Welcome to the game, first year MBA’s!

Of things you battle with this year WILL be class participation. So let’s introduce the players in this game of wits [or lack thereof]. First, there will be those willing to let any random concoction of words flow from their lips in order to receive participation points. Then there’s the moderate school of hand-raisers who only raise their hands when they feel they can make a value added comment. Finally, there’s going to be a third school that doesn’t raise their hand, ever. Sometimes, this third school won’t even speak upon being cold called. Don’t be these people.

First month of school

Time really flies.

Barely three-four weeks ago I’d just started school, thinking that it’d be a relaxing month, offering lots of times for catching up with the NBA playoffs and also netflix a few movies while I’m at it. Boy, was I wrong!

MBA2 already?

And so my first year of business school is over. I can’t believe how fast it has gone by. Overall, this was a tremendous experience, filled with ups and downs. In the end, I concluded what I knew all along: I (along with my friends) made the right decision to attend b-school right after undergrad. I felt like a sponge during the entire school year, just soaking up as much information as possible. Eventually I was able to secure my “dream” summer internship in a bulge-bracket bank, within its investment management division.

GMAT Prep II

Below is a random collection of tips that I found useful when I was preparing for the GMAT. I hope that you find some of it useful also.

Common Myths

• MYTH: You need a GMAT score of 700+ to be a competitive applicant.

• FACT: Only 7% of all GMAT takers score 700 or higher.

Walking the Straight and Narrow?

With Mod IV upon us, the internship is ramped up for some and neatly packaged for others. I know people who wanted to do brand management and are interning in finance. One of my friends was interested in technology companies and ended up in banking. So the question is: how narrow should you be about your job search, your summer internship, and your business education in general?

Keeping Up

One aspect of business school that I really think is crucial to success is being literate on current events in the business world. As a Young MBA candidate or applicant, it is never too soon to start this. Let me share with you a few anecdotes and tips.

Owen always sends us updates on the faculty’s research, and a ticker at the bottom of our web page features a particular professor. A quick polling of my friends tells me that not many people read this, but they’re actually really helpful in giving you conversation topics when meeting new people. On a recent flight to Dallas, I was seated next to the manager of a hedge fund.

Important Questions

While we enjoy our “Spring Break” at Vanderbilt, it has been great to take some time off from school, do a little bit of traveling, and actually reading a book for my own pleasure (rather than for a class). During this time, I kept receiving a number of e-mails from many current & prospective b-school students. In particular, Lauren from Duke University brought up a few important points which I wanted to address in this post. So, here it goes:

Considering Sport Management?

I am too. I have done some research on career prospects for MBA’s in the sport field. Let me start this by saying, the rest of this isn’t pretty. Careers in sports are hard to come by without experience. I’ll start this off with a quote that an MBA professor told me: “Some people know they want to work in sports get here. A lot of those same people realize they would rather have a high paying job and good seats.”

GMAT Prep I

The GMAT is  basically the “SAT” for applying to b-schools. The format and components of the test are very similar. In both tests, understanding the structure of the test and how the scores are computed can help increase your score without having to devote many hours to practice.

A quick note on GMAT prep services: Many of these services guarantee a 90+ point increase in test score performance that score is inflated. What many of these services do is to give you their diagnostic test, which is usually noticeably more difficult than the real test.

Hello, world!

First of all, thanks to Serdar for adding me to the list of Young MBA Bloggers. I believe in the mission of this group, and as a future “Young MBA,” I am excited to start networking with my peers.

Now a little about me. I am originally from Virginia Beach, VA. For the record, I don’t live by the beach. I completed my undergraduate degree at Cornell in 2006.