Hello, all. The email below is from a business school aspirant with a background in manufacturing consulting who has questions about how he should approach the application process. In fact, he even typed up a 1.5 page description of his background to provide additional context to me. I won’t copy that into this post, but I was surprised to see the amount of detail in his description. Along with this profile description, he asked me a list of questions, each of which could be an entry within itself, that have led me to make a statement/request for the readers of this blog…
OK, I apologize in advance if anyone is bothered by this statement, but I’ve got to say it…If you’re ever going to send me an email with questions, PLEASE try to think about how long it would take to address those questions. In other words, emails with one or two questions are fine and I can usually get through them in one sitting. Emails with more questions than that become very time-consuming and, quite honestly, take up time that I could be using to help out other readers. Once upon a time, I would make the time to answer long lists of questions, but, after making statements like this more than once, I can’t continue to address laundry lists of queries. So, I just ask y’all to be mindful of this as you compose emails to me going forward. Cool???…of course it is, right?
————
SM wrote:
“Dear Marquis,
Thanks for providing great insights in terms of application process & life at B-school in general. I spent this last weekend reading all your Blog archives. Great Piece of advice. I thought you are right person to ask some of the doubts. I am attaching a brief profile of mine followed by questions.
1. How can utilize the remaining time of 18 months till I apply in Nov.09?
2. Whether I can get in or not is different question but is this profile competitive enough for Top-10 US Schools, especially at Stanford? Can you just broadly say about strengths & weaknesses?
3. Can you recommend something to further improve my profile?
4. Is the previous consulting exp. Is an added advantage during Internship?
5. Can you pls elaborate the bidding system for electives & interviews? Do student get what they bid for in general? I don’t want end up studying something about which I am not passionate?
Can I ask some more doubts is subsequent mails?
Thanks in advance.
Best Regards, SM”
————
My response:
SM,
Thanks for checking out my blog and reaching out to me with your questions. I read your file attachment and saw that you put a lot of information about yourself in there. And, I also noticed that you included a long list of questions that would take me a loooooooooong time to generate in-depth and thorough answers. As you can probably imagine, I get a LOT of emails and have a pretty sizeable backlog of messages to answer. So, I’m going to pick a couple of your questions to give the typical depth of response that I usually provide and I’ll gloss over the others in the interest of time.
1. How can utilize the remaining time of 18 months till I apply in Nov.09? –> This is a very broad question and I’m not going to be able to provide you with the depth of response that you’re likely seeking. At a high level, I would recommend that you continue to pursue leadership roles in your current job. At the time of your message to me, you had been there for only two months, but there is still a great opportunity to have impact over the next 18 months in this role. Also, I’d recommend continuing your participation in community and extracurricular activites, primarily for the potential for those experiences to add another dynamic to your application essays. And, of course, you should try to knock out th GMAT exam sooner rather than later.
2. Whether I can get in or not is different question but is this profile competitive enough for Top-10 US Schools, especially at Stanford? Can you just broadly say about strengths & weaknesses? –> As I’ve stated on my blog MANY times before, this sort of question is difficult for me to answer because I’ve never worked in the admissions office of a business school before. Based on what’s in your file attachment, you appear to have a profile that would be competitive at a top B-school, but there are many factors, such as GMAT and your essays, that are major question marks here. In other words, you’ve got a good foundation for a strong profile, but you’ve got to work on filling in the holes before one can make a full determination of your competitiveness.
3. Can you recommend something to further improve my profile? –> I wish i could give you an in-depth answer to this question, but the depth of insight you’re looking for would probably be best obtained from an admissions consultant. At a high level, it looks like you’ve got a good set of work experiences and extracurriculars, so now you’ve got to focus on the GMAT, your essays, and recommendations to round out your application package. You said in your document that you’re confident of a 700+ GMAT score, but you focus on studying to ensure that and avoid disappointment. As for the essays, you could use the application essay questions from the soon-to-be applications from the 2008 cycle to start writing drafts of the essays that you would submit in 2009. And, for the recommendations, I’d recommend starting conversations with your potential recommenders right now to let them know of your intention to apply to B-school and get them on board early on.
4. Is the previous consulting exp. Is an added advantage during Internship? –> The answer to this question likely varies according to each consulting firm, but I’d guess that having prior consulting experience would be beneficial going into the internship recruiting process. Having worked in consulting before shows that you are familiar with the nature of the work and might have a less steep learning curve going into the internship.
5. Can you pls elaborate the bidding system for electives & interviews? Do student get what they bid for in general? I don’t want end up studying something about which I am not passionate? –> With this question, I’m assuming that you’re asking about how it went at Stanford GSB because I don’t know how it works at other schools. You’ve asked about two separate bidding systems, so I’ll address them separately:
–5a. For electives: The bidding process for electives is rather complicated, so I’m going to oversimplify it here. To start, each student indicates their preferences for courses in rank-order based on how strongly they want the course (usually students rank 10-15 classes). Next, the course allocation system assigns a number to each student and begins allocating slots in courses to students based on their preferences in order. Once the system has done one cycle of course assignments for students #1 through X, it repeats the process, except starting with Student #X and proceeding in descending order to end with Student #1. This cycle continues until each student is assigned a full schedule of courses. In most cases, each student will get at least one of the highly-demanded courses and likely will end up with a desirable course schedule overall. There’s also the concept of a “Super preference” that can play into this process as well, but that would likely confuse things even more in this description…I’ll leave that one for you to learn about if you matriculate at the GSB.
–5b. For interviews: At the beginning of the application period, each student submits his/her resume for consideration by the his/her target companies. The companies then decide who they want to invite to interview. One of the cool things about Stanford GSB’s Career Services office is that it requires companies to set aside a percentage of its interview slots for students to bid on. Each student receives and allotment of interview bid points for this process. Students bid a certain amount of points for a chance to interview with any number of companies they desire up to their total allotments of points. Once the bidding ends, the Career Services office assigns interview slots to the top bidders, but only deducts the amount of points bid by the lowest wining bidder from each student’s allotment. This process awards interview slots to the students who value them most, but, in most cases, leaves students with points left over to bid on other interviews.
As for whether you can email again with other questions, you’re welcome to do so, but you should know that it will likely take me a while to get back to you with a response. I always try to address emails from first-timers before responding to people I’ve already answered several questions for. This way, I can balance the attention I give to reader requests without devoting too much time to folks who just happen to email a lot or come up with a ton of questions. Take care and good luck with your business school applications.
-Marquis
OK, I apologize in advance if anyone is bothered by this statement, but I’ve got to say it…If you’re ever going to send me an email with questions, PLEASE try to think about how long it would take to address those questions. In other words, emails with one or two questions are fine and I can usually get through them in one sitting. Emails with more questions than that become very time-consuming and, quite honestly, take up time that I could be using to help out other readers. Once upon a time, I would make the time to answer long lists of questions, but, after making statements like this more than once, I can’t continue to address laundry lists of queries. So, I just ask y’all to be mindful of this as you compose emails to me going forward. Cool???…of course it is, right?
————
SM wrote:
“Dear Marquis,
Thanks for providing great insights in terms of application process & life at B-school in general. I spent this last weekend reading all your Blog archives. Great Piece of advice. I thought you are right person to ask some of the doubts. I am attaching a brief profile of mine followed by questions.
1. How can utilize the remaining time of 18 months till I apply in Nov.09?
2. Whether I can get in or not is different question but is this profile competitive enough for Top-10 US Schools, especially at Stanford? Can you just broadly say about strengths & weaknesses?
3. Can you recommend something to further improve my profile?
4. Is the previous consulting exp. Is an added advantage during Internship?
5. Can you pls elaborate the bidding system for electives & interviews? Do student get what they bid for in general? I don’t want end up studying something about which I am not passionate?
Can I ask some more doubts is subsequent mails?
Thanks in advance.
Best Regards, SM”
————
My response:
SM,
Thanks for checking out my blog and reaching out to me with your questions. I read your file attachment and saw that you put a lot of information about yourself in there. And, I also noticed that you included a long list of questions that would take me a loooooooooong time to generate in-depth and thorough answers. As you can probably imagine, I get a LOT of emails and have a pretty sizeable backlog of messages to answer. So, I’m going to pick a couple of your questions to give the typical depth of response that I usually provide and I’ll gloss over the others in the interest of time.
1. How can utilize the remaining time of 18 months till I apply in Nov.09? –> This is a very broad question and I’m not going to be able to provide you with the depth of response that you’re likely seeking. At a high level, I would recommend that you continue to pursue leadership roles in your current job. At the time of your message to me, you had been there for only two months, but there is still a great opportunity to have impact over the next 18 months in this role. Also, I’d recommend continuing your participation in community and extracurricular activites, primarily for the potential for those experiences to add another dynamic to your application essays. And, of course, you should try to knock out th GMAT exam sooner rather than later.
2. Whether I can get in or not is different question but is this profile competitive enough for Top-10 US Schools, especially at Stanford? Can you just broadly say about strengths & weaknesses? –> As I’ve stated on my blog MANY times before, this sort of question is difficult for me to answer because I’ve never worked in the admissions office of a business school before. Based on what’s in your file attachment, you appear to have a profile that would be competitive at a top B-school, but there are many factors, such as GMAT and your essays, that are major question marks here. In other words, you’ve got a good foundation for a strong profile, but you’ve got to work on filling in the holes before one can make a full determination of your competitiveness.
3. Can you recommend something to further improve my profile? –> I wish i could give you an in-depth answer to this question, but the depth of insight you’re looking for would probably be best obtained from an admissions consultant. At a high level, it looks like you’ve got a good set of work experiences and extracurriculars, so now you’ve got to focus on the GMAT, your essays, and recommendations to round out your application package. You said in your document that you’re confident of a 700+ GMAT score, but you focus on studying to ensure that and avoid disappointment. As for the essays, you could use the application essay questions from the soon-to-be applications from the 2008 cycle to start writing drafts of the essays that you would submit in 2009. And, for the recommendations, I’d recommend starting conversations with your potential recommenders right now to let them know of your intention to apply to B-school and get them on board early on.
4. Is the previous consulting exp. Is an added advantage during Internship? –> The answer to this question likely varies according to each consulting firm, but I’d guess that having prior consulting experience would be beneficial going into the internship recruiting process. Having worked in consulting before shows that you are familiar with the nature of the work and might have a less steep learning curve going into the internship.
5. Can you pls elaborate the bidding system for electives & interviews? Do student get what they bid for in general? I don’t want end up studying something about which I am not passionate? –> With this question, I’m assuming that you’re asking about how it went at Stanford GSB because I don’t know how it works at other schools. You’ve asked about two separate bidding systems, so I’ll address them separately:
–5a. For electives: The bidding process for electives is rather complicated, so I’m going to oversimplify it here. To start, each student indicates their preferences for courses in rank-order based on how strongly they want the course (usually students rank 10-15 classes). Next, the course allocation system assigns a number to each student and begins allocating slots in courses to students based on their preferences in order. Once the system has done one cycle of course assignments for students #1 through X, it repeats the process, except starting with Student #X and proceeding in descending order to end with Student #1. This cycle continues until each student is assigned a full schedule of courses. In most cases, each student will get at least one of the highly-demanded courses and likely will end up with a desirable course schedule overall. There’s also the concept of a “Super preference” that can play into this process as well, but that would likely confuse things even more in this description…I’ll leave that one for you to learn about if you matriculate at the GSB.
–5b. For interviews: At the beginning of the application period, each student submits his/her resume for consideration by the his/her target companies. The companies then decide who they want to invite to interview. One of the cool things about Stanford GSB’s Career Services office is that it requires companies to set aside a percentage of its interview slots for students to bid on. Each student receives and allotment of interview bid points for this process. Students bid a certain amount of points for a chance to interview with any number of companies they desire up to their total allotments of points. Once the bidding ends, the Career Services office assigns interview slots to the top bidders, but only deducts the amount of points bid by the lowest wining bidder from each student’s allotment. This process awards interview slots to the students who value them most, but, in most cases, leaves students with points left over to bid on other interviews.
As for whether you can email again with other questions, you’re welcome to do so, but you should know that it will likely take me a while to get back to you with a response. I always try to address emails from first-timers before responding to people I’ve already answered several questions for. This way, I can balance the attention I give to reader requests without devoting too much time to folks who just happen to email a lot or come up with a ton of questions. Take care and good luck with your business school applications.
-Marquis
