MBA Admissions Events via Poets & Quants

MBA Admissions Events via Poets & Quants

Whether you’re exploring which degree is right for you, determining where to apply, or looking for ways to increase your chances of acceptance, Poets & Quants has tons of FREE events that can help clarify your next steps. Head to Poets & Quants for more information and to register. 

Top Entrepreneurship MBA Programs: January 10

Educate, inspire, spark, and embrace YOUR entrepreneurial spirit with Poets&Quants top-ranked MBA programs! Our unique content-based format gives real insight into the value of the MBA on the road to entrepreneurship.  Discover ways you can use your degree as an incubator for a startup!

Online MBA Admissions Event: January 24 & 25

You’re thinking about an MBA and like the flexibility, pacing, and price tag of online program options offered by many of the top business schools. This event will offer insight into different programs, help you understand the learning experience, and get advice to stand out in the application process.

CentreCourt Full Time MBA Festival: February 7 & 8

CentreCourt will host three events throughout the year to help full-time MBA seekers explore programs that align with professional and personal goals. If you want insider insights from leadership from top programs this is the event for you!

CentreCourt Business Masters Festival: March 14 & 15

This event series is for those exploring a Masters in Management, Finance, Business Analytics or other specialized business degree.  Through discussions with alumni, current students, admissions and career development teams, we invite you to join in to explore the benefits of specialization and to help determine which is the best fit for you, your skillset, and your career aspirations.

PreMBA Virtual Networking Festival: May 11 & 12

Are you starting a graduate business degree in 2023?  It’s never too early to forge important connections, become savvier about your internship and career options, and get a head start on your business school pivot. Meet with top employers and network with your peers from business schools all over the globe!

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Executive and Professional MBA Forum for Women

Executive and Professional MBA Forum for Women

Considering an Executive or Professional MBA? The Forté MBA Forum on March 24 is your opportunity to connect online with MBA admissions experts and network with other professional women.

The free online event for women will empower you with the information you need to take your career to the next level. Meet reps from some of the best business schools in the country — and abroad — all in one place. You won’t want to miss the opportunity to connect with Chicago Booth, Columbia Business School, The Wharton School, UC Berkeley Haas, Yale School of Management, and more.

Executive and Professional MBA Forum for Women
Thursday, March 24

5 – 7 pm ET

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Forté Fall Conferences

Forté Fall Conferences

Even in a pandemic, Forté’s mission of #MoreWomenLeading remains the same. Please join us in encouraging undergrad women to invest in their future selves by helping us spread the word about Forté’s upcoming virtual Fall College Conferences!

Forté Undergraduate Campus Leadership Summit
This is an opportunity for undergrad women to maximize their personal strengths and develop their unique leadership style. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors who are collegiate chapter student leaders, women in business club student leaders, and Forté Undergraduate Campus Ambassadors.

Sept. 30 – Oct. 1, 2021
Registration Deadline: Sept. 23

College Fast Track to Finance Conference
Open to sophomores and juniors of all majors interested in exploring the many career paths in finance. First-year students who are business majors or have previous experience and seniors that have not accepted full-time employment may also register.

Oct. 14-15, 2021
Registration Deadline: Oct. 1

Partners: PIMCO, Bank of America, Bloomberg, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Evercore, Greystar, Guggenheim Partners, Hines, J.P. Morgan, PNC, and Vanguard

Candid Conversations for Black, Latinx, and Native American Undergraduate Women Conference
Open to college women from historically underrepresented groups in business and diverse academic backgrounds — with a focus on the experiences of Black, Latinx, and Native American women.

Oct. 28-29, 2021
Registration Deadline: Oct. 15

Partners: PIMCO, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Bank of America, Bloomberg, Credit Suisse, DaVita, Deloitte, The Dow Chemical Company, Evercore, Hines, Liberty Mutual, UBS, and PNC

If you know a woman who would benefit from attending our virtual conferences, please send her this link: http://bit.ly/fortecc. You can also post the following on your social channels to help spread the word:

The business world needs more women leaders. Registration is now open for undergrad women to build leadership skills, expand their network, and develop their personal brand at Forté College Conferences this fall. Let’s get #MoreWomenLeading! http://bit.ly/fortecc.

Thank you for spreading the word about these events and Forté’s mission to get #MoreWomenLeading!

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Planning for an MBA? Here’s When You Should Take the GMAT or GRE

Planning for an MBA? Here’s When You Should Take the GMAT or GRE

If you are planning to obtain an MBA, you’ll need to take the GMAT or GRE. When should you do that? The short answer is that sooner is generally better than later. In fact, you should consider studying for these exams while you are still in college. Your senior year is often the perfect time to take the GMAT or GRE.

MBA program applications are evaluated based on a variety of factors. Undergraduate GPA, professional progression and responsibilities, leadership, community service, and GMAT or GRE score all play a role. Many undergraduate students who know they may want to someday earn an MBA assume that the best time to study for the GMAT or GRE will be a few years before they apply. They just meld GMAT or GRE prep with the process of submitting an MBA application in their minds. But, one can take the GMAT or GRE long before they actually fill out an MBA application. Still other undergraduate students have a vague sense that getting an MBA might be something they consider in the future but have no idea if they’ll actually pursue one. These students may not even have thought about the GMAT or GRE at all.

In this article, we’ll explain why studying for an taking the GRE or GMAT while you are still in college is a reasonable way to improve your score and chances of admission to a top MBA program. And really, the same logic applies to any sort of graduate school program (which would then require the GRE, not the GMAT).

Why Could Taking the GMAT (or GRE) While You are Still in College Improve Your Score?

There are two basic reasons that studying for standardized tests while you are still an undergraduate can improve your score.

First, you probably have more time to prepare during your senior year of college than when you are in your second year of your first job. You might feel extremely busy when you are in college, particularly if you hold a leadership position in one or more organizations or are still looking for a job. However, although you can’t realize this while still in college because you can’t peer into your own future, you’ll likely be even busier when you are working full-time (i.e., with increasing amounts of responsibility, perhaps a new spouse and/or other family responsibilities, etc.). If you have more time to prep, it will be easier to build GMAT or GRE prep into your weekly schedule and consistently spend time on it.

Second, some, not all but some, of the skills you’ll need to excel on the GRE or GMAT will be much fresher when you are still in college.  Both the GMAT and the GRE test things like: mathematic ability, vocabulary skills, knowledge of grammar, problem-solving, logic, and reading comprehension skills. Although these exams are much less like academic math tests than many people believe, you’ll still need to know the rules of algebra, probability, and geometry.  If the last math class you took was 6 months ago instead of 6 years ago, you’ll be much better positioned to absorb the conceptual material so you can focus on test-taking strategy. If you haven’t taken a math class for nearly a decade, you might quickly find yourself considering a GMAT tutor.

So, if you know you want to get an MBA someday, you should strongly consider taking these exams while you are still in college. But perhaps more importantly, even if you don’t know whether you do or don’t want to get an MBA, you should still consider taking one of these exams while you are still in college.

How Long Are GMAT or GRE Scores Good For?

The astute reader might point out that GRE and GMAT scores have a shelf-life. They are not valid forever. Your GMAT score will be valid for five years from the day you take the test.  When you are applying to a top MBA program, they will treat your GMAT score the exact same whether you took it 1 month before applying or 59 months before applying. GRE scores are also valid for five years.

The fact that your GMAT or GRE score is only valid for five years is obviously relevant. You certainly don’t want to spend 12 weeks studying for the GMAT, get a great score, and then not apply to an MBA program within five years. If you follow that path and then decide you DO want to get an MBA, you’ll have to take the GMAT all over again. However, although it varies over time, typically 2-4 years of professional experience is more than enough to put forth an excellent MBA application. In fact, if you wait for 5+ years before applying for an MBA program, you can quickly become one of the older applicants. So, taking the GRE or GMAT during your senior year sort of forces you to prepare for applying to an MBA program within 5 years, which is not a bad plan.

Furthermore, many admitted students can defer matriculation for at least one year. So if you have an expiring GMAT score, you can apply, get admitted, and then defer for one year.

Should you take the GRE or GMAT?

Are you convinced you should take the GRE or GMAT during your senior year of college? Great! But which should you take? Top MBA programs all accept both. The question is how many truly treat them equally in the application review process. MBA programs typically place a slightly higher degree of importance on GMAT or GRE quant performance. And the GMAT is an MBA-specific exam that tends to be more challenging from a quant perspective. So, if you are serious about getting an MBA and want to demonstrate that to MBA programs, you might consider the GMAT. On the other hand, if your quant skills aren’t the strongest, the GRE might allow you to put a much strong foot forward. Schools may marginally prefer the GMAT, but if they see a 90th percentile GRE quant score and a 70th percentile GMAT quant score, that GRE quant score is going to be considered much more impressive.

And of course, if you are considering other types of graduate programs, the GRE makes perfect sense, since it’s accepted for MBA admissions and many other types of graduate school programs. For the college senior who really isn’t sure what the future holds, taking some time to study for the GRE is a fantastic use of time.

Conclusion

Generally speaking, the sooner you can take the GMAT or GRE, the better. The older we get, the busier we tend to get, and the more responsibilities we have (and therefore we have less time available to study). And the older we get, the longer it’s been since we engaged with the academic coursework these exams will ask us to recall.

About the Author

Mark Skoskiewicz is the founder of MyGuru, a boutique provider of private GRE tutoring and test prep for a wide variety of exams. He holds a B.S. from Indiana University and an MBA from Kellogg at Northwestern University. 

These Business Schools Produce the Most Billion-Dollar Startup Founders

When it comes to making what Sage refers to as “unicorns,” one business school is making everyone else look bad. As a recent Fortune article reports:

Founders of the meal delivery service Blue Apron, health insurance startup Oscar, and content delivery network CloudFlare all pursued business degrees at Harvard Business School. Altogether, 23 HBS grads have founded a private company valued at $1 billion or more, according to research by Sage.

With 19 unicorn founders, the Stanford Graduate School of Business comes in second, followed by Wharton, with nine.

It’s important to note, however, that for undergrads, Harvard and Stanford swap places: Stanford’s undergraduate program has produced 51 founders of billion-dollar startups, followed by Harvard with 37.

Below are the top business schools, ranked by how many of their students and alumni went on to found billion-dollar companies.

  • Harvard Business School: 23
  • Stanford Graduate School of Business: 19
  • University of Pennsylvania, Wharton: 9
  • INSEAD: 5
  • WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management: 5
  • University of Southern California: Marshall: 4
  • University of California at Berkeley: Haas: 3
  • Columbia Business School: 3
  • HEC Paris: 3
  • Indian Institute of Management: Calcutta: 3
  • UCLA Anderson School of Management: 2
  • Brigham Young University: Marriott: 2
  • George Washington University: 2
  • London Business School: 2
  • Northwestern University: Kellogg: 2
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business: 2

Note: Founders are classified based on their highest level of education. (For instance, if they received a Master’s degree at Harvard University and a PhD at Stanford Business School, they would be placed in the latter category.) The list also includes founders who didn’t graduate. For more information, see a breakdown of the research here.

 

MOOCs for Potential Business Majors

As I have said before, MOOCs are a no-brainer for high school students who want to explore their academics interests and possible college majors. And for those of you who have not started exploring your interests outside of school, you should; it is not terribly time-consuming, especially with online options you can access 24/7, and colleges look favorably upon applicants who explore outside of school. These are also applicable to pre-MBA applicants!

The four below are from Coursera, and are available now for sign-up:

Creativity, Innovation, and Change, The Pennsylvania State University

Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence, Case Western Reserve University

Creating a Startup from an Idea, Israel Institute of Technology

Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills, University of Michigan

2016 MBA Admissions Webinars to Watch

This past year, the dream team of former admissions gatekeepers at Fortuna Admissions shared their insights in a series of webinars covering key topics from M7 School Application Strategies to How to Ace Your MBA Interviews. In case you missed any of these, now is a great time to catch up on the wealth of insider information they shared on how to get into a top MBA program.

Here are Fortuna’s 9 recent webinars, and within each recording, you can fast-forward to specific topics that interest you the most:

1.       Countdown to Round 2 & How to Bounce Back from a Round 1 Ding

2.       A Winning Strategy for Round 2 and Rolling Admissions

3.       MBA Application Essay Development – Top Tips from ex Admissions Directors

4.       Creating a Strategic Resume for your MBA Application

5.       A Winning MBA Admissions Strategy for the M7 Schools – with Former HBS, Stanford, and Wharton admissions gatekeepers

6.       How to Build a Winning MBA Application – with Former LBS & INSEAD Admissions Staff

7.       How to Ace your MBA Interviews

8.       The Inside Track to MBA Admissions Success for the M7 Schools – with Former Wharton and Booth admissions gatekeepers

9.       Standing out in an International Applicant Pool – with Former LBS & INSEAD Admissions Staff