haiya

Recommendations:  B-schools discourage applicants from using academic references, although this must not apply for undergrads.  Nevertheless, consider looking for a mentor at a summer job or internship who might help advise your career and eventually write you a recommendation.  The schools want to see who you are as a person, as a worker and as a colleague, not just as a student.

About applying and the process:

Start early, in January or February before the year you want to apply.  Take the GMATs and get them out of the way, giving yourself time to retake them if necessary.  If you are really well prepared, you could take both the GMAT and the GRE, and send only your best score, that way avoiding having to send two scores if you mess up the first time. Start researching schools and get an idea about what makes them different.  Although B-schools all claim to be unique, I found them to be quite similar in terms of on campus offerings.  One big difference, however, can be what sort of access they give you off campus.  Make sure each school is known by recruiters in your chosen field and that they have a good track record in placing students in that area.

haiya

Start your essays early so you can get several rounds of revisions done for each.  Your goal is to have everything wrapped up by the end of July so you can make the Round 1 application deadline for every top school on your list.  This will give you a slightly better chance of being accepted and also give you the opportunity to apply to safety schools if the first round doesn't go well.  Keep in mind that the application process is quite time intensive, and most people I know only applied to a small handful of schools, like five or six.



Try and visit as many schools as you can to see if you would enjoy life on that campus and in order to become familiar with specifics of the schools that you can use in your essays.  Try to meet and talk to students, either on campus or through your school friends and alumni, as those one-on-one conversations can become useful material in your applications.

haiya

Then the waiting begins.  You sit and wait for interview invitations.  An invitation to interview is a very good sign, it means the school likes you, is strongly considering you, and is now ready to meet you. Most top schools require interviews in person in order to offer you a place in the class.  To prepare for these, keep working on your story.  Why Business School? Why Now? Why at School X? Call on your research into the subtle differences between each program, and your experiences with students from those schools and during visits. You usually have the opportunity to attend a class or two on the day of your interview, so if you schedule your interview for the late afternoon, it will give you a chance to look around campus and have a very fresh impression in your mind when you go into your meeting.



Try not to get discouraged.  The waiting process can be long, and you may be rejected from schools you were confident about or accepted to schools you never dreamed would take you.  Try not to think about it too much and try not to compare yourself to others.  In the end, it is your unique strengths that will get you into school, not your similarities to the rest of the class.  Just because someone has a low GMAT score doesn't mean they don't have a high GPA, amazing extracurriculars, or are just a fantastic and charismatic storyteller. It's impossible to know the details of everyone's application, so don't try.  You will be a happier and less-stressed applicant if you try to put the waiting out of your mind and focus on the things you can control, like preparing for interviews.

haiya

That being said, it's impossible not to be curious and I did find a few useful websites where applicants posted their experiences in interviews, including the questions they were asked, which can help you prepare.

haiya

In conclusion:

1) Be true to yourself, figure out what you're interested in, good at, and passionate about and pursue those things aggressively. This more than anything will make you a strong candidate.

2) Begin trying to explain how B-School fits into your career plan.  Do you need B-School to succeed? Why? Why would School X help you more than School Y? Play the Devil's advocate, force yourself to come up with strong answers to these questions.

3) Prepare and apply early. The more time you give yourself, the better your application will be.

haiya

4) Don't let worrying about Business School make you forget to enjoy college.  Enjoy your undergraduate experience and try to focus on getting the most out of that for now.  Happy people with fun stories make good classmates.



Hope these thoughts help.  Best of luck with the next two years and good luck if you decide to apply to school.  I'll just be graduating then, but if you have further questions, you know where to find me.

Yours

Andrew

haiya

我已经过去了纽约大学，给你写了这封很长很长的电子邮件。它帮助我澄清我对商学院的一些想法，我想这有可能帮助到我的那些未来考虑申请商学院的朋友。 我现在无法具体的讨论EMT专业，因为直到九月我才开始正式上课。但是，我刚刚完成了整个申请过程，我对此非常熟悉，下面详细地描述了我的经验。


序言：  

你有一个很长很长的准备时间，所以我的第一条建议是不要想太多太遥远的事情。我知道你也许经常听到这句话 ，你的申请首先应该基于你的兴趣 ，学习你感兴趣的专业，做你擅长的事情 ，才能做得很好。这也意味着要确保你是完善充实的，你需要时间来追求的爱好和课外活动，并且你需要记得你要不断地向外探索，冒险。这将让你成长为一个人。  

商学院和其他研究生院的最大区别之一是，他们不一定看学术成果。商学院要挑选一些完善充实的，来自不同背景的、拥有有趣的经验的人。这使得整个申请更为公平（或者有时更“随机”）。 不像法学院，在那里一份漂亮的成绩单，一个高的Lsat成绩一定能保证你的录取，在商学院， 你常常会发现分数较低 ，但是有丰富经验的学生，他们也能被顶尖商学院的录取。所以，在申请过程中，预测你的处境是非常困难的。

haiya

基本材料：

商学院的申请，重点在于 “讲述你的故事”。学校希望看到你是一个对未来事业有明确计划的人，他们渴望了解你为什么要申请商学院，商学院如何成就你的未来事业。 当然，极少数人，能够很幸运的20岁出头，就能将自己的人生事业规划完整。 因此，商学院是一个你能够重塑自我的地方。

请确保你有数学，经济学或统计学课程背景，你的成绩单应该足以证明你有良好的数学运用能力，不会让数学成为你今后在商学院的绊脚石。 商学院对数学的要求很基本，所以，如果你是经济学专业，相信数学对你来讲不是问题。

haiya

在此之后，你应该尝试证明，你对经济或者商业的兴趣。 重要的是要记住，商学院将自身定位成达成目的的手段，而不是目的本身。他们希望录取那些雄心勃勃、计划利用商学院为自己的事业推波助澜的学生。 他们不希望学生申请商学院，只是因为他们看中名校的一纸文凭，他们也不会录取那些对自己的人生毫无规划，希望通过商学院的这两年来寻找目标的人。 商学院中充斥着这样的人：他们也许不知道未来究竟要干什么，但是，每个人都能讲一个完整的引人入胜的故事，一个关于他们未来规划的故事。


尝试在你感兴趣的领域，成为领导者。尝试成为一个俱乐部的头，一个运动队的队长，一本杂志的编辑，或者一个电影导演。商学院将寻找那些接触过“管理”理念，具有管理经验的人， 他们想知道你是否和他人互动良好，你是否有一些“领导”的技巧，你是否在你所领导的领域付出了组够多的努力 。

haiya

现在，我们来谈谈工作经验。曾经，极少的本科生能毕业之后直接进入商学院 。虽然现在商学院似乎越来越多的录取了本科毕业生，但是他们所占的比例还很小。 你会发现你在申请过程中会遇到很多麻烦，因为每一个申请的作文题目，基本都是关于领导力和个人经验的。你的答案越不普通，越具有多元性，就越好。作为一个本科生， 由于大部分本科课程都是相似的，因此回答这样的问题会让你很头疼，比起那些有成堆经验的已经工作的人，你的答案更加不容易出彩。你的答案也很可能是令人难以信服的，因为甚至在你开始你的职业生涯之前，你就要大谈特谈职业发展。

  
我强烈建议你在一家你感兴趣的公司或者非政府组织实习， 我也强烈强烈建议你在你感兴趣的领域工作至少两年再考虑申请商学院。 对于很多人来说，商学院是不是一个明智的选择。如果你已经有一个公司，你还想往上级流动，为什么你要选择花费20万美元，而商学院毕业以后，你很可能在你原有的行业内仅仅只有小步提升。 我认为商学院尤其适合那些有兴趣转行，或者已经达到了事业的瓶颈，需要重回课堂来为他们充电的人。 我觉得美国的情况略有中国，在中国研究生教育越来越普及，成了就业的基本门槛，但在美国，在花费一大笔学费进入商学院之前，先拼搏一番看你有没有可能成功是很值得并且很必要的。