Penn State: Crafting Your Goal Statement
The internationally ranked MBA Program at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business is designed to provide the connections, resources, learning, and experiences to transform your business life and the business world.
Click here to learn how to craft your goal statement: http://mbadiversity.com/craft.mov
The GMAT Case Method
The GMAT Case Method
By: Brian Galvin
Brian is the Director of Academic Programs at Veritas Prep. Learn more about Veritas Prep’s GMAT courses and MBA admissions consulting services.
Many top business schools teach using the famous “case method”, in which you will analyze the real-world situation of a particular business at a time of crisis/transition/decision in order to gain practical knowledge of business theory as applied to an actual situation. The theory behind the case method is that, by analyzing how, for example, Kodak needed to transition from a conventional (film) to a new (digital) business model, you’ll gain large-scale understanding of a business principle in general, and not just an intimate understanding of one business. With this experience, you can then apply your theoretical-and-practical understanding of an array of business principles to whatever situations will arise in your future role as a manager.
The GMAT affords you similar opportunities to glean information from a specific case and extrapolate it to another, perhaps more complicated situation. In fact, while many questions may seem to require you to have memorized a variety of specific tricks, formulas, and rules, the exam will reward you for being able to derive these rules from specific cases, and may even punish you for memorizing-without-understanding. Consider the question:
What is the sum of the even integers between 300 and 400, inclusive?
There are a few “rules” that can help you solve this question efficiently:
1) For evenly-spaced sets (like a set of consecutive even integers), the mean and median of the set will be the same. In this case, the middle number, 350, will be the average of all the values in the set.
2) To find the number of values in an inclusive set, take the range of (usable) values, then add one. (The counterpart to this is that, for exclusive sets, you subtract one).
So here, knowing that we can only use the even numbers – every second number will count – we’d take the range (100) divide by 2 (to eliminate the non-useful odd numbers), and then add one (because it’s an inclusive set) to note that there are 51 terms with an average of 350. Accordingly, the answer will be 350*51, or 17,850.
Now, that seems like a lot of memorization required for a fairly unique question type. Furthermore, memorization can be tough to implement – you’ll likely remember that for inclusive/exclusive sets, you add one in one case and subtract one in the other, but it may be tough when you’re under pressure to remember exactly which is which. Therefore, keep in mind that you can use small cases in which you can prove rules like the above to prove your point, then extrapolate it to the question at hand – like your own personal GMAT “case method”:
1) The range 300 to 400 is pretty vast, but once you recognize that it’s an evenly spaced set of consecutive even integers, you can recognize that it will react similarly to any other set of similar numbers. If you take a more manageable set of consecutive even integers, like 2 through 10, you can experiment to see if a pattern exits. In that case, there are 5 values: 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. Playing with those values, you’ll find that the ends (2 and 10) add to 12, and the next values inward (4 and 8 ) do the same, but that 6 won’t have a pair. The sum, then is, 12+12+6, or 30, a multiple of 6. Looking for patterns in these numbers, you may well find that the average value is the same as the middle value, or at least that you can find pairs to add to the same thing (12) unless there’s an odd-man-out middle value, in which case it will be half the value of each pair (the same logic, just without mathematical terminology like “mean” and “median”). If you extrapolate this pattern to a larger set of consecutive even integers like 300-400, you can determine that they’ll have an average value of 350, or that each pair (other than the middle number) will add to 700.
2) You’re probably at least aware that there’s a rule for inclusive and exclusive sets, but it comes up so infrequently that you may not have it down cold when the time comes to use it. That’s okay! It’s more important to know that a rule exists than to know the specifics of the rule! If you know that a rule exists for inclusive/exclusive sets, you can just prove it to yourself using a set like 1, 2, and 3. The range of that set is 3-1 = 2, but you can clearly see that if you include all numbers, there are 3 total. Accordingly, the rule for inclusive sets is to add one to the range. Similarly, if you excluded the ends of the range (1 and 3) there’s only one value left, so you’d have to subtract one from the range.
Many a GMAT student has read an explanation to a question like the one above and thought to himself “sure, that’s great if you remember the rule, but there are so many rules to remember”. When you recognize, however, that you can pretty quickly prove to yourself any rule that you know (or even suspect) exists, you can use small-number case methods to do for you what your memory just may not be able to.
About Veritas Prep
Veritas Prep is the world’s largest privately-owned GMAT preparation and admissions consulting provider, offering industry-leading programs to help applicants improve their test scores and gain admission to the world’s best graduate schools. Founded in 2002 by graduates of the Yale School of Management, Veritas Prep now offers live GMAT prep instruction in more than 80 cities worldwide, as well as interactive online courses available everywhere. Additionally, Veritas Prep offers industry-leading admissions consulting services for applicants seeking admission to the most competitive business schools, law schools, and medical schools in the world.
Stanford – Dispatch #2 – Fit
Hi guys. I am now back in Chicago, having returned from Palo Alto and the Bay Area with a fuller understanding of the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) and what my life may be like if I matriculate there. I’ve had my class visit (negotiations class – very game theory-driven, rambunctious class participation, intellectually satisfying and fun) and admissions session. I ate lunch in the GSB cafeteria (lots of local and organic choices on the menu and the ability to compost and recycle your “waste”). I spent a total of 3 days and 3 nights in Palo Alto and 6 days and 6 nights in the Bay Area taking everything in. I scoured the GSB website, had extensive conversations with my Veritas Prep Admissions consultant (who is a GSB alum) about the GSB, read the Stanford GSB magazine, and watched videos on YouTube made by GSB students about the GSB. I guess I’ve put in my homework. But why all of the effort? What’s the point?
The answer: fit. I’m a little obsessed with fit. I want to make sure that the school at which I will spend at least two years of my life, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and my energy and emotional investment is right for me. I’m not just trying to get into business school. I’m trying to get into the right business school. In fact, I’d prefer to not go to business school if I can’t get into the right one. I also want to make sure that I know the schools to which I am applying well enough to be able to demonstrate why I am a good fit for them. From what I’ve learned from my admissions consultant and reading the Montauk book, being able to clearly and convincingly articulate fit can really help you distinguish yourself in your admissions essays. The top schools, especially Stanford, want to hear you explain in specific detail why you belong.
Academic Fit
Everyone knows that the Stanford GSB is a top, if not the top, school. It has the toughest admissions standards (the average GMAT score is 730) and the lowest acceptance rate (around 7%). Its faculty includes multiple Nobel laureates and undisputed titans of business. The quality of its alumni is amazing and includes heads of Fortune 100 companies, successful tech firms, and leaders in social innovation. Certainly, all of that matters to me, but there are other aspects of the GSB that are even more impressive to me.
The GSB’s approach to general management: My long-term career goal is to start my own environmentally-sustainable and socially-minded real estate development business, so I need a program that will give me the tools to start and successfully run one. While I am impressed with the reputation of the GSB’s general management program, I’m equally impressed with the GSB’s view of general management as comprised of four main areas: leadership, entrepreneurship, global economy, and social innovation. Before learning about GSB’s approach, “general management” was a pretty nebulous concept to me. I had a vague sense that it was key to successfully running a company, but I couldn’t identify the specific components. Not only does the GSB’s approach shed a lot of light on what general management is, but it also strongly resonates with what I am passionate about.
Take leadership. I’m becoming increasingly convinced that mere intelligence, no matter how high your IQ, will only get you so far in this world. What’s really key to success is great leadership and interpersonal skills. The GSB takes leadership seriously, offering a number of ways to develop leadership skills, including a variety of classes, leadership labs, and even a tw0-quarter, intensive leadership fellowship. In a nutshell, what you get from the GSB are the best classes on leadership, opportunities to practice leadership under pressure, feedback on your performance from top faculty and business leaders, and a framework to deeply and constructively reflect on your performance and how to improve.
Entrepreneurship also really resonates with me. I think a lot of schools consider general management and entrepreneurship to be two separate things, but I appreciate how at the GSB, entrepreneurship is embedded in general management. What this signals to me is a general management orientation that seeks out innovative solutions and methods, isn’t averse to risk, will help prepare you to expect, deal with, and finally transfigure failure into a valuable lesson learned. And obviously, given my desire to start my own business, a strong grounding in entrepreneurship is critical.
The global focus is also valuable because even though I expect to do most of my real estate development Stateside, and likely close to where I end up settling down, I am also interested in doing real estate development work in the developing world and in emerging markets as those areas are most in need of good development and frequently offer the greatest opportunity for creativity, innovation, and sustainable design.
Part of the global focus is a requirement to get experience in a foreign country either through a study trip, international learning internship, an overseas service-learning trip, or a student exchange to China or India. At the application session, there were two current GSB students on the panel. One student did his global requirement in India, where he was able to meet and work with the top Telecom CEOs in India. The other student’s international trip to Scandinavia was forthcoming, but during his stay, he’d have the opportunity to meet the Princess of Denmark! Very cool! Not only does the international requirement sound like an amazingly stimulating and fun experience, but it will help prepare me as I work in non-U.S. markets.
Last but not least, I really appreciate how social innovation is a cornerstone of general management at the GSB; that is, doing business in a socially-minded way isn’t just the province of do-gooders, but seems to be inculcated into all GSB students, regardless of the actual career path. For those who want a strong social innovation emphasis in their careers, the GSB is second to none among business schools with its Center on Social Innovation, the opportunity to get a certificate in public management, fellowships and loan forgiveness programs for those entering the social sector, its course Design for Extreme Poverty, and its top faculty. There’s even an opportunity to serve on the board of a local nonprofit through the GSB’s Board Program. I’m really excited about this opportunity.
Emmet Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER): Through the E-IPER program, GSB students who really want to integrate their interest in the environment into their business, can get an MBA along with a Master in Environment and Resources. To get the joint master degrees, you must spend about a year longer at Stanford to get the necessary classes to fulfill the E-IPER requirements.
E-IPER program is what really drew me to the GSB. A huge interest of mine when it comes to real estate development is environmental sustainability. I want to not only construct my buildings and the surrounding built environment according to extremely high “green standards”, but also weave in food production through having an urban agriculture component on-site, including an urban farm, an edible landscape of food-bearing trees and shrubs, and even possibly chickens and other small livestock. All of this would be attended with a resident services/education component on green housekeeping, personal gardening, the benefits of fresh organic food, cooking classes, etc. My ideal is to have this green community accommodate a diversity of incomes and races who will be united in authentic community.
The E-IPER would go a long way in helping me reach my ideal as it offers 15 courses in Sustainable Built Environment and 19 course in Land Use and Agriculture. One of the classes I’m particularly interested in involves running Stanford’s urban farm, including learning how to do all of the plantings, composting, harvesting, etc. It also offers concentrations and coursework in Energy, Climate and Atmosphere, Cleantech, Oceans and Estuaries, Freshwater, and Human and Environmental Health. Through E-IPER, you have the opportunity to take classes with students from all over campus, including hardcore biological science and engineering folks, law students, medical students, and other graduate students. It’s truly an interdisciplinary experience. I once read one GSB E-IPER student say that the E-IPER program allowed him to be the business expert when he was with scientists and the environmental science expert among his business school cohorts. That’s exactly how I’d like to be positioned.
Highly Customizable Program: I love how at the GSB you have a lot of freedom to craft your own curriculum. There are no required majors.
Life Fit
In my previous dispatch from Stanford, I sort of intimated that the Stanford campus and Palo Alto, while nice, weren’t exactly electrifying me. I still stand by that statement. I like campuses that are more urban and better integrated into an urban context. I also noted that while I have no doubt that Stanford students are every bit as intelligent as students at any campus in the world, I didn’t feel the intense intellectual energy I felt at Harvard, MIT, Yale, or Oxford. I didn’t see a lot of independent bookstores or people from all over the world converging in one place giving you the feeling that you are in a big, brilliant, cosmopolitan melting pot. Perhaps I just missed it, but there’s no way you could miss it at the other schools I mentioned.
While I love the feel/energy of the schools I mentioned above and would ideally like to have it at my school of choice, Stanford offers many alternative attractions, chief of which is its climate. Sure it rained most of the time we were in Palo Alto, but the temperature never went below 50 degrees while we were there, whereas in Chicago it was somewhere in the 20s. In Palo Alto’s mild climate, I would have the ability to exercise outside every day. Throw in the fact that within an hour you can go from mountain to beach to redwood forest, and that there are many excellent farmers markets nearby, and I’m nearly ready to pack my bags. The ability to drive to San Francisco or Berkeley and quickly fulfill my jonesing for a gritty, urban, intellectually-vibrant setting may be all I need to rip up and throw away the applications for the other b-school I’ve been considering. Time will tell. My next school visit is to Columbia the Thursday before Symposium. I’ll keep you posted!
MBADiversity 2010 New York City Forum (a.k.a., MBADiversity’s 5th National Symposium) Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is MBADiversity?
A. Founded in 2003, MBADiversity is a racially inclusive, global MBA prep program and professional membership organization focused on positively impacting the world through education, business and community. With both American and international members, the organization has successfully created a new breed of multicultural business professionals who live life with passion and evoke positive change within their respective communities. As of 2007, over 90% of its members have received GMAT scholarships, tuition scholarships, and/or multiple acceptances into business school, including top schools such as Harvard, Wharton, and Columbia. You can learn more about MBADiversity through the following:
- MBADiversity’s website: http://www.mbadiversity.org/
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=2234013654
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/mbadiversity
Q. What is the City Forum? Who should attend?
A. The City Forum is a one-day event geared towards those interested in obtaining a graduate degree in order to become a positive change agent in society. It’s also a great opportunity to meet other like-minded colleagues from around the world. The full program includes a networking luncheon, admission panels comprised of admissions staff and alumni from select business and graduate programs, an information session on the MBADiversity Fellow and Global Immersion Module (GIM) Programs, a financial aid and scholarship workshop, and a recruiter fair.
Q. How can I take part in the City Forum?
A. You must register at http://mbadiversity2009forums.eventbrite.com/. There are two registration options:
- Full Registration, which includes the networking luncheon and opportunities to win scholarships, prizes, and give-a-ways, costing $19.95 (you must register by March 20, 2010 for this option – fee is nonrefundable).
- Free Registration, includes everything in the full program except networking luncheon and opportunities to win scholarship, prizes, and give-a-ways (you must register by March 25, 2010 for this option).
Regardless of which option you choose, you must register to participate in the City Forum.
Q. Where and when is the City Forum?
A. The City Forum will take place on Saturday, March 27 at The Grand Hyatt Hotel located at 109 East 42nd Street at Grand Central Terminal in the heart of Manhattan, New York City. The full program will commence with the networking luncheon at noon. For those who have elected the free registration, the event will begin at 1 pm with the admission and alumni panels. The Forum is expected to end at 5 pm.
Q. How much does the City Forum cost?
A. The Forum is $19.95 if you elect the Full Registration (see above). It is free if you elect the Free Registration.
Q. What schools and organizations will participate in the City Forum?
A. A full list of institutions and companies will be mailed 2 weeks prior to the City Forum. If you’d like to learn about the schools and organizations that have confirmed to date, please contact us at contactus@mbadiversity.org.
Q. How should I dress for the event?
A. Business Attire
Q. How should I prepare for the event? What, if anything, should I bring?
A. We suggest that you do research on the schools and/or organizations that you are interested in so that you will be able to have in-depth conversations with each. Also, please bring copies of your resume.
Q. How can I get to the City Forum via public transportation?
A. You can take the 4, 5, 6, and S trains to Grand Central – 42nd St. Station. The Grand Hyatt Hotel is just steps away.
Q. How can I make sure that I’m receiving the most current information about the City Forum?
A. Keep up-to-date by joining us on
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/mbadiversity
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=2234013654
Q. What if I have additional questions? Who can I contact?
A. Please send your questions to contactus@mbadiversity.org.
The GMAT: A Managerial Approach to a Managerial Test
The GMAT: A Managerial Approach to a Managerial Test
By Brian Galvin
Brian is the Director of Academic Programs at Veritas Prep. Learn more about Veritas Prep’s GMAT courses and MBA admissions consulting services.
As you likely know, the GMAT tests quantitative and verbal skills; as you should also know, its purpose is to determine your capacity for success in business school and beyond. Understanding the purpose of the exam is a valuable step in preparing for it effectively. While business schools value quantitative and verbal skills, they are most concerned with business-related, managerial skills; after all, those are the skills that will make their students successful and add prestige to the school in the form of career placement, alumni donations and networking. In order to maximize your GMAT score, then, it is important to note that the exam will favor those with excellent managerial skills – those who can budget time effectively, focus on core competencies, and design efficient processes to accomplish specific goals.
The GMAT is a test of your reading, writing, analytical, and problem solving skills. Equally important to your performance, however, are solid test management skills. The best test takers use proper planning, smart time management, and effective decision-making to their advantage to rack up points on test day. Poor test takers, while they may be up to the challenge academically, often fail in one or more of these key areas.
Your “Six Sigma” Study Strategy
It is useful to think of good test management skills as analogous to good business management skills. Each question type has specific managerial strategies that will help you tackle the exam as a whole:
Problem Solving: True to its name, the Problem Solving variety of questions tests your ability to efficiently derive solutions to situations in a timely fashion, much like a business manager. Also like a manager, you will want to assess each situation through a proactive process, applying proven strategies and fitting them to unique situations.
Data Sufficiency: Data Sufficiency questions ask you to determine how much information you will need to answer questions, and therefore will require you to assess the value of the information provided. In this way, Data Sufficiency questions replicate the business task of determining the resources you will need to complete a project, with a penalty for working inefficiently.
Critical Reasoning: Critical Reasoning questions require you to make logical deductions based simply on fact, and to answer specifically-tailored questions. Much like a manager, you will maximize your efficiency and accuracy by identifying and clearly defining your objective, then following the necessary steps to accomplish that specific task.
Sentence Correction: Sentence Correction questions tend to require a good deal of reading, and each answer choice offers multiple variations that can be considered. Examinees who have the ability to seek out specific errors, rather than reacting to the entire sentence, will complete these questions more quickly and accurately. In a business context, the exam will reward test-takers who approach these questions proactively and systematically, focusing on their “core competencies” to manage various unique situations efficiently.
Reading Comprehension: Reading Comprehension passages often contain dense, technical information, but will ask you to answer more general questions. In this way, they are analogous to your future role as a manager, in which you will face a barrage of data each day and need to make quick, reasoned decisions. .
About Veritas Prep
Veritas Prep is the world’s largest privately-owned GMAT preparation and admissions consulting provider, offering industry-leading programs to help applicants improve their test scores and gain admission to the world’s best graduate schools. Founded in 2002 by graduates of the Yale School of Management, Veritas Prep now offers live GMAT prep instruction in more than 80 cities worldwide, as well as interactive online courses available everywhere. Additionally, Veritas Prep offers industry-leading admissions consulting services for applicants seeking admission to the most competitive business schools, law schools, and medical schools in the world.
Stanford – Dispatch #1
Hi all, it’s me again. I am typing from a budget motel on El Camino Real in Palo Alto. I have a class visit at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) tomorrow morning. I’m pretty excited and admittedly a little nervous. I’ve been in Palo Alto since Saturday and have had a chance to tour Palo Alto and the Stanford campus a bit. My initial impressions? The word verdant comes to mind. So does clean. Laid back. Friendly. Affluent. The campus is replete with greenery and well-manicured buildings in the California mission style (red clay tile roofs and solid sandstone masonry). I passed many relaxed and generally happy looking young (and a few older) folks clad in red Stanford hoodies. This is nice. Living here and attending this school could be a good thing.
Before I go on, allow me to give a little more background on myself. I don’t have a business-y background. I studied creative writing at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. I have a Master in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government where I focused on community and affordable housing development. I currently work at a nonprofit in Chicago called Heartland Housing, where I develop affordable and environmentally-sustainable housing for low-income individuals and families, many of whom have significant mental health and substance abuse challenges. I love my job. I want to get an MBA not to change my career, but to take it to the next level. Ultimately, I’d like to helm my own real estate development firm that develops ”green”, mixed-income and mixed-use communities.
Which brings me back to Stanford - based on my research, it looks as though Stanford is the school if you want to learn how to establish and run a successful, environmentally-friendly real estate firm. Not only is the school tops when it comes to reputation and the strength of its alumni network, it also has the strongest offerings (through a joint master program in Environment and Resources) of sustainable real estate development courses of any b-school I’ve seen. Its entrepreneurship and general management curricula are also amazing. Equally, if not more important, is that Stanford, from what I’ve gathered from my research, is quite congenial to those who want to make a positive impact on the world. Couple that with its location in the Bay Area, which is likely the most progressive and innovative region in terms of “green” in the nation, and a climate that is basically my favorite season (autumn) year round (as opposed to the six months of winter we have in Chicago), and you have the perfect school for me (at least on paper).
If I am fortunate enough to gain admittance into this school, I should probably go here, right? Maybe. But then again, maybe not. Perhaps it’s too early to say, but I’m not 100% convinced just yet. Sure, there is a lot to love about Stanford and Palo Alto. I had a great time checking out the excellent Palo Alto Farmer’s Market this morning, and I had an almost equally good time walking around downtown Palo Alto this afternoon and evening, admiring the many restaurants featuring virtually every kind of cuisine I could ask for (Middle Eastern, Indian, Korean, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French, Italian, Pizza, New American, etc.) and the two excellent movie theaters within a block of each other, one of which is featuring the films of Akira Kurosawa. And did I mention that Stanford has mountains? Yeah, it has mountains!!! Everything’s been lovely.
But I can’t deny there was something missing for me. I’ve been mulling over what it is for the past few days, and I think I have it – a sense of the frenetic and the electric that attends crowded, garbage-littered sidewalks; buskers performing on every street corner; the smell of roasted-sugared almonds emanating from the crude metal tray of a street vendor; the sides of buildings papered over with flyers for lectures on solid state physics as well as on Wittgensteinian language-games; aggressive, type-A folks having many separate animated conversations all in a different language; byzantine, congested, difficult-to-navigate streets . . . the list goes on (by the way, can any of you guess what school I’m talking about?).
Maybe tomorrow’s class visit will completely blow me away, and I will suddenly feel completely at home here. Maybe it won’t. I’ll let you know as soon as I do. And I apologize for the lack of graphics on this post. I’ve shot quite a lot of video, but I will need time to edit it. Right now, it’s just a whole lot of vertig0-inducing, Blair-Witch-Project-quality camera work, which really isn’t fit for human consumption.
GLOBAL IMMERSION MODULE (GIM) – Expand your global horizons.
I know you’ll are all excited to know more about GIM and doing well J. So what is GIM, how do I get enrolled in it, where will be go for GIM2010. I know you’ll have lot of questions, and trust me I was in the same boat few months back. So here are some helpful information on GIM and more to come.
What is GIM program? -The MBADiversity Global Immersion Module (GIM) is an international program that fosters global awareness. The program allows pre-MBA, current MBA, and alumni MBA students to develop confidence in using their degrees to positively impact education, the marketplace and the global community at large
What will GIM do for you in addition to the wonderful international experience? – It will fortify your pre-graduate and professional experience. For current and alumni MBAs, GIM will strengthen your leadership, service and global awareness acumen.
Each GIM participant will complete a community service project as it will be another way for participants to impact the people of Shanghai and China. For the 2010 GIM community service project, we will positively impact the children of migrant workers through improving their English language abilities and tutoring them to pass their middle school entrance examinations.
How long is the trip and where are we going for GIM2010? - Those selected to participate in GIM will travel to SHANGHAI – A Citadel of China for 10 days and participate in an international internship opportunity, community service and cross-cultural fellowship.
What are the fields that I will have the opportunity to intern in? – . GIM participants will have the opportunity to intern in one of the following functional areas: IT, Management, Marketing, Business Development, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Microfinance, or Media/Entertainment
What is the selection process? – To be considered for GIM 2010, applications are due according to the following deadlines:
- Rolling, Early Decision: submit by March 1st 2010
- Rolling, Regular Decision: submit by April 1st 2010
- Final Deadline (if space is available): submit by May 1st 2010
You will receive notification of your status within 30 days after your application submission and interview (www.mbadiversity.org/application).
What are you waiting for, Invest in your Global Acumen NOW and be part of this rewarding experience!!!!
Have more questions, post your response on this blog and we will respond to it promptly
Q&A with 2008 MBADiversity GIM Participants
Hope you all are enjoying reading the GIM posts and are getting excited to be part of GIM 2010. So to help you get further motivated and excited we caught up with Hana Yang and Soyini Taylor — MBADiversity Fellows who participated in the GIM 2008 trip to Shanghai — for a Q & A to see what they are doing now and how they were able to leverage their GIM experience.
The following is an excerpt of our Q&A with Hana and Soyini about GIM 2008.
Q: What did you do during your GIM internship?
A: Soyini: My internship was at Sino Automotive Engineering out in Pudong (in Shanghai). Our goal was to come up with a set price Sino could charge clients that would cover all of Sino’s costs including sunk costs and any other unforeseeable costs to enable them to break even and/or make a profit if possible.
A: Hana: My internship was focused on marketing strategy for Alaska Cap Glacier Water – China expansion.
Q: What were the most challenging and fun parts of the internship?
A: Soyini: The most challenging part of my internship was translating what my internship partner and I knew about setting U.S. price and profit margins to standards of practice in China. I think those that attend GIM 2010 will definitely benefit from the time to research their projects while in the U.S. to give them a headstart on their projects once they land in Shanghai. The most fun part was the commute to work. The train ride every day from the Jing’an district to Pudong was a half hour each way, which was plenty of time for us to see what the commute is like everyday in Shanghai. After that we’d take a shuttle bus to our work complex. The train ride in itself was the highlight of our day. Rush hour in Shanghai is no joke! Being from NYC, I thought NYC’s rush hour was crazy but I have never seen as many people pack themselves onto a train or bus in NYC as I’ve seen in Shanghai. Also, it was great to experience new types of food and tour Shanghai with the group.
A: Hana: Not knowing Mandarin was a challenge, but very fun at times because my partners and I would combine the limited Mandarin we knew to make out a sentence at a store or to cab driver.
Q: What was the most rewarding part of the trip for you?
A: Soyini: The most rewarding part of the trip was serving as Director of GIM 2008, seeing the trip actually happen and the impact it had on the group that attended GIM 2008. I can actually say that I saw the trip go from an idea K.D. had and I was able to bring that idea to life not only as a GIM design team member but also as director of GIM 2008. Also, through one of the networking/CEO speech events during GIM 2008, I met my current boss who I work for now in Shanghai. Even though I have been back and forth to China since 2002. GIM 2008 gave me the opportunity to work as a consultant in Shanghai, something I thought was virtually impossible in 2002, given my Mandarin ability at that time.
A: Hana: I enjoyed spending quality time with GIM members, getting to know Shanghai and expats doing business in Shanghai.
Q: What are the biggest lessons that you learned from the international experience?
A: Soyini: The lessons are lessons that I am still learning everyday living in Shanghai. I can say that living in Shanghai for the past year or so has taught me not to sweat the small stuff, nothing ever turns out as planned so be grateful for what you do get at the end of the day and if you are ready to put in hard work and grit you can definitely make something of yourself in Shanghai. I am definitely a firm believer that if you can make it in Shanghai, you can definitely make it anywhere.
A: Hana: Think globally and locally, act locally.
Q: How did you use this experience towards your career and/or graduate studies?
A: Soyini: GIM 2008 is the reason that I am working in Shanghai right now. I met my current boss at a networking/speech event during GIM 2008. I kept in touch with him after GIM 2008 and came back a month or so later to work full time at his company in November 2008. I’ve been working at the same company and living in Shanghai ever since.
A: Hana: I’m working on a business plan targeted to Asia.
GIM 2010
To learn more about MBADiversity’s Global Immersion Module for 2010 and to apply, visit http://www.mbadiversity.org/application.
