Admissions Director Q&A Below are links to Clear Admit's exclusive interviews with MBA admissions directors at leading programs.
Application Deadlines Below are the upcoming deadlines for admission to the leading MBA programs.
Essay Topic Analysis Below are links to our comments on some of the leading programs' essay topics.
MBA Tipline We encourage admissions officers, students and applicants to alert us of interesting news and developments, please send an email to news@clearadmit.com so we can blog it. MBA Programs: North America If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
MBA Programs: The Rest of the World As there is some variety in the length of international MBA programs, we have denoted the length of the program next to its name (1 = one year; 2 = 2 years). If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
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Posted by Clear Admit on May 28, 2004, at 9:29 am
As a counterpoint to their earlier article on the positive outlook for MBA’s hitting the job market, the Wall Street Journal recently published another take on the subject that is somewhat less positive. The article focuses on non-top 10 schools like SMU (Cox) and Rochester (Simon) and finds that recruiting and hiring growth, while positive, has been somewhat less robust for graduates of these MBA programs.
Interestingly, the article points out that the numbers coming in from the elite schools may be exaggerating the MBA job market recovery somewhat:
“What has distorted the M.B.A. hiring picture this year is the healthier rebound at such large, elite business schools as Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Given their reputations and size, . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 27, 2004, at 2:22 pm
As we stated in an earlier posting (from May 17th), we strongly encourage MBA applicants to spend time researching their target schools. For those of you considering the Wharton School, we recommend that you check out the Student Diaries. Wharton has a number of students who regularly post thoughts on life in Philadelphia, recruiting at Wharton, academics, etc. This resource allows applicants to get a real first-hand feel for the program.
Those who read the diaries will inevitably have a leg up on the competition when it comes to drafting essays and developing compelling reasons for their interest in the school.
Wharton Student Diaries: . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 26, 2004, at 11:10 am
For those of you contemplating ‘Round 1′ application to the top MBA programs this fall, it makes sense to identify the relevant deadlines in order to effectively plan your essay writing, work schedule, school visits, etc. Although most of the top schools have yet to offer specifics on the fall deadlines, you should be able to get a good sense of what to expect by using the deadlines from last season. See our list below:
Published deadlines for 2005 intakes
INSEAD, R3 deadline for Jan. 2005 intake: July 7th
INSEAD, R1 deadline for Sept. 2005 intake: Oct. 6th
Wharton, R1 deadline for Sept. 2005 intake: October 14th
Schools who have yet to publish 2005 deadlines
Columbia, new deadlines available July 1st (last year’s ED deadline Oct. 15th . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 25, 2004, at 9:28 am
The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) has just published an interesting article about the ongoing b-school rankings debate. As many of you have heard, GMAC plans to enter the fray with a new ‘school-sanctioned’ set of rankings. Here’s a brief excerpt/article summary:
Graduate Management News
You have undoubtedly read or heard about the recent developments in the world of business school rankings. Harvard and Wharton released statements in April that to protect the privacy of their students and alumni, they would cease to provide BusinessWeek with student and alumni contact information, which the magazine uses to compile information for its rankings issues. The move prompted a flurry of stories in the media, letters to the editor, and conversation in person, online, and over . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 21, 2004, at 1:05 pm
Information from our clients as well as discussions on Business Week’s MBA forum suggest that Tuck is offering deferred ‘Class of 2007′ admission to selected waitlist and late-round applicants.
Here’s a copy of the admissions letter that went out to Tuck ’2007′ admits:
—————
Dear XXX:
I just wanted to confirm how much we would love to have you join the Tuck community. Unfortunately, our challenge this year is that a record percentage of students enrolled at Tuck from the earlier rounds. Given our commitment to maintain a small class size, this enrollment level does not leave us much flexibility to offer admission to outstanding people from the April Round or waitlist like yourself. I sincerely wish that the situation were different; nevertheless, we . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 20, 2004, at 3:19 pm
After reading yesterday’s post, many of our readers noticed that Wharton’s new R1 deadline (Oct. 2004) is referred to as ‘Early Decision’ on the their web site. In fact, we received several emails from concerned ‘early bird’ applicants who were afraid that the school had shifted policy and opted to pursue a binding R1 deadline (a la Columbia’s ED round).
After speaking with Alex Brown (Senior Associate Director of Admissions at Wharton), we have learned that the school has not changed their policy and that the October 14th deadline is really more of an ‘Early Option’ decision (or as Mr. Brown says: “We provide the option, non-binding as usual.”). In other words, if you apply to Wharton in October, you will have . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 19, 2004, at 9:32 am
Wharton is one of the first schools to post their new essays and deadline information for the coming admissions cycle.
The deadlines are as follows:
Round One: October 14, 2004 (Early Decision)
Round Two: January 6, 2005
Round Three: March 17, 2005
The essays look like this:
1. Describe your career progress to date and your future short-term and long-term career goals. How do you expect an MBA from Wharton to help you achieve these goals and why now? (1,000 words)
2. Describe an impact you’ve had on an individual, group or organization. How has this experience been valuable to you or others? (500 words)
3. Please complete two of the following three questions (500 words):
—Describe when you were part of a team where the group process and/or intended . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 18, 2004, at 10:42 am
When crafting your MBA resume, be sure to avoid shorthand dates when listing jobs or educational experience. Each year, we see hundreds of resumes that look like this:
-ABC Consulting, Villagetown, New York (2000 – 2001)
-XYZ Consulting, Townsville, New York (1999 – 2000)
It is impossible to tell from reading the two posts above whether or not the person in question has a gap in employment. They may have quit XYZ Consulting on January 1st, 2000 and joined ABC Consulting on December 31st, 2000 – resulting in a full year of unemployment!
Admissions officers and MBA interviewers hate playing ‘detective’ when it comes to your background. In addition, if given only limited information they will usually assume the worst-case scenario. As such, be sure . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 17, 2004, at 10:44 am
One of the best things an applicant can do in the admissions process is to demonstrate a real understanding of the program that he or she is applying to. In order to do this, applicants often need to go beyond a school’s published marketing materials/web site and talk to students, professors and alumni. These discussions typically yield information about new student clubs, conferences, courses and policies that can be worked into your essays.
Although this sort of primary research is often done via school visits or networking (to find graduates of a given program), there are a number of students at the top schools who keep diaries via weblogs (blogs). Even better, there is a single web site that has actually cataloged . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 14, 2004, at 12:07 pm
As many of our readers know, most MBA programs require an admissions essay that asks for the applicant to describe his or her career goals. Unfortunately, many candidates think that they can bluff their way through this component of the admissions process (by offering ambiguous goals, multiple career options, etc). This is not a good idea. Along those lines, here’s some food for thought:
In June, GMAC (the Graduate Management Admissions Council) is hosting their annual industry conference. This conference is attended by admissions officers from MBA programs around the world (including HBS, Wharton, Stanford, Kellogg and the rest of the top schools). Here is one of the ‘panel sessions’ on the schedule:
—Selecting Applicants for Employment Success—
Ever wonder how the recruiters . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 13, 2004, at 10:56 am
This note came in yesterday from one of our ‘Round 3′ HBS applicants:
—– Original Message —–
From:
To: graham@clearadmit.com
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 2:01 PM
Subject: Decision
Hi Graham,
I got the decision from HBS, and…I am ADMITTED!!! YES!!!
I’d like to thank you and the staff at Clear Admit more than anyone else. I had never thought I would be able to get into Harvard before I spoke with you. You gave me tremendous confidence, helping me gain admission, especially in this most competitive 3rd round!
Anyway, I want to make sure you are aware of how much I appreciate Clear Admit’s inspirational advice and dedicated support throughout the entire process (in terms of both timing and quality control)!
Many thanks and all . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 12, 2004, at 10:38 am
As many of you know, Harvard and Wharton will be issuing their ‘Round 3′ decisions this week. HBS’ notification date is actually today, with Wharton’s results coming out tomorrow (one week ahead of schedule).
First and foremost, we’d like to wish everyone the best of luck with their ‘Round 3′ results. At the same time, the purpose of this blog is to provide useful information and admissions strategy, so here are a few tips for those of you who may end up facing rejection:
1) Understand the odds and consider reapplying in the early rounds next year. If you fail to gain admission to HBS or Wharton in their final admissions rounds, you should not give up hope or instantly assume that your . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 11, 2004, at 12:17 pm
Harvard Business School has been actively reviewing their waitlist of late. In some cases the school has offered outright admission (for candidates who were originally waitlisted with an interview). In other cases they have simply offered interviews (for candidates who were originally waitlisted without an interview).
As the final decisions are made for ‘Round 3′ HBS applicants, and as the deposit checks continue to come in from Round 1 and 2 admits, the admissions committee will gain a better sense of their needs for the class of 2006. As such, we are likely to see continued movement on the waitlist in the coming weeks.
Best of luck to those receiving interview invites at this stage of the game! Be sure to prepare for . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 10, 2004, at 11:11 am
The Wall Street Journal recently published an article about the job prospects for the MBA class of 2004 at the top-tier MBA programs. This article was based on a new study published by GMAC (the Graduate Management Admissions Council).
As both the article and the study report, things are looking much better for MBA graduates on the job market – particularly as both banks and consulting firms re-enter the fray in search of young talent.
Oddly, business school application volume continues to decline at the top schools (down 15-20% at most top schools this year). Of course, this seems to confirm our theory of the ‘market lag’ in MBA application volume (see our earlier blogs on the subject). In many . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 7, 2004, at 9:47 am
It looks like those of you who are waiting for a decision from Wharton will find out sooner than originally planned (see the school’s message below). This is likely due to two reasons: 1) The Wharton adcom tends to be very efficient and often moves up their decision dates, and 2) Application volume in ’round 3′ was relatively low this year.
Best of luck to all those awaiting a response!
—–Original Message—–
From: MBA Operations
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 2:52 PM
Subject: Wharton Decision Release Date
Dear Wharton Applicant:
We have decided to move up the decision release date for Round 3 to Thursday, May 13.
While an e-mail will be sent out that day notifying you of the change in status, you will be able to access . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 4, 2004, at 12:01 pm
Many applicants underestimate the work involved in ‘managing’ recommendation writers. Here are a few tips in this area:
1) Getting a manager to agree to write a letter is only the beginning of the process from the applicant’s standpoint – not the end. You’ll need to proactively manager your recommenders throughout the process.
2) Ideally, you should give the following items to your referees as background reading: an up-to-date resume, a rough copy of your ‘career goals’ statement, a blurb on your overall strengths and weaknesses in the MBA admissions process, a summary of each school you are looking at and why the various programs appeal to you, and a list of anecdotes from work that might help to jog your recommenders’ . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on May 3, 2004, at 11:38 am
The Economist has just published an article that raises some questions about the ‘work experience’ prerequisite in business school admissions. As expected, schools like Harvard and Stanford are featured prominently in the discussion about admitting younger applicants. Here’s an excerpt:
“Some business schools have already begun trying to get hold of promising younger applicants. Harvard Business School has a brochure directed at undergraduate students who might apply within a year or two of graduation. At Stanford Graduate School of Business, Derrick Bolton, director of MBA admissions, says he hopes to reach out “pretty aggressively” to less experienced potential students.”
See the full text of the article . . . → Continue Reading
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Clear Admit’s Most Recent Posts
MBA Admissions Wiki In the Clear Admit Wiki, you can share your experiences through the application process and learn from those of others. Below are the five most popular pages in the wiki:
BW Business SchoolsThe BusinessWeek Discussion Boards are another way to learn about the issues applicants face. Clear Admit hosts the Ask Clear Admit thread, which should help answer your questions. Here are the five most recent discussions taking place in the forum:
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Below are the five most recent posts to the GMAT Club message boards.
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The student-2-student Discussion Boards are managed by Wharton. Here are the five most recent discussions.
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School-Hosted BlogsStraight from the source: aggregated posts from students and administration. Below are the seven most recent posts in school-hosted blogs.
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