Earlier today, a friend of mine posted a status update on Facebook about a section in the Facebook Messages section called “Other” that contains messages from people who aren’t friends with you. After seeing my friend’s status update, I checked that section out for the first time and saw that I had a bunch of messages from people that I had no clue were there.
The first message in that Other folder was the one that I’ve pasted below. It came to me from an admitted GSB applicant who has been told that he needs to take a set of pre-MBA courses to keep his admission. He sent his email a couple of weeks ago, so I’m hopeful that my message got to him in time for him to act on it. We’ll see…there’s a chance that my message to him will end up in his Other folder. 🙂
If any of you would like to contact me for advice or to ask questions, please visit my Contact page and send me a message using the message box. Or, alternatively, you can send me an email at marquis-AT-marquisparker.com.
Remember that I don’t like to receive long emails with long lists of questions, so be sure to prioritize the issues about which you’d like my thoughts.
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BW wrote:
Dear Marquis,
I saw your blog online, and wanted to contact you through e-mail. The contact button was not working, however, so I am hoping that it is ok for me to reach out to you for advice here.
I was recently admitted to Stanford’s GSB. I will pursue the MBA/MA in Education. I am hoping to get into education consulting and policy, focusing specifically on teacher recruitment, training, and retention.
My admission to Stanford is contingent upon finishing four courses – Calculus I, Statistics, Microeconomics, and Accounting. I am set to finish Micro and Accounting by June 6th, and then must finish the remaining two courses by August 15th. I am taking them independently online because I am living in Korea, completing my Fulbright Grant.
I saw that you had completed some pre-work prior to enrolling at Stanford. I wanted to see if you think that it will be possible for me to complete all of these courses in the time alloted, and seek out any advice you had as I do so.
Warmly,
BW
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My response:
Hi Ben,
I’m sorry that it has taken me so long to write you back. I had no idea that Facebook had a separate category in its Messages section called “Other” where it drops messages from people who are not in your friend list. I literally JUST found out about it and say that I have about 100 messages from people that I didn’t know about before today. Man, I have a lot of people to get back to. 🙂 I’m not sure why the submission form on the Contact page of my website didn’t work, but I’ll look into it.
First off, I’d like to congratulate you on gaining admission to the GSB. As you know, it is incredibly difficult to do so and the fact that you made it in shows that you are one of the best and brightest of MBA applicants in your peer group. I’m incredibly excited for you.
I’ve never heard of a situation like yours where admission was contingent on finishing a set of pre-MBA courses, but I guess it makes sense for outstanding applicants who may not have had some of those quantitative foundational courses in their undergrad experiences. My situation was different because I was able to attend a pre-matriculation program given by the GSB called Math Camp to get a 2-week deep-dive into those topics. I heard something a couple of years ago about the GSB either shrinking or eliminating that program, which may be the reason that they want you to take full-on courses on those topics.
To answer your question, I think it’s totally possible for you to complete all of those courses and, since you’re doing them online, you are able to control the pacing of your studies, which is VERY helpful. If you were taking them in a traditional classroom setting and had to get all 4 of them done by August 15th, it might be tight, but the game is in your hands now and, if you’re willing to buckle down and put forth the required effort during your final days in Korea, I am confident that you can make this happen. The GSB Admissions Team wouldn’t have asked you to do this if they didn’t think you could make magic happen for yourself and end up in the incoming class.
Here are a few tips that might be worth thinking about as you try to meet the August 15th deadline for those 4 courses:
- Be willing to prioritize the completion of these classes above everything else –> I know that you’re going to feel pressure to spend time with people as you close out your time in Korea, but I would encourage you to think longer-term on this. Getting an MBA from Stanford GSB is a life-changing experience and you’ve already gained admission. You’re about 95% of the way to the finish line and the last little bit of it is the completion of these classes. Don’t let any of your friends or colleagues out there try to make you feel like you HAVE to spend any of your last few weeks away from these classes unless you truly want to. The way you prioritize the completion of these classes will literally have an impact on the rest of your life. Act accordingly.
- Do as much as you need to meet the GSB’s requirements –> You didn’t mention if the GSB wanted you to score a certain grade or if their requirement was to just complete the courses. If the requirement is to simply complete the course with a passing grade, then put in as much work on them as you need to get a C. If they want you to get at least a B/B+, then put in B-level work. If you’re a GSB-caliber kid, then your natural inclination is likely to give it your all and aim for a A, but, in this kind of game, that isn’t the winning approach. Your goal here should be retention of knowledge, understanding of the concepts, and completion of the class. It’s nice to score an A on a pre-MBA extra course if you’re trying to convince a school that you should be admitted, but you’ve already taken care of that. At this point, the best thing that you can do is to put in as much work as you need in order to meet the GSB’s requirements on this, but not more than that. Otherwise, you’ll be grinding yourself out in your last few weeks and you won’t really get any benefit for that incremental effort. It’s not like an A in an online pre-MBA course is going to be a part of your Stanford GPA, right?
- Be sure that you UNDERSTAND the concepts that are being taught in the classes –> I mentioned this a little bit above, but I wanted to underscore it here because it is truly important. When I was in Math Camp, I incorrectly assumed that my goal was just to get exposure to the concepts so they wouldn’t be totally foreign to me when I saw them in the Core curriculum. It could be argued that my assumption was right, but, in practice, I found that it was incredibly tough for me to truly internalize and understand the concepts once I saw them in the Core because I hadn’t put forth the extra thinking needed to cement them into my mind during Math Camp. It is MUCH easier to TRULY learn when you’re not feeling the pressure of having to earn a certain grade that will go toward your GPA at the GSB. If you learn the content relatively well while you’re taking these pre-matriculation courses, it’ll be much easier for you to really “get” them once you’re in Palo Alto and the grades actually matter.
I hope the above is helpful. Congratulations again and I wish you well as you prepare to start at the GSB in the Fall.
Marquis
P.S. In the future, if you’d like to contact me, you can email me at marquis-AT-marquisparker.com. That’s a MUCH better way to get me than through Facebook Messages (as you’ve just seen).
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