The Touch MBA Admissions Podcast

Cristian Molina Cornejo, Tuck MBA '21, shares how MBA applicants can take advantage of two programs that champion diversity and inclusion: Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) and the Consortium. Cristian also gives his best application tips after getting into four out of five top 20 US MBA programs. Questions Cristian's background (3:20) What you need to know about MLT (14:25) What you need to know about Consortium (26:00) MLT's Professional Development program and its network (30:55) How to make the most out of MLT and Consortium (40:50) Cristian's best application tips after getting into four top schools (45:10) Cristian's thoughts on Tuck (52:50) About Cristian Cristian is a first year MBA at the Tuck School of Business. Prior to starting his MBA, Cristian graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Economics, and worked for Energeia, a research and advisory firm in energy technology and electronics. Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/management-leadership-for-tomorrow-consortium-what-you-need-to-know

Hailing from Nigeria and having never visited the US, how did Ikechukwu Edeagu shortlist and apply to MBA programs? And what was his process for navigating internships and the job search as an international student? Listen to get a real-time, inside look into one international student's MBA experience at UNC Kenan Flagler. Questions Ike's background (3:53) How Ike shortlisted business schools  (8:02) Ike's application tips for international students (14:20) Ike's thoughts on financing your MBA (22:20) How Ike secured his internship and job with Microsoft (25:08) Ike's recommended resources and research process for your MBA job search (44:30) The importance of soft skills in building relationships and careers in the US (53:55) Ike thoughts on the UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA experience and culture (1:00:00) Ike's final recommendations to applicants (1:11:30) About our Guest Ikechukwu Edeagu graduated from the UNC MBA with a double concentration in Capital Markets and Investments and Corporate Finance. Prior to starting his MBA, Ike worked in KPMG's Risk Consulting practice in Lagos, Nigeria. Ikechukwu is currently working as a Finance Manager, Cloud and Artificial Intelligence for Microsoft in Seattle.  Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/the-us-mba-experience-as-an-international-student-ikechukwu-edeagu-unc-mba

Do you feel like your MBA story is a bit bland? Or uninspiring compared to the applicant profiles you see online? What if you haven't overcome insurmountable odds or accomplished something amazing? Darren explores the possibilities of kishōtenketsu - a four act story structure used by Japanese and Chinese writers for centuries. What makes this story structure interesting is that it relies on contrast - not conflict - to generate interest. Kishōtenketsu in 4 acts: Ki (start) Shō (development) Ten (twist) Ketsu (conclusion) Listen on for ways you can use this Eastern story structure to keep admissions officers' attention AND demonstrate your self-awareness. Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/kishotenketsu

Dr. Christoph Schneider, Associate Director of MBA Programme and Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Systems, City University Hong Kong, discusses what makes the City U Hong Kong MBA unique, the school's admissions process, career opportunities and more. Program Highlights (4:06) | Admissions (18:30) | Scholarships (33:58) | Careers (36:38) About Our Guest Christoph Schneider is the Associate Director of the MBA Programme at City University Hong Kong, where he has also been Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Systems for over a decade. Christoph has published in premier business journals as well as best-selling textbooks on management information systems and project management. Christoph got his PhD in Business Administration - Management Information Systems from Washington State University. What is unique about the City U Hong Kong MBA? What are its key advantages? 1-year program includes study trips to Silicon Valley (UC Berkeley), London (Imperial College) and an Asian country for a consulting project Offers (5 concentrations: Accounting, Finance, Information Management, Marketing, and Supply Chain Management The business mentoring programme matches students to 25+ MBA mentors according to their  backgrounds, experiences and interests; During a 6-month period, mentors and students meet through events, workshops, and 1-1s City U Hong Kong was ranked the #4 university for Economics and Business in Asia by US News and World Report (2019) and placed #55 worldwide by QS' World University Rankings (2019) Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/city-university-hong-kong-mba-program-admissions-interview-christoph-schneider

Darren invites Susan Bertulli, Director, MBA Career Management at Ivey Business School at Western University to discuss MBA employment reports. First, why and how are MBA employment reports produced? Then, what should you look for? Which employment figures and statistics matter? How can you use them to shortlist b-schools and plan your career? The Ivey MBA has been ranked #1 in Canada for five years running by Bloomberg Businessweek for both student and recruiter satisfaction, so don't miss this inside look into how a top MBA career services team produces their employment report. Questions Susan's background (5:00) The role of MBA career services (6:55) The challenges of MBA career management in a 1-year MBA program (9:12) What applicants should look for from MBA career management teams (12:16) The context surrounding MBA employment reports (14:30) The challenges of producing an annual employment report (18:00) Key figures for applicants to focus on (20:43) How applicants can approach career services with employment statistics questions (26:15) Does a business school's size affect diversity of industry recruiters? (30:17) Understanding a school's list of recruiting firms (34:00) How should applicants use employment reports to shortlist b-schools (39:40) How applicants can show employability in MBA interviews (42:30) MBA Career services: expectations vs reality (44:47) Actions of students & alumni that succeed in their career search (48:00) Have employers' criteria changed for MBAs? (50:20) Susan's recommended resources for career planning (53:05) About our Guest Susan Bertulli is Director, MBA Career Management at Ivey Business School at Western University, where she manages student engagement in career planning, from admissions through to job employment. Over her 10+ years with Ivey, MBAs have achieved 90% placement with over 90% of the students reporting on their success. Susan also serves on several boards including the Dorchester Minor Hockey Association and St. Peter’s Anglican Church. Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/behind-the-scenes-mba-employment-report  

Betsy Kacizak, Director of MBA Admissions and Recruitment, and Brad Chandler, Director, Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking at the Wisconsin School of Business of University Wisconsin-Madison, discuss what makes the Wisconsin MBA unique, the school's admissions process, career opportunities and more. Program Highlights (10:45) | Admissions (29:56) | Scholarships (45:32) | Careers (49:08 About Our Guests Betsy Kacizakis the Director of MBA Admissions and Recruitment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Betsy excels at walking you through the admissions process, including helping guide you toward the specialization that best fits your passions and career aspirations. She has expertise as a leader in the field of graduate admissions. She has worked for the Wisconsin School of Business for 11 years and worked for seven years at Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). Brad Chandleris the Director of the Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking at the Wisconsin School of Business. At the Nicholas Center, Brad is responsible for both administering the Center's specialized programming focused on MBA and undergraduate students and teaching a number of its core courses. Prior to joining the Nicholas Center in 2017, Brad was a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division at Morgan Stanley in New York City. While at Morgan Stanley, Brad advised corporate and private equity clients on mergers and acquisitions, shareholder activism and defense, leveraged buyouts, debt and equity financings, restructurings, and fund-level financings. Brad successfully executed over 55 transactions representing over $225 billion in transaction value. Representative transactions include advising Dow on its merger with DuPont, advising Axiall on its hostile defense against Westlake Corporation, advising Agrium on its proxy contest victory over JANA Partners, advising Dresser Rand on its sale to Siemens AG, the Trinseo and Sensata IPOs, and numerous financings for Bain Capital, Advent Capital Management, Clayton Dubilier & Rice, CF Industries, and Eastman Chemical. What is unique about the Wisconsin MBA? What are its key advantages? The Wisconsin MBA asks applicants to select from 10 career specializations at the time they apply: Brand and Product Management, Marketing Research, Corporate Finance and Investment Banking, Applied Security Analysis, Real Estate and Risk Management and Insurance, Operations and Technology Management, Supply Chain Management, Strategic Management, Strategic Human Resource Management, and Arts Administration Wisconsin MBAs start taking courses and doing applied learning related to their specialization from very first semester Center Directors running Wisconsin's 10 specializations play a big role in admissions, curriculum design and career advising, as they connect students to alumni, recruiters and thought leaders in the space Wisconsin offers a tailored and customized approach to 80 students Wisconsin was one of 3 founding members of the Consortium in 1966 Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/wisconsin-mba-program-admissions-interview-betsy-kacizak-brad-chandler 

Guest Host Sabaina Kamara, Michigan Ross MBA '19, invites her section-mate Sheela Lal to share her experience applying for internships, founding DrunkShrub and securing a full-time job post-graduation. Listen to get a real-time, inside look into the MBA experience at a top b-school like Ross. Questions Sheela's background and reasons for getting an MBA (0:47) Sheela's approach to landing an internship (7:20) Sheela founds DrunkShrub (10:33) How Sheela took advantage of Ross' resources to further her business (14:43) How Sheela navigated running DrunkShrub and looking for full-time employment in consulting and government affairs (19:30) Sheela's advice to applicants about applying to business school and entrepreneurship (23:55) About our Guest Host Sabaina Kamara is currently an MBA student at University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. Prior to starting her MBA, Sabaina worked in as an HR Analyst at a management and employment law firm, focusing on HR compliance for diversity and inclusion. Sabaina will work in consulting for Deloitte Strategy & Operations in New York City after she graduates. About Our Guest Sheela comes across as someone who knows a lot, but really, she's just incredibly good at regurgitating things she's heard on any of the 30 podcasts she listens to. Her current favorites are Detroit Today, Splendid Kitchen, and The Foreign Desk, which reflect her long term interests - in-depth state government engagement, food science and chemistry, and lastly, very sassy international news analysis. Sheela has worked in Missouri politics on and off for 10 years, between congressional and local campaigns, the state house, and at Progress Missouri (a cousin to Progress Michigan). She founded Drunk Shrub, an alternative social beverage company, this summer, and worked in Sri Lanka and India for two years before returning to Missouri. She's found business school to be a surprisingly liberating experience - with very few expectations of appropriate post-graduation steps, she's free to explore her creative side. Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/starting-a-business-during-your-mba-sheela-lal-michigan-ross-mba

Sean Ferguson, Associate Dean and Director of MBA Program for the Asia School of Business (ASB), discusses what makes the ASB MBA unique, the school's admissions process, career opportunities and more. Program Highlights (2:28) | Admissions (24:47) | Scholarships (40:20) | Careers (47:15) About Our Guest Sean Ferguson is the Associate Dean and Director of MBA Program for the Asia School of Business. Prior to joining ASB, Sean was Associate Dean of Masters Programmes at HKUST Business School and Assistant Dean of Degree Programmes at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business. He worked at PROS, Cap Gemini, Ernst & Young, and Procter & Gamble before entering business education. Sean got his MBA from Rice University. What is relatively unique about the ASB MBA? What are its key advantages? ASB was established in 2015, a collaboration between Bank Negara Malaysia (Malaysia's central bank) and MIT Sloan School of Management Action Learning at ASB is a core (non-optional) course in each of the five different academic terms of the 20-month ASB MBA program. By the time students graduate, they will experience 5 different business challenges with possibly 5 different host companies, in potentially 5 different countries 1 week long industry treks to US and China 1 month immersion program at the MIT Sloan School of Management ASB MBA graduates receive a certificate of completion from MIT, and MIT affiliate status Students live on campus, currently the hotel for Malaysia's central bank Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/asb-mba-program-admissions-interview-sean-ferguson-action-learning-curriculum

Learn how to clarify the value of your accomplishments using the 'three P's': performance compared to previous years, plans, and peers. Discover how to match these with 'three P's' of leadership to show even more impact in MBA applications and resumes.

Seán Meehan, Dean of the MBA Program at IMD, discusses what makes the IMD MBA unique, the school's admissions process, career opportunities and more. Program Highlights (5:33) | Admissions (22:41) | Scholarships (41:30) | Careers (45:10) About Our Guest Dr. Seán Meehan is the Martin Hilti Professor of Marketing & Change Management and the Dean of the MBA program. He joined IMD in 1997 after working for Arthur Anderson and Deloitte, where he was Director of Marketing. Seán got his PhD in Marketing from London Business School. What is relatively unique about the IMD MBA? What are its key advantages? Industry-focused general management MBA from a school that is consistently top-ranked in Europe and worldwide for ROI; over 70% of graduates go into industry 1-year MBA that starts in January Only 90 students are admitted each year from ~40 countries, More experienced class: the average work experience is 7 years There’s a 2:1 student to faculty ratio Strong focus on personal leadership development through a combination of classroom interactions, experiential learning and psychoanalytical coaching Also emphasizes entrepreneurship, globalization and digitalization Instead of an interview, IMD applicants participate in an assessment day which includes a 1-1 interview with admissions, individual presentation and group activities, lunch with IMD participants or alumni, and depending on the time of the year, a possibility to attend a class. The assessment days take place on campus in Lausanne or abroad. IMD is looking for candidates with strong analytical and communication skills and team-oriented leaders who want to shape the future IMD has 9,000 executive education participants each year, and MBAs have increasing opportunities to connect with these senior executives IMD is based in Lausanne, Switzerland and has over 350 MNCs A global meeting place situated in the center of Europe in one of the world’s fastest growing science and technology hubs The IMD MBA in a Tweet: “We develop leaders who have a desire to make a positive impact in the world” Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/imd-mba-program-admissions-interview-sean-meehan-be-on-companies-leadership-radars