With the recent collapse of Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merrill Lynch and the resulting turmoil on Wall Street, business school students and applicants alike are concerned about what impact these events will have on their career prospects. It is clear that Wall Street jobs will be few and far between in the short term, though the long-term impact of the challenges facing the banking sector is still uncertain. Applicants interested in finance careers should consider broadening their job search to include corporate finance positions or boutique investment firms and expand their search to areas outside New York City.
In a recent Businessweek article, “B-Schools Wary on Lehman, Merrill Impact,” Kip Harrell, Board President of the MBA Career Services Council, said that career services offices are preparing for tough times. Some schools, such as Wharton, are choosing to hire more career services staff to help students with their job search. Business schools are certainly aware of the challenges students will face in applying for finance positions, and many are taking steps to help their students weather the storm.
Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips; a new one is posted each Tuesday.
Although Admissions Committees can anticipate a rise in applications and thus hire more temporary staff to interview candidates, they can’t increase the number of classes that applicants can visit. This year, with more applicants seeking admission, more will seek out a finite number of class visit slots. So, book your class visits as soon as the opportunity arises (most schools should make the opportunity available in the next week or two) to make sure that you truly experience your target schools and can write about your connection to the schools using a priori information. Similarly, amid a surge in applications, MBA candidates should schedule interviews as soon as the opportunity becomes available to ensure that a time is secured. At Tuck and Kellogg, schools where students can simply go online and book their own time slots, the schedules will fill up quickly. Don’t be left out in the cold.
We are excited to unite with our friends at Manhattan GMAT to co-host a free essay writing seminar at their New York location on September 11, 2008. MbaMission Founder/President Jeremy Shinewald will lead a class of MBA aspirants through an evening-long program, helping them to identify unique ideas, create powerful introductions, articulate distinct goals, connect their goals to their target programs and much more. Registration for the event is limited. Please sign up today via the following link: event registration.
Jeremy will also be hosting free one-on-one consultations at Manhattan GMAT’s Chicago Office on the evenings of September 8th and 9th (Monday/Tuesday) and at Manhattan GMAT’s New York offices on September 13 and September 14 (Saturday/Sunday). Please contact [email protected] to schedule your session today.
Last week, we introduced our mbaMission Insider’s Guides, brief guides that enable candidates to go beyond the stereotypes and get to know schools in depth—with a particular focus on the academic offerings that prepare students for their professional specializations (e.g., consulting, marketing, finance).
Well, we are pleased with the sales of these books so far and the subsequent feedback, but certainly don’t want candidates to miss the opportunity to benefit from our other publication series—the Complete Start-to-Finish Guide. So, we have reduced the price of this 42-page guide (with sections on brainstorming essay topics, essay outlining, personal statement construction, resume preparation, recommender selection and coaching and interview preparation) by $15 for the next two weeks.
A first-of-its-kind, on-demand MBA application experience that delivers a personalized curriculum for you and leverages interactive tools to guide you through the entire MBA application process.
