MBA's for Engineers? Definitely. Tips on Getting In.

We often get the question ‘does an MBA make sense for engineers?’ To answer the question, I’ve been working on an upcoming MBA Podcaster show. What kind of personality does it take for an engineer to be admitted and then succeed in business school? How should applicants with engineering backgrounds present themselves to schools, especially if they’re a self-described ‘pocket-calculator nerd’, i.e. your stereotypical engineer? How can the engineers round out their skills before they apply? How do schools look upon applicants with low verbal scores, but super high math scores? What should the applicants do to improve that? Which schools typically really like the engineers? What’s the career track if you get an MBA versus just stay in engineering? I’ll be asking these questions of my guests and keeping you posted along the way with blog updates.

Today, I spoke to Betsy Massar, Founder and CEO of Master Admissions, about which schools like engineers. She replied enthusiastically, “Everybody loves engineers... as long as they are going to add to the class and its heterogeneity.”

And she says advises that engineers shouldn’t be afraid of their multifaceted personality and should especially embrace parts of their persona that may go beyond stereotypical engineering attributes. Massar told me about an engineering applicant she helped coach:

As I was getting to know him, I asked him what he would have done if he did not take a degree in engineering. He said "acting." Then I found out that he had been in all of his school plays in high school and in undergraduate. That’s a beautiful thing for him to talk about in his essays. He of course said "well, it’s not relevant; it’s too long ago." But anybody who wants to get up on stage and act and also can run a computer program at the same time in their brain is a wonderful candidate for business school.

Learn more of what Massar and the other guests have to say about MBA engineers in our upcoming show that will be in a couple of weeks. Other guests on the show include:

• Beth Flye, assistant dean and director of admissions and financial aid, Kellogg School of Management, who will talk about what engineers need to know when applying to business school
• Don Rosenfield, director of the dual-degree MIT Leaders for Global Operations program, who will talk about the benefits of a dual engineering-business degree and
• Margo Villadelgado, student, Kellogg School of Management, who will share her experiences as an engineering student crossing over to the business world.

Updated! Listen to the complete show here.

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