ZeroBonus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I once got an interview call for an internship > because I decided to add ‘Formulating get rich > quick schemes’ as a hobby > > It was something I was trying out to see if > employers noticed wacky things on a resume and > apparently this one company did. > > Volunteering is boring and everyone knows people > tend to embellish a lot with it. Put something > that stands out and get noticed. this strikes me as terrible anecdotal advice, but what do i know?
Do something that you actually believe in. I was thinking of signing up for Big Brother Big Sister because like one of the other members said it could be very rewarding for you and the child. Imagine how awesome you could have been if someone told you what words/english were back in the day? I think you’d be doing yourself a service by gaining patience with children and them a favor by giving them a professional they can look up to.
Black Swan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I read an article recently by an MBA admissions > board member at one of the ivy’s saying don’t even > bother with the faux charity work because they see > right through it. If you’re going to make it a > major part of your life and get really involved in > the organization at a serious level, sure and > they’ll like it. Otherwise, token stuff like > running a marathon, helping out once a month, etc, > isn’t really going to help you. I’d agree with this. Business schools don’t care about this stuff. They want to see something you’re passionate about. If that’s philanthropy, great – I was involved with a regional arts non-profit on the leadership board because it was a cause I genuinely cared about. I did think it would help me with business school admissions, but what kept me involved at every month’s board meetings and probably spending about five hours a week outside of work was because it was meaningful to me and I felt that it helped me expand my leadership potential. As an example, although everyone on this board was NOT from finance, and there were multiple instances where I had what I thought would have been a great idea from a for-profit perspective, but simply wasn’t ideal or perhaps even feasible for the non-profit. However, I needed an experience like this to humble me and broaden my perspectives because otherwise I would have probably just stayed in “blue-blooded banker” mode and I can say – partially with tongue in cheek but partially matter of fact – that the b-school that I attend now (am in my second year) does *not* need more people like that. As you might imagine, I wrote about this quite a bit on my application. But I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that aren’t particularly charitable, but devote their time to other causes, whether it’s political stuff, start-up work, etc. and some of these are my classmates. Granted, not having any volunteer work isn’t ideal because business schools do want to see people that will give back, but I don’t think you should “fake it till you make it” because you will get sniffed out like a stanky rat.
By the way, I’ll also add that the key to any successful application is to show leadership potential and passion about whatever it is that you do. Even if that’s just your normal work. Work experience is the most important and I think the people that stand out in their applications do so by making them sound like they meant something more to the firm than just some other guy who was great at spreadsheets or powerpoints. Work experience is the most important so if you guys aren’t naturally doing philanthropy, I’d encourage you to look for opportunities…but otherwise, if you can’t find anything you really want to commit to in a short period of time, just focus on doing the best you can at work and finding other interesting stuff that you can speak about if needed. No need to obsess over non-profit stuff.
Once you get in a charity organization, spend your time there, socialize with the group, and you do it for at least a couple of years, I don’t see how the MBA committee would look through that it was started for “wrong reasons” (which are not that wrong, if they serve the purpose of getting into a competitive programme). Besides you will boost your self-esteem as it’s respectable, you will know new friendly people (at least in Europe they are always looking for volunteers), and you probably will do something good for the society which is better than nothing. Of course, you don’t go around talking why you do it, as you can see from the reaction at this board.
Valores Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Once you get in a charity organization, spend your > time there, socialize with the group, and you do > it for at least a couple of years, I don’t see how > the MBA committee would look through that it was > started for “wrong reasons” (which are not that > wrong, if they serve the purpose of getting into a > competitive programme). Besides you will boost > your self-esteem as it’s respectable, you will > know new friendly people (at least in Europe they > are always looking for volunteers), and you > probably will do something good for the society > which is better than nothing. Of course, you don’t > go around talking why you do it, as you can see > from the reaction at this board. That’s right. If you have a volunteer activity and you’ve been doing it for 2+ years, its irrelevant if you were doing it just to do it for an application. That shows dedication and the admissions committee won’t “see through” anything because quite frankly, there is nothing to be “seen through.”
Well, lets say they look at your volunteer work and it turns out you volunteer at the soup kitchen for an hour once a month for two years, that’s not gonna get you far. Lets go one step further and say you go to the soup kitchen and ladle out broth every weekend for two years. Neat for you, but also not going to get you anywhere on the application (I’m talking top tier schools here). Because frankly, who gives a sh*t. Now lets say you provide references from there and it clearly shows your involved in a major way, it’s a common theme in what you do and something you’re passionate about. You’re involved in the logistical planning behind the scenes, it takes up significant amounts of your time and at some level you’re a key player in your non-profit organization. Maybe you’ve only been there for 3 months, but it’s clear you’re majorly involved and you’ve made an impact. The first scenarios get you nowhere. It just doesn’t appear to be something you care that deeply about. The second scenario might help you. I’m assuming you’re smart if you’re applying to a top school, they’re assuming that a smart person who is worthy of a top tier MBA is the type of person who is a natural leader. If they aren’t leading as in scenario two and taking responsibility there are two main plausible reasons. 1) They aren’t a leader ergo they don’t belong in the MBA program. Or 2) they aren’t leading or making a difference within the charity organization because they are a leader but they don’t care that much about that specific part of their life. They’re just going through the motions. Also, to say after two years there’s nothing to see through is to naively ignore that major hoops people go through to juice their resumes for top schools. I’m with Numi on this one. I also wish I still had the article I’d read on this topic.
But like I said, there are many tie breakers involved in admissions. For the top schools, a lot of the candidates are neck and neck for admission. If a committee member looks at two apps and everything seems about even but one candidate has been giving up weekend time to volunteer for over 2 years, that person is getting the green light for entrance.
AndyPettitteIsGreat Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > For anyone applying to MBA school in the future, > what resume-worthy activities outside of work do > you guys do? I passed all 3 levels of the CFA exam > and now I need something to fill the studying > void, lol I am a level 25 Warlock on World of Warcraft with the magical sword, 35 bars of gold, I recently found Pan’s magical flute, and have the golden bow and quiver with 25 arrows. I would put that on your app if you have ever accomplished such a feat.
Blake McCallister Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > AndyPettitteIsGreat Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > For anyone applying to MBA school in the > future, > > what resume-worthy activities outside of work > do > > you guys do? I passed all 3 levels of the CFA > exam > > and now I need something to fill the studying > > void, lol > > > I am a level 25 Warlock on World of Warcraft with > the magical sword, 35 bars of gold, I recently > found Pan’s magical flute, and have the golden bow > and quiver with 25 arrows. I would put that on > your app if you have ever accomplished such a > feat. My brother listed that on his Rhodes Scholar application. He received an acceptance call the next day.
i can successfully complete levels in Guitar Hero playing the drums on expert.