Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when choosing a business school, but the educational experience is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Each Wednesday, we profile a standout professor as identified by students. Today, we focus on Louis Thomas from the Indian School of Business (ISB).
Also a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Louis Thomas (“Economics of Strategy”) received the ISB’s Professor of the Year Award from the school’s Mohali campus Class of 2013 for his excellence in teaching and mentorship. With a focus on competitive strategy, game theory, and organization economics, Thomas’s “Economics of Strategy” course is reportedly one of the most popular at the school. Students quoted on the ISB Web site have said of his teaching and class, “Economics was never so much fun!” and “Professor Thomas has been able to provide rationality to many decisions that companies over the world have taken. He took the entire ‘It Depends’ approach to something more concrete by looking from an economics perspective. He is a professor who is truly dedicated towards learning for students.”
For more information about the ISB and 15 other top-ranked business schools, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides.
Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips; a new one is posted each Tuesday.
As Round 2 application deadlines approach, many candidates find themselves immersed in stress, busy juggling multiple essays and constantly revising their resume. Often in the midst of all this, an alarming question suddenly springs to mind: “What if my supervisors do not get their letters done by the deadline?”
In our opinion, the easiest way to ensure that your recommenders complete their letters on time is to present them with your own deadline—one that is a bit earlier than the school’s—when you first ask them to provide a recommendation for you. If the application to your school of choice is due on January 15, for example, tell your recommenders that you are submitting on January 8. (Incidentally, submitting your application early can be good for your sanity as well.) By setting this advanced deadline, you can put some additional pressure on your recommender on the 8th if he/she has not yet finished the letter, so you should still be able to submit on time (i.e., by the school’s official deadline).
Most people work to deadlines. Alleviate unnecessary stress by setting your recommenders’ deadlines one week early, and “enjoy” the application process a little bit more.
For more information on properly selecting, communicating with and managing your recommenders, check out our Letters of Recommendation Guide.
From time to time, we at mbaMission visit admissions officers at the leading business schools, which gives us the opportunity to ask rather frank questions. On one such visit, we pushed an admissions officer on the extent of alumni influence in the admissions process and ultimately received a surprising response: “We get ten letters each year from [globally famous alumnus whose name mbaMission is withholding], telling us that this or that MBA candidate is the greatest thing since sliced bread. He gets upset when we don’t admit ‘his’ applicants, but what makes him think that he deserves ten spots in our class?”
Many MBA applicants fret about their lack of alumni connection with their target schools, and the myth abounds that admission to business school is about who you know, not who you are or what you can offer. Of course, these latter qualities are more important, and a standout applicant who knows no graduates at all from the program he/she is targeting is still a standout applicant and should get in—just as a weak applicant who knows a large number of alumni or a particularly well-known or successful graduate is still a weak applicant and should not be admitted. Clearly, some extreme exceptions exist where influence can be exerted, but the “standard” applicant need not worry that every seat at the top MBA programs has already been claimed by someone with good connections.
Remember, the admissions committees want to ensure that a diversity of ideas and experiences is represented in the classroom. Every top MBA class includes people with different socioeconomic backgrounds, nationalities, religions, professional backgrounds, and ages. Harvard Business School has more than 900 students in each incoming class, and the vast majority of these students do not have a personal connection with a CEO or the president of a country. And who knows? These days, such connections could even be a liability.
With the month of December right around the corner, first-year Columbia Business School (CBS) students will soon be entering the last big push of their first semester, with finals wrapping up and the next semester not beginning until mid-January. The end of regular classes at the school is traditionally marked by CBS Follies, a student-run comedy and entertainment show, as well as an End of Semester Party, and those looking to stay involved with CBS and their classmates during the holiday break have plenty of opportunities to do so. Many students go abroad during the break to such places as Korea, Brazil, and Australia on Chazen Study Tours or as part of consulting projects through the International Development Club. And students wishing for a complete break from the classroom can take part in the Snow Sports Club’s annual Winter Ski Trip in early January. Although the long break can offer a welcome rest from the stress of first-semester classes, recruiting season for first years begins once they return to campus for second semester. So, one way or another, this is a good time for CBS students to clear their heads.
Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when they choose a business school to attend, but the educational experience is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Each Wednesday, we profile a standout professor as identified by students. Today, we focus on Teck Ho from the Haas School of Business at the University of California (UC) Berkeley.
Winner of UC-Berkeley’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2010 as well as the Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching (an annual award determined by students) for the full-time MBA program in 2004, 2005, and 2006, Teck H. Ho (“Pricing” and “Experimental Economics”) is the William Halford Jr. Family Chair in Marketing at Haas. With the school since 2002, Ho also serves as director of the Asia Business Center and chair of the Haas Marketing Group. A second-year student with whom mbaMission spoke liked that Ho “takes complex ideas and makes them easier to understand.” In addition, mbaMission learned that Ho’s “Pricing” class—part case and lecture format, part group presentation—has long been one of the most popular electives on campus, often a “sell-out.” Students taking the course quickly learn to bring $1 bills with them to class—Ho often requires students to chip in money to participate in course games, and after matching the amount out of his own pocket, he gives the money to the game’s winning team.
Group projects in Ho’s course can focus on a range of products and projects, from something as large as a BART station to as small as a half-day pass at a nearby ski resort. In a You Tube video on the pricing program, Ho calls his courses “hands-on and practical,” noting that companies bring their pricing problems to class, where the students then act as “mini consultants” to assist in solving real-life issues. Ho described his teaching philosophy in an April 2010 post on The Berkeley Blog by saying, “My vision is to have students leave the class with the ability to think strategically about pricing and with the practical tools they need for their future careers” (read the entire post). Noting how dynamic Ho’s classes are, one second year praised, “An hour-and-a-half class feels like it takes 30 minutes!” Ho even has a Facebook fan page, and a second year commented on the professor’s sense of humor the Berkeley MBA Students Blog, saying, “Like many other Haas professors, Teck Ho could easily get a job at Comedy Central.”
For more information on the defining characteristics of the MBA program at UC-Berkeley Haas or one of 15 other top business schools, please check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides.
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Winner of UC-Berkeley’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2010 as well as the Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching (an annual award determined by students) for the full-time MBA program in 2004, 2005, and 2006, Teck H. Ho (“Pricing” and “Experimental Economics”) is the William Halford Jr. Family Chair in Marketing at Haas. With the school since 2002, Ho also serves as director of the Asia Business Center and chair of the Haas Marketing Group. A second-year student with whom mbaMission spoke liked that Ho “takes complex ideas and makes them easier to understand.” In addition, mbaMission learned that Ho’s “Pricing” class—part case and lecture format, part group presentation—has long been one of the most popular electives on campus, often a “sell-out.” Students taking the course quickly learn to bring $1 bills with them to class—Ho often requires students to chip in money to participate in course games, and after matching the amount out of his own pocket, he gives the money to the game’s winning team.
