MBA Personal Reflection

So, you may be wondering if I've decided to obtain an MBA?

The answer to the question is yes, but.....

This past year has been a difficult one for me. Both my mother and my grandfather have been battling cancer for the last year. My mother had a very dangerous nine hour surgery in June to remove her cancer. They feel it was successful; however, her recovery will be a slow one. My grandfather lost his battle with cancer yesterday.

In addition to taking care of my mother, I've taken a full load of classes each semester and worked full-time. I spent most of my summer traveling for work. Free-time has not been on my agenda for quite some time.

I've decided that it would be beneficial for me to obtain an MBA, however, I've decided to allow myself one year off before pursuing that goal. I went through the decision making process I listed in my blogs and for financial reasons, career related decisions, and family needs, I've decided that taking some time off (after obtaining my accounting degree in the fall)is the best course of action.

Researching the MBA program has allowed me to learn more about the benefits and the downfalls, educated me on the steps I need to take, and shown me how to decide on a school. I hope the information I gathered and shared was somewhat beneficial to you as well.

Getting Prepared- Don't forget the Essay

You're essay is important because it is your chance to differentiate yourself from the crowd. An impressive essay just may be your key to getting an interview.

Here is a sample goal essay.


Goals Essay
It is critical in the goals essay found in almost every MBA application to show that you have clear direction and purpose based on experience and planning. Business school is not another opportunity to "find yourself."

8:00 AM. July 1, 2010. The 23rd floor of the Bank of China building in Hong Kong. A woman sitting behind the mahogany desk calls a Shanghai trader to buy 200,000 shares of China Telecom's stock. Moments later, she dashes into a teleconference with Tokyo analysts. When the teleconference finally concludes two hours later, the woman rushes down the stairs, hails a taxi to the Chek Lap Kok Airport, catches a flight to Thailand, and ends her day with a meeting with the CFO of DynaTech Computers. I look forward to maintaining this busy schedule as a portfolio manager of an international equity mutual fund about ten years after obtaining my MBA. The Top School academic experience can build on my public accounting training and my multi-cultural and multi-lingual background to prepare me for work first as an equity analyst in the mutual fund industry and ultimately as a portfolio manager specializing in Asian Pacific equities.

As a CPA and staff accountant with Big 6 for the past two and a half years, I have developed a solid foundation in teamwork, analytical, and problem-solving skills. As a bilingual associate of the Asia-Pacific Business Group, I specialize in auditing the financial statements of in-bound Asian businesses. However, while Big 6 provides expansive career opportunities in public accounting, I have reached a plateau in developing the analytical and management skills necessary to achieve my ultimate career goal of money management. In public accounting, we measure and examine financial transactions of the past. In contrast, money managers examine the current attributes of securities and attempt to predict their future performance; unfortunately, this forward-looking focus is absent in public accounting. Unable to delve into financial areas beyond accounting and limited in obtaining more challenging analytical experiences, I am also constrained by the compliance nature of public accounting. I cannot acquire the advanced financial skills necessary to understand how financial assets are created and traded and how they are leveraged in national and international capital markets.

Furthermore, an effective manager in the 21st century must be well-versed in international business transactions. Unfortunately, my desire to gain this broader understanding of the increasingly interdependent global economy remains unsatisfied at Big 6. Although I have utilized my Chinese language skills in servicing our Asian clients and engaged in comparative technical analysis of U.S. GAAP and French, Taiwanese, and Japanese financial reporting requirements, my exposure to and knowledge of broader transactional issues such as international transfer pricing has been limited. Finally, as our audits focus mainly on the clients' compliance with U.S. GAAP and foreign accounting and reporting requirements, they provide few opportunities to appreciate the "big picture" of international business.

A background in financial reporting and servicing Asia-Pacific business clients. The ability to converse fluently in Chinese. An understanding of Chinese, Japanese, and American cultures. I will bring these qualities to the Top School program and ultimately to my career in international investment management. As a first step toward achieving my career goals, I have registered to take level one of the CFA examination in June 1993 and plan to complete the entire examination series upon graduation from Top Ten. Armed with the CFA certification and Top School's international bent, strength in finance and management training, I will be ready to place that call to the trader in China, conduct the teleconference with Tokyo, and visit the CFO in Thailand.

Getting Prepared- The Interview

It is important that you prepare for your interview. You'll only get one chance to impress and chances are you'll be competing against several qualified candidates.

Here are some sample questions to help you prepare:

Sample MBA Interview Questions

A group of applicants have offered the following as questions asked of them when they interviewed for admission to MBA programs:

Discuss your career progression.
Give examples of how you have demonstrated leadership inside and outside the work environment.
What do you want to do (in regard to business function, industry, location)?
Why the MBA? Why now?
Describe an ethical dilemma faced at work?
Describe your career aspirations?
What would you do if not accepted?
What are your long- and short-term goals? Why?
Why are you applying to business school?
Why does this school appeal to you?
What is an activity you are involved in? Why is it important to you?
Talk about experiences you have had at work.
Why are you interested in a general MBA program?
Why did you choose your undergraduate major?
Discuss yourself.
What contributions would you make to a group?
Name three words or phrases to describe yourself to others.
What is most frustrating at work?
How would co-workers describe you?
Describe a typical work day.
Have you worked in a team environment? What were your contributions to the effort?
Discuss any experience you have had abroad.
How did you choose your job after college?
What do you do to relieve stress?
It's two years after graduation, what three words would your team members use to describe you?
Describe a situation where you brought an idea forward, and it failed.
How do you define success?
What would you do if a team member wasn't pulling his own weight?
Is there anything you would like to ask me/us?

Getting Prepared- What is the GMAT

Why is GMAT Preparation so Important?

The GMAT is one of the primary factors that will determine your acceptance into Business school, as well as your eligibility for merit-based grants, scholarships, assistantships, and other financial aid. A GMAT score is typically the single component that all applicants have in common, and is considered by most schools to be a relatively accurate predictor of how you will perform academically.

Admissions committees will often waive application fees for those who have received GMAT scores in the top percentiles, and studies have shown that graduates from higher ranked business schools typically have the highest starting salaries. Serious preparation is about more than just a GMAT score; it is an investment in your future.

There are several options for preparing for the GMAT such as review classes, reading material, or online review classes. There are even mock test that you can take prior to taking the real test, so there is no excuse not to prepare yourself to take this test. If you are serious about going through an MBA program, it is essential that you do well on this test.

What are the top MBA Programs

So, if you could have your choice of school, which school would it be?

BusinessWeek reveals these as the top 30 full-time MBA programs of 2006:

TOP 30 U.S. PROGRAMS
1 University of Chicago
2 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
3 Northwestern University (Kellogg)
4 Harvard University
5 University of Michigan (Ross)
6 Stanford University
7 MIT (Sloan)
8 UC Berkeley (Haas)
9 Duke University (Fuqua)
10 Columbia University
11 Dartmouth (Tuck)
12 UCLA (Anderson)
13 Cornell University (Johnson)
14 NYU (Stern)
15 University of Virginia (Darden)
16 Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
17 UNC - Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
18 Indiana University (Kelley)
19 Yale University
20 Texas - Austin
21 University of Southern California (Marshall)
22 Georgetown University (McDonough)
23 Emory University (Goizueta)
24 Purdue University (Krannert)
25 University of Maryland (Smith)
26 University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)
27 Washington University (Olin)
28 Rochester (Simon)
29 Michigan State University (Broad)
30 Vanderbilt University (Owen)

Where do MBA students want to work?

Where do MBA students want to work once they completed their degree?

Fortune lists the top 100 companies for MBA students to work for as well as some other interesting statistics. Here is the top 20 list:

1 McKinsey & Company 18.27%
2 Google 12.55%
3 Goldman Sachs 12.54%
4 Bain & Company 12.31%
5 The Boston Consulting Group 10.67%
6 Citigroup 9.20%
7 Apple Computer 9.02%
8 General Electric 8.12%
9 Johnson & Johnson 8.06%
10 Morgan Stanley 7.26%
11 Procter & Gamble 6.90%
12 Nike 6.79%
13 Lehman Brothers 6.75%
14 Walt Disney 6.43%
15 Booz Allen Hamilton 6.35%
16 Microsoft 6.05%
17 Deloitte 5.89%
18 Bank of America 5.83%
19 BMW 5.14%
20 Merrill Lynch 5.00%

The top 5 preferences for men:

1 McKinsey & Company 24.16
2 Goldman Sachs 16.66
3 Bain & Company 15.86
4 Google 14.87
5 The Boston Consulting Group 13.65

The top 5 preferences for women:

1 McKinsey & Company 13.43
2 Google 12.14
3 Johnson & Johnson 10.52
4 Bain & Company 10.33
5 The Boston Consulting Group 10.07

Here are the industries MBA students (men and women) prefer to work in:

Management consulting 25%
Financial services 23%
Consumer goods 18% 20%
Investment banking 12%
Venture capital 10% 9%

Where do MBA students want to work. Here are the top cities:

New York 14%
San Francisco 12%
Chicago 8%
Atlanta 6%
San Diego 6%
Washington D.C. 5%
Boston 5%
Nashville 4%
Los Angeles 4%
Seattle 3%
Las Vegas 3%
I don't want to work in the U.S. 3%

For those who want an international experience, here are their top choices:

London 25%
Sydney 6%
Hong Kong 5%
Paris 5%
Madrid 3%
Shanghai 3%
Singapore 3%
Tokyo 3%
Amsterdam 3%
Rome 2%
Vancouver 2%
Beijing 2%
Bueños Aires 2%
Zürich 2%
I don't want to work abroad 17

Are MBA's More Beneficial for Men than Women

The Princeton Review tells us that about 30% of business school students are women.

The number of women in top MBA programs significantly lags behind men, with women typically accounting for about 30 percent of enrollment1. While this represents a marked increase over the last 25 to 30 years, it is a proportion that significantly trails the percentage of women in top medical and law schools. This situation highlights dramatic untapped opportunity for women, businesses, and the global economy.

Both men and women report extremely high levels of satisfaction with their careers as a whole: 86 percent of women and 89 percent of men are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their careers overall. They also report high levels of satisfaction with the value their current employers put on their MBA (85 percent of women and 83 percent of men), as well as with job opportunities in their industry (77 percent of women and 78 percent of men), and with their current positions overall (82 percent of women and 84 percent of men).

Women do still struggle to make their place:

Although having an MBA sets you apart, there are still barriers to advancement that women often face in corporations and firms. What continues to hold women back from reaching the top spots in corporate America? According to Catalyst's study, Women in U.S. Corporate Leadership: 2003, the top five barriers are2:
• Lack of significant general management/ line experience
• Exclusion from informal networks
• Stereotyping and preconceptions of women's roles and abilities
• Failure of senior leadership to assume accountability for women's
advancement
• Commitment to personal/family responsibilities

Over the years, Catalyst has documented the slow but steady rise of women to the top of corporate America. And while there may still not be a lot of women there, they tell us they certainly want to be. So what have successful women done to get ahead thus far?

Hints for Women When Trying to Get Ahead

In her book, Be Your Own Mentor, Catalyst President Sheila Wellington shares advice on how to overcome barriers and strategies for getting ahead once you have your MBA3. Below are the highlights from Sheila's "Eight Axioms for Advancement," described in detail in the book. They provide useful reminders for women navigating their careers.

Catalyst's Eight Axioms for Advancement

1) The best isn't good enough.
Successful women consistently tell Catalyst that performing beyond expectations is critical for advancement. By repeatedly impressing people with outstanding results, you will gain the recognition, respect, and credibility needed to succeed.

2) Time is of the essence.
In order to integrate your work and personal lives in ways that allow you to succeed in both, plan effectively. If the timing isn't right for you to accept an assignment, make sure you communicate your interest and specify when you will be available for it later. Try to anticipate the times in your career when you will be able to be most focused, and use those periods to make major career efforts.

3) If you don't blow your own horn, nobody else will.
Don't wait for people to notice your accomplishments. Successful work deserves public recognition-inside as well as outside your organization. Make sure your colleagues, team members, and-most importantly-your boss, know what you've accomplished.

4) Expertise impresses.
Develop an expertise in a unique specialty. As a result, people will look to you for that knowledge and you will build credibility and standing. Figure out what information or expertise might be lacking at your organization and learn as much as you can about it.

5) Nothing comes to she who waits.
Catalyst research repeatedly shows that taking initiative is critical to getting ahead. Actively pursue high-visibility assignments and advancement opportunities. When you learn about a project that interests you, approach your boss with your plans for completing it, and then do it.

6) It's not just corporations that need to diversify.
You need to gain a broad range of experience to succeed. Build experience in positions with bottom-line responsibilities such as operations or sales. Also, consider making both lateral and downward moves that will give you cross-functional experience. Seek out a structured succession-planning process at your organization.

7) Fortune favors the brave.
In order to advance, you must take risks. Demonstrate your willingness to take on new, different, and difficult assignments that will allow you to show off your talents and prove your executive potential.

8) Money matters.
Make sure you get paid what you're worth. Because women often accept or reject job offers without asking for more money, they tend to start at lower salaries than those who negotiate. Do your research to find out what salary you should ask for-check with recruiting firms, the Internet, other companies advertising similar positions, and current or former employees for information. Also, when your workload gets heavier, ask for more pay.

As a GM of a logistics company, I agree with most of Shelia's hints, however, I think that the key is to be an exceptionally strong performer. If you perform, there is no need to "blow your own horn" because people will be aware of your accomplishments. Knowledge of the business that you are in is the key. You also have to be aware of what motivates your employees. Many managers tend to treat everyone the same, however, different people have different motivators and a good manager will acknowledge and act on that.