ISB Thinking about applying to the Indian School of Business? Then check out our recent Q&amp;A with Mr. V. K. Menon, Senior Director of Placements at ISB for valuable information on career prospects for ISB grads post-MBA. Read on for an excerpt: Question: Can you explain how well ISB graduates are placed in terms of being work ready on the first day? Do ISB and companies that hire consider that the PGP is robust enough to deliver work-ready managers with minimal training? VK Menon: Let’s look at how we operate. The ISB Program is a one-year program. So right when we were setting up the school the question arose, should we go in for a one-year program or should we do a normal two-year program like many other business schools? The research we conducted showed that if people had more than three years of experience they were in a very advantageous position if they went in for a one-year program, and so we chose the one-year model. The tradeoff of the model is that in a typical two-year model, you get about 720 contact hours. These are hours which you spend in class with the professors, 720. In a one-year program, that is the one that is done by ISB, you have around 680 contact hours. So there is a tradeoff of about 40 contact hours, but the advantage is that you get back to work one year earlier.  
 
So that’s how we formulated the design. Having formulated the design, the other thing which we had to do was that we had to do away with all the breaks....This one year is split up into eight terms and each term is one and a half months. In each term, you will do about four to five subjects which means that it’s a very tight program and the program rolls on term after term for one complete year. Now, the interesting fact here is that close to around 70% of the students who join the PGP Program of the ISB change their careers. They either change their function or they change their industry or they change their location or they change all the three. So the question which was asked becomes very important. How is it that we make these people ready to be operative from day one, how is that we prepare them not just on that curriculum but also on the get-ready-to-industry concept? Now for that we have a complete -- under the Career Advancement Services, we have a Learning and Development Department. The Learning and Development Department is headed by vertical specialists....So it is their role...to ensure that you take the right subjects, you go to the projects which you need to do. You may have to choose certain projects which are specifically designed for you. You may have to kind of go out and work with certain industries. You may have to do special sessions from industry experts who are brought in for getting you ready to go to market. So there's a whole set of activities which are done by the Learning and Development Department. This department is not in any way associated with the academics that go on. The academics is a stream by itself. The Learning and Development Department just ensures that the student is job ready, job fit for both the interview and for the job, if and when the job is given to you. So that’s the way in which we train students to be ready on day one. Going by feedback of companies which have been recruiting, and we’re very sensitive about feedback, we get back to the companies and we are in close touch with more than about 1,000 companies worldwide. So the feedback suggests that the graduates of ISB have performed exceptionally well when it came to really handling assignments post graduation. For the complete conversation, please <a href="http://www.accepted.com/chat/transcripts/2013/IndianSchoolofBusinessCareers.

Alex Salter- Recruitment &amp; Admissions Manager Are you confused about the difference between London Business School’s MBA and its Masters in Management (MiM)? Are you considering applying for the MiM program but have questions about the program’s curriculum, student life, job prospects, etc.? Are you looking for winning tips on how to best present yourself in London’s MiM application? If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, then you’ll want to check out our recent Q&amp;A with London Business School MiM reps Ivan Anderson, Client Services Manager at the Masters in Management; Alex Salter, Recruitment and Admissions Manager at the Masters in Management at London Business School; and Daniel Lay, Career Services Recruiter Lead for the Masters in Management at London Business School. Read on for an excerpt. Question: What are the main differences between the MiM program and the conventional MBA program? Alex Salter: With regards our MiM program, it really is a pre-experience program for more recent graduates in the last couple of years. The MBA at London Business School, I can certainly say you will be required to have a minimum of two years work experience and it's actually unusual to see students on the program contributing at that level. The average work experience on that program has risen year and year. At the moment it's just about six years work experience. So we really are filling the gap in the market. People are graduating more recently looking for that practical business experience, whilst they might not have the practical experience themselves. It may only be in a number of internships that they have undertaken. Ivan Anderson: ...Also, I definitely think the differences between the MBA and the Masters in Management specifically is that we equip individuals who come from various different undergraduate disciplines with the skills and the knowledge, as well as, the tools that they need in order to really begin and to make their impact on the business world. Versus the MBA which is slightly different where individuals either use the MBA to shift careers or to move up to the next level within their career. Versus the MiM which is designed to really give young professionals that are just entering the market the extra competitive edge that they need in order to really make an impact. For the complete conversation, please check out the 2013 London Business School MiM Q&amp;A transcript or listen to the audio file. You can also view our London Business School MiM B-School Zone for more information. To automatically receive notices about these MBA admissions chats and other MBA admissions events, please subscribe to our MBA events list. To listen to the Q&amp;A recordings on-the-go, please subscribe to the Accepted Admissions Podcast. //  Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

"...there's definitely a great community just among all of us." Thank you to Consortium representatives for another outstanding Q&amp;A! As always, the Consortium team and partnering school reps offered loads of insight into the Consortium admissions process and the ways in which the individual programs support the Consortium mission. See the below excerpt for more on this: Linda Abraham: Elva asks, "What percentage of your students in each of your programs are Consortium students? How does your program help candidates live up to the mission of the Consortium?" Allison Jesse: Okay, I'd like to start with the mission part because I think in terms of the Consortium's mission, we have core values at our particular school, UNC Kenan-Flagler, and I'm sure many of my colleagues can also speak to something similar at their business school. Leadership, integrity, teamwork, excellence, all of these things mirror what the Consortium is all about....in terms of Consortium members, it's about 7%. Cindy Jennings Millette: Well, I certainly agree with what Allison said. The culture in business school, definitely being able to kind of give back in that leadership experience and team skills and all that, definitely melds really well with what the Consortium has. And we also have a culture at Berkeley, we have four defining principles, one being, "Beyond Yourself” and “Student Always," and I think both of those really do mirror what the Consortium mission is. Right now, we have 20 students in each class that are Consortium members, and I do think that what's really great is we see a lot of these people in different roles throughout the leadership on campus, including in our MBA association, so that's someone who's a Vice President of, Admissions, and Student Services, and all of that. And then also in the different clubs, the industry-focused clubs, you just see students being very involved, as we see a lot of our students being involved, and that kind of drive to give back you definitely see throughout the community. Jon Fuller: So, our MBA class each year is about 500 students, give or take. And this year, we have about 45 Consortium students....So not quite 10%, 8 -- 9%...So it's a very healthy number, and it's definitely a presence that's well-known and well-regarded on campus, and very similar to what Cindy was saying. Instead of..."How does your program help candidates?" It's really how do our students help candidates live up to the mission? Because they really hold one another accountable. We have a really strong and connected culture between MBA 1s and MBA 2s, which I won't go so far as to say is unique to Ross, but it always surprises me as to just how well-enmeshed they are with one another. And so the MBA 2s really take the role, in saying, "Hey, you know, we have this fine tradition here at Ross of not being passive individuals in our MBA experience, and taking on those leadership roles, and really stepping up to the opportunity." And sort of demonstrate the mission by living it, and demonstrating it to others by their actions and the ways that they're involved and the ways that they try to educate their classmates who come from, not just other U.S. backgrounds where they may have had more or less engagement, or opportunity to experience a diverse environment, but also with our international students where you really might have a monolithic culture, which is really kind of the antithesis of what you find here in the United States. So they're not just engaged with the U.S. students, but also, it's a great opportunity to demonstrate that activity or that perspective to our international students as well. Rabia Ahmed: Sure, so I think one of the really nice things about the Consortium, in general, is that during OP, as Rebecca mentioned,

"300 to 400 companies would come and recruit." Did you miss our recent ISB MBA Q&amp;A? No problem! Read the excerpt below on the Indian job market for ISB MBAs and then check out the full transcript for more details. Thank you VK Menon, Senior Director of Placements at the Indian School of Business, for an insightful conversation about ISB! (P.S. We invite you to read the Q&amp;A transcript even if you DID attend the event – an excellent review for those planning on applying to ISB!) Linda Abraham: "How does the Indian job market look for a person graduating in 2014 from ISB?" Probably a question of interest to a lot of people on the call. VK Menon: Okay. Actually, this is my personal take – but I have a very different take on this whole thing. I don’t think we should confuse the macro with the micro. That is, I’m not so concerned about how the economy is doing, or how certain sectors are doing, or how the global economy is, or whether we are in a recession, or whether we are in a buoyant mood. Yes, those are all factors. But end of the day, when you graduate out of a premium b-school like the ISB, it is what happens to you that’s important. For a small group of people, (700 is not a very large number in a collective world landscape), so in a small group it all depends on how you prepare for the job you want to join, and given that over the years the reputation that is built by premium schools is strong, and close to 300 to 400 companies would come and recruit. Your chance of getting a job which you want is high, subject to your preparations levels being strong and your commitment levels being strong. So I really don’t bother too much about the macro-environment, or how the environment might go. Wherever it goes, the war for talent will be there. Good students will get lapped up, so, those are all reality....over the last ten years I have seen various ups and downs of the economy, but always the demand for talent and the demand for the right talent, and good talent has been constant. For the complete conversation, please check out the Indian School of Business MBA transcript or listen to the audio file. For additional tips on how to ace the ISB application, visit our Indian School of Business B-School Zone. To automatically receive notices about these MBA admissions chats and other MBA admissions events, please subscribe to our MBA events list. To listen to the Q&amp;A recordings on-the-go, please subscribe to the Accepted Admissions Podcast. //  Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

“Be prepared!” We had an excellent Q&amp;A last week with admissions members from Cornell Johnson. We hope you enjoyed it! In the following excerpt, Cornell adcom members, Christine Sneva, Ann Richards, and Eddie Asby talk about their interview pet peeves. Read on for valuable advice about what NOT to do: Linda Abraham: What are your greatest pet peeves during an interview? In other words, what mistakes do applicants make? Christine Sneva: In terms of preparation, treat the interview as if it was a job interview. Dress professionally, prepare, and remember what you're going into. This is an interview that is assessing your fit with our program, that we know. You don't need to know everything about the program, but we really want to know, genuinely, why you want to be here, how you see yourself being a part of the community, how you came to that conclusion. In an interview, you really also get a true sense of someone's goal clarity. So we'll ask you other schools that you may be applying to. We'll also ask what it is that you want to do, how you've prepared for that career. These are all questions that, through resources like Accepted.com and other ways, that really push you on these questions, not so you anticipate them and know this question, but really know why you want to get an MBA, and why is it important that you do this at this point in your life...But also, remember, it's only 30, maybe 40 minutes, so we can't have a two-hour interview or a day's worth of interviews where you want to really try to get to know someone. So that's where other pieces in the application really come in and are really also very important Ann Richards: I would just add that really take the time to be prepared. I think the thing that bothers me the most, or my pet peeve regarding interviews, is we've read your application, we've put in this time, and we've identified you as somebody that we think has real potential at this school, and invited you to interview. And if you show up here, and you don't know about the school or you seem disinterested or you're not taking this seriously, I feel like we've wasted our time, and you may have wasted your time. So be prepared, as Christine said, it's not hard to find out what kind of questions we're going to ask in the interview, and make the most of your visit here. Don't ask us questions that are easily answered by just visiting our website. Eddie Asbie: I have just one piece of advice. I always just want to make sure the prospective students remember that the minute that you walk through the door, it's like you're being interviewed. Or if you are reaching out to current students, alums, just remember to keep yourself in a professional manner at all times....[Y]ou never know if that receptionist is part of the admissions committee. But then, also if you're walking with current students, [they] will even kind of look at you to see if you are going to be the best candidate to represent our school. Being a part of a business school, this is something that you're investing your time, your money, but also this is a lifelong affiliation that you will have from the minute that you walk in, [if you have] any kind of communications, keep it in a professional manner. For the full Q&amp;A, please view the Cornell Johnson transcript or listen to the audio file. Boost your MBA interview IQ by reading up on the resources on our Business School Interview Prep 101. To automatically receive notices about these MBA admissions chats and other MBA admissions events,

Thank you to the Consortium MBA panelists (including reps from CMU Tepper, Rochester Simon, Cornell Johnson, and others) for an insightful Q&amp;A. The following excerpt offers important tips into what NOT to do when completing your Consortium MBA application: Linda Abraham: Kurt asked, "Could the member schools talk about a few common mistakes they see applicants make during the application process?" Evan Bouffides: Well, there are certainly a lot of pitfalls and mistakes that could be made. As far as the most common ones, I would say, going back to a point I made earlier, we really, as business schools, want to know that you, the applicant, have given careful thought to the notion of going back to school, getting your graduate degree in business, that it's the right moment in time, that you've really thought about what you would like your life and your career to look like afterwards. I think sometimes students don't present with as much focus...and maybe the reason for that is they're trying to second-guess what admissions officers want to hear. We really want you to craft a good argument for yourself that goes something like this, "Here's who I've been so far in my life professionally, and maybe even personally speaking. This is where I want to go, and this is how the MBA is going to get me there." Monique Moreland:I think one of the biggest pitfalls is that people need to take this process as seriously as if they were applying for a job. This is a serious process. From the application to the interview to the interactions with the staff, it's just as important as if you were looking for a job. As was mentioned before, we all talk with each other and so does our staff. If someone comes in and is rude to our receptionist or things like that, that doesn't look very good for you as an applicant, a Consortium applicant or an applicant in general. So my best piece of advice, take this process very seriously. It's just as important as it will be when you're applying for a job. Stefanie Bascom: Sure. I agree with everything my colleagues have said. I'll take a pretty easy one: proofread, proofread, proofread. There's several applications every year–we've all experienced it–where someone is taking an essay on why they want to attend a certain business school, and they have another university name in there. This is not the best thing that we want to see. We certainly want you to be excited about coming to our school. This is a chance for you to show how you've researched the school, who you may have spoken with at the school, any alumni or current students, if you attended an event. So we really do expect you to know as much as possible about our business school prior to the application, and so that can come through in the essay Ann Richards: I have to second what Stefanie said about that carelessness because the way that we look at it is if you're sloppy in your application to us, you're going to be that way with employers as well, and that's not how we want you to represent our program. So I really want to second Stefanie's comments and everybody else's. The unique piece of advice that I think I have is to really take this MBA application opportunity to think about what it is, why it is you're going to business school. It's not just to get a better salary. It's not just to change a job. We have all created our applications in a manner so that it really forces good candidates to be introspective, to think about what drives them, what motivates them. Take advantage of this opportunity. This is probably the first time in your adult life that you've really had the luxury to think about, "What is it that I want to do? What am I good at? What skills do I need to develop?" And if you really think about that, if you use this as an opportunity to really think about what drives you and what you want to...

Students at HEC Paris Did you get a chance to check out our HEC Paris MBA Q&amp;A with Marie-Laurence Lemaire, HEC MBA's Senior Business Development Manager? The excerpt below emphasizes the importance of describing clear post-MBA career goals in your HEC MBA application: Linda Abraham: What role does “hire-ability” and clear career goals play in the evaluation process? Marie-Laurence Lemaire: We ask this question in the application file because we want the people actually applying to the MBA program to think about their future. We don’t want people who just apply for a program because of the ranking or this and that. You do obviously apply to a specific program because it highly ranked, etc., but we want more than just that. We want people to think about their future and have a clear idea of what they want to do. Most of our students are career switchers, so they want to change something in their environment. They want to change geography, they want to change sector of activity, or they want to change job. They can’t change all three at the same time; that is just impossible. Sometimes they can change two things. But most of the time, if they manage to change one thing, it’s really great. And then later on, you can change something else. But to change too many things at the same time won’t work. Linda Abraham: If you want to change two or more of those parameters, you are best off doing it in a multi-step process and as a long-term plan? Marie-Laurence Lemaire: Absolutely. Because by changing too many things at the same time, you might really be confronting too many difficulties, especially in the environment today. You need to really do one step at a time. So you might have to accept a job just after the MBA which might not be your dream job. But that job will lead you to something else, to getting more experience in something that will lead to something that you are really dreaming of later on. So you have to do it step by step. I think it is very important. To go back to your original question about the admission, we want our students to think about what they want to do, but we know very well that over the course of the program, a lot of people will change their minds. And that is fine. We are used to that. I think it’s pretty okay to grow up during the course of an MBA and say, I know that in the admissions file I wanted to do this and work in that sector of activity, but really, I spoke to some alum, I’ve seen some companies, and this is not me. I’d rather work in sustainability, for example. So yes, we want to hear about projects. Sometimes people have a clear view of what they want to do, but sometimes people change and that is fine. To learn more about this top ranked European business school, please see the full HEC Paris MBA transcript or listen to the audio file here. For detailed tips for career changers on how they can best highlight their post-MBA goals, check out the resources on our MBA Career Change Admissions Advice page. ***Please join us for our upcoming Q&amp;A featuring an international panel of adcom members from top European b-schools. Marie-Laurence Lemaire will be joining us again to represent HEC, as will Jeroen Verhoeven (ESADE) and Lisa Piguet (IMD). The event will take place on Thursday, June 14, 2012 at 8:30 AM PST / 11:30 AM EST / 3:30 PM GMT / 5:30 pm CEST. Register now to reserve your spot!*** To automatically receive notices about these MBA admissions chats and other MBA admissions event...

HKUST campus in Hong Kong Thank you to Sherring Ng, Head of Marketing &amp; Admissions at HKUST Business School, and Pimluck Suvitsakdanon, a second year HKUST student, for an excellent admissions Q&amp;A. The following excerpt offers some HKUST program highlights, a great introduction if you're considering applying to this top Asian business school: Linda Abraham: Sherring, what is new at HKUST? Sherring Ng: There are so many new things at HKUST, but I will highlight a few things. We noticed that more and more recruiters at HKUST expect graduates to speak some Mandarin. In the past, we have only had three weeks of Mandarin training courses for students, just as an exposure. But starting from this year, we actually have a one-year Mandarin training program at HKUST with different levels. So a student would need to pass one level in order to take another level of Mandarin training. But eventually they can take the Business Mandarin, which is credit bearing, to learn Mandarin in business settings; like how to do interviews, how to do presentations, make reports, etc. This is one of the new things. Another thing is that we have started a pilot this past winter. We call it Professional Week. It is a very intensive training that lasts 4-5 days for students, from morning till evening. They need to do a lot of presentations, case analyses, business analyses, etc. The purpose of that is for students to really drill their skills in analyzing the different scenarios in a very short time; to do presentations, to work in teams, etc. And we are very happy about this pilot because the feedback has been very positive. And then after that training, we have sent many students overseas for different kinds of case competitions or business plan competitions. One of the competitions is the USC Marshall Global Consulting Challenge. It was held in Los Angeles, and our students won the first place. Another one is the HULT Global Case Challenge, which was held in Shanghai. Our students also won that regional competition. So it seems quite effective. Starting from our year-one students, we give an iPad to all students. And this coming summer, we plan to have something like a portal or platform for students when they are attending classes. They no longer need to bring all the notes, the package, or books; they can access all the reading materials, PowerPoint, etc. on their iPads. So it really facilitates a learning experience and also is very environmentally friendly. To learn more about this rising Asian business school, please see the full transcript or listen to the audio file here. To listen to the Q&amp;A recordings on-the-go, please check out Accepted's Admissions Podcasts. Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Thank you to the USC Marshall representatives for an excellent admissions Q&amp;A. They covered lots of important topics, offering tips on all aspects of the admissions process. Read the excerpt below to learn more about the culture at Marshall and what qualities the adcom members look for in applicants: Linda Abraham: Art asks, "What strengths do you believe separate your school from some of the other MBA programs?" Grace Kim: There are great programs out there, ours being one of them. Academically, any school that you go to, you will get a great academic education. So it’s really about fit – where do you fit culturally? What sort of experiences are you looking for as you are going to graduate school? I think that makes the difference as far as distinguishing factors from schools. Because when you go to an academic environment – a college, a graduate program – there are certain standards that everyone maintains to give you that type of education. But the other component is – what kind of network do you want to have? What type of culture? What type of experience? And that is what is unique from school to school. So we always encourage our applicants, whether you are starting the application process or you’re thinking about schools, or even during the application process, to really go and visit the schools that you are going to apply to because that will give you a very good idea what the school is about and what the students are about. When we say teamwork and camaraderie, what are we talking about? How do people interact in class? What is the relationship between the professors and teachers? You will be able to get that kind of feeling and sense for the school when you actually visit. So we encourage our applicants to always visit the schools. Most schools have a visitation program. We certainly have one here; it’s called the Ambassador Program. Anyone can come Monday-Thursday. There is a morning class or an afternoon class, and a student will host you and take you around. They’ll give you a tour, answer any of your questions, and introduce you to the professors and other students so that you really get a feel for the school and what the unique characteristics of the school are. So we encourage you to do that. Feel free to call us any time in your application process to schedule an appointment. You can view the full transcript or listen to the audio file here and see our blog post, USC Marshall Application Questions, Deadlines, &amp; Tips, for more advice on how to optimize your USC Marshall application. Still not sure if Marshall is the best b-school for you? Download Accepted's free special report, Best MBA Programs: A Guide to Selecting the Right One, now for valuable tips on choosing an MBA program based on your individual qualifications and experiences. To automatically receive notices about these MBA admissions chats and other MBA admissions events, please subscribe to our MBA event list. To listen to the Q&amp;A recordings on-the-go, please subscribe to the Accepted Admissions Podcast. <a href="https://blog.accepted.