Ask Clear Admit

[kchen95]

Dear all,

On behalf of Clear Admit, I will be available starting today to answer questions about applying to top MBA programs in the US and Europe. Please see below to learn more about Clear Admit's expertise in this area.

Best of luck with your applications,

Kevin Chen

http://www.clearadmit.com
MBA Admissions Blog: http://blog.clearadmit.com (daily updates and admissions tips)
MBA Admissions Wiki: http://www.clearadmit.com/wiki (latest reports from the applicant community)
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Clear Admit is an educational consulting and counseling firm with extensive admissions experience. As featured in BusinessWeek Online and The Wall Street Journal, Clear Admit uses a highly personalized methodology that combines the perspectives of MBA admissions officers, expert editors, MBA students, and MBA applicants to maximize your chances for acceptance at a top MBA program. Our admissions counselors are former admissions officers and committee members from top MBA programs (Wharton, Columbia, Dartmouth), graduates of top schools in the US (Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, Princeton, Yale), and former consulting, marketing and writing professionals (McKinsey, NBA, Reuters). We believe the combined expertise of our admissions counselors makes us one of the best business school admissions consulting firm in the world.

To learn more about our service, please visit us at http://www.clearadmit.com

[Yu_Chi_Wang]

Hi,

I'm an applicant from Taiwan who has recently received an interview invitation from HBS. I was wondering if you have any suggestions as how I can prepare for my upcoming interview.

Thanks,
Yu Chi

[kchen95]

Hi Yu Chi,

Congrats! That's great. Keep in mind that unlike other schools, Harvard only interviews about 20% of its applicants, which means slightly more than 50% of those invited for interviews end up getting accepted.

The flip side of the same coin is that because not many applicants are invited for interviews, HBS takes the interview process more seriously than other schools (which typically interview up to 50% of their applicants). The questions at HBS interviews are tougher and the interviewers often try to stress out the applicants by challenging their answers.

The key is to expect this type of combative style and not get flustered - stick to your answers and answer the criticisms confidently and firmly. Think about potential gaps or weaknesses on you resume and/or essays and how you might address them. One question they like to set people up for is, they'll first ask you how you're doing at your job, and of course you'll say (and should say) you're doing fantastic. Then the next question is, well, if you're doing fantastic and on track for great things, why are you leaving to go to school? Interviewers often maintain a "poker face" and don't smile or attempt to be social/friendly with the applicants.

I take it you're currently based in Taiwan? If you're actually in or close to the Boston area, I recommend interviewing on campus and even attending a few classes. It never hurts to show initiative, and such a trip would allow you to get a better sense of what it's like to go to school at HBS.

Best of luck. Feel free to contact us at info@clearadmit.com for more guidance on how to prepare for the interview.

Kevin

Kevin Chen
Clear Admit, LLC
info@clearadmit.com
http://www.clearadmit.com

[kchen95]

HBS Sends Out 750 Round One Interview Invitations, 100 More to Come

In a post to her blog, Harvard Business School (HBS) Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold informed anxious Round One applicants that 750 invitations to interview went out yesterday. Her office will extend a total of around 850 invitations by the January 21st notification date for Round One, she continued.

“I can’t predict when this additional 100 invitations will go out nor to whom,” she wrote. Candidates who receive later invitations may not have extensive options to interview in hub cities, she noted, but HBS will do all it can to try to schedule convenient interviews.

Review of written applications will continue up through the January notification date, and the Admissions Board will continue to discuss cases throughout that period. Leopold anticipates that an additional 100 Round One candidates who have not received invitations to interview will be offered places on the wait list in January. These candidates may be invited to interview as their cases undergo further consideration.

To read more, click: http://blog.clearadmit.com/2008/11/hbs- ... e-to-come/

Thanks!
The Clear Admit Team
http://blog.clearadmit.com
http://www.clearadmit.com
info@clearadmit.com

[kchen95]

Starting off Strong at NYU Stern

Although many business schools offer optional pre-term programs for enrolling students, NYU Stern goes a step further and invites selected applicants to a summer-long session of coursework prior to the start of the full-time MBA program. Let’s take a closer look at what Stern’s program entails and how it fits into the general campus orientation.

Stern’s Summer Start program allows a selected group of entering students to spend the summer on campus getting a head start on their MBA coursework. When considering students for Summer Start, the admissions committee looks for candidates who have strong communication and leadership skills, but could benefit from extra preparatory study before beginning the MBA. Some Summer Start students have been out of school longer than most of their new classmates, while others have worked in less traditional pre-MBA professions.

To read more, click: http://blog.clearadmit.com/2008/11/triv ... u-stern-2/

Thanks!
The Clear Admit Team
http://blog.clearadmit.com
http://www.clearadmit.com
info@clearadmit.com

[Yu_Chi_Wang]

Hi,

Thank you for your answers. Do you think it would hurt my chances if I interview with an alumnus in Taiwan? Should I make a trip to the U.S. specifically for this interview? What are the pros and cons between interviewing on campus vs. an alumnus?

Thanks,
Yu Chi

[kchen95]

Hi Yu Chi,

Interviewing with an alumnus will not hurt your chances. If you're based in Taiwan, the school certainly would understand that it may not be feasible for you to travel to Boston. However, there are a few issues to keep in mind when interviewing with alums:

1). Alums are more of a "wild card" than admissions officers because alums are not as well trained as the admissions officers when it comes to interviews. The HBS admissions officers will be strict and challenging (as mentioned in my previous reply), but they also are consistent in terms of interview style and structure. In theory, alumni interviewers will have been given strict instructions by the admissions office on what to do and ask during an interview, but still, they could go off track because they are simply less experienced. The good thing is they may be friendlier than the admissions officers; the bad thing is you don't know what to expect from them.

2). For HBS alum interviews as well as alum interviews for other schools, make sure you find out as much background information as you can on the interviewer before you show up for the interview. Internet searches are a great place to start; you know the alum's full name and obviously what school he/she graduated from, so that's enough to do a search. Once you find out where the alum works, ask your friends in that industry or company to see if you can learn more details about the alum. The more you know about the alum prior to the interview, the more you can anticipate what topics he/she may be interested in (and what topics to avoid). This allows you to enhance your professional and personal rapport with the interviewer.

Hope this helps. Good luck! Feel free to contact us at info@clearadmit.com for more information.


Kevin

Kevin Chen
Clear Admit, LLC
info@clearadmit.com
http://www.clearadmit.com

[kchen95]

NYU Stern's Opportunity
Let’s take a look at what is happening on NYU Stern’s campus through its publication, Opportunity.

The latest edition of Opportunity alerts students to the recent activities of the Community Service @ Stern program and encourages all to get involved. Aiming to provide numerous opportunities to positively contribute to the community, the program organized a group of students to participate in the Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk on October 26th and is in the midst of planning the Food Fight this month, which will benefit America’s Second Harvest Food Bank Network. The annual Charity Poker event is in the works for February, and the organizing committee hopes to hold two to three additional major events as well as offer regular opportunities for students to become engaged with the community. Not only do these events offer a chance for students to give back, but they also present the opportunity to get to know fellow full-time and part-time students as well as alumni, partners, and friends – a great bonding and networking experience.

To read more, click here: http://blog.clearadmit.com/2008/11/camp ... portunity/

Thanks!
The Clear Admit Team
http://blog.clearadmit.com
http://www.clearadmit.com
info@clearadmit.com

[tuscanyprovence]

Hi Kevin,

My target schools are USC(Marshall), UW(Foster), and other 2-yr European schools.
I want to focus on general management and entrepreneurship.

I'll return to Taiwan after my MBA, so the reputation here might be an important factor.
Can you give me some suggestion in terms of reputation, recruitment opportunity, and program specialty?

Concerning the UW MBA: The school's ranking jumps significantly to #27 from business week's 2008 ranking.
Does it mean that the school changes its direction or improves some resources?

Concerning USC: Does USC's Taiwan office really benefit a lot for students who want to network with alumni?

Would you also recommend some 2-yr European programs based on reputation and my desired concentration?


Cheers
Tusca

[kchen95]

Hi Tusca, thanks for your question.

You're right about the importance of the school's reputation if you are returning to Taiwan. For the level of schools you're considering (top 20-35), most of the programs that are well known in Taiwan are US-based schools. Most european schools are 1-year or 1.5-year programs, with the notable exception of London Business School, which is modeled after the American system but is harder to get into than the schools you listed. If you are willing to consider 1-year European programs, Oxford and Cambridge would be suitable "reach" schools; they have great international reputation, including in Taiwan, but their MBA programs are relatively new and are not as hard to get into as the Oxford and Cambridge names would imply.

If you are considering only 2-year programs, I urge you to look at more US schools because there simply are more US schools that have solid reputations and/or large alumni networks in Taiwan. You're right about USC - the USC network is huge in Taiwan and Asia, not only for the business school but also for other graduate programs. Some of the other US MBA programs that have good general management/entrepreneurship programs and are well known in Taiwan are:

UNC (Kenan-Flagler)
Boston College
Boston University
Babson
Georgetown

Hope this helps. Feel free to contact us at info@clearadmit.com for a more detailed assessment of your profile. Good luck!


Kevin

Kevin Chen
Clear Admit, LLC
info@clearadmit.com
http://www.clearadmit.com

[kchen95]

Hi Tusca, one more thing:

A two-year European program you could consider is IESE in Spain. It has a great reputation in Europe and is considered slightly easier to get into than LBS. However, its reputation is relatively limited to Europe; it has no alumni chapter in Taiwan.

Kevin

Kevin Chen
Clear Admit, LLC
info@clearadmit.com
http://www.clearadmit.com

[MarkHsu]

Correction:

Babson & UNC don't really have much recognition in Tw.

You really shouldn't be recommending students to go to 20-35 schools because the payoff is just not there for Taiwanese students. The avg monthly salary is NT 45k, about US$1370 using a 33:1 exchange rate, for these types of schools in Taiwan.

Cambridge & Oxford are not easy to get into for Taiwanese students...They still may be easy for American students, but they are "ultra" competitive now for Taiwanese students.

From a fellow MBA consultant.... = )

[kchen95]

Hi Mark, thanks for your post. It's always nice to hear from a fellow consultant.

Perhaps we're both generalizing too much when we say certain schools are well known or not well known in Taiwan; the truth is, this is industry-dependent and to some extent, simply depends on who you ask. In my experience in Taiwan (as a journalist for Reuters and then as a consultant for McKinsey), the people with whom I encountered thought highly of schools like Babson and UNC. Then again I don't pretend to represent every segment of society in Taiwan, so I accept that whether a school has a strong "recognition" in Taiwan is a matter of subjective opinion.

As for top 20-35 schools, I make school recommendations only based on what each poster tells me is his/her target range. I assume each poster has legitimate reasons for wanting to target certain schools or certain range of schools; if asked specifically and provided more information, I certainly can comment on whether or not someone needs to go to a top-20 school to achieve his/her career objectives. I would hope you're not saying categorically that unless a Taiwanese student has a legitimate shot at a top-20 school, he or she should give up on business school altogether? I don't think Taiwanese students who attend, say, Boston University, are all wasting their time. This is a subjective decision that needs to be made carefully by each and every candidate according the candidate's particular needs and goals.

As for Cambridge and Oxford, I never said they were easy to get into, for anyone; in fact I mentioned they would be "reach" schools. What I said was they're not as hard to get into as their names would suggest. Just like in the US, Yale business school is not as hard to get into as the Yale name would suggest, and Harvard engineering school is not as hard to get into as the Harvard name would suggest. However, this doesn't mean that Yale business school is easy to get into, period, or Harvard engineering school is easy to get into, period. I'm making a relative, not absolute, comment.

Hope this helps to clarify my earlier comments. Thanks again for your input.

Kevin



Kevin Chen
Clear Admit, LLC
info@clearadmit.com
http://www.clearadmit.com

[MarkHsu]

Sure, noted. Points are all well taken.

But reality is that a lot of Taiwanese students go to business school with false hopes. Not everyone is going to be a McKinsey consultant in the Taipei office, so I think students should look realistically at the potential financial payback.

Beyond admission consulting, I also do career coaching and it pains me to see someone who has borrowed lots of $ (by Taiwan's standards) to attend a 2nd tier school, only to find that they are entrapped by their student debt.

An equally good alternative is NOT to attend business school.

[kchen95]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your post and points well taken from my side as well. I definitely agree that the decision to attend business school should not be taken lightly and should be made only after considering benefits and costs. This is true even for "first-tier" schools. A colleague of mine from McKinsey Taipei chose not to join me at Stanford, even though she got in, because she took a job with a high-profile tech company in Taiwan and decided (I think correctly) that she did not need business school to advance in her career.

Very much appreciate your input. I hope our active exchange of ideas will benefit applicants and allow them to think conscientiously about this important choice in their professional lives. I have enjoyed your insights not only on this thread but also throughout this forum, and hope to be able to meet you in person one day.

Best,
Kevin



Kevin Chen
Clear Admit, LLC
info@clearadmit.com
http://www.clearadmit.com