Meet The Minnesota Carlson MBA Class of 2017

Shuang Liang

Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

Hometown: Beijing, China

Undergraduate School and Major:

B.S. Peking University, China; Major: Chemistry

M.S. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Major: Chemistry

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

Scientist IV, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Danbury, CT

Lab Manager, School of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE?  First, set a certain timeline for preparation. I registered for a test date at the beginning of my preparation and that motivated and pushed me to focus my attention.

Second, get familiar with the exam format via reading the GMAT official guide and taking a short practice test. There are tons of online GMAT forums and blogs. You could find lots of useful summary of each category of the GMAT. It saved me enormous time to grasp the essential test points.

Third, use your time wisely! DO NOT over-focus on your weaknesses with too much time, particularly those weaknesses where it would be difficult to dramatically improve within a short period of time. I am not good at sentence correction and reading at first. Since I realized I could increase my score more quickly by investing time on SC rather than “reading,” I set “reading” as the second priority. Also, to improve your weaknesses without losing your strengths, make sure to touch each category every day.

Finally, keep the pace at time, since the duration of GMAT test is set.

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? I may not have experience to share on this topic, since I only applied for Carlson MBA program. I do not take other schools into account.

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? Think carefully and deeply about the four key questions: Why MBA? Why now? Why you? Why this school? Even though you may not been directly asked to answer these questions in essays or interviews, your answers are the spirit of your application and all of your supporting materials should help committee easily and clearly identify answers to these “big” four Qs.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? As I mentioned, I only included Carlson School to my application list, with the location being one of the major reasons. It is close to my family, since I am clear that family is always first priority in my life. Also, the Twin Cities area is a truly amazing place to live in and work: An energized business hub in US and the whole world, with an affordable living cost, big city resources, and so-nice people.

I chose Carlson School because of not only the unparalleled location, but also the experiential programs at Carlson. Each MBA students have opportunity to work on real-world projects at school, which is amazing and offers a great prep for future jobs. Beside the two considerations above, the relatively small size of the program is another attraction to me. It would be realistic to build “true” relationship with classmates in a small program rather than a gigantic one.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate?

• Diversify my networking
• Gain the knowledge to anticipate change and have the confidence to take the “right” risks for my future selection
• Have FUN!