GMAT Test-Taking Tips & Today's Expert: Kaplan Prep

I'm Diana Jordan with MBA Podcaster. I'm working on an upcoming show about the GMAT. GMAT experts are giving me advice on how you can improve your score.

Liza Weale with Kaplan shocks me. She says on the GMAT, you'll find "stuff you did in seventh and eighth grade." The point is there is no magic bullet, Weale says, you have to study, practice. She compares prepping for the GMAT with trying to learn French for a vacation in France. Know your areas. If you're going on a business trip, you learn the words you will use in negotiations. If you are going for pleasure, you focus on those words. For the GMAT, you don't cram, and you focus on your areas of opportunity.

Weale says she took the GMAT twice -- once, just out of college, and she scored 590. And then, after choosing Kaplan, she scores a 740 and goes to MIT. Scores can jump. Weale suggests that you practice your pacing -- take several practice tests, spacing them out. The better you do on the GMAT, the harder it gets. So, she says, if a question is too tough, let it go, and move on.

Weale says anxiety is driven by the fear of the unknown, so know what you're heading into. Practice! Don't add a new pattern the night before your test. Sleep well. And skip the caffeine and the sugar.

On this show, you'll be hearing from experts from PowerScore, Veritas, ManhattanGMAT and others, and I'll be blogging about their test-taking wisdom. The finished show should be posted in a few weeks at MBA Podcaster.

(Updated! Listen to the completed show here: http://www.mbapodcaster.com/MBA_MoreInfo/gmat-test-taking-tips.asp?iEpisode=77)

Prepping for your MBA: Vanderbilt's Accelerator Program

I'm Catherine Girardeau with MBA Podcaster. I'm working on an upcoming episode on prepping for an MBA by taking courses before starting the MBA program. How do the experts - program administrators, professors, students -- advise non-business majors about getting some coursework under their belts before applying for or entering an MBA program?

Meena Putatunda, a 2005 Vanderbilt University Biomedical Engineering graduate I spoke with the other day, seemed poised for a career in just that. But after a post-baccalaureate year doing glaucoma research in Vanderbilt U's medical center, Putatunda realized she wanted a "more people-facing career". She simultaneously applied for an MBA and for a unique summer intensive business institute specifically for undergrads and recent grads with non-business backgrounds, Vanderbilt's Accelerator program.

Students from a variety of work and academic backgrounds come together to solve real-life business problems in the Accelerator program. Putatunda's group was charged with coming up with a sure-fire plan to market the Dodge Caliber to millenials -- not exactly what Putatunda had been doing up to that point in her life! The students in Accelarator are not doing this work in an academic vacuum. "We had to present our plan to a team of executives," Putatunda said. After the Accelerator program, many students got to work with Dodge on further refining the marketing campaign. "It was the real deal," Putatunda said.

On top of 100 hours of MBA-prep coursework, students did five main business projects. Putatunda said the coursework, plus the teamwork, plus the contacts she made with the professors and working professionals in the business world, prepared her very well for her MBA program. And with her non-business background, having an Accelerator acceptance on her resume (she hadn't taken the summer course yet when her MBA applications were due) probably didn't hurt her applications, either.

Another advantage to this type of program for non-business grads, Putatunda said, are experience learning how to problem-solve in a business setting. "In engineering, problems are cut-and-dried, numeric," she said. "In business, you have to understand psychology to target solutions to clients." Putatunda said she learned to use the skills she had and apply them in a different way.

Putatunda earned her MBA from Vanderbilt's Owen School of Business in 2008 with a Health Care & Operations concentration. She's currently working for McKesson Provider Technologies as an Implementation Consultant.

For one non-business undergrad, an intensive course in business curriculum and skills really paid off.

Listen for the full show on MBA Podcaster in the next couple months.

(Updated! Listen to the complete show here: http://www.mbapodcaster.com/MBA_MoreInfo/Preparing_for_an_MBA.asp?iEpisode=79)

GMAT test taking pros give advice

I'm Diana Jordan with MBA Podcaster. I'm working on an upcoming show about the GMAT. I've been talking to several GMAT experts, asking them for advice on how you can improve your score.

This morning I spoke with Jon Denning of PowerScore. He says the company was founded in 1997 and focused on the LSAT at that time. PowerScore swooped into the GMAT market about six years ago. One of Denning's strongest points -- one he emphasized throughout the interview -- is that if you are taking the GMAT, self-knowledge is critical. He says whether you have two months or two years to prep for the GMAT, you must know your starting point. Take a few practice tests at the very beginning of your process -- it will give you a ballpark for your score, as well as familiarize you with how this test works.

One comforting thought -- Denning believes that it is possible to make giant leaps in your GMAT scores. That is very important, given this competitive environment. Denning says with the economy so rocky, the landscape has changed dramatically. Grad schools' number of applicants are skyrocketing...which means you have to shine. And that means you must do all the prep you can before your GMAT test -- this includes making a trial drive to your test site the day before your test. He says he just assumed he knew where his test site was, and he got lost...getting more and more anxious as the minutes to the start of his test ticked away. He arrived with just moments to spare. Denning says the days of just walking into a test without any prep, are long gone.

On this show, you'll be hearing from experts from Veritas, Manhattan GMAT, Kaplan and others, and I'll be blogging about their test-taking wisdom. The finished show should be posted in a few weeks at MBA Podcaster.

(Updated! Listen to the completed show here: http://www.mbapodcaster.com/MBA_MoreInfo/gmat-test-taking-tips.asp?iEpisode=77)

Prepping for your MBA: UC Berkeley Extension

I'm Catherine Girardeau with MBA Podcaster. I'm working on an upcoming episode on prepping for an MBA by taking courses before starting the MBA program. How do the experts - program administrators, professors, students -- advise non-business majors about getting some coursework under their belts before applying for or entering an MBA program?

I talked this morning with Keith Gatto, Program Director at UC Berkeley Extension for several certificate programs there, including the Certificate in Business Administration. Gatto said the most appropriate course of study for the would-be MBA who wants to strengthen her academic background or credentials would be the MBA Foundation Concentration, a program of five core courses and one elective. Because it's a Continuing Education program, students are typically working adults who complete the certificate over a couple years, on a part-time basis. However, if someone really wanted to pursue the certificate full-time, they could complete the program in about a year.

Gatto said the most important thing students stand to gain from the Certificate in Business Administration curriculum, besides getting a solid grounding in the kinds of courses they'll encounter in the first year of their MBA study, is a vibrant community of learners and top-notch instructors who are actually working practictioners in the business world.

"Nobody gets rich teaching adult-education courses," Gatto said. The reason the program is able to offer courses taught by bankers, corporate leaders and other movers and shakers in the business community is that they are "dedicated to passing on their knowledge to train the next generation of ethical businesspeople."

Of course, it doesn't hurt to show an MBA program's admissions committee that you're able to handle challenging academic coursework in business, which is one of the main reasons, Gatto said, students take the Certificate program at UC Berkeley Extension.

Listen for the podcast with Gatto and others in the next couple months on MBA Podcaster.

(Updated: Listen to the completed show here: http://www.mbapodcaster.com/MBA_MoreInfo/Preparing_for_an_MBA.asp?iEpisode=79)

GMAT test taking advice from the experts

I'm Diana Jordan with MBA Podcaster. I'm working on an upcoming show about the GMAT. I'm talking to several GMAT experts and asking them for advice on how you can improve your score.

My first guest is the CEO of a new GMAT test prep company. Knewton's CEO tells me that no one comes out of the womb being a good test-taker. Jose Ferreira says being a natural at taking the GMAT is not unlike being able to bend your elbow backwards. Ouch.

So I ask how Knewton came to be, and Ferreira says he used to design courses at Kaplan, but then he went to business school, and when he got out, he went back to Kaplan, all the while his head brewing with ideas. Finally, he says technology caught up with his dreams. Instead of having classrooms around the country, he has a few very well-paid, carefully-chosen teachers in classrooms with a live video feed. Then there's the adaptive learning engine, and the ability to target student weaknesses.

You'll hear more in a show coming up on MBA Podcaster -- I'll be interviewing representatives from about five different GMAT test-taking companies.

Biggest theme Ferreira hit on -- better start prepping for the GMAT six months in advance. Much better, he says, to study gradually than to cram. And if you are cramming, better to blow off one of the more focused areas, like permutations and computations, than to sacrifice some of the more general concepts.

He says work really hard -- studying weekends and spare weekday hours -- but about a week or so before your GMAT, distract yourself with some great movies, and the night before test day, be sure you get really good sleep. For energy? Choose a brisk walk instead of a thermos of coffee. The day of your GMAT? Dress in layers. Bring bottled water and maybe some earplugs. Know where the test center is. And, bring painkillers!

Over the next few days, I'll be interviewing experts from Veritas, Manhattan GMAT, and Kaplan...maybe a few others as well. Don't worry -- I'll let you in on their test-taking wisdom as well...and the finished show should be posted in a few weeks at MBA Podcaster.

(Updated! Listen to the completed show here: http://www.mbapodcaster.com/MBA_MoreInfo/gmat-test-taking-tips.asp?iEpisode=77)

Prepping for an MBA with a Business Studies Certificate

I'm Catherine Girardeau with MBA Podcaster. I'm working on an upcoming episode on prepping for an MBA by taking courses before starting the MBA program. Do people coming from non-business backgrounds need to get some coursework under their belts before applying for or entering an MBA program?

I talked yesterday with Charissa Asbury, Director of Business Programs in the School of Continuing Education at Columbia University. She said her program is really geared toward potential MBA applicants who may have practical experience working in business, but don't have a strong academic background in the subject matter they might encounter in business school. These students are looking for ways to enhance their applications. People who have been accepted to MBA programs also take Continuing Ed business courses at Columbia to get some academic coursework under their belts to better prepare them for the first year in an MBA program. Yet another group of students may be considering going for an MBA but have a less-than-stellar GPA. Getting a Business Studies certificate can be a great way to show schools that they can handle the rigors of an MBA program.

Five classes and a B- average are required for the Business Studies Certificate. The program is designed for part-time students, with most courses offered at night as well as during the day. "It's almost like a mini-MBA," Asbury said. "They are graduate level courses." Students who get the Business Studies certificate and then go into an MBA program have reported back that they were so relieved to have had that coursework done before entering the first year of their MBA. "With the exception of some of the higher-level math classes, our coursework is pretty close to what you could expect in your first year," Asbury said.

Sounds like in an ideal world, liberal arts grads considering B-school might want to take some math classes with Dale Meader at UCLA, then hop on over to Columbia to take the Business Studies Certificate. According to the folks I interviewed for my last MBA Podcaster show, in this economic environment, there's no such thing as being over-prepared for your MBA application.

Listen for the full show, which will be available on our site within the next couple months.

(Updated! Listen to the completed show here: http://www.mbapodcaster.com/MBA_MoreInfo/Preparing_for_an_MBA.asp?iEpisode=79)

UCLA Extension Prof on math before MBA

I'm Catherine Girardeau with MBA Podcaster. I'm working on an upcoming episode on prepping for an MBA by taking courses before starting the MBA program. Do people coming from non-business backgrounds need to get some coursework under their belts before applying for or entering an MBA program?

As part of my quest to answer that question, I interviewed Dr. Dale Maeder this morning. He's an instructor at UCLA Extension who teaches math courses for the MBA-minded -- courses like Mathematics for Management and Business Applications of Calculus. Maeder also teaches Extended Preparation for the GMAT. He recommends people coming from liberal arts or non-business backgrounds, or folks who have been out of school a while and may just be a bit rusty on their quadratic equations take a GMAT prep course first, then take some business-applied mathematics coursework to beef up both their MBA application and their ability to tackle tough statistical analysis or other practical business problems. Maeder's not trying to train the next Albert Einstein, but said his courses, and others like them, can make math make sense for the MBA-bound. On our show, he'll dispense some words of wisdom for those who need a refresher, or a boost, in the quantitative skills department

I'm also planning to talk to an MBA student or recent graduate who took part in Vanderbilt University's "Accelerator" program, a summer business intensive program for people from non-business backgrounds. Did the program do more than increase their chances of getting into B-school? What lessons did they take with them to B-school and beyond? The podcast will also look at business programs at Columbia University's School of Continuing Education, and find out about UC Berkeley Extension's MBA Foundation courses from Keith Gatto, the Program Director there. Listen for the full show, which will be available on our site within the next couple months.

(Updated! Listen to the completed show here: http://www.mbapodcaster.com/MBA_MoreInfo/Preparing_for_an_MBA.asp?iEpisode=79)