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Our client Bill came to us wondering if his atypical background would hurt his chances when applying to MBA programs. He had been working for the family business, a manufacturing company in Baltimore, for three years out of college. He worried that when compared to the many applicants coming from consulting or financial backgrounds, his story might not measure up. His consultant assured him that coming from a family business might in fact help him stand out, so long as they addressed a couple of specific concerns.

Bill hadn’t been planning to go into the family business in college, so he majored in philosophy, but when his father passed away unexpectedly he stepped in to help run the business alongside his aunt and uncle, who were partners in the company. He found he loved working in the company and his interest in entrepreneurship and the wider business world was sparked. Fortunately, since Bill was helping partly with the firm’s accounting, he was already taking math and accounting classes at night, which helped show off his quantitative skills. His consultant advised him to study and retake the GMAT to shore up his quantitative score, which he did as well.

That done, they turned their attention to his recommendations. Bill was most concerned here, since most of his coworkers and supervisors were his relatives. Bill and his consultant brainstormed some ideas for recommenders they could approach outside the company. In the last year, Bill had built a strong relationship with a retail vendor that had been supplied by his company for over a decade. Since this vendor was evaluating Bill on many similar criteria to a direct supervisor and was an objective, outside source, they thought it would be a good fit. Bill’s vendor was happy to help out.

Bill’s consultant also found out that he volunteered as an tutor for adult ESL students most weekends. Bill had started years ago and included it as a line in his resume, but assumed because it wasn’t a private business pursuit that it wouldn’t factor into his application. His consultant thought differently, though, and reminded him that long-term volunteering showed dedication and a greater social awareness. The program’s organizer was happy to help Bill out with a recommendation.

Bill felt confident that his family business-based app could stand up next to candidates coming from a corporate background, and he was right- he was admitted to Tuck and Darden and chose Darden to a be a little closer to home.

Are you wondering how to make your unique profile work in your MBA application? Contact us to learn more about Stacy Blackman Consulting services.

Are you more concerned about other aspects of your profile? Read our case studies to see how other applicants approached their MBA applications.

Most b-school applicants have already familiarized themselves with the near-ubiquitious case study approach that is the cornerstone of such MBA programs as Harvard Business School, UM Ross School of Business and UV Darden School of Business, to name a few.

However, my guess is that most candidates aren’t completely clear on what is a case competition, and how does it work? If that’s you, I suggest you take a look at this recent post by Jonathan Harris, a second-year MBA student at Darden.

As Harris points out, the case competition experience can be grueling, intense, overwhelming, and exhausting, but they are also great opportunities that allow you to apply what you’ve learned in class to real-world scenarios.

From the Deloitte Case Challenge in 2010, where he got his first taste of competition, to this past February’s Net Impact Case Competition, this Darden second-year sheds light on exactly what goes down during the entire process—including how little sleep you get while doing it.

“By breaking away from the ivory tower of the classroom,” says Harris, “these competitions have tested my new knowledge and have prepared me to be a more complete business leader when I graduate from Darden.”

I think the post is an eye-opener and really paints an accurate picture of this unique element of the MBA curriculum.

Are you banking on the belief that earning an MBA is the golden ticket for contentment? You may want to assess the satisfaction index of b-school grads that have gone before you, suggests a recent Forbes.com article on the most satisfied business school graduates.

Harvard Business School does top Forbes’s rankings when it comes to return on investment, but apparently, money doesn’t necessarily buy happiness—overall satisfaction with their MBA degrees ranks 20^th out of 50 U.S. b-schools, and their happiness level at their current jobs is ranked 31st. So just how does Forbes measure satisfaction?

Forbes reached out to 16,000 alumni that graduated in 2006 from more than 100 schools around the world to gauge satisfaction. We heard back from nearly 5,000 of them. We looked at satisfaction in three areas: MBA education, current job and preparedness relative to other MBA alumni. We averaged the three satisfaction ratings to put together our list of the most satisfied b-school grads.

Turns out, the most satisfied grads come from Stanford Graduate School of Business, which ranked in the top five among U.S. schools in all three areas of satisfaction in which alumni were surveyed, Forbes.com states. Stanford MBAs also ranked as the most satisfied two years ago when alumni were last surveyed. Stanford ranked second this year in the magazine’s ROI ranking.

Getting into über competitive Stanford GSB may kick-start the good feelings— 6,618 applicants competed for just 397 spots in the Class of 2013, Forbes.com reports. The second most satisfied b-school alumni are at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, and MIT Sloan School of Management, Chicago Booth School of Business, and Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business round out the top five.

Forbes separated out business schools located outside the U.S., so to learn who are the most satisfied MBA graduates abroad, follow this link back to the complete story.

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business has announced the launch a new program to prepare current and future business leaders for an increasingly complex global society. According to the school, the Initiative for Business in Society (IBiS) will act as a global catalyst of thought, information and action regarding business’s role in society, and will prepare leaders to positively impact society through business.

The center will address a wide range of issues, such as the current regulatory environment, health care, corporate governance, intellectual property rights, and trust in businesses and markets.

“The global economic crisis and the resulting patchwork of policy responses have created a new, challenging operating environment,” says Darden’s Dean Bob Bruner. “IBiS will prepare tomorrow’s leaders and innovate tangible ways that business and society can work together to build a more effective collaboration.”

In conjunction with Dean Bruner and other Darden faculty, an advisory committee of chief executives and highly regarded thought leaders will identify strategic IBiS issues, build new knowledge and proactively develop leading practices and competencies.

“Today’s business leaders face a new set of demands, expectations, responsibilities and operating requirements,” says the center’s executive director, Dean Krehmeyer. “IBiS will offer a suite of strategic activities designed to empower an organization’s ability to successfully navigate the interface between business and society.”

Specifically, the Institute for Business in Society will:

• Develop case studies that explore the increasingly complex intersection of business and society, where national and international constraints overlap, and when the outcome has a significant impact on an organization’s ability to execute its strategy
• Design courses and curricula that replicate the real-world challenges faced by today’s executives, and provide insights and leading practices for these situations that immediately add value to the organization and its stakeholders
• Convene conferences and events of impact, delivering faculty-led thought leadership and a rich exchange of leading-edge insights and practices

“IBiS deliverables will help business leaders anticipate and address the issues that inevitably occur when business and society converge,” says Krehmeyer. “We will articulate the fundamental forces that govern this relationship and equip corporate leaders with the knowledge and the strategies they need to manage the tension between business and society more productively.”

The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine have announced their ranking of the Top 25 Entrepreneurial Colleges for 2011, with the number-one spot going to Babson College for the fourth year in a row. For the graduate program category, ranking second is Brigham Young University followed by the University of Virginia Darden School of Business  in the number-three spot.

In addition to teaching strong entrepreneurship fundamentals in the classroom and staffing departments with instructors who are successful entrepreneurs, criteria for the school rankings included excellence in mentorship, and providing experiential or entrepreneurial opportunities outside of the classroom.

“We’re deeply committed to our students and firmly support their passion to pursue entrepreneurship and innovation at any stage in their career and in any type of business environment,”says Philippe Sommer, director of Darden’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, adding that “This mindset inspires us to continuously innovate and advance our program.”

Top Five Graduate Entrepreneurial Colleges

1. Babson College
2. Bringham Young University- Marriott School of Management
3. Darden School of Business
4. Chicago Booth School of Business
5. UM Ross School of Business

“Behind the top ranked schools is not only a great formal classroom experience, but a cross-disciplinary approach to teaching entrepreneurship that embraces and encourages a student’s vision to build a successful business,” comments Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s Senior Vice President-Publisher, and a nationally recognized expert on college admissions.

Franek notes many of the most successful programs have also emphasized curriculum that’s not exclusively related to business. “Schools like Babson, that require students to have at least 50 percent of their course work focused on the liberal arts, are breaking the mold when it comes to preparing future entrepreneurs,” he says.

“The right education enhances and reinforces curiosity and creative thinking in entrepreneurs,” says Amy Cosper, vice president and editor in chief at Entrepreneur. “This ranking provides a unique look at top schools that offer the type of training, encouragement and direction that nurtures entrepreneurial skills. It’s an excellent resource for those interested in academics as a pathway to their goals, and it can help tremendously in the discovery process to finding the right program.”

Further cutting the essay portion of the application down, UVA Darden asks only one question this year. While you only have to write 500 words, you have to make those words count. Leadership is crucial to future Darden MBAs. Personal qualities are also key with a small, tight-knit community. Learn more about the school by visiting the Darden website, attending events and speaking with current students and alumni.

Don’t forget to check your deadlines before starting your MBA application plan.

MBA Application Essay Question:
Share your perspective on leadership in the workplace and describe how it has been shaped by the increasing influence of globalization. (500 words maximum)
Continuing a trend towards brief, open-ended questions, Darden is asking for your broad perspective on leadership and globalization. While this could be answered in an academic and detached way, the best essays will use personal examples to illustrate how you arrived at your perspective.

Before you start answering the question asked it may help to brainstorm all of the leadership experiences you have had at work, either being managed or managing others. Ideally you can think of topics that you were directly involved in, rather than observing.

Once you have a list of all of the experiences that could have shaped your perspective choose the examples that will also demonstrate some of your personal qualities to the admissions committee. You have your career history submitted in your resume and your GPA, transcript and GMAT to demonstrate academic ability. This essay is one of your few opportunities to show how you think, what your leadership approach is, and how you handle teamwork and conflict. Think about the situations that showcased your best performance at work, or that were a turning point in your approach to teamwork and leadership.

The incorporation of globalization into a question about leadership challenges you to have an international perspective. If you haven’t worked abroad, think about co-workers or customers that may be from a different culture and how that has influenced leadership at your workplace. This angle certainly adds more challenge to the question, but is also your opportunity to think broadly about the world beyond your home country.

Because you have only one essay question to present yourself, make sure you have a trusted reader to tell you if you are effectively communicating why you are going to be a strong global leader who deserves a spot in the UVA Darden MBA class.

Additional short questions:
With limited space in the one essay question, you may be able to add additional information to aid your case for admission in the short answer questions.

At Darden, a core part of your academic experience is your participation in and contributions to your learning team. What will you contribute to your team? (150 words maximum)

This is an opportunity to highlight key skills and work experience from your resume. If you don’t want to showcase hard skills you can also talk about your leadership experience and ability to bring a team to consensus. Think about your successful teamwork experiences at work and demonstrate what you will bring to your Darden team.

If you were on an elevator with your dream company CEO or angel investor, what would you tell him/her about your professional ambitions and goals? (150 words maximum)

This question requires a very brief answer. We often advise clients to formulate a career vision statement, and this question would be a place to use that statement. A career vision statement boils down your career goals into one succinct statement that tells the reader what your unique goals are. For example, a career vision statement could be: I want to lead the company that develops a clean-energy solution that will drive global industry without destroying our planet.

At its essence, the career vision statement is specific, clear and very brief. With such limited space you do not have room for extended explanations.

As you consider what your career vision is, keep in mind that this economy has led MBA programs to be more pragmatic about recruiting. A career vision that is clearly relevant to past experience, yet aspires to take your career to the next level, may be the most effective.