in RSM MBA Curriculum in the coming year.
Listen to Maryke's Reply
RSM MBA Director of Marketing and Admissions, Maryke Luijendijk-Steenkamp explains the unique visa rules available only to MBA students in Netherlands.
Listen to Maryke's Reply
RSM MBA Director of Marketing and Admissions, Maryke Luijendijk-Steenkamp explains the class composition of the MBA Class and the job trends seen in recent years.
Listen to Maryke's reply about Language Barriers during Job Search
NYU Stern MBA program is among the toughest programs to get admission into. This webinar answers some of the commonly asked questions about Stern MBA's entry criteria, overview of the MBA programs, NYU Stern's grading system.
The webinar also deconstructs NYU MBA Application Essay questions and will give you an idea about your fit for the NYU Stern MBA programs.
Download the Webinar for Free
Recently, @Booth_Insider conducted a twitter session to answer general queries about Chicago Booth MBA Admissions. We have compiled answers to some of the common queries asked by Booth MBA Applicants.
What makes Booth MBA Unique?
Does the AdCom recommend campus visit?
Does Booth MBA Accept GRE Score?
Multiple GMAT Scores - Which Score is considered?
Find out answers to the above questions and more
RSM MBA Director of Marketing and Admissions, Maryke Luijendijk-Steenkamp explains how the structure of the career Service team help them find the right jobs for MBAs.
Listen to Maryke's reply about the effectiveness of RSM MBA's Career service team
RSM MBA Director of Marketing and Admissions, Maryke Luijendijk-Steenkamp shares the goals of each term and why the program is structured into four terms.
Listen to Maryke's reply about the goals behind each RSM MBA Terms
Luxury Industry is recession proof, and in 2012 alone, the industry has seen a growth of 10% with revenues reaching $275 billion. An emerging niche within luxury industry that is expected to reach $1.3 trillion in 2015 is “Luxury Experience”. Learn more about Career Options for Management Students in Luxury Experience.
Cornell Johnson MBA Employment report has been released. The mean salary for 2-Year MBA program in 2012 was $106,100 whereas 1-Year MBA program led students to earn $113,720. Interestingly, the mean sign-in bonus for 1-year MBAs was $19,620, six thousand dollars less than what was offered to 2-year MBAs.
Get information about Cornell MBA Employment Trends and Salary
Stanford GSB has joined the group of top Business Schools that have developed its massive open online course. The first course as part of the platform is titled “The Finance of Retirement and Pensions.” Earlier, University of Pennsylvania Wharton had made available its entire Foundation Courses online, starting from the month of Sep-October.
Learn More about the Course Schedule
Big data can be defined in three contexts: Volume, Velocity and Variety.Interpreting big data in these three contexts can help Managers with better decision making.
According to a study by McKinsey & Co, there will be a talent shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 in 2018 with deep analytical skills and 1.5 million managers with the skills to make decisions based on Big Data.
Find out more about Big Data and Opportunities for MBA
The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School will include four MBA core courses in Coursera, a non-profit online platform founded with the vision of educating millions of students. The MBA Foundation Series consists of courses in — corporate finance, marketing, operation management, and financial accounting.
Find out the details
To understand the countries that are popular among 2012 Graduate Business and Master’s Degree aspirants, we compared the GMAT score-sending pattern in 2012 with the 2008 trends.The top Six Destinations for Graduate and Master’s Degree Programs remained the same. However, the increase in volume seen in GMAT Score report is primarily contributed by increased demand for Master’s program.
Find out More
The success of self-paced online courses offered by Coursera proves that learning courses, thousands of miles away from the provider is possible if the technology creates an environment for learning, motivating and keeping the participants updated about the course schedule.
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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