The Touch MBA Admissions Podcast

Latest Episodes:

#150 Behind the Scenes of an MBA Employment Report Mar 26, 2019

Show notes

Darren invites Susan Bertulli, Director, MBA Career Management at Ivey Business School at Western University to discuss MBA employment reports. First, why and how are MBA employment reports produced? Then, what should you look for? Which employment figures and statistics matter? How can you use them to shortlist b-schools and plan your career?

The Ivey MBA has been ranked #1 in Canada for five years running by Bloomberg Businessweek for both student and recruiter satisfaction, so don't miss this inside look into how a top MBA career services team produces their employment report.

Questions

Susan's background (5:00)
The role of MBA career services (6:55)
The challenges of MBA career management in a 1-year MBA program (9:12)
What applicants should look for from MBA career management teams (12:16)
The context surrounding MBA employment reports (14:30)
The challenges of producing an annual employment report (18:00)
Key figures for applicants to focus on (20:43)
How applicants can approach career services with employment statistics questions (26:15)
Does a business school's size affect diversity of industry recruiters? (30:17)
Understanding a school's list of recruiting firms (34:00)
How should applicants use employment reports to shortlist b-schools (39:40)
How applicants can show employability in MBA interviews (42:30)
MBA Career services: expectations vs reality (44:47)
Actions of students & alumni that succeed in their career search (48:00)
Have employers' criteria changed for MBAs? (50:20)
Susan's recommended resources for career planning (53:05)

About our Guest

Susan Bertulli is Director, MBA Career Management at Ivey Business School at Western University, where she manages student engagement in career planning, from admissions through to job employment. Over her 10+ years with Ivey, MBAs have achieved 90% placement with over 90% of the students reporting on their success. Susan also serves on several boards including the Dorchester Minor Hockey Association and St. Peter’s Anglican Church.

Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/behind-the-scenes-mba-employment-report

#149 Wisconsin MBA Program & Admissions Interview with Betsy Kacizak and Brad Chandler - "Focus Creates Advantage" Feb 25, 2019

Show notes

Betsy Kacizak, Director of MBA Admissions and Recruitment, and Brad Chandler, Director, Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking at the Wisconsin School of Business of University Wisconsin-Madison, discuss what makes the Wisconsin MBA unique, the school's admissions process, career opportunities and more.

Program Highlights (10:45) | Admissions (29:56) | Scholarships (45:32) | Careers (49:08

About Our Guests

Betsy Kacizakis the Director of MBA Admissions and Recruitment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Betsy excels at walking you through the admissions process, including helping guide you toward the specialization that best fits your passions and career aspirations. She has expertise as a leader in the field of graduate admissions. She has worked for the Wisconsin School of Business for 11 years and worked for seven years at Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).

Brad Chandleris the Director of the Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking at the Wisconsin School of Business. At the Nicholas Center, Brad is responsible for both administering the Center's specialized programming focused on MBA and undergraduate students and teaching a number of its core courses. Prior to joining the Nicholas Center in 2017, Brad was a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division at Morgan Stanley in New York City. While at Morgan Stanley, Brad advised corporate and private equity clients on mergers and acquisitions, shareholder activism and defense, leveraged buyouts, debt and equity financings, restructurings, and fund-level financings. Brad successfully executed over 55 transactions representing over $225 billion in transaction value. Representative transactions include advising Dow on its merger with DuPont, advising Axiall on its hostile defense against Westlake Corporation, advising Agrium on its proxy contest victory over JANA Partners, advising Dresser Rand on its sale to Siemens AG, the Trinseo and Sensata IPOs, and numerous financings for Bain Capital, Advent Capital Management, Clayton Dubilier & Rice, CF Industries, and Eastman Chemical.

What is unique about the Wisconsin MBA? What are its key advantages?

The Wisconsin MBA asks applicants to select from 10 career specializations at the time they apply: Brand and Product Management, Marketing Research, Corporate Finance and Investment Banking, Applied Security Analysis, Real Estate and Risk Management and Insurance, Operations and Technology Management, Supply Chain Management, Strategic Management, Strategic Human Resource Management, and Arts Administration
Wisconsin MBAs start taking courses and doing applied learning related to their specialization from very first semester
Center Directors running Wisconsin's 10 specializations play a big role in admissions, curriculum design and career advising, as they connect students to alumni, recruiters and thought leaders in the space
Wisconsin offers a tailored and customized approach to 80 students
Wisconsin was one of 3 founding members of the Consortium in 1966

Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/wisconsin-mba-program-admissions-interview-betsy-kacizak-brad-chandler

#148 Starting a Business during your MBA with Sheela Lal, Michigan Ross MBA '19 Feb 04, 2019

Show notes

Guest Host Sabaina Kamara, Michigan Ross MBA '19, invites her section-mate Sheela Lal to share her experience applying for internships, founding DrunkShrub and securing a full-time job post-graduation. Listen to get a real-time, inside look into the MBA experience at a top b-school like Ross.

Questions

Sheela's background and reasons for getting an MBA (0:47)
Sheela's approach to landing an internship (7:20)
Sheela founds DrunkShrub (10:33)
How Sheela took advantage of Ross' resources to further her business (14:43)
How Sheela navigated running DrunkShrub and looking for full-time employment in consulting and government affairs (19:30)
Sheela's advice to applicants about applying to business school and entrepreneurship (23:55)

About our Guest Host

Sabaina Kamara is currently an MBA student at University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. Prior to starting her MBA, Sabaina worked in as an HR Analyst at a management and employment law firm, focusing on HR compliance for diversity and inclusion. Sabaina will work in consulting for Deloitte Strategy & Operations in New York City after she graduates.

About Our Guest

Sheela comes across as someone who knows a lot, but really, she's just incredibly good at regurgitating things she's heard on any of the 30 podcasts she listens to. Her current favorites are Detroit Today, Splendid Kitchen, and The Foreign Desk, which reflect her long term interests - in-depth state government engagement, food science and chemistry, and lastly, very sassy international news analysis. Sheela has worked in Missouri politics on and off for 10 years, between congressional and local campaigns, the state house, and at Progress Missouri (a cousin to Progress Michigan). She founded Drunk Shrub, an alternative social beverage company, this summer, and worked in Sri Lanka and India for two years before returning to Missouri. She's found business school to be a surprisingly liberating experience - with very few expectations of appropriate post-graduation steps, she's free to explore her creative side.

Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/starting-a-business-during-your-mba-sheela-lal-michigan-ross-mba

#147 ASB MBA Program & Admissions Interview with Sean Ferguson - "An Action-Learning Based Curriculum" Jan 27, 2019

Show notes

Sean Ferguson, Associate Dean and Director of MBA Program for the Asia School of Business (ASB), discusses what makes the ASB MBA unique, the school's admissions process, career opportunities and more.

Program Highlights (2:28) | Admissions (24:47) | Scholarships (40:20) | Careers (47:15)

About Our Guest

Sean Ferguson is the Associate Dean and Director of MBA Program for the Asia School of Business. Prior to joining ASB, Sean was Associate Dean of Masters Programmes at HKUST Business School and Assistant Dean of Degree Programmes at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business. He worked at PROS, Cap Gemini, Ernst & Young, and Procter & Gamble before entering business education. Sean got his MBA from Rice University.

What is relatively unique about the ASB MBA? What are its key advantages?

ASB was established in 2015, a collaboration between Bank Negara Malaysia (Malaysia's central bank) and MIT Sloan School of Management
Action Learning at ASB is a core (non-optional) course in each of the five different academic terms of the 20-month ASB MBA program. By the time students graduate, they will experience 5 different business challenges with possibly 5 different host companies, in potentially 5 different countries
1 week long industry treks to US and China
1 month immersion program at the MIT Sloan School of Management
ASB MBA graduates receive a certificate of completion from MIT, and MIT affiliate status
Students live on campus, currently the hotel for Malaysia's central bank

Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/asb-mba-program-admissions-interview-sean-ferguson-action-learning-curriculum

#146 The Three Ps of Performance Nov 29, 2018

Show notes

Darren shares "three P’s" you can use to clarify the value of your accomplishments in your resume and MBA application. Doing so will paint a clear picture of your performance for MBA admissions officers and employers.

How did your performance compare to the previous year’s performance?
How did your performance compare to the plan?
How did your performance compare to that of your peers?

If you can match these to the "three P's" of leadership, you can can show even more impact:

People responsibility
Project responsibility
Profit & Loss responsibility

Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/3p-performance

#145 IMD MBA Program & Admissions Interview with Dean Seán Meehan - Be on Companies' Leadership Radars Mixdown 1 Nov 19, 2018

Show notes

Seán Meehan, Dean of the MBA Program at IMD, discusses what makes the IMD MBA unique, the school's admissions process, career opportunities and more.

Program Highlights (5:33) | Admissions (22:41) | Scholarships (41:30) | Careers (45:10)

About Our Guest

Dr. Seán Meehan is the Martin Hilti Professor of Marketing & Change Management and the Dean of the MBA program. He joined IMD in 1997 after working for Arthur Anderson and Deloitte, where he was Director of Marketing. Seán got his PhD in Marketing from London Business School.

What is relatively unique about the IMD MBA? What are its key advantages?

Industry-focused general management MBA from a school that is consistently top-ranked in Europe and worldwide for ROI; over 70% of graduates go into industry
1-year MBA that starts in January
Only 90 students are admitted each year from ~40 countries,
More experienced class: the average work experience is 7 years
There’s a 2:1 student to faculty ratio
Strong focus on personal leadership development through a combination of classroom interactions, experiential learning and psychoanalytical coaching
Also emphasizes entrepreneurship, globalization and digitalization
Instead of an interview, IMD applicants participate in an assessment day which includes a 1-1 interview with admissions, individual presentation and group activities, lunch with IMD participants or alumni, and depending on the time of the year, a possibility to attend a class. The assessment days take place on campus in Lausanne or abroad.
IMD is looking for candidates with strong analytical and communication skills and team-oriented leaders who want to shape the future
IMD has 9,000 executive education participants each year, and MBAs have increasing opportunities to connect with these senior executives
IMD is based in Lausanne, Switzerland and has over 350 MNCs
A global meeting place situated in the center of Europe in one of the world’s fastest growing science and technology hubs
The IMD MBA in a Tweet: “We develop leaders who have a desire to make a positive impact in the world”

Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/imd-mba-program-admissions-interview-sean-meehan-be-on-companies-leadership-radars

#144 The Pros and Cons of Doing an MBA Outside the US + Assessing a B-school’s Entrepreneurship Offering with Eddy Zakes, IESE MBA ’17 Oct 30, 2018

Show notes

In 2017, US applicants made up 4% of candidates to European MBA programs and 2% of candidates to Asian MBA programs (versus nearly 70% to US MBA programs). What do you need to know about getting a top-ranked MBA abroad? Eddy Zakes shares why he chose to uproot his young family to pursue his MBA at IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain, as well as the pros and cons of his experience. Darren also asks Eddy - currently the Director of the Center of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at IESE - about how business schools can help aspiring entrepreneurs and how you can assess your target schools' entrepreneurship offerings.

Questions

Eddy's background (4:08)
As an applicant with 10 years of experience and a young family, why did Eddy choose Spain for his full-time MBA? (11:10)
The pros and cons of getting your MBA abroad (23:20)
Recruiting at top European schools (27:45)
Getting an MBA with 2 young kids (35:00)
Eddy's favorite class and thoughts on the case-study method (42:44)
How MBA programs can help aspiring entrepreneurs (49:00)
MBA graduates' typical path to starting their own businesses (54:25)
Questions to ask your target b-schools about their resources for entrepreneurship (59:00)
The startup scene in Europe vs. the US (1:04:50)
Eddy's final thoughts on having a great MBA experience (1:11:04)

About Our Guest

Eddy Zakes is the Director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center at IESE. Eddy got his B.S. in International Business from Bob Jones University and worked as Director of Advancement at Dayton Christian School in Ohio before getting his MBA at IESE.

Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/pros-and-cons-of-doing-mba-outside-us-assessing-schools-entrepreneurship-offering-eddy-zakes-iese-mba

#143 Alliance Manchester MBA Program & Admissions Interview with Chris Healy Oct 03, 2018

Show notes

Chris Healy, Head of MBA Marketing & Recruitment of Alliance Manchester Business School discusses what makes the Manchester MBA unique, the school's admissions process, career opportunities and more.

Program Highlights (3:40) | Admissions (29:48) | Scholarships (41:40) | Careers (45:45)

Manchester MBA Highlights (last updated Sep 2018)

Manchester has a Full-time MBA, Global Part-time MBA, and Kelley-Manchester Global MBA
The Full-time MBA lasts 12, 15 or 18 months and has 1 intake/year in the Fall
Typical Class: 100-120 students / 6 years work exp/ 80% international with 30 nationalities / 630 GMAT
First 10 months dedicated to 5 core courses, 2 live consultancy projects and M&A project. The rest is dedicated to electives, exchanges and the international business consultancy project
Manchester MBAs are required to do 3 live consultancy projects requiring over 900 client facing hours
Manchester is the largest provider of transnational MBA education in the world, delivering its MBA program in the UK, Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sao Paolo.
Manchester is looking for candidate with strong communication and interpersonal skills
Students get weekly sessions and unlimited 1-1 consultations with career counselors
Placement, Class of 2017: 85% w/job offers w/in 3 months, 51,370 GBP average starting salary
Top Geographies, Class of 2017: 45% in UK / 16% Asia / 15% South America / 15% Europe / 4% Central America & Caribbean
Top Sectors, Class of 2017: 24% technology / 19% manufacturing and engineering / 16% consulting / 15% financial services / 9% healthcare
30% of class receive merit-based scholarships covering 10-50% of tuition
Manchester has 60,000 alumni in 170 countries
Ranked #4 in the UK and #36 worldwide by The Financial Times in 2018

About Our Guest

Chris Healy is Head of MBA Marketing & Recruitment for Alliance Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester. Chris has been with Manchester for over 12 years and got is Bachelors in Consumer Marketing from Manchester Metropolitan University.

Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/alliance-manchester-mba-program-admissions-interview-chris-healy

#142 York Schulich MBA Program & Admissions Interview with Imran Kanga - "One of the most customizable programs in the world" Sep 24, 2018

Show notes

Imran Kanga, Assistant Director of Recruitment and Admissions, Schulich School of Business, discusses what makes the Schulich MBA unique, the school's admissions process, career opportunities and more.

Program Highlights (5:13) | Admissions (22:00) | Scholarships (34:30) | Careers (37:25)

About Our Guest

Imran Kanga is the Assistant Director of Recruitment and Admissions, Schulich School of Business at York University, where he manages global recruitment for Schulich's Full-time MBA and International MBA. Imran joined Schulich's admissions team after getting his International MBA from Schulich in 2010.

Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/york-schulich-mba-program-admissions-interview-imran-kanga

#141 The Mindset to Make a "3D" Career Change - From Wastewater Engineer to Luxury Brand Manager with Laura Pan, SDA Bocconi MBA '18 Sep 13, 2018

Show notes

Are you pursuing an MBA to make a "3 dimensional" (3D) jump into a new geography, function and industry? Laura Pan, currently a full-time MBA at SDA Bocconi in Milan, Italy, shares how she went from wastewater treatment engineer to luxury brand manager, her dream job. Laura shares what it's like to study in Italy, as well as the mindset necessary to capitalize on opportunities as an MBA student. Laura also opines on the myth and reality of attending a business school outside the top 10.

Questions

Laura's background (4:34)
Career goals and shortlisting schools (6:32)
Studying luxury business management at SDA Bocconi (12:44)
Living in Italy (18:37)
Studying at SDA Bocconi and studying business as an engineer (23:44)
How Laura landed her internship, despite it being a "3D" change (27:26)
Proving your value during your internship to get a full-time offer (38:00)
What foreign applicants need to know about career services and job searching at European b-schools? (45:11)
The SDA Bocconi alumni network (51:20)
What about SDA Bocconi gets overlooked (54:50)
The myth and reality of attending a b-school outside the top 10 (57:10)

About Our Guest

Laura Pan worked as a quality control engineer for the Australian government, and then in the oil & gas and rail & automotive industries before going to SDA Bocconi for her MBA. Laura grew up in Australia and got a Double Degree in Chemical Engineering and Food Technology and Nutrition from RMIT University.

Episode summary, show notes and more at: http://touchmba.com/mba-mindset-career-change-laura-pan-luxury-fashion-management-sda-bocconi-mba

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