In our 15 years of engaging with MBA applicants here at Clear Admit, we’ve noticed a gaping hole when it comes to how well applicants fully understand their career goals and post-MBA options. Many applicants tell us they want to work in consulting, banking, technology…but when pressed, it becomes clear that few of them truly know and understand what post-MBA jobs in those fields really look like—or how vastly experiences can differ from employer to employer even within the same industry.
With this in mind, we are pleased to announce the launch of a new section on the Clear Admit website devoted to MBA careers. In designing it, we have set out to help non-traditional applicants get up to speed on common MBA career paths, industries and employers; help all applicants understand the exact nature of their career goals and therefore better communicate them in the application process, and position those applicants who already know exactly what they want to begin plotting their course toward a pre-MBA internship at their chosen firm.
MBA Careers Content Valuable to Applicants in Multiple Ways
First, we know that to be successful in the MBA admissions process at leading business schools, prospective applicants must have given considerable thought to their future goals and how an MBA can help them achieve them.
“Most leading business schools expect their applicants to be able to clearly and thoughtfully express both their post-MBA goals and how their school will help them attain them,” says Clear Admit Co-Founder Eliot Ingram, a Wharton MBA who spent years advising MBA applicants on admissions strategy. “Our new MBA Careers section was designed to help applicants thoroughly investigate their career options and be equipped to answer these questions—either in their application essays, as part of the interview or both—in a clear and informed manner.”
Second, we want to help prospective applicants be as prepared as possible for MBA recruiting, which is starting earlier and earlier these days, often well before students even arrive on campus.
“Our in-depth corporate profiles of leading MBA recruiters are designed to help our readers get to know these companies while they themselves are still prospective applicants to business school,” Ingram says. Indeed, the sections on each company include detailed information about pre-MBA internships, how to prepare for recruiting, how important summer internships are to full-time hiring, recruiter preferences and more. They also detail the types of positions open to recent MBA grads and the customary career progression within various industries.
“By providing all of these resources in one place—comparable across industries—we hope to help prospective applicants explore career options thoroughly well before getting to campus so they can hit the ground running when recruiting starts,” says Ingram.
Of course, the MBA Careers section can also be a useful starting point for those even earlier in the process who are just beginning to consider an MBA for the first time. “Perusing its pages can provide a great overview of the options and opportunities the degree provides,” Ingram adds.
Core Content in Place, Enhanced Content to Come
To start, we have provided detailed information on the history of the MBA degree and recent trends in MBA careers, as well as a deep dive into several featured industries, including management consulting, investment banking and technology. For these and other industries, we offer readers an overview of the industry’s history, especially as it relates to MBA hiring, as well as a rundown of leading firms and roles. Within individual industries we go another step further, examining top MBA hirers within the industry. For managing consulting, we have profiled McKinsey, Bain and BCG. For investment banking, we tackle Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. And for technology, we have initially focused in on Amazon and Google. Of course, this is far from a complete list of leading MBA hirers, and we plan to add additional top hiring firms in time.
Beyond the aforementioned content, the new MBA Careers section will also provide a customized newsfeed capturing all related Clear Admit coverage of a given industry or company in one place for easy access. We have also introduced a Student Perspectives feature, in which we hear first hand from current MBA students or recent grads about their experiences either interviewing, interning or working full time for any of the companies we cover. As we incorporate even more student perspectives, we think this feature can help offer a well-rounded view of what it’s like to work at individual firms.
For now, we hope you will dive into our new MBA Careers content and let us know what you think of what we’ve put together so far. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we have enjoyed compiling it. But we also welcome your suggestions and recommendations for additional content that would be useful to you both as you apply to business school and beyond.