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Show Summary

In this episode of Admissions Straight Talk, Linda Abraham interviews admissions directors from MBA programs outside the United States to find out if there are any common threads among them. The guests on the show include representatives from Oxford Saïd Business School, INSEAD, NYU Abu Dhabi, and HEC Paris. The interviews cover various topics such as program overviews, admissions processes, and common applicant mistakes. The interviews also touch on language requirements, the role of the video interview in the evaluation process, and the importance of holistic review in admissions decisions. Overall, this interview provides valuable insights into the unique aspects of these MBA programs and shed light on the similarities and differences among them.

Show Notes

Welcome to the 572nd episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for tuning in. Before I turn  to today’s show, I have a question for you. Are you ready to apply to your Dream MBA programs? Are you competitive at your target schools? Accepted’s MBA admissions quiz can give you a quick reality check. Just go to accepted.com/mbaquiz, complete the quiz, and you’ll not only get an assessment, but tips on how to improve your qualifications. Plus, it’s all free. .

If you are a regular listener, you know that during most episodes of Admissions Straight Talk, I interview a guest, frequently, an admissions director or dean. Usually, our guests are leaders at a US graduate program. However, within the last couple of years, I have had the privilege of interviewing several deans or directors from programs outside the United States. Today we’re going to take specific excerpts from four of those episodes and let you determine if there are some common threads and of course, how they differ.

Today’s episode is a collection of their answers to admissions questions as well as insight into their programs. The guests on this program are:

• Hannah Griffiths, MBA Recruitment and Admissions Director at Oxford Saïd Business School
• Teresa Peiro, Associate Global Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at INSEAD
• Dr. Robert Salomon, Dean of Stern at NYU Abu Dhabi
• Sara Vanos, Executive Director of Marketing and Admissions at HEC Paris.

I’ve asked some questions of almost every admissions director I’ve spoken to, so the responses that you’re going to see, again, represent a sample. In any case. Let’s start with Hannah Griffith of Oxford Saïd Business School. 

Oxford Saïd Business School

While Saïd is a fairly new and very innovative MBA program, Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world, and Hannah provides the following:  An overview of the Oxford Saïd MBA program, focusing on its more distinctive elements; insights into the program’s admissions process, and a review of common misconceptions about Oxford Saïd.

Can you give us an overview of the Oxford Saïd MBA program for those listeners who aren’t that familiar with it, focusing on its more distinctive elements? [2:32]

[HG] Yes, absolutely. So the Saïd Business School is a business school that is embedded within Oxford University. Our MBA program is a one-year MBA program, and given that the business school is embedded within a world-class university, that does impact the MBA experience in a number of different ways. One of those ways being that the students can expect, in the one-year program, a lot of academic rigor. Our program is an intensive one-year MBA, it aims to include everything that a candidate would maybe anticipate finding on a two-year program, but packed into a 12-month period.

The main aim of the business school and of the MBA program is to prepare our students to be responsible business leaders and individuals who, as they move through their career in the future, are prepared to tackle world scale problems, challenges, and to really see business as a vehicle to drive change. And be that within the organizations that they work in, the sectors that they choose to work in, in their communities, and sometimes on a larger scale in the countries that they choose to be based in.

In addition to academic rigor, there are some other things to highlight that students could anticipate finding on the Oxford MBA, an incredibly diverse cohort. So our student body is largely international, our current class is 94% international, with 71 different nationalities represented across the class. And diversity of thought is something that’s very important to us on the Oxford MBA, as well. So we have a very broad range of different sector backgrounds represented in our cohort, that also means that students can expect a diverse range of career outcomes, and also a global alumni network that will be very far-reaching in terms of its depth and breadth, as well.

And obviously access to the greater Oxford community network, correct? [4:58]

[HG] Yes, absolutely. Which largely comes via their college membership while they’re with us in Oxford, but in terms of that alumni network, absolutely. They gain the benefit of having a network that they will have via the business school, and then obviously, another network that comes via the university as well.

What don’t people know about Oxford Saïd that you would like them to know, or what’s a common misconception about Oxford Saïd that you’d like to correct? [5:19]

[HG] That’s a really great question. So I would say that the school is probably best known for its focus on social impact, and its focus on entrepreneurship. So students who research the business school, and research the MBA, those are the two main areas that will stand out to them, in terms of what the school focuses on. So I would say probably a misconception, as a result of that, is that the MBA at Oxford isn’t for you if you are a finance professional, or a consulting professional, or somebody who’s maybe looking to move into one of those two sectors after the program. And actually, the reality in terms of the makeup of our cohort and in terms of the sectors that our students go on to work in after the MBA, those two sectors are actually quite well represented. So about 45% of our class will come from those sectors, in advance of doing the MBA, and about 50% of our class will go on to work in those spaces after the program.

There is large numbers of, or large aspects of the program, in terms of the curriculum itself, but also in terms of the co-curriculars that are designed to support students who are looking to move into those spaces. So obviously, in terms of the core courses themselves, there’s a large number of those that are finance-focused. So for students who are maybe looking to pivot into that space, there is the opportunity to really study those subjects in depth on the MBA. One of our most popular co-curriculars on the Oxford MBA is our Finance Lab, which students, again who are interested in either accelerating their career in finance, or moving into the space, really, really benefit from. Similarly, with students who are looking to maybe pivot into consulting, I mentioned the strategic consulting project already that they can do in the summer semester. Our career development center also run a consulting development program throughout the academic year, to support students who are looking to move into that space.

And certainly, in terms again of the finance focus, we have some world renowned finance faculty at the business school as well. So I would say that’s probably the more common misconception, is that maybe if you are somebody who isn’t interested or doesn’t have experience of social impact or entrepreneurship, that maybe Saïd is not for you, and the case is actually quite the opposite. We do have a focus on both of those areas, but we equally have a focus on finance consulting, and a number of other industries as well.

Let’s move to admissions. Saïd asks for a transcript, test score, a one-page resume, two references, a supporting statement, and then an online assessment before it starts evaluating the application, and deciding whom to interview. What happens after the applicant hits submit, and takes the online assessment? [7:58]

[HG] I’m sure there are lots of people who actually wonder this. It’s a really good question. So once the applications come through to us, they are processed by members of our team, that usually can take kind of the two to three week period, depending on what stage of the application process we are at. And once they have been processed, their application will then be reviewed by the admissions committee. It will be reviewed twice, by two individual members of that committee, and it will then be reviewed a final time by the more senior members of that admissions committee, before a decision is made on whether or not that candidate will move through to interview.

The applications at Oxford are really, really viewed holistically, so there’s not a particular component of the application that holds more weight than others when we are reviewing the applications. But all of the different components are taken into account, and we’re really trying to get a sense from someone’s application of who they are as an individual, and what they could add to the cohort if they were to be admitted. So yeah, essentially that’s it. That process, in terms of review, usually again takes between two to four weeks, depending on the stage deadline that we are at. Students will then be informed if they have been selected to move through to interview and then that process will run usually, again, for about three to four weeks before students will learn if they have been successful, and have been admitted to the program.

What else are you looking for? [9:53]

[HG] Yeah, really good question, and definitely I would say to anybody who has that concern, particularly in relation to GPA, which people will reference often. Do not let that be a barrier to applying for an MBA, and also try not to spend too much energy worrying about it, because the GPA is the one component of the application that candidates can’t influence. It’s the score that they have. They’ve completed their degree, and so essentially, if they have a concern around that area, I would say the best mindset to have is, how you can focus on the other components that you can still control, and make sure that they’re really strong so that they essentially outweigh any concerns that you might have about your GPA.

I would take a similar approach with the GMAT, to be honest. So, it is an important aspect of the application, but essentially what we’re looking to see via your GMAT score, is that you are somebody that would be able to cope with the academic rigor of the program, particularly with the quantitative element of the program. But there is a broader range of scores represented across our class than candidates would often anticipate, and students who come through with a lower GMAT score are people who demonstrate strength in other areas of the application. So that’s sometimes via the work experience that they’ve had across their career to date, they’re individuals who are able to show us that they’ve enjoyed good career progression, and that they’ve maybe had good international exposure across their career to date, that they’ve had leadership opportunities that they’ve been able to embrace. The personal statement that they can write really allows them to give us a sense of their individual story. So again, we’re really looking for authenticity, to try to get a sense of who somebody is via the application.

And then similarly, through the online assessment, which I think is a really key component of the application in terms of showing the committee a little bit more of your personality. It gives us a sense of your communication style, of the experience you have that you might be able to draw on, and share with your classmates if you were part of the program. And all of those things are of equal importance to us when we are deciding whether or not it’s somebody who we would want to put through to interview, and ultimately admit to the class.

Why do you need both the online assessment and the interview? [12:05]

[HG] Yeah, really good question. And sometimes candidates do assume, I think because we have the online assessment, that it has replaced the interview, so it’s good to clarify that it definitely hasn’t. The online assessment is brief, in terms of the amount of information students can provide. So it involves them video recording answers to three questions, but those answers are 90 seconds or 60 seconds in length. So it gives us a taste, maybe, of what that individual might be like, but probably doesn’t give us enough of a sense of their personality, and how they might be within the cohort.

The interview also allows us the opportunity to just explore some of the other components of the application in a little bit more detail, so particularly, the career plan is something that we will talk to candidates a lot about at the interview. And also, as I said, really just trying to get a sense of who they are and of what they might add to the cohort.

And similarly for candidates, I think the interview is a really important part of the process, because it’s their opportunity to maybe learn a little bit more about whether they think the business school is the right place for them. We’re very aware that a lot of candidates who apply to the Oxford MBA are applying to a number of other business schools as well, and so the interview processes and opportunity for them to try to get a sense of, “Okay, is this a business school where I would fit? Is this a program where I can really benefit, in terms of my future aims, and the career outcomes that I’m looking to achieve?” And so the interview, I would say, is maybe more conversational sometimes than candidates would expect, and it does really give them that opportunity to make sure that the business school might be the right place for them, as well.

INSEAD MBA Program

For a different perspective. Let’s hear from INSEAD’s Teresa Peiro. Here are the topics she addresses: an overview of INSEAD’s MBA program, INSEAD’s language requirements, and what INSEAD is looking for in MBA applicants.

To start, can you give us an overview of INSEAD’s MBA program for those listeners who aren’t that familiar with it? [14:03]

[TP] Yes, of course. Our MBA program is a 10-month program that brings together around a hundred nationalities per cohort. You can either start in January, or in the August intake. It’s a very intense program. It’s shorter, but our participants make the most out of it, and we commonly hear all of our alumni saying that it was the best years of their lives.

INSEAD has three full campuses, and several partnerships with both US programs, in CEIBS, in China. How do most students take advantage of that geographic diversity? I mean, it’s already intense, right? If it was 10 months in Fontainebleau the whole time, that would already be intense. But if you have all this, other options, how do they do it? [14:37]

[TP] Indeed. So our applicants have to make a decision of which will be their home campus. So what is their core courses, they will have to stay in their home campus. After that, when the electives start, they can either change campuses, so if someone starts in Singapore, they can go to Fontainebleau, and vice versa. And then we offer different partnerships, as you mentioned, with different schools in the US and China. So what happens is that they can go to that school, while they’re in that school, they’re like full students from the welcoming school, and they spend their period there, and then they come back to INSEAD. 

Where are the three campuses, again? [15:36]

[TP] So we have three campuses: Fontainebleau, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi. And we opened, pre-COVID, a San Francisco hub.

Where are the partnerships? [15:54]

[TP] The partnerships are with Kellogg and Wharton, in the US, and with CEIBS in China.

When you talk about your home campus, how much time are you required to spend there? What do most students do? [16:02]

[TP] It depends more, per class, so there’s not statistically, something consistent. They have to stay for the core courses for the first period, they have to stay where they decided to apply to. Because we consider that that part is the most intense of the program, because they have all of these classes and all the exams, and it’s like the core, and they have to stay focused where they are. And then, switch campuses.

So it’s super interesting because now for example, for instance, we welcomed those who started in Singapore, and they arrived to Fontainebleau, and it’s like they discover a new school, it’s like a new campus. And they get to see other participants that started here in the program, and they have moved, or those who came with them. So I find it very vibrant, the campus exchange moment, because the campus is full of suitcases, and they’re coming in and out. And they see new faces, and you see how, “Oh, I connected with you when we were applicants, and now I see you here.” It’s a good sense of community.

In terms of the partnership schools, is the 10 months divided into semesters? Or, you mentioned periods, how does that work? [17:10]

[TP] There are periods of two months. Five plus P0. P0 starts before they arrive to campus. So we’ve got P0, and five periods.

Could you review the language requirements, both at entry and graduation, for INSEAD participants? That’s a very distinctive aspect of the program. [17:35]

[TP] Yes. And you know what? It’s one very near to my heart. So as you know, or maybe you don’t. INSEAD was founded by Georges Doriot, who was a French Harvard professor. At the beginning, all courses were taught in those three languages. So German, English and French, which were the languages in Europe. We’ve been adapting to the different times. English has to be validated, either by your native language, or by other means of assessment. We need to ensure that every MBA or every student in is going to be able to follow the class, and make the most out of the program. So English has to be validated. If it’s your native language, we will not question it, but then you will have to validate the second language for INSEAD reasons.

How do you validate? [18:38]

[TP] So if English is not your native language, you have to validate it. So there are different criteria. Most common are, you need to have, your whole degree has to be taught in English, and it has to be specified in your transcripts. Or, through TOEFL, PTE, or IELTS.

And if English is your native language, and your second language is French, for example, or Spanish. [18:58]

[TP] There are other tests, they are local. So there are national tests that we accept – many of them, but there are many different experiences. For example, a TOEFL is only two years, and each test has a different experience and date. So we will look at that very closely for your second language, if English is your native language. And for instance, if you for example, hold your bachelor’s in Spanish, it would be validated, too. The second language is like a C1, so it’s fluent that we require, and it’s an admissions requirement.

Now for the third language, it’s an exit language, so you need it to graduate. And we do not give the diploma if you have not validated your third language. Knowing that, the level that we require is much lower. It’s an A1. When I’m talking to candidates or prospects, I always, always encourage them to get that language policy cleared before they start, because the program is very intense. And they prefer to invest their time with other things than learning the language. But for us, it’s like in our DNA, and this open mindedness and being able to make the most of this super international exposure, we want you to have these three languages with you upon graduation.

Would your entry-level requirement be that the person has speaking comprehension and speaking ability, and some writing ability, or fluent writing ability? And the exit requirement, what would that be? I realize there are stricter requirements, I’m just trying to make it a little bit easier to grasp. [20:43]

[TP] The second language is quite strict. You have to go through the three levels to be a C1, which is fluent. You have to be able to write. 

The exit language, which is A2, is more of a little bit of everything. So not very complicated sentences. You don’t have to be able to write a proper essay, but you would be able to write an email.

Now, INSEAD clearly lists its admissions criteria, and your website says their ability to contribute, academic capacity, international motivation, leadership potential. I’m sure you know this, you don’t need me to tell them to you. Where are you most likely to see those qualities in the different elements of the INSEAD application? [21:32]

[TP] It’s interesting, because when I’m running, I run application workshops very often. And I always, my first slide is with this, four pictures of these four admissions criteria. And I always tell them, “Whatever information you share with us, be sure that it falls in one of these buckets.” And a follow-up, of course is, “But what’s more important?” “No. I said it’s holistic,” and I’m always saying the same. I’m always sharing with people, “At INSEAD, we’re human beings behind admissions process. There are people reading applications.” And people are like, they begin this conspiracy theories like, “Oh, so you put our CVs in a scan, and they give you like…” “No. It’s nothing like that. It’s all about holistic, and we try to see everything.”

So we have a lot of essays, which we are aware, we know that we ask for many essays compared to other schools. But we really want to know. And it’s not only about us deciding if you are a good candidate for INSEAD or not, but if this is what you want, this is what you need to get wherever you want to go. So these four criteria, and that’s why we are so clear about it, they need to be covered in your application. It’s interesting because, as I think we’ll talk to the Kira video, but the pre-selection decision is purely based on what we’ve received in the application form. And we need to be sure that those four criteria are met.

Do you typically find, I would assume that academic capacity, you typically find in the transcript and the test score? [23:22]

[TP] Yes.

International motivation would probably show up in your resume and your activities, as well as the essays. [23:29]

[TP] International motivation is my favorite because it’s who we are. So international motivation is about us being sure that you’re not only going to be comfortable with such diversity in the class, but they’re going to embrace it. And that you’re going to be, and you know how much you’re going to learn from this diversity, and you’re going to make the most out of it. So we need to be sure of this, and how do we see it?

So the most common, and where most of our candidates really check those boxes is because they’ve gone through international experiences before, themselves. Either studying, either working abroad, and we do believe that this aspect in your life, it’s a big experience that makes you who you are, in a way. You’ve gone abroad, you’ve gone to a different culture, you had to adapt, you had to make some compromises, you learned so many things about it. 

So we get that from previous experiences. Also, in other cases, we have candidates that didn’t have the opportunity of living abroad, or having this experience. So we ask them to tell us how they’ve been in an international environment, and how they felt about it. So either you’re working in a country where there are many people from different nationalities, either you work in a very international company, and you have to… I was going to say deal, but you have to collaborate, and you have to interact with other nationalities from other countries. So that’s what we are looking for. So we do ask, in the essays, “What has been your experience?” And we also ask a detailed list of the international experiences you’ve had in the past.

In advising clients, we sometimes talk about multicultural exposure. So as you say, some applicants might live in a diverse country, in many different cultures, within their own country. It’s not homogenous, it’s a heterogeneous culture. [25:21]

[TP] And nowadays, most of the countries are like that. That’s why companies are always looking for people who are thriving in these kinds of societies.

And the ability to contribute, I would assume, also will come really throughout the application. [25:47]

[TP] The ability to contribute and leadership potential come a lot, also, through the essays.

The question is, “What is it that you bring to the class?” You want to be sure that when you raise your hand, you’re going to share experiences, share what you know, ask the correct questions. And those questions and those contributions are going to come from your past experience.

You mentioned the video a second ago. What is the role of the video interview in the evaluation process? [26:18]

[TP] We are very happy with the video. We love the video. And our message to candidates is always, “Be yourself.” So when I’m presenting these application workshops, I put a picture of Salvador Dali, who is one of our most well-known artists in Spain, because he was genuine. He was himself, and he wasn’t shy to show who he was. And it’s about that. I’m always telling, “We are not expecting you to be a BBC reporter, unless you were a BBC reporter.”

So don’t try to use those fancy words, or things that you think that are… But be yourself. So what we’re looking for here, the role is to see who you are, in a way, and communication skills. The video will reassure us a lot also on the English level, and the fluidity when people speak. I understand it’s stressful, so we always recommend candidates, there’s a practice part in the platform. I always say, “Practice, practice, practice.” There are four questions, and you’ve got 45 seconds to prepare, and 60 to respond. I strongly recommend candidates that they use those 45 seconds to work on their structure. What is it that they want to say? And then, be yourself. I always tell the story that we had a candidate who was a professional break-dancer, and he just went to the floor, and he danced. Amazing.

We loved it. It’s a great story. And this is because sometimes, and I understand the, “Oh, instead, I’m going to try to use fancy words.” No, because you’re going to lose the point of the video, which is, we want to hear you.

And that’s why we’ve got four questions. And I always say that we read applications to try to look into it and accept you, not to reject you. That’s why it’s important that you are yourself, because for the writing, we already have your essays.

Stern at NYU Abu Dhabi

Dr. Robert Salomon, as I mentioned, is the inaugural Dean of Stern at NYU Abu Dhabi, the newest program among the four. He answers questions about the program’s 12-month structure, NYU AD’s admissions process, and why Abu Dhabi, and why now? Let’s start with an overview of NYU’s Abu Dhabi MBA program. Can you please provide us with one? [28:41]

[RS] We are opening here a full-time MBA program. It’s going to be a 12-month accelerated MBA program that will run from January through December. And the first class will start in January of 2025.

You’re really just getting going. You’re not going to have a class this year, you’re just getting going for the following year, really. [29:22]

[RS] Right. We’ll start a year from January. Although the website is now live, the application is available, it can be downloaded, people can start it, and we are accepting applications now. The first deadline comes up January 15th, but people can start applying now.

It takes a while to put together a good application, so that makes a lot of sense. Is this program aimed for people in the Middle East, who want a US MBA? Or is it aimed for people anywhere in the world, who want to focus on business in the Middle East? What’s the goal of the program? [29:47] 

[RS] The program is for anybody in the world, and what we would like, however, is that people who are interested in the region, people who are interested in the potential of building a career in Abu Dhabi, in the UAE, places like Dubai or the broader region. So we’re happy to consider applications from anybody, anywhere, but we are hopefully going to be preparing people for careers in the region.

Now, that said, what people get in the classroom here isn’t going to be very different from what they get in the classroom in New York or in MBA programs elsewhere. They’re going to be prepared to be business leaders, and business managers, so they’re going to get the same kinds of core courses that they get in New York. We are bringing the same robust MBA program that we offer in New York, here to Abu Dhabi. And we hope that this program will be appealing to people the world over, not just in the region, but also beyond.

Will the professors be traveling from New York City to Abu Dhabi, or will there be online courses? Part of the robustness of the NYU program is the faculty. [31:00]

[RS] Yeah. And this will be an in-person program. At the moment, we don’t have any plans for online content. And just as we have a top-notch faculty, world-class faculty in New York, we will be building a faculty here in Abu Dhabi as well. So we will be hiring to the standards that we have in New York, the kind of faculty that we have in New York. Now, saying that there is from time to time, every once in a while, faculty might come over here and there to teach a specific course if they have a specific expertise, and they will offer that course here in Abu Dhabi.

In addition to that, we also have a module of the entire program. One module, or about two and a half months of the program, will take place in New York City. So students will be in New York during the summer months, I think it’s from the end of May to mid-August. They’ll be taking classes in New York and they will be taught by our faculty, our renowned faculty in New York City.

Will the program focus at all on the business of energy, since it’s going to be located in the Middle East, and specifically in the Persian Gulf? [32:15]

[RS] That won’t be a specific focus of this program. We will have several specializations in this program. So the specializations we intend to offer at the beginning include finance, leadership and strategy, technology innovation, and entrepreneurship/ marketing. And potentially, we’re also considering sustainability. So if anything, yeah, I mean there might be sort of a slight energy focus. But on the next wave of energy, sort of how do we transition into the next energy regime, away from fossil fuels, away from petroleum-based energy.

They’re preparing for a future without oil, without fossil fuels, and they are diversifying their economy now in order, so that once that day arrives when the last barrel of oil rolls off the assembly line, or however we want to describe that analogy, that they have other industries that are here, and vibrant, that can sustain the economy.

You mentioned that there are going to be roughly three months or two modules of the program in New York City. Can I ask why? [33:40]

[RS] Well we are a NYU program. We are NYU Stern, as well, and one of the reasons that we want to bring students to New York City is so that they get to know and make connections to the home university. So that’s part of it. So they get to know New York, they get to know NYU, they get to know NYU Stern.

The other piece of this is that this is a global degree program. This is a program that is preparing students to participate in the global economy. And what better way than to have them learn about the global economy, than to be not just in one singular place, but to also have a global experience. And for those in this program, that means not just being in Abu Dhabi, but also going somewhere else. And we have a campus in New York, with an outstanding faculty, a world-class faculty there. So why not bring the students there?

And that’s part of, if you look at many of our other programs at NYU Stern, they also have global components. And those global components are meant to prepare people for the realities, the business realities, of the world that they live in.

Also, New York City is one of the capitals of business in the world. [34:59]

Yeah, absolutely.

Are there any language requirements for NYU AD? Is Arabic something that’s encouraged, or required? [35:09]

[RS] No. All languages are encouraged. I think if you have the opportunity to learn another language, the answer should always be yes. I mean, that’s an amazing gift, and an amazing thing to be able to speak multiple languages. But there is no requirement at Stern at NYU Abu Dhabi, for people to speak anything other than English. And English, spoken widely, here in the UAE. Just about everybody speaks English, all the signs are in English, and the classes will be in English as well.

Okay, great. I noticed that NYU AD, like NYU Stern in New York City, NYU Stern in Abu Dhabi accepts many tests, and also offers a test waiver option. Who should seek a test waiver, and who shouldn’t seek a test waiver, in your opinion? [35:46]

[RS] I want to preface this by saying when it comes to admissions, I’m not an expert. I come from the program side. So I’ve been a scholar, I’m a professor, I’m a researcher. That’s my background. And I’ve come from running programs. I’ve been running different kinds of MBA programs for Stern, and master’s programs, and executive programs for Stern for quite a while. So I’m really familiar with the programmatic side.

I’m less knowledgeable when it comes to admissions kinds of things, but let me just try and answer the question as best I can, with the caveat that I may not… I mean, generally I think the answer I’m going to give you is accurate, but I want to just caveat it with, that I might be making some mistakes on the margins.

So when it comes to test waivers, the kinds of folks who should be seeking test waivers, I would say, are those who feel like they are well-equipped in the areas that are associated with an MBA degree. And what areas are those? I would say, if you have a STEM degree, if you already have a degree in engineering, where you can demonstrate… And you did very, very well in school, in your engineering program, and you can demonstrate that you performed very well, especially in your math classes. That would be the kind of individual who might want to request a test waiver. If you went to an undergraduate business program, and you’ve already demonstrated through your completion of that program that you can handle the rigors of an MBA program, because you already have the qualifications, and you did very, very well in your undergraduate business program. Those are the kinds of folks that should or could potentially be requesting a test waiver or might be granted a test waiver.

So basically, if you have sort of a STEM-y background, and your degree is from a widely respected, accredited university, and you’ve performed very, very well in the classroom, especially in your math-based classes. Those are the kinds of folks who typically qualify for test waivers.

What would you have liked me to ask you? [38:19]

[RS] I think one of the questions that I was thinking about in preparation for this is, why here and why now?

I mean, I think part of it is that if you think about Abu Dhabi, and again, going back to something that I mentioned before. Abu Dhabi is increasingly becoming a world capital that’s connected to other world capitals, and it’s connected to other world capitals more each and every day. It’s becoming more, as you mentioned, it’s becoming more of a finance capital. It’s becoming more of a sustainability capital. It’s becoming more of a business capital. It’s becoming more of a consumer products capital. It’s becoming a technology capital, it’s becoming a FinTech capital.

All of these things that the UAE, and Abu Dhabi in particular is investing in, because they see the need to diversify away their economy away from fossil fuels and towards a more knowledge-based, services-based economy. For us, when we were researching and thinking about this as a location, when you speak to companies and you talk to them and you say, “What is it that you need in order to accomplish these goals that you have?” We hear the same answers over and over and over again, which is, “We need people who have managerial skills.” You talk to even private or public employers here in the region, they say, “There is a need for people with managerial skills to help us with that transition, to be a part of that, to help propel it.” Ultimately, these are the folks who are going to become the leaders in this region, and they are going to be a part of that transition away from an energy fossil fuels based economy, towards this new knowledge-based, services-based economy.

So when we were thinking about it, what better location than to do that, right here? We already have a campus here. We’ve already built a stellar faculty here. We’ve been operating here for more than a decade, we know the market, and so we feel like now is the right time to be the first ones, the first top US business school to offer a full-time MBA in the region.

There’s tremendous talent here, too. There’s a lot of young people who have an incredible desire to upskill, too. So that was also part of it. So the employers are asking for it, on the demand side for our graduates, and on the supply side, the prospective applicants, the students really want it, because they see the need to upskill as well.

HEC Paris MBA

Finally, we have the most recent guest on Admissions Straight Talk,  HEC’s Sara Vanos, and she shares:

• An overview of the program
• An insider perspective of the admissions process
• What she feels are the most common applicant mistakes. 

I’d like to start with some general questions about HEC Paris, and then get more specific and focused on admissions for the full-time MBA program. Can you start by just giving us a very high level overview of HEC’s three MBA programs? [40:57]

[SV] Sure, I’d be happy to. So we have our full-time MBA program, which is a 16-month program, which can be residential. So we have on-campus housing, or you can live off campus. So that’s in our Jouy-en-Josas campus, which is quite close to Paris. You can do specialization, you can do electives, plus your core, plus all kinds of other sort of surprises and leadership activities. So that would be our full-time MBA.

Then we have our executive MBA, that can take anywhere from 15 to 21 months, because it’s part-time. It’s either modular or block, so you come on campus every two months, or you can do every other weekend in Paris. It’s typically for more senior professionals, so the average age is 40, usually some management experience. And then we have anything from directors to CEOs to CFOs in that program. So, a very senior crowd.

And then we have TRIUM, which is one of our flagship partnership programs. So it’s in partnership with LSC and also NYU, even slightly more senior profiles that join that program. And it’s really exciting, because it takes place in modules all over the world.

How long is that program? [42:27]

[SV] So usually that one is just almost 20 months.

Let’s zoom in on the full-time MBA program’s more notable and distinctive elements. Can you describe them? You’ve hinted at them a little bit. By the way, I once visited HEC Paris. It is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. [42:34]

[SV] Yes, one, I agree. So I commute from Paris every day to go on campus, so it’s actually really easy to reach. And like you said, it’s beautiful. So it’s a wooded, private acres of a forest, tennis courts, a chateau of its own, and of course our other programs. But the one that we’ll zoom in on now is the MBA. So, a beautiful campus with a possibility to live on campus, which is kind of interesting and different because a lot of MBA programs, you’re kind of spread out everywhere. So we feel that having this on-campus housing really builds the community from day one, because you’re with about 80% of the students living in our residential housing, you can easily attend club activities, different community events. So you really foster that connection from day one.

If we start with kind of the curriculum or notable things there, I think the 16 months is really unique. So typically, you’re looking at an MBA, where do I do it? How long, my ROI, et cetera. So we’ve kind of found the sweet spot. So you can either do 12 or 16 months, depending on your intake. So it can be a little shorter than the longer programs, but you get all of the benefits of the longer programs. So electives, specialization, participation in our MBA Olympics, New Horizons, which is broadening your horizons and figuring out kind of how to anticipate trends. So that’s unique.

We have a pretty smaller class than, I would say, some of the larger class sizes. So usually, an average of about 300 students coming in two intakes, and you can start in September or January. So that’s also unique.

I think if we say, maybe one takeaway from these things I’ve kind of thrown out there, would be flexibility and customization. So I know that’s what a lot of people look for in their program. So whether it’s program length, how to specialize what you take, so we have these specializations, which electives. Where you live, if you live on campus, all of that really offers the flexibility to have a great experience.

What do you look for besides stats? You’ve mentioned a little bit, maybe you can just give a little more on that. [44:46]

[SV] So typically, we will assess everyone. So we’ll start by looking at their CV. So that’s one of the criteria. We’ll look at the GMAT, GRA test. These are things that kind of all follow and compliment each other. We look at previous academic backgrounds. So, which school did you go to? What did you study? And again, we try to tie all of this back to the motivation, so there’s a motivational paragraph where you get to explain what’s next, why an MBA? So we’re kind of trying to look holistically, as discussed. We looked at extracurriculars.

We also look at languages. So we think it can be interesting, even if you’ve just started to learn a language, if your goal is to work in France, it can be helpful if you’ve already started learning. It’s not necessary, but we do look at that in terms of, again, motivation, career desires, and outcomes.

We look at the essays, so we read all of the essays, and then discuss them. So sometimes things can jump out. Some of them are kind of creative. So I would say in there, depending on the essay topic, we’re looking for different things. The additional essay is something that maybe only 10 to 20% of students use, but it’s extremely interesting, because it’s where you can add anything that we might not have known about you. And it’s often where we learn something extremely interesting. So I would say that’s something to look at.

Where we also evaluate, but it’s at a later state, would be the interviews. So, how did it go with your alumni interviewer? How did the alumni interviewer rate your presentation? Because you have to make a presentation, the communication skills and motivation, et cetera. I think those are all of the main buckets, if I’m thinking through them.

There’s none that’s weighted super heavily. They’re all kind of pairing together, and matching together. And even if someone didn’t have the perfect application, because we discuss each and every profile in a jury of several members, there are other things that can come into play. So for example, our marketing or recruitment managers try to have a call or meet everyone that comes in the program. So it can be very interesting, because often they’ll add complimentary information that can boost, almost, if somebody forgot something and the marketing and recruitment manager knows they can also talk about their conversation, talk about things like that. So I think that’s also somewhere that can add value.

What’s the most common mistake that you see applicants making in the application process? [47:02]

[SV] Yeah, it’s a funny one. Usually we let it go, because it’s so common, but a lot of people will cut and paste essays, and keep the other schools that they’re applying to. It’s okay, because we know that they’re applying to multiple schools. But sometimes people will say, “I’m applying to HEC only,” and then they will cut and paste an essay and a CV where they cite another school. It’s the most common one. I think, for the admissions team, we are rather used to it. We know that it can happen. We know, “Okay, it’s an oversight. Maybe the person is not super detail-oriented,” but where it can have a larger impact is our alumni will have access to the application of the person who’s applied and moved into an interview round. So for, I would say our alumni, it’s a more big mistake because they want people who are diehard HEC, they want them to love HEC, to only be thinking about HEC. So, common.

Easy though, I think, for applicants to take a quick double check. Put a PDF of your application file, look the whole thing through, and just look for these very small but easy to fix things, I would say.

Yeah, and this is one of the things that comes up repeatedly from admission directors. My suggestion for applicants is, if you are adapting essays from another school, don’t cut and paste, number one. But if you are adapting essays from another school, when you start that process… Not at the end, when you start, do a find and replace. That way you will not miss it. Just do it at the beginning. Okay? Do it then, and it’s taken care of, you won’t be making the mistake that Sara just mentioned.

After listening to this episode, did you detect some common themes? 

What are the differences with US programs, like language requirements for some? Now it’s your chance, your opportunity to apply to programs that fit your goals, your needs, your finances, and your wants. And that is likely to want you. If you’d like help in presenting the best of the authentic you to any of these, or other top MBA programs in the United States or in Europe, or the EU, I should say. Please contact Accepted for guidance in presenting your best self, and polishing that gem of an application.

Relevant Links:

• Accepted’s MBA Calculator Quiz
• HEC Paris MBA Essay Tips and Deadlines [2022 – 2023] & Podcast Episode 565 with  Sara Vanos
• INSEAD MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines [2022 – 2023]
• NYU Stern MBA Essay Tips and Deadlines [2023-2024], Class Profile
• Oxford Saïd MBA Essay Tips and Deadlines [2022 – 2023] 

Relevant shows:

• How to Get into HEC Paris MBA?, podcast Episode 565
• Stern at NYU Abu Dhabi: A Full-Time MBA in the Middle East, podcast Episode 549
• How to Get Accepted to Oxford Said Business School, podcast Episode 457
• Get Into INSEAD, the Business School for the World, podcast Episode 520 

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The post So You Want to Do an MBA Outside the U.S. [Episode 572] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Show Summary

Are you interested in an MBA program located in Europe, with a strong global and entrepreneurial flavor, a program that prides itself on flexibility and personalization? And would you love to complete your full-time MBA in just 16 months? Then HEC Paris may be just the ticket for you. 

In this episode of Admissions Straight Talk, Linda Abraham interviews Sara Vanos, the Executive Director of Marketing and Admissions for HEC Paris MBA Programs. They discuss the MBA programs offered at HEC Paris. Sara highlights the unique aspects of the full-time MBA program, such as the 16-month duration, on-campus housing, and flexibility in specialization and electives. She also mentions the New Horizons program, which focuses on anticipating trends and thinking creatively. Sara emphasizes the importance of work experience, extracurricular activities, and language proficiency in the admissions process. She also addresses the use of AI tools like ChatGPT in essay writing and the relevance of an MBA degree in today’s world. 

Show Notes

Welcome to the 565th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for tuning in. Are you ready to apply to your dream MBA programs? Are you competitive in those programs? Accepted’s MBA admissions quiz can give you a quick reality check. Just go to accepted.com/mbaquiz, complete the quiz, and you’ll not only get an assessment, but tips on how to improve your qualifications. Plus, it’s all free. 

It gives me great pleasure to have, for the first time on Admissions Straight Talk, Sara Vanos, Executive Director of Marketing Admissions HEC Paris, MBA Programs. Sara started her career in higher education at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, and in 2014 she moved to HEC Paris, starting out in their careers office. Since 2016, she has worked in marketing and recruitment. Sara became the Executive Director of Marketing and Admissions for HEC’s three MBA programs in April 2023, and she also earned her MBA at HEC in the executive MBA program. 

Sara, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. [1:54]

Thank you so much, Linda. It’s a pleasure to be here today.

Can you start by just giving us a very high-level overview of HEC’s three MBA programs? [2:01]

Sure, I’d be happy to. So we have our full-time MBA program, which is a 16-month program that can be residential. We have on-campus housing, or you can live off-campus. So that’s in our Jouy-en-Josas campus, which is quite close to Paris. You can do specialization, you can do electives, plus your core plus all kinds of other sorts of surprises and leadership activities. So that would be our full-time MBA.

Then we have our executive MBA. That can take anywhere from 15 to 21 months because it’s part-time. It’s either modular block, so you come on campus every two months, or you can do every other weekend in Paris. It’s typically for more senior professionals. So the average age is 40, usually with some management experience. And then we have anything from directors to CEOs to CFOs in that program. So very senior crowd. And then we have TRIUM, which is one of our flagship partnership programs. So it’s in partnership with LSE and also NYU. Even slightly more senior profiles that join that program. And it’s really exciting because it takes place in modules all over the world.

How long is that program? [3:17]

That one is almost 20 months.

Let’s zoom in on the full-time MBA program’s more notable and distinctive elements. Can you describe them? You’ve hinted at them a little bit. By the way, I once visited HEC Paris and it’s absolutely beautiful. [3:26]

I commute from Paris every day to go on campus, so it’s actually really easy to reach. And like you said, it’s beautiful. So it’s a wooded, private, acres of a forest, tennis courts, a chateau of its own, and of course, our other programs. But the one that we’ll zoom in on now is the MBA. So a beautiful campus with the possibility to live on campus, which is kind of interesting and different because a lot of MBA programs, you’re spread out everywhere. So we feel that having this on-campus housing really builds the community from day one because you’re with about 80% of the students living in our residential housing, you can easily attend club activities, and different community events, so you really foster that connection from day one.

If we start with the curriculum or notable things there, I think the 16 months is really unique. So typically, you’re looking at an MBA, “Where do I do it, how long, my ROI.” Et cetera. So we’ve kind of found the sweet spot. So you can either do 12 or 16 months, depending on your intake. So it can be a little shorter than the longer programs, but you get all the benefits of the longer programs. So electives, specialization, participation in our MBA Olympics, New Horizons, which is broadening your horizons and figuring out how to anticipate trends. So that’s unique.

We have a pretty smaller than I would say, some of the larger class sizes. So usually, an average of about 300 students come in two intakes. And you can start in September or January. So that’s also unique. I think if we say maybe one takeaway from these things I’ve kind of thrown out, there would be flexibility and customization. So I know that’s what a lot of people look for in their program. So whether it’s program length, how to sort of specialize what you take, so we have the specializations, which electives, where you live, if you live on campus, all of that really offers the flexibility to have a great experience.

You mentioned the New Horizons program. Could you tell us what that is? [5:38]

So it’s a type of capstone, but it’s really tailored specifically to HEC Paris. So it’s relatively new in our curriculum. We always had a type of MBA project or capstone, but we’ve really refined this one. So when students come in, they’re challenged to come up with a strategic question, but then they have followings or courses or workshops through their MBA. There’s always a surprise visit. And the goal of New Horizons is  to prepare you professionally, possibly have your question address something that will have your career sort of at heart, but it teaches you to anticipate trends and think about the what-ifs.

So it does that in different ways. For example, we have different improvisation workshops, so really hands-on how to react. We have workshops taught by consulting firms, so how to think like a consultant. And then we also have this kind of surprise visit. So every year the visit is changing. This year the students were surprised at 3:00 AM to visit a place called Rungis, which is where all of the fresh food produce comes in just outside Paris. So operationally, there are so many things to look at, especially because we’re receiving from countries all over the world and just how to scale, how to anticipate, how to think about it could be AI trends, it could be many different trends. So just addressing those in a real life place and then speaking about them in the following workshops. And it culminates with a project or a paper where you have to take your strategic ideas, challenge it, take all these workshops, put them into place, and then your final project, which can be used towards your professional career or starting your own company.

The interesting thing about the fruit and vegetable market is that it’s also so old. [7:17]

It started in Paris a long time ago, and now it’s scaled quite a bit and moved out, but it’s just the most interesting place at such a scale to think about that and managing that and anticipating trends, and what if there’s a pandemic? How do you receive what happens next?

HEC’s program is a 16-month program with two possible intakes. What about the internship? Most MBA programs feel that the internship is very important, especially for career changers. What does HEC say about that? [7:45]

So HEC and myself are very, very happy behind the internship. It can be very important step in someone’s career. Not necessarily, but we do offer that choice. So if someone joins in September, they do the MBA internship in the traditional timing, so it would be a summer internship. So there are different ways through the curriculum to prepare. That would be sort of similar to a two-year program where you have that gap in the summer, then you come back for your specialization and graduate early.

For January, it’s kind of interesting and cool because they can do a smaller summer internship, so a two-month internship in the summer, and then for their fourth term, they can choose to do a longer internship. In Paris, sometimes internships can be up to six months. So this allows them to do that kind of traditional French internship and/or they could go straight into full-time. So it’s quite flexible there as well. Shorter, longer internship and/or short internship. So many combinations. I think the hardest part is deciding and wrapping your head around which one is best for your career. Some of our students will choose to do other things in the summer instead of internships. Some will choose to learn French intensively. Some will choose to travel, some will choose to work on a startup or MBA project. But I would say about 80% of students will follow some kind of internship before they graduate.

What are the language requirements for entrance to HEC and for graduation? [9:20]

To enter, you just have to be able to pass your TOEFL,or be a native English speaker, and have done a degree prior to that in English. So the entry requirements are quite easy. I think graduating becomes a little bit trickier because we expect you to learn at least one new language before you leave the program and at a level designed for your goals. So we have in-person French classes, which our students can take. They can, however, choose the level based on how far they want to go. So let’s say they know they want to work in France, they’ll choose something a bit more intensive. So they’ll evaluate their level before, and their classes will be very intense and directed at giving a certification at a level where they can work with a proficiency, versus other students might say, “Okay, I want to have a level of French to communicate, to get around Paris to enjoy, but I don’t necessarily need it to work.” So they could choose that level.

On top of that, we sometimes have students who will choose to follow an additional language. There are up to 14 available, some in person, and some through our language center. But for example, when I worked in careers, I had quite a few students who would learn German instead of French because they were targeting to work in Germany afterward. So you have a lot of choices there, and it’s all included in the tuition, and it’s kind of at the desire of the student based on where they want to go. And then, we complement that with what we think can help to their professional goals or personal goals.

Do you ever have students who, let’s say, are very good at a particular language and say they want that to be their second language so they really don’t have to learn a second language or third language would be the case? [10:48]

Yes. Those ones have to learn a third language.

The basic requirement is that everyone needs to come out with a minimal, I think it’s a B1 level in an additional language. So we do have some students who come in speaking two languages. Most of our students, I think we looked and I think almost 90% of our students already come in with two. So they need a third. There are students with three already who need to learn a fourth. So we just want at least one new language at proficiency as part of the overall experience.

A very high percentage of students at HEC do not come from France. How does career placement work if they want to go back to their home country or they want to a country other than France? [11:27]

I just looked at this stat this morning, and I think 74% of our students work outside of their home country, but in over 50 different countries. So we do have students coming who want to work in France or Europe or UK. So that’s happening. I think generally, about 50% of our class has placement in Europe or the UK. We do have a lot of students though, however, who want to experience a new geography or who want to return to their company. So we have sponsored students who return to their home company or we sometimes have students who want to go back to their home country. We also have double-degree students who do one year here and one year at a university in another country, so they have those double networks.

What I think is important is that we have alumni and even alumni chapters, but also sometimes alumni offices across different countries in the world. Our careers team works with companies that are global. Often they’ll work with a global office that will look at regional placements. So we do have connections, I would say, worldwide. There are places where we place more students. So I would say in Asia we have more. Also, the US. Last year we had a lot of placement across Latin America, specifically Mexico in consulting. So our careers team works globally, but sometimes they’ll chase opportunities based on the makeup or desire of the class because that seems to be ever-changing.

Years ago, everyone wanted to work in France. The last two years I think our students have been a bit more open based on opportunity. We’ve had a lot of placement for consulting firms in the Middle East as well. So sometimes MBB students are more geographically open. So again, we have the connections and we kind of have our plan, but then every year we make some tweaks to it with the careers team based on what our students are looking for.

What don’t people know about HEC Paris that you would like them to know? Are there any misconceptions you’d like to dispel, myths you’d like to bust, or just things that you think are unknown? [13:25]

So I think one of the myths, perhaps is that you need French, that the classes are in French or that you need French to survive and thrive. We have lots of students every year who say, “It’s not important to me.” And they have a fantastic time, and you can get by and especially where our campus is and the surroundings and in Paris, it’s nice to have French, but it’s not important. So I think first off, to live in France, to even work in France, is a nice to have. It depends on what you want to do and where you want to go, but you don’t need it. And our courses outside of language classes are all in English. So I would say that’s a common myth.

What would I like people to know? 

Maybe that you have kind of all of the things that you’d expect from an MBA, but then there are some very special things about HEC that are memorable and stand out that I would say, yeah, don’t exist everywhere. So first the specializations, that’s a four-month intensive themed kind of journey where you decide a specialization. So we can take entrepreneurship or we could take consulting or we could take finance. So you really do a deep dive there outside of the electives. So that’s really great. We have our MBA Olympics, which I think is a standout feature as well. So we host MBAs from around the world on our campus. I think it’s just a really special place, and you almost don’t know it until you talk to somebody who’s working there or studied there. It’s something that’s not very easy to communicate in words, but I think through fit, vibe, and community, you’ll feel at the moment, hopefully, that you talk to somebody who’s linked to HEC.

HEC requires a GMAT or the GRE. Any plans to accept the executive assessment or other tests? Are you considering introducing test waivers? [15:10]

I love that you asked this. It’s a really timely question because I think in the last month or two months we’ve decided to accept the executive assessment. So we could take the GRE, the GMAT, or the executive assessment. I would say, as always, it’s a great idea to talk to our marketing and recruitment managers before you decide which test because they might be able to help you find the one that is the best fit for you. We have had a very low percentage recently as well of GMAT or GRE test waivers. That would be someone with a CFA level three, for example, someone with a really strong finance background paired with a strong English test or English university, et cetera. So it’s possible, but again, it’s a conversation where we look at holistically all of the elements that we would normally find in those tests. So it can happen. We have quite a bit of flexibility there. But I think it’s good to speak to a marketing and recruitment manager because it’s really specific to the person.

Sometimes it’s about the time and preparation you put into the test that helps you to prepare for this big step, be ready in courses, but also sort of mentally prepare, mentally prepare for studying again. I think there are a lot of benefits to the tests outside of just the score to get into a program.

The website says that HEC students have an average of six years of full-time work experience. Qualitatively, what makes for impressive work experience in your eyes? [16:47]

Six years is the average. That’s just taking everyone. It’s really much wider because sometimes we have someone with, I would say usually two years would be the minimum. However, we have had once or twice someone with a little less than that. So we like to look at everyone individually. We examine, I’m in every jury, I hear about every single applicant from what they wrote in their essays to all of the things that we look at. So we do look at everything. Strong work experience is typically someone who has done something impressive or has shown a promotion or has a good motivation that matches what’s happening in their careers.

So we’ll look at the CV, we’ll look at the roles that the person has had. We’ll also look at their motivations alongside that, then we’ll look at their essays to understand a little bit more deeply, possibly their projects. A clear CV is always nice because sometimes, when there are many points and there’s a mumble jumble or a really crazy format, it’s harder for us to really assess the CV. But I would say usually career progression, interesting projects, and promotions. Sometimes brands can be interesting as well, but they’re not necessary. A really cool startup project can jump out. We’re looking for a diversity of professional backgrounds as well.

So sometimes we might have a pile of amazing investment banking CVs, but then we’ll have a designer or an architect, and that will really stand out to us. So we’re looking at everything. So not just what you think would be a perfect CV, we’re looking to add that professional diversity to the classroom and things that will really be interesting or that are interesting to employers. So if we talk about designers, it’s so interesting because in the last couple intakes, we’ve had some really cool or atypical profiles, and they’re the profiles that the companies that were recruiting we’re really looking at. So I would just say people don’t count themselves out because you have sometimes no idea what will jump out in the MBA world or what will be a success.

You mentioned a minute ago the MBA Tournament, which is one of HEC’s better known programs. It’s a three-day multi-sport competition. There have been 1,500 participants from 15 leading international business schools participating. I’m sure it’s an organizational challenge for the students. But that and HEC’s essay questions lead me to ask about the importance of non-professional, avocational interests or activities in your admissions process. Is that something that you are looking for? [18:56]

We definitely assess extracurriculars. There’s a section where you can put any additional information. It’s important to us that people learn both in kind of traditional ways and non-traditional ways. So when you’re taking an MBA, we’re looking for you to learn in the classroom, but outside the classroom, that can be through clubs, social activities, and conversations. Sometimes we even look also at it can be travel or things that show that you’ve opened your mind. Not everyone would’ve had the chance to study or work abroad, but it could be something as simple as an extracurricular that’s global, or it could be working with business colleagues across countries. So we do look at that. We have a section where you’re able to share.

Again, you can be creative in some ways there. We don’t need you just to have volunteered at a food bank. That can be fantastic. But if you’ve volunteered in other ways, if you’ve made a committee at your work, if you have, again, started a company, if you have some kind of social purpose, or you’re involved in something within your community, I think any of those are good to share. Probably the more the merrier because some people, I think undervalue what they do, and then we see the line on their CV that says they’re like, I don’t know, a martial arts champion, but they didn’t add that into their actual application or a dance champion or somebody who’s a guitarist on YouTube. I don’t know. We see all kinds of interesting things, and sometimes we find that in the line in the CV, not in the application.

What do you look for besides stats? [21:13]

We’ll start by looking at their CV. So that’s one of the criteria. We’ll look at the GMAT, GRE test. These are things that kind of all follow and complement each other. We look at previous academic backgrounds. So which school did you go to? What did you study? And again, we try to tie all of this back to motivation. So there’s a motivational paragraph where you get to explain what’s next, why an MBA. So we’re kind of trying to look holistically. As discussed, we look at extracurriculars. We also look at languages. So we think it can be interesting, even if you’ve just started to learn a language, if your goal is to work in France, it can be helpful if you’ve already started learning. It’s not necessary, but we do look at that in terms of, again, motivation, career desires and outcomes.

We look at the essays, so we read all of the essays, and then discuss them. So sometimes, things can jump out. Some of them are kind of creative. So I would say in there, depending on the essay topic, we’re looking for different things. The additional essay is something that maybe only 10 to 20% of students use, but it’s extremely interesting because it’s where you can add anything that we might not have known about you. And it’s often where we learn something extremely interesting. So I would say that’s something to look at.

Where we also evaluate, but it’s at a later stage, would be the interviews. So how did it go with your alumni interviewer? How did the alumni interviewer rate your presentation? Because you have to make a presentation. Communication skills and motivation, et cetera. I think those are all of the main buckets if I’m thinking through them. There’s none that’s weighted super heavily. They’re all kind of pairing together and matching together. And even if someone doesn’t have the perfect application, because we discuss each and every profile in a jury of several members, there are other things that can come into play. So for example, our marketing and recruitment managers try to have a call or meet everyone that comes in the program. So it can be very interesting because often they’ll add complementary information that can boost almost if somebody forgot something and the marketing recruitment manager knows, they can also talk about their conversation, talk about things like that. So I think that’s also somewhere that can add value.

Is there a conversation in addition to the interview, or are they one and the same? [23:30]

The process is basically we evaluate the whole application. The marketing recruitment manager presents the file, we speak, and we all go there. Then we decide who moves to interviews. So from there, that stage, then they have two alumni interviews, and that’s where we leave the decision to our alumni. So that’s a bit almost scary because in my teams, we could say, “This is the perfect CV, this is the perfect profile.” Unfortunately, if they don’t make it with the two favorable comments from the interviewers, they can’t be admitted. So if both say no, we are like, “Oh no.” That has happened. It’s always unfortunate because if we move someone to interviews, we really believe in them, but we believe more in our graduates’ opinions of who will fit best at HEC and who will make HEC shine the most. So we send them off and let them have that final decision.

What if the interviewers don’t agree? [24:27]

So if there’s two that don’t agree, which it’s more rare than you would think, if they don’t agree however, then it comes back. So we have a final, final jury, which involves people from our academic and delivery team, the dean, the careers team, and myself. It’s quite a large team. So that’s where we vet them all. If they all had a great application, they made it to interviews, it’s good, so we still check in case there are any flags that the larger community would like to discuss. That’s where we debate as a group. We read the comments, we look at the assessments of both interviewers, and we try to understand what the interviewer said, what that means, and how that ties back. So it’s kind of a final check and balance, and then the members of the final jury get to vote.

That’s quite a process. What do you want to learn from these essays? [25:30]

What we’re looking for there depends on the question. So sometimes we’re looking at maybe an ethical dilemma or something that someone’s facing in their work, we’re looking for a genuine example. It’s not necessarily like, “Are you writing a poem? Are you a great writer?” It’s more about the content of the essay and what’s there, and is it genuine. Is there something interesting? Do they assess themselves? Do they have emotional intelligence? It’s hard to read all of this from an essay, but actually, you can get a lot more, I think, in these paragraphs than you would imagine based on the differences of the questions.

I don’t know, sometimes you can see that someone is a little bit creative when they describe where they might take you in their home city. You can see how they kind of struggled with the decision or how they turned it around. So we’re just trying to get to know the person because, until that point, we may or may not have met them. We want to get to know them over paper. So it’s not something that you can just say like, “Yes, no”, it’s a lot deeper than that, I think. So the more someone would share, I think the more we would be able to assess and get to know them and hopefully move them to the next round.

I also found it very interesting that the longest essay question, or the one with the highest word limit is optional. The required questions are around 200-250 words, right? [26:46]

Yeah. They’re quite short. We’re looking for, usually, a couple of paragraphs, sometimes a little longer, depending on the person. Definitely, a word limit can be important because I think our longest CV was 24 pages. It was a researcher citing a lot of research.

For us that was just a little bit too long so we want to make sure that we find that sweet spot. Additional can go a lot longer because sometimes people use that to articulate various things for scholarships. So they might want to put additional information if they’re looking for a scholarship that we couldn’t have measured. Some people are telling us more about their life situation. So for the additional, we let it go. We haven’t had anything too, too long yet. And, like I said, not that many people use it, but it’s always quite valuable when they do.

Some people will use it to explain a GMAT score if it’s maybe lower than they would’ve hoped, other people will use it, for example, we have our Laidlaw scholarship, so that’s 100% funded tuition. So some of our female students will use that as a place to kind of indicate that they’re interested, and there they would have to express financial need and a little bit more information. So we kind of use that for everything for now. We’re changing to a new CRM relatively soon, wherein we’ll be able to break that down a bit more based on yes or no. So it’ll become more sophisticated shortly.

What’s the most common mistake that you see applicants making in the application process? [28:28]

Yeah, it’s a funny one. Usually, we kind of let it go because it’s so common, but a lot of people will cut and paste essays and keep the other schools that they’re applying to. It’s okay because we know that they’re applying to multiple schools, but sometimes people will say, “I’m applying to HEC only.” And then they will cut and paste an essay in a CV where they cite another school. It’s the most common one. I think for the admissions team, we are rather used to it. We know that it can happen. We know, “Okay, it’s an oversight. Maybe the person is not super detail-oriented.”

But where it can have a larger impact is our alumni will have access to the application of the person who’s applied and moved into an interview round. So for I would say our alumni, it’s a more big mistake because they want people who are like diehard HEC, they want them to love HEC, to only be thinking about HEC. So common. Easy though, I think, for applicants to take a quick double-check, put a PDF of your application file, look the whole thing through, and just look for these very small but easy-to-fix things, I would say.

Yeah, this is one of the things that comes up repeatedly from admission directors. My suggestion for applicants is if you are adapting essays from another school, don’t cut and paste, number one. But if you are adapting essays from another school, when you start that process, not at the end, when you start, do a find and replace. That way, you will not miss it. 

You mentioned ChatGPT a few minutes ago. Are you concerned at all about it? [30:17]

What’s quite interesting is recently we had a professor who gave an exam, and he allowed half the class to use ChatGPT, and he allowed half the class not to use it, and it turned out no one knew who did, who didn’t. And the professor, when they were marking the test, they didn’t know who had used it or who didn’t. The grading was much, much higher for those who did not use it. So A, I think that says something for now I think that you may lose creativity, and sometimes we know people did ChatGPT because of the format of the paragraphs or how they use emojis or kind of how they do things, it’s quite easy to know.

In the end, we are not going to ding anyone for it, but I think you might be doing yourself a disservice because A, you miss the thought that you put into the essays, which is just as important as what you write. I think the process of taking the time, finding your achievement, wording it, having that deep impact to how it comes across and how we’ll read it might or might not be more generic. I don’t know yet, and I’m sure chat GPT will get better. But for the moment, I don’t think it helps candidates that much. Maybe to formulate their ideas. But then I would still go back, and if you want the best essay, I think probably for now you’re still better than the robots. But we’re not too worried for the moment. We’ll kind of see what happens in the future. But again, we’re not looking at somebody who writes perfectly. We’re looking to understand the person, their ideas, their flow, et cetera. So if they have someone or a robot that helps them, it’s not the end of the world today.

What about applicants applying for your January 2025 intake or planning ahead for the September 2025 intake? What advice do you have for these two groups? [31:57]

I think they kind of have a pleasure and a joy of planning because we see both the people who plan really early, especially when we go to fairs, for example, in Germany, they’re planning two years out, and then we see last minute applicants who are coming in one month. We like all of them, but I do think that there’s a joy in planning early because it allows you to kind of check the boxes, make a financial plan, figure out the funding, how you’re going to be able to pay for this, make a really good Excel. Because I think funding and understanding that is quite important, and sometimes it can be maybe overlooked or rushed. So I think it’s great because you can actually make, “I want to save X.” And how much your loan is for.

I think the other thing is that you have more time to perhaps visit schools, explore, maybe do that thing where you go on multiple campus visits across schools to assess fit, more time to get in touch with current students or alumni or the schools themselves. What I would probably look at for those candidates, too, schools are changing their curriculums, not rapidly, but I hope that they’re adapting every couple of years. So I guess it will be important to know how do schools adapt their curriculum? How might that impact you? How can you kind of anticipate what might be different in a couple of years? So those are some questions that could be interesting to ask. But otherwise, I would say just enjoy the ride, the joy, and all of the time you have to study, to plan. But don’t under or overestimate the amount of time and kind of ignore little things. Just use that time wisely so that you have, I guess, a pleasant journey where you can plan everything and you’re not rushed at the last moment.

What would you have liked me to ask you? [33:57]

Maybe why or how is an MBA still relevant? Is it still relevant? Why is this the degree to follow maybe in today’s day and age? I think that’s something that people are kind of questioning.

Since the moment that I worked at Rotman, I have, and even before, real admiration for the MBA degree because I think it’s so versatile, and having had the pleasure of working careers, I have seen miraculous career jumps, changes, and not just career, but also personal. So if I look at a student who would come for coaching in year one versus two, the way that they’re challenged, the way that they’re trained to feel comfortable in the uncomfortable, the way that MBA programs teach a core but also teach you to anticipate trends, the way that you can holistically see marketing or finance or all of these buckets and how they work together, I think it’s incredible. For me, it’s still the most transformational, versatile degree. It opens doors that would most likely be closed or take you a lot longer to achieve. So I think that that’s probably the thing that you should know first. Why are you passionate about an MBA? And then for me, I truly believe in this degree before I did it, but since I did it, and with everything I’ve seen from careers to admissions and more.

I got my MBA a long time ago, and I did not pursue a traditional MBA path, and I don’t think I fully realized the benefit of the degree until maybe 15 years after I got it. But it still benefited me when I started Accepted. It has long-term value. [35:35]

Yeah, that’s extremely important. You’re not just investing in something that’s for a couple of years, you’re investing in something for life. And I’m sure that there will be moments at two years, five years, 10 years, 20 beyond where you’ll be like, “Oh yeah, I remember that.” Or, “Oh, I can read that balance sheet.” Even though you haven’t used it.

Where can listeners and potential applicants learn more about HEC Paris’ MBA programs? [36:42]

The first stop is probably the most obvious. So go on the HEC Paris MBA website. From there, there are two of buttons that you can click that might be a good place to start outside of the curriculum, et cetera. 

One would be to connect with us. So I mentioned our marketing recruitment managers, they’re the loveliest people. They want to get to know you, and they’re really genuinely there to help you, get to know you. When I visit their offices, they know where someone they met two years ago is in the class or in which job, so it’s genuine.

Or we have a button that talks about our news stories or blogs, and it inspires me all the time. I also really like Instagram, but I won’t go too crazy because I like to dream about what’s next beyond just kind of the technical things in the brochure, and our stories allow you to dream about, I don’t know, a family that moved here together or at Christmas, there was all the Christmas lights of Paris and what you can enjoy, or a student story about where they did their internships. So I would say start by dreaming and connecting with us and then go deeper into the details.

Relevant Links:

• HEC Paris
• Are you ready? MBA Admissions Quiz

Relevant shows:

• Applying to Wharton Lauder? Do Your Research!, podcast Episode 465
• Get Accepted to UW’s Foster School of Business, podcast Episode 461
• How to Get Accepted to Oxford Said Business School, podcast Episode 457

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The post How to Get Into HEC Paris MBA [Episode 565] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Applying to a European MBA program isn’t quite the same as applying to an American program. The programs themselves often have a different focus than U.S. schools, and adcoms therefore look out for different skills and qualifications. I’d like to direct you to the following resources on our website – blog posts that focus specifically on how to answer specific questions on specific European b-school applications. Please check them out and be in touch if you have any questions!

School-Specific Tips for European B-Schools:

• Cambridge Judge MBA Essay Tips
  
  
• ESADE MBA Essay Tips
  
  
• HEC Paris MBA Essay Tips
  
  
• IMD MBA Essay Tips
  
  
• INSEAD MBA Essay Tips
  
  
• London Business School MBA Essay Tips
  
  
• London Business School MiF Essay Questions and Tips
  
  
• London Business School MiM Essay Questions and Tips
  
  
• Oxford Said MBA Essay Tips

For more advice, I recommend you check out these podcasts that feature interviews with adcom members from top European b-schools – it’s always good to get advice from the source itself!

• How to Get Into HEC Paris MBA Program
  
  
• How an MBA Can Help Entrepreneurs, an interview with Inge Kerkloh-Devif, Senior Executive Director and Senior Vice President of the HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center
  
  
• How to Get Accepted to Oxford Said Business School
  
  
• Why Is This Successful Leader Investing In an Oxford Said Executive MBA?
  
  
• What Prospective MBAs Need to Know About Applying to INSEAD
  
  
• What to Expect From the MBA Experience at Cambridge Judge Business School
  
  
• This London Business School MBA’s Startup Is Protecting Your Online Privacy
  
  
• How the ESADE MBA Program Aspires to Make a Positive Impact
  
  
• Early Career Management and European MBA Programs with Jamie Wright
  
  
• All About the Grenoble DBA (Doctorate in Business Administration)

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The post Tips for Applying to European Business Schools appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

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Do you need an MBA as an entrepreneur? [Show Summary]

What does it take to become an entrepreneur who drives impact and change? Is an MBA necessary? Inge Kerkloh-Devif, Senior Executive Director and Senior Vice President of the HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center, shares her thoughts.

Interview with Inge Kerkloh-Devif, Sr. Exec. Dir. & Sr. Vice President of the HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 492nd episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for tuning in. Are you trying to figure out how you should approach the four to eight applications that you’re planning to submit when applying to an MBA program? You can get tips and answers by taking Accepted’s free, short quiz – just six questions – at accepted.com/mapmba. By taking the quiz, you’ll get a sense of how well you’re approaching this critical process and gain access to relevant resources, both free and paid, that will provide you with an effective and efficient strategy for your MBA application effort. 

Our guest today, Inge Kerkloh-Devif, earned her masters in Marketing and Communications at HEC Paris in 2006. Since then, she worked in business in Paris and then became Executive Vice President of HEC Paris’s Executive Education Program, focusing on Global Business Development. In 2019, she moved into her current role as Senior Executive Director and Senior Vice President of the HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center. In 2021, she added to her responsibilities the role of Co-Site Lead Executive at the Creative Destruction Lab in Paris in partnership with the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center.

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Can you tell us a little bit about both HEC’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center and the Creative Destruction Lab in Paris? [2:11]

Of course. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center is the whole ecosystem we have built as a school around innovators and entrepreneurs. As we say, we think, we teach, and we act around innovation and entrepreneurship. That means we do research on innovation and entrepreneurship. We have more than 20 programs we are teaching at the school to teach innovation and entrepreneurship to our students. And we have all of our incubator acceleration programs, so students are learning by doing. Entrepreneurship is really part of the DNA of the school. 

The Creative Destruction Lab, or CDL, was founded 10 years ago in Toronto, Canada at the Rotman Management School. They’re now partnering with 12 universities all over the world to offer this objective-based program from massively scalable, seed-stage science and technology-based companies. It’s really an acceleration program for deep tech. The program has an intake from more than 600 companies per year. We have one lab in Paris, we have one lab on climate, and one lab on space.

What’s the difference between deep tech and tech? [4:15]

Very good question. I think I can give 10 different answers to this. For us, we can see this really emerging more and more in engineering and scientific projects. Those are really long-term projects. We are working with scientists and engineers to get these projects to grow. For us, it’s specifically based on scientific and engineering projects to give this deep tech long-term projects. When I say we are working with scientists and engineers, they’re coming out of the laboratories. It’s very research-based. 

If I have a business idea, or maybe I don’t yet have a business idea, but I know that I want to be an entrepreneur at some point in my career, how can an MBA help me succeed? [5:33]

I think of these as two different stages. 

If you already have your idea or if you’re just joining an MBA, what we can see is very often, students are launching their business or their ideas a little bit after completing their MBA. They learn all the basics, they build their network, and then the business idea emerges a little bit later. So the MBA is first, and the business idea and growing it come after they graduate. 

But also we have some students who already have a business idea. At HEC, we offer a specialization in entrepreneurship. Even during your MBA studies, you can meet investors, learn from peers, and you can get access to this amazing ecosystem we have to grow your idea. 

Those are two different ways to do your entrepreneurship project when you come to an MBA at HEC.

Do you have any idea how many HEC grads start their own business either while at HEC or immediately after, and how many do it a few years down the road? [7:03]

Almost 25% of our grads have the plan to build their own business when they’re graduating, which is an amazing amount to be honest, because five or ten years ago, it was not this way. People were going into consulting or banking. Now people are more and more interested in building their own businesses. 

On campus, we have 400 projects per year that our students are building. That includes the MBA and Executive MBA students. Not all of them are growing and going further, but we have the HEC Incubator. We see that the projects that come to the Incubator have a survival rate of about 85% about three or four years down the road. It’s a very high figure. Most students are really pursuing their businesses once they have joined the HEC Incubator. We currently have 200 projects in the Incubator. 

What kind of support do students receive from the HEC Incubator? [9:10]

They have a very fancy office space because our Incubator is at Station F, which is the most important startup campus worldwide, and we have our 200 startups there. But the office space is a small part. I think the important part is we have a specific custom-made program, which is not a fixed program. They have an “à la carte” menu. They have office hours with our experts, our alumni, and our professors. We have 650 experts around our “Incubees,” so to say. They get custom-made support depending on their project. 

They also really benefit from our alumni network, which helps with many things beyond access to finance or funding but general business connections. I think it’s even more important to get business access to have those first customers. It’s not just about fundraising. They’ll really benefit from this ecosystem.

Some will say that entrepreneurs would be better off investing money in their entrepreneurial venture instead of getting an MBA and learning from the experience. How would you respond to that? [11:13]

We get this question quite often. I think there are a few answers to this. What we can see is the competencies students get during the MBA help them be very efficient in the business world. Especially during the pandemic and this uncertainty, people are looking more for MBA training. We really had increasing numbers of people joining the MBA during these uncertain times. 

We follow our MBA students a couple of years after they graduate and what we can see is they all have a ROI, or return on investment. They don’t ask if it’s worth it three or four years later. 

Last but not least, I think our network and community are priceless. Students are getting access to a big alumni community. We have 68,000 alumni all over the world. We have more than 80 chapters in different countries. Students immediately gain access to a global network. HEC’s 

How is deep tech entrepreneurship developing going forward? Can you touch on the conference you attended regarding this? [14:25]

We really see an exciting development in this. In Europe and in France, you have a lot of important engineering schools, and we can see more and more projects coming out of that. At HEC, we actually mix up those engineers with our business people. When we think about the future of tomorrow, there’s a lot of technology. Our economy and our world will benefit from future technology. Things like the climate crisis can be addressed through technology and innovation. 

The conference I attended was IAC, which is the International Congress for Astronauts that took place in Paris this year. I see entrepreneurs taking part in the space adventure. Obviously, there’s Elon Musk and SpaceX, but there are so many developments coming and out from entrepreneurs who are able to contribute to the future space adventure. Space will be part of our world tomorrow. We really see the momentum here in the present moment. We are really excited about combining this potential with our business students to be a part of building our future. This is what we’re seeing worldwide, especially in Europe and in France.

How is space exploration going to improve our lives? [16:59]

I think there are a lot of examples already. There’s been a lot in medical research. Even L’Oréal is doing some exciting research in space. I think this is what we can see today already having an impact, but in the future, it can have an impact on the climate, for example. The information we can get from space can give us innovation to solve the climate problems we are facing on earth. There are more and more solutions coming out of space that are helping us. One important impact is that we can get access to the internet worldwide. It’s step by step. 

I think there are a lot of things coming in the future, and I don’t know what we will discover once we are on the moon. I think there are a lot of things coming, but immediately I think research, communication, and information. And last but not least, we’ll probably get some help with the climate challenge. 

What is your favorite piece of advice for college students or adults out of college who have what they think is a great idea for a business? [18:36]

Interesting question. One thing we say is, “Make it happen, make it big.” That means you can have a small and beautiful idea, but look at it and be excited about the idea to grow it in order to have a big impact. When one of our students has an idea, we challenge them to make it happen and to make it big. Think about how your project, even though you need to start small, can grow and if there’s an opportunity to grow, how you can scale it in order to get a more important impact. 

We are really looking at all of our projects and asking what impact they have on business and society, so my second piece of advice is to ask, “Is this project able to positively contribute to business and also society?” We can see our students are looking for those results. Businesses can really help and have an impact tomorrow. If you start a business, you need to be responsible for what you’re doing with your business and the way you’re growing.

So make it happen, make it big, and look for the impact on the economy and society. Those would be the two answers I would give.

Of the four new unicorns in France in 2022, two of them got their master’s degrees at HEC. Of a total of 24 unicorns, HEC alumni founders represented 25%. That’s a pretty impressive track record. What aspects of HEC’s entrepreneurial offerings do you feel were most helpful in these entrepreneurs having the impact and making it so big? [21:23]

It’s not our focus because while we think unicorns are important, you also can grow a business without being a unicorn. So the first answer is we don’t focus on unicorns. For sure, as I mentioned, we really live by the “Make it happen, make it big” motto. If you have a unicorn, you can have a huge impact. 

Our first unicorn was actually Doctolib, which is a platform to help book medical appointments. It was really helpful during the pandemic for the government and for all of us citizens. Being a unicorn and having a big impact is nice but getting that status is not our sole purpose. It’s a huge number, to be honest. We are a little bit surprised ourselves. We thought about what the reason behind it might be. What we can see is that education can really help you be performant and drive a business with performance.

Second, as I mentioned, we mix up engineers with our business students. These people come together and sit in one classroom, meet, and find some very brilliant ideas. The diversity of our students might be an answer. 

The third part is we really think the ecosystem around HEC students, including alumni and professors, leads to success. 

It might be any of these three reasons, but there might be others. I should ask our students and our unicorns. It’s really nice because very often, students credit HEC and say, “My experience at HEC has been important, thank you for helping me to build this business.” That’s very nice to hear.

What are some of the differences between entrepreneurship in Europe or in France and the United States? [24:24]

There are actually not a lot of differences, which might be surprising. What we can see is that Europe was a little bit behind the United States but we can see a growing ecosystem and growing support. The French government has been very supportive in the last few years. We can see more investment and funding opportunities as well as support from the government. There are also more students looking to be entrepreneurs. So I would say that we are catching up to the United States and the way we do business is almost the same.

There is the difference of being spread out. We don’t have one place like Silicon Valley, but we have innovation hubs all over Europe. London is a very important place for creation. Paris is obviously another one in Europe and the third is Munich. What is different in Europe is an entrepreneur here is not working in one place. You probably will work in London, Munich, and Paris, which is actually nice. You have these ecosystems like mini Silicon Valleys spread across Europe. 

It’s multilingual but English is actually the most important language. You work in English all over Europe, so the language is not an issue anymore. It’s still nice if you speak some French. 

If you don’t mind, I would like to mention Asia. I think we also need to keep an eye on what’s happening in there, even though it’s more difficult in China, but there are a lot of things happening in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship. We shouldn’t underestimate the innovation and entrepreneurship they have in place there and how heavily they support this within Asia Pacific. I think there’s a lot of innovation going on all over the world. Africa is also starting to see this a little bit as well. Overall, I think the global place is a very innovative place.

One of the entrepreneurial mantras that I hear talked about is, “Fail fast and fail often.” What do you think about that? [28:09]

Obviously, you can learn from your failures, and you should always learn from them. Looking at it from a cultural point of view, failure is not the same in France compared to the United States. We don’t like failure so much in France. It’s a cultural difference. You can learn from failures but we focus on helping students be successful. It can be quite expensive to fail too. I think we try to help them to be successful but still encourage learning by doing and learning from failures.

What would you have liked me to ask you? [29:59]

You already asked me about the impact we have from entrepreneurship in tech and space. And the important question is how innovation, entrepreneurship, and tech entrepreneurship can be a part of the solution for a better future. This is a contribution we can give to our future world and economy and society. It’s very close to our heart at HEC. This is quite an exciting environment we are working in and it gives me a bit of hope saying, “There are a lot of solutions out there, let’s be a part of the solution.”

Where can listeners and potential applicants learn more about HEC’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center? [31:29]

https://www.hec.edu/en/faculty-research/centers/innovation-entrepreneurship-center

Related links:

• HEC Paris MBA
• HEC Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center
• HEC Paris 2022-23 MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines
• Map Your MBA Application Quiz
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• What These Seasoned Startup Founders Have Done Since Earning Their Stanford MBAs

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The post How an MBA Can Help Entrepreneurs [Episode 492] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

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Discover HEC Paris’ top-ranked MBA Program [Show Summary]

HEC Paris’ top-ranked MBA Program is known for its entrepreneurial spirit, the strong representation of many cultures, and the rich alumni network that feels like family. Benoit Banchereau, MBA Admissions Director, explores what sets this program apart and how potential students can secure a spot.

Benoit Banchereau, Executive Director, Marketing and Admissions at HEC Paris MBA programs shares what the program is looking for in applicants [Show Notes]

It gives me great pleasure to have for the first time on Admissions Straight Talk, Benoit Banchereau. Benoit is the Executive Director of Marketing and Admissions at HEC Paris MBA programs. He earned two masters degrees from the Sorbonne in Paris, one in Bilingual Journalism and the other in Media and Communication. He also participated in INSEAD’s International Marketing Program. He has worked in communications and marketing for companies like A.T. Kearney, Standard & Poor’s, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer before joining HEC Paris in 2015 as Director of Marketing and Admissions. In 2019, he became the Executive Director of Marketing and Admissions for all of HEC Paris’ MBA programs.

Can you start by giving us an overview of HEC’s three MBA programs? [2:17]

We have a full-time MBA that takes place on the campus of Jouy-en-Josas. It’s a 16-month program that students complete on-site. The Executive MBA program is between 15 and 18 months. It includes people who are generally above 35, and it’s a part-time MBA. We have five flexible options. We have some modular intakes, weekend intakes, a bilingual intake in French and English, and an intake in Qatar where we have an office.

Our program is very highly ranked in the Financial Times, it has the number one place. For the moment so far so good, but you can never stay too long in first place. Our TRIUM Executive MBA is a partnership with NYU and LSE, London School of Economics. It’s a very special international offer that gives students the opportunity to belong to the three alumni communities from HEC, NYU, and LSE.

Is the TRIUM Executive MBA a full-time program or a part-time program? [4:32]

It’s a part-time program with exactly the same target. In terms of population, it’s more expensive than our Executive MBA at HEC. It really gives a special offer. It’s usually between 50 and 60 participants so it’s a very small cohort with people trying to get an international perspective. The alliance between HEC, NYU, and LSE is so valuable, especially at this time when we see that international relations are so important. It gives a very interesting approach, especially with our friends from LSE who can actually bring this to students.

Can you zoom in on the full-time MBA program’s more notable and distinctive elements? [6:05]

What you’re going to get from the full-time MBA is the quality of the courses that we provide with top professors. The way that it’s structured is we have a fundamental phase that lasts eight months. Then it’s followed by a customized phase that lasts another eight months. It could be an international exchange, it could be a specialization, it could be actually many things. It’s really a la carte, which is very appreciated by participants because they can really design their own way of doing the MBA.

The fundamental phase is compulsory for everyone. You can’t actually choose corporate finance or not, marketing or not, operations or not. What we are trying to introduce during the MBA is learning by doing. We are really careful about that because you can attend a lot of conferences and speeches about leadership and you will probably enjoy it very much. But at the same time, it doesn’t mean that you will be able to do it. I mean, you have been inspired, but are you able really to demonstrate on the ground that you can apply it? What have you learned? This is really what it’s about.

There are many elements during the full-time MBA, where you have the possibility of showing that you can learn by doing. You have also some real-time problem-solving workshops and initiatives so that you can actually discover who you truly are as a leader and on which parts you have to work to improve your leadership. You discover yourself, which is something that is looked after by the participants. 

Of course, the most important thing about this full-time MBA is where are you going to get a job. People are coming to do a career transformation. I’m not saying that the courses are not important; your courses are important. But really what really matters is where you’re going to land after your MBA. What kind of job you’re going to find? Are you going to achieve this transformation that you are looking after? And this is what we make sure happens, it’s this transformation.

Usually, we gauge this by three levels: change of sector, change of function, and change of country. 80% of our students are managing to do two of those three changes, and 40% do what we call a triple jump. I’m always amazed to see this because it really means that you have left the job that you had and the country where you were living to have a better future. You’re getting this future because 93% of our cohort is finding a job three months after graduating which is reassuring. Where our students land is just amazing, especially knowing where they started. This is a very, very big transformation that they can accomplish.

In the United States, the common wisdom is that if you’re going to make a career change, an internship really facilitates that career change. In a 16-month program do you do an internship? If so, then when? [10:43]

This is very interesting because your question is coming from someone who lives in the U.S. who thinks that 16 months is short. But when actually livingin Europe, you have the main competitor, which is INSEAD, and they are doing everything in 10 months. We have chosen to do this full-time MBA in 16 months because that’s the right time to make this transformation. If you want a true transformation, it’s very hard to do it in 10 months. You need at least those 16 months because you’re going to do an internship like you said. It could be actually a summer internship or it could be right after the phases that I was mentioning before. You can actually find some room before the graduation to do an internship as well.

While you are doing the fundamental phase and while you are doing the specialization phase, of course you are following a career curriculum from day one. You are in contact with our staff in the career center and they’re trying to help you find what you’re going to do and what you want to achieve. It really means that you need to know exactly where you want to go and you also need to know yourself. Then you need to match the two, match yourself with your expectation and the market to see exactly what you can do. When you do this, then you can actually see if you need an internship to achieve this, it’s not actually compulsory.

We have about 60% of our participants doing an internship, but it means that 40% of them are not doing it and they still get great jobs. It’s not actually an obligation to do an internship to get the right job. It helps in many aspects for some jobs like consulting but for many jobs, you don’t need an internship. You can actually go straight to where you want to go.

Other than a knowledge of English, are there any language requirements at HEC Paris? [14:03]

Yes, that’s a big requirement. You need to do three languages during your MBA. If you’re American, obviously you speak English but then you will have to do two other languages. We recommend doing French because you will be living in the country for 16 months. It’s great to know how to speak and to interact with the locals in Paris – when you’re going to ask for a coffee, when you’re going to try to find your way. We don’t expect you, in the end, to be a black belt in French because it’s a difficult language but at least you will pass the test that shows that you know how to express yourself in French.

Then you can choose another language. Most of our participants have a mother tongue language, then they know how to speak English and then they learn French. This is the third language that they have to learn. It may seem like a big constraint, but it’s a great feature of our program. People are enjoying this on campus because they’re learning about new cultures. Since the diversity of our class is so great, it helps a lot. 

I insist on that language aspect. Our full-time MBA is so diverse that we have only 6% French students in the program. This is a big difference compared to the U.S. My friends, who completed MBA programs in the U.S. at prominent schools like Harvard, Wharton, and Stanford, all told me that it was huge to have 20% of international people in the class but most of the cohorts were actually coming from the States.

Sometimes it’s difficult because you have a leading population over only some representatives of some countries. But I’d actually say, and I think it’s the same with our main competitor INSEAD, it’s quite well balanced in terms of region. We have 24% coming from North America and Latin America, we have only 19% coming from Europe which is surprising. We have 11% coming from Africa and the Middle East. We have 46% coming from Asia and Oceania. I would say that the most prominent and largest population is coming from India. There are probably 21% of Indian participants and the rest are people coming from all different countries. China is important, but not so large in terms of number.

The good thing is that you are truly mixed. There isn’t a leading population overrepresented in the class. You need to find your way and you need to understand the specificity of other countries. You can find this in language because you discover the specificities of people and their countries within the language. When you learn a new language, it’s a way to understand why people are behaving certain ways.

The other day someone asked me, “But why is it so diverse at HEC?” and I was saying that it’s actually a chance for participants but it’s also a challenge for participants. Think about when you are doing a strategy exercise on a team with someone coming from France, from Russia, from the States, from India, from China, from South Africa, and someone from Germany. When you have to make a decision, when you have to make sure that everyone is contributing, doing a share of their part, this is a real challenge because the notion of time is very different for everyone. The notion of rigor is very different. It doesn’t mean that they are not reaching the same conclusion in the end. But there are actually different paths that lead to the conclusion and this is a real challenge. If in the end, you are working in another environment because everybody is working abroad from their own countries. If you are working in an international company, you will be facing these kinds of challenges and it’s hard. You need to be patient, you need to understand and you need to move on. That’s actually something that is really in the DNA of this full-time MBA, because of the diversity that we find here.

There’s also the diversity of doing this in a non-native setting. [21:13]

Exactly. I’m always amazed. I just try to remember myself when I was 25 or 30 years old. It’s a big thing to quit your job and to travel all over the world to Paris and then you’re going to do something completely new. You’re hoping for a better future and you’re going to be mixed with some people who you have no idea of. But the beauty of it is that they’re going to unleash some strength and some opportunities. Everyone is a door to another universe and something that you were not aware of. You were living your life and suddenly you discovered that there are so many jobs that you didn’t have in mind. You are inspired by the people who are around you in your cohort and that’s a richness, truly.

HEC requires the GMAT or the GRE. Are there any plans to accept the Executive Assessment or other tests? Are you considering introducing test waivers? [23:27]

There are two different situations for the Executive MBA. The GMAT and the GRE are not compulsory, you can do an Executive Assessment. If you don’t do it, we have our own test that we do during the interviews, but this is specific to the Executive MBA. When we’re talking about the full-time MBA, we rely on those tests to follow the requirements that are necessary to make sure that we are recognized internationally and that we are recruiting with the same tools that other business schools in the same range are using. After that, we do our own selection. This is very specific from one business school to another, but at least we’re starting from the same basis from the same elements to make our judgment and to reach a conclusion.

Here at HEC, we don’t do waivers. If you really want to join us and do your full-time MBA, you need to sit for the GMAT or you need to sit for the GRE. We don’t discriminate, neither test is better than the other. If you feel more comfortable or you have already passed a test, that is okay with us. We know how to gauge the GRE, we know how to gauge the quality of people. Because the test centers were closed during COVID, there was a period of time when we were blind and we didn’t have any test scores. We are quite confident in our recruitment so for the time we decided to say, “We can give you an answer of whether you will be admitted or not without the test and we will not go back on this, but before you arrive on campus, we expect that you take and pass the test.”

You don’t only do it for us. It’s also for you because, during your career journey, the recruiters are going to ask, What was your GMAT or what was your GRE score?” You need to have this ready anyway. So this is what happened during the COVID. But now we are back to a normal situation, I would say, for the moment. 

What are you looking for in applicants besides stats? [27:05]

Honestly, we are lucky because we have bright people who are knocking on our door. In the end they have a great GMAT or a great GRE and we are lucky with this. But we know that there is a different situation where you’re going to have some people who have a lower GMAT with a great CV. You could explain this by differences across the region, the country, the facility to take the test, etc. The thing is we still are recruiting some people with, probably a 590 or 600 GMAT just to give you an idea. Sometimes it’s something that is cultural that could explained. Sometimes it’s also people who are overwhelmed by their job while they’re trying to prepare. 

Sometimes we ask some people to retake the GMAT because we think that they could have done actually much better. But sometimes we are already blown away by the CV and the quality of the essays that we have seen. We can actually be very tolerant on that side. It’s not like you have to have a 690 GMAT to get in, it’s an average. It means that we have 780 GMAT scores but we have also sometimes the 600 GMAT scores and it’s fine with us. It’s not sacred because we also need to take into account what you were doing. For instance, you were a professional pianist or a doctor or you were working in a very specific industry. We had someone recently who was working in a circus in Canada. That was her passion. She had done great studies before turning to the circus area but she was not ready to take those tests again and have a great result.

For us, it’s not something that is determinative to reject someone just because the GMAT or the GRE was a little bit low. We take into consideration the quality of your studies, your bachelors or your masters as well as where you did it and how you performed at that time. For us this is actually, I would say the very important side in our decision to select you or not. It’s the addition of all these elements that makes the difference and not so much the results of the test, honestly.

What makes for a great CV? [31:02]

A great CV is where you see the potential because you’re betting, you’re betting on someone. The participants are investing in themselves because they want to have a better future and a better job. This is actually the true acceleration. Most of the time it’s people following a normal path which is good studies and a good job for five years. And then they suspect that there’s not enough action. It’s been five years, and it’s been already too long. We really see those candidates who say, “Okay, well, I need to do something now just to accelerate, to stand out from the crowd.” And this is the reason why they want to do something else or to have a better position after the full-time MBA. 

But I would say that for us, a great CV is when you can feel that there’s a strong ambition and strong motivation. The reason behind it is not only, “I want to make a lot of money.” This is not enough. We can understand that it’s great to make money, but the candidates need to show us that there’s a real ambition behind it and we can read it in the CV already. It’s not only in the essay that you express this, your CV talks also for yourself.

HEC has five required essays and one optional, the essays cover a broad array of topics. Are you planning to keep five and one optional next cycle? What do you want to learn from the essays? [33:05]

Compared to the other business schools, maybe we are asking for too many essays, but we are French. And we are a country of great literature like the U.S. Maybe it’s a way for us to see the coherence in the different essays. This is probably why there are so many. Most of the time we meet the candidates before they actually apply. But when you don’t know a person, you really need to see if their speech is coherent.

The last essay, the optional one, that we recently introduced is mainly to cover diversity. In France, when we speak about diversity, it’s not like in the U.S. In the application form, we’re not going to ask you if you are Caucasian, if you are Latino, if you are African-American. In France, you don’t ask those questions because it’s the land of equality. It would mean that you would have to do specific work, to improve the equality that is actually on paper guaranteed to everyone. To talk about diversity, we introduced this optional essay. It’s for us to provide a space where you can tell us what your difference is. It could be anything. It could be that you belong to the LGBT community. Or you are gifted with playing an instrument by ear. It can be an extraordinary experience you want to tell us. For us, this is diversity. It’s everything.

Since it was impossible to put a box and say, “Okay, tick the box here just to show us your diversity,” anyone can come with anything. It is actually taken into account in our way of assessment because we will see if you have a specific difference. This is your space, just stand out. That is why we introduced this essay.

What happens to applications after the applicant hits submit? How was their application processed and evaluated? [36:48]

Well, first of all, it’s very important that we meet future applicants. We have a great team who travels all over the world to meet future applicants. I’m stressing this because this is very important. We take the time, and we invest a lot of money in this. The people that the future applicants are going to meet are just amazing. We have chosen those people because they are amazing. 

It works over Zoom, but we have resumed travels as well. We are very happy about that. And you can bet that the team is very happy about that also because we’re going to meet the future applicants in their countries. We’re going to organize meetings with alumni who live there. We are going to organize all sorts of things when we are traveling. This is what makes actually a difference because you get to know the program not only by the people who are advisors and who present it but also from the people who completed the program. It’s very important in your decision, so this is why we do this. If you feel comfortable and have been inspired by everyone that you have met, then you apply to HEC.

We are doing something that is exceptional on the market. We are able to tell you in about a month, whether you’ll be admitted or not. Trust me, it’s a challenge. It’s a challenge for the team especially because every month the race is starting again. You finish the jury and then you are already trying to process the next month’s jury that is going to happen in four weeks or five weeks. It’s a challenge also for the people who applied because it means that for us it’s to pre-select or not the people who applied. Then when we do the pre-selection, then we are going to organize the interviews.

It’s a bit special because we rely a lot on our alumni. It is the alumni who are going to do the interviews. There will be two interviews with two alumni. Usually, it’s an alumnus that lives near where the applicant lives. We used to do this in person but since COVID we moved to a Zoom interview, even though you were living just two blocks away from the applicants. It’s a shame, but it was by Zoom. More and more we are going to resume those in-person interviews because it’s well appreciated on both sides.

Why are we trusting our alumni community? It’s because there’s one thing that we can’t really define by words, it’s the culture of the HEC Paris MBA program. I will not be able to tell you myself, in words, what it is. No one would be able to do that. If you ask the alumni community, they won’t be able to tell you, but if they meet someone during the interview, they will be able to say, “Yes, this guy belongs to our community, this is for sure.” They are willing to tell the jury that this was a cultural feeling and that this candidate could be a future participant.

What’s the most common mistake you see applicants making in the application process? [41:30]

Sometimes you have someone who actually thought that they had sent this application form to the INSEAD and actually sent it to HEC. It doesn’t mean that we reject this because we can take into consideration the fact that we know how it works. Of course, it doesn’t show a good sign when you see this. This is something that we can reconsider but I’m telling you this because it’s very important to tell your audience and the future participants to an MBA that every detail counts. We can understand sometimes that there’s a mistake in your CV, like a spelling mistake. But normally, we shouldn’t see these kinds of mistakes. What we expect from the future participants is a capacity to be focused and to be rigorous. 95% of the time, it’s actually a perfect application, with no mistakes like this. And even when we spot a mistake, I’m telling you, it really depends on the day that it happened, if we are actually in a good day or in a bad day. But we can be nice.

There are no right or wrong answers in the essays. We had that very recently. One essay was asking, “Who inspires you?” Someone who had an excellent GMAT, someone who had an excellent career path said, “I think that Hitler was actually a great leader. And I’m going to explain to you why he was a great leader.” Even though you see that the person chose to make a point through provocation, it doesn’t show very good judgment. It says something about your personality as well. Try to be smart when actually it doesn’t work. But you see I would say that’s the kind of mistake, even though it’s well written that you should avoid. Even though we have a lot of humor, there are some aspects where we don’t laugh at all. 

What advice do you have for applicants polishing their applications and aiming for the June 1st deadline? Are seats still available? Or should people just aim for the January intake? [45:34]

Yes, we still have actually some seats but we are reaching the end of the recruitment. We could have closed, but we decided to go until the last deadline which is in June. If it’s still open, it means that you have a chance to get in. Especially if you’re coming from Europe or close countries to France where you won’t have any difficulties with your visa, this is actually still possible.

If you are coming from a very remote country and you know that it will take some time to get the visa, et cetera, it might be a challenge. Sometimes we say, “Okay, don’t take the risk.” You are willing to take the risk, but don’t take the risk. You can target January 2023 instead of September 2022. It’s only four months away from September, it’s not a big deal. But if you have a better chance to arrive safely with all the documents that are required and can get your visa, it’s probably a better option.

Is there anything you would’ve liked me to ask you? Anything you’d like to address? [47:11]

I would say that when you’re talking about HEC Paris, you think that it’s in Paris, but our campus is not in Paris. It’s outside of Paris, 15 kilometers away. It’s very easy to commute and to get to Paris. It is an amazing opportunity to have a campus like this one. I have visited many business schools and this one is a truly residential campus. You’re going to make the most by living with your cohort, all the time together, make strong ties with each other. I know that MBA participants are looking for this because they are looking for the courses but what will remain are the people who are going to be your friends until the end of your life, truly. When you were doing a bachelor’s, you were not aware that the network was so important and you probably had a couple of friends, but that was it. This time you’re coming back to school and coming back on campus. Now you know that the network is key and people are coming from all over the world and you want to have ties with these people. The only way to do that is to spend some time with each other. To live on campus together for 16 months is very unique so that is one aspect that I wanted to mention.

The second aspect is actually linked to this. We did some stats and we found that 20% of our participants are finding a job thanks to their friends in their cohort. That’s a huge number. It means that even though the career center is providing great opportunities, in the end, you might find a job because of a friend. I have so many examples of this. 

Recently a guy was coming to HEC from Google and he wanted to do consulting. He arrived thinking that he was going to do that. He met someone who was working at Amazon and became a great friend and they realized that each had the dream job of the other and they actually helped each other to switch companies. Those are the kinds of stories that we’re hearing all the time on campus. People are helping each other and the fact that it’s a small cohort of 300 people, helps that because it’s the right size to have those interactions and to make those genuine connections with each other.

Where can listeners and potential applicants learn more about HEC Paris’s full-time MBA program or any of its programs? [51:37]

You can learn more on our website. Our brochure is available there as well. We make it very easy for you to find information and you can connect with the amazing team that I was talking about.

Related links:

• HEC Paris
• HEC Paris MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines
• Are you ready? MBA Admissions Quiz
• Accepted’s MBA Admissions Consulting Services

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• What Prospective MBAs Need to Know About Applying to INSEAD

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The post How to Get Into HEC Paris MBA Program [Episode 470] 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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Harvard Business School has taken the top spot away from Stanford Graduate School of Business in the Financial Times 2020 global MBA ranking. 

Although the Financial Times ranking is designed to favor non-U.S. programs, 15 of the top 25 MBA programs are based in the U.S. This result comes despite the decline in applications to U.S. MBA programs – now in its sixth straight year.

The 2020 top 5 schools have not changed since last year, although their rankings have. Following Harvard are: #2 – University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School (up 2 spots); #3 – Stanford Graduate School of Business (down 2 spots); #4 – INSEAD (down 1 spot); and #5 CEIBs in Shanghai, China (unchanged). 

Volatile rankings

Financial Times global ranking methodology is based on 20 different metrics, including some that are inclined to favor non-U.S. schools. Some metrics that add to a school’s position include the percentage of students, faculty, and trustees who possess passports from a country where the school is not located, whether students and alumni worked in foreign countries, whether students had international class experience, and whether the school has a requirement to learn an additional language before graduation. 

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A new metric was added this year – Corporate Social Responsibility. This metric has a weight of 3%, and is based on the percentage of teaching hours from core courses devoted to CSR, ethics, social, and environmental issues.  

The FT’s most heavily weighted metric is salary data (40%). its use of “purchasing power parity”, or PPP  favor schools whose grads go to work in countries with lower cost of living. This hurts U.S. schools since most grads of U.S. MBA programs want to live and work in the U.S. 

The ranking does not take incoming student quality into account. GMAT and GRE scores, as well as undergraduate GPA’s, are ignored. 

<< Watch: Linda Abraham and Marco De Novellis of BusinessBecause discuss the value of MBA rankings >>

FT’s ranking is known to be volatile, which reduces its credibility because there are few year-to-year changes at schools that explain big changes in the rankings. This means that there were big winners and big losers again this year. 

Twenty-seven of the 91 returning b-schools had double-digit increases or decreases in their standings. Fully half of the MBA programs ranked by FT five years ago (39 of 78) have felt double-digit changes, and 23 of those changes have been adjustments in 20 or more spots.

Top 25 International MBA Programs

2020 Rank	School	2019 Rank	Y-O-Y Change
1	Harvard	2	+1
2	UPenn Wharton	4	+2
3	Stanford GSB	1	-2
4	INSEAD	3	-1
5	CEIBS	5	---
6	MIT Sloan	8	+2
7	London	6	-1
8	Columbia	9	+1
9	HEC Paris	19	+10
10	Chicago Booth	7	-3
11	Northwestern Kellogg	14	+3
12	UC-Berkeley Haas	10	-2
13	IESE	12	-1
14	Yale SOM	11	-3
15	Nat’l Univ. of Singapore	17	+2
16	Dartmouth Tuck	15	-1
17	Duke Fuqua	19	+3
18	Virginia Darden	23	+5
19	Cambridge Judge	16	-3
19	Hong Kong UST	18	-1
21	Oxford Said	13	-8
22	New York Stern	25	+3
23	Cornell Johnson	27	+4
24	ESADE	21	-3
25	IMD	22	-3
25	UCLA Anderson	26	+1

Do you see yourself in one of these top international 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:

• Navigate the MBA Application Maze: 9 Tips to Acceptance, a free guide
• 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 Harvard as #1 in 2020 Global MBA Ranking appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Chicago’s Booth School of Business remaining at the top of The Economist’s ranking of the world’s top MBA programs for the second year in a row is only one of a few stable things in this year’s ranking, according to the Poets & Quants website. This is the seventh time Booth has taken the top spot in The Economist ranking in the past nine years.

This year’s ranking shakeup is widespread. Nineteen of the top 100 MBA programs faced leaps or falls of at least 10 spots since last year. Seven schools have dropped out of the ranking completely, leaving room for seven new schools.

The biggest winners and losers

HEC Paris made the biggest gain in the Top 10. It jumped 10 places to #3, behind just Chicago Booth (#1) and Harvard Business School (#2).

UVA Darden (#9 in 2018) and Columbia Business School (#10 in 2018) are no longer found in the Top 10 (they’ve dropped to 16th and 15th, respectively).

University of Maryland (#81 in 2019) and Northeastern University (#82 in 2019) are no longer ranked in the Top 100.

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Why are these rankings so volatile?

The Economist looks at 21 different metrics to determine their rankings. This is the most metrics of any ranking. They place heavy emphasis on compensation and career placement, including salaries, pre-MBA versus post-MBA pay increases, and the percent of grads who find jobs through the career management center. These comprise 45% of the methodology.

The Economist also relies quite a bit on student satisfaction, which is determined by an annual survey of current MBA students and recent alumni. These survey results comprise 20% of the ranking and are composed of:

• New career opportunities (35%)
• Personal development/educational experiences (35%)
• Increasing salary (20%)
• Potential to network (10%)

The Economist’s Top 25 MBA programs

2019 Rank	School	YOY Change	2018 Rank
1	Chicago Booth	-	1
2	Harvard Business School	+1	3
3	HEC Paris	+10	13
4	Northwestern Kellogg	-2	2
5	UPenn Wharton	-1	4
6	UCLA Anderson	+2	8
7	UC Berkeley Haas	+4	11
8	Stanford GSB	-3	5
9	Michigan Ross	-2	7
10	IESE	-4	6
11	Duke Fuqua	+4	15
12	Dartmouth Tuck	-	12
13	SDA Bocconi	+11	24
14	Cornell Johnson	+6	20
15	Columbia	-5	10
16	Virginia Darden	-7	9
17	New York University Stern	-	17
18	USC Marshall	+10	28
19	MIT Sloan	-3	16
20	Washington Foster	+2	22
21	Yale SOM	-7	14
22	INSEAD	-3	19
23	Georgia Tech Scheller	+8	31
24	Warwick	-6	18
25	London Business School	+2	27

Is a top MBA program in your future? Learn what these rankings mean for you and how you can secure your spot at your top choice b-school when you work one-on-one with an expert Accepted advisor. Explore our MBA Admissions Services for more information on how we can help you get ACCEPTED.

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Related Resources:

• Are You a Competitive Applicant at Your Dream School? [The MBA Selectivity Index]
• Do MBA Rankings Matter?
• Are You a Good Fit for Your Target MBA Programs?

The post Big Changes in Economist 2019 MBA Rankings appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

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Interview with Dr. Andrea Masini, Associate Dean at the HEC Paris MBA Program [Show Summary]

HEC Paris’s MBA program has a class that is comprised of 90+% international students. If you are interested in an MBA with a strong focus on diversity, the HEC Paris program might be for you! Dr. Andrea Masini, Associate Dean in charge of the HEC MBA Program, provides an excellent overview of HEC’s MBA program and its admission policies. The podcast shows that HEC is an MBA program with a global and innovative focus and commitment to developing business leaders around the world on a campus that values diversity and community.

HEC Paris: All About the MBA Program and How to Get Accepted [Show Notes]

Dr. Andrea Masini has been the Associate Dean in charge of the HEC MBA Program for the last three years. He is also an Associate Professor of Operations Management at HEC since 2010. He earned his PhD in Management from INSEAD and prior to coming to HEC was an Assistant Professor of Operations and Technology Management at London Business School. Dr. Masini’s research focus is in the operational and organizational impact of technology innovations, with a particular emphasis on information and communications technology, renewable energy technologies, and sustainability issues.

Dr. Masini, can you give us an overview of the HEC Paris MBA program? There may be listeners who aren’t that familiar with the program itself. [2:29]

We have a 16-month program, which we believe is the optimal length. The first eight months are composed of fundamentals of management, and the other eight months are customized with seven specializations dedicated to specific topics of management and dozens of elective courses. We also offer the possibility of doing projects with global partners in various locations around the world. It is a very comprehensive program and allows graduates to be credible talking to any subject matter expert, but also specialize for their professional needs.

What’s new at HEC Paris? [3:48]

We just went through a curriculum review and revamped it with greater attention to leadership and multicultural understanding. We have about 275 students, almost 60 nationalities, and are 90% international, so students are confronted by diversity on a constant basis and we want students to understand and value the diversity and manage and leverage it. We also have two new specializations (a specialization is a coherent set of eight electives dedicated to one topic) – Digital Innovation and Sustainable and Disruptive Innovation. These are important for recruiters but more so for participants, as more and more want to transform their career in a way that is meaningful with a digital and sustainable/social point of view.

How has HEC been affected by the recent turmoil in France, the Brexit situation, and the perception that the U.S. is less welcoming to foreign students than it used to be? [8:52]

The MBA program welcomes globalization, exchanges, and of course we are not pleased with the tensions we’ve observed. HEC has been growing double digits in application volume and class size-in the last 3-4 years. We had 200 students and now we are closer to 275. We are also seeing higher quality candidates. I wouldn’t say it is related to Brexit or the U.S. situation, at least not as the primary driver, but rather it has more to do with the HEC MBA being a better program with greater visibility, a stronger alumni network, and greater corporate outreach. Recent events in France have not affected the demand, and we view them more as an opportunity to reflect on how we can contribute to create a more just society, and we make sure graduates develop skills and competencies to be better leaders.

HEC prides itself on producing CEOs and residents of C-suites in general as well as entrepreneurs. How does it prepare its students for leadership roles? [13:19]

Some people think leadership can’t be taught, that it is part of your DNA. We think it can be a combination. We have a number of programs here that teach the fundamentals of leadership from a theoretical point of view, and then we have hands on experiences that challenge leadership ability. An example is an activity we do with a French military school which is the equivalent of West Point. It is a two-day seminar where participants are taken outside of their comfort zone and given individual and group challenges. Students are organized in groups of 10 and go through 10 different exercises, with each member having one time they are the leader, and the rest being led. Examples of activities are handling a crisis, rescuing someone from somewhere dangerous, or building a bridge, and they come to better understand attributes leaders should have and how difficult it can be to be led in certain situations.

A concrete example of this kind of activity is when a group had to build a bridge – it was a cold day, early in the morning, in the forest, and the leader of the group was a very self-confident alpha male. He had an idea about a solution, pushed everyone toward that solution, and it didn’t work. He had a teammate, a shy Asian woman who had the actual solution which she suggested three times but was completely ignored. At the end of the exercise the coach debriefed with the team and said to the leader, “You are overplaying your strength – you are very charismatic leader willing to lead by example, but by doing that you are not listening to your teammates.” To the Asian woman the coach said, “You were not able to have your idea understood or heard due to your shyness, so you can’t be an effective leader, either.” This was extremely helpful feedback for all participants. We also have student-led activities. A team of 25 students organizes an MBA sports tournament for MBA students coming from all over the world. It is a half million dollar project and run by our participants with the help of professors as coaches, helping the team function well. We have lots of opportunities like that. It is a combination of understanding fundamentals and applying them in a learning-by-doing environment.

I read recently that HEC has expanded its recruiting and outreach to Africa. Can you dive into that initiative a bit? [19:18]

We just opened a new office in the Ivory Coast, and we run communications for the west coast there but also promote the school and brand in the entire African continent. We have a lot of visibility in Africa, and it is a priority for our school.

HEC has an unusually high-touch and fast application process, promising a response in 5 weeks from submission of an application. Can you review the process? Is its efficiency a reflection of your operations background? [20:40]

I like to think it is a reflection of the quality of our team and the fact that we care about our candidates and value their time. We keep the program strategically small because we like to be able to have personal interactions with applicants. We also know applicants want to know fast so they can look at other opportunities if they need to. We rely on our alumni to really make that speed happen. Once all the requirements of the application are ready we have a pre-selection jury. If you pass that threshold you will have two interviews with alumni, and once we receive the recommendations from alums they are discussed in a final selection committee. This process wouldn’t work as efficiently if alumni didn’t help us.

What gets HEC excited (in a positive way) about an applicant? [22:45]

The little spark in the eyes of the applicant. We certainly look for candidates that will make the class better off as a result of being in it. We want applicants who have a professional plan, a mission to work hard, are open to diversity, candidates with international experience, who are willing to learn, and get out of their comfort zone. The usual criteria also apply – outstanding academic and professional background.

When someone tells me that he or she is interested in international marketing or luxury goods, I immediately think of HEC. What does HEC offer the prospective applicant interested in luxury good marketing or strategy? [24:22]

We offer an add-on to the MBA program, which is a certificate in the luxury and customer experience, so students have access to courses and training in luxury but also access to companies that are based here. We expect students that participate in this area to have the ability to join luxury goods companies in strategic roles and to understand it is not enough to just have a nice product. Our students get to enjoy campus visits from companies like LVMH and take trips to other countries in Europe, Italy for example, to further study luxury goods.

What else should make me think of HEC Paris? [26:10]

The core values of the school. One is excellence – academic and process excellence is in our DNA. Second is diversity – we are one of the most international programs in the world, if not the most international. Third is we are a school where a sense of community and belonging is very important. An example of this is that we have 58K alumni, and they have a get together in 55 countries on the same day as a global celebration of the MBA.

What’s something really cool that an HEC alum is doing? [27:33]

One strength of the program is we have huge diversity, so I don’t want to focus on just one alum. We have a specialization in entrepreneurship where students can work with nearby research scientists. One student decided to start a company using nanotechnology to improve roads, and it is doing really well. Another has a medical background and is producing medical imaging equipment. Another alum is working on a system to reduce back pain. We have another who left Google to become the marketing director of Netflix in the Netherlands.

Do you have any advice for people considering the program? What should they be thinking about? [32:11]

I would ask yourself why you need an MBA, and whether it is really something for you and for what purpose. Second, is HEC Paris the right school for you and are you the right person for HEC Paris? Also ask yourself if you value diversity, have a mindset open to sharing and collaborative work and excellence at the very top, and what you can bring to your classmates. It is a question we often ask: Why should we be interested in you? What is different about you? If you tick all those boxes, you should consider applying.

What’s coming down the pike at HEC Paris? Increases in classroom size? Additional satellite locations similar to the Ivory Coast office? [34:49]

Technological innovation at large. Online education is our top priority, and we are leveraging technology. However our program remains residential with a little online content and blended courses that give an additional level of flexibility to participants. We will take advantage of the new chairs being developed; one is on Purposeful Leadership where our participants have to achieve goals, but they also have to find a certain meaning in what they do. We have recently signed an agreement with a polytechnic university to develop common initiatives around business and technology innovation, which we are excited about.

Related Links:

• HEC Paris MBA
• HEC Paris 2019-20 MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines
• 7 Steps to MBA Acceptance in 2020
• Accepted’s MBA Admissions Consulting Services

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The post HEC Paris MBA: Excellence, Diversity, and Community [Episode 302] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

* For a complete list of the top 35 ranking MBA programs, see this table.

The eFinancialCareers article explains that the table is based on the number MBAs who have gone to work in a “front office” investment banking role upon graduation. (This includes corporate finance, equity research, or sales and trading.)

Thinking about pursuing an MoF? The top 30 Masters of Finance programs for investment banking recruiting look totally different. You can find that list here. 

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Related Resources:

• Which Business School Will Get Me to Wall Street?
• The Facts About Financial Services [Podcast]
• 4 Tips For Applying To B-School With Finance Experience

The post B-Schools That Rank for Landing Jobs in Investment Banking appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

While the recipe for instant rejection may vary slightly from school to school, the common ingredients are ethical lapses and poor behavior. These are broad categories that each admissions director elaborates on below, but one sentiment provides the dominant seasoning – dishonesty and rudeness are simply not tolerated. For example, Sara Neher, Assistant Dean of MBA Admissions at UVA Darden, writes, “Treating others with respect is something of paramount importance to Darden. Sometimes rudeness is an indicator of bad character and sometimes it means that the applicant is not really that interested in Darden. In either case, I do not want to admit that person, no matter the quality of their work experience or GMAT.”

A clear lack of fit or improper motivation for choosing a particular program frequently peppers the responses. For example, Sherry Wallace, Director of Admissions at UNC Kenan-Flagler explains: “Regardless of whether we are the top choice or the third choice, we want to see some passion and enthusiasm in the candidate.”

For the full recipe, read the admissions directors’ responses in full to the question: “What behavior or information would cause you to reject an MBA applicant who otherwise is a strong candidate?”

—

Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Liz Riley Hargrove, Associate Dean for Admissions

Behavior: Off the bat, candidates who falsify or plagiarize any component of their application would be denied. We also deny candidates whom we feel would not represent the school well or would not be positive contributors in the classroom and Fuqua/Duke communities.

Information: We collect a lot of information on our applicants and this information is used to determine the academic ability as well as overall fit with our culture and community. If we determined that a candidate did not have the necessary background to be successful academically, we would not admit them to our programs.

—

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Georgetown McDonough, Shari Hubert, Associate Dean of Admissions

• Rude or offensive behavior towards any staff member throughout the application process.

• Finding out that the applicant lied on their application (i.e., not being truthful about a position, title, transcript etc., or not disclosing a lay-off, being fired, etc.) or did not disclose a criminal conviction.

• Finding out that the applicant misrepresented him or herself in taking an exam (TOEFL, GMAT/GRE) or in an interview (i.e., sent someone else in their place to conduct the interview. We can usually guard against this since we ask for IDs from each interviewee, even those we conduct via Skype).

—

HEC Paris MBA, Philippe Oster, Communication, Development & Admissions Director

When discussing the characteristics and behaviours that turn us off a candidate, the same things always spring to mind: a lack of respect for both the admissions process and the interviewers, telling lies on the application, poor letters of recommendation….But there are few other habits that will put us off a seemingly strong candidate.

Whilst it is important to sell yourself on your application, it is important to remain true to yourself and your achievements. When a candidate goes overboard trying to sell themselves, it raises a few eyebrows. We double check our applications, and if we find out that a candidate has been less than honest about the scale of his or her achievements – even if it was all in the name of making themselves sound a more appealing candidate – we will not be best impressed. We are fully aware that the top MBA courses are competitive but we also know at the same time that the perfect candidate doesn’t exist; when a candidate seems almost too good to be true, they usually are!

Another key factor in a candidate’s application is coherence. We want to attract the best, most driven candidates, and so their motivation in applying for HEC Paris MBA has to be clear. It is completely normal for a candidate to apply for more than one business school, but when someone just blindly applies to the top 25 without thinking about whether that school offers the best experience for them and their professional aspirations, it doesn’t motivate us to accept them. Eclectic choices with little consideration are not an indicator of the strong-decision making and foresight that is so important when studying for an MBA.

Each business school is different, and so it is important for the candidate to carefully consider their choices and only apply for the ones that cater to both their professional goals and personality. We wouldn’t expect a candidate to find that more than four of the top MBAs complement them perfectly, and so their application should reflect this.

—

IE Business School, Jean Marie Winikates, Director of North America at IE Business School

1. Information that doesn’t add up on the application and is still unclear after the interview.

2. Behavior that exhibits poor judgment.

3. Someone who exhibits goals that do not align with the program outcomes.

—

IMD, Lisa Piguet, Associate Director MBA Admissions and Marketing

As far as behaviour goes – as you know, our interview process is the most unique in the industry so we get to witness all kinds of behaviours. For me, I do not tolerate people who do not give space to others in a discussion. IMD is 95% international so English is the second language to most of our class (if not the third, fourth or fifth language). Therefore it is really important to me that people give each other the respect and courtesy to express themselves in the best way they know how. If someone in a group discussion does not allow this, I do not tolerate it.

The second part to the question – rejecting someone. We reject people when we see that they have written their own letters of recommendation or if they’ve lied on their application. We also do background checks at IMD (only after someone has been accepted) so if anyone has lied in the application we will find it out here as well and this is automatic grounds for dismissal (obviously we give them a chance to explain or clear things up before dismissing them).

—

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London Business School, Oliver Ashby, Senior Manager, Recruitment & Admissions, MBA Programme

Every communication and information point is a valuable addition to our assessment of a candidate. We have a set of values that define us as a learning community and we look for evidence that candidates are aligned with those when assessing their fit for our school. We do not seek out behaviour to exclude applicants but instead actively seek to champion evidence that a candidate has the right ‘cultural fit’ for LBS. That is to say they demonstrate they are communal, open and engaged. We also look for candidates who we feel are likely to play an enduring role in the schools future.

—

Michigan Ross, Soojin Kwon, Director of Admissions

Here are some things that would cause us to reject a seemingly strong MBA applicant:

• Evidence of plagiarism

• Falsification of background

• Poor judgment – could be demonstrated through an essay, a recommendation letter, an interview, a formal or informal interactions

• Lack of cultural awareness and openness to diversity

• Inability to work well with others

—

Notre Dame Mendoza, Debby Herczeg, Assistant Director, Graduate Business Programs Admissions

Our focus is in ethics and values, so something that may cause us to reject an otherwise strong candidate, would be behavior or information that has shown the candidate to be unethical. There are many situations where a person can fall into this category, so of course, we would review the entire case to see if there would be need for concern.

The additional consideration is values. Does the candidate have any example of not having similar values as the University? Ethics and values are an important part of our curriculum and we hope that all of our graduates represent the program and University based on what they learn here at Notre Dame.

—

Toronto Rotman, Niki da Silva, Director, Recruitment & Admissions, Full Time MBA

The behaviour that would cause our admissions committee to reject an otherwise strong candidate would be arrogance. The culture at Rotman is a program of equals where individuality is a core value at the School, so a candidate who comes across as arrogant simply won’t be a good fit with others in the program, despite having otherwise impressive qualifications.

We are looking for people who value the contribution and unique skills/experiences others can bring and admitting candidates who believe they are superior to others is far too damaging to the culture to be considered. This arrogance can come across in an admissions interview, sometimes in an essay, and also in reference letters.

—

The Lauder Institute, (Joint-Degree MA International Studies & Wharton MBA/Penn Law JD), Meghan Ellis, Associate Director of Lauder Admissions

As a program that focuses on international business and management issues, global and regional studies, and cross-cultural proficiency, the Lauder Institute has a strong emphasis on foreign language skills. A successful Lauder applicant must have at least an advanced level of proficiency in one of our non-native language programs (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish).

The only exceptions are that native-level Spanish, French, and Italian speakers can enter our Portuguese program without prior knowledge of the language, and for our new Global program we ask that applicants have strong proficiency in two languages other than English.

The above comments refer specifically to the Lauder Institute – not the Wharton MBA.

—

UVA Darden, Sara E. Neher, Assistant Dean of MBA Admissions

I’m continually amazed by how some applicants every year are rude, either directly to me, or to members of the Admissions team. Examples are things like signing up for events and not attending, short, terse emails, or canceling a class visit or interview at the last minute and expecting the admissions team to be able to accommodate you at your convenience (amazingly – expecting a class visit when there are not classes, like Fridays).

Treating others with respect is something of paramount importance to Darden. Sometimes rudeness is an indicator of bad character and sometimes it means that the applicant is not really that interested in Darden. In either case, I do not want to admit that person, no matter the quality of their work experience or GMAT.

—

UNC Kenan-Flagler, Sherry Wallace, Director of Admissions

Some of the reasons we would avoid admitting applicants that might appear to be strong candidates, include:

• Candidate perceived to be a mismatch with our school. Maybe the candidate’s values (expressed or witnessed) don’t match Kenan-Flagler values. Maybe the candidate seeks a particular curriculum that we don’t offer or a career outcome that we don’t think we are best suited to help them achieve.

• Candidate has been excessive in contacting the admissions office and requesting individual attention. Too many inquiries, too many requests for one-on-one meetings or phone calls – beyond that which is appropriate. Note that we encourage candidates to engage with us. I’m referring here only to those people whose demands for individual attention are unreasonable.

• Candidate received negative feedback from staff or students. Perhaps the candidate came to campus and was rude or inappropriate with the staff or students they met.

• Candidate doesn’t display sincere interest in being a student at our school. We expect that most applicants will consider multiple schools. Regardless of whether we the top choice or the third choice, we want to see some passion and enthusiasm in the candidate.

• Candidate presented fraudulent information.

—

Vanderbilt Owen, Christie St. John, Director of Admissions

What are reasons we would deny an otherwise strong candidate? I can think of three main reasons.

First, if we hear from our students that a candidate has acted inappropriately in a social situation with the students, i.e., having said or done something highly offensive, we would not admit the person. It doesn’t happen a lot, but when our students report such an incident, we know that the person would not be a good fit in our community.

Second, if we feel that the person has career goals that are simply not feasible, whether because of their lack of essential work experience, their interpersonal skills, or maybe because they want something that we don’t feel our program can help them with. We talk very frankly and honestly with applicants whose goals don’t seem to align with their experience. We explain that we want them to get a job and that we will do everything we can to help, but they may need to be flexible and be willing to work very hard to get into something they just don’t have the background for. We feel this is the only ethical way to do business – to set people up for success.

Finally, we occasionally “google” some of the people we are interviewing, just to get an idea of what their interests are. Many times we discover fun facts that help us find the right students to connect with the applicant. But once, a colleague actually discovered some very serious criminal allegations against an applicant which led to his incarceration. No mention of this was made in the application, and had we not done some searching, we would not have known about this. Many schools use background checks for all admitted students to verify credentials and check for criminal offenses. We haven’t done that for a while at Vanderbilt but we are considering it now.

There are probably other things but these are at the top of the list.

—

UCLA Anderson, Jessica Chung, Associate Director, MBA Admissions

Blatant plagiarism in the application essay is something that can make an otherwise strong MBA candidate inadmissible. An applicant can have great academics, work experience and other qualities, but if he/she behaves unethically by copying passages from other sources and passing off as his/her own work, there’s a strong chance that this behavior can continue as a student in the program and that’s not someone we want as a part of our community.

—

Do you need help reapplying to b-school? For personalized assistance, check out our MBA Rejection Review. An experienced admissions consultant will walk you through your dinged applications and advise on how to move forward successfully. 

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Related Resources:

• Best MBA Programs: A Guide to Selecting the Right One, a free guide
• How to Reapply Successfully to Top MBA Programs [Video]
• Rejected by Business Schools? 5 Steps to Change the Outcome

The post The MBA Admissions Directors’ Recipe for Rejection appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.