I have an interview this Saturday with an Alumni from a top 10 school. We are meeting for a drink at a local resort. What would be advisable to wear in a hot-weather climate to a resort on a Saturday? I'd rather overdress than underdress, but I feel a bit awkward showing up in a suit a tie. Any suggestions? Thanks!

This would be perfect and very appropriate:

http://www.halloweenfantasy.com/files/thumbnails/19705.jpg

If I were you, I would wear a nice suit for the interview. It is always better to be overdressed than underdressed. Unless the interviewer explicity asked you to dress in casuals, I would not take a chance. Moreover, a suit gives a person that professional look, and helps in the overall posture and image! It also shows how serious you are for your MBA. Most of the interviewers will understand your thought process for this decision on the dresscode because they were also applicants few years ago.

You might want to see the dress code question on our interview tips & guidance pages in our 'Interviewing the Interviewer' weekly series.
'Interviewing the Interviewer: Harvard
'Interviewing the Interviewer: Wharton
'Interviewing the Interviewer: Columbia
'Interviewing the Interviewer: Kellogg

Best of luck!

i agree. wear a suit, you can always take your jacket off.

if you are feeling really awkward about wearing a suit, email your interviewer ahead of time and ask them if they could confirm the dress code.

Hi, I don't know exactly how to convert my European GPA into American GPA - I graduated with an average of 17 out of 20, ranking in the 1st position of my class. So, to convert it to the American scale, should I assume the proportional value - 3,4 - or should I assume the american GPA based on a Bell curve, and consequently my GPA should be converted to a 4.0 (meaning top position of class...)?

Your thoughts are really appreciated...

You might want to check out the student section of www.wes.org. They will be able to help you!

Best of luck.

here is how i would do it

17/20 = 85%

4*.85 = 3.4

so your american gpa is a 3.4

ross is way, way off in terms of converting grades to the 4.0 scale.

Most schools prefer to see the raw grades if you weren't graded on the 4.0 scale, rather than a conversion. Many also ask for a class rank.

But if you really are interested in conversion World Education Service is probably the best resource.

FF

why is it off? what's wrong with my logic?

Contact the schools- 9 out of 10 times schools do not want you trying to convert grades on their own. They each have a comparison list that compares different grading structures across countries so they know what one set of grades means versus another set. If you don't ask them and try to do it yourself without guidance, you will most likely do something wrong. I certainly wouldn't rely on somebody's calculation from a message board.

The key point is that the 4.0 scale is based on broad letter grades, rather than quantitative grades. quant versus letter grades do not convert smoothly from one to the other (in either direction).

Assuming a forced curve where 20% of the class received an A, a student who consistently performed at the 80th percentile would have a GPA of 4.0, whereas a brilliant student who topped every class, but struggled in just one class in their entire degree might only have a GPA of 3.95. A numerical based system would produce very different results for these two students.

FF

great point, didn't think about it from that perspective

I am almost finished reading Made to Stick by the brothers Chip and Dan Heath. I recommend it highly to those of you in sales, communications, or teaching. Quant jocks? You probably don't need it.

The authors researched and identified the factors that cause communications to succeed or fail. They boiled their research down to "six principles of stickiness."

- Simplicity
- Unexpectedness
- Concreteness
- Credibility
- Emotions
- Stories

Over the next several weeks I am going to explore these SUCCES principles and apply them to personal statements and application essays. For today let's talk about Simplicity.

Your personal statement or application essay needs a core idea. That essence or central point becomes the driver of all content for that essay. When responding to specific questions, your core must directly and elegantly answer the question. When writing a less-directed personal statement, you still need a driving concept; you just have more choice as to what that concept should be. Everything else in the essay should support that concept.

If writing multiple essays for one application, each essay has to have a core. Those concepts should mesh and complement each other, but not duplicate.

The remaining principles of Making It Stick are means of effectively relating your core idea, but first you need to have a core. Unfortunately, many applicants treat their essays like many teenagers treat their bedroom closets — as a place to put all kinds of "stuff" that may be useful or perhaps once was useful. There is no logic or organizing principle, no driving force. These messy closet essays then read like the mishmash they are.

Essays that are resumes in prose or that attempt to tell your entire life story descend into the mishmash category. Personal statements replete with irrelevant detail stray from their central mission. They are not engaging or persuasive. In fact they bore.

When you write your essay, start with a central idea and then make sure that everything else supports it. That elegant simplicity is not simplistic. It is not even easy. It is highly effective