Top Business School Stories of 2009

As 2009 draws to a close, let's go back and reminisce about the craziness the business school world encountered this year. As you could have guessed, the most popular business school headlines surrounded the economic recession and its affect on MBA applicants, students and graduates. A recent article in BusinessWeek highlights the top 10 business school stories of 2009. We'd like to summarize the top five of them for you here and point you to our dedicated shows on some of these topics.

1. The Job Market (dun dun dun!): The No. 1 concern this year for current MBAs, applicants, and recent grads was the job market. Students worried about finding internships and jobs after graduation, applicants wondered if joining the ranks of the unemployed to enroll in an MBA program was a good idea, and newly minted BBAs and MBAs wondered if their post-B-school jobs would hold up.

Our shows on this topic include:

• MBA Salaries in the Current Economic Climate
• MBA Admissions and the New World Order
• The Current Economic Environment: What it Means for MBA Applicants and Students

2. Loan Crisis: International students who planned to study at U.S. business schools had to scramble to find a student loan provider in 2009, when many of the loan programs they had used to fund their education disappeared.

For more on this, check out:

• Financing your MBA: Start Planning Now so You Can Live Easier When School Starts

3. MBA's: Public Enemy #1? Were B-schools responsible for the global economic crisis? It's a question that has consumed much of the B-school world for the better part of a year.

4. GRE vs. GMAT: For years, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) had a virtual monopoly over the admission testing arena at business schools. But now, there are approximately 285 business schools that allow students to submit the GRE in lieu of the GMAT exam.

For more about the GRE and GMAT, listen to:

• GMAT Not Required: Which B-Schools are Removing the GMAT Requirement from Admissions Criteria?

5. The Best Part-Time B-Schools: It was an interesting year to survey part-time and executive MBA students. For many prospective students, the thought of spending tens of thousands of dollars on a graduate business degree was frightening. For those already enrolled, fear of job loss and waning corporate support added stress to already intense business programs. When the economy rights itself, interest in part-time and executive MBA programs is expected to rebound.

For more about part-time programs, check out:

• Part Time vs. Full Time: Which Program is Right for You?
• Part Time MBA and Your Career
• The Executive MBA
• Real Life and an MBA

To read the rest of the top business school stories from 2009, check out the BusinessWeek article here. As we head into 2010, we'll be sure to blog about the hottest business school topics hitting the news stands. We will also continue to produce podcasts and videocasts on topics of business school interest in 2010. If there's a topic you are dying to know more about, tell us in the comments section!

Happy New Year!

HBS 3rd semester done! Hello Vacation!

Hello MBA Podcaster.com community!

I hope everyone is doing great and enjoying the Holiday Season! I can't believe I just finished my 3rd semester at HBS. Only one more semester stands between me and graduation, and I can't tell you how SAD I am. The past 3 semesters have been amazing. Truly life altering. I am absolutely not the person I was when I entered business school at the age of 25. It feels like only yesterday I was scrambling to put together my application for Harvard. I was a wreck, and I only wish that when I was applying to B-School I had access to the resources we try to provide you at MBApodcaster.com and specifically on MBA Pod TV.

HBS is a place where I have the opportunity to chase my passions, engage in debates with smart and opinionated people, and socialize with some of the best professors in the world. I am truly blessed. Okay, enough of the mushy stuff though! I thought it would be fun to share with you, my top 10 fun moments from HBS 2009 (in no specific order).


Mia's 2009 Top 10 B-School Moments
1.)HBS Show
Every year HBS puts on a student-run theatrical production. The actors are HBS students who work tirelessly to showcase their singing and dancing abilities. This year my best friend, Kristen, was the lead actress. It was amazing to watch her dedicate her 2nd semester to an HBS activity that meant a lot to her, and it was even more amazing to watch the show!

2.) Traveling to Morocco
During spring break, instead of tanning on the beach, I joined 35 or so other HBS students to the northern tip of Africa. One of my favorite movies is Casablanca, and I always wanted to visit Morocco. Truly an amazing country.

3.) Ekta!
I participated in the school-wide Ekta South Asian Culture Show. I walked the catwalk in the Indian Fashion Show with my little sister (who is a 1st year at HBS) and danced in bhangra (for the first time)! Dancing bhangra was a blast because my mother was in the crowd and we won the bhangra dance-off against the 1st year HBS students.

4.) Section dinners
Having dinner with some of the coolest people in my section and having people over my apartment for Mia's Pizza Night!

5.) Having Jack Welch just sitting like a student in Skydeck.

6.) Investment Management! I took this class last semester and loved every guest that came to speak to us (at HBS we learn through cases, and each case protagonist usually came to class). I had the opportunity to listen to the master of value investing, Seth Klarman. Seth is the President of the Cambridge-based Baupost Group, which he formed 24 years ago upon graduation from HBS. He is a genius! I also had the opportunity to hear from the CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors, Partners from Maverick Capital, Eric Rosenfeld--founding employee of Long Term Capital Management, and many others!

7.) Interviewing the CEO of BlackRock, Robert Kapito, for my column in the Harbus, Money with Mia. Asking him about the current state of the economy, and talking to him about how BGI has been so successful at growing its iShares business.

8.) Meeting my boyfriend in Oktoberfest in Munich.

9.) Serving as Board Trustee for Harbus Foundation, the U.S.'s only MBA-student run endowment. I help to oversee $1.1 mm that goes to non-profit organizations in the Boston area focused on education, literacy, and journalism. I love working with these organizations and helping them with their strategic planning and also providing grants to make their growth initiatives come true.

10.)THE PEOPLE! I always thought you go to college to find your bridesmaids. While that is true, I am very lucky that I found a few here in B-School. The people are truly what made my 3 semesters here amazing. I am thankful for each and every person I have met through a social event, case discussion, or Spangler lounge session.

As you can see, I had a great 2009 at HBS. While each MBA student experiences different events and encounters, one thing is for sure--we will never forget them!

I wish everyone best of luck with HBS Round 2 applications. If you have any questions, please send them to me via Facebook or through the comments section.

Take care,
Mia Saini
MBA PodTV Video Host

MBA's for Engineers? Definitely. And You've Got a Choice

Some of you - those of the engineering ilk - have asked us whether or not an MBA make sense. To answer the question, I’ve been working on an upcoming MBA Podcaster show. Rest assured - the answer is yes. In the podcast, we’ll explore why that is as well as many other questions such as:

What are schools looking for from an engineer to be admitted and then succeed in business school?
What should applicants with engineering backgrounds emphasize on their applications?
How do schools look upon applicants with low verbal scores, but strong quant scores?

I’ll be asking these questions of my guests and keeping you posted along the way with blog updates.


Engineers have more than one graduate degree option. Engineers can get a regular MBA or because of their technical background they can apply to a dual MBA-Masters in Engineering program. Not surprising, one of the best of those dual programs can be found at M.I.T. and the Sloan School of Management.


I spoke with Don Rosenfield, the director of the dual-degree M.I.T. Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) program about the ingredients for a successful application to either program. Rosenfield says that M.I.T. looks for academic performance and achievement and leadership qualities for both their regular MBA programs and the specialized LGO program.


Academic performance is self explanatory. Rosenfield says for leadership qualities, M.I.T. looks for the following:

“Ability to work in teams, ability to work with ambiguous data - you look for things like can they deal with difficult situations. Do they have independence of thoughts and action?”

The LGO requires that a student have a commitment to operations, for example, how do you make decisions about outsourcing, supply chains and capacity management. Rosenfield says they look at what the applicant has done since he or she graduated from undergrad.

“What kinds of jobs, what kinds of issues they’ve worked on - they don’t necessarily have to be working directly in operations or manufacturing, but they have to show in their interviews and their essays that they are very interested in that area.”

Learn more of what Rosenfield 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;
• Betsy Massar, Founder and CEO of Master Admissions, who explains which schools like engineers and why;
• Margo Villadelgado, student, Kellogg School of Management, who will share her experiences as an engineering student crossing over to the business world;
• Iker Marcaide, student, MIT Leaders for Global Operations program, who will talk about why he chose to take the path he did and where he expects it to lead; and
• Karla Krause, student, MIT Leaders for Global Operations program, who talks about the benefits work experience brings to an MBA.

Updated! Listen to the full show here.

MBA's for Engineers? A Student's Perspective, Part II

Listeners with engineering backgrounds often write to us wanting to know how candidates like them fare in the application process, what can help set them apart from their fellow engineer applicants, what their degree options are, and what career opportunities will an MBA open up to them. We’ll address all of these issues (and more) in an upcoming podcast.

Today, I spoke with two current MBA students from the MIT Leaders for Global Operations program who were both engineers before coming back to campus and who are both using their MBA to expand their careers beyond the traditional engineering track. They both agreed that their MBAs will enable them to diversify their skills so that they can rise higher in their careers than they would have been able to if they had stayed purely with engineering. They talked about what they were looking to learn in graduate school and how that would help their career.

Karla Krause worked for Dell for four years in various roles including production scheduling, capacity planning and outsourcing before she enrolled in Sloan. Her MBA will give her the skills necessary to have a more complete picture of Dell’s business strategy.

“I’m planning to go back to Dell in a supply chain related function. I’ve been in some parts of the supply chain, but I haven’t done much with the outbound or logistics, the back end portion... That is, once the product leaves the manufacturing facility or the distribution center, how does it get to the end customer? What’s the optimal network and which vendors do you need to involve there? What are the implications? Where can you become more efficient or save money once the product is made to getting it to the end customer?”

Iker Marcaide worked as a consultant before enrolling in the MBA program and he was looking to deepen his knowledge of operational excellence. Which is...

“To put it simply, it’s how you design not only processes to minimize wastes, but also how can you effectively reach the outputs you desire in an organization by making it highly efficient and effective.”

Both of the students recommend graduate school to engineers who want to round out their skill sets and experiences beyond their background in order to expand their career opportunities.
Krause is going to advance in her company and Marcaide is going to become an entrepreneur.

“I found a very interesting optimization problem that we can apply to financial services. So I’m actually going to take the start-up or entrepreneurial route of applying operations management to a non-traditional problem in financial services.”

Learn more of what the students 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:

• Margo Villadelgado, student, Kellogg School of Management, who will share her experiences as an engineering student crossing over to the business world.
• 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 and talk about the specialized nature of MIT’s program and what it takes to succeed; and
• Betsy Massar, Founder and CEO of Master Admissions, who explains which schools like engineers and why.

Updated! listen to the full show here.

MBA's for Engineers? A Student's Perspective, Part I.

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. I spoke to several students about their experiences. What are schools looking for from an engineer to be admitted and then succeed in business school? What should applicants with engineering backgrounds emphasize on their applications? Which are the graduate degree options for 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.

Margo Villadelgado is studying for an MBA and Masters in Engineering Management at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. She has an undergraduate degree in systems engineering and economics from the University of Virginia. When she graduated she consulted, mostly in IT. She has some really good advice for engineering students (that can apply to other students as well) who might want to go to business school.

“Really think what it is that you want to do after business school, both immediately and in the future. And really look at what skills you have and what areas you need to fill in and what the business school can do for you. Do some self assessment to make the most of your two years at any business school.”

Villadelgado took her own advice. She knew what she wanted her future career path to look like and that was to rise up in a product-based company. As an engineer she had good quantitative skills, but needed to round out her skill set, so she decided to get an MBA.

“I had a good understanding on how products are developed, but what I really wanted understand how to manage... everything from the marketing side of things to the operations side to how you keep a product-based company running.”

So she’s been able to prioritize the many opportunities and courses in order to get the most out of her two years.

Learn more of what the students 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:

• Iker Marcaide, student, MIT Leaders for Global Operations program, who will talk about why he chose to take the path he did and where he expects it to lead;
• Karla Krause, student, MIT Leaders for Global Operations program, who talks about the benefits work experience brings to an MBA;
• 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 and talk about the specialized nature of MIT’s program and what it takes to succeed; and
• Betsy Massar, Founder and CEO of Master Admissions, who explains which schools like engineers and why.

Updated! Listen to the new show here.

If You're Military, MBA Might Be a Good Fit

"Military personnel have the leadership skills, the ethics, drive, and decision-making skills that major corporations want, however, they are often lacking the theoretical business know-how." That's what Ethan Hanabury, Senior Associate Dean for Degree Programs at Columbia Business School observes.
Those unique skills -- and the lack of a few key skills -- lead many military personnel to MBA schools. Dean Hanabury suggests military applying to schools such as Columbia, reach out to military already on campus to get tips to writing strong applications. He also says military should highlight their copious leadership skills which corporations find tremendously attractive. Another suggestion -- chances are it's not easy to address the GMAT while overseas, but practice, take classes, whatever it takes to do well on the test.
Another tip Dean Hanabury has - keep in mind if you're military that your experience may not translate well for admissions officers who perhaps have not had any military experience. So, in the application process, translate that experience to general terms, like leadership, and decision-making.
Columbia is in the Yellow Ribbon Program, and also participates in the GI Bill and the Post 911 GI Bill. Hanabury reminds you to network with veterans for great recommendations.
Hanabury is just one of the more than a dozen guests on our upcoming shows Military MBA: From the Military to Corporate America: Getting In and the second show focuses on Fitting In. We'll let you know when these post.

MBA's for Engineers? Definitely says Kellogg's Admissions Dean

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 are schools looking for from an engineer to be admitted and then succeed in business school? What should applicants with engineering backgrounds emphasize on their applications? How do schools look upon applicants with low verbal scores, but strong quant scores? What should the applicants do to improve that? Which are the graduate degree options for 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.

I spoke to Beth Flye, Assistant Dean and Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, Kellogg School of Management about the programs Kellogg offers and what the school looks for on applications. Kellogg accepts engineers into the regular MBA program as well as their MMM program, which is a two year program in which students receive a Master of Business Administration and the Master of Engineering Management. Flye says that Kellogg asks a lot of questions about the quality of an applicant’s work experience.

“Quality meaning things such [as] ‘how has that person had impact at their organization.’ It could be P&L [profit and loss]. It could be from a management standpoint. Do they have evidence of progression? What skills have they developed? How does their particular professional experience tie to their post-MBA goals?”

And contrary to popular belief quality isn’t the only thing that counts - quantity, quantitative skills count a lot and engineers have those in spades.

“From that standpoint they’re set up very well to perform at an optimal level academically.”

Flye also says that they’re looking for more than someone who is good in math, though.

“We want to know all about you. Not just the fact that you have great grades and perhaps a strong GMAT score and strong quantitative skills...We want to know what your endeavors are. We want to experience through your essays and your interviews who you are. That is very, very core to how we evaluate applicants.”

Learn more of what Flye 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:

• Don Rosenfield, director of the dual-degree MIT Leaders for Global Operations program, who will and talk about the specialized nature of MIT’s program and what it takes to succeed;
• Betsy Massar, Founder and CEO of Master Admissions, who explains which schools like engineers and why;
• Margo Villadelgado, student, Kellogg School of Management, who will share her experiences as an engineering student crossing over to the business world;
• Iker Marcaide, student, MIT Leaders for Global Operations program, who will talk about why he chose to take the path he did and where he expects it to lead; and
• Karla Krause, student, MIT Leaders for Global Operations program, who talks about the benefits work experience brings to an MBA.

Updated! Listen to the complete show here.

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.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oakridgelab/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Top 20 MBA Schools to Offer Best Value for Military GI Bill

According to Military MBA, a new study uncovered a list of the top 20 business schools in the country that offer the best value to military personnel wanting to use the new GI Bill. This list is the first of its kind for prospective military students and is designed to help veterans make better decisions about their MBA education.

The list was developed based on price (expressed as total tuition paid to veterans) and education quality. The 20 schools are broken into three subgroups: Group 1)High school ranking and high tuition waiver, Group 2) high school ranking and smaller tuition waiver, and Group 3) lower school ranking and smaller tuition waiver. You can see a full explanation of the chart here.

Group 1 Schools:

1. Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business
2. Duke University, Fuqua School of Business
3. University of Michigan School of Business
4. Carnegie Mellon, Tepper School of Business
5. Washington Univ. St. Louis, Olin Business School
6. University of North Carolina School of Business

Group 2 Schools:

7. Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Mgmt.

8. University of Pennsylvania, Wharton

9. University of Chicago, Booth School

10. UCLA, Anderson Graduate School

11. Harvard Business School

12. Cornell University School of Management

13. Univ. of Virginia, Darden School

14. Columbia University Business School

15. Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business

Group 3 Schools:

16. Vanderbilt University, Owen Graduate School

17. Southern Methodist University, Cox

18. Michigan State University Business School

19. Rice University, Jones School of Mgmt.

20. Wake Forest University, Babcock School of Mgmt.

Be sure to check back soon for our newest podcast about the Military MBA!