A lot of well-intended advice for GMAT test takers can be found out there. Unfortunately, some of the most reasonable-sounding and frequently repeated claims are actually false. In this article, our friends at Manhattan Preplook at—and debunk—four of the most common GMAT-related myths. Please note that in this article, the scores that we discuss are for the classic GMAT (10th edition), not the new GMAT Focus.
The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, is one of the smaller top MBA programs in the United States, with an average class size of between 250 and 300 students. Despite its small size, however, Berkeley Haas offers a diverse community, both regionally and professionally. Roughly 40% of each incoming class is made up of international students, and each entering class as a whole reflects a wide array of interests and professional backgrounds. Each of Berkeley Haas’s incoming classes is divided into smaller groups, called cohorts, and students remain in their cohort for the first semester, taking all core courses together. Within the cohort, students are further divided into study groups. Study group members work together to prepare for presentations and exams as well as to study cases, and these small groups help enhance and reinforce the relationships between classmates. Noted a second-year student with whom mbaMission spoke, “With everyone trying to work out their identity at the start,” the cohort “makes everything less overwhelming.”
What do you have to do to make a meaningful career pivot, and how might an MBA help you develop into the kind of leader who can thrive across industries? In this week’s episode of The mbaMission Podcast, we welcome back Liz Ramos, former head of human capital at Bain & Company, for a thoughtful and candid discussion about navigating change, developing people, and building leadership skills that stand the test of time.
Most high school students in the United States are taught to write essays that have a formal introduction, a body that supports that introduction, and a conclusion that reinforces the main point presented in the introduction. Although this approach and structure yield easily comprehensible academic work, business school application essays are constrained by word count—so candidates often must use alternative, less lengthy openings because they do not have the luxury of “wasting” 100 words to introduce their topic.
A common mistake we see in our clients’ MBA application essays is the misuse of the verb “lead.” A deeply entrenched and widespread misunderstanding seems to exist as to which spelling connotes present tense and which connotes past tense. One of our consultants even had a client raise their voice in passionate defense—of the wrong usage! In case you are not completely confident about this word yourself, we hope this blog post helps clear up the issue for you.
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