What To Do After You Get Accepted

online-mba

MIT Launches MOOC Course

 

The dominos are starting to fall.

First, the Wharton School of Business placed its first year foundations courses online for free.  Then, Harvard Business School announced that it was developing online courses through its HBX initiative. Now, MIT Sloan is joining the party, producing an online version of its popular Analytics Edge to the edX platform.

Although the on-site course enforces prerequisites, the online version will be a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). It will be free to anyone when it is available later in the spring. Like its brick-and-mortar parent, the MOOC version of Analytics Edge will focus on how quantitative methods, such as data mining, dynamic optimization, and simulation, offer competitive advantages to companies in industries ranging from healthcare to supply change management. And it will draw heavily from case studies, with the campus-based course already including studies of the Oakland A’s (“Moneyball”) and eHarmony.

According to MIT, the MOOC course will consist of students watching prerecorded lectures and completing online homework assignments. However, it didn’t specify if online students would produce a team project like the on campus course. As with most MOOCs, MIT is unlikely to offer credit for completing the course, only a Certificate of Achievement.

This is technically not MIT Sloan’s first foray into MOOC territory. Bill Aulet, a Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan and Managing Director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, has been teaching a MOOC called “Entrepreneurship 101: Who Is Your Customer?” However, the development of Analytics Edge is a reminder that MOOCs are growing in both popularity and respectability, particularly among elite institutions. Our prediction: You can expect MIT Sloan to offer MOOC versions of other business courses by end of year.

To learn about other MBA courses from elite institutions available online for free, check out The MOOC Revolution: How To Earn An Elite MBA For Free.

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek

Get Into Business School By Customizing Your Application

 

“Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.”

– Henry Ford

That assembly line thinking is as outdated as hatchbacks and Hummers. These days, the name of the game is customization. Consumers want features and service personalized to their specific tastes. And products are increasingly a reflection of who they are (or aspire to be).

Is it any surprise that business schools are “customized” to an extent? Each emphasizes a specific area of expertise. Kellogg is for marketers, while Wharton is the “finance” school. Stanford is entrepreneurial; Harvard is Fortune 500. And Haas is all about the social good. Are those reputations grounded in the curriculum or stereotypes?  That depends on who you ask. But every school does value different experiences and traits in its student body. And if you mail out a mass-produced application to your list of schools, you’ll likely to end up on the “Reject” pile for most.

That’s why Shawn O’Connor, CEO of Veritas Prep, advises students to customize their applications. To do that, you must “know your audience.” It’s no different than applying for a job. Companies review resumes for experience and skill sets, but they interview for “fit.” They want to know if you possess the qualities that line up with their social mores. What does that mean? This is how O’Connor explains it:

“For example, HBS values global experience, Stanford seeks innovation, and NYU tends to select creative applicants. Thus, if one individual were to apply to all three of the above schools, he or she would need to highlight various aspects of his or her personal and professional life and no two applications should be the same.”

This may sound like Mean Girls, but you need to prove you’re “one of them” before you can be admitted.  Otherwise, you’ll inevitably dilute, disrupt, or depart the tribe. And that benefits neither student nor school.

So what does O’Connor suggest? First, he encourages you to be authentic. She can’t squeeze yourself into a tight spot and fake your way through the process. Your adcom will eventually spot the disconnect, guaranteed. Second, conduct research on y our choice schools by meeting with students and alumni, visiting the campus, and “scouring” the internet. Knowledge is power…and knowing what each school values will enable you to choose which qualities and experiences to highlight in your essays.

Remember, business schools are looking to amplify your strengths. Always focus on this ingenious question from O’Connor as you write your essays: “What can that particular MBA program do to help further that quality in you?” When an adcom is evaluating you, they’re imagining who you can become as much as who you are. Express your personality and potential and connect it to the school’s values and strengths…because the last candidate they want to see is someone who only comes in black.

Source: Forbes

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