Akiba’s Corner is a weekly series of thoughts on the MBA admissions process and the MBA itself by MBA Mission Senior Consultant, Akiba Smith Francis (HBS ’05).
PodCasts can be entertaining and useful sources of information about your target MBA programs. They can help you learn about the resources, news and culture of many MBA programs and can often be downloaded through RSS feeds or iTunes, making them easy to listen to during your morning commute.
Check out PodCasts@Darden, which includes the Darden BusinessCast, a weekly news podcast hosted by Ken White, Vice President for Communication & Marketing. Each podcast includes four minutes of Darden news and an interview with a business leader or newsmaker, all in less than ten minutes. A new installment of the Darden BusinessCast is posted to the site every Friday afternoon.
Other Darden podcasts include The Darden Speaker Series, Explorations In Black Leadership, the Entrepreneurship Series and the forthcoming GreenPod on the principles and practices of environmental sustainability. Podcast guests have included Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, former Virginia Governor Mark Warner and Professor Ron Wilcox, who teaches the First Year Marketing course.
Other MBA podcasts include the ChicagoGSB PodCast Series, Haas Podcasts and Video and Radio Tuck. Stanford’s posts podcasts on topics such as Advice for Recommenders: How to write an effective Letter of Recommendation and Tips and Advice for Spouses and Significant Others. Stanford has also launched a podcasting channel called Social Innovation Conversations, offering free audio programs addressing some of the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.
In addition to providing advice directly from the Admissions Office, podcasts can also be great sources of interesting detail for your essays as you attempt to convince the AdComs of why you want to go to their school.