Why did I write this book

As a graduate of a “top” business school, I regularly receive requests to speak on my experience. How was the application process? What did you get on the GMAT? What did you write about in your essays? How was Ross? What did you learn? What do you want to do? Are you happy with your decisions?

While I did love answering these questions, I began to think that I could give potential students more comprehensive answers if I knew what my peers were doing. So I decided to start calling people. To my surprise, people were more than willing to talk to me. This was a testament to networking and human nature. Ask and you shall receive.

I think that many of you will be able to get some value from the insights discussed in this book. I have pretty smart friends. My smart friends also have smart friends, and so on.

Your MBAs

Consulting

Robert—Management Consultant
Olu—Consultant
Louis—Senior Consultant
Jade—Senior Consultant
Elias—Engagement Manager
Amrita—Consultant
Cierra—Management Consultant
Renae—Innovation Strategist
Yoshiko—Senior Consultant

Marketing and Brand Management

Noelia—Product Marketing Manager
Holly—Marketing Coordinator
Shantanu—Merchandising Consultant
Amanda—Brand Manager
Everette—Assistant Brand Manager

General Management

Sharmila—Senior Executive Associate
Brandon—Business Program Manager
Jayden—Strategic Program Manager
Krysten—Development Program Manager

Operations

Rashad—Area Manager
Jessi—Quality Assurance Specialist
Norm—Customer Experience Director

Product Management

Tim—Product Manager
Ji-Hoon—Product Manager

Finance and Venture Capital

Liana—Venture Capital Senior Associate
Pankaj—Investment Banking Associate
Fabricio—Corporate Finance

Start-Ups and Entrepreneurship

Coleen—Data Scientist
Justin—Entrepreneur
Don—Market Research Consultant
Quentin—Entrepreneur

What Did You Write About?

You want to go to business school. You spend a decent amount of time studying for the GMAT. You eventually reach your goal score and take whatever prerequisites you feel like you need to make it through the program. Now it’s time to state why your target school should select you out of all people who are going to apply. How do you differentiate yourself? What do you really want to do? With all these different work backgrounds, what do people tend to write about in the dreaded “Why MBA” question?

Life After School

It’s no secret that MBAs are smart, ambitious, and sometimes even pushy. As a result, they are continually thinking about what the next step in their careers is. If they didn’t, they probably wouldn’t have gotten their MBA in the first place. They all had grand visions coming into school, but how do these visions play out after the first job? How quickly do they transition to the next level? Are they loyal to their employers? What would they change if they could do it all again? My interviewees respond here.

Last Interview

As I approach finishing this book, I realize that I myself am a year out of school as well. Thus, I thought it would be pretty interesting to turn the tables and ask myself the same questions I’ve been asking everyone else. This is an engineer, product manager, and aspiring entrepreneur’s view, so use that frame of mind as you read my answers.