Business School Confidential: A Complete Guide to the Business School Experience: By Students, for Students - Softcover

Koegler, Katherine F.; Miller, Robert H.; Miller, Robert; Loucks, Katherine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312300867 ISBN 13: 9780312300869

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2003

Synopsis

Featuring an in-depth interview with the Director of Admissions at Tuck School of Business, ranked #1 by the Wall Street Journal.

Written for students about to embark on this two-year odyssey, by students who have successfully survived business school, Business School Confidential provides a comprehensive, blow-by-blow chronological account of the complete MBA experience. Miller and Loucks have assembled a panel of recent MBA graduates from across the country, all of whom are in a prime position to offer realistic and informative advice on what business school is really like today. Together, they will walk you through the entire process - from thinking about, applying to, and choosing a business school and program, through the two-year curriculum, recruiting, summer internships, networking, and ultimately, finding the perfect job. The book also features interviews with top Fortune 500 CEOs including Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Larry Bossidy, former CEO of Allied Signal; Vernon R. Loucks formerly of Baxter International and currently of Segway, Jim McNerney, CEO of 3M; and Edward Whitacre, Chairman and CEO of SBC, and with Kristine Laca, the Director of Admissions of Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, currently rated as the #1 Business School in the U.S. according to the Wall Street Journal. This is truly a book no aspiring business school student should be without.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert H. Miller graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in May 1998, where he was Senior Editor of the Law Review, and from Yale University in 1993. He is presently a trial lawyer at Sheehan, Phinney, Bass & Green in Manchester, NH where he specializes in constitutional, intellectual property, and business litigation. He is the author of the critically-acclaimed law school preparatory book Law School Confidential.

Katherine K. Loucks graduated from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management in June 2001, and from Yale University in 1996. Before attending business school, she was a founding partner and manager of InLight, Inc, a software and Internet-based patient education services firm. She now lives in Denver, CO where she is helping to found a real estate development enterprise.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Business School Confidential
1So You Wanna Get an M.B.A."Know the right moment."--THE SEVEN SAGES 
 
 
IT PROBABLY COMES as no surprise to you that pursuing a master's degree is an expensive and time-consuming proposition. Leaving a solid, well-paying job to pursue an M.B.A. should be a carefully considered and calculated decision. Before committing two years of your life; at least $60,000 in tuition, fees, and housing; and the "opportunity cost" of the experience--ask yourself the following questions and force yourself to really think through your honest responses to them. It may help to actually write your answers down. Taking the time to do this will make it easier to carefully and properly evaluate business school as a next step in your career. 
 
 
Why do I really want to go to business school? 
There are many possible responses to this question, and most business school applicants actually have more than one. Many of these reasons are well thought-out and will empower your experience. Others, however, should not be the premise upon which you decide to apply."I think deciding whether or not to go to business school is amatter of figuring out where your interests lie," Dave notes. "If you are happy working in the accounting sector or the marketing sector and have no desire to cross over into other areas in the future, then you may not need to go to business school. If you want to explore new areas of business, grow your understanding of how business works, and give yourself the option of moving around in the future, then you should give serious thought to business school."Andy agrees. "I would encourage anyone thinking about applying to business school to carefully evaluate their career objectives. The fact of the matter is that too many people have a great deal of uncertainty about that. The most important step is to figure out what it is that you really want to do, and to do that before you apply.""When I first applied to Wharton in 1996, I had no idea what I was looking to get out of my business school education. I could not articulate the value that an M.B.A. would have for me. It was only the second time around, after a great deal of independent research and countless conversations with other business school graduates that I appreciated why it was that I wanted to go to business school," Brett admits. "You want to be able to look at your career to date, and specify exactly how getting an M.B.A. will help you grow, both professionally and personally."Okay. So this is the time of reckoning. Check to see if one or more of your reasons for applying to business school appears on this list:· I kicked ass on the GMAT--I can't ignore that, can I?· I hate my job, so this will be my "way out."· The economy stinks, and I just got laid off, so why not go back to school?· This is what all my friends are doing--they can't all be wrong ...· Everyone else in my firm has an M.B.A.· I don't understand science, so med school is out, and law school requires too much reading. What else is there?If your primary reason for applying to business school is represented by one or any combination of the responses from the list above--slam on the brakes! It's time to spend some more time considering your motivations. Follow along, and you'll see why. 
 
 
I kicked ass on the GMAT--I can't ignore that, can I? 
Uh ... yeah. You can ... and if crushing the GMAT is your best reason for applying to business school, you probably should!While you are to be congratulated for acing this important test, the only thing the GMAT measures with certainty is how well you did on a certain set of computerized questions on one given day.That's it.The Educational Testing Service (ETS) would have you believe that there is a strong correlation between an individual's performance on the GMAT and his success in business school and in business in general, but this claim is certainly not without controversy. Doing well on the GMAT is not a guarantee that you will do well in business school and, more importantly, it says nothing about whether you are well suited for business school, will enjoy business school, or actually need the degree. There are many successful CEOs, financiers, and entrepreneurs who never set foot in a business school classroom. You need a better reason than a good score on a standardized exam to make this level of commitment. View a good GMAT score simply as an element of your application--not as the justification for it.A good GMAT score may get you into the dance, but it's no guarantee you'll be happy to be there. Force yourself to look deeper for a better motivation. 
 
 
I hate my job, so this will be my "way out." 
Okay ... so you'd be willing to pay a headhunter $80,000 and give him two years of your life in exchange for a new job, right?No?Then why would you pay the lofty price of attending business school just to get out of your present employment situation? This is pure laziness. If you hate your job, contact a headhunter, search the classifieds, or hop on the Internet and cruise the myriad employment sites offered there for free. Applying to business school--or any graduate program, for that matter--because you hate your current job and have no idea what you really want to do with your life, is a recipe for disappointment.Why?Because with no idea why you want to go to business school, you'll have a difficult time making a convincing case for yourself in your admissions essays and interviews, which may lead to rejection after rejection, and a waste of the time and money associated with applying. If do you happen to fool somebody into offering you admission, however, when you get to business school, you'll still have no idea why you are there--no particular focus, no direction, and no passion fueling your study. Sure, you might find your passion while you are there, but you are just as likely not to. Know where you'll be then?Right back where you started. Frustrated, without direction, resentful of your employment situation ... $80,000 in debt, and two years older.Read on. 
 
 
The economy stinks, and I just got laid off, so why not go back to school? 
So you got laid off and the economy is in recession. In the year 2001, a record number of people applied to business school as a result of layoffs and the downturn in the economy. A popular rumor that year had it that one out of every five pieces of mail coming out of Silicon Valley post offices was a business school application.If your employment status and the economy are your primary motivations for applying to business school, you are not alone. Recognize, however, that these are not the kinds of motivations likely to impress admissions committees inundated with applications from thousands of candidates in the same position. Not to mention the fact that your chances of admission are significantly decreased due to the increased number of applications!Finally, you should also be aware that simply having an M.B.A. is not a guaranteed ticket to a well-paying job after graduation. If the economy hasn't improved by the time you graduate, you could still be without a job--with the additional burden of your student loans. Many members of the business school classes of 2001 had their employment offers rescinded because of economic factors, and countless others had their start dates pushed back by many months.Don't use business school as a backup plan. 
 
 
This is what all my friends are doing--they can't all be wrong ... 
Known to past generations as the Brooklyn Bridge theorem. You know, the one your mother always used to rebut this reasoning. "If all of your friends were going to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge ..."Forget what all your friends are doing. Your friends may have very good reasons for applying to business school, or may have absolutely no clue why they are doing so. Either way, unless their reasons apply directly to you--what your friends are doing should have no impact on your decision. Don't be a lemming. Your friends won't be ponying up the monthly debt service payments on your student loans for the next ten years, so don't let them decide whether you should go to business school. 
 
 
Everyone else in my firm has an M.B.A. 
This might be a good reason to go to business school--if you have long-term intentions to stay at your current place of employment, and if your superiors have indicated to you that an M.B.A. would help you advance. Some companies do impose a sort of "glass ceiling" which, at some point, can stop people without M.B.A.s from further ascension through the ranks. But before you start completing those applications, sit back and ask yourself the hard questions. What do you hope to get out of business school, and what will be the "opportunity cost" of two years away from the working world? Finally, before you leave the working world for business school with only a year or two of real-world experience, consider the fact that when you graduate, prospective employers, including the company you left, may look at you as an inexperienced, overeducated prospective...

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0312300867
• ISBN 13: 9780312300869
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352