Fridays from the Frontline
Keep abreast of the latest happenings in the business school blogosphere! This weekly column summarizes recent posts from MBA student and applicant blogs.
Published: October 8, 2015
Fridays from the Frontline: Kindergarten Teacher, with MBA from Ross, Pursues Lifelong Tech Dream
How does a kindergarten teacher with a liberal arts degree score an internship at Apple? Find out in this week’s edition of Fridays from the Frontline. Jeremy Schifeling, helped in part by an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School, not only landed a marketing internship on Apple’s iOS team, he went on to work at several educational tech firms and at LinkedIn before founding his own company designed to help others from non-tech backgrounds break into the field.
He contacted us and generously offered to share his story, complete with data revealing that there are three times as many non-tech job opportunities for MBAs at internet firms (in marketing, HR, business development, etc.) as there are positions for computer science (CS) majors and engineers. So if you're from a non-tech background and want to know how make the shift, this post's for you.
As always, we welcome the contributions of other current MBA students and applicants, as well as alumni! Please email Jeanette or Marianne if you would like to add your voice to the mix. Many thanks to Jeremy for his great post!
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Published: October 1, 2015
Fridays from the Frontline: MIT Sloan MBA Student, Veteran Discusses Humility and Success
It’s Friday, and once again we’re bringing you insights straight from current MBA applicants and students as part of our Fridays from the Frontline column. Our contributor this week, MIT Sloan School of Management second-year Brian Kirk (pictured above, second from left), knows his fair share about the frontline, both figurative and real, having served as a U.S. Navy submariner prior to business school.
In the post that follows, he offers some incredible insights about humility and its impact on success, drawn both from his time at Sloan and his military service. Worth the read. Kirk and other leaders of the MIT Sloan Veterans Association just hosted Veteran's Ambassadors Day, a day of programming and activities for prospective MBA applicants from the armed forces. They are planning a second Ambassadors Day in the spring, so if you are an active duty service person or veteran considering business school, check it out.
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Published: September 17, 2015
Fridays from the Frontline: Kellogg Second-Year Shares Advice on Making the Most of the First Year
Welcome back to Fridays from the Frontline, a weekly column where we'll feature guest MBA student and applicant bloggers, as well as original pieces that incorporate multiple perspectives from applicants, students and recent alumni on all things MBA. As always, we welcome your contributions! Please email Jeanette or Marianne if you would like to add your voice to the mix. Many thanks to this week's guest blogger, Rohan Rajiv from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management.
This post has been republished in its entirety from "Inside Perspective," a blog featuring contributions from the school's full-time MBA students. Kellogg Second-year student Rohan Rajiv blogs there once a week about important lessons he is learning at Kellogg. You can read more of his posts here.
A few months ago, I wrote a letter to an incoming MBA student in an attempt to help incoming students prepare for their two years at school. I tried staying away from specific advice in that post, as the assumption was that the framework ought to work for everyone.
Today, however, I’m going to dig into my first year process and provide specifics on how I spent my first year.
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Published: September 10, 2015
Clear Admit Gears Up to Bring Back Fridays from the Frontlines
After a summer-long hiatus as business school students toiled away at their internships and prospective MBA applicants crammed for the GMAT, we are gearing up for the return of Fridays from the Frontlines, Clear Admit’s popular weekly feature showcasing the voices of real, live MBA applicants, current business school students and recent MBA alums.
We’ve always loved following the wisdom, humor, triumphs, and tribulations of the MBA blogosphere — and we want to make sure that we’re capturing all of it as we go into the 2015-2016 season. We’ve lined up a roster of bloggers whose posts we enjoy and think would be relevant to Clear Admit’s readers, and we’re reaching out to invite them to participate as periodic guest bloggers on our site. We’ll debut our first guest blog post in the in this space next week.
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Fridays from the Frontline: Join the Ranks!
As we mentioned last week, we're on the lookout for MBA applicants, students, and recent grads who are blogging or tweeting their b-school experiences -- or who would like to start as correspondents for Clear Admit.
If you don't already have a writing platform and feel daunted by the commitment of maintaining your own blog, writing as a correspondent for Clear Admit is a great way to share your insight and experience with the MBA community. We’ll ask our correspondents to weigh in on an admissions, b-school, or career-related topic 1-2 times per month, and will feature their thoughts on the Clear Admit blog (as well as links to any element of their online presence they wish to promote). And to show our appreciation at the end of the admissions cycle/academic year, we’ll reward our most active and insightful contributors with $200 Amazon.com gift cards.
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Fridays From the Frontline: Call for Correspondents
Are you thinking about documenting your MBA application process, b-school studies, or post-grad adventures? Do you already maintain a blog about your business school experience or post-MBA career? Clear Admit wants to hear from you!
We've always loved following the wisdom, humor, triumphs, and tribulations of the MBA blogosphere -- and we want to make sure that we're capturing all of it as we go into the 2015-2016 season. So, we're issuing a Call for Correspondents this week.
If you maintain a blog or tweet about your MBA experiences, please let us know via the form below! We'll be sure to add you to the Clear Admit Mashup page and follow you on Twitter.
And, in a new twist this year, we're seeking applicants, current students, and recent grads to serve as correspondents and regularly share their experiences directly with the Clear Admit audience. We'll ask our correspondents to weigh in on an admissions, school, or career-related topic 1-2 times per month, and will feature their thoughts on the Clear Admit blog (as well as links to any element of their online presence they wish to promote). To show our appreciation at the end of the admissions cycle/academic year, we'll reward our most insightful contributors with $200 Amazon.com gift cards.
Interested? Just complete the form below, and we'll be in touch!
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Fridays From the Frontline: Preparing Women for Future Board Opportunities
The following is a guest post from Amanda Schmid, a first-year student in Kellogg's Full-Time Two-Year MBA Program. The post was originally published on Kellogg's Full-Time MBA blog, the Inside Perspective. Amanda worked in hospitals in DC and Baltimore as a clinician and a department head before pursuing her MBA, and she hopes to play a strategic or general management role at a medical device company after graduation.
Only 18% of S&P 500 boardrooms contain women. It will likely take 30 years for that number to grow to 30%.
In order to continue supporting women in leadership, the Women’s Business Association (WBA)recently hosted a panel to hear how two prominent female executives navigated their careers to lead them to positions on several boards.
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Fridays From the Frontline: Choices
Welcome back to Fridays From the Frontline, our weekly summation of happenings in the business school blogosphere. This week, MBA applicants, current students, and admissions bloggers have made important choices from a variety of different topics in the business school sphere, and life in general.
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Fridays From the Frontline: Divergent Paths
The following is a guest post from Naija MBA Gal that was originally published on her blog. Naija MBA Gal is a consultant specializing in risk assurance at one of the big consulting firms, and she is planning to attend the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago in Fall 2015. You can follow Naija MBA Gal’s application journey on her blog.
"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
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Fridays From the Frontline: Four Tips for Marketers
The following is a guest post from Ray Hwang, a first-year student in Kellogg’s Two-Year MBA Program. The post was originally published on Kellogg's Full-Time MBA blog, The Inside Perspective. Ray is a leader in both the Marketing Club and High Tech Club, and he will be interning at LinkedIn on the Product Marketing team this summer. Before Kellogg, Ray worked at General Mills.
When I was young, my brother and I would occasionally use a branch or toy hammer to bang each other on the knee, hoping to see the patellar reflex in action. We saw doctors do it on TV and, as over-confident children, naturally felt we could achieve the same results without any training. Unsurprisingly, it never really worked. To this day I’m still unconvinced I actually have the knee-jerk reflex.
There is a reflex, however, which I undeniably have and I’m sure you do, too. It’s a new digital reflex, brought on by the rise of mobile, to turn to whatever device is at hand to satisfy our need for information right in the moment. For example, recently my friend told me about a movie he enjoyed the night before, and without even thinking, I pulled out my phone to read reviews and find a theater near me where it was playing.
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Fridays from the Frontline: GMAT Quant–Advanced Concepts
The following is a guest post from Jonathan Taves, that was originally published on his website, EF Essays: Essays on Economics and Finance.
With math on the GMAT, there’s always room for seconds. For those seeking a score higher than the 560 average, the following advanced concepts are important to learn. They’re less frequently tested than the concepts we discussed last week, so don’t spend hours and hours trying to master all iterations of combinatorics, for example. Competence, not mastery, should be the goal here.
However, these are tested, and so in that sense, aren’t really “advanced” at all. They’re essential. Unfortunately, these concepts are rarely covered in math review guides that aren’t GMAT-specific. Make sure to supplement your studying with lessons on Distance/Speed/Time, Probability, and Combinatorics (Permutations and Combinations).
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Published: April 30, 2015
Fridays from the Frontline: Stop Wasting Your Time on Essays
The following is a guest post from Scott Duncan that was originally published on his blog. Scott is a medical device engineer who is going to Harvard Business School in the fall to transition from designing medical devices to leading medical device companies. You can follow his journey to a HBS acceptance on his blog.
I’m still trying to figure out all of the things I did differently this year that earned me a spot at HBS. Since I had practice writing essays from my previous attempt at applying, and I had really worked hard at defining my core reasons for applying – writing went a lot easier this year.
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Published: April 23, 2015
Fridays from the Frontline: Hello, MBA Class of 2018
The following is a guest post from Jonathan Taves, that was originally published on his website, EF Essays: Essays on Economics and Finance.
On Sunday, Jordan Spieth, a twenty-one year old from Texas, won The Masters. In 1997, a twenty-one year old also won The Masters: Tiger Woods. Amid Mr. Woods’ victory celebration, a reporter asked him if he had anything to say to the viewers back home. After thinking for a moment, he smiled and said, “Hello, world.” The day after The Masters, it only seems fitting that I borrow that iconic response as I announce my intent to reapply to MBA programs:
Hello, MBA Class of 2018
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Published: April 16, 2015
Fridays From the Frontline: UCLA Anderson Interview Debrief
The following is a guest post from Pulling That MBA Trigger that was originally published on her blog. Pulling That MBA Trigger works as a software engineer for a product development startup, and she has started her own venture in the content writing/educational consulting space. You can follow Pulling That MBA Trigger’s application journey on her blog.
I just finished my interview with a second year student from UCLA Anderson and it went so much better than I imagined it would! I think I got lucky on several counts. Firstly, my interviewer was a woman. This was actually a perfect match since a lot of my leadership stories are related to the struggles of being a woman in the male-dominated tech industry and it seemed like she could really relate. Secondly, she also comes from a background in technology so I’m certain that all of my stories made sense to her. Finally, she was just a really nice, fun person to talk to! Lots of smiles, lots of jokes and just a real sense of comfort that I have yet to experience in an MBA interview. No awkwardness whatsoever! What also helped was the fact that it was a Skype interview, so I was sitting in the comfort of my bedroom and it felt like I was talking to a friend across the continent. Overall, a great experience.
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Fridays from the Frontline: Musings
Welcome back to Fridays From the Frontline, our weekly summation of happenings in the business school blogosphere. This week, MBA applicants, current students, and admissions bloggers have mused upon a variety of different topics from the business school sphere, and from life in general.
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Fridays from the Frontline: Tasting the Fear
The following is a guest post from Naija MBA Gal that was originally published on her blog. Naija MBA Gal is a consultant specializing in risk assurance at one of the big consulting firms, and she is planning to attend the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago in Fall 2015. You can follow Naija MBA Gal’s application journey on her blog.
I’ve officially committed to the Booth class of 2017 and I know its a great decision. So why am I afraid? There is definitely no way I will be worse off come 2017 but I’m not all about being rational.
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Published: March 19, 2015
Fridays from the Frontline: “How I’m Handling the Wharton Waitlist”
Welcome back to Fridays From the Frontline, the column in which we highlight the experiences of MBA bloggers. The following is a guest post from TopDogMBA with valuable advice for other applicants about handling business school waitlists that originally appeared on his blog. TopDogMBA has 12 years of experience in corporate investment banking, and he was admitted to MIT Sloan and INSEAD and waitlisted at Wharton. Follow TopDogMBA for more top-notch advice, MBA application stories, and photos of TopDogMBA's adorable dog Beatrice.
I’ve thought a long time about whether to post this since it puts me way out there, but I tried real hard to think how a Wharton student would deal with it. My conclusion is that the collaborative Wharton spirit would prevail and they’d share their insight with others in the same situation so here goes…
As you probably know, I got waitlisted by Wharton in R1 and, despite getting admitted by the two other schools I applied to, Wharton remains my top choice. Being on the waitlist is a strange existence though, where you know you came within a hair’s breadth of being admitted yet didn’t quite make the cut.
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Published: February 26, 2015
Fridays From the Frontline: Busy, Busy
Welcome back to Fridays From the Frontline, Clear Admit’s weekly summation of posts from the business school blogosphere. This week, MBA applicants and current students alike are busy with the demands of the application process or business school life.
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Published: February 12, 2015
Fridays From the Frontline: Experience
Welcome back to Fridays From the Frontline, our weekly summation of happenings in the business school blogosphere. This week, MBA applicants, current students, and admissions bloggers have stressed the value of experience in a myriad of ways.
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Published: February 5, 2015
Fridays From the Frontline: MBA Admissions Advice
Welcome back to Fridays From the Frontline, the column in which we summarize happenings in the business school blogosphere. This week, admissions representatives from top schools provide applicants with insight and advice on their blogs.
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Published: January 29, 2015
Fridays From the Frontline: Reflections
Welcome back to Fridays from the Frontline, our weekly summation of happenings in the business school blogosphere. This week, applicants and current students took time to reflect on the application process and events and programs in their lives.
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Published: January 22, 2015
Fridays From the Frontline: Life As Usual
Welcome back to Fridays From the Frontline, the column in which we summarize happenings in the business school blogosphere. This week, current students are enjoying life in business school, while applicants have been quiet after the Round 1 decision announcements and the Round 2 deadlines.
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Published: January 15, 2015
Fridays from the Frontline: the Waiting Game
Welcome back to Fridays from the Frontline, our weekly summation of happenings in the business school blogosphere. This week marked the passing of many round-two application deadlines, and the beginning of a long period of anticipation for numerous business-school applicants.
Naija MBA Gal gives us her thoughts on waitlisting and what her strategies are for improving her chances as she awaits a decision, while Grant Me Admission muses on the reasons he was rejected and his strategies for applying again, in an interview that was picked up by Fortune Magazine. As she waits for the next GMAT testing date Blackgirlmbaoncampus starts another round of studying to improve her score, and reviews her visit to the Paris campus of INSEAD.
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Published: January 8, 2015
Fridays From the Frontline: Decisions, Decisions
Welcome back to Fridays from the Frontline, the column in which we summarize the past week’s business school blogosphere happenings. This week, the MBA applicant bloggers who received acceptances are trying to decide where to go to school, while the MBA current student and program bloggers are setting their new year’s resolutions.
MBA applicant (and admit!) bloggers have faced several different decisions in the last week. GrantMeAdmission decided to apply for the Riordan MBA Fellows Program, while MBA on my Mind resolved to apply to top MBA programs during the 2015 admissions cycle. Under Prescription is trying to choose between MIT Sloan and Dartmouth. PullingthatMBAtrigger has finished her round 2 applications.
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Published: December 18, 2014
Fridays from the Frontline: Congratulations
Welcome back to Fridays from the Frontline, our weekly summary of happenings in the business school blogosphere. This week, Round 1 decisions came out, and several bloggers got fantastic news! We here at Clear Admit would like to extend heartfelt congratulations to everyone who was admitted this week!
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