The Naked MBA

One of the things I loved about business school was meeting people from so many different countries. I made some great international friends, all of whom were extremely intelligent and competent. But this didn’t necessarily help all (or even most) of them in their job search. The problem was that on top of cramming for their classes and keeping up with the hectic social schedule, they also had to learn the American way of looking for a job.

Networking doesn’t come naturally to a lot of us. But at least we’re aware that it’s a crucial part of getting a job. I know a lot of international students who felt like attending networking events was akin to landing on Mars. That’s just not how it worked for them at home. So it took them a while to catch on to the recruiting game, and they suffered because of it. (“What to do mean I can’t ever work at Goldman because I missed their presentation?”)  It’s funny, because I felt the same way at first. I didn’t come from a corporate background, so the recruiting events felt pretty alien to me, too. But I took Career Services’ word when they said I had to go, and a lot of my international friends didn’t. It was just too much for them to comprehend that a culture could actually work in such an artificial way—that being smart and hardworking didn’t always mean you got the interview.

International students also suffer from gaps in their knowledge of business jargon. In a lot cases my friends’ grasp of the English language was better than mine, but it took them time to learn all new vocabulary that we don’t think twice about.

Landing a full-time job after business school is hard enough; now imagine having to land that job at a company willing to pay thousands of dollars to sponsor your visa. If you want to work in finance your chances are better, but in marketing, consulting and a lot of other industries, good luck. A lot the marketing companies that came to my campus explicitly requested no international students at their presentations. Then even if you find someone willing sponsor your visa, you’re still not guaranteed the visa. This year the quota of H1B work visas was exhausted on the first day applications were accepted! One classmate I knew was stuck in the position of having stopped recruiting after he accepted an offer with an investment bank, only to find out months later that he was among the unlucky ones whose visa applications arrived too late.

Getting your MBA is stressful, but imagine how much more stressful it would be to do it in an entirely new culture and in another language. I saw tensions run high in study groups at times, and often it was due to cultural misunderstandings. But this is a chance to learn how to exercise patience, which will no doubt also serve you well in an increasingly global workforce.

Business schools have been struggling for years to attract more women MBA candidates. No matter what strategies or marketing angles they try, female enrollment at business schools seems stuck at around 30%.  This week Harvard Business School finally got the message and rolled out the 2+2 Program. This is first targeted recruiting program with real potential to increase the number of women in business schools.

According to Associate Director for MBA Admissions Andrea Mitchell Kimmel, the 2+2 program is to reach out to students who are not on the typical “business path”—a group that includes scientists, humanities concentrators, and those interested in nonprofits.  Students admitted to the 2+2 program receive assistance from Harvard in finding a job for the two years between their college graduation and the start of the full-time MBA program at Harvard. The catch is that Harvard actually has to approve their choice of job, but they have partnered with as many as 100 organizations, including companies like Google, and non-profit organizations like Teach for America.

So where does it say anything about targeting women? You’ll need to read between the lines, but once you do it’s obvious who the program is directed at. First of all, HBS doesn’t need more applicants--in 2007 6,552 people applied. What they do need is more women applicants. So where are the women? Well, female liberal arts majors far outnumber male ones. However, liberal arts majors (read: women) are less likely to apply for business school. Also, women are more likely than men to seek a job with a non-profit organization. But going to business school after working at a non-profit is not a natural progression—most people don’t think their nonprofit or public sector experience will be valued in the application process. The fact that the 2+2 program includes non-profit organizations on its list of “approved” employers dispels this myth and captures a wider range of potential (female) applicants.

The fact is, then, that Harvard’s 2+2 program seeks to recruit candidates from two areas where women make up the majority: the humanities and non-profits. I also can’t resist pointing out that the 2+2 program also addresses another issue that keeps women from applying to business school: the biological clock. Top business schools have typically “highly recommended” that applicants have 3-5 years of work experience, pushing the average age of applicants to 27-30. As I’ve mentioned before, this conflicts with another important stage on women’s timelines: getting married and having a family. By only requiring two years of work experience, HBS is getting women in the door before they hit that stage in their life, instead of losing them along the way.

It’s high time business schools began to recruit women in ways that actually address their needs and fears—that they’re not qualified for business school, that they need more work experience to get in, and that they have to choose between spending two years in business school to start a career and having a family. Harvard, as in most things, is ahead of the curve here, but other business schools won’t be far behind.

I was hopelessly unprepared for my first bschool admissions interview. I didn’t know I was supposed to be able to name the professors I wanted to take classes from, and the clubs I wanted to participate in. I didn’t know I was supposed to list the companies I wanted to target for my summer internship. And I sure as hell didn’t know that I would have to listen to my interviewers pick apart my application and belittle every accomplishment I had ever been proud of. My 3.7 GPA was “fair”. My French major was “an unusual choice” and “not easily transferable to an MBA”. My work experience at a non-profit was “not the kind of thing that prepares you for an MBA here at _____” and “not what we’re used to seeing”.

After a series of interviews that were more like lectures on why I was not MBA material, I was ready to cancel my final interview and end the application process with what little dignity I had left. Business school, it seemed, was an exclusive club you could only get into if you walked and talked like you already had an MBA. My last interview was on the East Coast, and if it hadn’t been for the fact that it was scheduled on a day when I would already be in New York on a business trip, I would have withdrawn.

I went to the interview and sat across from the Admissions Director, fretting about my average GPA, my French major and my barely average GMAT score. I waited for the grilling to begin.

“I see here that you work for a non-profit organization,” he said.

“Uh, yes,” I said, and closed my eyes, anticipating what was coming next.

"Fantastic!” He sounded like he'd found the winning lottery ticket right there in my application folder. “We're trying to bring in people with a wide range of experiences...we don't see people with non-profit backgrounds applying very often...you would bring a lot to the class…we're starting a lot of new programs...let me show you some things on our website. Have you thought of which organization we could help you target for your summer internship?"

I was too stunned to reply so I let him keep talking. He showed me video clips and newspaper articles, and told me what a great place the school was for someone like me. He listened respectfully while I walked him through my résumé and didn’t laugh when I said I wanted to go to business school because I believed a lot of business ideas could be used to help further good causes. When it was over, he told me he hoped I would consider his school as my top choice. It felt like I was as good as in. But why? What was different about this interview? What did he see in me that no other school had? And then it dawned on me. Business schools need to attract diversity. And even though I was a white, middle-class girl from the Midwest, to him I looked like diversity. My liberal arts degree, my language skills, my gender, my non-profit experience—someone had finally seen these differences as assets. Being different was finally a good thing. Being different was going to get me into business school.

Applications to MBA programs continue to grow each year as more and more students see these programs as the golden ticket to a wealthy, rewarding career. There is a lot of learning packed into those two years, but it’s just as important to know what business school won’t teach you, and how to be prepared for that.

How to find your ideal career

I thought I would have two years to sift through all my career options, assess my skills and figure out what would be the perfect job for me. I had two weeks. There is a lot of pressure to hone in on an industry right away since the mad dash to get a job begins out of the starting blocks. No one is going to encourage you to spend time soul-searching to discover what you think will really make you happy pursuing as a career. You should take some time to do this before business school.

How to lead a balanced life

Between the all-night study sessions and the all-night drinking binges, business school is anything but a model for moderation. Although every conference you attend will have a panel on work-life balance, full of suggestions about how to have it all, you will have no opportunity to test out these suggestions in business school. Instead you will be rewarded for working hard and playing harder.

What the world looks like

Only 3% of business school professors are African American, Hispanic or Native American. I didn’t have a female professor until my second year. Let’s face it, even most companies do better than this in terms of diversity.

How to plan for long run

During the recruiting process companies throw money at you—sign on bonuses, relocation allowances, fancy dinners, etc. They make it easy to want to cash in on your MBA right away and accept the highest-paying job. But you should pick a job that maximizes your learning, not just your earnings. Working as a highly paid small fry low on the totem pole in a big company won’t teach you nearly as much as joining a small company or a start-up where you’ll have a wider variety of experience. You need to develop skills that will be valuable five years down the road so in the long run you can make the big bucks doing a job you really love.

How to pay for your MBA

Most students finance their MBAs entirely through loans. When that first disbursement of loan money lands in your bank account it’s easy to feel like you’re, well, in the money. But that money is not yours, so don’t treat it like it is. You have to pay it back, and the less you spend the less you’ll owe. Don’t get caught up counting on your future earnings as an investment banker to pay off the expensive dinners and spa trips you decided you couldn’t live without for those two years. You are a student now, and if you choose to live like one instead of maintaining the same lifestyle you had while you were making money you’ll end up with a lot less debt later on.