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by Personal MBA Coach » Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:00 am
A Wharton MBA graduate with a BS from MIT, I have been an MBA admissions consultant for eight years and have helped hundreds of applicants around the world get into top MBA programs. Take advantage of the unique, personal and intimate approach of Personal MBA Coach by asking any questions about the admissions process or your individual situation.

Periodic updates about MBA admissions will be posted as well for your reference. Good luck! I look forward to talking with many of you.

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by Personal MBA Coach » Sun Sep 13, 2015 9:26 am
Advice & Tips: Getting recommendations from your current boss when you were not planning on making your MBA plans public

Many people have this decision to make: do you (1) keep your B school goal a secret so it does not affect your job, forcing you to ask people besides your current manager to write a recommendation or (2) tell a couple people at the office because you want them to write your recommendation, and then hope they don't tell others

The right answer to this depends on how long you have been at your current job, how close you truly are to your manager, and who else you could get to write your recommendations. While admissions committees like recommendations from current employers, they are definitely used to people who don't ask their current boss because their boss does not know they are leaving for school. If you are in that situation, you need to have had another full time job post undergraduate where a manager could write about your work experience. You can indicate in the optional essay why you chose not to get a recommendation from your current employer. If your only experience is your current one, that makes getting recommendations tough.

Tread carefully: if you think your boss won't tell other people at the company, take a minute to think twice. How close is your relationship with your boss? At some companies word gets around quickly so you may be better off being upfront about it yourself.

Finally, when thinking about who to ask, think about who will write the best things about you. If your former boss loved you and would put you in the top 1-2% while your current boss would rank you high, but not that high, it may make sense to go with the older boss even though s/he has older content to write about. The choice of recommenders is an important one to debate, so make sure to spend enough time thinking about who to ask.

If you have any questions about selecting the best person to write your letters of recommendation or would like other personalized assistance putting together your applications, see my website for details about Personal MBA Coach services https://www.personalmbacoach.com or send me an email directly to schedule a time to discuss: [email protected]

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by abhishek.jha » Mon Sep 28, 2015 2:15 pm
Hello,

Please review my profile and suggest which colleges should I apply for full-time MBA.

GMAT Score:

760 (Quant - 49, Verbal - 46)
AWA - 4.0

Work Experience:

12 Months (till date)

12 Months with OnMobile Global Limited as Software Developer. Prior entrepreneurial experience of 36 months for a digital advertising agency while still in college.

Education:

B.E in Electronics & Communication Engineering, RV College of Engineering, Bangalore
GPA - 6.75/10

I'm looking for full time MBA courses whose class starts in and around September 2016.

Thanks & Regards
Abhishek

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by Personal MBA Coach » Mon Sep 28, 2015 2:25 pm
abhishek.jha wrote:Hello,

Please review my profile and suggest which colleges should I apply for full-time MBA.

GMAT Score:

760 (Quant - 49, Verbal - 46)
AWA - 4.0

Work Experience:

12 Months (till date)

12 Months with OnMobile Global Limited as Software Developer. Prior entrepreneurial experience of 36 months for a digital advertising agency while still in college.

Education:

B.E in Electronics & Communication Engineering, RV College of Engineering, Bangalore
GPA - 6.75/10

I'm looking for full time MBA courses whose class starts in and around September 2016.

Thanks & Regards
Abhishek
Abhishek,

Thank you for your post. I would like to learn more about your roles outside of work before weighing in with exact schools. What are your extra-curriculars?

Also, typically work in college does not count as full-time experience, but depending on the breadth of work and how full-time it was, we can use that as well to improve your profile.

I see you contacted me offline for a consultation so we can continue the conversation there!

Thank you.

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by Personal MBA Coach » Wed Jan 27, 2016 8:43 am
Full blog post: https://bit.ly/1QDhopW

Interview invites and preparation

Round 2 interview invites are starting to be sent out. Here are some thoughts for preparation as you get those invites...

How much time do you need to prepare for interviews?
~2 weeks, but this depends on how you prepare. Generally the amount of time the school gives you between the invite and the first appointment is enough time, though it can help to give yourself a few extra days to make sure you nail your stories and delivery. There is no need to wait until the end of the interview window, but take time to think through your resume, why MBA, why the specific school, and then all of the other school specific questions

How can you prepare for interviews on your own?
I provide interview advice, school specific questions and mock interviews. That said, if you prefer to do it on your own, here are a few tips:

1. Prepare many behavioral stories for each question that you may have to answer. - You never know how you will get thrown off during the interview and if you only prepare one answer to "Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership," then perhaps you would have already talked about the story you had prepared for that question. By having multiple stories, you are able to solve this.

2. Think about the reasons you made each of your career choices. While this seems clear to you, sometimes interviewers will poke at your resume and wonder why you made each decision and how that path logically leads to an MBA.

3. Be very clear and concise. Interviewers talk to many people each day and often days in a row so you want to ensure you come across very clear and are also engaging. If you send mixed messages, it makes it that much harder for the interviewer to remember: Jennifer came from XYZ, has excelled at ABC, but loves doing 123. You want those clear, impactful messages.

Contact me if you want individual interview preparation, or find more information below. Good luck!

Interview Prep: https://bit.ly/1NIiiiq
HBS Interview Prep: https://bit.ly/1gIoDgO

Best,
Scott

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by Personal MBA Coach » Thu Mar 24, 2016 10:21 am
Dee Leopold announced her upcoming departure after this application season and received overwhelming praise for the work she has done at the helm of the world's most prestigious business school. Harvard Business School has now announced that she will be replaced by Chad Losee, an HBS graduate from the class of 2013. Chad is currently a manager at Bain & Company.

Join me in welcoming Chad. We are all excited to see what he has planned.

Best,
Scott

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by Personal MBA Coach » Wed Mar 30, 2016 6:30 am
We are a little less than 2 hours away from the decisions many of you have been waiting for. Best of luck to those who applied to HBS in round two.

Keep in mind that this year Harvard filled 10% of their class with re-applicants! In case things don't work out as planned, now is the time to start planning for next year. I am happy to field any questions about how to improve your applications going forward.

Best,
Scott