Stacy Blackman’s Weekly Roundup of B-School Intelligence

To equip executives with the knowledge and skills to succeed in today’s rapidly evolving world of media and entertainment, UCLA Anderson School of Management presented the second annual Entertainment and Media Executive Program June 17-20, 2008. The four-day intensive program focused on the challenges and opportunities that emerge from an ever-accelerating shift of production, distribution and consumption of media and entertainment into the digital realm.

The EMLYON Business School is offering two new scholarships to encourage the entrepreneurial leadership attitude and academic excellence required to successfully complete their International MBA program. “The 2008 Entrepreneurial Scholarship” covers 50% of tuition fees and rewards candidates with a strong entrepreneurial focus. “The 2008 Excellence Scholarship” covers 75% of tuition fees and rewards academic excellence.

From the last issue of The Harbus for the academic year: 50 Reasons Why HBS is Better than Real Life provides a slightly tongue-in-cheek look at all the things about HBS that right now look infinitely preferable to the big, cold, scary world out there.

QS Top MBA explores what top business schools can do in this interview with student Alexey Shalimov, who shares his first impressions, and first disappointments, of the Wharton full-time MBA program he began in July 2007.

Also of interest this week at QS Top MBA: Can a top business school really teach entrepreneurship? Isn’t innovation something that you either have or don’t? According to one of the world’s leading academics in the field of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (E&I) and the man who set up the E&I Center at MIT’s Sloan School of Business, there is a definite role for business school in developing the skill sets of entrepreneurs and innovators.

Business Week’s Francesca Di Meglio reports that the slowing economy is raising the stakes for MBAs hoping to turn their summer internship into a full-time job offer. Although it’s unclear whether employers will be making fewer job offers at the end of the summer, it’s likely interns will find themselves in an increasingly tight job market, especially in the ailing financial and consulting sectors.

In a slightly different reading of the fortunes to come, the Graduate Management Admission Council says new MBAs find success landing jobs before graduation. In fact, GMAC has found that the percentage of students with job offers before graduation is at its highest level since 2001.

An Inside Higher Ed editorial advances the belief that it’s time to go un-global. According to finance professor George Morgan, all around us, the free movement of goods, services, people and capital across political borders is losing political strength and popularity. Morgan asserts that it’s past time for colleges and universities to fully accept the trend before they and their graduates entering the un-global world are left behind.

In our blog, we provide news, tips and tools to help you navigate the MBA admissions process. Despite the high volume of information that gets printed every week, we do not regularly address the fact that many applicants face a set of challenges that are very different from GPA, GMAT and resume. I want to help applicants work through road blocks to success that may include self-doubt, anxiety, procrastination and generally feeling overwhelmed by this process. Hopefully with a bit of “Vitamin MBA” I can help you to overcome these challenges so that you can put our other resources to work and truly excel on your applications. I now present you with a dose of “Vitamin MBA”:

The Happiness Project blog wrote about the idea of perfect vs. good. I thought this was very relevant to the work we do with MBA applications because so many people become paralyzed by the idea of having to draft the most perfect essays. I am a big fan of taking the plunge and writing something…anything, as opposed to spiraling and agonizing over every word because every draft has to be perfect… We touch on the idea of taking the plunge in our HBS essay tips post, as well.

Read on for excerpts from her post.

Voltaire is the great thinker responsible for the observation, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

I’ve found this precept to be extremely useful with my happiness project. Instead of pushing myself to an impossible “perfect,” and therefore getting nowhere, I accept “good.”

This sounds sensible enough, you’re thinking, but how does it actually work in real life? Here are some examples:

• I floss sometimes. Not every day. Sometimes.
• I don’t push myself in exercise. I have friends who, I suspect, secretly scoff at my mild work-out routines. But because they never exercise except to push themselves to the max, they never go, and I’ve been exercising consistently since high school.
• I don’t call, I email. When I told someone about my April resolution to send my friends birthday emails, he said, “But you should call! A call is much better.” True, I admit. But I hate the phone, and I won’t call. But I will send an email.

Obviously most of the examples are not terribly relevant to your MBA applications, but I think the concept is. I have clients who spend weeks and even months gearing up with spreadsheets and checklists and outlines in order to approach this process perfectly. Others just dive in and get started. If you find yourself trapped in the pursuit of perfection, remember that this is the “enemy of GOOD”.

This week’s GMAT challenge from PrepForTests.com is a data sufficiency question.

Work out which of the statements 1 and 2 are required to answer the question.

Have a go at answering this and then review your answer.

The Financial Times offers a comprehensive look this week at financial training programs. European business schools have traditionally run Master’s in Financial Engineering (MFE) programs, as compared to financially-oriented MBAs in the United States. But new, specialized degrees are on the horizon here and abroad.

According to FT, European business schools have launched, or will launch, nine specialized masters degrees in finance–schools such as Cass Business School and the London School of Economics in the UK and EM Lyon and Edhec in France. IE Business School in Spain and The University of Strathclyde in Scotland are launching programs in 2009.

In the US, Purdue’s Krannert School of Management, Pepperdine and Rochester are launching programs this year. The Anderson school at UCLA will enter the fray with a degree in financial engineering in 2009, the article reports, adding that MIT’s Sloan school of management is also expected to launch a masters in finance degree in the next year.

The growth in demand mirrors the growth in the financial services sector but also reflects a growing demand for technical knowledge, says Sabine Vinck, associate dean of the London Business School Masters in Finance program. “Finance is a specialist industry and it is more and more a technical industry.”

The Haas School’s Master’s in Financial Engineering (MFE) Program is featured prominently in this special section. “Jobs Outside Wall Street and the City” describes the placement success of Haas MFE graduates. Another article, titled “Global Links Help Talent Pool Flourish,” describes how the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Singapore’s de facto central bank, created a scholarship initiative to train talented Singaporeans at the Haas MFE program.

The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University will soon offer two virtual information sessions for those interested in their Advanced Management Program. These 30-minute online sessions use web meeting technology to deliver a live presentation by an Executive Education representative followed by an online chat session.

Learn about Executive Education at Fuqua on Wednesday, June 25, from noon to 1 p.m. EDT, or on Wednesday, July 23, also noon to 1 p.m. EDT. You can fill out a form here to receive a link to the virtual information session.

Set your strategy before you approach any set of MBA essays. For HBS, this is especially important because you have a choice of several questions to illustrate your candidacy. If you are working with a consultant, it’s a great idea to brainstorm about the best stories you have to demonstrate your important leadership, management, academic and personal qualities.

Harvard is interested in knowing how you work as a person, how you think, and what kind of leader you are. Community involvement and a broad international perspective are certainly valued, as you can see by the topics. Most importantly, specific and concise examples are the best way to demonstrate who you are. Without specifics, a claim to be a leader is empty. Also make sure to answer the question completely, but do not add extra information if it is not relevant. For example, HBS’ career vision essay does not ask you why you need to go to HBS to accomplish your vision. No need to add information that is not requested unless it ties in cleanly with the overall essay.

Many applicants are intimidated by the extremely limited word count of the Harvard Business School essays. Rather than worrying about the word limits early in the process, it’s best to focus on telling the story you need to, and then cut extra words in later drafts. You will be surprised how easy it is to cut the excess and how impactful your final essays are.

Essay 1 (required – 600 word limit): What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such?
This is a great opportunity to highlight accomplishments you are particularly proud of. When choosing topics, think about the many areas of your life that are important to you, and vary the areas you focus on. For example, three work accomplishments that use similar skills and traits will not have the same impact as showing examples from your personal life, community involvement and work that will illustrate your personal and leadership qualities in a variety of circumstances. Do not neglect the second part of the question, “why do you view them as such?” this is an important way to understand how you think, what is important to you, and your priorities. As with almost all essay the “why” is as or more important than the “what”.

Essay 2 (required – 400 word limit): What have you learned from a mistake?
One of the most feared questions by MBA applicants everywhere; this is actually a great opportunity to show your introspection, dedication and ability to handle setbacks. In choosing a mistake to discuss, make sure it is a real mistake (NOT: “I made the mistake of working too hard.”) and that you have a meaningful lesson that you took from the mistake. Many MBA applicants cannot think of a huge, life changing mistake, which is fine. The most important part of this question is learning and introspection that resulted from the mistake. If you can provide specific examples of how your approach has changed since the mistake, that is a great way to wrap up the essay. See last week’s post on questions about failure for further inspiration.

Essays 3 and 4: Choose two of the four following questions (400 word limit each)

a. What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience?
In this essay it’s best to be positive about your academic experience. Make sure that the focus is on your intellectual development, contribution to the school, or leadership as a student in the academic realm in this essay. While it may be tempting to explain a less than stellar GPA or extracurricular activities, the question is specifically asking about your academic experience and you will want to focus the majority of the essay on that area. Also, don’t stray too much from the academic focus here. An essay about your undergraduate experience that discussed athletics and clubs but skips on academics is simply not answering the question.

b. Discuss how you have engaged with a community or organization.
The operative word in this question is “how” – make sure you are quite specific about what you did and how you were engaged with the community or organization you choose. Try to highlight a leadership role or actions as part of a team rather than a simple membership role.

c. What area of the world are you most curious about and why?
This is a great open ended question that will allow you to demonstrate your global perspective, even if you don’t have global experience. You will want to cite specific examples to illustrate both your curiosity about the area and why. Is there a theme across your background in community involvement and work that naturally leads to an interest in one particular region? Try to delve deeper than an interest in China because of the economic opportunities, and delve into the aspects of the area that are particularly meaningful in your life.

d. What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?
It is telling that HBS does not require an answer to this question. While HBS is less focused on hearing about your goals and aspirations for a career after business school than other programs, this is a great essay to discuss what your dreams are. If you are a non-traditional or career changing applicant this would be a good choice as one of your optional essays, as you will be able to lay out your vision for a career if it is less than obvious from your prior experience. Pay close attention to the “career vision” part of the question – this indicates a long term passion in the career realm, not a goal to become a McKinsey consultant right after graduation. Also do not neglect the discussion of why this career vision is meaningful to you. This could include past experiences, your background, or personal history.