The mbaMission Podcast

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Is an MBA still worth the investment in 2026? What about in the years ahead?

In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, mbaMission Senior Consultant Harold Simansky, Founder Jeremy Shinewald, and Managing Director Gavriella Semaya discuss the MBA’s return on investment, AI, hiring headlines, scholarship opportunities, and the long-term value of business school. They explain why applicants should evaluate the expense of earning the degree through a broad lens that considers professional direction, leadership development, strategic thinking, workplace confidence, and the genesis of relationships that can shape one’s entire career.

The conversation also addresses practical issues. The hosts explain how to use schools’ employment reports in the decision to pursue the degree and how to weigh the short-term costs against the long-term rewards. They also explore the importance of human leadership skills amid the ever-increasing prevalence of AI and how a softer application environment creates opportunity for strong candidates. For anyone wondering whether now is the right time to apply to business school, this episode offers a thoughtful framework for making that call with confidence.

00:00 Is an MBA Still Worth the Investment?

01:30 The Extended Career Value of Business School

05:13 The Human Skills AI Cannot Replace

07:41 Weighing the Overall Return on Investment

10:12 The Truth Behind the Hiring Headlines

13:02 Critical Thinking, Leadership, and the MBA Network

20:28 How a Softer MBA Application Season Creates Opportunity

22:04 Scholarships and the Decision to Enroll

24:00 Final Advice for Long-Term Thinkers

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What does starting a company during business school really demand beyond a strong idea?

In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, host Harold Simansky and Gatehouse Founder Liza Weale sit down with GrowthFactor CEO and MIT Sloan alumnus Clyde Anderson for a candid conversation about the Sloan experience, entrepreneurship, and school fit. Clyde explains how he moved from finance to business school, why Sloan became the right match after a surprising waitlist turn, and how a classroom insight became the seed of a company.

The discussion covers Sloan’s analytical core, its culture of experimentation, the role of co-founders, and the practical resources that supported GrowthFactor, including startup workspace, entrepreneurship classes, faculty guidance, and MIT delta v. Clyde also describes why Sloan remains valuable for students who do not plan to launch a company, from consulting and finance paths to veterans, operators, and students pursuing less linear careers.

For applicants considering MIT Sloan, this episode offers a useful reminder: fit comes from more than a school’s reputation. The strongest match often appears when your goals, your way of learning, and the community around you push you to become more fully yourself.

Guest contact:

Clyde Anderson, CEO of GrowthFactor

[email protected]

https://www.growthfactor.ai/

00:00 From Sloan Waitlist to Startup CEO

05:03 From a Waitlist Update to a Sloan Interview

09:28 The Benefit of Authenticity When Applying to Sloan

13:22 The Birth of GrowthFactor 

19:47 Finding Co-Founders at Sloan

22:51 The Sloan Startup Resources That Supported GrowthFactor

25:07 How Sloan Students Champion One Another

28:38 Sloan Career Paths Outside of Entrepreneurship

34:21 How Delta V Helps Launch Student Ventures

35:17 The Post-Graduate Power of Sloan’s Alumni Network

Book your FREE 30-minute MBA admissions consultation with Harold or another one of our experienced MBA admissions consultants by filling out this form.

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How do MBA admissions consultants help their clients beyond editing their essays?

In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, host Harold Simansky sits down with two highly experienced admissions consultants, mbaMission Managing Director Rachel Beck and Gatehouse Admissions Founder Liza Weale, for a candid, inside look at what MBA consulting entails.

The conversation covers the brainstorming and experience inventory process that begins every client engagement and how consultants build personal relationships with their clients over months of collaboration. Rachel and Liza also shed light on the qualities that separate successful applicants from candidates whose results are less positive. They explain why the process often feels “messy” in the early stages and why reading your essay out loud is one of the most powerful strategies in the revision process. In addition, the discussion touches on the show-versus-tell principle, why applicants should spend more time on their resume, and how to identify “alignment” across an application when reviewing a final draft.

Whether you are just starting to think about business school or are already fully immersed in the application process, this episode offers a rare look at how experienced admissions consultants work and what you can learn from the process, even if you never hire one.

00:00 Pulling Back the Curtain on MBA Consulting

03:18 The Kicker and the Art of Layering: Storytelling in Essays

06:13 Brainstorming and the Experience Inventory Process

09:40 What Makes a Client Succeed and How Relationships Factor In

14:12 The Messy Middle: Ambiguity, Authenticity, and Trust in the Process

16:08 The Importance of Answering the Question and Reading Out Loud

19:19 Editing Without Attachment

20:41 The Underrated MBA Application Resume

31:14 The Human Side of MBA Admissions

Book your FREE 30-minute MBA admissions consultation with Harold or another one of our experienced MBA admissions consultants by filling out this form.

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The old deal with work is broken. Leaders today are looking for a way to get their company’s culture back, but an expert in the consulting space argues that rather than returning to old ways, we should be reinventing work from scratch.

In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, mbaMission Founder Jeremy Shinewald and Executive Director Jessica Shklar sit down with Debbie Lovich, a BCG managing director and senior partner with 32 years of experience, for a conversation about the future of work, the collapse of the traditional employment bargain, and why the most successful companies of the next decade will be the ones that learn to make work human again.

Debbie is the author of Make Work Work: The 5 Daily Practices of the Employee-Centric Leader, available for preorder now. She has spent 32 years at BCG advising global organizations, and this book represents a lifetime of lessons she wanted to pass on before retiring at the end of 2026.

Whether you are a current or aspiring leader, an MBA candidate thinking about organizational culture, or someone who spends most of your waking hours somewhere you wish was better, this episode will give you valuable insight into what the future of work could look like.

Preorder Make Work Work today: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/831079/make-work-work-by-deborah-lovich/

00:00 Introduction: The Old Deal with Work Is Broken

01:27 What Is Employee-Centric Leadership? 

08:12 Joy Is a Business Value Driver

11:51 The Five Daily Practices: An Overview

12:06 Practice 1: Celebrate People – Be Specific, Be Timely, Know Your Person

14:53 Practice 2: Go See and Help – With the Intent to Assist, Not Judge

16:43 Practice 3: Be Interested in the Person – Curiosity as Leadership

18:51 Practice 4: Co-Create Everything – Take Pride, Not Credit

23:07 Practice 5: Do First – Never Ask Anyone to Do Something You Have Not Done

37:09 AI, the Employee-Centric Imperative

Book your FREE 30-minute MBA admissions consultation with Harold or another one of our experienced MBA admissions consultants by filling out this form.

Learn more about onTrack by mbaMission, our innovative, on-demand MBA application platform, and take our two-minute questionnaire to receive your customized learning path.
 
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In this episode, listeners learn how to optimize the formatting of their resume, strategically handle issues with their transcript, and make their short-answer responses effective.

Host and mbaMission Founder Jeremy Shinewald talks with Executive Director Jessica Shklar and Managing Director Rachel Beck about how admissions committees evaluate applicants’ professionalism. Drawing on decades of evaluation experience, these experts discuss why following instructions, avoiding technical jargon, and setting feasible career goals are so crucial in the application process. Listeners gain deep insights into showcasing collaboration over individual achievement, managing post-submission anxiety, and navigating team-based interview formats.

00:00 Hidden Messages in Your Application and Why They Matter

01:26 Professionalism Basics: Typos, Formatting, and the Wrong School Name

03:51 Word Count Violations and Resume Overstuffing

07:06 Interview Rambling and the Wharton Team Based Discussion

11:30 Red Flags in Extracurricular Activities

15:17 Handling Test Score and GPA Shortcomings

20:49 Identity, Oversharing, and Knowing What Belongs in an Application

29:41 Optimizing Short-Answer Application Questions

31:57 Seeing Every Line as an Opportunity

Book your FREE 30-minute MBA admissions consultation with Harold or another one of our experienced MBA admissions consultants by filling out this form.

Learn more about onTrack by mbaMission, our innovative, on-demand MBA application platform, and take our two-minute questionnaire to receive your customized learning path.
 
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What is the case method, and how does it work at Harvard Business School (HBS)? Plus, what should MBA applicants know before they enroll?

In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, host Harold Simansky and mbaMission Executive Director Jessica Shklar sit down with HBS professor Joshua Margolis—a member of the program’s Organizational Behavior Unit and a faculty member in the Christensen Center for Teaching and Learning—for a candid, behind-the-scenes discussion of how the case method works at the world’s most case-driven business school.

Professor Margolis, who helps train the next generation of HBS case method teachers, walks listeners through what a “case” is, how the school’s three-step learning model works (individual prep, study group, full class discussion), and how HBS instructs its faculty to write and teach cases. In addition, he breaks down the infamous “cold call,” including how the classroom is laid out and how faculty keep track of which students have contributed (and which have not). He also explains that the goal of the cold call is to establish a foundation for a robust discussion, not to embarrass the student who is picked.

The conversation also gets practical for applicants: how much time a first-year student should expect to spend preparing for each case (two to four hours individually, plus more as part of their study group), the “learning to learn” curve of the first six weeks, and the “warm call”—when Professor Margolis gives a student five minutes’ notice at the end of class to summarize the discussion, identify three themes, and take a position. In his view, this exercise is the most direct thing HBS does to train future leaders.

00:00 What Is the Case Method (and Why Does HBS Use It)?

01:19 The Three Components of the HBS Learning Model: Case, Study Group, Classroom

03:27 How HBS Faculty Are Instructed to Write and Teach Cases

07:56 What Teaching Using the Case Method Is Like

12:53 How Cases Are Revised After Being Taught 

16:10 How the Cold Call Works and How Faculty Pick a Student to Open Class

19:47 Cold Calls in the Middle of Class and the Warm Call at the End

22:30 How HBS Professors Get to Know Their Students

24:42 How Much Time First-Year Students Should Spend Preparing a Case

28:57 Evaluating a Case Class as a Prospective Applicant

36:13 Understanding the First Six Weeks’ “Learning to Learn” Curve

Book your FREE 30-minute MBA admissions consultation with Harold or another one of our experienced MBA admissions consultants by filling out this form.

Learn more about onTrack by mbaMission, our innovative, on-demand MBA application platform, and take our two-minute questionnaire to receive your customized learning path.
 
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Is real estate a feasible career path for MBA students? And how can one break into the industry?

In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, host Harold Simansky and mbaMission Founder Jeremy Shinewald speak with Frank Cohen, a Boston-based real estate developer, co-founder of Sheridan Road Properties, former senior director at Tishman Speyer, and a Kellogg MBA, about how MBA students can effectively pursue careers in real estate, even if they arrive on campus with no industry background.

Frank also co-leads the JL Access Program at Georgetown University’s Steers Center for Global Real Assets, where he partners with the executive search firm Jackson Lucas to help students build the technical foundation and the relationships they need to succeed in real estate recruiting. He is profoundly familiar with what makes MBA candidates appealing to recruiters and what does not.

The podcast conversation addresses the gap between what business schools teach and what real estate firms hire for, what a real estate interview tests, whether a single “real estate type” exists, how regional the industry is, and the networking tactics that consistently produce results. Frank closes with his best advice for any MBA candidate considering the field and provides some candid insight into what still brings him joy in the work, decades into his career.

If you are weighing whether real estate might be a good career path for you or simply curious about how one of the world’s largest and most dynamic industries recruits business school students, this conversation is well worth your time.

Connect with Frank Cohen: https://jacksonlucas.com/frank-cohen/  

00:00 Why Real Estate Tends to Be Less Represented in MBA Programs

01:53 Frank Cohen’s Path from Northwestern Kellogg to Tishman Speyer and Rockefeller Center

04:51 What JL Access Does for Georgetown Students

07:21 The Gap Between What MBAs Learn and What Firms Hire For

10:40 What a Real Estate Interview Tests

14:20 Breaking into Real Estate with No Industry Background 

17:02 How Regional the Industry Is, and the Importance of School Choice

18:37 The Most Effective Networking Move 

Book your FREE 30-minute MBA admissions consultation with Harold or another one of our experienced MBA admissions consultants by filling out this form.

Learn more about onTrack by mbaMission, our innovative, on-demand MBA application platform, and take our two-minute questionnaire to receive your customized learning path.
 
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Are any MBA applicants truly “nontraditional” applicants?

In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, Harold Simansky is joined by Jeremy Shinewald, the founder of mbaMission, to examine a common notion in MBA admissions: that of the “nontraditional” applicant. Drawing on more than two decades of experience, Jeremy argues that applicants should not focus on whether or not their background is “traditional” but on identifying and showcasing the personal stories that only they can tell.

The conversation covers what overrepresented applicants such as consultants, bankers, and software engineers can do to stand out, and why Olympic athletes and other less-conventional candidates still have to prove classroom readiness. Harold and Jeremy also share practical advice for applicants who are still three to four years away from applying to business school: Figure out what genuinely interests you, invest yourself in it, and let the rest of the story build itself.

The episode highlights several mbaMission success stories, including a pharmaceutical sales rep who pivoted into healthcare private equity, a European hockey player, a small-town mayor, and a professional baker—all of whom illustrate the same point: What makes an applicant memorable is rarely their title but rather the impact they have had on the people and communities around them.

If you are thinking about applying to an MBA program or just curious about how admissions committees view differentiation, this conversation is well worth your time.

00:00 Why “Nontraditional” Is an Inaccurate Label for MBA Applicants

01:50 What Overrepresented Business School Applicants Should Do Differently

04:00 The Bakery Essay: Authentic Storytelling

06:18 Why a Unique Background Isn’t Enough

10:26 The Three- to Four-Year Applicant Playbook

15:09 What Impact in a Corporate Role Looks Like

17:30 Nontraditional Applicant Success Stories

Book your FREE 30-minute MBA admissions consultation with Harold or another one of our experienced MBA admissions consultants by filling out this form.

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What role do informal letters of recommendation play in business school admissions decisions? 

Host Harold Simansky is joined by Melissa Blakeslee, an experienced MBA admissions consultant and former admissions director, to clarify what these endorsements are and why most programs discourage them. In this episode, Melissa shares firsthand insight into how admissions committees evaluate external outreach, helping candidates understand when an extra recommendation can add value and when it might instead cause harm.

Listeners will discover how to handle recommendation offers from well-connected executives, what makes a campus visitor endorsement credible, and how to use specific school initiatives such as Chicago Booth’s “Shape the Class.” The conversation also addresses the proper timing for submitting outside endorsements and how to employ the strategy effectively when waitlisted.

This episode is especially valuable for MBA candidates who are still determining their recommendation strategy or have been placed on a school’s waitlist. Listeners will learn how to identify appropriate individuals to provide an informal note, how admissions readers assess fit, and how an unsolicited letter can inadvertently signal a lack of judgment.

00:00 Introducing Informal Letters of Recommendation

02:14 Defining Informal Endorsements Versus Recommendations

05:51 Using Campus Visit Endorsements to Emphasize Fit

07:58 How Endorsements Vary Across Business Schools

09:56 A Strategy for Waitlist and Deferred MBA Applications

13:01 Examples of Helpful Versus Damaging Endorsements

Book your FREE 30-minute MBA admissions consultation with Harold or another one of our experienced MBA admissions consultants by filling out this form.

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How can MBA applicants and business school students network effectively?

In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, host Harold Simansky and Jessica Shklar, mbaMission Executive Director, speak with Jeff Yolen, CEO and founder of Career Connector, about how to network effectively to advance your career. Jeff explains why cold applications so rarely lead to offers, how referrals can improve your odds of landing a job, and why informational interviews are one of the most valuable tools in the MBA recruiting process.

They discuss how to identify the most valuable contacts, how to write concise outreach messages, what to ask for during a networking conversation, and how MBA students can start building relationships that support both their immediate professional goals and their long-term career growth.

If you are thinking about MBA admissions, MBA recruiting, or your post-MBA career strategy, this episode offers practical advice you can apply right away.

Contact Jeff Yolen: [email protected]

00:00 Networking and Post-MBA Career Opportunities

05:58 Why Cold Applications Fail and Referrals Matter

09:16 Where to Start If You Do Not Already Have a Network

13:20 The Real Goal of an Informational Interview

21:14 How Career Connector Helps Students Network Strategically

25:23 Jeff’s Best Networking Advice for MBA Applicants and Students

Subscribe for more MBA admissions advice and business school strategies from mbaMission.

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