B-Schooled: Get Your MBA Admit

In this episode your host Chandler pulls together a range of suggestions from other SBC podcasts along with a range of new insights – to give you all the tools you need to not just survive your time on the waitlist but, hopefully, thrive. Insights from this episode include: What being on the waitlist means (and what it doesn’t), The importance of developing an individualized waitlist strategy, Specific guidance about following your school’s waitlist process (which varies from program to program), What to do if your school allows students on the waitlist to send follow-up materials and updates, Tips for asking about feedback regarding your application if appropriate, Tips for developing a relationship your waitlist point of contact, Possible benefits of playing the “waitlist long game”, and Suggestions for how to stand out on the waitlist (in good ways) and how to avoid standing out on the wait list (in bad ways).

This replay of B-School's one-year-anniversary episode features Stacy Blackman herself! Stacy will talk about her entrepreneurial career and how an MBA helped her (and continues to help her) start three companies. She'll also share advice for MBA hopefuls who are looking to run their own firms at some point after graduation, as well as for those who might be approaching the application process with entrepreneurial experience already under their belt.

For this podcast Chandler sits down with SBC Consultant Dawn, who is no stranger to the podcast. Dawn graduated as a PepsiCo Scholar from Harvard Business School with concentrations in finance and marketing. Dawn was also admitted to the Stanford GSB. Outside of her work in admissions consulting, Dawn has experience at a wide range of companies, including Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, Pepsi, the Carlyle Group and Warner Brothers. A few weeks ago Dawn approached Chandler with a unique podcast idea: in this episode Dawn and Chandler discuss the recent Grammy performance featuring Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs. Dawn uses this unique collaboration as a jumping off point to talk about a range of topics of interest to MBA applicants, including: Embracing authenticity and vulnerability Celebrating diverse perspectives Knowing how to play to your strengths The power of collaboration The benefits of surprising your audience Modestly shining the spotlight on your excellence Connecting with your audience on a personal level The benefits of starting early Listening to this podcast is a must – not only for artists and performers – but for anyone interested in crafting an application that allows you to really connect with your reader.

This replay of a two-part series of episodes outlines 12 things that admitted MBA applicants should do between now and matriculation. This week's Part 2 covers budgeting for your MBA, planning to relocate, and figuring out how to best spend your time between now and matriculation (when you aren’t attending to all of the other to do’s!). As a reminder, last week in Part 1 (episode 201) we discussed how to head off possible issues with your background check after you’re admitted. If that’s something that concerns you, be sure to check out (on our website under "Work With Us").

This replay of a two-part series of episodes outlines 12 things that admitted MBA applicants should do between now and matriculation. Part 1 covers To Do's related to an applicant's current and future networks, as well as other important actions to take before leaving a job. We also discuss how to head off possible issues with your background check after you’re admitted. If that’s something that concerns you, be sure to check out (on our website under "Work With Us").

Four our special 200th podcast episode we are sitting down with an early SBC client – Stephen Frayne, Jr. -- who worked with SBC almost 20 years ago. Chandler and Stephen talk about a number of important topics of interest to any MBA applicant, including: How to think about the value of investing in working with an MBA consultant, The ways in which an MBA consultant can serve as a mentor, Advice from a re-applicants who don’t get in the first time… but ended up getting into his dream school the second time, Lessons learned from that same applicant who ended up TURNING DOWN his dream school for reasons he never would have expected, Suggestions for MBA applicants interested in the intersection between entrepreneurship and intellectual property, Lessons learned from standing up for yourself early in your career, The benefits of asking for help and coalition building, The power of taking a “portfolio approach” to life, Keeping a “beginner’s mindset” throughout the course of one’s career, and The perils of thinking small. Special thanks to Stephen for this very honest and candid conversation.

For the past two years our co-host Chandler has ended each of his podcasts with the same 9 words: “Be authentic, be brave, and have a solid plan”. In the first segment of this series Chandler talked about WHERE YOU ARE NOW as an applicant what you have learned thus far in life. In the second segment he discussed how to articulate bold goals for where you ultimately WANT TO BE. In this critical third segment we connect the dots by discussing how to you GET FROM HERE TO THERE in ways that are specific, tangible, and – perhaps most importantly – realistic. In this episode, Chandler discusses how to: Articulate what you want to get out of your MBA experience, Describe your short and long term career goals, Detail the career stepping stones connecting your MBA experience to your ultimate career objective, Identify and describe your own “career exemplar”, and Pressure test your career plan with an industry expert. Chandler closes the episode by pointing listeners to a range of other free SBC resources for those interested in additional career planning support.

For the past two years our co-host Chandler has ended each of his podcasts with the same 9 words: “Be authentic, be brave, and have a solid plan”. In many ways, these words summarize so much of Chandler’s entire MBA application philosophy. In this three part series, he will dive deep into authenticity, boldness, and career planning—and how each of these relate to MBA applications. In this episode Chandler talks extensively about how to be bold in your MBA applications. Among other things, Chandler talks about why top business schools are looking for bold applicants and how to: Be bold by centering your passion and being specific, Incorporate bold elements into your career goals, Think about what you want to do with your life, Talk about your accomplishments without sounding like you are bragging, Talk about the elements of your application you are the most nervous about (and why this is a very good thing), Write the essay that scares you, and Decide how personal is “too personal” for MBA essays and interviews.

For the past two years our co-host Chandler has ended each of his podcasts with the same 9 words: “Be authentic, be brave, and have a solid plan”. In many ways, these words summarize so much of Chandler’s entire MBA application philosophy. In this three part series, he will dive deep into authenticity, boldness, and career planning—and how each of these relate to MBA applications. In part one, Chandler talks extensively about authenticity and aggregates a great deal of free resources related to this critically important topic. Among other things, Chandler talks about how to: Channel your most authentic self when writing your MBA essays, Highlight what you've learned and how you've grown, and Deal with self-doubt while on your MBA journey Chandler concludes by challenging listeners to use authenticity as a way to reframe doubts into boldness. By turning your deepest fears on their heads, you might just discover the fuel you need to take your application to the next level.

Are you in the extraordinarily enviable position of having to decide between two or more MBA programs? Are you nervous about your choice or unsure of how to go about making such a huge commitment? This episode pulls together advice from the entire Stacy Blackman Consulting staff on how to approach this decision and what factors to consider (both short-term and long-term).

Today’s guest is Hanson Li, Founder and Managing Partner of Salt Partners. Salt Partners is a restaurant industry focused investment and operating company. Since 2014, Salt has been involved with of 8 significant restaurant companies—including 4 restaurants with Michelin stars. Salt Partners has also invested in 15+ technology and branded companies in the food and beverage industry. Prior to Salt, Hanson spent 10 years as Managing Director at The Hina Group, a China focused private equity firm and investment bank. Born in Hong Kong, Hanson grew up in Asia and Rochester NY. He graduated from Stanford Graduate School of Business as both a Siebel Scholar (awarded to top 5 graduates) and an Arjay Miller Scholar. He also holds a BA and MA from Stanford. Finally, Hanson currently sits on the board of Golden Gate Restaurant Association, Center for Asian America Media, and the advisory board of OpenTable. In this episode Hanson and Chandler talk about a wide range of topics, including: Advice for applicants who grew up outside of the United States, Suggestions for those interested in the fields of PE and investment banking, Advice for entrepreneurs hoping to start their own enterprises, and Suggestions for anyone interested in “non-traditional” MBA careers (generally) or those with a passion for the food and beverage world (specifically), Hanson also offers suggestions that will benefit any MBA, including: The best decision he made in business school, The one thing he wishes he'd done differently while in business school, and Important lessons he's learned from failure.

This episode offers insight into Harvard Business School's unique type of MBA interview, as well as advice on how to best prepare.

In this episode we sit down SBC’s test prep expert Anthony to talk about critical reasoning questions on the GRE and GMAT, with a special focus on the one logical fallacy that every test taker should be prepared for. In this episode, Anthony shares: General tips for critical reasoning questions, Specific advice about one critical reasoning question type that trips up many test-takers, and Suggestions for how to tackle these problems so that you won’t be caught off guard on test day. In this episode we will be reviewing to actual GMAT questions. For those of you following along we have included the full text of those questions here: QUESTION ONE: Asthma, a chronic breathing disorder, is significantly more common today among adult competitive swimmers than it is among competitive athletes who specialize in other sports. Although chlorine is now known to be a lung irritant and swimming pool water is generally chlorinated, it would be rash to assume that frequent exposure to chlorine is the explanation of the high incidence of asthma among these swimmers, since __________. young people who have asthma are no more likely to become competitive athletes than are young people who do not have asthma competitive athletes who specialize in sports other than swimming are rarely exposed to chlorine competitive athletes as a group have a significantly lower incidence of asthma than do people who do not participate in competitive athletics until a few years ago, physicians routinely recommended competitive swimming to children with asthma, in the belief that this form of exercise could alleviate asthma symptoms many people have asthma without knowing they have it and thus are not diagnosed with the condition until they begin engaging in very strenuous activities, such as competitive athletics QUESTION TWO: It is widely assumed that people need to engage in intellectual activities such as solving crossword puzzles or mathematics problems in order to maintain mental sharpness as they age. In fact, however, simply talking to other people—that is, participating in social interaction, which engages many mental and perceptual skills—suffices. Evidence to this effect comes from a study showing that the more social contact people report, the better their mental skills. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the force of the evidence cited? As people grow older, they are often advised to keep exercising their physical and mental capacities in order to maintain or improve them. Many medical conditions and treatments that adversely affect a person's mental sharpness also tend to increase that person's social isolation. Many people are proficient both in social interactions and in solving mathematical problems. The study did not itself collect data but analyzed data bearing on the issue from prior studies. The tasks evaluating mental sharpness for which data were compiled by the study were more akin to mathematics problems than to conversation. Anthony scored in the 99% percentile on the GMAT and has numerous perfect GRE scores. Not only is he one of our favorite guests, he is also available for one on one test coaching. To learn more about Anthony, visit please visit or check out his SBC bio .

This episode gives advice (and warnings) to those attempting to pull together MBA applications in the final weeks before the deadlines.

In this episode Chandler sits down with longtime friend, Anna Anderson, who leads celebrity and influencer engagement for The Nature Conservancy. Anna brings a long history of leading corporate social responsibility and social impact efforts at a number of leading social change organizations. In this episode Anna shares incredible advice for MBAs interested in careers in corporate social responsibility (CSR), Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) and a variety of other social change areas. Anna answers a number of bold questions, including: The best lessons she learned while in business school, What she wishes she'd done differently while earning her MBA, Advice for MBA students looking for summer internships in the social change space, Advice for MBA grads looking to get into CSR, ESG and related social change arenas, And much more... This podcast is a must for anyone interested in using their MBA to advance social change.

It can be quite a challenge to fit an MBA application, data-form or essay response into the space provided when restrictive character or word counts are in play. This episode focuses on specific ways business school applicants can edit down essays and short-answer responses without compromising the power of their stories, anecdotes or statements.

What to do ONE MONTH before the deadline This B-Schooled podcast is designed for MBA applicants one month out from their application deadlines. In this episode our host share specific tips and suggestions for applicants putting the finishing touches on the following application elements: Polishing your resume, especially in terms of adding additional quantification and additional context, Ways to check in with (and support) those writing your recommendations, Ways to take your essays from good to great over a few weeks, Tips and suggestions for filling out the online application itself (AKA the data forms), and Ways to ensure your entire application is cohesive without being redundant. Finally, our host Chandler next encourages listeners tore-read their entire application from start to finish—then ends the podcast with 5 key questions to ensure your application is memorable, authentic and bold. This podcast is a must for anyone wanting to make the most of their last few weeks before application deadlines.

This replay of a past episode covers how to prepare for the various kinds of video essays (pre-recorded, live with known questions, and live with randomized questions) several MBA programs require, as well as general tips on what you should wear, where you should record, and more.

Having worked with MBA applicants for almost 20 years, co-host Chandler has seen levels of stress and anxiety associated with the MBA application journey rise steadily over the years. If you are struggling with stress and anxiety connected with your MBA applications, you’ve come to the right place. In this episode we’ve pulled together a range of tools from previous podcasts along with new content, so that you have a host of resources at your fingertips if and when stress and anxiety strike. But first—and this is important—we want to say that feeling stress and anxiety regarding to MBA applications are to be expected and are common to many applicants... definitely much more common than your peers and fellow applicants might be letting on. :) In this episode, Chandler will share: Suggestions for what to do when you are feeling stuck about one or more elements of your application, Tips for how to deal with frequent application concerns that can create stress, Recommendations about dealing with self-doubt (and how sometimes doubt can be a good thing), Comments about the power of remembering all you have already accomplished, and Specific suggestions about what to do IN THE MOMENT if application stress and anxiety strike. This episode is a very hopeful conversation about dealing with application stress and anxiety. Ultimately this is a dialogue about how reframe these feelings; using them as optimistic and productive fuel to propel your application forward.

This episode explores why it's important to demonstrate your knowledge of and fit with the MBA programs you’re applying to – and how you can do so in both your written materials and your interview responses.