Well, that point is arguable, but in this instance, cheaters didn’t prosper. In fact, they were banned from taking the GMAT ever again. Which means they’re banned from B school.

“More than 1,000 prospective MBA students who paid $30 to use a now-defunct Web site to get a sneak peak at live questions from the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) before taking the exam may have their scores canceled in coming weeks.”

I am not sure what good seeing GMAT problems would be because everyone gets different GMAT problems depending on how well they are doing on the test. It’s computer adaptive so each question that the test taker gets depends on how he/she scored on previous questions. As far as seeing real GMAT problems, anyone can buy sample/retired GMAT problems that have appeared on previous tests from GMAC. Manhattan GMAT, Veritas GMAT and other GMAT prep courses all use material from GMAC. So, the sad part is that the people who paid for this “unfair” advantage and had their MBA dreams shattered probably didn’t even have an “unfair” advantage. Read more here.

Well, at least that means the applicant pool will be 1,000 6,000 candidates lighter in the next few years. =D

Just had a free trial online session for Manhattan GMAT. Not bad so far, I will probably sign up for the whole thing.  Here is the Manhattan GMAT online course syllabus.

Discount Code for $100 off: Trial08

Cheers

More free gmat test sample questions

Interesting combination… How does this make any sense? Why are two top American MBA programs joining forces?  It makes a lot of sense for intercontinental connections like the ones we see for places like MIT Sloan and Tsinghua University in Beijing, but two American ones? What could they possibly get out of this?  Do the curricula really differ that much between these two programs?  Probably not.  Its obviously a marketing play.   Interesting value proposition - 2 MBA degrees for the price of 1.  It will be interesting how they leverage this relationship.

Merging the strengths of two top business schools, the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA program attracts seasoned professionals who want to earn an MBA and gain access to the resources of two noted universities while sustaining career momentum. In 19 months you receive degrees from each school, with a world of experience that sets you apart.

Internships for MBA Career Changers

Many people attend business school with an eye toward changing careers, and one of the most important aspects of that shift is a summer internship. Internships are an invaluable way to gain experience and references, and to decide if your new career choice is right for you. And, if all goes well, an internship will lead to a job offer.

Taking a Chance
Many students start B-school with a solid grasp on their new career path, and they pursue an internship in that industry. But if you aren’t quite certain of your direction, consider an internship in a field that’s in stark contrast to what you’ve done before. For example, if you’ve worked in manufacturing, you might try consulting.

Taking such a leap will help increase your knowledge and experience base, making you a more appealing candidate for any company. “Spread the spectrum of your experiences. Push yourself,” recommends Shelley Millis, a 1999 Carnegie Mellon MBA, who is now a principal with DiamondCluster International.

Ann Browning, Associate Director of the Career Management Center at Kellogg Graduate School of Management agrees: “Try something different, especially if you’re on the fence [about your new career choice]. You can always spin [the experience] for a different industry if it doesn’t suit you.”

Narrowing Your Options
It’s important to begin narrowing the focus of your internship interests early on. Most internship interviews don’t begin until January of your first year, but the onslaught of slick corporate presentations starts right away.

“You’ve just unpacked and bought books and the presentations start. There are sometimes five companies [presenting] a night. You’d be lost without some direction. You can’t possibly go to all of them,” says Mike Scheu, a 1998 Kellogg graduate who switched careers from finance and accounting to consumer marketing.

“The people who have the most difficulty in the process are those who do multiple interviews over many industries. They get overwhelmed,” says Kellogg’s Browning. “Part of our role is to help them narrow their focus.”

On-campus recruiting is dominated by large, mainstream companies. “If you’re not looking for pure vanilla, you’ll have to do research yourself,” says David Spyra, a consultant who previously worked in marketing at a software start-up. “Sometimes people get caught up in what’s socially desirable and don’t pursue other options,” he says.
Additionally, most companies aren’t looking for as many interns as they are full time employees. “Students shouldn’t just rely on campus presentations to find internship opportunities,” says Browning. “They should also network outside of the on-campus process.”

Getting the Internship
Take advantage of on-campus resources when preparing for interviews. Career management personnel can help you learn the language (jargon) of your new industry and assist you in spinning your previous experiences to match the skills the industry seeks.

Highlight transferable skills both in your resume and during interviews. For example, if you previously worked in the non-profit sector and are looking to try brand management, talk about your leadership and creativity skills.

Maximizing Your Internship Experience
Make sure you start the summer with a good sense of your expected responsibilities. Sit down with your supervisor early on and review your project list in order to assure that it’s meaty enough. If it’s not, take the initiative to suggest weightier projects that will give you more responsibility.

“You only get out of an internship what you put in it. Assert yourself. You won’t necessarily be led by the hand,” says Mike Cloyd, a financial analyst with Corning. Cloyd earned his MBA in 1999, after spending five years in the Navy.

Networking is also key. Spend time speaking to people at different levels of the organization. Be sure to talk to other interns about their experiences.

Getting a job offer is a top internship goal, but even if you decline, it’s important just to have it in your back pocket, as it shows you were a valued employee. “As an interviewer, I’d definitely ask a potential hire, ‘Did you get an offer [from your internship]?,’” says Millis.

Deciding Against a Career
If you realize the career path you chose for an internship isn’t a good fit, be sure to leave with specific examples of what you did and how you impacted the company. Also be prepared to give a thoughtful and detailed explanation of your multiple career shifts.

Corning’s Mike Cloyd received an offer after completing an operations internship at AlliedSignal (before it acquired Honeywell), but decided to go into finance instead. He found that his interviewers at Corning were most interested in his qualitative skills, such as leadership.

Cloyd says, “Corning was interested in my career goals, and they found my explanation of my time at Allied to be valid. Still, there were some questions I had trouble with (because of lack of specific finance experience), but it was doable.”

Source: WetFeet

Here’s a pretty good blog that I’ll have to tap into once I get the MBA prep rolling. MBA Blog.

I do not like these questions. Here’s some free resources if your struggling with this.

Prep for Tests - Data Sufficiency 

There are tons of rankings out there. This is just one of them.

“Harvard University and Stanford University — two schools that typically rank low despite reputations for academic excellence — again were criticized for what recruiters said were their students’ inflated egos and excessive expectations. Nevertheless, their graduates still end up landing some of the highest paying jobs.”
Rankings (pdf)
Article

Source: The Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive annual survey of corporate recruiters

As a result of the career-as-a-VC revelations that I disclosed in Part I of this entry, I’ve been in a QLCrisis-induced daze the past few days and have been trying to ease the anxiety by filling out online job applications like a madman. We all know that that approach is generally fruitless - but at times it seems like clicking the add-to-job-cart button is the only thing we can do to advance our careers. Luckily, I teamed up that approach with some soul searching and advice seeking. Now, it’s pretty obvious what I should be focusing on immediately.

This is coming from a retired hedge fund manager and tenured University of Chicago MBA professor that I work with:

“You have a good resume, Warren.

I am wondering why you can’t immediately apply and enroll at a top MBA school like Harvard, Northwestern, Stanford, Yale, Chicago, Wharton.

My anecdotal evidence is that many top students get through the MBA program directly from or 2 years after college, learn their finance from the courses offered, and then get recruited by investment banks or VCs.

I believe that it’s a catch-22 otherwise. The VCs want finance experience, but you can’t get finance experience because VCs and Investment banks will usually not hire without an MBA (There are just too many good MBAs for the few jobs highly sought after.)

So, I suspect it would be very hard to try to get the finance skills you want, except at very low level entry jobs, which might sour your prospects, or delay you from reaching your goals.

I think it’s more fruitful to try to get to a top school almost immediately, then use the network that you will build to get towards the job you are looking for.

My assessment is that you are already experienced enough, and have already invested two post-graduate years for a Masters that will be acceptable for a top MBA school.

If you wait a couple more years for getting an MBA, you will be in your late twenties or early thirties before you become a prospective hire, and that might put you at a disadvantage relative to your peers.

Bottom line: If I were you, I’d try to get into a very good MBA right now, at the same time as looking for the finance entry job. Unless of course funding is an issue, in which case, you have no choice except to build capital in order to get the MBA. At worst, you only lose the application fees, but at the advantage of learning what skills are required of you in order to get the MBA.”

All this time I’ve been looking for work experience without realizing that I do have some there. I guess sometimes you need a fresh pair of eyes to tell you what you don’t see. I will be talking to a VC who doesn’t have an MBA in the coming weeks. It will be interesting to see his take on this.

Looks like its time to hit the books again. Veritas GMAT Prep, here I come.

Here’s a free GMAT Test Prep download.