Meet Georgetown McDonough’s MBA Class of 2017

Tamar Papava 

Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business 

Hometown: Tbilisi, (Republic of) Georgia

Undergraduate School and Major: Georgian American University, Business Administration

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: TBSC Consulting, Analyst – Consultant – Senior Consultant

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE? Once you review the math that is tested on GMAT, it is really about getting used to the types of questions and practicing as much as possible. By practicing, I mean both the shorter tests or quizzes and (even more importantly) the full practice tests. Stamina is huge on GMAT. You think you know how to solve a particular type of problem, but after two hours of tension you do not function as you do after working on a particular problem type for half an hour. So build that stamina!

Based on your own selection process, what advice do you have for applicants who are trying to draw up a list of target schools to which to apply? My selection process was somewhat different since I am here on a Fulbright Program. but I can still share what was the key point for me in arriving at the list of schools I was interested in. After you research the schools and know the key facts that matter to you, talking to alumni is the defining moment. They have been there and done it. Hearing from them and asking questions help the most.

What advice do you have for applicants in actually applying to a school, writing essays, doing admission interviews, and getting recommenders to write letters on your behalf? As you think you are finished with the essays, read again and think critically. Would you select that person? How is he or she different? A lot of times, we try to put as much information about us as possible and make sure we do not miss any key facts about our experience. What is really needed is to stress the differentiators. Make sure you convey why you are pointing out a particular fact. Also, keep in mind that evaluators are not mind readers as a friend of mine mentioned to me. Make your points very clearly. Do not allow the possibility of the evaluator having to guess what you meant. Needless to say, having competent people review the essays help a great deal.

During the interviews, remember that as objective as we all try to be, a big part of the result is ‘do I like this person?’ Try to be positive. Show that you are passionate about what you want to do. You got to the interview stage, which means you are no longer two-dimensional. So make sure to demonstrate your third dimension – your positive personality.

In regards to the recommendations: we all have different relationships with our supervisors. So there is no one way of approaching them. If you can, try to communicate to your recommender the things that you would want him or her to point out. You may want to remind them about those because it simply might not occur to your recommender.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? As I mentioned earlier, I am here on a Fulbright Program. Therefore, the final decision was up to the program. Yet, Georgetown was on my list of schools that I was interested in. As I noted earlier, speaking with the alumni was key for me. As I talked to the McDonough alumni, I felt that I wanted to go to the school that they were talking about. Also, the location was a big upside for me because of all the opportunities it would offer in terms of executive speakers visiting the school, internship opportunities, etc.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? I would like to get to know as many of my amazing classmates as I can. As we all hear from different sources, acquiring the network is one of the most important benefits of an MBA. Yet often we are too busy or tired to put effort into meeting more people. I would like to overcome that and really get to know as many of them as possible.