No posts during the holidays

Hey guys,

I will be traveling for the holidays so will not be able to post anything until 2nd week of Jan. Have a happy new year!!

Anshul

Canada or USA

Hi All,

I am back to USA from my exchange at McGill university in Montreal. Three months just flew by and it was a great experience. Here is my comparison of the two countries:

1. USA has a lot more opportunities even in this time of recession. However, if you are not interested in consulting and finance, your opportunities are limited. Plus, lot of companies are not willing to hire internationals.

2. I thought that UNC was a much better school than McGill when it came to commitment of students and quality of professors. However, I found that McGill's culture was very warm and the program staff was more helpful than UNC's especially for international students.

3. If you plan to immigrate, then Canada is the way to go. Life in Canada is the same as it is in the US and immigration is a lot easier. USA has pretty much closed it doors for Indians and Chinese, unless you dont mind waiting 5+ years for your green card. However, if your plan is to work in the US for 3-4 years and then go back home then USA is a better choice than Canada because it has more to offer.

4. I felt that Canada is more accepting of immigrants. There is more diversity in Montreal and Toronto. I felt more welcomed in Canada. I always heard people say that Canada is more accepting but I never thought it was going to be true. I was a big pro-USA guy, when I have give this one to Canada.

5. Canada is cold!!! so if you dont like the winter, better stay south.

I think thats pretty much it, if you have more questions please ask and i'll do my best to answer them :)

Before You Apply - A Free eBook For All MBA Aspirants.

Please download the ebook through this link. Feel free to distribute to anyone and everyone who is interested in an MBA. Please leave feedback so I can improve this for future classes.

Enjoy!

Thanks,
Anshul

Application Strategy for your B-School

It is very important to get your strategy right for each business school. Your story should clearly say what your goals are and how this MBA and more importantly this school fits into your long term goals. Your essays and resume should reflect this strategy very clearly. Think about it this way. If you are applying to Wharton, your story should that finance is the love of your life. You have always dreamt of working on Wall Street and that’s the reason you studied finance in college. And for the same reason you joined this local bank and want an MBA to learn more about finance and then take the leap to a hedge fund. Get the point?

I understand that your story might not fit as well, but try to find transferrable skills and make the best story you can. Discuss your story with current students and alumni and get their feedback and tweak your story accordingly.

Alumni/Current Students Questionnaire

Here is a list of questions you can ask current students and alumni when you call them or talk to them during your school visit:

1. Why did you choose this school?
2. What do you like the most about it?
3. The biggest strength of the school?
4. The biggest weakness?
5. What other areas would you say the school needs to improve?
6. How are the placements for international students? (if applicable)
7. Talk about housing costs and get more related information.
8. How many students have partners? What is their experience like? (if applicable)
9. What other schools did you consider?
10. What are you majoring in? What are your post MBA goals?
11. Talk about your post MBA goals and ask if this school fits with the goals?
12. Do you any other students who have similar post MBA goals?
13. What is the culture of the school like? Social scene, competitiveness, academic rigor, etc.
14. Favorite professor? Class?
15. What did you wish you knew when you were applying?
16. Any last words of wisdom for me?

Note: This is just a sample of the many questions that you can ask and if you feel I left out something important please let us know and I will update the list.

Is ‘Fit’ Really Important?

School’s cultural fit is very important for every MBA student. Think about getting stuck with students you don’t fit in well with. You are a competitive person and all your colleagues don’t care about competition at all. You like to go out but everyone thinks that they should study on a weeknight. Smaller differences like this can really break your MBA experience. Your colleagues are your future network, and if you don’t get along well with them, it won’t be of much help. Now think of the exactly opposite situation where you get along with everyone and share similar interests. You get the point?

What Can You Expect To Get From An MBA?

It is very important for you to know what to expect from your MBA. It can literally make or break your experience. Here are the possible scenarios:

If you know what you want an MBA will help you get there. Let us take an example. You know you want to start a business, so get involved in the entrepreneurship club, network with local entrepreneurs, find resources to make your business plan and if things go well even launch your business. You can apply the same things to finance, consulting, or any other profession.

Now if you did not know what you wanted an MBA will only mean a lot of debt, lost income, and a waste of time. Let us take an example. You show up at your business school because you just hated your hold job so much and thought you will get 2 years to decide what you want. You attend club meetings of the finance and consulting club. You really liked the welcome event of the consulting club, and felt consulting could be the place to go. You start applying for jobs and realize that you don’t fit in well with the job culture and all the traveling. You decide you should give finance a try. You talk to recruiters and they ask you why you were not at the networking event in the first week of school. Now you cannot tell them you have not decided what you really want because companies want students who know what they want. So in the end you are in no man’s land.

Your MBA will never be a total waste, but if you knew your goals, you will get so much more from it.

Location vs Ranking of a School: What Matters More?

So you got in two schools - one that is ranked higher than the other, but the other one is in a bigger city. What to do now?!?! In my opinion, always and ALWAYS go with the location school unless you made it to the top 5-7 schools.

Lets say you want to work in internet/technology sector after graduation. And you made it to Duke and UT Austin. Duke is a higher ranked school than Austin, much higher. But if I were you, I would choose Austin. Here is why:

1. Ranking is just a number, it only goes so far. What matters is the number of companies willing to hire you. Austin is a tech hub now, and is growing rapidly. You will have a lot of local companies that will be looking for talent. They wont be amazon and microsoft, but will be great companies.

2. These companies will have a much better relationship with UT Austin that Duke. Many employees might just be alumni - BIG PLUS.

3. Many companies are willing to hire interns, but they want local interns so you can work for them during school too. I lost an internship because of this. This awesome company in Austin wanted to hire me but since I was not a local, they didn't. It was a horrible feeling.

4. Your networking during school will be industry relevant and actually helpful. I went to so many networking sessions at UNC, most of them useless for me. If I wanted to work in Finance or consulting, it would have been different.

Hope this helps. I welcome questions and comments.

Small Class Size: Good or Bad?

Small class size ca be a good and a bad thing depending on what you are looking to get from your MBA. Here are a few pros and cons.

Pros:

1. Individual attention
2. Less competition for jobs. This can be of big help because you have the chance to rise to the top.
3. You can be a "big fish in a small pond"
4. Better collaborative environment
5. More time with professors
6. Better relationships with fellow students

Cons:

1. Smaller network of students and alumni. Smaller alumni network kinda sucks when you are looking for alumni for jobs and you don't find many.
2. Not many members for clubs and other activities
3. You do not have a lot of options to choose your friends. If you can't get along with the few, you are out of luck.
4. Less competition can be a bad thing too.

Hope this helps

Errors while leaving comments

It was recently brought to my attention that people are getting errors when posting a comment. I am not sure why that is happening, but if you get an error try posting it again and it usually works. I am not sure why this is so. I guess its a blogspot thing.

please let me know if you guys are still getting errors.

thanks and sorry for the inconvenience.

Anshul

USA vs Canada vs UK vs Australia vs Others for MBA

Today Indians have many options when it comes to MBA abroad. Choosing which country to go and study can be very very confusing. Here is my take on the main ones:

1. USA: US is still the most popular destinations for Indian MBAs. Even after all the crisis, US has a LOT of opportunities. There are many schools to choose from and the top schools of the world are in the US. However, immigration issues are scaring away many international students. So here is the deal, if you want to go back home right after the MBA, US is still a very good choice for your MBA. If you are thinking of working for a couple of years after your graduation, I would still suggest looking at other countries before finalizing US.

2. Canada - I think Canada is a great option for people looking to settle outside India. If you can get into the top schools, the education will pretty much be as good as the US counterpart schools plus you have a better chance of getting permanent residence in Canada. If you have entrepreneurial plans, Canada might not be the best place as there aren't as many opportunities as in other countries.

Others to follow soon....

Do Employment Statistics Tell The Full Story?

One of the things that every person looks at is the employment statistics of business schools. How good are these numbers? Do they truly reflect the hiring scene at that school? Are they "adjusted" so that they look better? What do these numbers tell about the Career Services? Should they be getting the credit/blame for the numbers?

These are important questions that come to my mind now. The sad thing is that when I was looking at these numbers while applying to business schools, I never thought twice of questioning them. The bad news is that these numbers offer little value. They are not at all close to the reality.

Lets take an example. The internship placement rate of XYZ school is 99%. Now this might look amazing right? Although the number is impressive it does not reflect the reality. How many of these students are happy with their internships? Did they want the internship they have or did they got stuck with this internship because there was no other option?

More importantly, what does this number tell about the Career Services of the school? We have no information on how students got these internships. What % of these jobs were a result of career services?

These are important questions you should ask. The only way to find this answer is to talk to a lot of students. Talk to at least 3-4 students so you get to hear different experiences and then make up your mind.

Should Indians Consider US for their MBA?

Many Indian students come to USA with their MBA dreams every year. Some are lucky enough to get great jobs and without much trouble, but most of the students have to work twice as hard and live a very stressful life until that job offer is in their hand. Why does this happen? These students are just as smart as their American counterparts, they work just as hard in fact harder than them. Then what is it that makes life so stressful for Indians?

The answer is H1-B and the Green Card. If you are amongst the ones who just want to get experience and go back home, then you should not be that worried because once you have a job and H1b you are more or less fine. Others who plan to settle in the US are pretty much screwed. The wait times for a green card are ridiculous. EB-3 category has a wait time for 7 years. You cant leave your employer or get promoted in this time. EB -2 category (for jobs that require a masters) has a wait time of 4-5 years. The catch here is that masters is required, and many jobs just "prefer" an MBA dont require it. Which means that you will have to apply in the EB 3 category. Yes there are workarounds where you can get promoted but the point is that your life will be very very very stressful until get that card in your hand. I have seen people waiting for their green card, and it makes me so sad to see their situation. Employer will harass them just because we cant really do much, they will see others move ahead, and their personal life gets screwed because there is a lot of uncertainty.

So what is the solution to this? Unfortunately there isnt one, unless you go to immigrant friendly countries like Canada. I myself am in Montreal at the moment to check out the country. So far I really like the country, but then its not USA. I know this doesnt help, but this is the reality. Here is my take, if you have never been to the US or are not very keen on living in the US, do consider Canada. Great country, super cool people, and enough opportunities.

If you are in my situation and have spent a lot of time in the US and have a good network there, it makes sense to give EB 2 a shot and apply for immigration in Canada as a backup. I have about 3-4 months left in Canada, and trust me I really want to like this place sooo much that I am certain that I can leave the US and settle here. Life would be so much easier. I dont want to spend the sleepless night trying to get a job, then trying to persuade the employer to sponsor a green card, and finally being able to get a green card. Thats about 5-7 years down the drain. Is it worth it? Only time will tell.

A Must Do Before Deciding Where To Apply

Deciding which bschools to apply is one of the most confusing decisions I made in the entire process. I looked at the rankings, class profiles, and other info to see where I will get accepted and took it from there. Although this strategy is the most common one, it has a serious shortcoming. If we are using this strategy, we are only asking one question - am i right for this school? We are not asking the most important question - is this school right for me? Believe it or not, asking this question is more important that the other question most people ask.

The answer to this question will really help you decide where to apply. All schools offer a very different experience, and its only natural that you will like some better than the others. If you only want to focus on top 10 schools or top 20, thats fine, but getting to know a little about the experience the schools offer will help you choose which of those top 20 to apply to.

It is also important to keep in mind that schools look for students who have done their research on what the school has to offer and that the student's personality will fit the school's culture.

So, here is how you can find out about what the school has to offer culturally. Read student blogs on business week and other sources. A simple google search will give you a list of blogs from students in a particular school. And read multiple blogs to avoid getting reviews of a very frustrated student or a very very happy student. Both wont do you a lot of good.

Call a current student and ask what he/she likes and does not like. Speak to Indian students if possible because they understand our needs the best. They were in your shoes a year or so ago, and know what mistakes they made and can better advice you on how to tackle problems.

So again, read student blogs and talk to current students (Indians if possible) to see what their experience at school has been, and then decide where to apply.

Confidence Is The Most Important Criterion For B-School Admission

Recently, I read a very good article on business week. It said that schools are looking for confidence in students, and that is the most important thing they look at. Think about it, it makes sense too. With the economy still in shambles, schools want students who can get jobs and it is students with confidence who have a better shot at getting jobs.

This was also confirmed when I spoke to an admissions director of a school. He said that confidence is what they really look for in students. The next thing is enthusiasm. I wish I knew that when I was applying. I knew that confidence in interviews is always important, but I did not know how big a role it played in my application process.

So, all you MBA aspirants should keep this in mind when they are preparing for their interviews. In fact, one of our professors at UNC who teaches a US Language and Culture class to internationals said that in the US, Confidence is better than correct. I have spend about 5-6 years in the US now, and I will say that I totally agree with it.

Think about it.

Get Your Resume Reviewed

Hi All,

Upload your resume as a word doc on google docs and post a link here. Share your doc with anshul.agrawal12@gmail.com.

Or

You can just email your resume to the above mentioned email and post here that you have emailed it to me. I will check that email only if I see a post here.

I hope this helps.

Anshul

Importance of Your Resume

When you think about the business school admission process, you mainly think about GMAT, essays and the admissions interview. Resume is often not given the top most priority. It is fair to say that the interview is the most important aspect of the admissions process, but your resume certainly comes next.

Schools want to see what you have done in the past. Have you progressed? or are you at the same job since graduation. Promotions matter a lot and add a lot to your profile. Many schools like UNC schedule interviews even before you submit your essays. They just ask for your resume and interview you. Other schools will give the interview-er your resume and a list of questions. So you can see that your resume is one of the most important pieces of the b-school application.

It is also important to choose the right resume format. Most top schools have a similar format, which really looks plain and simple. I personally dont like it that much, but thats what schools prefer and like to see. Just google mba resumes and you see many examples. Remember it should be very simple.

Make sure there are no spelling mistakes, the best way to do this is to have a friend who has not seen your resume before review it. I often missed small errors cuz I had looked at my resume way too many times.

I have been getting a lot of requests to review stuff, so in a day or two I will post another post with details on how to send me your stuff.

As always, questions and comments are welcome.

Anshul

Why you should spend a few extra hours analyzing the class profile

Class profile is something we all look at when deciding which school to apply to. When I was in that boat a year ago, I mainly looked at GMAT, average work experience and acceptance rate (if given). My thought process would be something like, well I have the GMAT they want, but my work experience is a little low, but they have a high acceptance rate. That's 2/3, plus they are a top 20 school, so here comes my application.

This thought process was not the best one. In fact it is not good at all. The reason for this is that it only takes into account half of the equation. The MBA consists of 2 parts, getting in (your admission) and getting out (your recruitment). I analyzed the first part and left the 2nd one untouched. And now, I am dealing with the consequences.

Here are the things u should look at - average age, professional background, placement locations (specific to state). Average age is important because if a school's average age is 29, and u are 25, u will have a hard time finding a job. Most employers will want more experience and all jobs posting will be aimed towards older people. So, you would be left behind because you dont have enough experience. Now if you were in school where the avg age was 25, all recruiters come there with a mindset to hire young people and all jobs will be aimed towards you. think abt it!

the same goes to professional background, if your school mainly has students who are business ppl, and u r an engineer, you wont find many jobs that match your profile. Whereas, if you were in a school that mainly had engineers, all jobs would fit your profile. Get my point?

Get started on your career choice early

We all write about our long term and short term goals in our admission essays. We work hard to convince admissions ppl in b-school interviews that this is exactly what we want and our entire life we have been working towards it. Finally, our hard work pays off and we get admitted into a good b school.

You would think that after putting in so much thought, one would be sure about his/her goals. It is amazing to see how many people are still not sure about what they want (including me) after getting in. I still remember that on our first day, the dean asked us, "How many people still want to do what they wrote in the essays?". Only a few hands were up.

There is nothing wrong with being undecided, but the sooner you know, the better it is. Here it why. Let us say you are confused between Finance and Consulting and you try to pursue both in the beginning. By doing so you will burn out very quickly, because the preparation for i banking and consulting is completely different. Your networking will be very different too. You will only have time to go for one career trek (a short trip to various companies where you meet alums), so you will have to choose. In the end, you will be left in the middle with average prep for both industries.

Now think about the other scenario, you know you want to be in marketing. You start preparing your resume and interview answers accordingly. You connect with the right companies and alums at those companies. So, by the time internship resume offs happen, you will be all set and ready with your story.

I switched my career choice from venture capitalism to private equity to consulting to marketing to the internet industry. Yea, it was BADDD!!!! I wish I had decided early on that I wanted to be in the internet industry, I would have a much better shot at my target companies.

Well, its too late for me, but you guys should get started on what you want to do right away.

Importance of Business School Culture

Most students just ignore the culture of the school. It is very important to see what the culture of a school is like. You can find out abt the culture by talking to alumni and current students. All schools will tell you that students and faculty are very friendly and great, and they are. However, there are differences. For example, students at X school will be competitive but at school Y will not be so much. So, if you are the type of person who is very competitive, go for school X. This is even more important if you are an International Student. I have seen that things can be very different for international students. So I recommend that you talk to students from your country and get their point of views, and LISTEN to what they are saying. It would be very wrong to just assume that things will be different for you.

There is also a non academic part to the culture - social events, etc. Some schools are very inclined towards having a lot of social events and some not so much. So, if you are the kind of person who loves to go out and meet new people, you might want to choose a school that has a lot of social events.

Again, I cannot stress how important culture is for you as it will affect your experience and performance at the business school.

Tips for Selecting the Right Business School

Choosing which schools to apply to is often a very hard decision. I know that I had almost gone crazy when I was shortlisting the schools I wanted to apply to. With all the money that is associated with a b-school application the decision becomes even more difficult.

So, the best way to answer this question is to compare the things I DID when choosing business schools and the things I SHOULD have done.

Here is what I looked for in the business school (in order of importance):

1. Ranking: The first thing I did was took a look at the US News rankings and made a list of schools whose GMAT was in my range and that looked reachable. BIG MISTAKE!!
   
2. Salary: Then I compared the starting salaries of all the schools and picked the ones that I thought I would make it to.
   
3. Other placement stats: Looked at other placement stats like how many placed at graduation, etc. This was not a bad thing to look at.
   
4. Acceptance Rate: Basically wanted to see how competitive the schools are. This is a good thing to look at but there are other things to keep in mind. Even if a school at 5% acceptance rate, but you have what the schools wants and if you are a good fit, you will get in.
   
5. Tuition and Expenses: Looked at scholarship and loan options available. Important thing to look at.
   

Here is what I should have looked at (in order of importance):

1. Cultural Fit - Academic and Non Academic: Do you like and fit in the culture of the school? Case method vs lectures? Competitive school vs laid back school with no grades?
   
2. Placement Industry: What % of students are getting placed in the industry you want to be in. School X might be a top 10 school, and school Y top is ranked 20. But if 50% of school Y students are placed in marketing vs 10% of school X, you might be better off in school Y.
   
3. Location: Is the location a hot spot for your industry? If you want to be in tech, West coast schools are better than east coast school. For Finance, Rochester Simon will help you more than UCLA. Get the point?
   
4. Tuition
5. Placement Stats/Salary
6. Rankings

If you are one of the students who is taking into account the factors int he first group, you NEED to start looking at the second group. I can't stress it enough that if you ignore things like culture and placement industry, you will have a hard time finding internships/jobs.

More to come later.

Ask Me a Question

I thought it would be a good idea to let you readers ask me questions. These questions can be about profile evaluations, general MBA experience, pretty much anything and everything regarding an MBA in the US.

Post your questions as comments and leave your name so I can address my replies to you. Thanks :)

ps: leave your email if you want me to inform you when I have answered your Q.

About Me and True Confessions of an MBA

When I was applying to business schools, I always wondered what life would be during an MBA. I always wondered whether what the schools and current students say is true? Cuz no current student would talk bad about the school, no admission person would talk about the bad things either. So where can I find the truth? Unless you have a close friend finding the truth is almost impossible. The worst part about this is that, if I had known a few things before starting an MBA, plan of action would have been very different.

Now that I have completed my first year, things are not very different. I keep wondering about life after the MBA. Are all the things faculty and alumni say true? No faculty will really say that life after MBA sucks, and no alum will say that working at XYZ company is bad. If I can know what the reality is, I can plan for things accordingly. Sadly, there is no way to find the truth.

So what is the solution to this problem? I think this blog might be the answer for future MBAs. I will write this blog and talk about the real MBA experience - good and bad. I will cover things that I wish I had known, and things from my everyday life here in the US so future MBAs and read and make informed decisions. I will also write this blog after graduating to current MBAs can read and see what life is like post MBA.

I am currently a first year (well a 2nd year now) student at UNC's Kenan Flagler Business School.

Hope you guys enjoy reading my blog.

Anshul