Don’t forget to take advantage of the opportunity to be granted an application fee waiver. You’ll find the details about how to do so in the Application Fee section of McDonough’s Applications Component page. 

Ready to get to work on your McDonough application? Read on. 

McDonough application essay tips

Required essay

Our goal at Georgetown McDonough is to craft a diverse class with people who have had varying personal and professional life experiences. As such, we want to give our applicants the opportunity to select one essay (from a list of three) that allows them the ability to best highlight their experiences, characteristics, and values that showcase the value proposition that they can bring to the McDonough community. Please select one of the following three essays to complete in 500 words (approximately two pages, double spaced) and include the essay prompt and your first/last name at the top of your submission.

Each prompt allows you to provide a different perspective on your candidacy. When deciding which option to respond to, consider which one resonates with you most and will allow you to showcase yourself best. 

Essay Option One – Georgetown Community

Our mission is rooted in Jesuit principles of equality and respect for everyone and an ethos of caring for the whole person. Inclusivity and diversity are core to supporting a community of people with an intersectional understanding of themselves and the world around them. Share how your educational, familial, cultural, economic, social, and/or other individual life experiences will contribute to the diversity of perspectives and ideas at Georgetown University.

Community is a vital aspect of any MBA program experience, and Georgetown’s Jesuit values underscore the importance of contributing to its community. Throughout your life, you have had many experiences that have shaped who you are and are the basis for your unique perspectives and ideas. This essay provides an opportunity to consider your most impactful experiences, how they influenced you, and how you can add value to your community because of them. As the prompt suggests, the experiences you decide to discuss in this essay can be from any aspect of your life. Take this opportunity to share formative experiences and how you navigated them. How did these examples influence your values and outlook? Whether you overcame tough personal circumstances or enjoyed a rich cultural upbringing, your life experiences are unique to you. Once you have decided what experiences you will share in this essay, make sure to connect them to how your presence and contributions to the McDonough community will enrich your classmates’ time in the MBA program.

​Essay Option Two – Cura Personalis

As the oldest Jesuit institution in the United States, cura personalis is a Latin phrase deeply ingrained within our community and translates to “care of the person.” It encompasses a profound sense of care and responsibility for one another, rooted in personalized attention to each individual’s needs, unique circumstances, gifts, and limitations, fostering the growth of each person. Please reflect on a specific instance where you exemplified cura personalis by supporting a teammate or coworker. Describe the particular actions you took to guide them, and explain the impact of these efforts. Additionally, discuss how you would leverage these experiences to contribute to the collaborative environment at Georgetown McDonough.

The strength of the Georgetown community can be found in its members’ sense of responsibility for one another. This essay asks you to focus on a teammate or coworker you have supported. Consider an example from your professional life when you demonstrated a sense of responsibility for another person and actively offered guidance. I suggest using the CAR method to convey the example, laying out the Context, Action, and Result:  

Context: Begin by explaining the situation. Who was the teammate or coworker? What were the circumstances? What challenge did they face?  

Action: Next, describe the action you took to support them. Begin with one of the key parts of the essay: Why were you compelled to help them? Why did you think you could make a difference? Describe how you navigated the situation and what steps you took to make a difference for this person. 

Result: Finally, share the outcome. What was the impact of your actions? How did your support transform the outcome your teammate or coworker would have experienced otherwise? Show how your support not only changed the outcome but also empowered your teammate or coworker.

The final part of the essay prompt asks you to articulate how this experience, and your natural inclination to support others, will enrich and strengthen the McDonough community. Your unique perspective and commitment to responsibility will undoubtedly make a significant difference.

 Essay Option Three – Achieving Excellence

Georgetown McDonough is committed to achieving greater excellence to enrich the legacies of our students and alumni. Please reflect on a professional experience from your resume where you achieved outstanding results. Describe why this experience exemplified excellence, highlight the strengths or skills you utilized that contributed to this achievement, and share how these qualities will help you leave a legacy at Georgetown.

This essay option allows you to showcase professional excellence from a personal perspective. You will share the experience referenced in the prompt and describe how you contributed to achieving outstanding results. Consider whether you want to highlight an example of a time when you worked with a team versus when you were an individual contributor. What does one experience communicate about you compared to the other? Make sure you share specifics about what you did. Consider what skills you could draw on and what strengths you leveraged to achieve the highlighted outcomes. Next, explain why you believe this example demonstrates excellence. You achieved a desired result; why were your actions meaningful or impactful? What motivated you to take the action you took? Did you consider any other options? How did you include other people in the process? How did you decide to pursue the direction that led to achieving excellence? As you bring your essay to a close, reflect on the personal growth and learning you gained from the experience. For instance, if the story you share is about leading a community service project, you might have learned about the importance of empathy and understanding. What legacy do you want to leave at Georgetown? What example do you want the Hoyas who follow to remember you for? 

Video Essay

We believe a vibrant community is built on diverse and unique individuals, and we want you to bring your whole self to Georgetown McDonough. We’ve learned about your professional and leadership qualities throughout the application, but now we want to know more about you beyond work. Whether it’s a new hobby, a fun adventure, or a simple pleasure, in one minute, share what has recently brought you joy outside of work.

• You may use your phone, computer, or other means to record the video, but please ensure all audio and visual components are clear. We recommend a well-lit room and minimal noise distraction. 
• The admissions committee would like for you to appear in person during part of your video.
• Please adhere to the time guideline of one minute.
• We recommend unscripted, conversational videos – help us get to know the real you!
• Upload your video to an accessible website (such as YouTube, Vimeo, Youku, or Tudou), and submit the direct video URL into your online application. 
• Please note that all videos must remain active and accessible to the admissions committee online for a minimum of five years for record retention purposes.
• For your privacy: Do not include your name in the title of your video. You may submit “unlisted” videos via YouTube or password protected videos through Vimeo. If using a password, please include immediately after your link in the text box below. [Ex: www.youtube.com/123, password: Hoyas]  

The great thing about McDonough’s video essay is that you get to present yourself to the adcom. For some applicants, this might be intimidating, but with preparation and practice, you can confidently record your video essay. This video is an opportunity to share something about your life that has brought you joy. You needn’t worry about choosing the “right” example, as long as you can describe how it has contributed to your happiness in some way. 

When creating your video essay, remember that authenticity is key. Start by introducing yourself in a genuine and sincere manner, and don’t forget to smile! Even though you’re speaking to a camera, your smile will help you come across as warm and approachable. If it helps, imagine that you’re sharing your story with a friend. This will help you maintain a genuine and authentic tone throughout your video so the viewer can imagine you as a member of the McDonough community! Consider the following example: 

“I work with a local youth group, and each summer, we take a group of inner-city kids on a white water rafting trip on the Youghiogheny River. I enjoy working with kids who are unsure of their ability to complete the journey. I enjoy coaching them and helping them realize they can learn how to work with the others in their group to maneuver the raft through the rapids. Last week, I was working with a teenage boy who seemed to separate himself from his group of classmates. I took notice and paid particular attention to ensure that he felt included. About halfway through the trip, we stopped for lunch along the river. This young man asked if he could talk to me and shared that he had spent the whole week before the trip thinking about how he was not going to be able to participate in rafting because he wasn’t very athletic. He told me I changed that for him by explaining how to position himself in the raft and lean into each stroke as we fought against the rapids. He hadn’t experienced anything like it and couldn’t wait to go again. Then he gave me a big hug. My heart ballooned, and I felt a profound happiness that a seemingly ordinary day made such a difference for this kid.”

Here are some practical tips to remember when recording your video:

• Prepare at least five and no more than ten facts to share in the 60 seconds.
• Write a few bullet points to help you recall the experience you will discuss.
• Do not read from a script. You want to come across as relaxed and conversational.  
• Start the video by briefly introducing yourself – and remember to smile! 
• Practice what you want to say in your video, record yourself, and then review the recording to make note of how you sound and appear. Make adjustments before recording your next practice video. Do this as many times as it takes for you to feel comfortable!
• Follow all the instructions that the admissions office outlined.

Optional Essay

Please provide any information you would like to add to your application that you have not otherwise included (300-350 words, approximately one page, double spaced).

Is there an experience, special circumstance, or other information you couldn’t convey in the other parts of your McDonough application? If so, this optional essay is the place to do so. Here are some topics to consider, along with our advice on how to address them:

• Do you have a gap in your employment, or are you currently unemployed? 

Provide the details of the period of unemployment, including ways you were or have been engaged in your community or otherwise enhancing your skills or preparing for business school.

• Did your grades suffer during a period in college?

You might have had a difficult period during your undergraduate studies for many reasons. Perhaps you were a first-generation college student and didn’t have sufficient parental guidance, or you were ill during a semester. Whatever the reason, rest assured that the adcom took note of your academic anomaly when reviewing your transcripts. Use this space to explain the circumstances of the situation.

• Have you overcome difficult personal circumstances?

Often, situations we have overcome personally influence how we view the world and interact with others. Share information demonstrating your “grit” or your ability to succeed despite challenging circumstances. 

• Have you been involved in supporting others who are less fortunate, with the goal of providing opportunities and the chance for a better life? 

Georgetown University is committed to social justice and life-changing service. Your work in this area aligns with the Jesuit identity of the university and will resonate with the adcom.

One important thing to remember is that if the information you want to share is deeply personal, ensure that you provide enough detail to convey the situation without oversharing. Part of what the adcom will consider is your judgment regarding what you include in your essay. 

If you feel you have thoroughly communicated your candidacy in other areas of the application, you needn’t feel compelled to provide an optional essay.

Reapplicant Essay

Required for reapplicants. How have you strengthened your candidacy since your last application? We are particularly interested in hearing about how you have grown professionally and personally (300-350 words, approximately one page, double spaced).

This essay is straightforward. Update the committee about how you have improved your candidacy since you last applied. In addition to having gained another year of work experience, what achievement(s) can you share? Did you work on any special projects? Learn new skills? What interesting things have you done outside of work that might affect your contributions to the community? How have your career goals evolved? If you retook a test and improved your score or took additional classes to prepare for the MBA, note that in this essay, even if there is another place to include the information in the application as a data point. The reapplicant essay should comprehensively summarize what you have done to strengthen your candidacy. 

McDonough application deadlines

Source: Georgetown McDonough website

All complete applications are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on the deadline day.

***Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with Georgetown McDonough directly to verify its essay questions, instructions, and deadlines.***

McDonough class profile

Here is a look at McDonough’s full-time MBA entering class of 2024 (data taken from the McDonough website):

Applications received: 1,642

Enrolled: 263

Female: 30%

U.S. diversity: 33%

Underrepresented minorities: 14%

International: 49%

Countries represented: 41

Military: 12%

Average years of work experience: 5.6

Average age: 29

Average GPA: 3.33

Mid 80% GPA range: 2.76-3.73

Average GMAT: 696

Mid 80% GMAT range: 640-730

Average GMAT Focus Edition: 621

Mid 80% GMAT Focus Edition: 574-670

Average GRE: 319

Mid 80% GRE range: 309-330

Percentage taking GRE: 44%

Average EA: 153

Undergraduate fields of study

• Business: 24%
• Humanities: 23%
• Math/Physical Sciences: 14%
• Engineering: 12%
• Government and international studies: 10%
• Economics: 9%

Major industry backgrounds

• Financial services: 18%
• Consulting: 11%
• Technology and new media: 9%
• Government: 8%
• Manufacturing: 5%
• Consumer Product Goods: 5%

You’ve worked so hard to get to this point in your journey. Now that you’re ready for your next achievement, make sure you know how to present yourself to maximum advantage in your Georgetown McDonough application. In a hotly competitive season, you’ll want a member of Team Accepted in your corner, guiding you with expertise tailored specifically for you. Schedule a free consultation today!

Related Resources

• Should I Use AI for My MBA (Grad/College) Applications?
• How to Get into Georgetown McDonough’s MBA Program, podcast Episode 512
• GMAT Scores, GPAs, and MBA Acceptance Rates: The Selectivity Index

The post Georgetown McDonough MBA Essay Tips and Deadlines [2025-2026], Class Profile appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

For many business degree hopefuls, the MBA remains the gold standard of graduate management education, and not without reason – an MBA can be the start of a new chapter in your life. Professionally, it can help you accelerate your career or make a career pivot. Academically, it can help fill gaps in hard and soft skills. Personally, it can help you discover more about yourself. For these reasons, many cite their MBA experience as being transformative. 

An MBA is the goal for many people who aim to pursue a business career. But what about individuals who have the desire to pursue graduate management study and start making their mark in the business world but don’t meet the work experience requirement of most MBA programs? Is gaining acceptance to business school without work experience possible? The short answer is yes, it is! The two most common paths for candidates in this situation are pre-experience master’s programs and deferred MBA programs.

Pre-experience/Early Career Programs

The terms “pre-experience” and “early career” are used interchangeably, but they both refer to programs that cater to recent graduates (“recent” meaning fewer than three years out of college). While the first offering in this category was the general management MiM (master’s in management) degree, the portfolio of programs now includes master’s degrees in finance, innovation and entrepreneurship, and data analytics, to name but a few options you might find at business schools today. Business master’s (BMs) degrees in data science, accounting, finance, and health administration are generally the most searched BM programs in the United States.

Applicants in this category are commonly referred to as pre-experience or early career candidates, and this market continues to be popular; according to GMAT Geographic Trend Report: Testing Year 2024, while global GMAT scores are most often sent to MBA programs (63% of them are), the proportion of GMAT score reports sent to BM programs has declined from 36% in 2020 to 30% in 2024. Although pursuing an MiM or similar program doesn’t negate the need for an MBA down the road (indeed, you will find individuals with both an MiM and an MBA), these programs are excellent choices for recent graduates looking to explore their options in the business world. 

Candidates who opt to pursue their business studies now, rather than waiting until they’ve earned a few years of work experience, might do so for a few reasons: they might want to specialize early on in a certain area, such as finance or marketing, to enter a specific function; they might want to “convert” their liberal arts or science degree into a business career; or they might come from a business undergraduate degree but want to better understand how theory is applied in the real world so they can hit the ground running in their post-graduate job. Whatever the candidate’s reason, these degrees provide an excellent foundation and help individuals build the skills, knowledge, career support, and network to get a head start in their careers. Additionally, some MBA programs provide a path for their MiM students to return to complete their MBA as a second-year student.

Deferred MBA programs allow students in their final year of study (or just after, if they’re pursuing a master’s without full-time work experience) to secure a seat in the MBA classroom before gaining the generally required work experience. These programs tend to attract highflyers – students with excellent academic credentials and internships, who have demonstrated leadership potential, and who have already started formulating career goals. These candidates understand, and can articulate, how an MBA will help them achieve their goals. These programs are a great option, because they offer security (you don’t have to worry about studying for the GMAT and writing applications while juggling your busy work schedule!) and add some clout to your resume (“Wow, already accepted to an MBA program before you’ve even graduated? Impressive!”). Of course, as with anything, there are pros and cons, so it’s important to determine whether committing yourself to a deferred program makes sense with your career plans. If you decide that a deferred MBA program is the best option for you, bear in mind that they are incredibly competitive. 

Here’s some information to help you better understand which schools offer deferred MBA programs and what these programs are all about. (Information is accurate as of February 2025.)

Harvard Business School 2+2 Program 

Harvard’s 2+2 program is what the name implies – a minimum of two years (four, maximum) of work experience, followed by two years of MBA study. Harvard is looking for “innovative thinkers who have demonstrated leadership and analytical skills and want to develop their knowledge and passion to make a difference in the world.” And this difference doesn’t have to be in a “traditional” business area. In fact, the 2+2 shows some preference for candidates who are pursuing paths “that aren’t as well established”; this could include candidates who plan to work in an operating company, come from a lower socioeconomic background, are first-generation college students, aim to pursue a technically demanding role, or aspire to entrepreneurism. So, if you’re not focused on joining one of the “big three” strategy consulting firms, don’t let that stop you from applying. You might just be what the 2+2 is looking for.

New York University (NYU) Stern NYU x NYU/Stern Program

Undergraduates from NYU’s College of Arts and Science, Tandon School of Engineering, Global Liberal Studies program, Stern School of Business, and Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development can opt to join the full-time, two-year MBA program at Stern (without needing to take the GMAT or GRE) two to five years after they graduate. Financial support is a big pull with this program – accepted students are granted an Early Advancement Award of $10,000, which covers part of their MBA tuition. These students are also eligible for other Stern scholarships, including the Berkley Early Advancement Fellowship, which covers all fees and tuition for the year in which they matriculate. Accepted students with an interest in technology or in the fashion and luxury industries, and who have relevant post-undergraduate experience, can enroll in the Andre Koo Technology and Entrepreneurship MBA program or the Fashion & Luxury MBA program, rather than the traditional two-year MBA program.

Columbia Business School (CBS) Deferred Enrollment Program

CBS’s deferred admissions option offers flexibility; admitted students can explore the professional world for two to five years before beginning their MBA studies at a time that works best for them. This is a great opportunity for individuals who are looking to explore their career options and develop a better understanding of their business interests and passions. The flexibility continues once students begin their studies; they can specify in a letter of intent whether they prefer the 16-month (January) program or the 20-month (August) program, the latter of which includes a summer internship. Having spent time in industry or entrepreneurship during the deferment period can help students determine which MBA journey will offer the teaching and experience they need to achieve their desired professional and academic development.

Wharton Moelis Advance Access Program

Wharton’s deferred admissions program offers recent undergraduate or master’s degree students the chance to work for two to four years before joining the MBA program as a Moelis Fellow. The program is meant for “students who are ambitious, innovative, and prepared to use a sense of professional liberty to maximize their early career experiences.” In addition to seeking proactive, motivated students, Wharton encourages admits to take professional risks during the deferment period and take advantage of the opportunity to “pursue [their] early years with increased confidence and risk-tolerance.”   

Stanford Graduate School of Business Deferred Enrollment Program

Stanford’s program offers something that most do not – deferred MBA admits are able to take as little as one year (but no more than four) to gain experience before beginning their MBA studies. It is open to students in either the final year of their bachelor’s or joint bachelor/graduate program, and to those in a graduate program that they started immediately after their undergraduate study. We should note that Stanford uses the same evaluation criteria for deferred candidates as it does for applicants to its full-time MBA program, assessing how they think, lead, and see the world.

Stanford cites deferred enrollment as a good option for candidates who are unsure of their long-term professional path and feel they would benefit from gaining full-time work experience first. The school also indicates that some industries – such as private equity, biotech, and management consulting – recruit only MBA candidates who have either pre-MBA experience in that field or specialized knowledge. So, taking time out to gain that experience and knowledge can be valuable in ultimately achieving your post-MBA career goals. 

Interested in a dual degree option? Some of Stanford’s programs allow you to wait until the first year of your MBA to apply for a dual degree; others prefer that you apply in the year immediately before you matriculate in the Deferred Enrollment Program.

Stanford expects admitted students to “pursue opportunities that enable [them] to build expertise, enhance [their] skills and knowledge, expand [their] perspective, and develop professional judgment and self-confidence” during the deferral period. So you will need to reflect on what activities will allow you to develop and how you should spend your pre-MBA time.

Kellogg Future Leaders Deferred Enrollment Program

“Graduate with the confidence that incredible things are ahead.” Kellogg’s deferred enrollment program allows admitted students to work for two to five years before beginning their MBA journey. The admissions committee wants to get to know you and to understand your motivations and why Kellogg is a fit for you. Master’s and undergraduate students (excluding law, medical, and PhD students, who apply through the standard admissions process) can come from any study discipline and either graduated in the past year, are in their final year, or went straight into graduate study post-bachelor’s.

The usual admissions requirements apply – test scores, essays, letters of recommendation, interviews – for some candidates, but not all. Applicants who are already engaged in undergraduate studies at Northwestern are exempt from having to take either the GMAT or GRE, so that’s one application requirement that can be ticked off the list for candidates already wearing the purple N.

Yale School of Management Silver Scholars Program

Yale’s program works slightly differently from the other deferred admissions programs on this list. College seniors earn their MBA in a fast-tracked, three-year format immediately after they complete their undergraduate degree. The program structure is as follows: Year 1 covers the core curriculum, Year 2 involves a full-time internship, and Year 3 comprises electives. The opportunity to develop academic skills while simultaneously gaining professional experience is a unique one. In addition, Silver Scholars learn alongside students from Yale’s traditional MBA program. Access to knowledge and experience? Check!

Yale says, “Silver Scholars are chosen for their combination of intelligence and common sense, maturity and curiosity, passion and compassion. Each has made a difference and distinguished themselves in a particular field of interest.” You’ll need to ensure that you really stand out through the application process (which is largely the same as for the traditional MBA program). Remember, you’ll be studying alongside students with five years of professional experience. You’ll need to convince the adcom that you have what it takes to contribute to classroom discussion and debate.

Chicago Booth Scholars Program

Chicago Booth’s program is open to students who plan to pursue either the full-time or part-time MBA and allows candidates to apply before they graduate from college, then defer and gain professional experience for two to five years before enrolling in one of the school’s MBA programs. Booth cites flexibility as one of the major differentiators. Booth Scholars have the option of pursuing the Evening MBA or Weekend MBA, if one of those programs is a better fit with their career objectives.

Booth says that candidates for the Scholars Program “demonstrate intellectual curiosity, personal maturity, competitive scores, and leadership” and that they “have a history of substantive internships or part-time jobs and/or an entrepreneurial spirit.” The application essays make clear that successful candidates need to be able to articulate their career goals and where the MBA fits in. The school wants intelligent, independent thinkers with a considered career map. Although one’s professional goals can change during the deferment period, of course, the adcom wants to see that candidates have taken the time to think through their career path and how attending Booth aligns with it.

UVA Darden Future Year Scholars Program

Darden’s program allows final-year undergraduate students, or full-time master’s students without work experience, to work for two to five years before starting their MBA studies. Student backgrounds are diverse, because Darden aims to recruit individuals who bring to campus a range of abilities and professional and academic experience. In 2024, 121 Future Scholars were admitted and were in the deferral period, busy enhancing their professional experience. This group comprises an internationally (20%) and academically (46% non-business degrees) diverse group of students hailing from 16 countries and 43 undergraduate institutions. Applicants are evaluated in three areas: academics, extracurricular involvement, and personal characteristics. While the latter of these criteria is vague, the adcom does say that the school is looking for individuals who “aspire to be future ethical leaders and managers in a global world.” Putting thought into why you have the potential to be this kind of future leader, and whether your values align with Darden’s, would be time well spent.

MIT Sloan Early Admission

If you are an “ambitious and forward-thinking student,” Sloan’s deferred admissions option might suit you. It is open to final-year students who will not enroll in a PhD, MD, or JD program immediately after graduation and to those in graduate study (who started immediately after completing their bachelor’s) without full-time work experience, except for internships or co-op experiences. Accepted students can work for two to five years before joining the MBA program.

The admissions process is slightly different for Early Admission candidates, and the application calendar differs for non-MIT undergrads. Candidates are required to submit a 300-word cover letter demonstrating their fit with the school. MIT is quite specific about who it’s looking for. The school wants “thoughtful leaders with exceptional intellectual abilities and the drive and determination to put their stamp on the world … people who are independent, authentic, and fearlessly creative … who can redefine solutions to conventional problems, and strive to pre-empt unconventional dilemmas with cutting-edge ideas.” There is a lot to think about and squeeze into a one-page cover letter, so carefully consider how you fulfill the program’s stated criteria. Additionally, candidates must submit a resume and a 60-second video in which they introduce themselves to the class. This video is an excellent opportunity to show your personality and bring the person introduced in your cover letter to life. A second video is required in whish applicants must respond to open-ended questions that are randomly generated.

Additionally, interested MIT students who have a cumulative GPA of 4.2 or higher are in luck, because they can waive the GMAT/GRE.

Berkeley’s Accelerated Access Program 

Berkeley’s Accelerated Access Program is open to undergraduate and graduate students and encourages domestic and international candidates with diverse backgrounds and academic areas of study to apply. Admitted students not only have access to the full-time MBA program but are also eligible for consideration for dual degree programs.

Students are required to work for a minimum of two years before beginning their MBA studies but are allotted a maximum of five years in which to explore their career interests. Although Berkeley does not require its deferred students to follow particular career paths, it prods them to pursue “employment that enhances [their] leadership profile and prepares [them] to contribute to the mission-driven business community” at the school. To ensure that admitted students are meeting the required criteria, some admissions offers are conditional, and students are required to attend check-ins with a Berkeley Haas advisor or career coach. Additionally, a review might be conducted prior to the intended enrollment date to ensure that the student has met the required terms. 

Carnegie Mellon Tepper Future Business Leaders Deferred MBA Admissions Program

In February 2021, Tepper joined the deferred admissions space with its Future Business Leaders program, which allows students to defer for up to four years while they gain professional experience. The program is open to college seniors who plan to graduate from a U.S. university in the current academic year and do not yet have full-time work experience. The school says that “competitive applicants will have a strong academic record, professional internships, and undergraduate leadership experience.” Tepper’s adcom also expects candidates to have put some thought into their career goals and why the program format is a good fit for them (essay alert!). The GMAT/GRE is waived for Carnegie Mellon students, and admits are eligible to apply for scholarships, with decisions to be made at the time of matriculation.

Georgetown McDonough MBA Advanced Access Program 

The most recent player on the MBA deferred admissions scene is Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, with its MBA Advanced Access Program (MAAP). The program allows candidates who are either in their final year of undergraduate studies or in graduate school – and have no full-time work experience – to apply for deferred enrollment. Accepted students can secure a place in the class two years out from when they apply, with the option of extending this time period to three or four years.

The application process is thorough. In addition to the standard written application essay (candidates have three question options to choose from) and video essay, MAAP candidates must complete program-specific essays. The prompts for these essays ask candidates not just about their career goals but also about where they stand in working to achieve them. Additionally, applicants are expected to describe their personal and professional development plans. So, you’ll want to take some time to reflect on how you can present yourself as a proactive, principled future leader who will contribute to the school’s community and make an impact in the business world.

If these options sound interesting, but you’re still unsure whether you should study for a master’s now or wait to pursue an MBA, schedule a free consultation with an Accepted admissions expert today!

Related Resources:

• MBA Acceptance Rates: The Selectivity Index
• Admissions Straight Talk Podcast for MBA Applicants
• Retaking the GMAT with a 700 – Should You Consider It?

The post Deferred MBA Programs and Other Options for MBA Hopefuls with No Work Experience appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Our consultants receive a lot of questions from clients about applying to MBA programs through The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management. I’ve heard myths that suggest that applying to one (or more) of the 22 Consortium schools through The Consortium’s application is disadvantageous. But as the former director at two Consortium schools, I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth — provided you meet The Consortium’s minimum qualifications.

Though the requirements, participating schools, and corporate partners have changed over The Consortium’s 57-year history, not only is the organization the best deal in town but it also gives its members an alumni network that extends throughout the 22 member schools.

The Consortium history and mission

Initially, The Consortium provided opportunities for young African-American men to have a fair chance at rising up the corporate ladder via the MBA. Later, The Consortium added Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and women to its mix. Membership came along with the fellowship.

However, after the Supreme Court decided the Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger cases, The Consortium opened its doors to offer membership to selected applicants that further The Consortium’s mission to promote the “inclusion in global business education and leadership . . . of African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans.” Members do not need to belong to one of these groups but must demonstrate the mission through community and professional action and impact. Thus, membership is no longer race based but rather mission driven. Applicants must also demonstrate the ability to succeed in a Consortium member school’s MBA program.

Consortium member benefits

Like the undergraduate Common App, candidates can apply to up to six schools with only one application for a fraction of the cost that the candidate would incur by applying to each school separately. The Consortium membership grants the candidate access to the orientation and corporate partners. Many members receive internship offers before the start of school.

To summarize the benefits:

1. Applicants can use a single application for up to six schools at one low cost.
   
2. Members gain access to a vast alumni network of 22 schools, including mentorship from among the approximately 9,000 Consortium alumni (formal or informal).
   
3. Students gain access to corporate sponsors at orientation if selected as a member.
   
4. If selected as a fellow, students receive full tuition and a stipend.

READ: The Consortium Application: Tips for Your CGSM Essays >>

Consortium member schools

* School’s class profile presents a score/GPA range rather than an average.

To learn more about applying through The Consortium, please contact me for a consultation.

By Natalie Grinblatt, the former admissions dean/director at three top business schools. Natalie has reviewed more than 70,000 applications, interviewed more than 2,500 candidates, and trained nearly 700 admissions directors and alumni volunteers to select outstanding candidates for admission. Her clients gain admission to top programs, including those at Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, Cornell, Columbia, Berkeley, Chicago, Northwestern, and NYU. Natalie holds an MBA from Michigan Ross. Want Natalie to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related Resources:

• Top MBA Application Essay Questions: How to Answer Them Right
• The Consortium Application: Tips for Your CGSM Essays [2022 – 2023]
• What the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Can Do for MBA Applicants – podcast episode 395

Can the Consortium Help You Get Accepted and Fund Your MBA? [Episode 532]

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In this episode, the Director of Recruiting at CGSM details the benefits – and opportunities! – available to Consortium members, what it takes to become a member, and why applying in Round One may not always be an applicant’s best strategy.  [SHOW SUMMARY]

There’s an organization that can help U.S. citizens and permanent residents get accepted to top MBA programs, fund their MBA, and even provide career support post-MBA – provided the applicants support the organization’s mission. Let’s learn all about it from the Consortium for the Graduate Study of Management’s (CGSM) Director of Recruiting.

An interview with Bianca Keys, director of recruiting at the Consortium for the Graduate Study of Management. [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 532nd episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for joining me. 

Sometimes I’m asked, is the MBA worth it? And my answer is, it depends on your individual circumstances. But I’ve got good news. We’ve developed a tool that will help you evaluate whether an MBA is worth it for you and your individual circumstances and by how much. Just go to accepted.com/mbaroi and check how much you’re likely to benefit, or not, from earning an MBA. And using it won’t set you back even one cent, it’s free. 

I’m delighted for the first time on Admissions Straight Talk to talk with Bianca Keys, Director of Recruiting at the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management. Bianca earned her bachelor’s degree from Lindenwood University and her master’s in Business Management and Leadership from Webster University. She has worked in enrollment management, DEI training, and admissions in different capacities since 2008. She became CGSM’s Director of Recruiting in September 2022. 

Bianca, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. [1:53]

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

I’m delighted to do so. Now let’s start with something really, really basic. What is the Consortium? [1:59]

All right. So, the Consortium, we are pretty much an alliance of top graduate business programs and also top corporate partners, and we’re supported by alumni and students. We were founded in 1966 by Washington University’s professor, Sterling Schoen. And his one driven mission was actually inspired by him noticing a lack of African American men in leadership in American corporations.

So, with the partnerships of some corporate partners and some founding schools, they were able to pretty much create this alliance to give African American men the business skills to be able to secure positions in American corporations. So, now we’ve grown.

And I assume it’s no longer limited to African American men. It’s now African American men and women, right? [2:59]

Yes, men and women. And our target pops are African American men, Native American and Hispanic American, but our applications are open to all.

How does one become a CGSM member? [3:16]

In order to become a member, you would have to, of course, apply. And three of our requirements are that you must be a U.S. citizen or U.S. permanent resident of any race or ethnicity, you must demonstrate a commitment to our Consortium’s mission, and hold a four-year bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in the U.S. or equivalent. So, to be approved for Consortium membership, an applicant must demonstrate the commitment through their resume, our essay, and their letter of recommendation.

I have in front of me your mission, so I’m just going to read it off. “The mission of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, an alliance of leading American business schools and some of our country’s top corporations, is to enhance diversity in business education and leadership by helping to reduce the serious underrepresentation of African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans in both the member schools’ enrollments and the ranks of management.” 

So, again, there’s no racial requirement in terms of membership as long as you support and identify with and support and have supported that mission in the past. [3:59]

Yeah.

All right. So, one of CGSM’S benefits is the ability to apply through CGSM and pay one application fee, and I think it goes to a maximum of six schools, correct? [4:33]

There’s no max anymore.

There’s no max anymore, ooh! [4:44]

So, two things, two updates. We’ve removed rankings. So, there are no rankings, and you can apply to as many member schools as you would like. So, from one to two schools is $150, up to six schools which is $300, but each additional program is $25. Yeah, so they can apply…

And so, in the past with our ranking system, the top ranking school, they were the only school that was able to offer a fellowship opportunity. And now if you applied to all six schools or more, they have the opportunity to offer you… they each have an opportunity to offer you a fellowship. And we empower the student to be able to make the better choice of what school best fits them.

Wow, that’s a big change. When did this change take place, like last year? [5:38]

This last application.

Last cycle. Should’ve interviewed you then. No, I’m teasing. That’s great news. I somehow missed that announcement. Okay, good to know. Good to know. So, there’s no more ranking and there’s no more maximum, and multiple schools could offer a fellowship. [5:43]

Yes.

Now you apply for membership at the same time that you submit your application, correct? [6:00]

Yes. It’s a one stop shop,

It’s a one-stop deal, one application. So, it is possible to use the CGSM application process and ultimately not be approved for CGSM membership, is that correct? [6:09]

Yes, that is possible. But the application is still considered an application, so you won’t get rejected from the member school just because you didn’t get membership. They still go through their standard process of admissions. And a lot of times they’ll offer you other fellowship opportunities or scholarship opportunities that they may have available at the schools.

And the schools don’t even see your decision in terms of CGSM membership. They don’t see the membership essay, correct, the membership application essay? [6:46]

They don’t see any of the membership application essays or letters of recommendation. All they see is the decision once we’ve made it.

Now I saw on your website that Stanford partnered with CGSM last year and became the 22nd school to become a partner school. Have any other schools partnered since then? [7:02]

Yes, I’m excited to say that…

Well, you got lots of news today. [7:17]

Yeah, I do. I do. Northwestern Kellogg School of Management, they are our newest, our 23rd school, which we are so excited to have them. They will begin July 1st, actually, and they will be on our application this upcoming cycle. And this upcoming cycle is for students fall 2024, that will begin fall 2024.

What is the benefit of applying through CGSM as opposed to just using the school’s portal? Portals, I should say. [7:45]

We, one, save you money. An average application for any grad program can be up to about $300 for one application, where six applications is $300 applying through us. So, it’s definitely a win for the students. Whether they get membership or not, it’s saving them money and they are allowed to go by our application deadlines as well. So, if maybe Columbia or one of the schools, maybe their application deadline may be September 15th, they still would recognize the application on our deadline, which our Round One is October 15th.

And I believe it’s also easier to apply. Aren’t there fewer essays required or is it pretty much the same at this point? [8:50]

Right, so it is the core essay which asks the applicants to discuss their MBA goals, and then there’s a second core essay that the applicants are able to detail any additional information that they may want to add that they weren’t able to explain in the application.

Right. And is there typically a supplemental per school essay, or do the schools ask for their own essays in addition to the Consortium essay? [9:20]

Sometimes they ask for their own supplementals that are added in addition. We are going through that process of application updates as we speak.

But it’s not all schools that do that? [9:38]

No, no. No, no.

Usually the student has the mission essay and then the two GMAC format essays.

Are you worried about CGSM’s applicants using ChatGPT and preparing their essays? [9:51]

Oh, the ChatGPT.

You got it. I’m asking everybody this question. [10:03]

And that’s a good question. So, with it being such a newer phenomenon right now, I just want applicants and students to be mindful that there are advantages and disadvantages to using ChatGPT, because what we’re looking for is consistency in their demonstrated commitment to the mission. And I doubt it if they’ll be able to convey that in an interview based off of a ChatGPT essay.

So, a lot of the admissions advisors and committees, they’re looking for authenticity. They’re looking for unique perspectives and their applicant’s ability to be able to express themselves. So, I don’t know if they can… It probably is a good tool to help guide them in forming their essay, but I don’t think it should be something that can express exactly your commitment.

I’ve played with it a little bit, and sometimes there are outright errors in it. It’s wrong. [11:09]

Right, right.

And other times it’s just very generic, and it has to be generic. You’re not going to get a lot of authenticity. But it does sometimes help. [11:17]

Yeah, yeah.

But to rely on it blindly I think is a big mistake. [11:28]

Yeah. Yeah. Especially if you don’t check.

Absolutely. Absolutely. [11:35]

Attention to detail.

Are there other elements to the CGSM application? We discussed you pay a fee. You have the core essays. You might have supplemental essays. Are there short answer essays or anything like that or is it pretty straightforward? [11:40]

Yeah, it’s pretty straightforward. If the school has any changes or supplements to each essay, that may be the different shift or change. But pretty much transcripts, resume. We always advise students to make sure that your experience, if you’re a part of organizations like Forte or MLT, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Teach for America, making sure that that’s actually on your resume. That definitely helps. Your test scores, GRE, GMAT or Executive assessment, letters of recommendation. One for the mission, and then there are two for the schools. Yes. And making sure you get the right recommender.

What makes a right recommender? [12:41]

Someone who can explicitly… Especially for the Consortium mission letter of recommendation, somebody who can explicitly pretty much show your demonstrated commitment to our mission and they know about that.

They’ve observed it. [13:01]

Yeah, they’ve observed it, and they can actually speak to it. And they’re not saying, “Well, I don’t know about their demonstrated commitment, but Jane is a great person and we love her personality. She’s very professional.” It’s like, what?

That’s not the question. [13:17]

So, definitely communicate with your recommender about expectations. And with us, it doesn’t have to be your supervisor with the Consortium mission letter of recommendation. It can be as long as it’s not a family member. It could be anyone who can speak to it.

That you’ve somehow supported that mission. Makes sense [13:40.

Yes.

What are the non-admissions benefits of being a CGSM member or fellow, and what is the difference between being a CGSM member and fellow? So, there’s really two questions there. Why don’t we start with the non-admissions benefits of membership, and then we’ll get to the difference between being a member and a fellow. [13:46]

So, the non-admission benefits are pretty much the early access to corporate partners. A lot of our students, we just had OP, our orientation program this past June, and it was amazing. It was amazing.

I know you’re working very hard on it. [14:20]

Yeah. Oh man, it was definitely a job, but it’s worth it. And just to see all of the students that we worked with from the beginning up until that point, from all their stress points, their pain points, to see them, they made it, and they’re at the orientation program. So, them having early access to our corporate partners.

They also have access to our system that is… We have a platform that is called Hello Fellow that allows them to join different groups that are industry groups. And our corporate partners have access to them as well, and they’re able to apply to positions that are open to those corporate partners.

Also, at our orientation program, we had a corporate open house that’s not like your traditional job fair. All of our corporate partners actually already had our students’ resumes, they already had a student look book, they’ve already seen the students and they already know the students prior to them even coming to the expo.

So, they definitely have a great advantage by being a Consortium fellow. And then the camaraderie, the support that they have with each other, there’s nothing like it. I love how each campus had… they call themselves CFAM.

Campus family, yeah. [15:53]

Yes. Each campus, each Consortium cohort on each campus, they’re so close. A lot of our alumni mention that the connection, that’s like a trending thing with us here at the Consortium is connection. Being able to connect students with not only each other, but also with our corporate partners and with our top MBA programs.

So, they have lifelong connections with all three of those different entities, and they enjoy being able to talk with someone who understands them, someone who may be going through the same even issues at their jobs or anything like that, and that connection. And if there’s a job loss or anything like that, we do provide the support to help those students to be able to reconnect with corporate partners and find another opportunity.

So, just to clarify, the orientation program is open to all Consortium members, not just fellows, correct? [16:54]

So, Consortium fellows, you’re applying for membership, but the membership allows you to become a Consortium fellow. So, whether you received a fellowship or not, you are considered a Consortium fellow.

So, you’re a Consortium fellow whether you get a scholarship or not? [17:16]

Right.

Got it. And all the fellows/members can go to the orientation program. How long is the orientation program? [17:26]

So, it’s a four-day conference, and it consists of a lot of hands-on career development. We have diversity theater, which is amazing. A lot of our corporate partners, they have private interviews with a lot of the students. So, a big portion of our students leave with internships or career opportunities.

For next year, for next summer, or for this summer? For next summer? [17:56]

Yes. For this upcoming year –

For summer 2024, let’s say? [18:03]

Yes.

And what is diversity theater? [18:06]

Oh my goodness, diversity theater. This was actually my first year to experience it. Hearing it from other coworkers and staff was not the same as experiencing and seeing those difficult conversations displayed on stage.

So, there’s actors that are on stage, and they may act out a scene where some coworkers that may deal with microaggressions or different challenges that you may face at work and how to address that, and just having those conversations amongst your peers. And it really was eye opening for not only the students, but for staff, for a lot of our corporate partners and admissions representatives as well. So, it was pretty amazing, and we have it annually as well.

And it seems like the orientation program is very much career oriented. Is there any prep for the actual study of the MBA, or is that assumed that the schools will handle that? [19:09]

So, the schools, the admissions representatives and career services representatives are present. So, they do have an advising session that they get to work with them and meet with them one-on-one for prep with the corporate partners, but also any questions that they have about the upcoming program that they’re about to start in the fall. They have all of that one-on-one time, a lot more one-on-one time than they would normally get during the school year.

Sounds like a very busy four days, very full. [19:54]

Yeah, it is very full.

Okay. How does CGSM help its fellows in career placement, both during and after the MBA? [20:00]

So, during the MBA, again, we have the Hello Fellow and our annual program, our annual orientation program and career forum. Like I mentioned before, they have the opportunity to interact with the corporate partners. The corporate partners get to review their resumes and their backgrounds early on before even meeting them face-to-face. Our alumni network, our Hello Fellow system, allows them to, again, engage with these corporate partners.

And then our student and alumni relations department, they are amazing with connecting with the students. They engage with student liaisons as well in providing that support that they may need throughout the year. And if there’s a student, like we just had tech layoffs recently. And our alumni development department, they were able to help and assist with reengaging with those students or those alumni to be able to help them to get placed in other career opportunities.

A few weeks ago you had the OP. It was mostly geared towards people starting the MBA in 2023, but it also had people who started the MBA in 2022. Is that correct? [21:18]

We had some second year. Like if something happened last year, I know dealing with the pandemic and other issues, some students were not able to attend last year, and so they were given the opportunity to attend this year.

But it’s usually just for the people about to start the MBA, the OP? [21:48]

Right, it’s usually first year students.

What do you see coming down the pike for the Consortium? [21:54]

Oh my goodness. Continued growth, continued engagement with a lot of the students. We’re working on increasing our exposure and engaging. This year we shared a lot of our OP activities on our social media and got a lot of good feedback and engagement. So, definitely I think we have a good momentum right now to be able to get all of the good things that we do at the Consortium out to the public and to the world.

What advice would you give to someone applying to apply via the Consortium in this, the 2023-2024 application cycle? [22:34]

Definitely begin your MBA journey. And beginning your MBA journey does not start with the application. It starts with the preparation.

Yes, that’s right. [23:13]

Definitely starts with the preparation. So, researching a lot of the schools that you’re interested in, finding out if you’re interested in the Consortium, finding out what that Consortium culture looks like on each campus to see what best fits you. Also, looking into preparation for GRE, GMAT, or the Executive Assessment and finding out what the class profiles are for each school that you’re interested in so you can have a good idea of where you stand. And don’t rush your application. Don’t rush it.

Yay! [23:54]

I always have some overzealous students that want to, “I’m getting it in for Round One.” Wait a minute. Make sure that you’re submitting the strongest application and that this is the right time for you to start a program. There’s no rush. There’s no rush. There’s no rush. Make sure you have the strongest application. Utilize all resources that you need to support you through your application process.

We always advise students to attend our events. We have member school webinars that are… We actually have one coming up on July 10th, which will have Washington University, University of Rochester Simon, and UCLA Anderson. And they will be talking about their MBA programs, but also talking about their Consortium cohorts on their campus as well.

And we also have our MBA application preparation seminars, which is MAPS, which will be in person this year. So, we will be in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, and DC.

Wow. You’re getting around. [25:16]

Yes.

Not all Consortium schools require a test score. Does the Consortium require a test score even if the school does not? [25:21]

So, for membership we don’t require a test score. But if you are applying and they offer a test waiver, we would need to have that test waiver submitted, or you would need to submit that in the application. And then we just confirm it with the member school whether that test waiver was actually approved. Yeah. And then if it wasn’t approved, then they would have to submit a test score.

Are any of the programs or any of the partner schools entirely test optional? Do you know off the top of your head? I wasn’t sure as I was thinking about it. [26:03]

I don’t think so. Well, it depends on the school and what policies they have in place this upcoming school year.

I think most of them have a test waiver option, and I also would have to go through each one. [26:19]

Yeah. I always advise students to talk with them early about it, because last year I ran into the issue of students who just missed it. It was like they just missed the test waiver window. So, definitely talk with your school of interest to find out when that test waiver timeframe is and get that in if that’s an option for you.

Wonderful advice even if you’re not applying through CGSM, by the way. [26:51]

Right, absolutely.

What would you have liked me to ask you? [26:56]

These were all great questions.

What would you like to share that I haven’t asked? [27:02]

I would like to share just my… In my position as Director of Recruiting, what my passion and desire and vision is for the Consortium moving forward is to be able to expand our exposure to those who definitely need the opportunity, to be able to expand our exposure to those areas, because sometimes we are in this collegiate bubble.

Aacademia. [27:37]

Yeah, absolutely. And to be able to… We do so many great things.

You do. [27:45]

And just being able to see just the energy that I get from the students, just being around them, and just the positive nature of it all, being able to give that to others who don’t know about the Consortium. So, that’s my mission and goal is to increase exposure and to really share about the great things we’re doing here at the Consortium.

Well, today in this podcast, you did it. [28:14]

Thank you. Thank you, Linda.

You’re very welcome. Bianca, I want to thank you so much for joining me today. Where can listeners and potential applicants learn more about CGSM? [28:21]

They can check us online at www.cgsm.org or on our LinkedIn page and our Instagram page and on Twitter.

Relevant Links:

• The Consortium for the Graduate Study of Management
• Applying For Your MBA Through The Consortium: Best Deal In Town
• MBA ROI Calculator   

Relevant shows:

• How to Get an MBA at Columbia Business School – a podcast Episode 528
• How to Get Accepted to NYU Stern – a podcast Episode 525
• How to Get into Dartmouth Tuck – a podcast Episode 514
• How to Get Into Georgetown McDonough’s MBA Program – a podcast Episode 512
• How to Get Accepted to UNC Kenan-Flagler Full-Time MBA Program – a podcast Episode 496

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The post Applying for Your MBA Through The Consortium [Episode 532] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

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Shortcuts to Key Insights from this Episode

• An overview of both Georgetown’s MBA programs and the MS in Environmental and Sustainability Management or the ESM.
• What distinguishes Georgetown’s program in Environment and Sustainability Management from other similar programs.
• Where graduates of Georgetown’s MBA program and the MS-ESM program find jobs.
• The types of academic backgrounds Georgetown is looking for in applicants to the MBA and MS-ESM programs.
• What an interviewee can expect if they’re lucky enough to get an invitation.
• A key piece of advice from Shelly Heinrich to all applicants.
• A common – but avoidable mistake – seen on resumes.

Shelly Heinrich, Associate Dean for MBA and MS-ESM admissions, and Director of Marketing at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, discusses everything applicants need to know about getting into Georgetown McDonough’s MBA program. [Show Summary]

Are you interested in sustainability? Also considering an MBA? Well Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business offers and outstanding MBA program AND an MS in Environmental and Sustainability Management. And today’s interview is with the associate dean of admissions for both programs. Pull up a chair. 

Interview with Shelly Heinrich, Associate Dean for MBA and MS-ESM admissions, and Director of Marketing at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. [Show Notes]

Are you interested in sustainability? Are you also considering an MBA? Well, Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business offers an outstanding MBA program and an MS in Environmental and Sustainable Management. And today’s interview is with the Associate Dean of Admissions for both programs. Pull up a chair.

Welcome to the 512th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for joining me. Before we dive into today’s interview, I want to give you a gift, Accepted’s free download, Fitting In & Standing Out. This guide will help you navigate the paradox at the heart of admissions. Realize that you need to show in your application simultaneously that you fit in at your target schools, and that you stand out in the applicant pool. 

It gives me great pleasure to have back on Admissions Straight Talk Shelly Heinrich, Associate Dean for MBA and MS-ESM admissions, and Director of Marketing at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. Shelly has been leading Georgetown’s admissions efforts since 2014 and became Associate Dean in 2017. She earned her BBA from Texas Christian University, her Master’s in Educational Administration from UT Austin, and her Executive MBA from Georgetown. 

Shelly, welcome back to Admissions Straight Talk. [1:52]

It’s wonderful to be back. Thanks, Linda, for having me.

Can you provide an overview of both Georgetown’s MBA programs and the MS in Environment and Sustainability Management or the ESM? [2:01]

Yeah. Absolutely. I’ll start it with the MBA. The good news is our three MBAs are the same in that we have a full-time, a flex in-person for working professionals, and a flex online for working professionals.

They are all 54 credits. You get the same degree, and you have access to the same experience at Georgetown McDonough, so it makes it very easy to talk about. Full-time is 20 months, like a normal full-time two-year program would be, and then the two flex programs are anywhere between two-and-a-half years to five years. But you’re taking the same classes. You have the same core for the first half of the program, and then you get to choose from electives in the second half of the program.

At Georgetown, we don’t require you to choose a concentration. We really feel that you should customize based on what is of interest to you and/or really, what your skill gaps are. There are so many hats that we wear in our jobs today that may be strategy or marketing, or finance or budgeting. We want you to fill those skill gaps in the electives of your choosing. Very briefly, that is the nuts and bolts of the MBA programs. I should say that the flex online is newly launched, so we will be enrolling our first cohort this coming fall. And we’re really excited.

Moving now to the Master of Science and Environment and Sustainability Management. It is a lot of syllables, so we do shorten it to ESM, but we welcomed our first cohort this past fall. We launched it a year-and-a-half ago, and our first cohort of 45 students started in August. It is an 11-month program, 30 credits, and it’s an interdisciplinary academic program at the intersection of business and science. It’s very unique for Georgetown McDonough.

We’re actually partnering with the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in this interdisciplinary format, which, for a university, is pretty unique. We’re really excited at the innovation in launching this degree. That’s very basic about the two programs.

One question we get a lot from applicants to part-time programs or to online programs, is the degree any different? Is there an asterisk after the MBA for the flex time or the part-time programs? Or is it just, you have a Master’s in Business Administration from Georgetown McDonough, whatever option you choose? [4:17]

Yep, that is what your degree says, is MBA. Even if you did our Executive MBA, it just says MBA. Students can be assured that they’re getting the same rigorous coursework, classes, and professors. It’s not a diluted version of any of the MBAs that you do with us.

If someone is interested in a sustainability and management business degree, who should go for the MBA and just customize the program so that it’s focused on sustainability, and who should go for the MS-ESM? [5:00]

This is one of the questions applicants really have to answer for themselves nowadays. You look back 20 years ago, it just used to be a degree. You went to business school, you got an MBA degree. Now, you have MBAs in all different flavors, and then you also have specialized master’s. The way to think about these two degrees is, specialized master’s are really good if you want to specialize in a certain topic. If it’s a certain function or industry area, you know for the short term or maybe even for the long term, that is what you want to do.

In a specialized ESM master’s, you know that you want to go into sustainability. You’ve decided upon that for your career, which is fantastic. I feel like sometimes some of us are still learning what we want to do even when we’re adults, but the classes are all going to center around that topic. The case studies that you would do, the group projects are going to be around that specialized topic. And you can guarantee that all the students in your class will all be interested in that same topic as well in a specialized master’s.

They’re typically shorter, so most specialized master’s degrees are a year or less. And therefore the cost, it reflects the shorter nature of the program. With an MBA degree, in most traditional two-year MBAs, you do a year of core courses, which are a breadth of topics. You do get exposed to a lot of different topic areas. And then typically, at least with Georgetown, in the last half of your program, you choose your electives. Someone at Georgetown could choose to do an MBA focusing on courses in sustainability. They can even actually get a certificate in sustainability at Georgetown through the MBA, and then participate in the various clubs related to sustainability.

This could be good for someone who thinks they maybe want to do sustainability, but maybe they’re not sure. And/or they want to leave the door open maybe three, five, seven years from now when they might want to pivot to something else. Because an MBA is that degree that can allow you to pivot long into the future, into another type of industry. It’s a little bit longer. Also, the cost reflects that, but it is a broader degree in scope.

What distinguishes Georgetown’s program in Environment and Sustainability Management from other similar programs? [7:41]

When we were doing the research, I was on the taskforce to launch this program. When we were doing research of what other schools were out there that combined science knowledge plus business knowledge, we noticed that there were degree programs that were either housed only in an environment school, so they were in a school of environment, the school of science, or we noticed what we just talked about. They were in a business school where it was a business degree with a little bit of a flavor of environmental sustainability.

What we saw lacking was a university saying, “No, we want it to be almost equal.” We want to have half professors from the environment and science classes in their pedagogy and half professors from business coming together for this interdisciplinary approach. I think someone outside of the academic world may say, “Well, that’s a no-brainer to merge.” But in the university world, merging schools at an institution like Georgetown, it’s pretty innovative. And so that’s what we did.

We said we’re going to take experts in the field of business, experts in the field of science and environment, and put it together into a degree. You can look at the curriculum chart and see half classes in each discipline, and then some classes that were what we call interdisciplinary, where the topics are being combined. What that also does is it gives students the best of both worlds. In many cases, they get access to different events and clubs at the McDonough School of Business. They get access to different clubs at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. They also get access to the Earth Commons.

We’re providing them more resources in many ways than had that degree only been housed in one school. It was a really exciting initiative. We didn’t know what to expect when we launched the degree, but in our first application round three months after launching, we had 100 applications and we had a total of four application rounds. It was really exciting to be a part of this growth at Georgetown.

How many students are in the ESM program, the MS-ESM? [9:54]

We have 45, this first cohort. It was funny. Last year, we set out saying, “Okay, we’re going to try to get 40 students.” And then after our first round, we had 100 applications. And then throughout the next three rounds, more and more and more. We actually got to a room capacity constraint where we could have enrolled a larger class, but classrooms that we were scheduled to be housed in had a fireproof capacity. Honestly, that is why we limited it to 45, which seems silly, but that’s actually the reality of what happened.

Any plans to add on to the room or expand the class? [10:31]

For this year, so far, we’re tracking ahead of last year, which is great. So we’ll see what happens in May. But I will say, in the future of this program, we may think of doing something for working professionals. Or we may think of doing something that’s more accessible virtually. But as of now, our goal is to keep the quality of the students high. And so I think for at least for this next year, we’ll probably keep it the same size.

You didn’t say it explicitly, it was implied that the MS-ESM is an in-residence program. [11:01]

Yes, I should say that. It’s an in-person program. Classes are during the daytime hours. We do have students doing internships and working at about 20 hours a week, so you can still work part-time while in the program. For example, if you’re working at one of these large environmental organizations in DC and they allow you to scale back and go maybe only 20 hours a week, you could still do the program in person while working part-time.

It must be pretty rigorous though. [11:33]

It is. Yeah. It’s a 30-credit, 11-month program, so it is rigorous. 

Where are graduates of Georgetown’s, both its MBA program and its MS-ESM program, where are they finding jobs? [11:43]

With the MBA program, we’re very similar to a lot of traditional programs where we have our top three students going into consulting, finance and technology. Georgetown’s MBA also has a lot of diversity outside of those top three. We have students going into real estate, nonprofit, entrepreneurship, global organizations as well. There’s a little bit more diversity in the pie, if you want to say that, in terms of our post-MBA career outcomes.

And then for ESM, I think what’s exciting is, we haven’t graduated our first class, so let’s see where they’re going. But I will say, the green economy, when we started researching this, the World Economic Forum produced these predictions of the amount of jobs that will be produced in the green economy by 2030. And it’s in the multi-millions. I think 24 million rings, don’t quote me, but I think 24 million.

I started looking at these jobs and all of your major Fortune 100, 500 for-profit companies, but then NGOs have some type of sustainability positions now, and it’s incredible. You look at major sports apparel companies or major hotel brands, major food companies, and they all have sustainability jobs. The interesting thing though is, there’s not a lot of programs, degree programs that are producing graduates with the skills yet for these jobs, and so that’s I think where Georgetown has filled quite a niche and gap there.

You’re really at the forefront then? [13:23]

I’d like to think so, yes.

What kind of academic background are you looking for in applicants to both the programs, both the MBA and the MS-ESM? Much the same or somewhat different? [13:27]

Well, I would say so for MBA, I would say for both programs, we need to see some level of quantitative ability. When I say quantitative, having some knowledge of statistical forces is going to give you a head start. That’s been, I think, some of the classes where when people come in varying level of statistics abilities, that it maybe isn’t the best classroom experience. If you can come in having some basic stats class, you’ve done it online, you’ve done it for credit, that’s going to give you an even playing field coming into both of the programs.

In terms of the majors that suit best, for an MBA, we have all different kinds of majors. I think maybe a third of people for an MBA come from a traditional business major. After that, it could be humanities, liberal arts, engineering, science, really all over the map. I think what we’ve seen for the ESM program is, we had about 40% come from some type of environmental or natural science background, which was a large chunk. And then the other 60% were very diverse, everything from economics to government, to business, humanities.

I just think by the nature of who would be attracted to this program, we’re going to have some people that came from an environment or science.

In terms of experience, specifically work experience, what do you expect, again, for the MBA programs as opposed to the MS-ESM? [15:00]

For the MBA program, you have to have a minimum of two years at the time that you start the program. The average though, is typically between four to six years. That’s the average because that’s where employers say it’s the sweet spot when they come to hire. We have had students come in with 10 years work experience, but their career goals have to just be adjusted a little bit because they are going to be overqualified for some of the traditional MBA jobs. They’re going to have to be willing to do more just in time recruiting, one-off recruiting for the level that they’re qualified for.

Or perhaps they have their own business? [15:47]

Yep. Exactly.

Or they have a job waiting for them? [15:50]

Exactly. Or they’ve come out of the military and they’re looking to transition. That’s the age. For a specialized master’s degree, and in particular the ESM program, it’s skewing slightly younger. The average is just under four years of work experience versus an MBA, which is between four and six. We do allow people to come out of undergrad, right out of undergrad.

They do need to have significant internship or project experience in environment sustainability. They’ve got to be able to contribute in the classroom, and that’s going to come from a very engaged undergraduate experience. We have let some people right out of undergrad, but then we have people with 10 years of work experience, who perhaps 10 years ago, didn’t have any options for an environment or sustainability master’s because they weren’t there.

They’ve now come back to say, “I either have been working in this field and now want some formal education in it,” or, “I’m looking to pivot my field into this.” Yes, we have people of all different experiences. The one common thread is, they all have a passion for environment and sustainability, as you could imagine.

I noticed that tests are optional for the MS-ESM, and they are required, but waivers are available for the MBA. Why the difference, and is it really a difference? [17:11]

That’s great. It’s one of these things like seven years or eight years ago, we wouldn’t have been asking this question at all. 

But it’s very relevant today. For the ESM program, it is optional, and we say it’s optional because truly, it is. You don’t need to prove anything. You don’t need to show anything. If you already have the test, great. Submit it. Or, perhaps, if your GPA is lacking and/or you don’t have a lot of work experience that’s substantial, then maybe that standardized test could help elevate your profile. But it is strictly, strictly optional.

For the MBA program, this year, we have moved to a waiver process. Now, there’s two different waivers. For our full-time program, you actually have to apply for the waiver and be accepted or admitted with the waiver, before you can then apply for the program. There are certain criteria.

You have to apply for the waiver first. It’s a very short form to say, do you meet the GPA criteria? Do you meet the quantitative work experience? It’s a short Google form you fill out and then we will say, “Yep, the test has been waived for you.” And now you can submit the application without a test. The reason for that is, we want to be fair to applicants. The full-time program, we get a large volume of applications. It takes people a lot of time to go through the application process. 

You have to prepare for the test. [18:57]

Yeah. Exactly. And to write the essays and get the recommendations. We want to tell people right away, are you going to be eligible without a test or not? Because we don’t want to take your application fee, go through the whole process and then say, “You know what? You’re not eligible without a test, so you wasted your time.” We’d rather let them know upfront, save their time, save our time, and then move forward. 

If they’re admissible without the test or you don’t need the test, why put them through the test prep and the test? [19:21]

Right. Exactly. Exactly. We want to be cognizant of their time and do that in the beginning of the process. With our flex program, if you meet the criteria we’ve listed on our website, you can submit without a test. It’s a lower volume of applications. Any part-time program in any MBA in the US is a lower volume than their full-time for attracting local audiences, not global audiences. What we look for in a flex part-time applicant is a little bit different. We’re emphasizing more of their work experience in terms of what they bring to the class. Yes, academics are important, but we’re looking at different contributions in the admissions process.

Both offer test waivers. At the end of the day, we want to know if an MBA student is going to be successful in the quantitative classes of the curriculum, finance, stats, accounting. People can show that through their standardized tests. They can show it through quant classes that they took in undergrad. Perhaps they have a CPA or CFA. Perhaps they do quantitative. We just want all of our students set up for success when they start the program, and that’s why, perhaps, there’s a difference between MBA and ESM. Because MBA is a more highly quantitative degree.

The essay questions for the two programs are really quite different, but you’re the one managing both of the processes, right? [10:44]

Yes.

The video essay for the MS-ESM is about long-term career goals. The video essay for the MBA asked for a hobby, passion, or what you want to do for fun in your free time, and why. Are you doing an experiment on the two programs, trying to see what kind of responses you get? What is the reason for the different questions? [21:06]

Yeah. No, great question. For ESM, we’ll start with ESM. Just like it’s an interdisciplinary academic degree, we have an interdisciplinary admissions committee, so it’s a different process. We have people from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, we have faculty on the admissions committee, and then we have admissions professionals. So different structure entirely. But also, if you look at the questions we’re asking, we want to get to know this audience. It is a new program and we want to know, why are they interested in environmental sustainability?

We know at the school why it’s important and we know where these students are going, but we want to hear from them why they’re interested in this kind of new degree. And why are they choosing Georgetown versus some of the other programs out there? Because if we’re going to be spending 11 months talking about environmental sustainability, someone needs to be able to write an essay that says why they’re passionate about it. Because it’s a highly concentrated topic of interest and focus in the program. That’s why it’s a little bit of a different question, because it’s new and we want to get to know the audience. And then we want to know how they’re planning to use this in the future in environmental sustainability.

With an MBA, as we’ve talked about, it’s a totally diverse audience. People are going to all different types of jobs, industry, skills, they’re starting their own companies. An MBA is a well-established kind of degree. People know what they’re getting into and know why they’re doing it. We really want to get to know the diverse complexity of the student audiences, and we get to know that through the three prompts that we’ve provided. What I love about how we do this at Georgetown is, we don’t force people into one essay. We give them three, allow them to think about what sells their value proposition the best, and then answer that, the best one.

They also focus on our values. If you think of principled leadership, helping the common good, diversity in the Georgetown community, these are very strong values of Georgetown. And admitting people that are going to be a part of that thread of our community and value fabric is really important. In both programs though, we have video essays, and I love video essays because it allows us to get to know the candidate in a hopefully non-stressful environment. Sometimes the applicants get very stressed out by the interview experience. They shouldn’t. We try not to make it stressful, but they do.

The video essay allows them to re record and record that video essay as much as they want until they feel like it represents them. And then it allows us to see them in a very normal, non-stressed environment. And we get to know them a little bit outside of paper as well. That’s why we do the video essay. It’s helpful in the MBA because of the volume of applications and the volume of people in the admissions committee. In the ESM program, we don’t have an evaluative interview components, so this video essay is in substitution of it.

Any plans to introduce an interview to the ESM admissions process? [24:26]

Not at this time. But as with any new program, we, every year, evaluate and optimize and get feedback. Because it’s a smaller program, we’re already getting to know the candidates a lot in the pre-application process. Our admissions recruiter can almost go down the line of the applications and say, “Yep, I’ve met with that person, met with that person.” We just get to know them a little bit more. At this point, no evaluated interview, but we’ll see. We’ll see how that might change.

What can an interviewee to the MBA program expect that they’re lucky enough to be invited to interview? Is it all virtual now, or are you starting to do in-person? [25:01]

We are completely back in business, as I say. Yes, we are offering virtual. Certainly, it’s more conducive to people’s schedules and the travel cost, but we want people to come to campus. I think when you step onto Georgetown’s campus, and especially the Hariri Rebuilding, it’s a magnificent campus.

You really feel the weight of the history and the prestige, and so we want people to come to campus to get to know our community. But obviously, if it works better to do virtual, they can do that.

What can you expect? It’s 20 to 25 minutes. We give candidates a few minutes to ask some questions of us. It could be from a member of the admissions team or an alumni, or a student interviewer. We have a large team. We do that so we can reduce biases, by having multiple opinions and perspectives. We have a series of questions or topics we will ask students, but we also like to have the conversation flow. If you say something that’s of, really, interest to us, we may ask you to expand on that.

The goal is for us to picture how you’ll fit within the cohort from an academic perspective, from a giving-back-to-the-student experience perspective, from an alumni perspective. We’re trying to see how you really fit with the culture and community at Georgetown. But don’t be nervous. Just have a conversation with us. Get to know us as we’re getting to know you. It’s a two-way street, really.

They should also prepare questions for you, shouldn’t they? [26:41]

Absolutely. Absolutely. That is one of the, I would say, biggest mistakes that I’ve seen applicants make is I’ll say, “Do you have any questions that I can answer for you?” Some people will say, “Well, I’ve had all my questions answered from all of the students and admission staff that I’ve previously spoken with.” That may be the case, but still, ask a question anyways.

Because even if you already know the answer, think you know the answer, ask it anyway. Because it does show a level of interest in the school, and we are gauging the level of interest you have in us when we interview you. Again, just repeat something even if you feel like you know the answer. 

Now, just to clarify, you said that you have a large team of interviewers, but the applicant is interviewed by one person, correct? [27:25]

Correct. Yeah, that’s absolutely correct.

It’s one interview with one person, so it’s one-on-one? [27:34]

Yes.

The deadlines are March 30th and May 2nd for the MBA program, and April 3rd and May 15th for the MS-ESM. Is an applicant at a disadvantage if they apply in these later rounds? Are they better off waiting until next year? [27:44]

No, you’re not at a disadvantage. There is always room for good applicants. I would say, in particular, this year, we are very empathetic to these tech layoffs. I almost feel like in some ways, it’s mirroring the layoffs of 2020 and 2008. People from fantastic companies that are now saying, “Let me reevaluate. Am I in the right industry? Am I in the right function?” If the answer is, “I don’t know,” or, “No,” come to an MBA and reset and figure it out. Or come and do a specialized master’s to make yourself that more marketable to guard against potential layoffs maybe in the future.

Investing in yourself with a graduate degree will only help you in the future, but it can also give you some mental space to really think through, introspect in, what’s happening in your personal and professional life, and figuring out what’s right for you. And then you also gain a great network of colleagues as well. It’s not too late to apply. If you are ready, submit an application.

In a worst case scenario, let’s say we don’t have room for you, we love re-applicants. Re-applicants have a high percentage of admit rate. When we pull the numbers and we see re-applicants that have come back and maybe improve their application a little bit from the previous year based on feedback we give them, their admit rate is higher than just applicants in their first try. Have a conversation with us, we want to get to know you. And definitely apply.

Has Georgetown made any accommodations for the laid off workers, or are you just planning to, I guess, reserve more seats for the third and fourth round, given what’s been going on the last couple of months? [29:33]

Yeah. We did make accommodations in that we were going to only leave our full-time test waiver open in the fall. We decided to extend the test waiver into the spring because studying for a test can take three, four, five months. We know that this is affecting candidates right now. They may not have that time, so we just extended what we had already done in the fall.

If you look at our application fees, we have different criteria that we introduced about a year ago based on your income level. If you are under certain income levels, therefore if you were just laid off, you can qualify for different waivers or reductions. That’s something we’ve always been proud to do, to recognize people from different socioeconomic statuses.

Georgetown has always had four rounds, so I know I see a lot of other MBA programs adding a fourth round or adding a third round. We’ve always had four rounds, so for us, we will keep that, and then may extend some rolling flexibility right after the fourth round. We will just see how everything goes.

Let’s just focus on MBA and the ESM. What should they be doing? What should they be examining in their background to see if they need to improve something and be ready for the fall? [31:04]

Yeah. I can tell an applicant that has gotten to know us really well, because they have come to various events, even if they’re virtual. They have talked with some current students and they’ve maybe talked with some alumni. By doing all those conversations, by the time they get to the application process and the interview process, they can talk very naturally and very authentically about why they’re interested in Georgetown. And it comes through. It’s not like they’re memorizing facts from our resume. They just speak about it because they came to campus or they had lunch with this alum.

We can tell that authenticity, and that weighs in pretty heavily to the admissions and interview process. Because any school wants candidates that want to be at their school. I’m sure I could speak for any of my colleagues that would say that. So use this next six months to do that. Get to know the schools. Get to know Georgetown, because it will then further convict you if we’re the right school for you as well. It helps you and it helps us, so do that.

Come visit us. We have different in-person or virtual sessions. And we are back traveling throughout the world, so check out our website. We’ll be at, hopefully, a city or a country near you in the next six to eight months, and we’d love to meet you.

There were some really interesting projects that the ESM students were doing. Could you dive into that for a moment? [32:39]

Yes, definitely. This is the Capstone Project. In any of our graduate programs, there’s always a very hands-on Capstone experience. We just announced or about to announce the Capstone Projects for the ESM students. We have companies like Amazon, Department of Energy, Starbucks, that are going to be participating in this Capstone Project. Students will be in small teams, they will solve a problem for these companies and then present their recommendations to the company. Really excited about those for the ESM program, all very environment and sustainability focused. And it mirrors the Global Business Experience that our MBA students do, which also tackles and solves a problem for a current company.

In terms of other projects, just to add on for ESM, we have, even in this first year, students who have already published articles in the Supply Chain Management Review. The topic of this article was palm oil supply chain, and it’s just so impressive to say four months in, we have students publishing in a top journal. Lots of things that are hands-on in both programs.

You mentioned not asking questions in interviews. What else do you see as a common mistake that applicants make? [34:07]

A common mistake is underselling their accomplishments on their resume. There’s a lot of times where I see a student’s resume and I then speak with them, whether it’s an informational interview or if it’s an in evaluative interview, and they start talking about some of their experiences in their job. I’m looking at their resume and they’ve undersold themselves.

For example, I was interviewing a candidate one time and they talked about how they got promoted at this top consulting firm. I’m looking at their resume and their promotion is not on their resume, and they were at a top consulting firm. The person said, “Well, I just ran out of room.” And I said, “You never run out of room to say you’ve been promoted.”

Thinking through how to show those accomplishments, how to write a resume that is not bullets of responsibilities. Instead, bullets of accomplishments.

Quantify your accomplishments. What did you do to improve the process, the function, the department? That’s a big mistake that I see a lot of people making, to be very honest.

One way to guard against that is, go to the website. Go to your company’s website, or go to your competitor’s website and look at a similar job description to the one that you have, and think through. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. This is what I’m doing. This is the way I can position my responsibilities. Because sometimes, from a bird’s eye perspective, what you’ve written on your resume doesn’t really reflect the value and truly immense work that you’re doing for a company.

Because when you see that, then it tells us at the school that you’re going to go above and beyond in the program. You’re going to go above and beyond when you get a job as an alum. It builds a profile of who you are.

You’re in Washington DC. What does that add to the programs? [36:45]

Yeah. Washington DC is the nexus of everything in many ways. Fortune 100 companies, nonprofits, NGOs, government. There’s actually a statistic out there from the Chamber that says there’s the largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies is represented in DC. It may not be their headquarters, but there is a representation of companies that are out here. What that means for applicants is, when you’re networking, you don’t necessarily have to go to New York or Boston or Silicon Valley. There is going to be someone from an office that’s here in DC that can get you your foot in the door, that you can network with here, having coffee, versus having to necessarily take the train or take a plane somewhere.

I will also say that we have tons of large speakers and world leaders that are in and out of DC all the time to do whatever they do. But while they’re here, they often want to speak with students because it’s fulfilling for them as a leader. They often will come to Georgetown and they’ll speak to students. And so our students get exposure to literally world and corporate leaders.

I think every sitting president has spoken at Georgetown. Whether it’s the President of the Peace Corps or a chief in the military, or CEOs of a bank, or CEOs of consumer products, good companies come to Georgetown. That exposure from a learning perspective. Also, alumni are constantly in and out of DC. And so being able to network and build your network is helpful.

From a very work-life balance perspective, and I say this with a perspective, I’m from Texas, so I’ve lived in DC for a little bit of time now, but I’m originally from Texas, DC has a great work-life balance. There’s the Potomac River. You can go kayaking. You can go two hours west of here and be in the mountains and ski. You can go three hours east of here and go be on the beach. Short ride to New York. We’re just in a great large city with a small town feel.

What question would you have liked me to ask that I didn’t ask? [39:05]

Why Georgetown, maybe? Why Georgetown?

I love this question because I can talk about it with just authenticity, that I believe in it. What makes Georgetown unique, I guess, is how I maybe would even word it. We have a global focus. Because of our location in Washington DC, which is a very global city, and because of the students that we attract, we typically have over 40 countries in the MBA program. Even in the ESM program this year, we had over 20 countries, with 45 students.

Wow. [39:48]

You’re getting to be exposed to this global environment in a very short amount of time, the global nature of our professors. A third of them hold international passports. We’re talking about global companies and global organizations. Second is our Jesuit background. I didn’t know what a Jesuit school meant or what it was before I came to work at Georgetown. To be very honest, I am not Catholic, but I’ve learned to appreciate what being a Jesuit means.

There’s a real focus on taking care of the whole person and teaching in the classroom. We hire professors that actually want to teach and are motivated by teaching, not just researching. As an executive MBA student, I saw the stark difference going into the MBA classroom. These professors were almost like putting on a show. They were invested in this experience of the MBA, which was phenomenal.

I would also say we teach at the intersection of business and society and politics and environment, looking at a more bird’s eye view of what’s happening in the world. And then yes, being in DC, it is a part of your experience. Maybe in undergrad, I would’ve wanted to go to a more rural location. But if I’m in a professional degree program where my goal is to get a job coming out, I want to be where the employers are, where the alumni are, where the networking is happening. I want to be in a city, and so you obviously get that at Georgetown.

Shelly, thank you so much for joining me today. I really enjoyed learning about Georgetown’s MBA program a little bit more again, and the MS-ESM program. Thank you, again. [41:16]

Thank you. Thanks for having me. It’s always great to be on, Linda.

Relevant Links:

• Georgetown MBA
• Georgetown MS-ESM

Related shows:

• Cornell Johnson EMBA Program: Four Options for the Largest EMBA Program in the United States
• What Does 2022 Mean for Applicants in 2023 
• The Questions You SHOULD Be Asking – ANSWERED! 
• How to Get Accepted to UNC Kenan-Flagler Full-Time MBA Program 
• All About Georgetown’s New Master of Science in Business Analytics Program

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U.S. STEM MBA Programs: An Overview

STEM certification programs have proven application bonanzas for top business schools. STEM certification may have begun pre-pandemic as a way to alleviate uncertainty in the visa process, but the programs have proven to be a robust inducement for MBA applicants, particularly from foreign countries. According to Poets & Quants, “At Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, the move to designate its entire MBA program STEM in early 2021 paid dividends this year. . . Its applications rose by an incredible 21%, an increase of 450 to 2,555, even though Cornell presumably felt the same domestic squeeze as its peer schools.”

[List of top STEM OPT U.S. Business Schools >>]

Cornell’s new MBA class has students from 43 countries, a dramatic rise from 30 countries from 2021. Cornell is receiving roughly double the number of international applications as domestic applications. Poets & Quants also reported strong upticks in foreign student enrollment among 27 B-schools surveyed: “In the top 10, the average gain was 10.2 percentage points, or 36.6%, with Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business the biggest by points — 18, or 72%, to 43% — and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania the biggest by percentage: 84.2%, or 16 points, to 35%.

“Across all 27 schools, the average gain from 2020 to 2022 was 14.6 percentage points, or 69%. The biggest gain was at CMU Tepper, which doubled its total from 28% to 56%; notably, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School gained 23.5 points, or more than 200%, to 35%. Three other B-schools more than doubled their international ranks in two years.”

Are you an international MBA applicant? We’ve helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to top MBA programs! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW WE CAN HELP YOU GET ACCEPTED >>

The GMAC’s survey from 2019 was the first to inquire about a program’s STEM-certification, and found that these programs were more likely to report growth in international applicants. A total of 195 of the 804 U.S. programs responding reported that their programs were STEM-certified (24%). Among them, the most common program types were Master of Data Analytics (28%); Master of Finance (22%); and Master of Information Technology (14%). And while a majority of both STEM-certified (53%) and non-STEM (57%) programs reported declines in total applications during this period, STEM-certified programs fared better among international applicants. In the 2019-2020 academic year, 43% of STEM-certified programs grew their international applications, compared with 26% of non-STEM programs.

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Given ongoing concerns over visa status and one’s ability to work in the U.S. after business school, programs that are STEM-certified are sure to be more appealing to this applicant pool.

While some MBA programs – such as Chicago Booth, Wharton, Virginia Darden – now offer specific concentrations that qualify international students for STEM OPT, others – such as Berkeley Haas, Carnegie Mellon Tepper, and Rochester Simon – qualify MBA graduates of all majors in their MBA programs for this extension.

During 2021, MBA programs have seen a rebound in international applicants, and many schools (NYU Stern, Darden, and Yale) are touting this return. Still, they are maintaining their STEM certifications because it will pave the way for their graduates to get jobs and stay in the U.S. long enough to pay off or pay down their loans. Despite its cost, the MBA degree continues to pay robust dividends right off the bat. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article: “At about 98% of universities that offer master’s of business administration programs, graduates typically made more money two years out of school than they had borrowed, a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal student loan data for nearly 600 programs found.”

STEM MBA Programs

Name of MBA Program	Majors That Are STEM Designated	MBA Essay Tips
Arizona State Carey	All MBA Platforms	Tips
Babson MBA	1) Business Analytics and Machine Learning 2) Quantitative Finance	Tips
Berkeley Haas	All Majors	Tips
Brigham Young Marriott	Management Science and Quantitative Methods	Tips
Carnegie Mellon	All Majors	Tips
Chicago Booth	All MBA programs	Tips
Columbia Business School	MBA and EMBA programs	Tips
Cornell Johnson	1) Two-Year Management Science MBA 2) One-Year Management Science MBA 3) Tech MBA 4) MPS in Management 5) MPS in Management - Accounting Specialization	Tips
Dartmouth Tuck	STEM track	Tips
Duke Fuqua	Second Major in Management Science and Technology Management (MSTeM)	Tips
Georgetown McDonough	Management Science major	Tips
Harvard Business School	Management Science track	Tips
Indiana Kelley	Accounting, Business Analytics, Finance, Marketing or Supply Chain and Operations	Tips
Lehigh University College of Business	Business Analytics (a concentration within 1-MBA)	Tips
Michigan Ross	STEM track	Tips
MIT Sloan	MBAn	Tips
New York University	Tech MBA Two-year full-time MBA	Tips
Northwestern Kellogg	Management Science MMM Program for Dual Engineering/MBA Degrees	Tips
Notre Dame Mendoza	MBA/Master of Science in Business Analytics Dual Degree	Tips
Pace University	MBA in Information Systems	Tips
Purdue Krannert	MBA-STEM	Tips
Rice Jones	All MBA Programs	Tips
Rochester Simon	All Specializations	Tips
Rutgers	STEM designation	Tips
Stanford GSB	1) All MBA majors 2) MSx	Tips
Syracuse	FT MBA, M.S. in Business Analytics, MS in Finance, MS in Marketing and MS in Supply Chain Management	Tips
Texas McCombs	14 of the 22 concentrations for the full-time MBA program	Tips
University of California, Davis	All Majors	Tips
University of California, Irvine	Analytics in Digital Leadership concentration	Tips
University of California, Los Angeles	All Specializations	Tips
University of California, Riverside	All MBA Programs	Tips
University of California, San Diego	1) Full-time MBA 2) FlexEvening 3) FlexWeekend	Tips
University of California San Francisco	1) Financial Analysis, MS 2) Information Systems, MS 3) Full-Time MBA 4) Marketing Intelligence, MS 5) Energy Systems Management & MBA 6) Environmental Management & MBA (4+1), BS/MBA 7) Financial Analysis & MBA (4+1), BSBA/MS	Tips
University of Connecticut	1) Business Analytics 2) Digital Marketing Strategy 3) Financial Analysis and Investments	Tips
University of Delaware Lerner	Major in Business Analytics	Tips
University of Georgia Terry	Only open to U. of Georgia undergraduates; includes 45 majors	Tips
University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler	All MBA Programs	Tips
University of North Texas Ryan	MBA in Business Analytics	Tips
University of Washington Foster	Management Science	Tips
University of Wisconsin - Madison	1) Specialization in Operations and Technology Management 2) Supply Chain Management	Tips
USC Marshall	Specialization in Management Science	Tips
Vanderbilt Owen	Finance Concentration	Tips
Wharton	1) Business Analytics 2) Business, Economics & Public Policy (BEPP) 3) Business, Energy, Environment & Sustainability (BEES) 4) Operations, Information & Decisions (OID) 5) Quantitative Finance 6) Statistics	Tips
Washington University in St. Louis (Olin)	Full-time MBA	Tips

We’re going to do our best to keep this table current. However, please do not rely on this table; confirm the STEM designation yourself to make sure that the MBA programs you apply to really have that designation. And if you find out a school has attained STEM certification and is not on the list, please let us know by emailing blog@accepted.com.

If you would like to learn how to get into top MBA programs that offer STEM OPT eligibility and are a good fit for you, register for a free consultation with me. 

At Accepted, we’ve helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to top MBA programs and look forward to helping you too! CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED.

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By Jennifer Bloom, admissions consultant at Accepted for 20 years and Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW). She is an expert at guiding you to produce application materials that truly differentiate you from the rest of the driven applicant pool. If you would like help with your application, Jennifer can suggest a number of options that work with any budget. Want Jennifer to help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related Resources:

• STEM Applicants: Why Your Statement of Purpose is So Important
• Top MBA Application Essays: How to Answer Them Right (school-specific essay tips)
• The Questions You SHOULD Be Asking – ANSWERED!, a podcast episode

The post Top STEM MBA Programs: A Comprehensive STEM-OPT Eligible List appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Distance learning and unstable market conditions due to the Covid pandemic have not hurt the fortunes of MBA grads from top programs. The 2022 employment reports released in recent weeks from top schools, including NYU Stern School of Business, University of Michigan Ross School of Business, UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business, MIT Sloan, Harvard, and other peer programs have all announced record-breaking starting salaries for grads. 

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NYU Stern MBA Salaries Soar

Median base salaries for NYU Stern were $170,000–the highest ever–up $15,000 from the previous year. Median signing bonuses of $35,000 were on par with 2021, and average total compensation rose by $14,340 to an unprecedented $196,143. 

Within three months of graduation, 94.1 percent of Stern graduates had accepted job offers; 86.6% had accepted job offers by graduation. Top hiring industries remained consistent: consulting (31.2 percent), investment banking (27.2 percent) and tech (17.0 percent). 

Brian Ruggiero, Associate Dean of Career Services, boasted that the Class of 2022, which had begun their MBA studies during the pandemic, “adapted quickly to the resulting paradigm shifts. The demand for these skills is clear,” he said, pointing to the high acceptance rates for jobs three months after graduation being on par with pre-pandemic levels, as well as the highest compensation on record. Early data for the Class of 2023 also show “strong demand for Stern talent,” he added, evidenced by a 100% success rate among seekers of internships. 

Michigan Ross MBA Class of 2022 Almost at 100% Employment

Similarly, University of Michigan Ross School of Business reported that an eye-popping 99% percent of their 2022 grads were offered jobs within three months of graduation, landing median salaries of $165,000 and a $192,270 median salary package. Both salary figures reflect a $21,000 increase over the previous year.

The B-School Selectivity Index:
Are You Competitive at Your Dream School? >>

UC Berkeley Haas, Dartmouth Tuck, and Georgetown McDonough Report Great Employment Outcomes

On the West Coast, the 2022 class at UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business had a 93.8% job offer rate, up 4% from the prior year, returning that figure to among the highest of the pre-pandemic years. The median base salary for Haas MBAs was $155,000, up by 3.7% from the previous year.

Dartmouth Tuck’s employment data released November 22 for the Class of 2022 showed that 98% of Tuck grads had job offers within three months of graduation, with median base salaries rising by 16.7% to $175,000 from $150,000 in 2021. Ninety-three percent of grads received a median signing bonus of $30,000, bumping median total compensation to $202,900, up more than 15% from last year.

Georgetown MBAs enjoyed average base salaries of $138,552, up from $126,107 last year, and an average signing bonus of $36,342. A statement from their website noted that “96% of students received a job offer within three months of graduation and 95% accepted their offers – tying last year’s placement records as the highest levels ever achieved by Full-time MBA graduates. The record-setting average salary marks a 10% increase from 2021, with bonuses increasing by 6%. 

“The outcomes presented in this report are a testament to the extraordinary talent in the Class of 2022,” said Christy Murray, associate dean and managing director of career services at Georgetown McDonough. “These students began their MBA journey amid ongoing disruptions and uncertainty from the global pandemic, yet through their hard work, perseverance, and commitment to excellence, they were well positioned to secure impactful roles in business across a wide range of industries and sectors.” 

Wharton MBAs pocketed their highest-ever median base salary of $175,000, a jump of 12.9 %. Salaries had been flat at $150,000 in 2019 and 2020, rising only to $155,000 in 2021. Within three months of graduation, 98.7% of Wharton’s MBAs seeking jobs received offers. Wharton’s 20222 employment report, released November 17, also revealed that more grads than ever found jobs in tech, despite the current flurry of layoffs and hiring freezes at tech giants Meta, Amazon, and Twitter. 

However, an article in Poets&Quants cautioned that Wharton’s impressive results in landing tech jobs may be a bit of an outlier: 

“. . . techies should be wary of seeing Wharton’s success in tech as a sign of rebound. While the raw number of Wharton MBAs finding jobs in tech is higher than ever, the percentage of the class in the industry is down slightly, as the number of job-seeking graduates in 2022 (633) is 8.2% more than in 2021 (585) as a result of Wharton enrolling larger classes at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Moreover, Whartonites’ success in landing tech gigs runs counter to many of their peer schools, where tech hiring is down — and in some cases down big — and likely points to a very different tech landscape graduates faced this summer as they rounded out their offers.”

Other MBA 2022 Jobs and Salary Stats

The following data is from Poets&Quants and underscores that whatever hardships and uncertainties students experienced while applying and earning MBAs during such a volatile period, their investments are paying off handsomely now.

• Harvard Business School grads saw a 16.3% year-to-year increase in median salary to $175,000 and median performance bonuses increase to $40,000 powered a leap in total median compensation to $223,100, a one-year jump of 17.5%.
  
  
• Virginia Darden School of Business MBAs made a median $175,000, up 21% from the Class of 2021;
  
  
• At MIT Sloan School of Management, average base salary increased 7.6% from the previous year, to $159,391, and median base salary grew 10% to $165,000; total median compensation was $204,700, up 4.7% from $195,600 last year;
  
  
• At Northwestern Kellogg School of Management, median salary for the class jumped $15,000, to $165,000, and is up 18% since the last pre-pandemic graduating class in 2019; bonuses stayed at a median $30,000, and with 87% receiving them, median total pay came out to $191,100, up 8.7% from $175,800 last year.

Soaring MBA Salaries’ Significance for Applicants

These stats reflect several factors: 

1. The enduring value of the full-time two-year MBA degree from top MBA programs.
   
   
2. Inflation, which increases salaries and will allow most of those who borrowed their tuition to pay off their debt with cheaper dollars.
   
   
3. A tight labor market in which businesses – even if we are in a recession – are willing to pay for top talent.

Many of the 2022 MBA grads applied to business school in winter and spring 2020 at the height of COVID lock-downs, social isolation, and distance learning. Unemployment hit 14.8% in April, 2020 and remained above pre-COVID levels until Fall 2021. These grads looked at the dismal events of the time, swallowed hard, and concluded that the environment is paving the way for them to obtain their MBA. As you consider whether to apply at a time of rising layoffs, possible recession, and general instability, consider the payoff that these grads have experienced by taking the plunge when they did.

Are you considering an MBA to maximize your earning potential? The stats show that the investment is worth it, but it takes an outstanding application to impress the elite schools. Our experienced MBA admissions consultants work with you one-on-one, throughout the process, to help you get ACCEPTED!

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For 25 years, Accepted has helped business school applicants gain acceptance to top programs. Our outstanding team of MBA admissions consultants features former business school admissions directors and professional writers who have guided our clients to admission at top MBA, EMBA, and other graduate business programs worldwide including Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Booth, INSEAD, London Business School, and many more. Want an MBA admissions expert to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related resources:

• Starting Salaries for MBA Grads Climbing
• M7 MBA Programs: Everything You Need to Know in 2022
• Is an MBA Worth It, or Is the Sky Falling Down on the MBA Degree?, a podcast episode

The post Class of 2022 MBAs Earn Bullish Starting Salaries appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

The Financial Times has released its global rankings of the best MBA programs and has considerably shuffled the deck. Several top-ranked programs fell several notches, while others rose considerably. For the first time since 2011, Wharton has returned to its status as #1 in FT’s list. 

Other programs that made giant strides in the rankings include Columbia Business School (ranked 8th in 2020), and Kellogg (Northwestern), now #5 (11th place in 2020). One reason for such huge fluctuations was that five of the top U.S. programs (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, and Columbia) were not listed at all last year at all, skewing that year’s results. 

Other highly rated programs that suffered serious tumbles in the rankings include London Business School, Tuck (Dartmouth), and UVA Darden. In fact, 69 of the 91 schools ranked fell in the rankings, many of them by double digits.  

Compared with last year, many of these schools’ rankings looked like riders on a roller coaster, with some plunging far below and others rising by as much as 20 points to unprecedented heights. 

As we have cautioned before, it’s vital to keep these rankings in perspective. They are based on many variables that have little or nothing to do with the quality of the curricula per se.

Do you see yourself in one of these top programs? Find out how working one-on-one with one of our Admissions Consultants can help get you ACCEPTED!

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Related Resources:

• Top 10 or Bust: Dispelling 2 MBA Myths
• Top MBA Programs Get STEM-Certified to Attract Int’l Students
• B-School Selectivity Index: Discover the Schools Where You are a Competitive Applicant

The post Financial Times Ranks Wharton as #1 in 2022 Rankings appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Looking for the best possible admissions advice?

How about admissions advice from the admission committee members themselves?

Linda Abraham, founder of Accepted and host of the Admissions Straight Talk Podcast has a collection of highly enlightening interviews with directors of admissions and adcom members of top business schools!

Listen in as Linda asks her adcom guests pointed and to-the-point questions about the schools, the admissions process, how to get in, and…how to get rejected.

Listen, enjoy, and apply successfully!

For a varied menu of thought-provoking and informative conversations with business leaders, entrepreneurs, MBA students, and more, check out the Admissions Straight Talk Podcast:

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The post From the Mouths of MBA Adcom Members: How to Get Accepted appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

One of the key pieces of an MBA application is the letter of recommendation. This letter, usually written by managers, gives the admissions committee an insightful perspective on the MBA candidate. However, since each program has their own unique form, and candidates are often hesitant to ask managers to fill out multiple recommendations, applicants often limit the number of programs to which they apply. Recommenders frequently cannot dedicate enough time to such letters, resulting in less thorough and perceptive recommendations.  

According to the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the Common Letter of Recommendation was born out of the need to save recommenders and alumni time by enabling them to complete one, common, set of questions. Since the questions stay embedded in each school’s existing application system, few major changes are necessary. The Common LOR was developed by a group of leading business schools in conjunction with GMAC. These programs are leading the way, with the support of GMAC, to collaborate, collect information from industry professionals, and collate information from candidates worldwide.   

Benefits of the Common LOR 

• Delivers deeper understanding of candidates by applying the best practices from top programs and using the most up-to-date science in executive assessment 

• Allows for a wider diversity of prospective students and a greater number of applicants by enabling them to ask for multiple LORs. 

• Reduces recommenders’ time demands so they can devote more consideration to crafting a thoughtful and attuned letter. 

Common LOR sections 

The Common LOR is comprised of the following four sections: 

1. Personal Information About the Recommender 

2. Leadership Assessment Grid: Made up of 12 competencies and character traits that lead to successful leadership. They are divided into these five groups: 

• Achievement 
  
  
• Influence 
  
  
• People 
  
  
• Personal Qualities 
  

• Cognitive Abilities 

3.  Recommendation Questions (Open-Ended Questions for Recommenders) 

• Please provide a brief description of your interaction with the applicant, and, if applicable, the applicant’s role in your organization. 
  
  
• How does the performance of the applicant compare to that of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? (e.g., what are the applicant’s principal strengths?). 
  

• Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant’s response. 
  
  
• Is there anything else we should know? (Optional) 

Schools currently using the Common LOR form 

The widespread uptake of the common LOR is due in part to the longstanding lobbying of admissions professionals. Anna Ivey, former president of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC), welcomed the development of more schools embracing the shared LOR model: “Applicants have for years found themselves in quite a pickle because they have had to dump so much work on their recommenders. In some cases, their recommenders have had to write more words than the applicants do in their essays. That has created all kinds of distortions, despite good intentions. 

“Any convergence around common recommendation questions not only makes the application process easier for applicants and their recommenders, but also helps preserve the integrity of those recommendations and the application process. Cutting down on the duplication and extra work for recommenders will make it more likely that recommenders write their letters themselves, and that’s a great outcome.” 

We can help you take advantage of the common LOR to get the most from your recommenders and supercharge your application. Our experienced consultants also work with recommenders to provide guidance in crafting compelling letters that will set you on the road to getting ACCEPTED! 

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Related Resources:

• Navigate the MBA Maze, a free guide
• MBA Recommendation Letters: 10 Tips for Writing them Right
• Ingredients of a Great MBA Letter of Recommendation

The post The MBA Common Letter of Recommendation (LOR): An Overview appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

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What every applicant to Georgetown McDonough should know [Show summary]

Shelly Heinrich, Associate Dean of MBA Admissions at Georgetown McDonough, explores what’s new with the school’s full-time and flex MBA programs and how applicants can stand out to the admissions committee.

Make your application to Georgetown McDonough shine! [Show notes]

Interested in an MBA focused on international business with rigorous academics and a supportive collaborative culture? Pull up a chair. Today’s guest is the Dean of Admissions at Georgetown McDonough’s MBA program, and it fits your bill perfectly.

Shelly Heinrich is Associate Dean of MBA Admissions and Director of Marketing at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. Shelly has been leading Georgetown’s admissions efforts since 2014 and became Associate Dean in 2017. She earned her BBA from Texas Christian University, her master’s in educational administration from UT Austin, and her executive MBA from Georgetown McDonough.

Can you give us an overview of Georgetown’s full-time and flex MBA programs for those listeners who aren’t that familiar with these programs, and focus on their more distinctive elements? [2:13]

The great thing about our full-time and flex program is that they are both 54-credit degrees, and they both follow the same exact curriculum. You have the same access to the career center, which is unique sometimes for a part-time MBA, the same access to professors and the global consulting experience. The real difference is the timing and the format. The full-time MBA is a standard full-time MBA. It’s 20 months with an internship the summer between year one and year two. Our flex MBA program, you can complete in two and a half to five years, really crafting your own schedule. If you want to take two to three classes at a time, you can speed it up. If you want to stretch it out, taking maybe one or two classes at a time, you can do that as well. With the flex MBA, you also have different course delivery options in order to make it more flexible. You can choose between electives that are on Saturday, that are in the evening, that are hybrid and also do more of our intensive learning experiences, the intense one-week electives to get an entire credit knocked out. You do have a little bit more flexibility. But in general, both are standard MBAs and when you graduate, your degree says “MBA.”

What’s new at McDonough, other than the pandemic and the new reality that we’re all dealing with? [3:35]

What I love so much about Georgetown and our Dean Almeida is his energy. Even while we were dealing with the pandemic, we were still continuing to forge ahead and launch the new initiatives that we had wanted to launch and then even launch some new ones. We launched in December our MBA advanced access program, which is our deferral program. We launched an MBA mentorship program, which is a mentorship program between alumni and MBA students to get professional mentorship and guidance. Our students launched a McDonough Talks podcast to give you the real story of what it’s like to be a student.

Then, because of the pandemic, we launched operation cura personalis. We have the academics, you have the career, and then you have the community aspect of an MBA. Operation cura personalis is true to our Jesuit roots and focuses on cura personalis, which is “care of the whole person,” and looks at programming that we could bring to our students to develop the mind, body, and spirit. What is it that makes you a successful leader? Yes, it’s functional intelligence and certainly career aspiration and motivation, but you also have to have the rest of yourself that you develop as a leader so that you can be an effective leader of your team. A lot’s been launched over the last year, which is really exciting and just one of the great things I love about McDonough.

What are some of the elements of cura personalis? [5:05]

We realized shortly after a few months into the pandemic that, yes, we’ve always embodied the care of the whole person, the cura personalis. To be an effective leader, you have to understand how to lead people with empathy and to take care of them as a person and to make sure their mental health, their wellbeing, their spiritual wellbeing, if they have a spiritual wellbeing, that you’re thinking about and taking care of that, because ultimately that will lead you to be a more resilient and a more effective leader. We’ve brought in diverse programming, everything from sleep seminars, recognizing that sleep has a great output on your effectiveness, to things like yoga, things like meditation, comedy shows, different speakers coming in to talk about different ways that you can improve yourself as a person.

The way I think of it is, yes, right now you may be in the middle level of your career or maybe the entry level of your career. But one day you might be managing 300 people or 20 people or 500 people or thousands of people, and to get the most out of your people, you should reflect back on those things that make them strong personally and that allow them to take care of their staff and employees. It’s been great, and they’ve opened it up not just as students but to staff and faculty. And because of the success we had at McDonough, other parts of the university are implementing it as well. That is something that we will actually take into next year, post-pandemic. We realized students really appreciate it.

How have the pandemic restrictions affected the MBA experience and program at Georgetown McDonough? [6:49]

Every week has been exciting and has changed, and we’ve had to problem-solve. Maybe “exciting” is not the right word, but change is. Right now, any MBA student that wants to be on campus, who has met the COVID testing protocol of the university, is able to be on campus. Now, not every professor is teaching on campus at this point, but any student that wants to be can. That’s where we are now. When we started a year ago, we were very much virtual. This time last year and in the spring, we were very much virtual. We went into the fall in a hybrid model, with international students being on campus. It really wasn’t until the spring semester that domestic students who met COVID protocols could be on campus. The president has just announced in the fall that we will be back in person. We’re really excited and planning towards that. He’s also announced an in-person graduation, so that’s exciting. He just announced it a couple of weeks ago. What that looks like, we’re still figuring out, but we will be in person.

There are certainly students who this year decided to stay at home, to stay in their home state or home country. Not every student is physically living in DC because the changes were announced mid-semester, but the students that want to be are.

Students can have casual interactions? The cafeteria is open, the lounges are open, the clubs are meeting, etc., for those people who are on campus? Or are there still restrictions in that regard? [8:34]

A lot of the social activities are still, at least those that are sponsored by Georgetown, very restricted. Those are still virtual. Any type of club activities, career activities, anything like that is still virtual. The focus has really been on the classes. 

What don’t people know about Georgetown McDonough that you would like them to know? What’s a common misconception or myth that you’d like to puncture? [9:09]

Every year we try to dispel these myths, but I think they continue to be here. There’s three, really. One is that because we’re in Washington DC, we’re more of a public policy-focused MBA program, which is so far from the truth. The highest percentage of our graduates still go into finance and consulting and technology. Yes, we do have perhaps a larger percentage than other schools that will pursue social impact or nonprofit, but it’s a small sliver, typically 3% or 4%. At our core, we are an MBA program.

Related to that, people assume, and maybe this is the case for all MBA programs, but they assume that most of our alumni go to work in DC after graduation. But we are a global program. Our alumni go all over the world, where employers and jobs take them. We’re very much a global alumni program.

And then the third: People are interested to learn, “What does Jesuit education mean? If I’m not Catholic, if I’m Hindu or Muslim or not practicing a faith, what does that mean?” Jesuit education is focused on the learning and the care of the whole person. We have people of all different faiths. Our deans, our faculty, our students, and staff come from all different backgrounds. It’s a very welcoming, inclusive environment that focuses on the teaching and the well-roundedness versus the religious aspect.

Typically, at this time of year, you’d be traveling the world, engaging with prospective students, and some Hoyas would probably accompany you. How can prospective students engage with the McDonough community if you can’t go to them and they can’t go to you? [10:55]

I know. I miss 12-hour flights to Asia, to be very honest. I cannot wait to get back on it. We have had to turn our events virtual. We are hosting all of our information sessions virtually, our coffee chats virtually, our signature events virtually. And while you can never replace the in person experience, what has been fascinating is our ability to reach more people than we ever have. I can remember last May when we hosted our first monthly information session virtually. When we do it in person, we typically get about 100-120 people that would attend. Our first one had over 500 people registered and I thought, wow, maybe we’ve been doing this wrong all along. Think about all the people from different countries who weren’t going to fly in for a one-hour session, but now were able to experience McDonough. So yes, people can meet with us virtually. They can set a time to chat with us. Then, hopefully by the end of the summer and into the fall, we will be back to allowing visitors on campus.

Do you see yourself, in terms of recruiting applicants, continuing with a mix of virtual and in person? Or do you see yourself staying virtual? [12:16]

It will be a mix. I think we’ve learned a lot this year. We’ve had a lot of success with being virtual. But nothing can replace getting to chat with someone over coffee, especially in their home state or home country and really interviewing them face to face. So I think it’ll be a mix, but it’s been great to learn that we can have success in both modes, virtual and in person.

Has the success in terms of reaching out to people virtually translated to an increase in applications? [12:51]

Yes. It’s an interesting year, one like one we haven’t experienced in a while. We have passed three rounds of our MBA applications. Our full-time is up 26%. Our flex is up 11%. To drill that down, we just had round three, which typically is a very small round. Not a lot of people apply in round three. Our round three applications for full-time are up 83%. Very interesting. Coming out of round one, our deposits were up almost 50% year over year, and that was pre-pandemic. Round one deposits come in the beginning of February. It has been a very interesting year.

Is some of that round three increase from people who got rejected from programs that they thought they might’ve gotten into in previous years? [13:48]

We typically, for round three and round four, see a mix of applications. We see people who didn’t really realize that if they want to apply for an MBA, they should have started in the fall. I think people from their undergraduate experience don’t really realize round ones are in September. But then we also get a good mix of very highly qualified people that are applying to the top five programs and unfortunately don’t receive a spot. Then, they start to research great programs like Georgetown and realize, wow, I can achieve the same career goals or very similar career goals and be in a smaller class size in the heart of Washington DC, and maybe this is a good path for me. We typically see a lot of highly qualified applicants in round three and round four.

Let’s turn to the application itself. What is the purpose of the different elements of the Georgetown application, specifically the essays, the resume, and the recommendation? [15:05]

In those three elements (the essays, the resume, and recommendation), we want to understand who you are outside of your GPA, your test score, or your years of work experience. It allows us to really understand your character, your leadership ability, and what you’ll bring to the classroom. In our essays, we’re fairly unique at Georgetown. We provide three essay prompts. You only have to choose one. It allows you to determine what your value proposition is as a person and leader and then choose the essay that allows you to sell it the best, so you’re not forced into a box of an essay that maybe doesn’t really highlight your strengths.

Then we have a video essay, which I know causes anxiety with students, but honestly, it’s one of my favorite parts of the application because we get to really see them and who they are. Only one person gets to interview you on the admissions committee. But with the video essay, everyone on the admissions committee gets a chance to see you. And you can rerecord it as many times as you want until you get it right, whereas in an interview, you go in and you get one shot. I think it’s a strength for applicants in their application process.

The resume also provides more context into what you do, what your accomplishments are and your career progression, as well as how you’re involved outside of employment. Then the recommendation is something that I typically leave till the very end. By the time I’ve read your entire application, I have an idea in my head, perhaps, of what type of student you are or what your experience has been. And then interestingly, often when I read the recommendation, it confirms what I was already thinking. I love that. The recommendation typically just rounds out your application. It’s not typically make-or-break. Very few people will have a negative recommendation letter. I love that.

What about the test? McDonough gives applicants a choice between the GMAT, the GRE, and the executive assessment. Any plans to provide waivers and make the test optional? Where is Georgetown on that? [17:25]

There’s no preference among the three. I think the old adage is, if you’re thinking about the top consulting firms or investment banking, it’s probably preferable to choose the GMAT. However, I’ve heard that some companies are being more flexible. But other than that, there’s no preference. Research the test, figure out which one you’re going to do the best at, and then submit, and be sure to take it more than once. That’s what I always recommend to applicants. Take it more than once because you’re typically going to do better the second time. We see it all the time.

In terms of waivers, last year was different. But moving into this year, while most countries and states have resumed accessibility for in-person testing and still have online options, we do realize that there are some countries where there is still limited accessibility. So we have provided each round an opportunity for people to apply for a test waiver if they don’t have access to take the test, and then if they don’t have access, they also have to have met certain academic eligibility criteria. It is very selective.

We don’t know what we’re going to do moving forward with tests. I think it’s important to have tools by which to assess candidates and how they’re going to be successful in the classroom. There are people who don’t test well, but there are people who really test well and it offsets a low GPA. I can think of many applicants who maybe had a 2.7 or 2.8 GPA because they were doing intercollegiate athletics. Maybe they were supporting their family. They were working 40 or 50 hours a week. Maybe they were immature. But then two or three years after college, they go take a test and they do really, really well. And for international applicants, without a standardized test, how would we compare transcripts from Mongolia, to Ecuador, to India, to China, to Los Angeles, to San Francisco? How would we assess all of those and do it well? That’s one of the reasons why a standardized test can be helpful, but we’re really trying to dig through and think about assessments and what to do with them moving forward.

You’ve obviously been looking at a lot of applications over the last seven years at Georgetown. What are some of the most common mistakes applicants make that you’ve seen? [19:50]

The common mistakes that stand out are, first of all, just sloppiness. It seems silly, but lower-casing your first name and last name on applications and not putting in the right school, which sounds so simple. But every round, there are multiple people that do it and say, “I look forward to applying to XYZ school,” and it’s not Georgetown. Even when I was previously working at GW in admissions, the same thing.

Then, assuming that we know about the career progressions that they’ve had. To provide an example, I was interviewing a student one time and simultaneously looking at their resume. They mentioned, “When I received that promotion at Deloitte, I was then doing XYZ.” I was looking at their resume and I said, “I don’t see that promotion. You didn’t indicate that promotion on your resume.” And the person said, “Well, I wanted to get it down to one page so I decided to remove that.” And I said, “Oh no. Don’t. A key element of your candidacy is that you’ve been promoted. We look for that.” That was another “mistake” and was not strategic.

Another thing is not having attended any type of event or met with any type of alumni or current student. When I ask someone, “How have you learned about Georgetown?” the successful applicants will say, “Well, I attended this event,” or, “I know an alumnus of your university I spoke with.” Then they’ll talk about how that conversation or that event has led them to be more interested in Georgetown. Especially in this virtual environment, when all of our events are virtual, there is almost no excuse for not having attended an event. In years past, maybe if you were international, you might not have been able to attend, but this round, this cycle, you should definitely be attending virtual events.

In light of the pandemic and the crazy end to last year’s admission cycle, are you going to evaluate applications slightly differently, perhaps looking for or weighing different attributes more or less? [21:56]

What the pandemic really further highlighted is our true commitment to cura personalis, which is care of the whole person, and empathy. We, last summer, took an approach of saying, “We’re going to have individual conversations with every person that’s struggling. Maybe this isn’t the right year for them and we’re going to hear their stories.” If you think about that, 30 minutes per student times hundreds, it was a lot of students, but we said, “This is true to our values and we want to feel right about how we’re handling this. This feels right to do.” I think that’s continued to bleed into this year, that care and true perspective on each individual person. For top MBA programs that are receiving thousands of applications, but also receiving tens of thousands of inquiries, before this, while we tried to pay as much attention as possible, sometimes it physically wasn’t possible. What the pandemic has shown is we change our processes to make the time because it is important. That’s something different.

There are candidates out there who are worried that if they got laid off or if they were furloughed or if they were an entrepreneur and their business went under, that event somehow is going to tarnish their application. That is so far from the truth. We are receiving so many applications from people in those exact circumstances and from a human perspective, we understand. We get it. We were watching the news. We understand what’s happened over the last year. For those people, it’s a great time to come back to an MBA program. Don’t be ashamed of it. Don’t think of that as a barrier because of which you should not apply, because there are a lot of people in your situation.

Would it be an exaggeration to say that talking about what they learned from the experience could actually strengthen their application? Or that what they learned about being involved in an ultimately unsuccessful business could also strengthen their application? Would you agree with that? [23:46]

Definitely. Even prior to the pandemic, when people had more than a three-month employment gap or were laid off, we would ask them to tell us, “What did you do in that time?” The same holds true now. Did you go online and do certificates? How did you improve your skills? Maybe you had to take care of family members, but through that you learned different qualities about yourself that you never knew. How did you use your time and how does it make you a better person and leader?

I know some applicants have specific elements in their background that give them grave concern. How do you view applicants who had a dip in grades or a gap in their employment due to depression or emotional issues? That’s one category, and the other category is applicants who had an academic infraction as an undergraduate or perhaps a misdemeanor like a DUI on their record. [24:35]

We want to understand and learn more. No one is perfect. No one’s background, their prior personal or professional experiences, are completely perfect, and sometimes mistakes happen. In the case that you mentioned of a DUI, it was a one-time thing. You were young, and you were maybe not as mature as you are now, eight years later. We understand and realize that. And then in the case of depression or mental illness, we realize that there’s an increase in that, not only due to the COVID pandemic, but even prior to that. We were seeing more of that in undergraduate institutions. If people feel comfortable sharing it, then share it. We’re all human. We all understand that we have to deal with things. Sometimes young students have to bear a lot more responsibility than maybe they used to and there’s a lot more pressure on them.

Share it, but then also, how have you overcome? What skills have you put into place to forge into the next stage of your life? And then if it was a mistake like a DUI, did you learn from it? Did you take responsibility for it? Did you not have any more? We look at all of that, and that’s what the optional essay is for, to really explain those types of things. Don’t be ashamed of it. Again, we’re all human. We’re all people at the end.

What would you say to applicants who want to apply but are concerned that some deferrals from last year will have shrunk the number of available seats. Certainly for this year, that’s a concern, and there has been a spike in applications. Maybe they’re concerned about increased competition. [26:29]

A lot of students over the last few months have come to me and tried to analyze their probability of success. You can tell it’s angsting them. What I tell them is, “Look, the number of applications we’re getting now was similar to what it was three or four years ago. There was a dip in the market for a while, as the economy was really strong. The situation you’re entering is very much similar to the one people three or four or five years ago were entering. Don’t try to analyze your probability of success. Every applicant is different. There’s not necessarily a metric for whom we admit, and if this is the right time for you, then apply. And in a worst-case scenario where we are not able to admit you, then come back to us and say, ‘I wasn’t admitted this year. Can I have a conversation with you about how I can improve for next year?'” We love re-applicants. In fact, we admit about 50% of our re-applicants. We admit them especially if they’ve taken steps to improve their application. We love that.

Do you also provide feedback to people who are considering reapplying? [27:52]

We do at Georgetown. I can’t say other schools do. We’ll be honest with people and say, “Look, this is how you can improve for next year.” Just apply. Don’t stress. If for whatever reason it doesn’t work out, then reapply the following year and make your application more competitive.

Can you touch for a moment on the MBA Advanced Access Program? Whom is it for? And how can one get in? [28:15]

I love this. We launched it in December, and the application deadline is April 26th for this year. It is a deferral program for people in their final year of undergraduate or their final year of graduate school. If they went straight from undergrad to grad school, they may apply to then defer for two, three, or four years later. People applying now would be deferring into fall 2023, 2024, or 2025 into the full-time MBA program. I like it because of two reasons. One, there’s so much pressure placed on undergraduate students to figure out their dream job post-undergrad. Everyone asks them, “What are you doing? What do you do? Do you have a job yet?” There’s so much pressure. The reality is, people may or may not like that job. And that’s fine. You change careers six, seven times over the course of your career. By doing the deferral program, you are able to take that job knowing full well that if you like it, well then great, you can continue. If you don’t like it, you can land in a top MBA program and switch careers because 84% of our students switch functions or industries coming out of the Georgetown MBA. It gives you this fallback plan. You don’t have to have that pressure.

The other reason I like it is that by applying to the MAAP program, you’re going to be competing against a smaller pool of applicants for a seat two, three, or four years from now. If you wait and apply to the regular program, you’re applying against a few thousand applications. Your probability of success is perhaps greater applying to the MAAP program, because if you apply into a full-time MBA with only two years of work experience, while you still can be admitted, you’re competing against people with five or six years of work experience. That’s the two reasons why I believe the MAAP program and a deferral program is something to think about.

What advice would you give someone thinking ahead and planning to apply in fall 2021 for the 2022 entering class? They have about six months to nine months to go before they hit those first two deadlines, which are generally the more popular ones. [30:12]

Three things. Visit virtually. Before we all start coming back to in-person events, take advantage of everything being virtual now, and just go ahead and do it. You can always come visit us in-person later, but do the virtual visits now. Start speaking with other people that have MBA degrees, because you do want to make sure that this is the right degree for you, or maybe there’s another graduate business degree that is of interest to you. The more people you speak with (employers, hiring managers, your friends), the further you’ll know if this is the right path for you. Third, start preparing for the things in the application that do take a while. Typically preparing for the test takes a little bit of time. Make sure you know who your recommenders are. Get them lined up so that you give them at least a month to write the letter of recommendation. If you’re going to prep for the September deadlines, those are the three things I would say to do.

What would you have liked me to ask you? [31:29]

What do I personally love about Georgetown? I’ve worked at four different business schools and they were all great. They were all great experiences, but Georgetown is the one I’ve been the longest at. I’ve been here almost seven years, and it was the first school where I decided to go back and do my MBA, because I did have potential options to apply at other schools. I may not have been admitted, but I had other options to apply. This is the first school where I said, “I want to be a Hoya.” It was because of my interactions with alum and students and the senior leadership and constantly talking about and hearing these experiences in my day to day job. I said, “I want that. I want that for myself.” I truly believe in the further direction of the school and where it’s headed. So I was really excited to apply, and it was a phenomenal experience. I don’t regret it one minute and wish, frankly, I was back there sometimes doing the program.

How was it juggling the MBA and a full-time job? [32:27]

One of the reasons why I almost didn’t apply was because I was scared about the work-life balance. I also had a four year-old at the time, and my husband was in grad school at the time. I thought, is this a good decision? Should I actually do this? But I talked with another woman who had had two kids while in the MBA program and also a demanding job. I thought, okay, if this woman can do it, then I can do it. If all of these other people that have had kids have done it before me, then it’s possible. I just have to figure out the best path for me. It was definitely a decision factor, but it’s one that I don’t regret and I still feel, reflecting back, that I was able to equally give time to my family, my career, and my studies, and I was able to somehow manage it.

Where can listeners and potential applicants learn more about Georgetown’s MBA program? [33:42]

Please visit choosegeorgetown.com.

Related links:

• Georgetown McDonough’s website
• Leadership in Admissions, a free guide
• Georgetown McDonough MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines [2020 – 2021]
• Accepted’s MBA Admissions Consulting Services

Related shows:

• What’s New at MIT Sloan’s Competitive Full-Time MBA
• All About Georgetown’s New Master of Science in Business Analytics Program
• MBA Life at UC Berkeley Haas, From Its New Executive Director of Admissions
• All About the Kellogg MBAi, for Students Passionate About Business and Technology
• What Prospective MBAs Should Know About Applying to Michigan Ross

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The post All About Becoming a Georgetown McDonough MBA [Episode 421] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

[powerpress]

Why Georgetown’s new MSBA program may be just what you’re looking for! [Show Summary]

Dr. Sudipta Dasmohapatra, Academic Director of Georgetown’s MSBA program, goes in-depth on who the new online master’s program is for and how will prepare students for careers in data science leadership.

Earn your Master’s of Science in business analytics online in just 16 months, while continuing to work. [Show Notes]

Are you attracted to business analytics but don’t want to take the time off work to enter a full-time program to master the topic? Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business has just what you’re looking for: an online master’s designed for working professionals. Today’s guest is the director of that program, and we’re going to learn all about it.

Dr. Sudipta Dasmohapatra earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in India and her PhD from Penn State, and she’s always been a numbers geek. She started her career as a data scientist in 2004 and her teaching career at North Carolina State, where she was Associate Professor of Marketing and Customer Analytics until 2017. In 2017, she became, among other duties, the Director of the Master’s in Statistical Science at Duke University, and in 2020 she joined Georgetown as Academic Director of its brand new online MS in Business Analytics (MSBA) program for working professionals.

Can you provide an overview of Georgetown’s MSBA program? [2:06]

The Georgetown Master’s in Business Analytics offered by the McDonough School of Business is coming online in January 2021. It is an online, 16-month, comprehensive analytics program. We have designed it with the goal of preparing future business leaders and managers that are interested in learning how to understand data and how to use data to create, share, and sustain value.

The graduates of this program will be prepared to lead in key growth sectors where graduates that have deep business analytic skills are highly sought. This particular program has been rigorously curated to meet the needs of the current marketplace. We have integrated the technical aspects of data analytics with the managerial business functions so that the students can learn to speak and communicate the language of data.

Within this particular program, we have both asynchronous classes, as well as synchronous sessions in which the students can join their cohort, as well as a prominent faculty, in a virtual classroom. Students also have the opportunity to come to campus. We have two week-long campus-based residencies that provide integrated hands-on activities to the students through a very intensive, week-long curriculum.

One of the cornerstones of this particular program that I want to talk about is the capstone project. The capstone project, over six months, applies the program’s concepts and methods and tools that the students learn in a challenging business data analytics assignment with a project sponsor. Students that come into this program can not only leverage the core McDonough and Georgetown community network, but being in the global capital city of Washington DC, we are going to connect the students to a network of people, programs, and complex data that have real-world consequences.

Could you give an example? What do you think a capstone project would be? [4:17]

A capstone project could be from a real-life sponsor. We might have, let’s say, the military that has all this different data to do, say, cyber analytics. We might go to them and leverage our existing contacts and get data from there, and students would be able to work on projects where they can see the application of what they have learned in a real-life project. That’s what we are envisioning right now with the capstone project.

Wow. How large of a cohort do you plan to admit this year and in subsequent years? Is it a lockstep program, where all participants take the same courses together, or are there electives where they can branch out? How does that work? [4:59]

For the inaugural class of spring 2021, we are targeting a class size of approximately 50 students. Our goal is to make sure that the students who graduate from the program can receive the McDonough advantage and are able to advance and launch and grow their career in the fields of business analytics.

In terms of your question regarding a lockstep program, we will be following the cohort model, and all the students are going to go through the same classes at the same time. With every class, the students will be incrementally growing in their skills. We have designed the classes with content that is integrated, and throughout the 16 months, the students will first learn foundational skills and then build them over time. Having said that, I would still say that we definitely want to have the McDonough experience where the students get individualized attention in order to meet their career goals.

What kind of jobs are graduates preparing for? How will the career service team assist them at that end of the program? [6:13]

There are a variety of different types of graduate programs that exist across the nation and across the globe today. Students can choose any of these programs, but specifically, our program was designed to prepare students for analytics and data science leadership roles in a variety of industries that use data. So we have consulting and financial services and risk management and technology, retail, you name it. We believe that most students in this program will be prepared for advancing their career, with the goal of managing projects and meeting their teams.

You asked about career services, and we will have dedicated career services for the students in this particular program. Our team is going to provide professional development and leadership skills and exposure to various types of data analytics roles that the students are going to come across, as well as any other activities that help to prepare the students for roles of their choice. 

How is the program structured to provide the flexibility that working professionals need? [7:31]

That’s a great question. We have designed this online program very thoughtfully, with working professionals in mind. The curriculum has been built with our past experience and success with other online programs at McDonough. You must have noticed that the timeline is 16 months. We want to provide both conceptual and practical skills at a pace that will be comfortable for working professionals. That’s why we are not cramming everything in two or three semesters in a one-year program; it’s a 16-month program.

We have created a very highly flexible learning environment with interactive recordings and readings, which students will be able to do in their free time through the asynchronous content. The synchronous content will include live sessions that will build on the asynchronous content with case studies, projects, and applied work.

We do not formally, at this point of time, require any kind of time sponsorship from employers to be sure that the students will be able to provide the time commitment that is required for going through this program at a comfortable pace. I would like to say here that when the students join the program, they will become a member of a caring community of faculty and staff and students, and we’re going to provide them that individualized attention to help them learn and achieve their goals through their time.

Can you describe the application process for the MSBA? [9:11]

The Master of Science in Business Analytics will begin their first cohort in January, 2021. We require the applicants of the program to submit an online application, their resume and CV. We also require undergraduate degree transcripts as the last transcripts from any graduate programs. There’s a personal statement that is required and two letters of recommendation. One of the things that students are asking us who have been applying to such programs is whether they require a GRE or GMAT, right? While we do not require them to have the test scores, they are strongly recommended. But we will consider waivers based on prior academic performance or work experience that students have. For non-native English speakers, we need them to have TOEFL or IELT scores.

I also want to stress here that once an application has been submitted, it will be evaluated by an admissions committee. That can be a director; that’s going to be me. Then we will use a holistic approach when making admission decisions. We are really looking for applicants who are aligned with our values and our mission to have a positive impact in society and that they could be collaborative members and team players. We want to make sure that we’re admitting students who we believe will add value to their entire class, as well as to the larger Georgetown community.

What kind of work experience, both in terms of quantity and quality, do you expect? [10:43]

The admissions committee expects applicants to have about two to five or more years of work experience. The type and quality of the work experience obviously will be evaluated in terms of the whole person that is applying to the program. If there are non-work experiences, in other forms, we will also give serious consideration to those. For example, volunteer work, extracurricular activities during college, leadership positions that they have held in non-work organizations, any kind of special awards or achievements. All of these are going to be considered when we look at applicants’ experience.

Do you expect people to be working in quantitative fields or to have a quantitative academic background when they apply? [11:26]

Not really. We are thinking about students who can think quantitatively. They are curious about the data. They’re motivated and are keen to learn skills that will help them draw insights from complex data. The students that have technical backgrounds are perhaps going to be more competitive, but it doesn’t mean that students who are not in technical backgrounds cannot be because if you are curious about data, you can come from any field. If you’re curious about learning these skills and are motivated and want to make a difference in society and businesses and how you make decisions using data, absolutely.

In terms of a formal coursework, the only thing that we need the students to have taken is undergraduate-level math courses. If it’s a technical discipline, it just adds to that. But we are not really looking for students to have any formal statistics or programming languages. We are going to teach them that in the program. That’s what the program is. We are talking about linear algebra, calculus, that kind of work. Once they have that, they’re going to be good to come into our program.

Can you share the essay question or personal statement question? [12:47]

In terms of the personal statement, we are really looking for students to tell us about why they want to enroll in a business analytics program. What kind of past experience, if any, do they have in analytics? Why do they want to attend Georgetown University? What are their career aspirations and expectations after they received this MSD degree? We also have an optional scholarship essay. Students that want to apply for scholarships can do that. They write an essay that explains the unique values and perspectives they would bring into the program. We do have some limited scholarships that we offer within the program.

Is an interview required? [13:32]

Yes. All applicants will do a short video conference interview with an admissions representative. The interviews typically focus on an applicant’s background, analytics, any kind of data science experience that they would have and their career goals. We may ask certain candidates to participate in a second interview if we need more information from the student. All interviews are online; it’s an online program. We want you to know how to work in a virtual environment.

Beyond COVID, will you want in-person interviews, or will you still do them online? [14:03]

We are going to do online interviews. We want to make sure the student is also comfortable in an online environment, this being an online program. That’s what we have done successfully across different programs, and we are going to do that as well in this program.

Georgetown McDonough also has a Flex MBA with a focus on analytics. How does the MSBA differ from the Flex MBA with a focus on analytics? [14:27]

The full-time and the Flex MBA now actually offer a STEM designated management science major, and as part of the curriculum, the students can earn a certificate in data analytics and insights. Depending upon a student’s career ambitions, pursuing an MBA with this track is the right choice if the analytics piece is perhaps as equally important as a comprehensive understanding of the core business fundamentals that the MBA program brings in. The MBA provides the students with a breadth of knowledge that covers many areas of business with a little bit of analytics in it, while the MSBA is designed for students that are more interested in a specialized program that focuses on developing a data-first mindset, along with rigorous analytic skills. These are both necessary to prepare you for a career where analytics is key to making better business decisions. The MBA is mostly an in-person program, when we are not in a pandemic, of course, while the MSBA is designed to be online. The MSBA is also shorter. It’s 16 months.

Many business people are inundated with data, and it’s not always presented in the most accessible way. Is part of the course also filtering the data so that the decision-maker gets what’s really important? [15:54]

Absolutely. We are going to train the students to not only think data, but also walk data, talk data, and communicate in the right way. Data has become very complex now. If you really look at the data science world today, it is overwhelming. It’s not only in-store data anymore. If you look at data, it’s also all this digital data that’s coming from social media and everywhere. We are going to make sure that the students can get not only the conceptual understanding but also the practical knowledge that is necessary to generate insights or draw insights from the data where they are going to be able to filter all the noise and look at the signals they can use to make the decisions. We’re going to provide them the tools and techniques and a handful of other types of knowledge they can utilize in order to solve the complex data problems that we have going on today in the marketplace.

The whole idea with a business analytics program is to make sure that the students can come in front of a group of people that they may be working with, where you have non-statisticians and statisticians. You may have people who are technical and engineers who understand this versus those that can’t understand the language of data, but then you are able to draw insights that solve business problems in the right way that non-statisticians can access as well.

The world has become completely data-centric, and people who have the knowledge to draw these insights from data are going to have a competitive advantage over others. It’s absolutely essential. I talked about the capstone course earlier and some of the courses that we will have within this program. All the courses will have some applied aspect within them, so students can see for real how data is used to transform business decisions and make sure that we can draw solutions from the problems based on data science methods and different types of tools that they can actually utilize in this program.

You mentioned that the inaugural class is going to be roughly 50 people. Do you see it growing, or do you want to keep it small? [19:45]

We do anticipate this number going up as we move forward. As more potential applicants hear about the value of getting this degree, we do anticipate getting more applications as well. However, one of the things to keep in mind is we will definitely keep it at a comfortable size where we are able to maintain our cohort nature and provide individualized learning and growth opportunities to students and deliver the McDonough and Georgetown experience and value to them. That’s what we are thinking about as we look forward to growing after the inaugural class of spring 2021.

The priority application deadline for this inaugural class is September 15th. Do you anticipate a later deadline also, since this is the priority? What is the advantage of applying by the priority deadline? [20:40]

Applications are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. Our priority deadline is September 15th, 2020, and applications that are received by this date will be given prior consideration for some limited, merit-based financial aid. Since they are assessing applications on a rolling basis for a limited number of seats, it is advantageous for students to apply early, but we have our final application deadline as December 11th, 2020 for the first cohort.

What about those planning ahead to apply later, if this isn’t the right year to apply? How can those applicants prepare themselves to apply effectively, either in 2021 or 2022? [21:29]

I mentioned before that we don’t require them to have any kind of formal coursework in statistics or programming, but if you are thinking of applying a year later, it’s always advantageous and you’re going to be very competitive if the students coming into the program learn about statistics and data science methodologies and some other programming tools through some kind of an online learning environment like Coursera, or DataCamp, or through a formal course at a university level. If there are keen applicants, then they may be able to work with some publicly available datasets. There are all kinds of publicly available datasets. Let us know about that in the personal statement. Again, these are not required, but it definitely makes the applicants much more attractive.

What is a frequently asked question that you get about the program that’s perhaps surprised you since announcing the MSBA? [22:47]

I talked about the two five-day-long residencies: one at the beginning of the program, and one is at the midpoint of the program. Students have been asking about the required residencies with the COVID situation, and I know that that’s on the top of their minds. This is an online program, it’s going to be delivered virtually, and we are very competent at McDonough in delivering content online. We have had successful virtual in-person residencies for other programs, so we understand how to deliver these strategies and provide an equal experience and benefits to students online.

The other question that we are getting is about a value-based MSBA. We talk about the fact that the MSBA degree is going to be helpful in gaining perspective that translates data analytics to provide value to both the business organization and society, and that’s something that the students are asking for more clarity about. As we think about providing value to businesses, we will constrain the overall impact to the businesses if we only think about the economic bottom line. We want to make sure that the students within this program can think beyond that and think about creating sustainable strategies that not only make an economic impact but also make an impact on the environment and society. Ethical decision-making is a part of value-based decision-making that we are going to provide to the students within our programs. Those have been a couple of questions that students have been asking.

Is there a question you would like to answer that I didn’t ask about the MSBA? [24:37]

Data is the language that successful leaders speak today and will speak in the future. We have launched the Master’s of Science in Business Analytics program with a futuristic vision with very carefully considered content, tools, and applications in business. Students that come into this particular program are going to join the outstanding McDonough faculty and staff and their cohort that will prepare them to become globally minded, principled leaders, ready to address the most significant challenges and opportunities facing business and society.

One of the things that I did not mention earlier is that being at McDonough and Georgetown, the students in this program are going to be able to take advantage of a lot of data analytics resources across the university. This includes the massive data institute, which harnesses modern data and computing power to produce cutting-edge research and improve decision-making. We are in the process of collaborating with them to make sure that the students can take advantage of that.

Where can listeners learn more about Georgetown’s MSBA? [25:52]

Potential students, potential employers, and anybody that wants to learn more about the program can go to msb.georgetown.edu, and then go under “Degree Programs” to learn more about this particular program. Students that want to ask an admissions consultant can go to msbaadmissions@georgetown.edu and email our admissions counselors.

Related Links:

• Georgetown McDonough’s MSBA program
• Data Analytics Master’s Programs: What Do They Want in Applicants?
• Want to Study Data Analytics But Don’t Have Relevant Experience or a Quantitative Degree?
• What are the Components of a Great Statement of Purpose for Data or Business Analytics?
• Accepted’s Admissions Consulting Services

Related Shows:

• NYU Stern’s New Online Masters in Quantitative Management
• Exploring London Business School’s Master’s in Analytics and Management
• Contemplating a Career in Data Science/Business Analytics?
• The Berkeley MFE: One Tough Program with Amazing Opportunities for Grads
• UCLA’s MS in Business Analytics: Prep for the Sexiest Job of the 21st Century

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The post All About Georgetown’s New Master of Science in Business Analytics Program [Episode 378] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Poets & Quants just released its 2019-2020 rankings of the top 100 U.S. MBA programs.

There were some minor changes in the top 10  – most prominently is Stanford GSB climbing two spots, passing Harvard Business School and UPenn Wharton, to claim the #1 position. It’s the second time in 10 years that Stanford has claimed the top slot.  

Other highlights include:

• Yale School of Management just barely broke into the top 10 by securing 10th place. 
• Purdue’s Krannert School of Management dropped 10 spots from last year, from 38th to 48th.
• Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business jumped 12 spots from 62nd place last year to 50th.
• UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management experienced a massive jump, from 94th to 71st place.

P&Q ranking methodology

P&Q’s rankings are based on the rankings of five highly-influential business publications, and are weighted based on P&Q’s assessment of each ranking’s methodology and credibility. The five included in P&Q’s ranking are U.S. News (weight of 35%), Forbes (25%), The Financial Times (15%), Businessweek (15%), and The Economist (10%). Combining the rankings in this way lessens the irregularities that are frequently seen in a given year. This allows applicants to get a better idea of a school’s overall reputation, which typically changes little from year to year.

Top 25 U.S. MBA Programs

2019 Rank	School Name	2018 Rank	Index
1	Stanford GSB	3	100.0
2	Chicago Booth	4	99.6
3	Harvard Business School	1	99.2
4	UPenn Wharton	1	98.8
5	Northwestern Kellogg	5	96.2
6	Dartmouth Tuck	9	96.1
7	MIT Sloan	6	96.0
8	Columbia Business School	7	94.8
9	UC-Berkeley Haas	8	94.4
10	Yale SOM	11	91.1
11	Virginia Darden	12	90.8
12	Michigan Ross	10	89.7
13	Cornell Johnson	13	89.6
14	Duke Fuqua	14	89.5
15	UCLA Anderson	15	88.1
16	New York Stern	16	87.6
17	Carnegie Mellon Tepper	17	84.5
18	Texas-Austin McCombs	18	82.8
19	Southern California Marshall	22	82.5
20	North Carolina Kenan-Flagler	19	82.5
21	Washington Foster	21	81.0
22	Emory Goizueta	20	80.6
23	Indiana Kelley	25	80.1
24	Georgetown McDonough	23	76.9
25	Rice Jones	24	74.6

Watch: Linda Abraham and Marco de Novellis discuss MBA rankings

Do you want to be a member of a top-tier MBA program? Explore our MBA Admissions Consulting Services and work one-on-one with an expert advisor who will help you GET ACCEPTED!

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Related Resources:

• The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Competitive MBA Applicant, a free guide
• Business School Selectivity Index [Can I Get Into My Dream School?]
• Highlights of Bloomberg Businessweek’s 2019 MBA Rankings

The post Poets & Quants Announces 2019-2020 MBA Rankings appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Rank	School	Final Score	Launched Business in 3 Months	% of Faculty who Teach Entrepreneurship	Award Money Available*
1	Washington University in St. Louis (Olin)	100	20.67%	27.00%	$987,500
2	Stanford Graduate School of Business	72.54	15.67%	16.39%	$100,000
3	Babson College	71.3	16.63%	20.00%	$132,500
4	University of Michigan (Ross)	70.21	17.33%	17.20%	$523,500
5	ESADE	60.14	4.61%	6.00%	$0
6	MIT (Sloan)	52.99	6.80%	15.66%	$270,000
7	CEIBS	51.08	4.93%	4.41%	$9,000
8	University of Minnesota (Carlson)	50.65	7.67%	6.40%	$500,000
9	University of California-Los Angeles (Anderson)	47.17	3.13%	7.74%	$41,000
10	University of California-Berkeley (Haas)	46.86	6.05%	13.56%	$100,000
11	Rice University (Jones)	46.52	6.00%	17.00%	$2,942,150
12	Harvard Business School	45.99	7.33%	12.70%	$700,000
13	University of Chicago (Booth)	45.76	3.13%	11.76%	$700,000
14	Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)	45.68	6.67%	1.00%	$60,000
15	INSEAD	43.62	4.33%	10.75%	$145,029
16	Indiana University (Kelley)	43.42	1.53%	19.23%	$20,000
17	Northwestern University (Kellogg)	42.6	1.90%	4.52%	$100,000
18	Yale School of Management	38.17	4.13%	12.08%	$100,000
19	University of Texas-Austin (McCombs)	34.02	2.73%	11.00%	$100,000
20	Columbia Business School	33.6	4.27%	21.93%	$250,000
21	University of Virginia (Darden)	28.47	4.53%	15.38%	$50,000
22	UNC-Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)	28.18	1.67%	20.00%	$49,500
23	University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)	28.01	4.97%	11.68%	$135,000
24	Georgetown University (McDonnough)	26.63	3.00%	7.81%	$189,500
25	New York University (Stern)	24.2	1.65%	14.00%	$275,000
26	University of Southern California (Marshall)	24.07	0.50%	6.05%	$300,000
27	Emory University (Goizueta)	20.31	1.07%	0.00%	$8,500

* Total award money available to full-time MBAs through new venture and startup competitions during the 2018-2019 academic year.

Are you a budding entrepreneur who needs to round out their skill set with an entrepreneurial-focused MBA? Let us at Accepted help you put together your strongest application to show these top programs what you’ve got. Contact us today for a free consultation on how we can work together to get you accepted to the perfect program for you!

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Related Resources:

• MBA Applicants: Make Your Work Experience Work for You, a free guide
• B-School Selectivity Index: Discover the Schools Where You Are Competitive
• A Bain Consultant-Turned Wharton MBA Starts Her Own Business, a podcast episode

The post Top MBA Programs for Entrepreneurs appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

AIGAC (the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants) recently released their 2019 MBA Applicant Survey, which substantiates the idea that today’s applicants continue to consider human interaction to be a competitive advantage. More and more, applicants see the importance of talking to current MBA students when selecting schools and making decisions. Current applicants continue to view growing in their careers as a priority, but not at the expense of making a positive impact on the world.

Additional survey findings include:

• Applicants applied to more schools this year: 4.5 schools this year compared to 3.8 last year.
• Due to the standardization of letters of recommendation, fewer candidates are being asked to write their own letters of recommendation.
• Working with an admissions consultant boosts self-awareness and improves communication skills prior to entering an MBA program.
• Selected social media outlets are being used more by applicants. More than 50% of applicants used LinkedIn as part of their school research this year. The use of Instagram increased from 19% last year to 25% this year.
• Female applicants expressed that schools got to know them less well than did males. With a score of 5 representing a school that got to know them best, females rated schools at 3.07 while males rated them at 3.20.
• The schools that ranked highest in getting to know applicants are:

1. 1. Vanderbilt University – Owen Graduate School of Management
   2. Cornell University – Johnson Graduate School of Management
   3. UVA – Darden School of Business
   4. Dartmouth College – Tuck School of Business
   5. UNC – Kenan-Flagler Business School
   6. Duke University – Fuqua School of Business
   7. Carnegie Mellon University – Tepper School of Business
   8. Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management
   9. UT Austin – McCombs School of Business
   10. Georgetown University – McDonough School of Business

The survey was completed by almost 1,000 applicants between March 16 and April 7, 2019. Of these, 778 applied to at least one school. Females made up 37% of the respondents. 58% of survey respondents reside outside the U.S.

Are you applying to a top MBA program? Not sure what your next step should be? Explore our MBA Admissions Consulting Services and work one-on-one with an expert advisor who will help you get ACCEPTED.

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Related Resources:

• Choosing an MBA Admissions Consultant, a free guide
• MBA Selectivity Index, discover the schools where you are competitive
• How Can an Accepted MBA Admissions Consultant Help You?

The post AIGAC 2019 MBA Applicant Survey Results Released appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Learn how real students navigate their way through the business school admissions process and b-school itself with our What is Business School Really Like? series.

Meet Fernando, an entrepreneur and international student at Georgetown.

Fernando, thank you for sharing your story with us!

I understand you are an unusual entrepreneur in that you founded a business… for your parents. Can you share a bit about how and why you undertook this project? How have things been going?

Fernando: As self-employed professionals, my parents had no social security or financial cushion to count on in hard times. Even in our toughest moments, my education was their highest priority. I felt I must give back.

After I graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio, I accepted an offer to work in the financial market in São Paulo. Going there was not an easy decision, as I had to forgo the Master in Economics. Furthermore, I had no place to live; I asked for assistance from a priest, and he allowed me to live at the church in a room behind the altar for a semester.

In 2013, while working at Itaú Bank, I withdrew my savings and started a fashion business to support my family. My mother is an embroiderer, so I ordered a machine from China to replicate her work and gain scale. I managed strategy, financing, and procurement so my parents could focus on their skills.

In the second year of the business, I found myself at a crossroads because the machine was sometimes out-of-service due to maintenance, which impacted our deliverables. I took a risk and invested in a second machine, and this paid off. Five years later, BordaDora reached revenues of over $150K per year.

How has managing BordaDora helped to prepare you for business school and your future career?

Fernando: More than what I learned, I got what I must learn to be a leader for business and society.

BordaDora unfolds a world I haven’t seen working for big companies. Now I can identify much clearer how the Georgetown MBA will fill in my gaps in knowledge and behavior in many ways. If you know how important each class is and connect it with your past experiences, the course becomes much more attractive.

To give you an example, at Georgetown we have classes to practice negotiation in quite realistic environments. I learned that negotiation is essential the hard way when I faced conflicts with a partner company:

Once I partnered with a sewing company to produce dresses, and we delivered one order below the required quantity due to technical problems from my side. The partner wanted us to pay for them an amount representing 20% of my annual revenue. It would have meant the end of BordaDora.

I asked multiple times for the data backing the cost, discussed by phone and email and then visited the CEO of the partnership. We negotiated the terms of the solution based on the information we both prepared. Through this process, I learned, however, that logic and data were not enough in business. You need a ton of soft skills to discuss and solve conflicts. By the way, the company had overpriced their costs to get more from us.

What made you decide to pursue an MBA, and why did you go abroad to do it?

Fernando: Since 2015, I have been redirecting my career to increase my impact, strengthen my management skills, and look beyond Brazil. Without this change, I saw a plateau in my career when I looked forward. I also wanted to develop my English, since serving international clients was an issue for me. Then I welcomed the challenge of doing a master’s in a new language. Being surrounded by English-speaking leaders is making me improve much faster and become aware of business trends.

The Georgetown MBA is a high brand that will help me to follow my passion and pave my career path. It gives me access to top-notch professors and a diverse student body in a city that puts together influential business leaders and policymakers from all around the globe.

An application consultant showed me I was a good fit for Georgetown University. She was vital in my process from the selection of universities to my final choice among programs I was accepted to. I can’t be grateful enough.

Did you experience any bumps along the road to business school acceptance? If so, how did you identify and address the issues?

Fernando: Yes, bumps always happen. In my case, I had planned to get into the MBA in 2017; then I delayed my goal by one year for personal reasons. If you think the perfect timing is tomorrow, try it today. Therefore, I applied for one university in 2017 even knowing I wouldn’t have a strong candidacy. It was like the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) of my application. The following year, it was much easier to apply for the universities I planned: I knew the caveats, my weakness, the material to study, and the documents needed.

Did you participate in any extracurricular activities prior to applying to business school? How do you think these experiences contributed to the strength of your candidacy?

Fernando: I mentored high-potential high school students. I organized tours to exciting places and held meetings with inspiring professionals, expanding the students’ world view.

However, supporting NGOs is not the only path to build a stronger candidacy. I also took more risks at my job and asked for managerial and strategical projects.

Since the English language was an issue for me, I took online classes in English such as “Introduction to Mathematical Thinking” (Stanford University) and “Learning How to Learn” (UC San Diego) with high performance, and I wrote about it in my optional letter.

It’s hard to say what was most important. I believe every decision was relevant to create an overview of myself for the admissions teams.

How did you prepare for the GMAT?

Fernando: First, I read many sites about the test, particularly GMAT Club. I tested multiple online courses, the best and most convenient way to study for me. I made the mistake of paying for a local class in Brazil. It’s important to remember you can take it from anywhere; the competition is global. For example, the best content for the verbal section for me was from an Indian company.

I created a comfortable place to study at home every night. Sometimes I studied early morning or at lunch near work as well. But consistency is more important than intensity. I tried not to blame myself when I missed a day and keep going.

Did you take the TOEFL, and if so how did you prepare?

Fernando: I studied first for the GMAT, and I put the TOEFL aside until getting a good grade. I believe that was more efficient since the long prep for GMAT helped me on the TOEFL. Besides that, TOEFL is not classificatory; you are fine if you reach the required grade.

When I was done with the GMAT, I studied for a few weeks with a private teacher and did an online course.

Georgetown’s application includes a video component. How did you approach it?

Fernando: I enjoyed it much more than I had imagined. Creating a video was a new experience for me.

First, I imagined my whole life as a trek, and the MBA as a critical step. Next, I wrote the script and chose the trail of the Sugar Loaf Mountain – one of the most beautiful places in Rio de Janeiro – to walk narrating my story. My wife was patient enough to record many takes, and the editor of my wedding video helped me edit this one too.

I managed it like any other project at work. Before starting, I put everyone on the same page: the reviewer of the script, the video editor, me and my wife. It allowed me to get the job done in two days.

The final message: don’t underestimate how hard it is to compress your story into a one-minute video!

Have you become involved in any clubs on campus?

Fernando: I’m on the board of the FinTech club. Last year, I co-organized the first Georgetown FinTech trek to visit companies in NY. This year, I helped in running our first FinTech career day, when FinTech companies joined us to talk and recruit on campus. It has been a wonderful experience.

What do you think your classmates would be surprised to know about you?

Fernando: I rappelled down a flooded cave in Bonito, Brazil, 72 meters deep up to the water line. I dived in this lake of unknown depth. This sensation became my concept of infinity, it was like floating in space.

What field do you hope to work in after graduation?

Fernando: My purpose is to make finance a means for creating more equal opportunities. I can reach it either working for mission-driven companies or institutions financing them. With my background in economics, finance, and technology, I believe that financial innovation can increasingly play a role in creating more inclusive economies. I look forward to being part of that evolution.

Do you have any advice for international students who plan to pursue an MBA in the U.S.?

Fernando: Take care of yourself, trim off the edges on your life and visualize your long-term plan. Studying for the GMAT is demanding, then you must be prepared to run the marathon and to make hard choices.

After you are accepted, be open to new experiences and engage with professors and other students. It’s unbelievable how fast you can learn from this diverse environment.

Do you have questions for Fernando? Questions for us? Do you want to be featured in our next What is Business School Really Like? post? Know someone else who you’d love to see featured? Are there questions you’d like us to ask our students in this series? LET US KNOW!

You can learn more about Fernando by connecting with him on LinkedIn.

Are you setting out on your own b-school journey? We can help you reach the finish line! Check out our MBA Admissions Consulting Services to team up with an admissions expert who will help you join the ranks of thousands of Accepted clients who get accepted to their dream schools.

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Related Resources:

• Fitting In & Standing Out: The Paradox at the Heart of Admissions, a free guide
• How to Get a Georgetown MBA, a podcast episode
• Journey to Duke Fuqua: Marine-Turned-MBA, Entrepreneur, and Dad

The post From Rio to Georgetown: Trekking through the MBA Experience appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

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How to Get a Georgetown MBA [Show Summary]

If you’re looking for a global MBA program at the intersection of business and politics that is designed for principled leaders with a strong first-year core and an elective second year where you can customize your education to your needs, listen to this interview with Georgetown McDonough’s Shelly Heinrich, Interim Associate Dean for MBA Admissions. She’ll also gives you tips for effectively approaching the Georgetown’s MBA essay options, video, interview, and more. HINT: They want people who really want Georgetown.

Interview with Shelly Heinrich, Interim Associate Dean at Georgetown University McDonough School of Business [Show Notes]

Today’s guest is Shelly Heinrich, Interim Associate Dean for the Georgetown McDonough School of Business (MSB). Shelly earned her bachelors in business at Texas Christian, her Masters in Educational Administration at UT Austin, and her EMBA at Georgetown. She worked at George Washington University for four years and then moved to Georgetown’s admissions office in May 2014. She became Asst Dean for Marketing, Recruitment & External Relations in July 2017 and interim Assoc Dean for MBA Admissions and Director of Marketing in September 2017.

Shelly, can you give us an overview of the FT MBA program at McDonough focusing on its more distinctive elements? [2:01]

We really focus on developing principled leaders. We provide a strong business core in the first year to provide a wide breadth of understanding in business. In the second year students customize the program to their interests, choosing from over 100 electives, and not having to declare a concentration. This framework allows the student to get a full picture of business but also a deeper understanding of what they really like. All students are required to participate in a global consulting experience. They work in teams for six weeks in DC solving a problem for an international client and then ends with them going overseas to present their proposal to the client.

How does Georgetown take advantage of its Washington location, it’s being at the intersection of business and government? What does that mean in terms of the program, the classroom, and career placement? [4:13]

You really feel at the center of it all – business, society, and politics. We consider DC a learning lab, and there are a couple ways we do that. Brand new this year is a class in the leadership curriculum called Managing the Enterprise, which involves working with a very prominent organization in DC (press release soon) working hands on with tackling the problems of leadership and people and solving a problem for this organization. This course is in the second year, so students can apply tools from the toolkit they already have.

We also have a certificate in non-market strategy where students learn about the intersection of business, society, and politics.

Through academic tutorials students can get academic credit by working with an organization, and the World Bank is one of them.

Because of our location in a very global city, we graduate students who are interested in working in companies that are multinational, not working in isolation, as they realize the benefits of skills that cross borders. Our program is bookended with two global experiences, one I already mentioned in the second year, but our first three weeks of the program is the Structure of Global Industries, which throws new students into a project where they have to solve a mock problem for a mock client. Throughout the three weeks they learn from various professors in different disciplines that will allow them to solve a problem before even really being to business school.

We also attract a very global population, with 270 students and close to 40 countries represented. About ¾ of our students have lived, worked, or studied abroad.

When an applicant comes to me and says she’s interested in international development work or working in government/business, or international business, I immediately start thinking “What schools would be right for her?” And McDonough would certainly come to mind. That’s clearly a strength at Georgetown. What are some other strengths that are not as well known that I (and applicants) should be aware of? [10:47]

The strong core is one – taking a year to focus on various disciplines. The benefits of having to take economics with finance, accounting, marketing, and strategy, they all start to come together to build an understanding of business. I also think the hands on components of our program allow students to practice what they are learning. We also believe that the ideal breakdown of the experience should be 1/3 in the classroom, 1/3 with career-related activities, and 1/3 with hands on leadership activities, like certificates, or taking on one of 350 board positions, like being president of the consulting club.

Let’s turn to the application process itself. Who should take the GRE and in should take the GMAT in your view? [12:54]

That is a tough question and it really comes down to personal choice. There are certain industries like banking and consulting that would prefer to see a GMAT, so if you are headed in that direction, it’s likely better to take the GMAT. On the other hand, if a student wants flexibility regarding graduate education, then a GRE can provide that later on. We also have candidates who take both, as often individuals do better on one than the other. But we have no preference. We do recommend taking the exam more than once, though. The first time you take it, it’s all new, and you are likely stressed, so try it again. Statistically you are likely to do better the second time.

There have been some interesting changes this year to the MBA application. Can you go through them? [14:47]

When reflecting on who we want in the classroom, we decided what is most important is a diverse classroom. We found in asking one essay question, we often got similar responses. We started to think we might not be allowing people to write an essay that selects an experience that they think best highlights them, or they were being forced to choose the response they think we want to hear. So we decided to offer three different essay options, and the candidate can choose which one works best for them. One focuses on current leadership, another on self-awareness, and the third on values and beliefs. We are excited to see the diversity in the applicants with this new option.

What’s the purpose of the video essay? [16:44]

We started it a few years ago and we’ve found many different uses for it. For one, not everyone at McDonough gets to interview with more than one person, but there are many people on the admissions committee, so if you are a candidate who does extraordinarily well in the interview only one person gets to see it and try to recreate how great you did. In the video, a similar personality tends to show up, so validates that perspective. There are also times you will have a fantastic candidate on paper but they have a bad interview, so the video gives candidates a chance to have another opportunity to prove themselves – it’s not the only face to face interaction with us. The video also gives us an opportunity to assess executive presence, energy, and level of English ability. It is recorded so they can record it as many times as they are comfortable, which also shows their judgment.

In terms of interviews, admissions staff will do interviews, sometimes career service staff will, and we have student interviewers and alumni as well. Whoever does the interview, perspectives are all weighted equally, and we do formal training for all interviewers.

What’s the purpose of the optional essay? Who should write it? [20:59]

It is not meant to be another essay. We don’t want people to take a great essay from another school and copy and paste. This essay is meant to really explain any idiosyncracies in your application. If you were laid off in the financial crisis, how did you deal with that? What did you do to take the time to better yourself? Perhaps with undergrad you didn’t do so well because you were supporting a family member or dealing with an illness. We need to understand that to put context to your transcript. Don’t let us create our own answers – tell us!

When you review an MBA application, how do you go through it? [22:55]

We start by looking at the basics, where they’re from, how many years of work experience they have, where they went to undergrad, their GPA, major, work history and trajectory. Then, what are their short and long term goals, and does their work experiences make sense, and if it doesn’t make sense, we dig into the essay and interview to make the connection. We look at the numbers first and then dig into the story of who they are. What I love is reading an entire application and going to the recommendation letter and it confirms or supports what I thought of them. Last is the interview because that assesses fit and how they will be part of the community.

What gets you (positively) excited about an applicant? [24:36]

We interview a lot of people, as admissions folks we have interviewed hundreds if not thousands of people. People who stand out are people with an infectious enthusiasm for Georgetown – people who remind me why I love Georgetown, when you can tell we are their number one choice. They are going to be the leaders. I also love the people who are overly prepared. You can tell people in the top 10% who have thought through ‘why the MBA‘ and ‘why the Georgetown experience’ and have created the steps of how it is going to happen. They convince us as well as themselves it is the right partnership.

What advice do you have for applicants to McDonough who are apply for your R1 10/9 deadline or your Round 2 January 7, 2019 deadline? [28:00]

A student is going to do best if they are very well informed about our program. I don’t mean memorizing our website, I mean connecting with an alum or a student, listening to podcasts, and reviewing blog entries. The more you become convinced that this is the right place for you, the more it bleeds through in your application – you can tailor all you learn into the application. Spend the next few weeks really immersing yourself in everything we have. If you can’t come to campus, there are many virtual ways to become involved. Get to know us and take everything you learn and put it into your application.

Any last words of advice for MBA applicants considering Georgetown McDonough? [31:03]

I think if students want a program that transcends global boundaries and equips them to be a global leader, a small class size that allows them to thrive, and an alumni network that really operates as Hoyas helping Hoyas, those are students we want at Georgetown. It is a rigorous process we know, but time flies and you will create a path for your life and career that you never thought possible, and we really hope you choose Georgetown to help you on your journey.

Related Links:

• The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Competitive MBA Applicant
• Georgetown McDonough MBA
• Georgetown McDonough MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines
• Accepted MBA Admissions Services

Related Shows:

• Yale Som: Integrated in Its Curriculum, with Its University, and to the World
• Michigan Ross MBA: It’s About REAL, Clear, and Teamwork
• From Hospitality to Kellogg MBA to Accepted MBA Admissions Consultant

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The post How to Get a Georgetown MBA [Episode 277] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

The William G. McGowan Charitable Fund recently announced its eighth class of McGowan Fellows. The Chicago-based family foundation recognizes students from top business schools across the U.S. who are dedicated to societal issues and ethical practices.

The McGowan Fellows Program, established in 2010, honors the legacy of William G. McGowan, the pioneering entrepreneur who embodied the ethical values business leadership. The Fund collaborates with its ten business school partners to choose ten second-year MBA students who demonstrate academic excellence as well as a commitment to ethical leadership. These students receive full tuition for their second year of business school.

Over the next year, the eighth class will work together on a social impact project taking on a challenge relating to insurance coverage for a preventive health program. Through this and other experiences, the Fellows Program intends to provide the resources and guidance to young professionals to become accountable, ethical leaders and role models for future generations.

The McGowan Fellows Class of 2018 includes students from the following business schools:

• CMU Tepper

• Columbia Business School

• Dartmouth Tuck

• Duke Fuqua

• Georgetown McDonough

• MIT Sloan

• Northwestern Kellogg

• Chicago Booth

• Michigan Ross

• UPenn Wharton

For more information on the McGowan Fellows Program, visit williamgmcgowanfund.org.

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Related Resources:

• School-Specific MBA Application Essay Tips
• Stand Out! A Critical Goal for Your Application, a podcast episode
• Proving Character Traits in Your Application Essays

The post William G. McGowan Charitable Fund Announces Fellows appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

This interview is the latest in an Accepted blog series featuring interviews with MBA students, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at top MBA programs. And now for a chat with Gabe Nelson…

Accepted: We’d like to get to know you! Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad?

Gabe: I grew up in Washington, D.C., just a few miles up the road from Georgetown University. Then I went away to college at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where I double-majored in Political Science and English and learned how a real winter feels. After graduating in 2009, I worked as a journalist for seven years before going back to school.

Accepted: If you could describe yourself in 3 words, what would they be?

Gabe: I’d say I’m intellectual, focused and honest. (For better and for worse!)

Accepted: If you could meet any famous person – past or present – who would it be and why?

Gabe: It’s kind of strange, but as a business school student I’ve thought a lot about the empire-builders of ancient history. People like Cyrus the Great and Augustus Caesar. It’s not much of a stretch to describe them as the corporate titans of their day. They used skills and resources and strategy to group people into a multinational empire. For an empire to last, it needs a socioeconomic and political system that is stable enough not to collapse. These leaders did that without modern science or technology or a modern understanding of political science, economics and psychology. I wish I could talk to them and understand how they did what they did. What motivated them? How did they lead the people around them? How did they organize their empires and why? How did they justify or come to terms with the negative consequences of their actions?

Accepted: Where are you currently attending b-school? What year are you?

Gabe: I started the full-time MBA program at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business this August. I’m a first year and a proud member of the Saxa cohort. (We have four cohorts in our full-time program: Hoya, Saxa, Blue and Gray.)

Accepted: What made you ultimately decide on Georgetown McDonough? How did you know it was the right “fit”?

Gabe: Having grown up in Washington and studied political science, I’m passionate about the intersection of business and society. I personally believe that a healthy free market relies on society to set and enforce the rules of free and fair exchange. And it was clear to me that Georgetown was the absolute best place to learn about this interplay. Just last month, I got to walk out of class and watch Treasury Secretary Jack Lew give a speech in our main lecture hall. In our own building, we had one of the most powerful financial regulators in the world talking about the high-stakes decisions we learn about in finance and accounting, everything from corporate tax rates to incentives to repatriate foreign earnings. These are opportunities that you cannot get anywhere else. I was also drawn to the new Certificate in Non-Market Strategy, which focuses on elements of strategy that do not follow traditional economic logic, like interactions with regulators and the legal system. You apply during your first year, so I’m about to put in my application.

There were some other personal factors in my decision. I got married over the summer and I needed to consider where my wife and I would both be happy to live. Finances were also important to me. But I really knew McDonough was the right place when I visited for an admitted students weekend last winter. I went to two of them back to back. One was for McDonough and the other for a Top 5 brand-name program. It’s easy to be drawn to the allure of the brand-name school, but I felt so at home with McDonough. It was smaller, more intimate. The people were kind and supportive. Lots of students seemed to care about using business to do good, not just to do well for themselves. It all felt right.

In my first few months at school, this has been absolutely borne out. It’s a rigorous program. We work very hard; academics aren’t an afterthought here. But it isn’t a competitive environment at all. People care about each other and they do anything they can to help their peers. This is a place where if someone is strong in a certain subject, they don’t just try to beat the curve. They run review sessions and help lift up their peers. It’s a community.

Accepted: Looking back at the application process, what would you say was your greatest challenge? How would you advise other applicants who may be experiencing similar challenges?

Gabe: Reflecting on the applications I submitted, my biggest challenge was probably my background as a journalist. Business schools are looking for team players, and working as a reporter is kind of a “lone wolf” job. It’s also a squishy, creative profession, so it was difficult for me to quantify how my work actually created value for my company. For anyone who is in a similar position, I think it’s so important to find ways to address your perceived shortcomings. Schools want to see that you’re aware of your weaknesses, that you understand what it will take to succeed and that you are committed to making yourself a more well-rounded professional. When I think about my most effective essays, this is where they succeeded.

Accepted: What are some of your most rewarding extracurricular activities (both before entering Georgetown and current activities)? How have those activities helped shape your career?

Gabe: While I was in college at the University of Michigan, I started working as a news reporter at The Michigan Daily, the student newspaper. After a few years I rose up the ranks to become managing editor, staying up late every night editing the pages of the newspaper and sending them to the printer. It was what inspired me to go into journalism after I graduated in 2009. After college I worked as a reporter, first covering environmental and energy policy on Capitol Hill. Then I joined Automotive News, the business journal of the auto industry, with assignments in Washington and San Francisco. Although I knew fairly quickly that I didn’t want to work as a journalist forever, I don’t regret my choice for a second. It was a blast.

While working in Washington, DC, I volunteered as an IRS-certified volunteer tax preparer. I can’t say that it shaped my career, but I think it helped me develop empathy. By doing someone’s taxes, you learn so much about their family and their work and their life. You understand how many people in the United States are struggling to make ends meet, and you hear horror stories about the ways that businesses (landlords, employers, utilities) have treated them. It doesn’t map directly onto my career, but I think this kind of empathy is hugely important for business leaders. Businesses can have a positive impact on people’s lives or a negative impact. We as leaders all need to bear responsibility for the type of impact we will have.

Here at Georgetown, I’ve been an active member of Net Impact, which is dedicated to using the power of business for social and environmental good. It has been a great opportunity to connect with like-minded students and learn about careers at the intersection of business and society. Five or ten years ago, the trend for big corporations was to dedicate specific executives to sustainability or corporate social responsibility. Through events like the national Net Impact conference and our Net Impact career day, I’m seeing that start to change. Companies are starting to expect all of their executives to think about social responsibility. And that has shaped my goals, so I’m thinking of working within a traditional role like corporate strategy while aligning the business to make the world a better place.

Accepted: Lastly, some people are unsure of how they’ll manage all aspects of life, work, and an MBA program. Can you share your top three tips for staying on top of everything?

Gabe: There’s a common theme to my advice: pick your priorities. Time is at a premium and you simply can’t do everything.

1. Pick your extracurricular priorities before classes start. There are so many things to do, from student organizations to case competitions to career treks. You need to decide what’s important to you. If you want to solve real-world business challenges, choose your case competitions and form strong teams. If you want a leadership role on campus, choose the role and make a plan to get it. There are so many opportunities that if you come into school and dabble without a clear focus, the first semester will be over before you know it and you won’t be on track to meet your goals.

2. Make time for self-care activities that matter to you. The first few months of an MBA are insanely busy. We at McDonough arrived on campus and immediately dove into an intensive preterm course called Structure of Global Industries that stuffs 3 credits into three weeks. Some of my classmates who used to go to the gym everyday stopped going to the gym. People deprived themselves of sleep. They stopped spending time with their spouses and kids and friends. My advice: you need to resist this urge. Decide what you need to be happy and make time for it. There’s always one more reading for class, one more recruiter presentation, one more club meeting. If you’re actually happy, you’ll do so much better at the activities you choose to do.

3. Put learning above grades. To be sure, a few companies care about your grades. (If you’re targeting those companies, you already know who they are.) But the vast majority of companies care much less about your grades than they care about your skills, your experience, your intelligence and your personality. Be sure to use your time in school to truly develop skills and experience and grow as a person. If you want to learn financial modeling but you have no background, go for it. If you want to become a better leader or teammate, focus your efforts on team projects. If you want to open your network to new people, do it. If that means you get a B- in a class, then so be it. Odds are, nobody cares about that B- besides you.

Feel free to check out Gabe’s website Gabe Nelson and follow him on Twitter (@GabrielKNelson). Thank you Gabe for sharing your story and advice with us – we wish you continued success!

For one-on-one guidance with your b-school application, check out our MBA Application Packages.

Do you want to be featured in Accepted’s blog? If you want to share your med school journey with the world (or at least with our readers), email us at bloggers@accepted.com.

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Related Resources:

• Linda Abraham on Overcoming Weaknesses
• Best MBA Programs: A Guide to Selecting the Right One
• Georgetown McDonough 2016-17 MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines

The post A McDonough MBA Student’s Take on Journalism & Social Responsibility appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

This interview is the latest in an Accepted blog series featuring interviews with MBA students, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at top MBA programs. And now for a chat with Saat Alety….

Accepted: We’d like to get to know you! Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad?

Saat: I grew up in Naperville, Illinois, a suburb about 40 minutes southwest of Chicago. I received a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Loyola University Chicago, which, like Georgetown University, is a Jesuit university right on the water.

Accepted: Can you share three fun facts about yourself?

Saat: 

1. I’m a citizen of both the United States and the United Kingdom.
2. I’m a former Presidential campaign staffer (Romney 2012).
3. I’ve never spent either of the two days most associated with Washington, D.C, in Washington, D.C.: Independence Day and Election Day.

Accepted: Where are you currently in b-school? What year?

Saat: I’m a second-year student in the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business Evening MBA Program. The degree traditionally takes three years to complete.

Accepted: How did you know that Georgetown was the correct fit for you?

Saat: The Georgetown McDonough School of Business is the nexus of global business and public policy, an intersection I’d like to build my career on. When combined with top-notch professors, world-class facilities, and the opportunity to pursue a graduate business education in our nation’s capital, the choice was clear.

Accepted: You’re currently the Communications Director and Legislative Assistant to House Representative Ed Royce of California. How do you think this experience prepared you for the Georgetown MBA program?

Saat: Hill staffers tend to excel at being consensus builders who can bring multiple parties together to reach an equitable solution to a problem. Whether it be coordinating a joint press release with three other Members of Congress or clearing legislation with stakeholders before it’s introduced, these skills came in handy when it came to group projects. Georgetown does an excellent job of rotating students through different groups, which presents a new set of challenges each semester as well as the opportunity to get to know your entire cohort. I should add that being a Legislative Assistant for financial services policy issues has come in handy during some of my classes.

Accepted: What do you plan to do after you graduate? Would you like to continue to work in politics?

Saat: Public policy is my passion and I haven’t accomplished everything on Capitol Hill that I set out to just yet. I do plan on transitioning from public service to government affairs and corporate advocacy in the future. The Georgetown MBA has been integral in giving me a better understanding of business operations, how the private sector interacts with policymakers, and how both sides can better work together.

Accepted: Looking back at the entire application process, what would you say was your biggest challenge? How did you overcome?

Saat: I think one of the biggest challenges was simply – “Is this the year to apply?” Both full-time and part-time candidates need to make that determination after examining their careers, personal lives, and future plans. I had (and continue to have) the privilege of working in an office that is incredibly supportive of my pursuit of an MBA, which helped immensely.

Accepted: Lastly, what would be your top tip to those just starting out with the MBA application process?

Saat: I can’t stress how important it is to give your LOR writers plenty of advance notice ahead of your application deadlines. And when possible, apply early!

You can learn about Saat’s MBA journey by connecting with him on LinkedIn. Thank you Saat for sharing your journey with us – we wish you continued success!

For one-on-one guidance on your b-school application, please see our MBA Application Packages.

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Related Resources:

• Tips for Applying to Part-Time MBA Programs
• Georgetown McDonough 2016-17 MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines
• Too Old for an MBA? Check Out 3 Outstanding MBA and EMBA Alternatives [Episode 166]

The post A Georgetown McDonough MBA Student with a Passion for Public Policy appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

How have career services changed due to students’ interest in startups and smaller companies – and to changes such as increased off-campus recruiting? [2:20]

Dean Amorosa: Entrepreneurship continues to gain steam. It’s a focus area here, and McDonough is ranked high for entrepreneurship. We’ve shifted the way we think of access to employers in a significant way: more employers are focusing on off-campus recruiting.

Goldman Sachs is now recruiting undergrads entirely off-campus— is this the beginning of a trend in financial services? [3:50]

This gives them broader access to the talent base at the undergraduate level. We see it continuing into the MBA arena in the future.

How has this changed what students need to do when looking for internships? [5:10]

From the time students arrive on campus, we work with them on analyzing their skills and focusing the direction of their internship search. Once they have career coordinates (industry-function-geography), we help them think through access channels from the employer perspective to get them to the internship opportunities. They have to be focused.

For example, a student wants to work in brand marketing. She needs to think through target companies. Where will you encounter companies and how? (Ie, career fairs, virtual opportunities – alumni outreach – etc.)

The traditional concept of the internship is a 3 – month interview. Is that still the case, or are students shopping around more, or trying non-traditional internships? [8:00]

A lot of students take the traditional path. But other students are taking internships with smaller companies – we see that trend continuing.

Dean Hubert: Georgetown’s entrepreneurship initiative provides some small stipends for students to take internships at smaller/more entrepreneurial companies.

Dean Amorosa: There’s also a summer incubator program. And a fellowship where students work with venture capitalists. There are some unique opportunities.

How has increased off-campus recruiting changed the way students find full-time positions? [10:45]

As it changes at the internship level, it also changes at the full-time level. Some changes have to do with shrinking travel budgets (i.e., virtual interviewing is becoming more popular).

We’re also seeing more companies using predictive hiring tools to manage the candidate pool early in the application process – i.e., they’re incorporating assessments into the screening process to narrow the pool. (Amazon now requires essays and tests at the first application stage.) It’s not just about behavioral interviews anymore.

An important part of gaining the right position is your networking approach. [14:05]

We launched a platform which enables students and alumni to conduct informational interviews virtually. Students can also do interviews with each other. If you sign up, you commit to helping someone else: this is part of Georgetown’s values.

Has the changing job search changed the application process? [16:55]

Dean Hubert: If you’re proposing to change careers/job functions, you need to be prepared, and understand your strengths and skills. Understand your transferable skills. Combine flexibility with realism. Be prepared.

What should applicants who seek a non-traditional post-MBA path do to prepare? [19:30]

Nothing different!

Take a career inventory: what am I good at, what do I like to do, etc. Complete your resume. So that when they arrive on campus, they have an informed vision of where they would like to go, and a sense of how to approach the internship search. The word “non-traditional” is a bit of a misnomer – and can be a strength.

The WSJ article on Goldman Sachs recruiting: Goldman wants to cast a wider net and recruit people who are committed to finance as a career (not a 2-year boot camp). Do you see management consulting firms going the same direction? [25:30]

Potentially. I think this is the tip of the iceberg.

As a former corporate recruiter, I know the challenges corporations have finding top talent. With this approach, talent can find Goldman Sachs from anywhere. It levels the playing field. If they extend this approach to MBA recruiting, smaller MBA programs will benefit. Tech disruptions happen in recruitment every so often.

Any other tech changes coming? [27:05]

A wider use of predictive hiring – using assessments tools earlier in the hiring process to help companies see who the best candidates are.

What’s new at Georgetown? [28:30]

We have a new essay prompt, and a new video. For the essay, we reduced the word count from 750 to 500. And the new prompt is: What matters to you? Please share an experience from your past that illustrates why this matters to you and how it will enable you to contribute during your MBA program. NOTE: This does not necessarily need to be related to your professional goals.

We’re trying to get at what’s important to them – but from an angle of how they’re going to contribute. Be specific with the experience and justify it. We also wanted to tie it into the ethos of Georgetown: giving back, generosity of spirit. That’s why the question asks about how they’re going to contribute.

The second thing is a 1-minute video introducing themselves to their classmates. We wanted a more dynamic, multidimensional way of hearing from candidates – a sense of how they might show up.

What’s new at Georgetown generally? [32:55]

We’re focusing strongly on support for MBAs with families. For example, we have social events throughout the year that include students’ spouses and families. And at the end of the year, we had an event for families and children called the Sippy Cup Challenge. On campus, we have a mothers’ room. And career services offers a partner support program to help place students’ spouses.

We want to be supportive – it’s part of the school’s Jesuit values.

More about the video? [36:07]

Just upload a link to the video – it can be on youtube, etc. It doesn’t need to be professionally produced – they can make it on their phone. We just need to get a sense of who they are.

What is McDonough’s new 1-year MA in International Business and Policy? [37:20]

It’s a 1-year masters for working professionals (with a minimum of 5 years’ professional experience). Students complete 2 modules online and 2 overseas (along with a social action project). It’s a partnership between the School of Foreign Service and McDonough, and takes advantage of Georgetown’s location in DC.

We also have a new Non-Market Strategy Certificate, which will welcome its second cohort this fall. This is another program that takes advantage of the best DC has to offer (social, political, etc).

Do you have any advice for MBA applicants? [39:55]

Dean Amorosa: Think about career decisions early and often! Think clearly and be able to articulate clearly. Have a coherent story.

Dean Hubert: Know yourself, and get to know us. Academically, most top schools are comparable. So learn about the other aspects of the program you’re looking for.

Related Links:

• Georgetown McDonough B-School Zone
• Georgetown McDonough 2016 Essay Tips & Deadlines
• The Path From Harvard and Yale to Goldman Sachs Just Changed
• Georgetown McDonough Admissions Website
• Master of Arts Degree in International Business and Policy

Related Shows:

• The Georgetown McDonough MBA: Everything You Need to Know
• Jeff Reid on Entrepreneurship
• Picking a Career, Interviewing Right, and More Job Talk
• The MBA Career Search and Life as a Chicago Booth MBA

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The post What You Need to Know About Finding a Job Post-MBA [Episode 164] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.