Business Schools Change How They Market Themselves

Business Week has a fascinating article on how business schools have to re-think how they promote themselves, given increasing competition and scare jobs.

The Importance of Having a Top MBA: Harvard MBAs Make $1 Million More than Yale MBAs

Using PayScale data, a recent Business Week article shows the (estimated) total career pay for the top 45 MBA programs. To summarize, it pays to get into the best MBA program possible. I've excerpted the top 10 paying MBA programs from the article below.

Top MBA Programs and the Estimated Total Career Pay

1. Harvard University $3.9 MM
2. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) $3.5 MM
3. Columbia University $3.3 MM
4. Stanford University $3.1 MM
5. Dartmouth College (Tuck) $3.0 MM
6. Northwestern University (Kellogg) $3.0 MM
   
7. MIT (Sloan) $3.0 MM
8. University of Chicago (Booth) $2.9 MM
9. University of California - Berkeley (Haas) $2.9 MM
10. NYU (Stern) $2.9 MM

Admissions Red Flag: Too Much Contact with the Admissions Office

Here's an interesting tip from the Graduate Management Admissions Council:

One red flag that is often ignored but should be taken seriously, said some symposium participants, is excessive contact with the admissions office. Termed “Hassler Syndrome” by one participant, extreme dependency on the admissions office may signal a lack of self-confidence that manifests itself as neediness. This trait may show up later in the learning environment, when the student is unable to contribute meaningfully to classes and work groups and becomes known as a “net taker”. The same person may be a drain on career services, unable to take initiative in a job search.

Weird MBA Interview Questions

Scott Shrum, over at Veritas Prep, assembled a list of ten weird MBA admissions interview questions. I've included the ten questions below.

If you need help preparing for your MBA interviews, our sister company, Seattle Interview Coach, offers MBA interview coaching.

Lastly, Scott is the author of Your MBA Game Plan, an excellent book that offers tips on how to get into business school.

Top Ten Weirdest MBA Admissions Interview Questions

1. Sell me this pen.
2. Look at this painting. What does it mean to you?
3. If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?
4. How many golf balls are in the air around the world, right now?
5. Why would [school name] ever want to admit you?
6. What's the best email address you've ever seen? Why?
7. If they did a movie about your life, what actor or actress would you choose to play you?
8. Are you a dog or a cat person? Sell me on why that animal is better.
9. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
10. I'm trying to land an airplane but don't know what to do. Talk me through it and help me land.

Five MBA Essay Tips to Help You Get Into Top MBA Programs

The Essay Critique blog has a nice post on five common MBA essay mistakes. They include:

• Answering a Different Question
• Skimming over the Details
• Distracting Creative Imagery
• Language, Grammar
• Overly glorifying your accomplishments

I find mistakes 1, 3, and 5 to be the most fatal.

• Answering a different question tells me the candidate cannot follow directions and gets distracted easily.
• Distracting creative imagery plagues many essays. Many candidates fall into trap of trying to become a best selling novelist. Unless you're a naturally talented writer, don't try. Just answer the question as powerfully, precisely, and efficiently as possible. And when appropriate, entertain the reader.
• Many candidates overly glorify accomplishments. I read a client essay that was filled with over 20 different names; this technique is commonly referred to as "name dropping." I didn't recognize any of the names. And even if she claimed some relation to Barack Obama or Michael Jordan, it would be completely useless if it didn't include some context that was specific and relevant to the essay question.

Barack Obama's Seven Fundamentals of Leadership

I just read an excellent article on Barack Obama's seven fundamentals of leadership. For those MBA applicants who are working on your MBA leadership essays, refer to the leadership traits below for possible essay ideas.

Obama on Leadership

1. Find the best employees.
2. Insist on teamwork.
3. Demand analytical rigor.
4. Explore alternatives.
5. Make quick decisions.
6. Execute well.
7. Solicit feedback.

11 Leadership Characteristics You Should Consider for Your MBA Essays

A while ago, I discussed how the leadership MBA essays are difficult for many of my clients, especially for those who are new to managerial or leadership roles. CareerBuilder recently posted 11 top leadership traits, based on hundreds of reader nominations. The list below is helpful as you brainstorm outlines for your own leadership essays.

Readers’ Choice: Top 10 11 Leadership Characteristics

1. Vision “A leader is someone that has vision. Someone that sees what is possible, not what is expected. Someone that sees the good in staff and promotes it, not the faults and prays on them. Someone who sees leadership as an honor…not just a responsibility.” – Michael Asbill
2. Integrity “Integrity is the most important attribute. Leaders must have vision, passion, commitment, charisma, great communications skills, and on through the list. But without being true to their principles (even when they think nobody is watching) they send the wrong message and lose their follower’s trust.” – Ron Boatright
3. Communication “I look for a manager with outcome-focused communication skills that builds trust amongst their staff, shares their knowledge and seeks feedback from associates. This allows a good manager to connect with their staff and helps create an understanding, support and acceptance critical to an organization’s success.” – Shelley Drosts
4. Creative – “In this day and age, creativity and ingenuity are certainly stressed, as uncertain economic times and other variables increase the need for thinking outside the box and the ability to shake off old paradigms or ways of thinking in order to innovate, improve, and lead.”- Daniel Hewitt
5. Inspire – “Maya Angelou once said, ‘People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel.’ I think this is a great template for a leader…I think a leader is one who nurtures and encourages and inspires an employee to not only do what he/she is supposed to do but to feel better about themselves as a person and feel better about themselves as an employee.” – Robert
6. Motivate “Leadership is the ability to steer the ship during good and bad times. To make unpopular decisions that are right for the business in good and bad economies. To keep people to motivated to want more when business is good or bad.” – Susan
7. Courage “We expect the most from our employees at all levels. We expect them to have the courage to take risks, be bold on behalf of our clients, own their actions and look fearlessly to the future and the possibilities it holds.” – Susan Leverentz
8. Confidence “We continue to find that the most effective leaders are the ones who realize and accept that they cannot have all the answers, cannot do all the work, and will rise with the overall success of their teams. The challenge is often to find leaders with less management experience who have attained this level of self-confidence.” – RDL
9. Integrity “A great leader is someone whom others seek to follow. What does that look like? The leader will ooze uncompromising integrity. Those around him are proud to be associated with him.” – Jill Smedley
10. Passionate “The best leaders are those who are passionate about their work, what they represent and their ability to spread that passion by leading and motivating others in the organization to increase productivity.” – Lori
11. Adaptable “Able leaders respond rather than react to uncertain times. Additionally, they are not easily shaken by setbacks. They find unique solution to unfamiliar problems and they look at challenges as an opportunity to learn and grow.” – Dominic Moore