Darren, a former MBA Admissions Director, shares concrete ways you can strengthen your MBA application and materially improve your chances of getting IN to your target schools.
Inspired by The Moth, Darren highlights three tools you can use immediately to improve your stories, so you can show adcoms who you really are and draw them closer to you. Darren also shares over a dozen questions that will help you identify your most compelling stories.
We’re nearing 200 episodes of Touch MBA. Feeling nostalgic, Darren reflects on 10 lessons for applicants from 10 years of Touch MBA!
What if you could figure out MBA programs you’re excited about AND competitive at, that would be a great investment in your future? And do this with the least time and effort?
What are corporate recruiters looking for from business graduate students? And how do median MBA salaries compare to those of specialized business masters programs? Darren shares 3 interesting findings from GMAC’s Corporate Recruiters Survey. This way, you can think more like an admissions officer, and put forward your strongest application.
Darren shares three foundational application strategies from Avi Gordon’s MBA Admissions Strategy: From Profile Building to Essay Writing (2005) that have stood the test of time. It’s always advantageous to master the fundamentals of any art form – including constructing a winning MBA application. Listen on to review the basics!
Darren shares how you can use the five senses – sight, sound, smell, taste and touch – to make your application more three dimensional.
Darren shares three strategies you can use to mitigate your track record of job hopping. How can you present this as an asset to your target MBA programs?
How to demonstrate you’re a great fit for your target MBA programs – or your next employer – even if you’re short on experience.
Darren recently attended a panel “Preparing Your Application: Advice from MBA Admissions Directors” at the MBA Tour in Ho Chi Minh. In this episode, he unpacks the application advice given by five admissions directors.
Do you feel like your MBA story is a bit bland? Or uninspiring compared to the applicant profiles you see online? What if you haven’t overcome insurmountable odds or accomplished something amazing?
Darren explores the possibilities of kishōtenketsu – a four act story structure used by Japanese and Chinese writers for centuries. What makes this story structure interesting is that it relies on contrast – not conflict – to generate interest.
Listen on for ways you can use this Eastern story structure to keep admissions officers’ attention AND demonstrate your self-awareness.
Darren shares “three P’s” you can use to clarify the value of your accomplishments in your resume and MBA application. Doing so will paint a clear picture of your performance for MBA admissions officers and employers.
Your resume is often what MBA admissions officers first see, and frames how they view the rest of your profile. Follow this checklist of CV ‘do’s and don’ts’ to make make a strong first impression and set the stage for a successful application.
How can MBA applicants show evidence of quantitative skills outside of their university GPA and GMAT? Do top b-schools accept online courses like Coursera? Admissions Directors from Cornell Johnson, IMD and CEIBS share their thoughts.
Could this be the only book you need to prepare for your MBA interviews?
Inspired by Dale Carnegie’s classic book, The Quick & Easy Way to Effective Speaking, Darren shares a simple 3-part framework to help you choose your best ‘material’ for your MBA interviews.
When should you use an MBA admissions consultant? How can you get the most value? What should you look for when hiring one? As a former MBA Admissions Director and Admissions Consultant, Darren shares his thoughts.
7 senior MBA Admissions Directors from Berkeley Haas, Cornell Johnson, Virginia Darden, Duke Fuqua, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, and Yale School of Management came to Vietnam this Fall for an MBA admissions panel.
Darren shares the questions asked and lessons learned from the event.
How can you make a memorable impression on MBA Admissions Officers at MBA recruiting events? Drawing on his experience recruiting at MBA Tours and information sessions, Darren shares his best tips for how you can stand out.
Inspired by Steven Pressfield’s book, Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t, Darren offers 3 pillars to present a memorable MBA story: concept, theme, and structure (hook, build, payoff).
Your LinkedIn profile could be the first thing business schools see.
Darren draws on his admissions experience and shares 7 tips to make a good first impression, reinforce your MBA story, and highlight additional qualities not in your application.
MBA programs are looking at your social media, especially your LinkedIn profile. Take 15 minutes to follow these guidelines and represent yourself well to b-schools, MBA students & alumni, and future employers.
How do top business schools use the GMAT to evaluate you? What exactly are they looking for? What do you need to score and on which sections? When should you retake the GMAT? Do schools prefer the GMAT or GRE?
Darren asks Admissions Directors from 3 top schools – HKUST (Hong Kong), IESE (Spain) and Michigan Ross (USA) – tough questions about the GMAT. Listen on to get answers to the GMAT questions you’ve always wanted to ask.