中国留学之家 PreMBA.doc - Powered by Discuz!NT Archiver

venkatmba - 2008-7-27 12:42:00

WHAT TO DO
ONCE YOU ARE ACCEPTED

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

venkatmba - 2008-7-27 12:43:00

SKILLS: THE BARE MINIMUM
Before you take another step, ensure yourself that your spreadsheet and word-processing skills are adequate. (Database skills are also useful, but not critical to success.) If you have not regularly used a computer for such tasks, plan to put in several dozen hours, making sure that you can do the following without difficulty:
Word Processor: Enter and format text; add headers, footers and page numbers; change fonts and type size; copy, move, and save blocks of text; manage files; use standard tools such as find and replace, spellcheck, and center; work with tables; combine spreadsheet-generated tables and graphs with text; and, print a document.
Spreadsheet: Enter text and numbers; add titles and labels; enter formulas; use functions (such as sum, product, date, and dollar) in formulas; copy and move data; create charts; and print. You should be able to build a simple income statement and balance sheet, using formulas to change data into usable information. You should also be able to link spreadsheets to provide summary data.
It is too late to start to learn such things once you are at business school.
Any introductory paperback that explains the basics of a standard program is suitable for this task. (Most schools, by the way, use PCs rather than Macs). If the school does not specify a given program, consider purchasing an integrated program that combines a spreadsheet, word processor, and database, such as Microsoft Office. A good introduction to this program in the Que series is Trudi Reisner, Easy Microsoft Office (Que, 1994), 294 pages, $24.99. (The publication dates listed herein are the latest ones available as this is being written. By all means, do purchase a later edition if one is available. And insofar as computer programs are also subject to relative obsolescence, ask the school for suggestions about which programs they currently recommend.)
Although this sort of introductory book covers word-processing in suitable detail, it is not really sufficient to provide the spreadsheet knowledge and experience required. It would be very helpful to get a second book for these purposes. If you take the Microsoft Office approach, a reasonable second book concerning Excel, the Microsoft spreadsheet package bundled into its Office suite of programs, is Joyce Cox and Joyce Cousineau, A Quick Course in Excel 5for Windows, (Online Press, 1994), 163 pages, $12.95. This covers just about everything you need, from linking multiple worksheets to displaying data in charts and graphs, along with a reasonable number of practice exercises.
It is important to be able to use these tools quickly and easily. Thus you need to be able to put together a spreadsheet showing that you expect unit sales to increase at the rate of GDP increase plus 2 percent annually, energy consumption to remain proportional to volume, inventory to grow at the square root of the increase in unit volume, and so on, without being overwhelmed by the task. To do so, you must practice setting up a dozen or so spreadsheets. Many books provide appropriate examples. Simply get one that is keyed to your software package, entitled something like “Financial Analysis With Excel.”
Where presentation skills are concerned, the best book available is Mary Munter, Guide to Managerial Communication, 3d ed., (Prentice Hall, 1991), 192 pages. This gives a good overview of how to approach both oral and written pre- sentations. The advice is concise and very clear. You can expect to do a lot of presenting both at business school and in your future career. In fact, the more senior you are, the more presenting you are likely to do. This is one of the key skills to develop during your business school sojourn. Although you are not going to become an expert simply by reading Munter’s book, it will help sensitize you to the issues involved in doing good presentations, thereby making the learning process at school that much faster and more effective.
Many programs require that incoming students be comfortable using calculus in various of their courses. Some of them have introductory math “boot camps” to get the innumerate up to speed. Anyone attending such a school should take as much calculus as possible before school starts, and not depend upon the boot camp alone. An appropriate course would give an overview of differential and integral calculus and, perhaps, introduce mathematical modeling. If no courses are available, it should be a simple matter to hire a tutor to guide you through an appropriate text. The math used in business programs is definitely not as rigorous as that used in engineering programs, for example, and certain elements of calculus (and statistics, for that matter) are far more important than others. Texts for scientists or engineers will thus be more difficult than is necessary and will highlight techniques that will be of little use at business school. Ernest F. Haeussler and Richard S. Paul, Introductory Mathematical Analysis for Business (Prentice Hall, 1996) is a reasonable choice. Those wishing a more rigorous treatment can consult Deborah Hughes-Hallet, Andrew M. Gleason, et al., Calculus (John Wiley, 1994), 685 pages, $44.75 (Student Solutions Manual, $19.75), which covers the subject marvelously but is not for the fainthearted. It is well written and inclusive, but at a high level. Those seeking a more outline- like treatment are advised to try Edward T. Dowling, Mathematical Methods for Business and Economics (McGraw-Hill, 1993), 384 pages, $12.95, in the Schaum Outline Series. This covers equations and graphs, functions, systems of equations, linear algebra, linear programming, differential and integral calculus, and the calculus of multivariable functions. It is in outline format, though, and quite terse, so it is perhaps best used with the aid of a tutor. It does provide an immense number of examples and problems, however.
Those who have forgotten even math basics are advised to prepare with Peter H. Selby and Steve Slavin, Quick Algebra Review: A Self-Teaching Guide, 2d ed., (John Wiley & Sons, 1993), 232 pages, $14.95, which provides a thorough review and is quite suitable for self-study.
Even if you are attending a school that does not specialize in the case method of teaching, you are advised to prepare to handle business case analysis. All of the top programs utilize large numbers of cases in their classes. Becoming a good case analyst sooner rather than later will greatly ease your learning burden. One standard work on the subject is Robert Ronstadt, The Art of Case Analysis: A Guide to the Diagnosis of Business Situations (Lord Publishing, 1988), 189 pages, $14.00. This shows how to read and analyze a case efficiently, how to prepare it for classroom discussion, and then how to discuss it effectively in class. The approach is extremely practical, showing you how to do a complete analysis of a case—and also how to do useful analyses when you have little time available but still want to be ready to make a contribution to class discussion. The serious time constraints case method schools impose and the importance of class contributions upon grades (and reputations) mean that knowing how to make good contributions having done minimal analysis is a skill well worth developing. The book covers how to improve your classroom performance, develop effective study groups, and write good case reports. In addition, it discusses how to take case exams, another skill well worth developing. It also discusses some of the most important analytical techniques to be used in case analysis, including financial analysis and decision tree diagrams, and gives a brief overview of industry and market analysis. A not particularly satisfactory substitute for Ronstadt is Al Edge, The Guide to Case Analysis and Reporting, 4th ed., (System Logistics, 1991), 151 pages, $15.00.
The fluent use of a financial calculator is taken for granted by most students in business programs. The standard calculator for some years has been the Hewlett Packard 12C. (Hewlett Packard has added new, more powerful models, such as the 17B11 and 19B11, to its line of financial calculators, but the 12C is still the business school calculator of choice as of this writing.) If you are not comfortable using a reasonably full-featured calculator, I strongly suggest that you learn how to use this one before getting to business school. The Owner’s Handbook and Problem-Solving Guide provides a good guide to using the calculator. Do not feel compelled to read the whole thing, but do read the initial chapters, which show how to get started, and how to use the percentage and calendar functions, and the basic financial functions. Then read about “additional operating features.” Glance at the chapters on statistics functions, real estate, investment analysis, leasing, and bonds. These features may not be meaningful at this time but they will prove immensely useful soon, so know what is available. Last, be sure to read the first half of the appendix concerning the automatic memory stack to learn how to make use of the calculator’s memory capabilities. Another booklet, entitled HP-12C Solutions Handbook, is generally not included with the calculator, but it is well worth buying separately. It shows additional techniques you can use for investment analysis, forecasting, statistical analysis, and learning curve generation.
PREPARING FOR THE CORE COURSES
So much for the preliminaries; now let’s look at the substantive courses. The key here is to avoid shouldering a full slate of courses for which you are not adequately prepared. If you have no idea of the basics of accounting or finance and you are going to take courses in both at the same time, along with several other courses in which you are comparatively weak, you will be in for a tough time. Limit yourself to only one quantitative or heavily conceptual course per term in which your background is a distinct liability. Notice that I emphasize the quantitative courses. Most students, whatever their backgrounds, feel that the nonquantitative courses, such as Marketing and Organizational Behavior, are the easiest to survive without any relevant background. The tough ones to survive are the quantitative courses and the heavily conceptual courses.
THE DIFFICULT COURSES
The quantitative (and thus difficult) courses are Accounting, Quantitative Methods, and to a lesser extent, Information Systems. Economics, Finance, and perhaps to a lesser extent, Operations Management, are a cross between quantitative and conceptual.
THE EIGHT CORE DISCIPLINES—GETTING A JUMP-START
ACCOUNTING. Taking the introductory accounting course at a top-flight business school is often a demanding proposition. The course is taught at a high level and unfolds very quickly. The inclination of the professor to speed is likely to be reinforced by the substantial number of accountants and financial analysts sure to be in the class. Do not try to get up to their level before class begins, but at a minimum you should familiarize yourself with double-entry bookkeeping, the accrual concept, and the basics of the balance sheet and income statement. Ideally, you should also have a nodding acquaintance with the concepts and principles underlying external financial statements—including the accounting cycle (from recording financial transactions to the preparation and analysis of financial statements)—as well as how managers use internal accounting information in their decision making.
A traditional means of preparing is the classic self-teaching text by Robert
N. Anthony, Essentials of Accounting (Addison-Wesley, 1993), 211 pages, $29.95. This book takes you by the hand through a series of exercises that will teach you the basic vocabulary and methods of accounting. A good alternative is by Joseph Peter Simini, Accounting Made Simple (Doubleday, 1988), 162 pages, $12.00. If you are able, consider reading a book that shows some of the uses of accounting information. James Bandler, How to Use Financial Statements: A Guide to Understanding the Numbers (Irwin, 1994), 147 pages, $17.50, provides a good introduction to accounting data from the perspective of a user of the information. It is easy to read and makes a good companion to Anthony or Simini. Better yet, take an introductory accounting course at a local school. I suggest that you take the financial accounting course rather than the managerial one, or a class that combines the two fields.
The accounting knowledge you acquire will be of value in many of the
other courses you take, so do not worry that you are overinvesting effort in learning accounting before business school.
ECONOMICS. Some schools teach just one economics course, perhaps calling it Managerial Economics. Others teach both microeconomics and macroeconomics. The important thing is to be used to the way in which economists think. Microeconomic concepts such as supply and demand analysis, price and income elasticity, complementary and substitute products, opportunity costs, game theory, and externalities should be part of your toolkit before you arrive at business school. Useful preparation would be taking a good microeconomics course at a local school. Many schools will offer an introductory course and an intermediate course. Take the intermediate one; the introductory course will generally be too lightweight to warrant the effort. Better yet, take a managerial economics course if one is offered. At the macroeconomic level, concepts concerning the problems of unemployment and inflation, monetary and fiscal policy, and the like should be familiar to you, although it is more important to be comfortable with micro- than macroeconomic thinking. If you are going to prepare in just one economics field, make it microeconomics rather than macroeconomics.
This is one field that will be very difficult to teach yourself. If you are unable to take an appropriate course, consider hiring a tutor to guide you through a suitable book. A very readable one, covering micro-, macro-, and a bit of inter- national economics is Gary M. Walton and Frank C. Wykoff, Understanding Economics Thday, 2d ed., (Irwin, 1989), 410 pages, $34.50. A good substitute is Stephen D. Casler, Introduction to Economics (HarperPerennial, 1992), 470 pages, $12.00. This covers both micro- and macroeconomics, and is also well-written. Another good substitute is John Duff, Cliff’s Quick Review: Economics (Cliff’s, 1993), 156 pages, $7.95. This is a very good, but very brief, review of the relevant micro- and macro- issues. As such, it would be a good review for someone who had taken the relevant courses, but would probably be much too terse to be readable for an economics novice. No economics book is likely to be easy to read for anyone completely new to the topic, however, so using a tutor is likely to be an important factor in successful preparation.
If you feel up to the challenge of more difficult (and more expensive) material, consider Fundamentals of Managerial Economics (Dryden, 1993), 700 pages, $54.00, by Mark Hirschey and James L. Pappas. It covers only the microeconomic side, but it includes very good discussions of linear programming and finance topics such as capital budgeting.
FINANCE. The introductory financial management course will examine investment and financing decisions: sources and costs of capital, tax strategies, capital budgeting, optimal capital structure, valuation and portfolio analysis, and appropriate dividend policies. If you have the basics of related areas such as accounting and microeconomics under your belt, finance will not be a complete mystery. Nevertheless, several books offer good treatments of aspects of finance that will stand you in good stead. Burton G. Malkiel, A Random Walk Down Wall Street (W.W. Norton, 1990), 440 pages, $14.95, discusses modern financial theory and its relevance to personal investing. Although it focuses on investment decisions rather than financial management, its explanation of risk and return, basic concepts of valuation, the capital asset pricing model, and other foundation stones of modern financial theory makes it a good introduction to finance as well. It is highly readable despite being written at a high conceptual level. Robert C. Higgins, Analysis for Financial Management, 3d ed. (Irwin, 1992), 387 pages, $39.75, covers the usual financial management topics in a readable fashion. It is best read after preparing for accounting. A less readable book, which covers more topics but with little explanation, is Herbert T. Spiro, Finance for the Nonfinancial Manager, 3d ed., (John Wiley & Sons, 1988), 282 pages, $19.95.
INFORMATION SYSTEMS. The introductory information systems course typically focuses on the managerial issues presented by information systems development, deployment, and use. It is likely to cover strategic information systems, current and emerging technologies, and the system development life cycle. It is not devoted to teaching how to use software tools. (It is assumed that you are comfortable using such tools already.) A good overview of these issues is presented in James I. Cash et al., Corporate Information Systems Management: Issues Facing Senior Executives, 3d ed. (Irwin, 1992), $32.95. A good glossary, with extended discussions of key terms and concepts, is presented in Peter G. W. Keen, Every Manager’s Guide to Information Technology (Harvard Business School Press, 1995), 290 pages, $18.95. Pocket Information Technology (The Economist, 1995), 218 pages, 10.99 pounds, presents a useful overview of the field. The same is true of Pocket Telecommunications (The Economist, 1995), 193 pages, 10.99 pounds, regarding the related field of telecommunications.
This field is uniquely subject to obsolescence, so the above publications should not be favored if something much more up-to-date is available.
MARKETING. The introductory marketing course looks at how to define markets, plan product lines, promote the products, establish and manage distribution channels, and establish prices. It will analyze buyer behavior, target market development, segmentation of buyers, etc. It is not necessary to have a lot of marketing background prior to getting to business school, partly because the concepts are more intuitively obvious than those in other areas. If you would like to increase your comfort margin, however, you could read the excellent Introduction to Marketing (HarperPerennial, 1993), 250 pages, $11.00, by Marjorie J. Cooper and Charles Madden. Like the other books in this series, it does a good job covering in a readable fashion the topics that are typically taught in intermediate-level undergraduate courses.
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT. Operations management courses look at the plan- fling and control of operations in manufacturing and service firms. Topics covered generally include forecasting, capacity planning, material requirements planning,just-in-time manufacturing, scheduling, facility layout, facility location, and quality management concepts. I do not suggest that you plow through a production and operations management textbook to prepare for this field. Instead, it would be helpful if you read one book to become familiar in a general way with the main issues. An interesting view of the Japanese operations management system, as contrasted with the traditional American one, is presented in The Machine that Changed the World: The Story of Lean Manufacturing, by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, and Daniel Roos (HarperPerennial, 1990), 323 pages, $13.00. This provides a good overview of the two systems and along the way illustrates many important issues in manufacturing management in the context of the automobile industry. The book is quite good in discussing the relevant evidence in a readable fashion, and is of particular value in introducing new MBA students to methodological matters in a painless manner.
ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT/HUMAN RESOURCES. This course can be taught from any of a number of different perspectives. A modern perspective is offered by looking at how organizations develop. A traditional way to teach is to focus on organizational behavior—how individuals and groups act within organizations, and how best to manage people in organizational settings. Another way is to focus on how to design the structure of organizations. Yet another is to look at human resource issues, such as how to recruit, select, train, develop, appraise, and reward employees. A combination of these views offers what may now be the most common means of teaching the course. The appropriate reading for this course will therefore depend upon the perspective the course adopts.
Some possible readings: A sensible view of organization development is offered in W. Warner Burke, Organization Development, 2d ed., (Addison-Wesley, 1994), 214 pages, $26.95. Many of the issues of organizational structure are laid out in Jay Gaibraith, Designing Complex Organizations (Addison-Wesley, 1973) $26.95. The human resource issues are given a good overview treatment in Michael Beer et al., Managing Human Assets (Free Press, 1984), 288 pages, $27.95.
One major caution: do not do any of this reading until you are comfortable in the other areas discussed here. This subject is the one most people find easiest to pass and success in it is not generally rated as very impressive by other students. Thus reading to prepare for this field, if it displaced other preparation, would represent an overinvestment, and poor use, of time.
QUANTITATIVE METHODS. Quantitative methods for managers generally include decision trees, sensitivity analysis, scheduling and queuing theory, linear algebra and linear programming, and various statistical methods. The statistical techniques ordinarily covered include descriptive statistics, random variables, probability distributions, sampling techniques, statistical estimation, hypothesis testing, contingency tables, analysis of variance, regression (simple and multiple) and correlation analysis, and time series forecasting. (This course is almost sure to make extensive use of microcomputer statistical software, including spreadsheets.) It is not vital that you be up on all of these, but have a basic understanding of the standard statistical tools. An introductory statistics course is a valuable investment; otherwise, use a tutor to guide you through the basics. The book you use could be a standard statistical text for business, such as Edwin Mansfield, Statistics for Business and Economics: Methods and Applications, 5th ed. (WW. Norton, 1994).
If you will be reviewing largely on your own, there are very few books that you can realistically expect to get through. The one that offers you the best chance is Terry Dickey, Using Business Statistics: A Guide for Beginners (Crisp Publications, 1994), 115 pages, $9.95. This is extremely readable, although it will take substantial work. It covers descriptive statistics, probability distributions, random samples, contingency tables, regression, confidence intervals, and measures of variability. Another possibility is Martin Sternstein, Barron ‘5 Eli 01 Study Keys: Statistics (Barron’s, 1994), 199 pages, $5.95. This covers more material than Dickey, but it is covered in a slightly less intuitive way; it would make a very good companion to Dickey. Try reading Dickey first, then Sternstein. If you cannot find either of these, a possible substitute would be The Little Black Book of Business Statistics, by Michael Thomsett (American Management Association, 1990) 233 pages, $14.95. It gives a reasonably sophisticated view of the ideas underlying basic statistical techniques of importance for managers without drowning the reader in details or equations. It is concise and readable, although the math phobic might require help getting through it.

venkatmba - 2008-7-27 12:43:00

WHAT THE ADMISSIONS DIRECTORS ADVISE
HOW TO PREPARE
·
We recommend that students take classes in calculus, microeconomics, a basic class in computers, and basic accounting (to get familiar with terminology and basic concepts). Rob Garcia, MIT
·
Even for the undergraduate business major, depending upon how many years you’ve been out of school, a course in statistics or a quantitative methods refresher is always appropriate. You want to be up to speed from day one in the classroom. Fran Hill, Haas (Berkeley)
·
For people who majored in the liberal arts or in certain of the social sciences (particularly international studies or political sciences), or, interestingly enough, architecture, the comfort level as well as the performance level improves dramatically to the extent that they take “remedial courses for business school.” I think that it’s absolutely critical for people with this background, and I think it’s to be recommended for people with many other backgrounds, too. If you don’t know algebra cold, for example, you’ll be at a disadvantage on the first day of class. Sure, you’ll get through it, but there’s a question of how many hours you want to spend on your problem sets and how much anxiety you want to put yourself through. All of this can be remedied by enrolling in a local community college and taking a stats course, taking an econ course, etc., just so that you can familiarize yourself with the material. Fran Hill, Haas (Berkeley)
·
Computer literacy is a minimum-minimum. We run a pre-stats course, since so many people get stuck on that. We also suggest that people read the business strategy books to get the vocabulary. Professor Leo Murray, Cranjield (England)
FOR PEOPLE STILL IN COLLEGE
·
People still in college who know that they may eventually do an MBA should take advantage of the opportunity to make sure that their basic skills are at a level they are comfortable with. For communications skills, that might mean taking a basic speech course or two and some additional writing courses. For people who are outside the technical/business realm it might mean homing in on quantitative courses. It would be sensible to take one or two accounting courses, some economics, and some math, at least through basic calculus and statistics. In the junior or senior year, plan to take the GMAT. Prior to doing so, do whatever is necessary to get a strong score. Judith Goodman, Michigan
FOR CAREER-SWITCHERS
·
An arts graduate who wants to switch careers after getting an MBA needs to take frill advantage of the opportunities in and out of class, She needs to get a start on her new career while she is at business school, some relevant experiences that will help her appeal to an employer in the fIeld. If she were interested in consulting, for example, she could do some small business consulting on a part-time basis, whether she gets paid or not. This won’t be possible, though, if she has to spend twenty hours of time preparing for her accounting or economics class. Many students who are economics majors don’t waive the basic economics course, so competing with them when graded on a curve is tough if you have never seen economics before. Linda Baldwin, UCLA
FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
·
For international students, we suggest a class in which they have to participate in English—to get them used to that. This is a problem many of our international students face. Rob Garcia, MIT
OTHER READINGS
The texts suggested above were chosen on the basis of their readability and conciseness, and, in many cases, their low price. I have tried to find books designed to introduce readers to the key ideas and techniques that will facilitate further learning; I have not chosen books that will substitute for the actual readings in courses. In other words, following the preparation suggestions above will make it possible to follow a course at a top school without fear of being overwhelmed or of being unable to get the maximum out of the course.
These readings are not meant to be definitive. If you find a book that seems to cover the basic concepts in a readable fashion, by all means read it. If the books listed above are unavailable, not to your taste, or if you simply want to pursue the subject further, consider choosing one of the following:
The HarperPerennial series of business publications, as noted above, is a good set of books designed to appeal to those who need to grasp the material offered in an American undergraduate course at an intermediate level. As such, it is at an ideal level for someone who wishes to gain a substantial understanding of a subject prior to entering an MBA program. These books retail in the United States for approximately $12.00.
A British series, published by Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd., provides a good overview of a wide range of relevant topics. This series, entitled The Essence of Managements is not perfect for these purposes, however, insofar as it is written at a slightly too high level, and is perhaps overly concise. This is not to gainsay the fact that it is well written, but to suggest that it may be a bit difficult as an introduction to a subject. The following books are included in the series:
The Essence of Financial Accounting
The Essence of Management Accounting
The Essence of Economics for Managers
The Essence of Financial Management
The Essence of Information Systems
The Essence of Marketing
The Essence of Organizational Behavior
The Essence of Operations Management
The Essence of Statistics for Business
They retail in the United States for approximately $20.00 and in the UK for approximately 1 0.00—i 2.00 pounds.
Last, the Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Outline series offers possible substitutes in the following areas, but these are not truly reader-friendly, being in highly abbreviated outline form:
Principles of Accounting I & II
Calculus
Principles of Economics: Macroeconomics
Principles of Economics: Microeconomics
Financial Management
Principles of Marketing
Business Statistics
There are generally 250—300 pages and priced at about $13.00 in the United States.
Several books are available that aim to teach readers “the skills taught in top business schools,” as Steven Silbiger’s book The 10-Day MBA (William Morrow,. 1993), claims. Silbiger, a Harvard MBA, does a better job than most in capturing some of the essence of MBA core courses in one volume; however, the aim of somehow duplicating the offerings of a serious program in 375 pages is, on its face, preposterous. The book virtually ignores information systems, does not do justice to microeconomics and the need for an understanding of supply and demand curves and the like, but it does do a fair-to-good job on marketing and, to a somewhat lesser extent, organizational behavior and finance. Its treatment of most subjects is simply too brief and limited to be of value to those who need a solid introduction to quantitative areas. If you are generally well prepared in quantitative areas and would like a very brief introduction to other areas, however, this is the class of the “one-volume MBAs.”
HOW TO FIND THE BOOKS
Many of these books are readily available at academic or business bookstores throughout America. This does not mean, however, that you will be able to get all of those you might like, particularly if you live in a small town or in another country. Contacting the publishers directly is oftentimes far too time-consuming and effort-filled. We have generally ordered our books through Cody’s (see Chapter 3).
SPECIAL NOTES FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
It is generally easier to order these books from a good bookstore in the United States rather than overseas, given that these U.S. bookstores are accustomed to dealing with the relevant publishers on a regular basis.
CONCLUSION
An entering student does not have to be at home in all of these areas, but the
more he knows, the better. A reasonable minimum familiarity would include:
·
Spreadsheet and word-processing computer software
·
Robert N. Anthony, Essentials of Accounting and James Bandler, How to Use
Financial Statements: A Guide to Understanding the Numbers
·
Gary M. Walton and Frank C. Wykoff, Understanding Economics Today
·
Terry Dickey, Using Business Statistics: A Guide for Beginners and Martin
Sternstein, Barron ‘s EZ-1 01 Study Keys: Statistics
·
Robert Ronstadt, The Art of Case Analysis: A Guide to the Diagnosis of Business
Situations
·
Peter H. Selby and Steve Slavin, Quick Algebra Review: A Self-Teaching Guide
If you are going to attend a mathematically inclined program, read one of
the more advanced math texts discussed earlier in this chapter.
Any level of knowledge below this basic familiarity is an open invitation to
trouble!
A second tier of basic readings and other preparation would include:
·
Burton G. Malkiel, A Random Walk Down Wall Street
·
James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones, The Machine That Changed The World: The Story of Lean Manufacturing
·
Mary Munter, Guide to Managerial Communication
·
Database and presentation computer software
·
HP-12C Calculator use

One of the unfortunate aspects of trying to prepare for business school is that the courses that are most difficult to get through are the same quantitative/conceptual courses that are also the most difficult to prepare for on your own. Accounting, Quantitative Methods, and Economics are the principle stumbling blocks. It will be easier to tackle these prior to business school if you can take introductory courses in them at a local school. If not, do consider getting a tutor to help you because a good, or even adequate, tutor can take much of the fear and loathing out of your preparation. One of the great problems in trying to learn economics, for example, is running into one or two points that baffle you and prevent further progress, when having a tutor on call would allow you to get immediate help and thus to keep progressing.
The last point is the same as the first. If you reach business school without having prepared properly you will regret it. Anything that is difficult two months before the program starts will get much more so when you have to learn it along with all the other concepts and techniques that are being piled on you each day.
APPENDIX
Advice from the University of Texas Regarding “Core Course Preparation”
As with most programs nowadays, the University of Texas at Austin sends out a memorandum to incoming students about ten weeks before the program starts. It describes the estimated costs of the program, the hardware requirements for a student’s PC, and suggestions regarding how to prepare for the core courses. I have excerpted some of the relevant portions to give you the flavor of their advice.
“If you have never had an accounting course or if you walk in fear of financial statements, don’t worry. The MBA core course in financial accounting assumes that you have no background in accounting. But. . . with that in mind, we do move at a rapid pace. The advice is to obtain a copy of any Introduction to Financial Accounting text and review the first few chapters. . . . Also, obtain a copy of your company’s annual report to shareholders. If your company is private, obtain a copy of a public company report. Read the report. Become familiar with the issues that are discussed. You may find that much of the language in the report is unfamiliar. You need to become familiar with the vocabulary of business. There is no time like the present to begin. Begin reading the popular press. Business Week, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, and The Wall Street Journal are good places to start. Become familiar with the issues of the day and the names of the players.”
The memorandum continues:
“For finance, economics, and statistics if you are comfortable with and can do the
following, you are in good shape.
·
Graph functions of one variable.
·
Calculate the areas of triangles and rectangles.
·
Solve two equations and two unknowns; (that is, find the point on a graph where

two lines or curves intersect).
·
Explain what a derivative is …
and what the derivative represents.
·
Calculate the first and second derivative of a function of one variable.”

venkatmba - 2008-7-27 12:44:00

HOW TO GET
THE MOST
OUT OF BUSINESS SCHOOL

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

·
Get your life organized before the first day of class.
·
Understand how best to manage your time.
— As Chapter 15 noted, adequate preprogram preparation is vital.
— Capitalize on the skills of others by structuring a strong study group.
·
Recognize that business school is about more than class work.
·
Keep stress under control.
·
Take advantage of the social (and networking) opportunities.

HIT THE GROUND RUNNING
To get the most out of business school, you must be ready to start working hard from the beginning of the first class. There are two keys to this. The first is to be organized and in control of your new life before classes start. Move into your new apartment and get it stocked and organized before classes begin. Don’t be living out of a suitcase in a hotel and needing to look for an apartment and some furniture during the evenings when you should be doing your class assignments.
The second key, discussed at length in Chapter 15, is to be up to speed on the basics before you start classes. This means knowing how to use a spreadsheet and word-processing package as well as a financial calculator, being comfortable with some amount of calculus and statistics, being familiar with accounting and economics fundamentals, and of course being ready to participate fully in English (or the relevant language).
TIME MANAGEMENT IS YOUR BIGGEST RESPONSIBILITY
Business schools deliberately give you more work to do than any human could possibly manage to complete. They want to force you to do two things. First, they want to make you seek out help from other students, generally through study groups. This sort of team formation is exactly what businesses expect of their better employees, so it is appropriate for business schools to try to generate it as well. Second, you are expected to learn how to prioritize your assignments. Some readings are critical and you should do them thoroughly and well. Others are overly long and should just be skimmed for their main points. Still others are essentially for fanatics only and should (I hope) be ignored. Just as in any executive position, the potential work facing you greatly exceeds your time available to do it. You must learn what is most important for each course and focus on precisely that, doing additional work only as time allows.
Falling behind is the biggest trap you face. If you fail to keep up, you will face ever increasing problems. Falling behind results in a downward cycle: You have trouble following today’s lecture because you hadn’t prepared for it, so you must do extra work to make up for your lack of understanding of the lecture, meaning that you will never have time to get ready for tomorrow’s lecture, underpreparation for which will mean that even more work is required to be able to make up for your lack of understanding of it, and so on.
Time management extends to your whole business school experience, not just your classes. This chapter recommends that you get involved in student clubs and sports, and get to know your fellow students and professors. You must learn how to do your classwork efficiently, as the following two sections discuss, and also decide in advance how you will spend your free time. Arrange your schedule to make time for the key activities you value most highly, and limit your involvement with other matters. You might have time to participate actively in two clubs, a sport, and a volunteer group, along with attending various career services workshops and special lectures that interest you, but you are unlikely to be able to participate in six or eight clubs and play as many sports, too.
CHOOSE YOUR STUDY GROUP WISELY
Study groups are an important part of business school for almost everyone. Some schools choose your study group members for you, but if you are allowed to choose your own study group, do so carefully; its makeup can be a major influence on your whole business school experience. You will rely on your study group in your first term. You will be able to use it as a sounding board before you present ideas in class, which will keep you from making some silly comments and encourage you to share genuine insights. You will also use it extensively to prepare assignments when you do not yet know how to reduce your work to manageable proportions by doing only the essential and skipping the rest. It will be very helpful in getting ready for your first sets of exams, helping you master concepts that are difficult for you but easy for someone else in the group.
Even after your first term or first year, a good study group will live on in importance. You may meet for major assignments and exam preparation in later semesters. If you picked the right group, you will have become close friends with some of its members. You will be able to help each other for years to come. In fact, this will be the core of your own contact network.
An ideal study group is invariably made up of individuals who are strong in
very different aspects of business, yet who are personally compatible.
CUT TO THE CHASE
There are too many assignments in business school, and they are too long, to do all of them completely. You have two key ways to keep from being overwhelmed. One of them, described above, is to form an appropriate study group. The other, and arguably more important one, is to learn how to do the essential work first, and the inessential later (or not at all).
One group of students comes to business school trained in these techniques, so try to follow their example. Students who have worked in corporate strategy consulting firms like Bain & Co. and McKinsey have spent several years learning exactly this. What you will see them do is ignore extraneous detail and side issues and home in on one or two critical issues of a case. They will generate impressive analysis of those one or two issues rather than scatter their efforts and do unimpressive analysis of two dozen issues. They will be well prepared to discuss cases (or readings) on this basis, but they will not have had to expend prodigious amounts of work and late nights to do so. To work effectively, you must learn to see the forest rather than the trees, the big picture rather than only the details. You will do detailed analyses, but only as they relate to the critical issues.
DEVELOP SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE THAT ARE VITAL TO YOUR CAREER (AND DIFFICULT TO DEVELOP OUTSIDE OF BUSINESS SCHOOL)

A number of skills beyond those taught in the core courses will be vital to your career progress. The softer skills include negotiation ability, oral and written communication prowess, and the ability to influence different types of people in a range of situations. Harder skills include the ability to price money, analyze currency risk, put together worldwide cashflow models for large corporations, or build econometric models of factors influencing demand for complementay products across various markets.
The time to build your intellectual toolkit is during the program. Take courses that will build strong skills rather than just give you the sort of knowledge you could readily acquire on your own. If a certain industrial marketing course involves learning little more than you could get by reading a standard text on the subject, take something like the marketing research course that develops advanced statistical modeling techniques instead. Select courses for the chance to develop the softer skills, too. Many graduates who have been out for five years or more say that the most valuable course they took, or the one they wish they had taken, was a negotiation course, because so much of what they do in every aspect of their jobs involves negotiating.
In addition, look for opportunities to build your skills in extracurricular settings. In particular, look for chances to give stand-up presentations whenever you can, because this sort of skill will be critical to your advancement throughout your career and it is something few people are ever truly good at.
WHAT THE ADMISSIONS DIRECTORS SAY ABOUT GETING
THE MOST OUT OF BUSINESS SCHOOL
·
Although academics are a substantial part of your MBA experiences, there is more to the experience. Learning how to structure teams, motivate people, manage differences with people, and lead are all parts of the MBA experience. The foundation for important relationships, both business and friendship, evolve not only during the two years of school but over one’s lifetime. A portion of the time is spent in dialogues with professors and business executives that extend beyond the classroom presentation to meaningful exchanges, of ideas, opportunities and so on. This is a time in life to get the maximum out of your two-year investment. Learning a language, exploring areas of interest that have clamored for attention, and even traveling to new markets through exchange programs or DOJs (days on the job) are some of the benefits. Why make academics skill the only return on your investment?
Linda Baldwin, UCLA
·
People who don’t know why they’re getting an MBA miss a lot of opportunities; ten years later they realize what they could’ve gotten out of it and regret having just drifted through the program instead of paying attention to the opportunities that were all around them. Brian Sorge, Kellogg
·
The type of person who goes grade-hunting, who even takes courses he’s already familiar with in order to boost his grades, doesn’t get as much as he could out of business school. Andrew Dyson, Manchester (England)

FOR CAREER-SWITCHERS
·
Someone who intends to change careers should have either one definite career she is going to go into, or two or three possibilities for what she might do, things that she will explore over the next two years. She should have thought about it. She should try to get an internship in a relevant area. Henry Maim, flick

THINK OF YOUR FUTURE CAREER
Presumably, one of your primary reasons for being at business school is to propel your career forward. If you do nothing other than work hard for your classes, however, you will miss a large part of what business school offers in terms of career advancement. Several nonacademic parts of the business school experience are ideal for career enhancement, as are specific courses. Discuss with potential future employers and the career services office which skills you should master and experiences you should gain during the program. Some suggestions:
·
Join student clubs that are relevant to your likely future career. For example, if you are interested in management consulting, join the management consulting club. You will have a chance to get to know the other members who are themselves interested in consulting. They will be valuable contacts in the future for information about the industry, job opportunities, and the like.
·
Practice your skills in club settings and elsewhere. Businesses hire people who are leaders, communicators, skilled analysts --- in other words, doers. You have a chance to demonstrate and refine these skills in various settings during business school, including by helping to run a student club, by working for a volunteer organization, or by working part-time for a business in a field related to the one you intend to work in upon graduation.
·
Take advantage of the opportunity to get to know your classmates. You will learn a lot from their experiences and will profit from their friendships in the future, including in career terms. Staying in touch with them will provide you with important career advice and information.
·
Get to know faculty members, especially in your chosen field. You will learn a lot more about a field if you spend time with the faculty members who are doing research in it. They will also be able to put you in touch with good industry sources to discuss the field and potential employers or specific job prospects. You do need to avoid the appearance of trying to cozy up to them simply to improve your grades or to benefit from their largesse without giving back as well. A sincere interest in learning about the field, on the other hand, will meet with a positive response.
·
Take advantage of the professional services offered by the career services office. Take their résumé preparation and interviewing workshops, have them tape one of your presentations and a couple of mock interviews, and consult them about your career plans. These experts are a source of knowledge you would have to pay a great deal to consult outside of business school, so be sure that you do not waste an opportunity to get their input for nothing.
NETWORKING
One of the most valuable assets you will have upon graduation is your network of contacts from your MBA program. This network can help you to get jobs and even, through knowing whom to call for information and assistance, help you in your current job. The key to building an appropriate network is of course to make friends, avoid making enemies, and impress as many people as possible. The impression that you should make is of being clever, hardworking, a great team player, dependable, sensible, and comfortable working under pressure. In other words, your performance at business school will have a major bearing upon the network—as well as the skill base—you develop. Do not go to extremes in trying to network, however, because people trying to curry favor rather than develop relationships will always run the risk of annoying people.
KEEP STRESS UNDER CONTROL
The first months of business school are loaded with stress. You will probably be in an unfamiliar environment, surrounded by people you don’t know, and be expected to produce more work faster than you ever have before. In addition, you may be competing with people of a higher quality than you have ever encountered before. This, combined with your high expectations for your own performance, can generate tremendous pressure.
Such pressure can be good or bad. Pressure can motivate you to work hard in a focused fashion. On the other hand, too much pressure can paralyze you and leave you unable to work or concentrate.
To avoid being overwhelmed by stress, be aware of the signs. If you feel panicked about not meeting your goals, or enraged about what is being asked of you, or you are feeling the physical symptoms of stress (such as a knot in your stomach, compulsive consumption of food, alcohol, or cigarettes, or tightness in your neck and shoulders), you may well be suffering from excessive stress.
Then recognize what is causing your stress. This is likely to be a combination of two things. First, you are demanding too much of yourself. You are expecting to complete every assignment down to the smallest detail, without using your study group for appropriate help. And you are probably expecting to get through the whole program without falling flat on your face a few times. Be realistic; disappointments and mistakes are a normal part of the learning experience. Second, you are failing to appreciate that business school programs deliberately give you more work than anyone can do in the time available.
This can be a rotten combination. You need to learn, as noted above, that you should expect only to complete the most important parts of your assignments, not all of them. You must carefully and firmly prioritize what you will do and what you will skip.
In addition, keep your everyday life under suitable control:
·
Get regular exercise. Pick a sport you enjoy and devote half an hour or an
hour to it at least five days each week. This will provide you with a suitable
outlet for your anxiety, anger, and frustration.
·
Eat properly. Too many late-night pizzas, or burgers wolfed down minutes before class, will eventually sap your energy and health.
·
Get a reasonable amount of sleep, and make sure that once a week you get an extra couple of hours to help make up for your overly-demanding schedule.
·
Last, do not let yourself be bothered by trivial annoyances. Learn to kid around with someone about the sillier aspects of your existence, including those that rile you despite their being not worth annoyance, let alone anger. For example, if you are cut off by a driver on the way to school, it is not worth screaming and yelling at him just because you are not suitably relaxed. The more such occurrences bother you, the greater the cumulative level of stress you will feel.

DON’T FORGET THE SOCIAL EXPERIENCE
Get involved in school life. Join several clubs, participate in a sport or two, and get to know your classmates and your professors. Involve your spouse in as many activities as possible, because it will enrich your experience to be able to share it with someone who truly understands what is involved, and he or she will enjoy the time rather than resenting your new and all-consuming lifestyle.

留学之家留学DIY社区