MBA Student Interview with David Schuette

Dont over rely on rankings. Here’s a talk with David Schuette, MBA candidate at Cornell Johnson. Thank you David for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us! This interview is the latest in an Accepted.com blog series featuring interviews with current MBA students, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at top MBA programs. We hope to offer you a candid picture of student life, and what you should consider as you prepare your MBA application. Accepted: First, some basics: Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad?   David: I originally hail from a small (less than 4,000 people) town in Wisconsin, and have spent most of my life within Wisconsin. My undergraduate major was in Operations Management at the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater. After graduation, I worked in the digital analytics space for 5 years with both Lands’ End (in Wisconsin) and Catalyst in Rochester, NY. Accepted: Which other programs did you consider when applying to b-school? Why did you choose Johnson? David: The primary thing I considered was fit – both personally and professionally. My approach was different than many; I didn’t have reach and safety schools, only schools I would love to go to – schools where I would have to think really hard about picking one over the other. I spent a lot of time making that list and only applied to and interviewed at HBS and Johnson. Johnson, for me, was a story about community. It was about a very tight knit group of people that would be my classmates from day one but my network for the rest of my life. It was a huge draw to hear that at any point in time, even after graduation, I would be able to reach out to a Johnson alum and they would make time to talk with me. I found many programs where that is not the case, or is only true while you’re in school. On a personal level, the people you meet are representative of the people you’re going to spend lots of time with. That means hours in the same room working on a presentation or grinding through a case. If you don’t feel a connection with the people, you’re not going to be happy with the program no matter where you go. It’s hard to think like that when you’re so focused on â€Å"best school possible† but don’t discount its importance. Finally, make sure you know what your target schools are known for and think about if those careers would be for you. A great tipoff is to see what the school talks about in its own materials. Johnson is strong in many areas, but does a killer job in marketing, finance, and consulting – the three areas I was interested in. A quick anecdote for you: I was at a conference and had the chance to talk with a CMO of a major company about my search (before I limited it to just 2) and I indicated my interest in marketing or finance and that I was looking at 5 schools. After I named off the schools, he looked at me and asked why I’d even consider 2 of the schools if that was my focus; he would never hire somebody for those roles from those two schools. I then stumbled my way through an answer to avoid saying â€Å"because they were ranked highly†. Clearly this is just a single experience, but it articulates a very valid point – rankings are not everything. Furtherm ore, rankings change, as evidence by Johnson’s new BusinessWeek rank of #7. Don’t over rely on rankings; there’s no story there. As a disclaimer, I did use rank to initially narrow my search, but after that it wasn’t my primary motivation. Accepted: If you could change one thing about Johnson, what would it be? David: If it could somehow be closer to major highways or airports, it would be a huge plus. But what I want to stress is that that is largely for personal travel reasons. I recruited across a variety of functions – marketing, finance, and consulting – and the major firms that you’d expect to see at a top 10 school all had on-campus recruiting events and interviews. Off campus recruiting takes a bit more effort – as it would at any campus, but even then Johnson has a strong presence at a various career fairs/conferences, including one they launched this year in a partnership with Darden and Tuck. Accepted: What is your favorite class so far? David: It is really hard to pick a favorite class since Johnson does such a good job of making sure each class builds on or pulls from the others, particularly with the first semester Core courses.   The faculty even meets on weekly basis to coordinate their lecture topics in terms of what current events to discuss across the various classes. If I had to pick one, I would say Operations with Vishal Gaur. He has a way of really bringing the whole class into a discussion of a case and I find the material very interesting (probably due to my undergraduate major in ops.). I would also encourage everybody at Johnson to take a class with Nate Peck, and I think anybody at Johnson will tell you the same. He’s fantastic at helping students bring focus to a case analysis at a rapid pace. Accepted: Are you involved in any clubs on campus? How central to student life is club involvement? David: The clubs at Johnson are very active, particularly clubs which are career focused. As the VP of Education for the Consulting Club, I’ll be responsible for working very closely with our Career Management Center on conducting all of the training for aspiring consultants in the Class of  2015. I’m also involved with Student Council as the Facilities Chair. Beyond professional clubs, there are a ton of lifestyle clubs organizing all sorts of trips, activities and competitions (chili cook-off!). It is very easy to get involved and it’s a great way to meet people. Interestingly, I would almost say that club roles, as it relates to student life, is less important than you might think because we’re such a close community. Many of the activities are posted all over the place and are open to anybody. In addition, we have a private Facebook page that people use to organize spur of the moment events. Accepted: Do you have an internship lined up for the summer? If so, what role did Johnson play in helping you secure that position? David: It is extremely exciting to say YES! I’m all set for my summer internship with Accenture Management Consulting in the strategy area. My situation was unique in that I was part of a team that won the internship by winning Accenture’s national case competition (read more!), but I can say that Johnson was a huge factor in our success. Johnson has such a good relationship with Accenture, and the other big consulting companies, which is how I had this opportunity in the first place. In addition, there were concepts we applied to our presentation which were a direct reflection of principles learned in just those first few weeks at school. That’s Johnson’s whole goal and our Immersion differentiation strategy – prepare you as fast as possible for success in your internship. Accepted: Can you share some application tips for our b-school applicants who are applying to Johnson? David: When you hear the advice of â€Å"be yourself,† it’s hard to know what that means. Still, it’s the feedback you’ll probably hear most often. My advice to you would be to think about what that means from the school’s perspective. When you interview, the school is trying to see if there is alignment between what you said on your application and how you are expressing yourself. You’d be amazed at how obvious it is when there’s a disconnect or when a person hasn’t clearly thought through why something makes sense for them. So when you hear â€Å"be yourself and have fun† what it really means is make sure what you’ve written and what you’re saying really reflect where your mind is at because they’ll know. They’re scary-good at reading people. For one-on-one guidance on the Cornell Johnson application, please see our Cornell Johnson Business School packages. For specific advice on how to create the best application for Judge, see Cornell Johnson 2013 MBA Application Questions, Deadlines and Tips. //

Modern Topics For Proposal Essays With Useful Tips

December 28, 2019 A proposal essay is distinguished by its purpose. When you write this type of essay, you have to propose some ideas and then prove it. There are two most often variants: you want to convince your audience that you are right, or that someone else is wrong about something. You will need different types of evidence, but the purpose will remain the same. You must know how to write different proposals correctly. So, students get trained during the years of study. Writing proposal essays give them the necessary object to learn new skills. Besides, there is a task for students to write and submit the dissertation proposal when they are sophomores or juniors. Thus, the more practice you get with proposal essays – the better. Basic Rules It is vital to select the right topic for your essay. If you already did other essay types, you know that you always have to run research to gather the necessary information for that paper. Then you need to select and arrange the arguments to support your point of view. The proper arguments will be more important than ever with the proposal essay. Thus, you will need deep and thorough research to write about the things you care for. Make sure that the topic of your proposal essay meets the following criteria: It is relevant. You can refer to any sphere, but the subject should mean something to all people. Your thought and arguments from the essay need to persuade your audience, thus, you need their reaction. It would be more difficult if you deal with some abstract and vague concepts – though, you may try that too. You might possess great convincing talents. It is meaningful for you. You should represent your opinion when you write essays of any type, and the best way is to deal with the questions you know well. This is the possibility for you to show your high expertise level in this field. You may be sure that this will be noticed. It is targeted towards the right audience. If you are an expert and talk about the matters which appeal to you deeply, you might not succeed with the wrong audience. The failure may take place if your readers or listeners just don’t the knowledge on that matter. Or you might stress the points which are irrelevant to them because. Thus, understand your audience before you start to work on the proposal essay. List of topics for proposal essays If you are a student, you might write about the things which concern the students’ lifestyle directly. However, you may be even more interested in writing about â€Å"bigger† ideas. This will let you illustrate your life convictions and personality. You can also think about your future career and use the opportunity to practice writing proposals. Most likely you will need these skills later when you get a job. In this article, we offer to you some examples of appealing topics for proposal essays that belong to different fields. Just choose the one you like best of all. Or use them as hints to explore the idea and find something else. Environment Which is the best way to reduce the level of pollution in the soil with plastic bags? Which are the best means to promote the bicycle as transport means? Will it be better to concentrate on recycling or send waste to developing countries? Is green energy able to save us from global warming? Should we impose the â€Å"zero-waste† lifestyle to people? Students’ life Is there a universal way to fight the homework? How to start to read more books? How to learn to control emotions? Is there a working way to become a great student and don’t get exhausted? Does a great sportsman need to succeed in academic studies? Social life Is it possible to make students socially responsible? Can the subcultures carry threats? How can we help our close people when they fight depression? Is sexism such a big problem? What is the real cause of the drug and alcohol addictions? Government Can we tolerate the existence of capital punishment in our country? Should the bureaucracy be eliminated? Does the past political experience have real value in the present? Should the government control the educational programs? Is there a way to guarantee quality medical service at affordable prices? Business Should we transfer the corporate culture rules to the daily lifestyle? Which are the most efficient adaptation programs for new employees? Is there a universal method to attract customers? Should there be rules for customer’s behavior? How to define the mission and corporate rules for a company? Education Is the current length of education in universities justified? Should sportsmen get benefits in colleges? Should there be a support service for teachers? Which educational propaganda do we need? Which are the most obvious ways to improve the educational program? Literature Should there be censorship in literature? How a book can become a bestseller? How can one differ satire from just humor? Does reading books influence the development of a personality? Are there contemporary writers who deserve being called a modern classic? Culture Is it necessary to follow the modern cultural trends? Do stereotypes affect the perception of the arts? What influences the reputation of nations internationally? What is the correct way to treat foreign cultures in your country? Preparation before going abroad: what you need to clarify? Technology Is there trustworthy evidence of the negative effect of technologies on society? Do we face the second Luddite movement? What is the main impact of technologies on business culture? Do parents need to restrict children’s access to the Internet? Which technologies need more investments now? Psychology Which motivation works best of all for a person? Can anyone learn from other people’s mistakes? Is perfectionism an advantage or a way to self-destruction? Is there a way to fight to be emotionally exhausted in colleges? How can one learn to accept failures? Recommendations of how to write proposal essays Proposal essays have some peculiarities in the structure which put this type apart from the other essays. In general, the structure of the proposal essay is the following: Introduction Proposal Plan of action Desired outcomes Resources needed Conclusion Introduction You need to introduce the subject of your proposal to the audience. This is the first test in conviction people – you need to express that the point is important for everyone. At this stage, you are supposed to get the attention of the audience. Use more expressive means for that. You may joke, or offer interesting facts, cite outstanding people if their words express the same ideas. Name the main problem and mention that your proposal can resolve it. Proposal This part stands for the traditional thesis statement. You describe your proposal in brief, don’t go into details, as you will explore the topic further. Plan of Action It is the main part of the work. Writing any proposal means that you know how to resolve this or that question. Concentrate on the following important factors: Is it possible to fulfill the proposal in realistic terms? What resources would you need to achieve the goal? Why would they choose you to be in charge of doing the task? Here you should stress your qualifications and convince that you have resources to start the work. Then you can ground the requirement for more resources. Provide details to dispel doubts, assure that you are fully aware of the whole process and can control it. However, you will need to find the balance, if you discuss some technical idea. Using too many terms and technical details might be boring. It wont help you convince the audience. Be honest in describing possible pitfalls. However, you need to prove also that you can overcome the obstacles. Desired outcomes Here you should present the goals you plan to achieve. Be brief and stress the positive impact which your proposal will have. Necessary Resources Here you need to list the items you need to reach your targets. Note that the list should contain all types of resources. Include tangible items like specific hardware and software, money, and working hours. Conclusion This is also similar to other essay types. In this part, you remind again about the importance of the problem and your proposed ways to resolve it. You may also add some details to make this part more alive, like turning to the historical context or even humor to put a smile on your readers’ faces. It is crucial to make a first impression good, but the last impression can be even more important. As you see, though the proposal essays are somehow different from the other essay types, you can master writing them too. The main thing is to know your subject and to care about it. Then you can convince people that they should support you.