Hi MRD,
Congratulations for your admission. Great news!
I am looking at this thread and thinking over and over whether I should give my opinion or not. However, as a MBA graduate and I used to work for top-5 pharmaceutical companies in Europe for over ten years, I think that I should contribute something.
MBA program is definitely different from other graduate programs in that it provides different learning experience and outcome. Being a good business person, you need to have an excellent social skill. That's why good business program offers party every Thrusday and Friday. When you are in business, you may get your contract sign in a golf court or in the morning after entertaining your customers at night clubs.
I had two bosses who graduated from Wharton Business school. Of course, I could tell how effective these people were when compared to other bosses. They are talented and know what they are doing. They usually focus on survival and good outcome, not a small thing or a small detail. I also have my uncle who graduated from MBA program at Stanford University. Every step he thought, worked, and walked, he seemed to calculate and think wisely. Other people may walk 10 steps to get to their destination but my uncle may walk only 4 steps to get to the same destination. He always taught me to think carefully before proceeding any project.
It is not easy to graduate from Stanford MBA program. He spent 4 years in business school after struggling with many classes because all of those courses were demanding. He also got an Engineering degree (Bachelor degree) from Stanford as well. Of course, he is qualified for the program. I just don't want anyone to paint a picture that graduating from a top university is a piece of cake.
During my MBA program in the US, I had many professors who graduated from Kellog, U. of Chicago, UC-Berkeley, Washington- Olin Business school, Stanford, Yale, and Harvard school business. One of them is a part time professor at Oxford university in England. I can differentiate their teaching methods and their materials and their demanding for the courses from other professors. Usually, they organizedd syllabus of the courses in interesting and really effective manners. After finishing their courses, I did not feel overwhelmed from the courses but felt that I learnt a lot from them. Their exams were not easy either. The projects they assigned also asked what we really needed to know.
These professors will guide you where you can get information from the subjects, not demand you to memorize things or follow only a few textbooks required by business schools. You must be in on going learning process because business practice has changed every day. Whenever, you stop, you will be behind others. They will not focus you on how to memorize the details but tell you how to get the best sources of materials and use them wisely at the time being.
Therefore, please be proud that you can be one of the stars. I believe that working in European company requires you to be trained at least 25% of your work time. Most of the courses in business school may be repetitive in what you have learned from your company.
Actually 680 on GMAT is not bad either. TOEFL= 297, how can you make it? Awesome... My friend was admitted to MIT with GMAT = 610. Now, he is an executive in a major financial firm in my country.
Good luck and be positive. Oh! get some rest before attending the program and experiencing some culture shocks in America. One more thing, beer in American is a little bit stronger than that in Europe...just a reminder...
Knok
