My journey to Columbia University – Graduate School of Journalism

Team getyourMBA recently met up with Pavni Mittal (Page on linkedin.com), a former candidate with getyourMBA, who successfully applied to and received admission to the prestigious Columbia Journalism School this year. Just 1 month into the program, Pavni is already managing a hectic schedule of classes and assignments, while acclimating to New York and all that this great city brings with it!

Pavni is doing a 1 year course, M.A. in Journalism, with a concentration in Politics. She hopes to use this and her background in business reporting to get make a career in Foreign Policy. Here is a summary of our conversation with her, where she shares a number of great insights and tips for aspiring journalism candidates:

Team getyourMBA: Let’s start with you telling us a little bit about your background. What were you doing before you joined Columbia?
Pavni: I have a background in Political Science. I was at Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi University. After graduating, I did a post graduate course in journalism at Asian College of Journalism (ACJ). After this, I was an Anchor & Senior Correspondent with CNBC TV18 for close to 4 years.

Team getyourMBA: Since you already had a Masters degree in Journalism, what prompted you to apply to Columbia? 
Pavni: I found that the predominant focus at ACJ was very technical. The program places emphasis on things such as production, and putting a program together. It prepared me very well for Television, but I realized after working for some time that I wanted to go deeper into the subjects I covered. The program at Columbia is for experienced journalists, with a very application oriented curriculum. We are routinely asked to consider the events happening globally, and think about them from a journalistic point of view. In essence, this is where you get to master the ‘Art of Journalism’.

Team getyourMBA: How did you pick the schools you applied to?
Pavni: I only applied to Columbia since it’s the best. I was very clear from the beginning that I would go only if I got admitted to Columbia.

Team getyourMBA: What is the application process for journalism schools like?
Pavni: The application consists of 4 main parts – 1) TOEFL score 2) Three essays 3) Recommendations 4) Transcripts (at least, this is what is true for Columbia Journalism School)
I was able to waive writing TOEFL since I was working at CNBC and that was enough to show my proficiency in English. 
The three essays have the following focus – one essay is autobiographical that requires you to essentially write about “Who you are”. The second essay is professional, with a focus on “What you have accomplished so far”. Finally, the third essay is a SOP, with a focus on “Why do you want to do this program”.

Team getyourMBA: How was the essay writing process for you?
Pavni: I struggled with it to be honest. Till today I don’t know how I wrote what I wrote :) First of all, I started my application too close to the submission deadline, because I confused the deadlines. This left me with very little time for writing my essays. Also, I struggled the most with the autobiographical essay since I wasn’t sure how to portray myself. I was confused about things such as – What should I include and not include in the essay? How do I make my essay culturally relevant to someone in the US? How do I make sure my essays convey a coherent story of “Me”? It took me about 10-12 iterations before I got it right.

In this regard, working with getyourMBA helped me a lot as the biggest change I made with their help was to my essay content. Earlier, I was getting all kind of advice around correcting my language, to sounding “cool” in my essays. getyourMBA helped me change course to getting my content right and making sure that I was able to connect the dots across various key points to convey a great story about myself, my achievements so far, and why I wanted to join Columbia. 

Team getyourMBA: What tips do you have for a candidate applying to journalism schools?
Pavni: First of all, start a little earlier than I did! More time will definitely help you think through your application. And then, it’s very helpful to get someone who is familiar with the university application process in the US to review your essays. Many folks in India who don’t have this exposure may give advice which might not be very relevant. Schools here care about diversity and what value each candidate adds to the class. It is important to bring this across in your essays as clearly as possible.
A big thing I realized during this process is that the essays cannot be treated as disjoint pieces of writing. Everything has to come together as one, single coherent story about yourself and your world view so far. It’s almost like a caricature of yourself.

Team getyourMBA: What about recommendations? How did you select the people you asked for your recommendations?
Pavni: I asked three people for my recommendations at first – my previous supervisor, one of my university professors and the CNBC network head at the time. The key thing in a good recommendation is that it should have a personal touch – the person should be able to write about what struck them about you, and what they think about you, as opposed to simply stating your accomplishments and what you’ve done.

Team getyourMBA: Did you give any pointers to the people who wrote your recommendations?
Pavni: My previous supervisor didn’t let me see what she wrote, but she promised me that if she has agreed, she would make sure she did a good job. What I do know now is that she mentioned things like “When I worked with Pavni, this is what I found out about her” and “When I met Pavni first, this is what struck me about her”, which was great, since it connected who I was with what I’d written in my essays. For the other two people, I gave them some pointers for the recommendation.

Team getyourMBA: Were there any interviews at Columbia?
Pavni: No, there are no interviews.

Team getyourMBA: So now that you’re through, in hindsight would you have done anything differently?
Pavni: Definitely. I would have liked to start earlier. Also, I think I should’ve tried to enjoy the process more. The essay writing requires a lot of introspection which is very useful for planning your long term career, not just for gaining admission.

Team getyourMBA: How has your experience at Columbia been so far? Are you enjoying it?
Pavni: It is all that I expected and much more. The class is so diverse. I’m working with Africans, Americans, Europeans, Asians. It completely changes your world view. It’s way more hectic than I thought it would be. I’m still a little bit dazed! Soon I’ll have to start job hunting so that will be very stressful. But I’m learning a lot each day and glad about that.

Team getyourMBA: Any parting advice for candidates who may be considering applying?
Pavni: Be very clear why you are applying. Your primary goal should be to learn and master your craft so that you can apply it to your field. Your goal cannot be simply to get a higher paying job as the chances of that happening, especially if you’re a foreign student, are not 100%, since you won’t have relevant cultural context from the get go. Many students in fact go back to their jobs after having learnt new skills in the course. So your primary goal should be to learn.

Great advice Pavni! Team getyourMBA wishes you all the best at Columbia and in all your future endeavors!!

An important thing to ask yourself when applying to Business School

“Will I be able to get into this school?” This is a common question that most candidates ask themselves, their friends, their admission counselors, when they’re applying for their MBA. For the most part, they’re mainly trying to maximize their chances of getting in.

This is definitely an important question to ask. After all, if you’re sure you want to do an MBA and are spending so much time making your applications perfect, you may as well ensure that you’ll see the light of success.

However, just as you ask yourself “Will I get into this school?”, have you ever asked yourself, “Does this school deserve me?”

Think about this for a moment. You are going to be spending 2 years of your life at this school. This time is going to come from the prime years of your life. You’ll be spending a great deal of money in getting this education. You’ll be living far far away from your loved ones. You could be doing other things with this time – a great job, starting a company, getting married, traveling, anything. Instead, you’ll be giving 2 years of your time to this school. That’s a lot of stuff.

It only makes sense then that as much as the schools are selective about which students get in, you should be selective about which schools deserve you. Does the school have the right resources? Does it attract the kind of students you’d like to hang out with? What professors does the school have and what research have they done? What teaching model does the school follow? What values does the school and its student body espouse? What’s the culture at the school like?

These are hard questions to answer and it is easy to ignore them. Yet, the answers to these questions can make all the difference between a good and a life transforming experience in these 2 years at Business School. As Indians, it is easy to get sucked in the mentality of “I need to get XYZ education”. You are now old enough. You are making a conscious choice. Make sure it’s a choice you will be proud of for the rest of your life.

A Master's degree in Management from a US Business School - without work-ex?

I am often asked what is the right amount of work-ex one must put in before taking up the MBA. Many, still in undergrad college, feel it is unfair for Busines Schools to give so much weightage to work-ex that they almost deny students who want to get in straight after their Bachelors degree.

Well, it is true that most Business Schools attach serious weightage to work-ex when evaluating candidates. And so, even though the stated position is that work-ex is only desirable, not compulsary, and even though a few candidates do make it to these schools without work-ex, the truth is that those who do are really a very small minority and most schools prefer candidates with varying lengths of work-ex.

But there is another interesting development lately. An increasing number of Business Schools are offering a Masters degree of Management , admission to which is open to candidates without work-ex. And I'm not talking about the "Deferred Admission" options like the 2+2 program at HBS, or the YLP or Early Entry options at ISB. Those are only different routes to their regular MBA program, wherein these schools pick out exceptional candidates while still at undergrad college and promise them deferred admission after they complete a prescribed duration of work-ex.

Rather I'm talking about the MIM (Masters in Management) program being offered by many universities in the US and which is available with little or no work-ex.

So does this represent a change in thinking on part of the B-schools? Are they now accepting that work-ex is not really important for graduate education in Management?

Actually, NO. These schools differentiate clearly between the MIM and MBA program. You can get a clue from the name of the program itself. While the MIM is a Masters in Management, the MBA is a Masters in Business Administration.

Very simply put, the MBA equips students to manage and run Business enterprises. The curriculum is much more practical. The cases discussed in the classrooms are all real life problems. The data students analyze while learning various techniques of analysis is real life data and so on. And admissions to these programs are still weighted heavily towards candidates with work-ex.

By contrast, the MIM student studies the science of Management. These programs may also use some real life data but the focus here is much more theoretical. Graduates from these programs often pursue further study of Management to a PhD level or go into academia. Those that do join the industry after the MIM program, do so at a level junior to their counterparts from MBA programs, who might join the same businesses.

So those of you wanting to pursue Management education but not keen to work before heading to a university in the US, have the option of the MIM program. But unless you are keen on studying Management as a science and continuing in research and academia, my personal advice would be to choose the regular MBA programs, though it means you will have to wait a few years while getting some good work-ex under your belt.

So let us examine why B-schools give importance to work-ex while admitting students to the MBA program. The obvious answer of course is that the various theories, analytical and decision making techniques that are learnt at a business school are more easily learned and absorbed by candidates who have faced typical work environments and who have had exposure to the workings of a Business Enterprise before coming to schools.

But there is another, and a more important reason. Students in a typical B-school classroom learn as much from their fellow students as they do from the teachers. Each class has students from different industries, geographical regions of the world, different cultures where business practices differ from eachother as does their language. And when the diverse group of students get together to discuss a Business case or a theoretical management idea, the wealth of real life experience that they bring to bear on the subject adds immensely to the quality of the discourse. Every student thus gets the benefit of the experience of every other student in the class.

So be clear what your objectives are from your Management education and choose the program that works best for you. The important thing is to know that both options are available.

Components of your Application - IV - Career Goals

All Business Schools want to know about your career goals in some part of their application. Some might ask you to write an essay about it, others might pose this as a short answer question, some might ask for your long term and short term career goals and even how an MBA from that particular school will help you achieve them.

But before you answer this question to a Business School, or in fact to anybody else, it is important to be sure yourself what your career goals are. Remember, Business Schools expect you to be very clear about why you want to get an MBA degree, why from that particular school and how the decision, at this stage of your career, will help you achieve the immediate post-MBA goals you have set for yourelf, and even how achieveing your immediate post-MBA goal is part of a larger plan to achieve your long term career goals.

Sounds daunting? Not sure of what kind of career you want to pursue?And how an MBA (from any particular school) will get you there? Then why the decision to do an MBA? Just because your friends are doing it? Well that will just not do.

So even before you contemplate applying to B schools, you need to get your career goals exercise done. Ideally you should be able to clearly describe to the Ad Comm:

• What is your current state - this is done through your resume, essays, recos, etc.
• What are your immediate post-MBA goals - what kind of career do you wish to pursue right after you complete the MBA course.
• Medium and long term goals - what do you plan to be doing in say 5 years/10 years down the line.

And finally - you should have a ready GAP ANALYSIS between your current state and your long term goals. Which means, you should know what you currently lack in terms of knowledge and skills to get to your post-MBA objectives.

This GAP in skills and knowledge is what you should aspire to fill from the MBA program.

Further - if you can also show how a particular school's individual strengths by way of their curriculum, faculty, known areas of excellence, etc, will help you fill these gaps, then you have absolutely hit the nail on the head.

But, as I have heard from many a candidate, life is so uncertain. "How can I be totally sure of what I want to do?" "What if I change my mind while I am studying for my MBA over next 2 years?" Well friends, the answer is simple.

The Ad Comm does want you to show a certain clarity of vision when it comes to your career goals and reasons for getting an MBA degree. They also like to know that you researched these schools before applying and that you will endeavor to use their individual strengths to further your goals. BUT, and this is important, they don't expect your goals and plans to be cast in stone. It is okay if your change your plans mid-way, take up a different career post-MBA compared to what you planned to pursue when applying. After all, an MBA is also about expanding your horizons.

So get rid off that mental block. Think freely. Work out the best career plan for yourself - one which excites you, one which you would pursue with passion, energy and joy :) Work out how you can get there. Be prepared to state with clarity and conviction, about the skills and experience you already have, which will help you on your way. And clearly show what new skills and experiences you need to add in order to get where you want to. And that will surely bring out clearly what you hope to gain from the MBA program and how you will use it.

And by doing this, you will see that you answer this question extremely well, not only to the Ad Comm, but also, and most importantly, to yourself.
 

Components of your application - II

Continuing from my post on July 16th, 2013 on Components of your application - Extra Curriculars section.

So what can you do to bring out your positive qualities via the extra-curricular activities section of your resume? Well consider this. Many ECAs are practised as team activities, like games and sports, organization of events, and so on. So did you do something to show leadership qualities during some of these activities? Were you a team player? Did you motivate a team member or a group of them in a difficult situation? Did you achieve something simply by persevering when others had given up hope? All these, and many other experiences you might have had during your ECAs bring out important positive qualities. But is any of them conveyed by a bland "Member - College Music Club"? If you can write some actual achievement , or if the achivement was recognized by any authority or external evaluator, it suddenly begins to look more positive and authentic.

Moreover, we know that some people claim things in the ECA section which might be half truths or even outright fictitious. Which is another reason to write "Won third position in annual Inter-college open debate at St. Stephens college, New Delhi in 2008", rather than just "Member college debating team - won several prizes." And finally, keep it short. Even though you need to bring out your contribution clearly rather than just mentioning the activity you were part of, avoid launching off into lengthy stories. Remember - clear, concise, compelling AND authentic.

Your GMAT score is not important!

Well, I should amend that I guess because your GMAT score is definitely important, very important. But it is certainly not the be all and end all of a business school application. I am sometimes asked by applicants "I scored XYZ in GMAT. What schools can I apply to?"

It is this applicant with such a mindset that I want to address this post, to say that while your score is important, you must not let it weigh you down if you scored a tad less than you expected. Understand that it is just one of the several factors that the AdComm will evaluate and if you take good care with the other elements of the app like your essays, the application form, your resume and the recos, you can offset a below par GMAT score.

Also, while most aspirants look at the mean or median GMAT scores published by a school, one should also look at the range. So while the median GMAT score in Stanford class of 2014 is around 730, the lower end of the range is around 550. And since most schools display the GMAT score range of the middle 80% of the class only, the actual lowest score to make it to Stanford might be even lower than 550.

But this does not mean that one need not put in the hard work to maximize his or her GMAT score. Remember that each and every element of the full application package must be as strong as we can make it, while retaining full authenticity, because the competition is fierce. The things to remember are:

• One below par element of your application package (like the GMAT score) is not enough reason to give up hope.
• The more profitable view is to evaluate the overall strength of your own application and take that as one of the inputs, along with other inputs like your career goals etc., to choose the correct schools to apply to.

Components of your application - I

 

We would like to take up different parts of your MBA application, in a series of posts on this page, with some suggestions on how one can handle them to their advantage.

 

Let's start today with the Extra Curriculars Activities section.

 

This is one of the most neglected sections of many a resume and MBA applications, whereas it has the potential to become amongst the most important ones. Typically students populate this section with one liners like "Member - school football team", or "Helped organize the college tech fest XYZ", or "Interested in reading Science Fiction" or "Learning to play the violin for the last 4 years", etc. None of these is a bad entry in the sense that it adds some diversity to your profile, something most AdComms would like. And if you have multiple such entries in the extra-curriculars activities section of your resume, it might even be considered good as it gives you a multi-faceted, well rounded personality.

 

But what about "Is it good enough?" Or even, "Could it be better?" Or "Could it actually be good enough to make up for a weakness in some other part of my resume?" The answer to the latter 2 questions - a resounding "YES, it can".

 

To be continued...

Harvard Business School lobs a googly this year

Harvard Business School has lobbed a solid googly this year by asking for just one essay in the MBA App and that too an open ended one - without a specified word length. So how many stories should one write here? What should be the length of the essay? The essay topic is "You are applying to HBS, we can see your resume,school transcripts, extra curricular activities, awards, post MBA career goals, test scores and what your recommenders have to say about you. What else would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy?"

Well, according to us, from the wording of the essay topic it is clear that the AdComm wants to see something other than all the hard facts already presented in the application form, your resume and recos. A good strategy could be to bring out some of your soft skills which otherwise don't come out in your GPA or GMAT score. Use some events from your past - from your work-ex or your college days, even your family life or a vacation you took - which bring out such skills. Take care however that what you write must be clear, concise, compelling and authentic. And while it may be compelling to go into lengthy storytelling, remember that Quality always scores over Quantity in such cases. Try to keep it to within 600-750 words, though this would be very case dependant and could vary significantly. This could be one long story or several short ones but the story style must be brief. Also do not reach or claim more than what you actually did or you will lose authenticity. And finally, howsoever great it reads to you, be sure to get it reviewed by some outsider, someone who can give you an unbiased critique, and ask them if your essay conveys to them, what you started out to convey.