1. I have completed the first draft of all 3 essays for Wharton (I am a re-applicant so 1 essay less). Instead of perfecting one essay at a time, I decided to write all 3 first and then start editing them. This way I can get the complete story right before I can work on revisions. If any part of my story is not conveyed, I should be able to fill it in.
2. I am getting some help from a colleague for editing essays. He is a junior to me with good communication skills. He has aspiration to get an MBA and feels my essays would help his endeavor. We sit together and edit the content for grammar and expression. Then I get them reviewed from my friends and family for content.
3. I have decided to write one more story for Wharton Innovation/Initiative essay as I feel the current essay is very technical.
4. On 16-Aug-2008, I attended a non-profit boot organized by Craigslist foundation. It was very useful, especially to connect my non-profit and for-profit goals. Got glimpses of talents of professors at NYU Stern School of business. I am planning to write a detailed report of the event.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
First essay for the season
Yesterday I completed the first draft of my Wharton’s career goals essay. The first reaction from my sister-in-law was that it is better than my previous year’s essay. Today morning when I read the essay again with wearing a critical hat, I identified the following improvement areas
1. Answer “why is now the best time for you to join our program?”
2. Avoid generic reasons for Why Wharton question, such as, “With excellent faculty, diverse and intelligent student body, and global alumni network Wharton MBA appeals to me”. I need to be more specific.
3. Link my entrepreneurial failure to not having an MBA
4. Connect my non-profit initiative to my long term career.
5. I have repeated similar sentence construction many times. This could make the reader uninteresting.
6. Variation in Vocabulary: I have used some word too many times: ‘work’ (11), ‘focus’ (6), and ‘learn’ (7).
7. And the very obvious one, word count. I stand at 1400 words now.
1. Answer “why is now the best time for you to join our program?”
2. Avoid generic reasons for Why Wharton question, such as, “With excellent faculty, diverse and intelligent student body, and global alumni network Wharton MBA appeals to me”. I need to be more specific.
3. Link my entrepreneurial failure to not having an MBA
4. Connect my non-profit initiative to my long term career.
5. I have repeated similar sentence construction many times. This could make the reader uninteresting.
6. Variation in Vocabulary: I have used some word too many times: ‘work’ (11), ‘focus’ (6), and ‘learn’ (7).
7. And the very obvious one, word count. I stand at 1400 words now.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Can Entrepreneurship be taught in b-school?
Last week, I was talking to a Chicago GSB MBA student (class of 2009) at a student reception in New York. He had been an entrepreneur before starting his MBA. When we were discussing about resources available for entrepreneurs at GSB, he expressed his opinion that entrepreneurship has to come from within the person and the MBA programs cannot teach entrepreneurship. Though it was his own view, it triggered a question in me “Can Entrepreneurship be taught in b-school?” So I decided to do a little bit of research.
We all know that an entrepreneur is a person who starts a new business venture. But what are the qualities of a person that makes him a successful entrepreneur? A quick Google search resulted in 3, 7, 10 or 20 qualities of an entrepreneur, such as, energy, passion, assertiveness, initiative, creativity, self starter, etc,. Many of these qualities are also required for anyone to be successful in his carrier. What differentiates Bill Gates from Jack Welsh is the ability to take risk. Can b-school teach a person to take risk? No. But a b-school can provide the necessary tools and knowledge to calculate risk and help make change a risky decision into a prudent decision.
Few decades back, even now, many raised the question “Can b-schools prepare good managers?” The b-schools proved that it can, provided the students have the potential. When managers can be trained and leadership taught in school, entrepreneurship can also be taught. But entrepreneurship is not for everyone. It is only for the people with the right mind set. An MBA program can only impart business knowledge to an entrepreneurial person and increase his chance of success. “What is the best way to learn business skills?” is a different question. Some would say only “experience”. Other would say formal education. For entrepreneurs, real world experience is better any day.
In the second half of the video, Prof. Tom Kinnear of Ross School of Business at University of Michigan explains whether Entrepreneurship can be taught in b-school.
An interview from MIT Sloan school professor Ed Roberts. His answers to first 3 questions reflects my opinion
We all know that an entrepreneur is a person who starts a new business venture. But what are the qualities of a person that makes him a successful entrepreneur? A quick Google search resulted in 3, 7, 10 or 20 qualities of an entrepreneur, such as, energy, passion, assertiveness, initiative, creativity, self starter, etc,. Many of these qualities are also required for anyone to be successful in his carrier. What differentiates Bill Gates from Jack Welsh is the ability to take risk. Can b-school teach a person to take risk? No. But a b-school can provide the necessary tools and knowledge to calculate risk and help make change a risky decision into a prudent decision.
Few decades back, even now, many raised the question “Can b-schools prepare good managers?” The b-schools proved that it can, provided the students have the potential. When managers can be trained and leadership taught in school, entrepreneurship can also be taught. But entrepreneurship is not for everyone. It is only for the people with the right mind set. An MBA program can only impart business knowledge to an entrepreneurial person and increase his chance of success. “What is the best way to learn business skills?” is a different question. Some would say only “experience”. Other would say formal education. For entrepreneurs, real world experience is better any day.
In the second half of the video, Prof. Tom Kinnear of Ross School of Business at University of Michigan explains whether Entrepreneurship can be taught in b-school.
An interview from MIT Sloan school professor Ed Roberts. His answers to first 3 questions reflects my opinion
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