Do I have to be a "quant jock" or are the math topics on the GMAT enough? I took a basic stats class as an undergrad and I try to avoid the heavy maths. If I focus on HR or general management, how much math will I encounter?

I'm starting my MBA in 2 months, so I haven't taken any classes yet, but I saw some of the materials and exams for courses like microeconomics or statistics, as well as MBA Math preparation course, and honestly it's basic stuff (of course I'm not talking about some derivatives courses, or PhD courses that you could take). You shouldn't have any problems.

If you can add, subtract, divide, multiply and do basic high school algebra, you'll be fine.

Alex Chu

Most of the math is very basic...Thank god!

I just finished my first year and only struggled at stats.

The GMAT has basic math like they said, add, divide, algebra...its more about being able to recognize and implement concepts. Once you start studying for the GMAT you'll see :)

Is there such a thing as a "lifestyle" consulting firm, similar to law firms? I'm a career changer and although management consulting is something that interests me, the heavy travel does not. I am based in the NYC area and I'm looking at NYU FT or Duke/Darden EMBA. Are there consulting firms that stay local or travel infrequently?

Check out "internal" consulting - a lot of Fortune 500s have internal consulting groups and the travel is minimal to non-exisistent. I know Fidelity and IBM have big internal consulting groups. It is traditional management consulting work (i.e., business strategy, operations strategy, etc.) but your only "client" is your company so you'd be doing projects for various business units or functions within that company. I came from an internal consulting group for a Fortune 15 and many of my colleagues came from Bain/McKinsey/Mercer/etc. and switched to internal consulting because they liked the work but hated the travel. It's still not 9-5 work but the lifestyle and hours are sweet compared to those at a traditional management consulting firm.

Hope that helps...

Check out KSA (Kurt Salmon Associates). They focus on consumer/retail consulting.

I have heard they are good about travel schedules and work/life balance. I know most consulting firms claim that, but I hear KSA makes a sincere effort.

It can be possible to stay local at the top firms too. If you're based in NY and working mostly with financial or pharmaceutical companies, then you'll have a lot of work in Manhattan and NJ. But you'll also be passing up a lot of possible career growth if you don't want to travel.

I am not sure what your background is but if you are interested in Healthcare Consulting, check out ChapterHouse LLC. They are a boutique consulting firm based out of Chicago and the consultants do most of the work in the office.

I'm looking into a 2nd career. I work for an airline as a mid-level manager; I'm pretty much capped at my present salary ($120's) I manage 36 people and I have 17 yrs WE experience.

Actually, the easiest way to stay local is to work for ANY consulting firm from their Washington D.C. office and do Federal government work. Just about everything will be in either northern VA or in D.C. itself.

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First off, let me say how underrated the MBA program is at the University of Utah. Not to sound too pedantic, but the faculty are amazing, the graduate staff offices stay afloat despite frequent turnover, and the students are extremely bright, prepared, and bring a lot to the table. Last I checked the program was rated about 60 according to U.S. News and World Report. The program deserves better than that. It's a great program!

The program starts with a week-long orientation and team building class to promote group togetherness and to weed out the selfishness in each of us. It's also a great time for the individual dog and pony show in front of your fellow MBAs as each student stacks themselves up against their fellow classmates. Let's be honest though, MBAs are as narcissistic, competitive, and self-promoting as they come.

From there the program started slow for about a month, but quickly picked up steam. 18 credits later, the first semester was over and everyone was done stressing over finals and grades. Everyone always says that grades don't matter. Tell that to the person conducting your interview upon graduation and they have to decide between two great candidates; one with a 3.5 and the other with a 3.9. Which do you think they'll take? I've been on the other side of the table conducting those interviews and it does matter.

The most importing thing to remember when starting this program is to participate as much as you can. Class participation is huge in every class. Some of the brightest students end up with poor grades because they don't participate. Participating outside of class is critical to a well rounded education at the U. For some reason, a large chunk of my classmates decline to participate in so much and I think they miss out. A few of the organizations that I'm in include: the Graduate Business Student Association (GBSA), the Consulting Club, the Student Alumni Board, WorkNet, and the College Council. WorkNet was one of my favorite groups this past year because of all the traveling and networking involved. In the fall we traveled to Cincinnati and Louisville and visited P&G as well as National City Bank and made it just in time to watch the U romp Louisville in football. In the spring, off to New York and Washington D.C. I have to toot my own horn and say that because I'm heavily interested in investment banking, I had some major pull on our New York trip. We visited Goldman Sachs, Cerberus Capital Mgmt, JetBlue, ING Capital, and of course the NYSE! Amazing trip! Not my first time to NY as I grew up on the east coast but loved every minute of it. Next we were off to DC, and met with EADS North America, Liberty Mutual (lobbyist office), The Atlantic Council (think tank), and Senator Hatch's office. This was more of a political trip but I got to also go back home. I'm from Maryland and still have family there. Get involved and get out of your comfort zone! Be willing to try new things!

Spring semester was 17 credit hours and extremely time consuming. During spring, we were able to choose two elective courses apart from our first-year regiment. I loved my electives. I took cases in finance with professor Lutz who is very intelligent and quite eloquent. The second elective was B2B marketing with professor Griffin. Abbie Griffin is the endowed chair of marketing at the business school and is the only professor on the board of directors of any company. With a Harvard MBA and an MIT PhD she has a lot to offer.

I finished spring semester with a 3.9 and an extra 5 lbs (from a lack of sleep and exercise). All I have to say is the first year has been great and well worth the effort.