A little known resource for undergraduates students interested in a graduate business program at BYU is the Marriott School Academy (listed as MBA Academy on the Marriott School of Management’s website). Many of you have probably never heard of the Academy. You aren’t alone. When I was first approached about heading the Academy, I wondered why I hadn’t heard of this program during the two years I was in MBA school and quickly discovered that the Academy was only started three years ago.
What is the purpose of the Academy? To quote the Marriott School’s website, “The MBA Academy is a structured program designed to assist prospective graduate students with the MBA application process, GMAT preparation, and the post undergraduate job search. Its purpose is to attract talented college juniors and seniors who can offer a diverse perspective to the Marriott School MBA program.” The program includes a three-day retreat before school starts and a student development class during Fall Semester.
Now that we have gotten through all the formality, let me give me you the inside scoop. Andrew Woo already had taken the GMAT and applied for Harvard’s 2+2 program when he joined the Academy, but realized an opportunity existed that would help him pursue his goal of an MBA. Little did he know where it would lead him.
Since September and October are big recruiting months on campus, I focused the student development class on resume building, networking, and interviewing. Andrew reworked his resume using the guidelines discussed in class then contacted me for another review. We spent over an hour reworking every line of his resume to reflect MBA principles of action verbs and quantifiable results.
In class we talked about elevator speeches and how to use these to begin conversations with recruiters. Andrew had a chance to use his elevator speech at multiple Academy networking events with such companies as Intel, Ford, Goldman Sachs, and Union Pacific. For one event, the Academy partnered with the ALPFA club (Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting) for the Minority Summit which had such companies as KPMG, Ernst & Young, PWC, AMEX, Cisco, AFLAC, and others. Once again, Andrew continued to hone his networking skills and found himself invited to company information sessions.
During this time, I introduced behavioral based interview questions to the Academy. The student development class focused on creating STAR stories from their resumes and Andrew was no exception. Current MBA students came to class and conducted mock interviews with the students and provided valuable feedback. Andrew took that opportunity to learn and refined his stories. He recognized the need for more practice. He reached out to me as the Academy coordinator, and I was able to help him improve his stories in multiple mock interviews.
All this work and diligent effort paid off. Andrew applied for a position with Bain and was invited for an interview. The day finally came that he had been waiting for. Bain called and offered him a full-time position. Andrew approached me at the end of class one day to share the good news. He explained why Bain offered him the position. “You interviewed like an MBA not an undergrad.”
That is what the Marriott School Academy is all about. We help students prepare and find valuable full-time employment which gives them the work experience necessary to succeed in an MBA program. Each student in the Academy has a story. Andrew’s is only one of many. If you are interested in applying for the Academy’s Fall 2011 class, email me at thamina@byu.edu. I’ll help you as you begin your own story.
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