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Question from a college student about acknowledging his accomplishments and abilities

Categories: Education, real life stuff, Self-confidence

The email below came to me from a college student with whom I’ve been exchanging emails for a while after meeting him at a past speaking event. Here, he explains how he’s been recognized for being active on his campus, but he’s not sure of how he can acknowledge it fully and communicate it at the right times…Definitely a great thing for a future business professional to get right early on. He asks for my advice on how he can increase his awareness skills to truly recognize whether something that he’s done is distinctive or not.

By the way, in … Read the rest

Question from a Black college student about race, upbringing, and finding success

Categories: Business, career, Education, professional advice, real life stuff, Self-confidence

In the 9+ years that I’ve maintained this blog, I have made an effort not to mention race too often because it’s a somewhat obvious topic for a Black dude to write about. Instead, I’ve focused on things like business school, MBA admissions, management consulting, careers, and business in general, all of which are colorblind for the most part.

The way I see it, I’m a Stanford MBA graduate, former Consultant, and current businessperson who just happens to be African-American and, further, my insights/advice are applicable regardless of the racial background of a given reader. That said, every now and … Read the rest

Spreading the word: 2013 Annual Beat The GMAT Scholarship (@BeatTheGMAT)

Categories: Bschool admissions, Business School, Education, GMAT, other sites

My long-time readers know that I like to pass along information about resources that I think might be helpful to my audience and, since many of you aspire to get into top MBA programs, this one might be a winner for you.

Eric Bahn, the founder of Beat The GMAT, recently reached out to ask me to spread the word about the 2013 Beat The GMAT scholarship, which launched yesterday. The scholarship will award free GMAT prep and MBA consulting packages to 8 winners from around the world. I’ve helped Eric and his team publicize their scholarship for … Read the rest

MBA applicant wondering whether she’s being too ambitious (with her target schools)

Categories: Bschool admissions, Business School, Education, international applicants, mba

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of people email me with questions about whether their profiles seem competitive for admissions to a top business school. Although I’ve never worked for an MBA admissions office, I always give them my honest read on things and then try to provide recommendations where I can.

The message below is a little different because the reader is asking about the topic in a different way. Instead of asking whether she can get into school X, Y, or Z, she’s asking whether she’s being too optimistic by even looking at school X, Y, and … Read the rest

Is graduate school the right thing for your career? (guest post)

Categories: career, Education, guest bloggers, mba, pre-MBA grad degrees

Many of my past blog entries have been targeted at people who are either applying to business school or intend to do so in the near future. But, what about if you don’t know whether business school (or any grad program, for that matter) is right for you? In that case, one has a lot of factors to weigh when deciding whether to invest significant time and money into pursuing a grad degree. This definitely isn’t a choice that should be taken lightly.

In this piece, contributing writer Lisa Fox from DegreesThatPay.com gives a useful perspective for people who are … Read the rest

Advice for an MBA applicant from me…and a friend of mine

Categories: Business, Business School, career, Education, leadership, mba, my peoples, Personal branding

People who have read this blog over the years should know that I enjoy sharing advice with folks who are applying to business school. One thing that may not have been as apparent is that I have lots of friends with a similar passion for mentorship and a willingness to share their insights with the next generation of aspiring MBAs.

One of those folks is my friend Dawn, who is an absolute rockstar in the business game. She’s an undergrad alum of Cal-Berkeley, an MBA alum of Cornell, and is a fast-rising leader in the healthcare industry. Like me, she … Read the rest

How MBAs can adjust to career setbacks in the current job market (guest post)

Categories: Business, Business School, career, career path, Education, guest bloggers, mba

The article below was contributed by Richard McMunn, who is a UK-based expert on career development and transition. When he reached out to me with an offer to write an article for me, I asked him to focus on how one might best handle the stress that comes along with being laid off, fired, or some other similarly traumatizing career situation. I think that the advice he came up with is absolutely golden.

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Title: How MBAs Can Adjust to Career Setbacks in the Current Job Market Author: Richard McMunn

Today’s economic and business climate is a tough one, and … Read the rest

Free webinar — MBA Catalyst presents: The Long Shot – Getting into Kellogg MBA (Dec. 13, 2012 at 9:00pm EST)

Categories: application process, application resources, Bschool admissions, Business School, Education, mba

This morning, I received an email from Jesse Mejia, Managing Partner of MBA admissions consulting firm MBA Catalyst, informing me of a free webinar that his company is conducting on Thursday for MBA applicants targeting the second and third round this year. In particular, this session will focus on candidates with supposedly underwhelming profiles who aspire to attend a top-5 program.

Here is an excerpt from Jesse’s email to me explaining why MBA Catalyst is conducting this webinar:

The month of December has been busy for us here at MBA Catalyst. Since round two deadlines are a few short weeks … Read the rest

College freshman seeking guidance on which extracurriculars to pursue

Categories: Education, Extracurricular activities

The message below came to me from a Freshman at Indiana University who attended my keynote speech for the Kelley Living Learning Center a few weeks ago. He seems to be interested in a lot of things and is looking for advice on the types of extracurricular activities he should participate in. I like the way that he’s thinking in terms of trying to be strategic in his choices this early on, but I’m not sure if my advice was as prescriptive as he was hoping for.

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JK wrote:

Mr. Parker,


First off, I’d really like to thank you

… Read the rest

Some tips for a reader considering starting a blog about education issues

Categories: affecting change, Business, Business School, Education, Education, mba

The message below came to me from a reader who is really passionate about education reform and wants to start blogging about. One complicating factor is that she’s currently in the MBA application process and, in this environment of “anything on the Web possibly being used against you”, there’s always some risk involved with starting a blog. I did my best to give her some broad advice on the topic and hope that she uses it along with advice from others to make an informed decision.

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MM wrote:

Hi Marquis!


I wanted to ask you your opinion about blogging.

… Read the rest

Experienced IT Manager hoping to transition to a top consulting firm

Categories: Business, career, consulting, mba, McKinsey, Technology-related

The email message below is one that came in waaaaaay back in July 2011 and somehow got lost in my Inbox. I know that I can sometimes take a while to respond to people, but this was just plain terrible, even for me. Even worse, I’ve got several more messages from around the same time period that I need to get to and, when I do reply, I bet the recipients won’t even remember having emailed me at all. hahahaha…

The author is from an Indian IT Manager with 5 years of experience who is hoping to transition into a … Read the rest

College junior wondering which B-schools to target to end up at a top-3 consulting firm

Categories: Business School, business school rankings, career, consulting, Education, mba

The email below came to me back in August from a long-time friend named Adam who is an administrator in the program for undergraduate business students at Indiana University called the Kelley Living Learning Center (KLLC) that I mentioned in my last blog post. He’s the connect that got me invited to speak to their students last year and again this past weekend.

Adam was reaching out for my advice on behalf of a student who used to be part of the KLLC program a couple of years ago. She is starting to think about graduate business school options and, … Read the rest

Freshman considering whether to go to B-school straight from college

Categories: Bschool experience, Business School, Education, mba, younger applicants

This weekend, I’ll be traveling to Bloomington, Indiana to visit with students in a program for incoming Freshmen in Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. This program, Kelley Living Learning Center… Read the rest (or KLLC), is a residential and advanced business study environment for select kids in the undergrad business school. I’ll be giving a keynote talk next Monday night to a group of ~120 Freshmen and, on the night before, I’ll be doing an informal Q&A session with a group of Sophomores who were part of the KLLC last year. Some of you may remember that I visited the KLLC last

Free webinars on Sept. 18 and Sept. 29 from MBA admissions consulting firm MBA Catalyst (@MBACatalyst)

Categories: admissions consulting, application process, application resources, Bschool admissions, Business, Business School, international applicants, mba, older applicants, re-applicants, younger applicants

Hey, everyone. Some of you may have noticed that I’ve been posting a lot of resources related to preparations for MBA admissions lately. I know that some readers would prefer brand new content instead, but, given the time of year (beginning of the application season) and rising competitiveness of the application process, I want to pass along as much useful information as possible. For my readers who aspire to earn MBA degrees, I figure that this kind of information can be a godsend.

In this entry, I’m passing along information about an upcoming pair of free webinars from MBA admissions … Read the rest

Things you need to know about the new GMAT

Categories: Bschool admissions, Business School, Education, GMAT, guest bloggers, mba, other blogs, other sites

My long-time readers know that I do my best to keep my ear to the street about all things having to do with business school and MBA admissions. Well, as I’ve moved upward in my career and become more busy overall, it’s become more difficult to keep up with some of the major changes, including the recent change in format for the GMAT exam. The first time I received an email from a reader asking for guidance regarding the new GMAT, my initial thought was “Hold up…they changed the GMAT? When did that happen?”…

Needless to say, it felt … Read the rest

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