Interview with Current HEC MBA Student

I'm pleased to offer this interview with a current student at the HEC MBA program in France.

1. After you were admitted, looking back on the way you prepared for the MBA in the spring and summer, is there anything you would change? Anything you would have done more of or less of?

One of my Japanese classmates formed a group on Facebook, so we exchanged information there.

Before coming to France, I spent most of my time to complete administrative processes.

1) applying for France VISA

This was very time-consuming. I think that it took about a month to complete the whole process. At first, I had to submit documents online for “Campus France” (it is like pre-submission for France VISA) and had an interview with Campus France officials at the French Embassy.  After receiving the Campus France number, I made an appointment to submit documents for France VISA.

2) any processes needed at the municipal office

3) health insurance

4) health check and vaccination

This was required by the school.  Especially, you need to confirm which vaccination is required by the school and the country you are going to.

5) attending MBA receptions of consulting firms and job fairs held by AXIOM etc.

2. What's a typical day in the life of an MBA student in your program?

Here is an example of my schedule in Term 1:

Monday: 9:00-11:00 group work, 13:00-16:10 Micro Economy, 18:00-19:30 French.

Tuesday: 8:00-9:30 Statistics, 9:40-11:10 Financial Accounting, 13:00-16:10 Marketing.

Tuesday evening is company presentation day, so sometimes I attended company presentations after class.

Wednesday: 13:00-16:10 Financial Market, 18:00-19:30 French.

Thursday: 8:00-9:30 Statistics, 9:40-11:10 Financial Accounting, 12:30-17:30 group work.

Thursday night is party night.  Every Thursday, there’s party at the bar in our dorm.

Friday: Career Center day.  If I have a session to attend, Friday is filled up; otherwise, this day is free.

Sat, Sun: Basically off.  Sometimes, group work.

* Many students go out on the weekends. I usually study during the remainder of time not counted on the schedule above.

3. Can you write a bit about a course that you would recommend future students take?

I am still in the core phase, so my course knowledge is limited.  However, among core 1 courses, I would recommend “Financial Market” by Prof. Loanid Rosu.  He used to teach in Chicago Booth and has 2 degrees from MIT.  He is an incredible teacher. His course is not about finance but instead academic finance, and it’s demanding even for financial background students. But the professor’s character activates class and many students enjoyed and loved this course.

4. Have you had the time to get involved in any extra-curricular activities? If so, what ones and what are you doing in them?

I’ve joined the “Net Impact” club.  The club aims at driving social and environmental change.  The club held “The Climate is our Business” conference on campus this October, associated with COP21.  I was in charge of logistics.

Otherwise, I was not so involved in any particular activities in term 1.

5. What have your experiences been like in learning/project teams? 

My challenge in working teams was how I can contribute to the team.

Some team members have useful background such as accounting and finance, so they can contribute to write-ups for each subject.  When they take control, it can be hard for me to get my opinion into the conversation.  I struggled with these challenges, however, through these experiences, I could see myself objectively and found out that I could give a bird’s-eye view and my opinions and make schedule for assignments.  As a result, the group work has made me reconsider my strengths and weaknesses. 

6. Can you share your plans for an upcoming internship period?

I will intern at two companies. 

7. Looking back, what has been most surprising to you about your MBA life, compared to your original expectations before you enrolled?

1) I had more time than I had expected before.  The reason is that we were required less readings than at U.S. schools.  This has allowed me to prepare more for job hunting.

I think this is an important aspect to consider when deciding which business school you want to attend.  I did not even think about it before starting the MBA.  Some schools require its students an overwhelming workload.  Of course, it makes the students grow but does not allow them to prepare for job hunting, one of the most important things for MBA students.

2) Classmates are so collaborative.  Even though someone might not contribute to a team, the rest of the members do not attack that person and instead try to help him/her.  In addition, no teams had any confrontation this semester.

Thanks for your time!

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com

Cambridge Judge Admissions Webinar for Japanese Applicants to be held on November 27, 2015

I was informed by a former client that three current Japanese students in the Cambridge Judge MBA program will be hosting a webinar (conducted in Japanese) for applicants on November 27, 2015.

Those who are interested in participating in this event can register here.

John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com

Interview with a recently graduated IE MBA student

I am pleased to present here an interview with a recent graduate from the IE MBA program in Spain.

1. After you were admitted, looking back on the way you prepared for the MBA in the spring and summer, is there anything you would change? Anything you would have done more of or less of?

If I could go through the whole process again, I would make 3 changes, TOEFL, Campus visit and interview training.

- TOEFL

I would not go to a private school for listening and reading. It’s all about training to improve those scores and the program of those schools did not work well to improve the scores.

- Campus visit

Campus visit provides us with plenty of information which helps us work on application documents and choose school to go. In addition, it helps us know which kind of perspectives on B-schools we should have before choosing schools. 

- Interview training

I would do more interview training because it is more important than I thought. Interviewers carefully check applicants’ answers and your words and behaviors in the interviews greatly affect their decision. Therefore, I strongly recommend that applicants should carefully choose what to speak in the interviews and train for them in order to deliver your idea effectively.

2. What's a typical day in the life of an MBA student in your program?

8:00                 Wake up and have breakfast

9:00 – 15:00 3 sessions, 1.5 hours each session

15:00 – 16:00 Gym

16:00 – 21:00 Group work or preparation for the next sessions

21:00 – 22:30 Dinner (cook by myself)

22:30 – 2:00 Preparation for the next sessions

2:00 – 8:00      Sleep

3. Can you write a bit about a course that you would recommend future students take?

Financial Entrepreneurship & Private Equity: 

The professor is also working as a partner of a PE and she shared her real experiences which helped me understand how PE works and make their investment decisions deeply.

“Entrepreneurial Acquisition” and “Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital”:

Those courses are about Search Fund, a kind of small PE. Fund managers of those funds are also entrepreneurs and they raise a fund, search companies to invest and increase the value of the company they invest. Only 4 B-schools in the world (HBS, GSB, IESE and IE) provide with courses about Search Fund.

M&A Boot Camp:

This course is about M&A coordinator and the professor requires us to develop real M&A project, in which I could learn a lot about real M&A process. In addition, the professor has vast network in finance and he invited some of them to students which is a great opportunities to develop network in finance especially in Europe.

The professor, Prof. Paris, likes Japanese culture and he is really helpful to Japanese students. Sometimes he invited us to a party in his house.

4. Did you have the time to get involved in any extra-curricular activities? If so, what ones and what were you doing in them?

Yes, but I did not spend much time on club activities. I was in the Japan club in IE and my role was representative of the club.

5. What were your experiences like in learning/project teams? 

IE is known as its diversity and it gave me a plenty of opportunities to work with a variety of people. Through those experience, I could improve my skill to communicate with people with a variety of sense of values and people of multiple nationality.

6. Can you share your plans post-MBA?

I’ve already started to work in a management consulting firm in Japan. I will start to look for another opportunities in industrial area a few years later.

7. Looking back, what has been most surprising to you about your MBA life, compared to your original expectations before you enrolled?

Diversity of values, careers and life. Many Japanese students go to MBA for better salary, company, position and status in society. But I could see many students from other countries who have different type of motivation. For example, one Taiwanese girl came to MBA because she wants to live her Spanish partner in London and MBA helps her find the better job in London. It was eye-opening experience and enriched my perspective of my life.

Thanks very much for the information and your time! 

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com

MIT Sloan 2015-16 MBA Admission Essays Analysis

What follows is my analysis of the 2015-16 MIT Sloan essay topics.

The school's own instructions: We are interested in learning more about how you work, think, and act. In your response, please describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. 

Essay 1: Tell us about a recent success you had: How did you accomplish this? Who else was involved? What hurdles did you encounter? What type of impact did this have? (500 words or fewer). 

This question seems to be a typical accomplishment story. However, you need to make sure that your accomplishment story contains the following things:

- the involvement of others

- at least one hurdle (challenge/difficulty/obstacle) faced along the way

- the resulting impact of this accomplishment on something and/or someone

- details about what you thought, felt, said and did

Note that the example can be personal or professional. In terms of selecting a topic, again the story you choose should contain all of these elements. In addition, to that, I’d also encourage you to consider choosing a story where your role was central, and one where the impact on a person or organisation is strong and clear. 

I’d also encourage you to choose a recent episode. In the past the instructions for MIT Sloan essays used to include the direction that you limit your story to one that has occurred within the past 3 years. This requirement is now gone, however I would encourage applicants to still consider a recent story. The reason for this is in the “thought, felt, said, did” details asked for.

The approach MIT takes to outlining their expectations of your essay is different from other schools. No other MBA program asks for the specifics about what you thought, felt, said and did within the context of a particular story. The reason why? I used to attend MIT information sessions, and whenever I did, I always heard that “we can evaluate your potential to contribute as a global leader based on the way you handled a recent episode”. In other words, by offering a detailed (and recent) example of how you dealt with others, how you communicated your ideas, how you reacted to difficulty, and how you managed to make an accomplishment, you are giving your reader a window into how you act, and act with others. They are then evaluating your potential to be successful in the future (and of course fit in well in their program) based on this.

Here’s some tips on organising that initial draft.

Begin by summarising the accomplishment. Not everyone will tell you to do this but I feel it is a good way to kick off your story. So offer a 1-sentence summary of the accomplishment and it’s impact. 

The next steps I would take is the organize your story use MIT’s own STAR model - advice they give / have given on how to tell a story (particularly for behavioral interview questions, but also for storytelling in general):

S - situation

T - task

A - action

R - result

This is a logical way to tell a story, and an easy way to organise your draft. After you have gone through these steps, add one more paragraph emphasising the learning or takeaway of this story for you. How did you develop from this experience? What did you learn? I think that a bit of reflection at the end of a story is a good thing, and shows your capability to grow from your experiences. 

Once you have finished these steps and have arrived at a first draft, read it. It doesn’t matter how long it is. I think that a first draft that is 800-1,200 words is perfectly acceptable. Cutting volume and achieving their word limitation will come later. As you read it, ensure that the details (what did you think, feel, say and do?) are coming through. The reader should be able to observe how you deal with situations and others through these details. 

Finishing this essay will involve making some tough choices about what contents need to stay and what can be cut. I’d encourage you to reach out and get help on this. A third party, objective perspective is crucial to a real understanding of just how successfully you are conveying what you intend to.

Optional: The Admissions Committee invites you to share anything else you would like us to know about you, in any format. 

An essay will likely be the most popular format, but don't let that stop you from trying something a bit more creative as long as it helps you to get across whatever message you are aiming for here.

In terms of that message, start by asking yourself if there are any weaknesses or other such things you feel may need to be explained here, such as a relatively low GPA across the undergraduate degree or during one year of university. If you do this, try to emphasize the positive. You could, for instance, describe what were doing at the time (a leadership role in an extra-curricular? working to pay off tuition? both?) and how the learning from the activity was relevant and important to you.

Other than that, look to your response to the essay above and anything you’ve already decided to put in this optional essay and ask yourself if you've offered a good balance between work and non-work examples. If you haven't, and for instance have emphasized professional experience, then consider introducing your extra-curricular activities here. MIT leans towards recent examples, and that's always good advice to follow, but the question here does offer a lot more freedom, so something from more than three years ago could be considered a topic as long as you detail the takeaway or impact or whatever makes the experience still relevant today.   

Finally, some may use this optional essay as an opportunity to detail the specific reasons they feel MIT offers the best fit for them, given their past and their future. If this is the route you have chosen, read my article on demonstrating fit with an MBA program to ensure your examples are as concise as possible.

If you do go with an essay to answer this question it appears there is no word limit - so use 500 words (their limit on other essays) as your rough guideline maximum here, while noting that shorter may in fact be better. MIT optional essays used to be about 250 words - so obviously conciseness is valued. This is not a hard-and-fast rule - I’ve read great essays that were longer - but is certainly worth considering.

Closing Thoughts: Mind and Hand

In closing, let me remind readers of the MIT slogan "MInd and Hand". In doing so I am not proposing that this theme be digested and then pasted all over your essays, nor am I saying that "because MIT is looking for this kind of thing, you need to write about it no matter what your background is".  In fact I often propose the opposite - rather than writing what you think they're looking for you're always better off representing what makes you exceptional on its own terms. Having said this, the concept of Mind and Hand is the ability to bring practical application to learned things, and to me, this defines what it takes to be successful not only during the MBA, but also in applying the experience to challenges you'll face in the future. Read here for an interesting (if slightly older) take on this, and go here for a deeper reading on this topic.

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com

MBA Interview Workshop held in Tokyo during October 2015 - sign up now!

Interview preparation is a very, very important part of the MBA application process. I am happy to announce that I will be co-hosting an interactive MBA Interview Workshop with my colleague Adam Markus during the month of October.

The workshop is titled Proactive Interview Preparation and Active Listening and we will hold this on Sunday, October 11th, 3:00pm-6:00pm.

Location: E4TG     

Isshin Building 5F, 2-11-7 Yaesu Chuo-ku, Tokyo 

東京都中央区八重洲  2-11-7 一新ビル 5階

Proactive Interview Preparation:

In the first part of the workshop, we will describe and practice (in groups and with instructors) a method of interview preparation that many applicants have used to gain admission to the world’s top MBA programs. 

Our objective is that you become better at preparing for MBA interviews, by focusing on your own stories and key points and practicing those, rather than working from a script. At its core, proactive interview preparation is based on thinking about your message, no matter what the question. You don’t know what you will be asked, but you do know your message. Being ready for the unexpected is thus incorporated into the very method itself because you don’t focus on preparing for answering specific questions, but rather for knowing things you want to discuss about yourself. 

For more about proactive interview preparation, see http://www.adammarkus.com/mba-application-interview-strategy-3/. 

Active Listening:

We will then focus on enhancing your ability to listen and engage with others during an interview. While it is important to know what you want to say, it is equally important to focus on having a conversation during an interview. Based on our experience, interviewees don’t always actively listen enough. Sometimes they just focus on speaking and speaking too much at once. By focusing as much as on what the other person is saying as on what you want to say, you can better connect with an interviewer, which is critical for making a positive impression. For some kinds of interviews, such as Wharton’s Group Interview, active listening is critical because you have to engage with other members of your interview group. 

After a brief introduction, there will be active listening group exercises monitored by both instructors.

Cost: 

16,200 yen paid in advance by bank transfer

19,000 yen if paid in cash on the day of the event. (all prices are inclusive of 8% sales tax)

Prepayment is mandatory and is due by October 5^th. If we cannot confirm your payment by the due date, you will need to pay in cash on the day of the event. 

Recording: We encourage you to audio record the workshop. To protect your personal information please do not reveal anything about yourself that you would be uncomfortable having recorded by others. Therefore changing the name of your company, clients, etc. is highly advised during participatory parts of the workshop. 

To make a reservation and arrange for payment, please email John Couke at john.couke@gmail.com

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com

Michigan Ross MBA Event in Tokyo on August 21 2015

I was given the following information about an upcoming Michigan Ross MBA event in Tokyo to pass on to my readership. The message follows below!

John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com

Michigan Ross 入学審査官による学校説明会　8/21開催 

来る8月21日（金）、University of Michigan Ross School of BusinessはAdmissions OfficeによるFull-time MBAの公式説明会を開催いたしますのでご紹介させてください。

Rossはリーダーシップやマネジメントに関するプログラムを中心に外部機関から高い評価を得ております。

#1 in Top Leadership Development Programs by Leadership Excellence

#8 in Full-time MBA Ranking by Business Week

#1 in Top Schools for Sustainability by Business Week

#1 in Ranking of Best Graduate Programs for Entrepreneurship　by Princeton Review

#4 for Management, #5 for Marketing, #6 for International Business in US News MBA Rankings

#3 for Corporate Strategy, #5 for CSR / Ethics in Financial Times MBA Rankings

在校生は優秀かつ協力的であり、Globalなネットワークを広げられる素晴らしい環境です。また、Ann Arborは非常に治安のよい街で、パートナーズクラブや教育施設も充実しており、ご家族でいらっしゃる方々も安心して生活することができます。今回の説明会ではAdmission Officerに加え卒業生・在校生も多数参加予定ですので、是非ともこの機会にRossの魅力を感じていただき、ネットワーキングしていただければと思います。

Ross School of Business Tokyo Information Session

日時：2015年8月21日（金）19:00～21:00（受付開始18:30～）

場所：六本木アカデミーヒルズ　スカイスタジオ

http://forum.academyhills.com/roppongi/index.html

参加ご希望の方はこちらよりご登録ください。

https://umich.secure.force.com/events/targetx_eventsb__eventspecificregistration?eid=a0PF000000OcFhiMAF

IMD MBA Event in Tokyo on August 27, 2015

It was recently brought to my attention that the IMD will be hosting a Discovery Event in Tokyo on August 27, 2015. Registration and more information can be found here.

John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com