H & S prefer the promising young young'uns these days. (c).
At the place I currently work, we've just had the third restructure in the space of two years. Senior managers come and go every year or so – changing the focus and direction of the workplace each time. It all makes for a work environment with a hell of a lot of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. People literally get stuck, unable to figure out what to do with their work and their lives. Demotivation and anxiety is rife. However, a previous boss said something to me once that has stuck and always helped me get through:
Work with what you know is real and true. Ignore the gossip, rumors and possibilities. Work with the reality of what needs to be done today to get to where you need to get to. Ignore everything else.
For me, it has been sterling advice - sweeping away clutter and letting me focus on the right things.In a similar way, the MBA application process certainly produces a lot of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. I've tried to keep applying the same mantra, but it has been quite hard. Thankfully, it's all over. I've been rejected by Harvard and Stanford. I'm free at last. :-)
For anyone in a similar situation and seeking consolation, here is some inspiration:
"I feel kind of blue. Am afraid that I will always be a poor man the way things look now."
W.K. Kellogg, before founding the cereal company now turning over $11.5 billion in revenue. [source].
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The question on every applicant's mind, following last week.
Wow, what a week last week was. It felt like the B-Schools were printing out 'dings' faster than the Zimbabwean government prints money. I would dare even say it was like an axe murderer had run rampant on all the applicants' dreams. With the thump of HBS making R1 admission only a vague possibility for the many, Wharton sliced and diced many of the blogosphere's finest. For one applicant, even her job was axed. Perhaps it is like this every year, but for me it was a shocking week.
Things started well for the blogosphere - Tieny and Max celebrated early admission to Columbia. Pretty soon afterwards, my first whiff that something odd was in the air occurred when HappyBunny's blog vanished into thin air. We soon heard that Columbia had started to send out a slew of denials. It sounded bad, but how bad could it be? After a few weeks of silence, last week hit us.
So what is going on? Are the bankers now applying in their droves to business schools? My brother works at one of the two remaining old time US investment banks. A few weeks back he told me that they've only axed the people with negative Proft/Loss in their net trading for the year (which is most of the people, but thankfully not him). I'd rather think the ones taking our places were the ones in profit, but I'm sure even those ones face the cut! I suggested to my brother that he should consider applying for B Schools. He said he doesn't have time - he is too busy practically running the desk. In hindsight, I'm all too glad to have one less competitor.
Maybe it is not all bankers rushing in... Perhaps the credit crunch has filtered into consulting? Perhaps there are now people applying in their droves from all parts of the economy? Whatever the case, I can see this crunch going on for a while. I'm glad I'm not applying next year. Read More >>
Wonder-woman did not get an invite either. It must be because she can't cook.
You have to applaud the HBS admissions team. They released application questions early. They have kept applicants informed of the process via their blog. They have now even sent out the bulk of their R1 interview invites earlier than expected. Unfortunately, though, I am not one of the 750 that Harvard have invited for interview. I flicked through my application submission to review what I had sent them. In hindsight, I was probably a little too honest in some areas - especially with a job title mix up. That, combined with the age thing, probably gave me enough rope in my application to hang myself. I am not very hopeful that I will be among the last 100 invites. My feet certainly feel like they have been pulled back on to the ground.
As disappointing as this all is, I remain absolutely convinced that I will achieve my career goal. In fact, this is a certainty that has been growing in the last few months as details have become clearer. Does it matter how you get there?... Hmm. It probably does, but it's probably more important that you get there ;-). Read More >>
Will this election see America's seat of power passed from a Harvard Business School grad to a Harvard Law School grad? Funnily enough, the guy I met on Saturday bared an uncanny resemblance to Obama.
On Saturday night, I was at a party and met a guy who was a Harvard undergraduate and Yale Law graduate. We spoke a bit about business school. He had some definite and strong views, which I have recited below. As always, controversy and emotion are never far away when Harvard is concerned. Remember, these are not my views, but his!
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- "If you get in, you'd have to be an idiot not go to Harvard".
- "Walking around the Harvard Business School campus, you can just smell the wealth, the $3 billion dollar endowment. You can feel it in the strength of the floor as you walk around." [He mimed the smelling and walking as he said this]
- "No matter which part of the world you go, whether it is the outer reaches of Cameroon, Mongolia or where-ever else, they know what Harvard is. It is the only international brand". [Interesting, since it is considered to have a weak international curriculum].
- "Harvard just emanates power".
- "The kids at Harvard Business School won't be any smarter than the ones at London Business School; in fact there will be some real idiots at Harvard. But they will think they are smarter. And so will everyone else."
- "Harvard Business School is so beautiful and just has such amazing facilities and resources... it will amaze you. There is nothing like it."
- "There are some top private equity and hedge fund firms that are full of Harvard and Wharton alum, and they will only hire from these two schools as well. They have nothing against the other schools. They just like to keep it in the family."
- "You're not applying to Columbia!? You have to apply there! People walk straight out of there into Goldman Sachs."
In the midst of Max and Tieny's admissions adventure rewarding them early victories, my small personal victory pails in comparison: I have now got all my Round 1 applications in. Better still, my recommenders have all done their bit too!
I'm feeling like I'm in a state of bliss. It is a big weight off my shoulders. Nevertheless, it feels like it's going to take an age until I hear the outcome of my applications. I'm just going to have to play the waiting game. Will they like me? Will I get interviewed? Maybe I should have used an admissions consultant after all... Oh well.
What is most amazing about this whole process is that each of the schools has managed to get something different out of me. Although I've drawn on the same set of stories across the schools, the flavor and essence is slightly different for each one. With most of the schools' essays, the stories have just gotten better with each retelling; I have then reworked the improved stories back across the schools. The exception to this is MIT. For MIT, I've had to write completely new essays. Because these essays are so different, there has not been much of that refinement. This worries me slightly, since this is one of my favorite schools. In all, I think Stanford has got the best out of me. In the end, the questions just seemed to perfectly tie in with my stories.
In the meanwhile, following their R1 deadline, Wharton sent a prompt email detailing their schedule of interview invites and decision points. I am impressed with how specific their dates are. Though there are still deadlines left, I think R1 application processing is beginning in earnest. Let's see what the dice rolls. Read More >>
Everywhere you look, things are turning red. You may think it's because of the Autumn / Fall season. But it's actually nature's way of signaling 'danger', get your ass into gear - your applications are due this month.
I've had a horror story this week. I went to submit my HBS application last night. It was late, and I was tired. I was physically tired, but also tired of this whole arduous process. I checked everything on my application and was was about to bid it farewell. But then I got a phone call and got distracted. In the end, I did not submit. I got into work today and decided to print the application out and read it through during lunch hour. You'll not believe it, but I had uploaded the same essay for two different questions. AAARGH! What would they have thought if they had got that?! Needless to say, the shock has set me back and I will be taking a few more days to fret over this one.
As a 2001 graduate, based on their stats, I'm not sure I will get into HBS. I wonder if it is my mind unconsciously wreaking my application. It is telling that MIT ask for number of years of work experience on matriculation, whereas HBS ask for number of months.
BTW, in London things don't turn red in Autumn. They just turn cold, wither away and die. Read More >>
If you want to be admitted into HBS in Round 3, you probably need to be a Ring Girl with a GMAT score of 780 .
Some of the US business schools have been in town. I managed to get on to the presentation sessions of some of them. The bulk of the talks were nothing new to anyone looking at the schools. The following tidbits on Rounds do however stand out in my mind...
In HBS's presentation they mentioned that they had 8660 applicants last year. They characterised the applicants in each round as follows:
- Round 1: The 'A' types just waiting to hit the submit button. Not necessarily the highest volume, but the round wiht the highest quality applicants. About 450 are admitted from this round.
- Round 2: The highest volume round. Quality of applicants tends to be 'normal'. About 450 admitted from this round.
- Round 3: Sometimes the school ponders getting rid of this round, but it always produces eccentrics that the school wants to have. About 100 admitted from this round.
- In Round 1, the volume of applicants was 1/3 of the total. Half the class was admitted in this round.
- In Round 2, the volume of applicants was 2/3 of the total. Again, half the class was admitted in this round.
HBS certainly looks The Business, but according to Philip Delves Broughton...
I was gifted with the Philip Delves Broughton's Ahead Of The Curve two weeks ago. In that time, I’ve managed to sift through it on the my commute to and from work. On the whole, I found the style of writing not to be as engaging as I thought it could be. If I were not going through this application process, I probably would have skipped reading the book after the first chapter. Here are the things that stand out for me from the book:
- Crikey, does this guy go on about work-life balance. He seems to have spent a lot of time worrying about how bad a father and husband he would be if he became a mega-powerful tycoon or took a job on Wall Street or in consulting. I almost felt like slapping him and saying, “what don’t you do one of these things first, then figure it out”.
- The relationship between staff and faculty does not seem to be strong, at least comparative to other schools. I found the incident with the Entrepreneurship lecturer discouraging. Broughton and his school-mate, Bo, try to approach him with their start-up idea and were shown disinterest. In the end, they got more help from someone who dropped out of their class; I was impressed that this other guy had contacts with VCs and was able to advise how to approach them. On the plus side then, perhaps HBS does attract truly amazing students?
- The hierarchy of people in the class determined by which job people end up in, i.e. high paying Private Equity and Hedge fund at the top followed by Investment Banking / Consulting then everything else. His impression was that people were caught up comparing themselves with others and becoming unhappy as a result. You could leave HBS with a job that paid $200,000 and still you could be considered a loser because others earned more!?
- He talks about the application process: he got a 730 in the GMAT when the average for HBS was 700. His essays were on topics such as reporting for The Daily Telegraph during 9/11 and the ethics of representing two different sides in a news story he had to write. i.e. his essays must have stood out like a hot girl in a night club.
- HBS leaves the students with a confidence that they can talk to anyone about business in any situation. Perhaps this is the arrogance that some others talk about? Broughton also mentions often that after HBS he felt he had the business tools for approaching any situation. I suspect these two things are what the Case Method must impart on the students.
- No mention of involvement in clubs. At Wharton the kids can’t stop talking about how the much the clubs help them prepare for interviews. I wondered whether he had made the most of his experience there.
- The job hunt: every job ad for Investment Banking or Consulting required 2 years previous experience in the industry. You needed to have set your path for a career change well before arriving there! For Broughton, who did not have clear career goals, this was disastrous – ultimately leaving him without a job on graduation.
- Some of the classes seemed impressive, especially Michael Porter’s take on using competition to drive quality of life improvements in industries, regions and countries.
- There are some useful lessons for all aspiring MBAs. A lot of what Broughton talks about I could imagine to be true of many business schools, particularly areas such as the trials of recruitment or a non-finance person keeping up with everyone in class. On this basis, I would actually recommend the book to anyone thinking of doing an MBA.
Below are extracts from the piece in the Financial Times, as well as another piece I found in a different paper, The Times. Enjoy!
Financial Times: A ‘poet’ in capitalism’s cauldron
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All business schools pride themselves on recruiting “poets”, the non-traditional students who bring a different perspective to the classroom, usually populated by engineers, bankers or information technology specialists – or in the case of Harvard, according to Delves Broughton, by the “three Ms”: mormons, military and McKinsey.
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Two themes stand out. The first is the extent to which students use their two years at HBS, frequently described by the school as transformational, to enact their aspirations and change their working lives. The answer in Delves Broughton’s cohort would seem to be very little, with most graduates succumbing to the inexorable pull of the lucrative banking and consultancy sectors, which they often went to HBS to escape.
The other is that of ethics. During his time at HBS, US business schools faced a dilemma after one applicant found a way to hack into the applications website and discover unofficially whether he had been accepted. He published the relevant web addresses online and many others followed suit, leaving an electronic trail. Harvard, like other top schools, rescinded any offers intended for these applicants. A straw poll in Delves Broughton’s class shows about three-quarters believe the Harvard administration‘s decision was “excessive and self-righteous”.
The other is that of ethics. During his time at HBS, US business schools faced a dilemma after one applicant found a way to hack into the applications website and discover unofficially whether he had been accepted. He published the relevant web addresses online and many others followed suit, leaving an electronic trail. Harvard, like other top schools, rescinded any offers intended for these applicants. A straw poll in Delves Broughton’s class shows about three-quarters believe the Harvard administration‘s decision was “excessive and self-righteous”.
The Times: What They Teach You at Harvard Business School
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The result of Delves Broughton’s time there is this funny and revealing insider’s view, revealing precisely because he is genuinely fascinated by the world of business, and his fascination is infectious. Yet feelings of unease emerge even before he arrives. He reads a student guide on What to Bring. “Don’t bring that guitar . . . Don’t bring any books from literature or history classes . . . Don’t bring your cynicism. Do bring all the diverse rest of you. We can’t wait to share the experience.” Immediately, his bolshie British bullshit- detector thrums into life: “Who were these people? And why did they talk like this? Why can’t I bring my cynicism? Or my books? Aren’t they a part of the ‘diverse rest of me’?” “Your calendar will be jam-packed with amazing, fun things to do,” warbles the guide.
Amazingly, despite this terrible threat, he persists. Instantly, he is swamped with work: company case studies, spreadsheet analysis, books called things such as Crossing the Chasm and Inside the Tornado, intended to make him feel he’s doing something terribly daring and manly. He is surprised at the large presence of earnest Mormons and unimaginative former-military men in this cauldron of capitalism. But gradually this begins to make sense, for HBS is pervaded with an oppressive atmosphere of unquestioning obedience and creepy religiosity. There is the confessional My Reflected Best-Self exercise, to encourage students “to create a developmental agenda for leveraging their reflected best-self” and “work maximally from positions of strength”. Approved results sound like this: “I do not take on the negative energy of the insecure . . . I stay centred . . . I try to model the message of integrity, growth and transformation.” Delves Broughton is quietly incredulous that people actually talk about themselves like this, in public, straight-faced.
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