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Published: March 8, 2022
Top MBA Program Career Placement Outcomes: U.S. Job Placement in the Finance Industry
For many years, MBA graduates have been drawn to careers in the finance industry due to high compensation and the chance to work on high profile deals at an investment bank or invest in the next billion dollar company at a venture capital or private equity firm. In this installment of Top MBA Program Career Placement Outcomes, we take a closer look at the finance industry placement across leading business schools. Key categories include sell-side investment banking jobs, buy-side jobs in investment management, private equity (PE) & venture capital (VC) as well as other finance industry Read more
Published: March 8, 2022
Real Humans of MBA Students: Stanford GSB Class of 2023
Get the inside scoop on MBA life at Stanford GSB in this edition of Real Humans: MBA Students. Out of 7,367 applicants, 426 new students matriculated at Stanford GSB in the fall of 2021. Forty-four percent are women and 47 percent are international, representing 63 countries. Forty-eight percent of U.S. students and permanent residents identify as students of color. A quarter of the class had studied engineering during their undergraduate years. Economics followed at 22 percent. Fifteen percent had majored in business & commerce and the same in social sciences. Another 14 percent earned degrees in Read more
Published: March 8, 2022
LBS MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-Campus
The interview happened in the interviewer’s office. It was very conversational and lasted ~1.5 hour List of interview questions 1. Self-introduction (with follow-up questions about my hobbies). 2. Career goal and backup plans (challenge my backup plans and make some recommendations; also follow-up questions about industry insights where I plan to land my career). 3. Why LBS? 4. Leadership experience? 5. Conflict in a teamwork situation? 6. Thoughts on a diverse environment? 7. Case: the case was not that complicated. 8. Q&A (~30min) I guess the interview style will be different, depending Read more
Published: March 7, 2022
Why the MBA Case Method Should Surprise You
Sponsored Content As a former case study researcher and writer at HBS, where I co-authored about 35 cases, I spent a great deal of time working to develop cases that would achieve a lot of outcomes simultaneously. Ideally, the published case would capture a real-world business dilemma in a compelling narrative. It would bring the “characters” in the company to life. And it would challenge students to, independently and collectively, generate an optimal solution to a non-trivial business problem—while allowing diverse perspectives to sharpen and enrich the learning. Developing cases in this way provided many surprises to case researchers Read more
Published: March 7, 2022
How to Decide Between Federal and Private Student Loans
My name is Nikhil Agarwal. I graduated from Harvard Business School in 2020 and have helped thousands of students with more than $500 million of student loans over the last three years through Juno, an organization that negotiates the lowest rates for MBA student loans.  Read on to learn more and decide if federal, private, or a mix of federal and private student loans are the best fit for your MBA student loans.  The TL;DR Version Reasons to Select Federal Loans You are pursuing Read more
Published: March 7, 2022
Choosing Between Fixed and Variable Interest Rate Loans
My name is Nikhil Agarwal. I graduated from Harvard Business School in 2020 and have helped thousands of students with more than $500 million in student loans over the last three years through Juno, an organization that negotiates the lowest interest rates for MBA student loans.  When it comes to private student loans, you usually can choose between fixed interest rates and variable interest rates. Most people choose fixed interest rates and have a negative opinion of variable interest rates. Sometimes, that negative opinion is not justifiable. When Read more
Published: March 7, 2022
Optimal Strategies for MBA Student Loans
My name is Nikhil Agarwal. I graduated from Harvard Business School in 2020 and have helped thousands of students get the best deals on more than $500 million in student loans over the last three years through Juno, a startup that negotiates lower rates for MBA student loans.  When you’re choosing an MBA student loan, you can customize the following: The loan term (generally five to 20 years) The repayment plan (how much you want to pay while you’re in school) The type of Read more
Published: March 7, 2022
A Guide to MBA Student Loans
You’re excited. You just got into your top picks for business school and are deciding which one to attend. One thing you should keep in mind while you’re comparing is how much each school will cost. Here’s a guide to MBA student loans, from start to finish, brought to you by Juno, an organization that helps you navigate student loans for free. Step 1. Analysis What sort of financial aid package did you receive from each school? Do you want to appeal to get more aid? Read more
Published: March 7, 2022
Budgeting for Business School
My name is Nikhil Agarwal. I graduated from Harvard Business School (HBS) in 2020 and have helped thousands of students with more than $500 million in student loans over the last three years through Juno, an organization that negotiates the lowest rates for MBA student loans.  When it comes to attending business school, one of the best ways to minimize your cost is to learn how to budget and manage your money. Read below for considerations when budgeting for business school. Don’t Blindly Follow the Cost of Attendance Read more
Published: March 7, 2022
How Two HBS Students Changed The Student Loan Market
Juno’s Origin As my co-founder and I started at Harvard Business School, we decided the student loan market was absurd. We also knew that we could get lower rates if we negotiated as a large group of MBAs, as opposed to applying for loans by ourselves. So we formed a collective bargaining group and successfully managed to get a bank to offer loans with very low interest rates to us and our friends who were attending various MBA programs. Pretty much everyone who heard about the deal took advantage of it.  Read more
Published: March 7, 2022
Real Humans of Microsoft: Nathalia Borges, Duke Fuqua MBA ’21, Product Marketing Manager | Cloud Business
Satya Nadella, current CEO of Microsoft, is credited with turning the culture of Microsoft around, to a “growth mindset.” The tech giant’s mission statement is now, “empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.” This, among other features of the multinational corporation, drew Duke Fuqua MBA ’21, Nathalia Borges, to pursue her internship and post-MBA job there. In this edition of Real Humans – Alumni, Nathalia shares how the Team Fuqua b-school experience prepared her to become a product marketing manager at Microsoft, insights into her summer internship there and more. Nathalia Read more
Published: March 7, 2022
Episode 220: Taking a Serious Look at the Online MBA
Most of our regular listeners know our podcast tends to devote 99% of recorded time to traditional, full-time, in-person MBA offerings, but several factors have combined to merit some serious discussion of online offerings. Those factors are: Technology The caliber of institutions increasingly active in this space The pandemic’s ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ doctrine Special guest Dr. Carolyn Goerner joins host Graham Richmond to discuss the online MBA landscape. Dr. Goerner, the Aldi, Inc. Distinguished I-Core Clinical Professor at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in Bloomington, Indiana, teaches in the #1 online MBA program Read more
Published: March 7, 2022
INSEAD’s Limitless Campaign Celebrates Alumnae for International Women’s Day
Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day. Officially recognized by the United Nations in 1977, this annual celebration is an opportunity to educate the public and mobilize political will and resources toward addressing women’s issues worldwide. On International Women’s Day, we recognize women’s achievements, honor the growing women’s movement, and support women’s rights and equity in political and economic spheres. INSEAD’s Limitless campaign celebrates women whose strength and determination have driven them to innovate. For 2022, the campaign theme is #BreakTheBias, raising awareness and taking action for equality. These six INSEAD alumnae are leaders in Read more
Published: March 6, 2022
UPenn Wharton Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
I completed the Wharton Team-Based Discussion (TBD) and 1:1 interview recently, with two second-year MBA students as observers for the TBD, then the 1:1 with one of the two students. Most people (6 candidates total) joined about 10 minutes early and introduced themselves, and made some small talk. After the 10 min mark ended, the two MBA students introduced themselves, and then asked us to share our name, current company, and intended major at Wharton. They then quickly explained the TBD instructions and process (35 minutes to come to a conclusion answering the prompt, including the 60 second pitches and Read more
Published: March 6, 2022
UPenn Wharton Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
Team based discussion followed by a 10 minute interview with two questions: Why the MBA and Why Wharton? Team-Based Discussion Before the TBD started, we had about 10 minutes of small talk/introductions. My slot was for 5:15 pm. Once it started, the moderators (two second-year students) read out the instructions and acted as observers for the rest of the discussion. They also stated that we would be given a visual indication when we had 10 mins and 5 mins left. We had 35 minutes for the entire conversation including the presentation. Initially, I was concerned as everyone seemed very talkative with some Read more
Published: March 6, 2022
NYU Stern Interview Questions & Report: Round 3 / Adcom / Off-Campus
Interview was very conversational. Here are the questions: 1. Why did you choose the Pick 6? Asked questions about my dog. 2. Can you go over your resume and work experience? 3. What are your long-term goals? 4. Why Stern and how will Stern help you reach those goals? Read more
Published: March 6, 2022
Top MBA Program Career Placement Outcomes: Graduates Seeking Employment
Since one of the benefits of going to business school is to help young professionals advance in their career, many MBA applicants (and current MBA students) are interested in seeing the employment outcomes for recent graduates. In response, business schools survey their MBA graduates and issue employment reports which highlight successful MBA job placement outcomes by region, industry and function. It is important to keep in mind that a lot of the information prominently displayed in the MBA employment reports is gathered from the subset of Read more
Published: March 6, 2022
Wire Taps 219—West African candidate and 700 GMAT, Test waiver for Round 3, Johnson Park Fellowship versus Columbia
In this episode of WireTaps, Graham and Alex discussed this week’s forthcoming release of admissions decisions for CMU / Tepper and INSEAD. Your hosts also highlighted our new content series: Top MBA Career Placement Outcomes. Two pieces published last week revealed interesting insights regarding regional placement within the U.S.. Graham and Alex then shifted gears to talk about two Real Humans Alumni pieces which focused on making the move from Northwestern / Kellogg to Google and from and Georgetown / McDonough to BCG. Graham also mentioned the recently published career report for USC / Read more
Published: March 5, 2022
Georgetown McDonough Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
This year, McDonough allowed you the option to choose your interviewer via a portal, with the ability to filter by clubs / organization affiliation (students / admissions office ). I had chosen a second-year student, but she was unable to interview me last minute and had somebody fill in for her. My interview was resume-based, and very casual. Questions included: 1. Tell me about yourself. 2. Why MBA? Why now? 3. Why McDonough? 4. Tell me about a time you had a conflict at work. 5. Tell me about a time you took initiative. 6. Read more
Published: March 3, 2022
Real Humans of Apple: Jon-Matt Hopkins, CBS ’20, New Product Launch Manager
How long have you waited in line for the new iPhone? How many Apple products are helping you run your life seamlessly? In this edition of Real Humans – Alumni, we hear from an MBA alum making sure these products reach you. Jon-Matt Hopkins, Columbia Business School MBA ’20, tells us about his business school experiences that helped him become a New Product Launch Manager at Apple. Jon-Matt Hopkins, CBS MBA ’20, New Product Launch Manager at Apple Age: 31 Hometown: Morristown, New Jersey Read more
Published: March 2, 2022
NYU Stern MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Zoom
1. Pick 6 icebreaker. 2. Achievement on resume I am the most proud of. 3. A time I received criticism at work. 4. 2 areas to improve upon with the MBA. 5. Why now? 6. Why short-term goals? 7. Companies I would want to work with? 8. What tools would you utilize to achieve your goals? 9. Plan if you don’t land an internship in your desired field. 10. Plan before starting MBA. 11. Something I can improve upon / have improved upon. 12. 1 unique area I could Read more
Published: March 2, 2022
Georgetown McDonough Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Virtual
Questions were fairly direct – 1) Walk me through your resume. 2) Why McDonough? 3) ST, LT goals with target designations. 4) Explain a time you received constructive feedback. 5) What if anything would be a challenge in you accepting the Georgetown offer, if you receive one? 6) Any questions for me? Read more
Published: March 2, 2022
Real Humans of BCG: Steve Neumann, Georgetown McDonough MBA’ 2019, Project Leader
Boston Consulting Group (BCG)—one of the Big Three of the top consulting firms known as MBB—has offices in 50 countries, and therefore no shortage of opportunities to pursue a diverse and lively profession. In this Real Humans – Alumni, we meet Steve Neumann, Georgetown McDonough MBA ’19, who talks about setting his sights on joining BCG and how McDonough empowered him to do so. Steve Neumann, Georgetown McDonough MBA ’19, Project Leader at BCG Age: 30 Hometown: Newtown, Pennsylvania Undergraduate Institution and Major: Georgetown University — Marketing major Read more
Published: March 1, 2022
Yale SOM MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
Started off with some small talk and jumped in: “I have your resume in front of me, but I’m not going to ask you to walk me through it. Tell me about a meaningful professional experience and why? “Tell me about a professional experience where someone had a different perspective than you and how did that perspective change the outcome, if at all?” “What are your goals? And, why an MBA?” “How can Yale SOM help you get to your goals?” “You were asked to consider a quote by Dean Kerwin Charles. How will you contribute Read more
Published: March 1, 2022
Top MBA Career Placement Outcomes: Trends by U.S. Region
In this edition of our Top MBA Program Career Placement Outcomes series, we take a closer look at trends regarding which U.S. regions dominated post-MBA employment for Class of 2021 MBA graduates. You can also review our first piece, which broke down schools by region and their regional placement. For our analysis, we used the statistics in the official employment reports from 27 full-time MBA programs* based in the United States. In particular, we focused on MBA graduates of these 27 MBA programs who are seeking employment, received Read more

MBA Applywire

5
November 27, 2024 5:44pm ET
Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Duke / Fuqua, MIT Sloan, Stanford GSB, UPenn / Wharton
Pre-MBA Career: Corporate Communication Specialist
Post-MBA Target Industry: Other
GPA: 3.9
Years of Work Experience: 6
Location: Indonesia
4
November 27, 2024 12:00pm ET
Applying: Berkeley / Haas, London Business School, Northwestern / Kellogg, Stanford GSB
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Eingeneer
Post-MBA Target Industry: Other
GMAT: 675
GPA: 3,5
Years of Work Experience: 4.8
Location: Chile
4
November 27, 2024 9:07am ET
Applying: Duke / Fuqua, Michigan / Ross, Northwestern / Kellogg, NYU Stern
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Finance Manager
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting Companies: Accenture , AT Kearney , Bain , BCG , Deloitte , Ernst & Young , McKinsey , PWC
GMAT: 690
GPA: 3.79
Years of Work Experience: 2
7
November 27, 2024 9:07am ET
Applying: Carnegie Mellon / Tepper, Duke / Fuqua, Michigan / Ross, Notre Dame / Mendoza, UNC Kenan-Flagler, UVA / Darden, Vanderbilt / Owen
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Banking
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Commercial Banking Companies: Accenture , AT Kearney , Bain , PWC , Bank of America
GRE: 306
GPA: 3.64
Years of Work Experience: 5
Location: Africa
Notes:

Recently wrote the GRE. It's not a super score but I will probably apply with it anyway. I am still considering retaking the test, as the next time I can take it is around the Round 2 deadline.

My educational background is in social sciences, so wasn't very quant-heavy. Looking at taking an additional quant course to back up my GRE score as the exam fee is about 10x the minimum wage in my country. Any suggestion is welcomed.
5
November 27, 2024 6:51am ET
Applying: Dartmouth / Tuck, Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, UPenn / Wharton, Yale SOM
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Program Manager, Humanitarian INGO
Post-MBA Target Industry: Entrepreneurship, Non Profit/SI
GMAT: 685
GPA: 3.27
Years of Work Experience: 4
Location: US Citizen (positioned abroad)
Notes:

Long time listener first time caller. Love the podcast! Adding my profile just because I want to be part of the community.

R2 applicant for Fall 2025 entry.

Background: mid-to-late 20s US citizen, lower-income single parent upbringing.

Work experience: currently a manager at a humanitarian INGO in active / post-conflict settings (think Afghanistan, Yemen, etc.) with several million in project budget under management and overseeing multiple teams. Will have been in emergency aid for 2 years upon matriculation, career before that was 1 year quantitative analyst ---> 1 year teaching English abroad. High impact job, recently promoted.

Academics: 3.27 cumulative. Small state school for first year with a 4.0. Transferred to an Ivy, but had to work full time to support family, had just above a 3.0 at the Ivy. I've also done a masters since at a top 5 UK (shout-out to Alex!) with distinction (3.9+ equivalent). Additionally, took Calculus this year (got an A-) to give schools a bit more reassurance on quant abilities since my quant record in college had its ups and downs, and to demonstrate respect for the rigors of the Y1 MBA curriculum.

Test: took the GMAT only once, 685 (86V 82Q 84D). First mock exam was a 625 with a terrible quant score, but brought quant up to 76th percentile with a couple months of study. Internet is too slow to take online, so only had one chance to do it in-person while I was on leave -- retake physically impossible even if I wanted to.

ECs: Very focused on social entrepreneurship. Have also been helping teach / support one of the foreign language programs at the state school I originally went to and transferred out of. Community service award as well, and mountain climber.

Post-MBA goal is social entrepreneurship that can help people in crisis contexts.

I've listened to enough Wire Taps to guess exactly what the advice will be: "You might want to cast a wider net due to the lower GPA, right now you're only targeting top schools." -- Absolutely fair call. However, what I want to do is extremely difficult and will require a ton of resources. I've selected the programs I think best fit my goals / have a strong social and entrepreneurial mission. I don't particularly mind getting dinged everywhere and reapplying next year if need be.

Long post, thanks for reading! Have a great holiday!
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MBA LiveWire

November 28, 2024 3:34am ET
Interview Invite to Boston College / Carroll
Round: Round 1
Received via portal on October 29, 2024
GPA: 3.18
GRE: 302
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: General Management
November 28, 2024 2:23am ET
Accepted to NYU Stern
Round: Round 1
Received via email on November 25, 2024
GPA: 3.42
GMAT: 685
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Application Location: Nyc
Note:

Interview 9/7 call and email 11/26. No scholarship
November 27, 2024 8:22pm ET
Accepted to Cornell / Johnson
Round: Round 1
Received via email November 27, 2024
GRE: 327
Program Type: One Year Program
Target Career: Technology
Application Location: San Francisco
November 27, 2024 1:46pm ET
Rejected at Washington U. / Olin
Round: Round 1
Received via portal November 27, 2024
GPA: 3.9
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Operations Management
Application Location: Asia
November 27, 2024 12:44pm ET
Accepted to Washington U. / Olin
Round: Round 2
Received via phone November 27, 2024
GPA: 3.75
GRE: 330
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Consulting
Application Location: Phoenix
Note:

Consortium and received a full-ride plus a stipend. Interviewed on November 10th and received offer today, November 27th.
I feel very optimistic for Booth and Yale results next week.
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