Admitted by Oxford and IESE, sharing interview and AC exp.

[hccchen]

Admitted by Oxford and IESE, sharing interview exp.

Feel free to contact me anytime if you have any Qs about applying these two schools and of course please contact me if you are going to either one of these 2 schools so we can do some exchanges. hccchen@msn.com. I got both notifications a week after the interviews.

I have getting a lot of help from this site and I felt now it’s the time to give back. It’s sad that we don’t have a lot discussion in the European board. I hope we can now build a stronger European network!!

I conducted on campus interviews on both schools. (2.29 for oxford, 3.7 for iese)

Oxford –

1.) What do you think the challenges you would face if you attend Oxford?
2.) My short term goal is to work in a big corp. so she asked me how do I differentiate myself among other outstanding job candidates?
3.) I emphasized a lot about my hardship when I came to the US @ age of 16. She then asked me if I think it was a mistake to come to the State when I was 16? And how important is my family to me now? What gives me the strength to become who I am today?
4.) What am I going to do with my company now once I attend Oxford?
5.) What do I think is the most important about starting up a company? What advise would I give to people who are looking to start their own company?
6.) What were the biggest challenges I encounter when I was running my own company?
7.) What do I try to get out from Said? What do I like the most about Said?

Those are the main questions that I remembered and there were many other small ones I forgot. The interview was conducted in a way that makes applicants to feel very comfortable. Very conversational; she asked questions and I answered. Nothing like giving out a speech. So I was totally comfortable while I was doing the interview since I am good at carrying out a conversation. However, I was super nervous the day before the interview because this is my first formal interview in my life. 

Since I have gained the interview exp in the Oxford, I was totally relaxed IESE’s interview. No pressure at all and not much preparation either. Mainly, just talk about myself.

IESE –
1.) Why I picked my university (I was like god how do I remember, that was so long ago.)
2.) What I like/dislike about my university?
3.) What my employees hate/like me the most?
4.) Why IESE?
5.) Any other schools that I apply? Any offers yet?
6.) What am I going to do with my shop now once I attend IESE?
7.) What are my weaknesses?

A lot of questions about giving her specific examples such
1.) the difficulties of running my shop?
2.) the difficulties of manage my employees?
3.) the difficulties of maintain relationship with my customers?

I hope this help! I am still debating which school I want to go. I also applied Insead but I probably need to decide between these two before I hear anything back from Insead.

Last but not least, I want to clarify one thing about hiring an admission consultant. I don’t know how Taiwanese students view about admission consultant. I noticed many tw students have prejudice about hiring one because they think people who hire one are the ones that don’t have the ability to do the application on their own. However, I am totally against that, in the US, many outstanding people who are applying for top 10 schools do hire one.

My exp. about hiring Mark, (as many of you probably know him pretty well already)
I was kind of mad about his service in the beginning because I was expecting him to give me the right answers for applying MBA. For instance, what are the answers that Admission Committee would like to hear in the essay? At first I was expecting him to tail my stories to what AC would like to get. However, none of that happened. He doesn’t make up any stories for me; doesn’t tell me what to write. I am basically on my own about discovering why I want to go to an MBA. I struggled a lot about finding my goal of the life and about why I want to pursue a degree in MBA and of course complain to my friends how I don’t think Mark is doing much of his job. However, I started to realized Mark as an Admin Consultant is not a nanny, he will never tell me what to do and what to write. His role is to help me if I have questions. His role is to help me to get in a big picture, lead me to the right direction, and give me good advices based on his exp. Bottom line, without him, I would never apply for European school. I would probably end up with BU in the US. (nothing wrong with BU, its just I would probably gain less if I go to BU since I have been in the state for too long). So I do highly recommend him. Of course, this is just my opinion!

I hope this helps!

[baichingchen]

Congratulations! Thanks for the sharing.

不知道對你來說 Oxford與IESE各自的強弱為何呢？
可以多介紹一些IESE的特點嗎？

[andreaszhd[origen]]

Hi hccchen,

congrats! I think the question basically comes down to your career goal and post-MBA location preference!

As is known, IESE has better placement stats and it's one the three target schools (namely LBS, Insead and IESE)for major banks and consulting firms in Europe. Each year, IESE sends a bounch of grads to banks and consulting firms, mainly to london. If your career goal is IB or MC, IESE defintely could serve your needs. If I were in your shoes, I would not hesitate to go for IESE. BTW, to take the factors of costs and lifestyle into account, IESE would be more favorable (amazing Barcelona is cheaper than Oxford and meanwhile has a lot more to offer, such as arts, cuisine etc). And last, don't forget, you get to aquire one of the most important languages during your studies...


lastly, I am very interested in your idea of hiring an admissions consultant! And thanks for sharing! But I only heard about Alex, Linda etc. Seldom did this Mark come up! Would you mind providing more infos on this, cause I myself am considering doing this as well!!thanks again

[hccchen]

Thanks, I hope my stuff helps.

This is what I think or my experiences about these two schools so far (it’s mainly personal, sorry if not being too professionally here) - still finding more about these two schools from the current students. ")

Oxford- I was very impressed with current students/prospects/faulty- people who I met so far all have at least bi-culture backgrounds; very diversified. I would say it is indeed a very prestige school; it would definitely be my honor if I attend the school there. Very historical school. In another word, very old. older than I expected. If I do go there, I am going to have a hard time adopting the environment there since I am so used to the modern environment.

Cons- for people who know b-schools very well, oxford's b-school is probably not as good as its undergraduate. Its b-school is still very young and it doesn't provide as much recruitment opportunity compare to IESE.

IESE on another hand is very well known in Europe. People who know a lot about MBA actually place IESE after Insead and LBS. I like its 2 year program so i can have more time to actually make the career transition and i love its mainly 90% case study teaching method. If i do go there, i can definitely get a lot of attention and really build up my analytical skills.

i have been in the state for too long and i am too used to have my own space. i felt Spain is really too crowd in a way for me. But again, it will really be nice if I can go to Spain, a country that I really hate now (my wallet was stolen and luggage was lost there), to learn a new language and to survive there by myself. I believe it will really be a challenge for me and I am the type of person who likes to take challenge in life, one of the reasons why I leave my lovely US to Euro.

However, the down side is I hate to explain to my friends/family in both the US and Taiwan what IESE is. Just like I had to explain to them what UC Davis was. So....
This is what I think so far. I will let you guys know what I came up with and hope this will help for people who is looking into European schools.

About Mark, he is the owner of this admin consulting firm name Envision. It doesn’t hurt to talk to him. For me, I think it helps a lot. Like I said earlier; without him, I would never apply to European schools. I was actually thinking if I did met this guy when I was in high school, I might ended up going to Harvard. (with a bit of exaggeration, of course) In a way, it’s all about how you can package yourself and sell yourself and I believe that’s what his job is. He helps you to present to others. Message me if you need his contact. (I should prob. asked him for commission whenever I refer a client to him. Hahahah)

[andreaszhd[origen]]

Hi Hccchen,

thanks for your comprehensive infos!

I believe, no matter which school you end up in, you will thrive!

Wish you all the best in your future endeavors!

^_^

[modern]

hehe, Hcc... You finally appear here. Cong!

BTW, what the heck are you talking about!!

1. Hey, it's ME that introduce you to Mark
2. Hey again, it's I I I I I told you that EU has high caliber schools that might be better options for you before you met with Mark


结果
1.你现在竟然把我忘的一乾二净 去帮那个收妳钱的讲好话,
2.我这没收钱还苦口婆心写了数千字Email给妳, 妳完全不提
3. 好阿....妳欠我三顿龙虾大餐我看妳是要在SF还我还是Barcelona还我!!!! 我要跟妳charge triple 妳欠我九顿龙虾大餐!!

妳犯了中国人的大忌...就是谢词少谢到该谢的人

不但少谢到,还犯了说话没说清楚的大忌第二条

妳完蛋了, 哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈!!!

想要我原谅你, MSN上快来跟我陪失礼吧, 哈哈哈哈哈哈

[hccchen]

唉喲!! 你不 會那ㄇ小氣ㄅ~~
這裡誰不知道你超強 and nice 的. 你當然是我要謝ㄉ第一ㄍ啊!! 但我ㄉPost又沒說要謝 Mark或謝誰, 我只是幫 Mark打廣告--希望人人多考慮他ㄉService而不要對代辦有成見阿!!!
ㄏㄏ, 我想你因該會原諒我ㄌㄅ!! 我可是花ㄌ大半小時打ㄌ這些中文來證明我ㄉ誠意哩！
你還敢說到請吃飯, 上次回台不知道是誰忙到沒時間出來>>
要等到你來找我, 還不如我去北京比較快. 真慘!! 第一次聽到要請人家吃飯還要自己飛過去ㄉ！
你來美國ㄌㄝ我順便可以跟Michael凹一頓大餐~他剛找一份超Niceㄉ工作!
Anyway, 別氣ㄌ啦!!! 小氣鬼heheh

[modern]

來不及了

我不接受你的道歉

妳等著被我追債吧
哈哈哈哈哈







Well....以上都是開玩笑 我們都這麼熟了

大家應該都看得出來我在開玩笑啦

(我開始擔心有人以為我們在打情罵俏起來了.....)

喔對阿 妳飛過來吧 北京沒龍蝦 不然我請妳吃烤鴨吧 總不能讓妳飛過來請我客 唸書之前最好好好玩一下 因為妳快要沒空玩樂了 哈哈哈

(這樣我明年去找妳吃西班牙海鮮飯吧)

[ccuturandot]

最好是我找到好工作....always need to work OT ....

Did my friend share some useful information about IESE ?
Wish he do u some helps !

hey .... let me know ur decision ... then, we can celebrate !

唉喲!! 你不 會那ㄇ小氣ㄅ~~
這裡誰不知道你超強 and nice 的. 你當然是我要謝ㄉ第一ㄍ啊!! 但我ㄉPost又沒說要謝 Mark或謝誰, 我只是幫 Mark打廣告--希望人人多考慮他ㄉService而不要對代辦有成見阿!!!
ㄏㄏ, 我想你因該會原諒我ㄌㄅ!! 我可是花ㄌ大半小時打ㄌ這些中文來證明我ㄉ誠意哩！
你還敢說到請吃飯, 上次回台不知道是誰忙到沒時間出來>>
要等到你來找我, 還不如我去北京比較快. 真慘!! 第一次聽到要請人家吃飯還要自己飛過去ㄉ！
你來美國ㄌㄝ我順便可以跟Michael凹一頓大餐~他剛找一份超Niceㄉ工作!
Anyway, 別氣ㄌ啦!!! 小氣鬼heheh