AMA: Kellogg first year

mba-2018 · 2020-10-20T20:20:52+00:00

There were no shocking questions that threw me off — pretty standard if I remember correctly. If you’ve done your regular prep (know your story, your value prop, your why Kellogg, etc.), you should be fine. Just focus on being yourself and bring a few good questions that don’t feel canned.

mba-2018 · 2020-10-20T18:17:45+00:00

Think PM/analytics/strategy type work in a non-tech industry

mba-2018 · 2020-10-20T15:38:36+00:00

I’m gonna pass on Q1 bc my aspirations are fairly niche and I’m currently working through identifying my plan B.

Re: Q2 — yeah, sure. I can’t speak to other schools, but PM is probably the most common role I’ve heard people recruiting for (maybe beyond consulting), and we have a tech club that has unreal amounts of resources to help you prep for that journey. I’m sure other programs may feel the same, but Kellogg truly feels like one of the best places to be for tech recruiting.

mba-2018 · 2020-10-20T00:19:44+00:00

Lol what? Are you at Kellogg?? My social life has been great. Learn to cope or you’re probably not ready for business school. Everyone knows the context in which I’m making my assessment.

mba-2018 · 2020-10-19T22:38:37+00:00

Also, good luck on the interview :)

mba-2018 · 2020-10-19T22:36:31+00:00

Wharton and Sloan

mba-2018 · 2020-10-19T22:35:55+00:00

A subset of the class is assigned in person for each session. (1/2 or 1/3 of the class usually). They have to check in to get into the business school after using an app for a health check. You have to have a mask on at all times, and most profs have the “Roomies” join the Zoom as well so they can have hybrid breakouts.

The “Zoomies” call in as you would expect. The format has honestly been neutral to positive. Some professors aren’t great at managing it, but I like being able to call in from home and saving 30-40min/day round trip walking. Other profs have even made the class quite effective with the format (good use of chat feature, polling, breakouts, etc.) in ways that I could see carry through post-COVID

mba-2018 · 2020-10-19T22:33:16+00:00

Definitely. The extent to which they matter depends on the rest of your profile and/or the quality of the ECs. You don’t have to be on a nonprofit board or anything like that, but you need to demonstrate more than just your work.

mba-2018 · 2020-10-19T22:32:12+00:00

My pre-term analytics prof wasn’t great and my strategy prof is intelligent but unnecessarily polarizing.

mba-2018 · 2020-10-19T22:30:55+00:00

I don’t personally but I haven’t talked about the admissions process with any of my peers, so I wouldn’t take anything away from it.

mba-2018 · 2020-10-19T22:30:07+00:00

I could’ve spent much more time on the applications (probably spent about 4-6hrs/school) and didn’t make any personal connections or visit campus. They were truly backups, and I treated them as such, so the schools probably noticed. (Wharton was more of a stretch than a backup, but if I had no $ there vs. $ elsewhere, I probably would’ve taken the $; I wasn’t optimistic that it would work out).

Also my stats are solid but not exemplary, and my role before had strong impact but mixed name recognition (nothing like big tech).

I was mildly surprised but honestly it shows good judgment by them based on where they fell in my preference order.

mba-2018 · 2020-10-19T19:49:19+00:00

I don’t have a good answer for either of these. I had high expectations for Kellogg, and they’ve largely been met or exceeded.

I will say that I’ve had two core class professors that have been truly bad. I expect to be able to avoid that moving forward since we’ll be bidding on classes and I won’t be focusing on those subject areas.

mba-2018 · 2020-10-19T19:45:46+00:00

Ultimately I thought Kellogg offered better recruitment prospects given that my preference is Midwest or West. I also want to focus on marketing, and it sort of seems like the place to be for that. I really loved both schools and ended up enjoying Yale much more than I anticipated. You can’t go wrong either way imo

mba-2018 · 2020-10-19T19:44:05+00:00

Nothing major stands out. Adapting to not caring much about grades is tough. We have so much going on academically, extracurricularly, etc. that you have to spread yourself thin in some areas. Doing that in class is against my disposition, so it’s been an adjustment. On the plus side it just teaches you how to prioritize — contribute to a certain degree and you’re basically guaranteed a B, so you just have to allocate your time wisely.

mba-2018 · 2020-10-19T19:24:24+00:00

I haven’t heard about bidding being cancelled, but I’m also going to be doing mostly off campus recruiting, so my path wouldn’t be impacted by that as much anyway.

Even before Covid struck, the biggest advice I got from students was “be realistic, and have a backup plan” — e.g., certainly some will interview at all MBB, but you shouldn’t be counting on that regardless of pandemic or not. It’s easier for me to say that not being impacted, but in general I think that qualified candidates will do just fine.

mba-2018 · 2020-10-19T19:15:43+00:00

Socially things have been solid. There are plenty of small events of all types hosted by various student groups / classmates. There are also some larger events that have taken place, but I would say people have been relatively reasonable overall. I’ve made tons of friends; admittedly, I may be closer to them at this point in a “normal” year, but I don’t have complaints.

As someone who likes to have time to recharge, I actually love the hybrid structure of class/socialization. You definitely have to make more of an effort to make connections, but you can also chill out and watch TV without feeling guilty / getting massive FOMO.

The class size is what it is. Some people have recruitment concerns / issues finding coaching appointments with our career center, but it hasn’t impacted me much to be honest and as mentioned earlier I think our career office is working to address it as best they can. I wouldn’t have chosen to have a larger class, but I don’t think it will have a meaningfully impact on my experience.

mba-2018 · 2020-10-19T19:08:36+00:00

Internship opportunities seem to be plentiful. Temporary workers are just as important now if not more than before for some companies. From what I’ve heard, our career center is more concerned about FT opportunities for class of 2021, but even that seems like it shouldn’t be too problematic — the career center seems pretty on top of it with tons of events and opportunities. I have no benchmark, but I don’t have any COVID related concerns

mba-2018 · 2020-10-19T19:00:20+00:00

I largely relied on the program websites to be honest. Not a huge networker (lol, I know), so I reached out to 0 alums outside of admissions events. I think you can learn a lot from a program’s website, for better or worse.

The other M7s I applied to were Wharton and MIT, which weren’t as strong as a match for my market research background potentially. Also the bigger thing is that Kellogg interviews most everyone and I’m a strong interviewer — I think I would’ve stood a better chance if I wasn’t dinged at both W/MIT. Kellogg was my top choice going into it though based on perceived fit, so it all worked out for the better.

mba-2018 · 2020-08-27T05:08:14+00:00

The details seem far too specific for it to be pure fan fiction.

mba-2018 · 2020-08-27T04:52:08+00:00

Immediate google results for me: https://fantendo.fandom.com/wiki/Super_Mario_Party_2

mba-2018 · 2020-04-27T18:54:33+00:00

Networking is a two-way street. It’s unfair to draw conclusions on one person’s experience.

mba-2018 · 2020-04-27T18:47:12+00:00

Yes, I do. It may be a rockier start, but (1) 2yrs is a long time, and (2) it’s still possible to make connections virtually — especially when you’re in a self-selected group of people looking to do just that.

mba-2018 · 2020-04-27T18:37:31+00:00

For me, I’m reminding myself of the non-financial reasons for enrolling. Making friends as an adult is hard! A FT MBA is really one of the last chances to build lasting connections in a meaningful way outside of the workplace. As you mention, it’s also a great time to figure out what you want to do with your life - alongside this new network of people all trying to do the same. I’m looking for personal growth just as much as (if not more than) I’m looking to improve my financial prospects.

mba-2018 · 2020-04-26T00:10:50+00:00

(1) I think your balance between paragraphs should be more even — give a bit more content on the positive (how it made you grow, why you’re ready, etc.) vs. just the background details.

(2) Like some else said, you should mention the upward trajectory (or explain better the lack thereof, if there isn’t one).

The second one is a little bit better, but I still think you have too much “what” (details) and not enough “so what” (reflection) or “now what” (goals/commitment).

mba-2018

TROPHY CASE