For additional excerpts from the interview: http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/aug2004/bs20040825_1179_bs037.htm

In order to see the full text of the article, you’ll need to subscribe to Business Week’s MBA Insider.

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Admissions Tip: Round 1 or Round 2?

In recent weeks, dozens of Clear Admit clients and blog readers have been asking the age-old question: Should I apply in round 1 or round 2?

Along the way we’ve heard dozens of theories and myths. In the interest of preventing applicants from making silly mistakes, here are a couple of examples of dangerous myths, along with our thoughts.

1) “Apply in round 1, even if you are pressed for time. The key is to be early.” This is false. While applying early is nice, you should never do so at the expense of a high quality application.

1) “Applicants to programs that use admissions ’rounds’ should apply several weeks in advance of a school’s deadline. Applying in early September for an October deadline will give you an edge”. This is false. Most admissions officers are busy with recruiting efforts and training of new staff in September and early October. There is really no benefit to sending in your file several weeks ahead of their deadline.

2) “Since the best applicants apply in round 1, it makes sense to ‘wait it out’ and apply in round 2. In addition, the schools accept the greatest number of applicants in round 2, so it’s best to be in that round.” False and false. Just because round 1 often contains many highly qualified applicants doesn’t mean that the admissions officers suddenly lower their standards in round 2! It’s not as though you can ‘hide’ your application in round 2 and hope that you somehow slip through. Keep in mind that the schools use waitlists to hold-over some round 1 applicants for round 2 as well! As for the number of applicants accepted, round 2 tends to lead the way at many schools, because it is the largest round (in terms of volume). This does not mean that the acceptance rates are higher.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Article: Recruiting On the Rise at Top MBA Programs

Here are some excerpts from a Reuters article on MBA hiring. While the article highlights the troubles faced by 2001-2002 grads, it also points to a more optimistic future:

Top U.S. business schools have seen a pickup in the number of recruiters trolling their campuses.

At the Stanford Graduate School of Business in California, the number of visiting job scouts is up 30 percent this year.

At Wharton, not only did the number of recruiters climb about 20 percent, but they also were hiring more and represented a wider spectrum of companies. Besides the ubiquitous investment banking and consulting firms, there was an uptick in marketing, retail and health care companies.

Aaron Marcus, head of Americas campus recruiting at Goldman Sachs, said the Wall Street powerhouse typically sends recruiters to top business schools about 20 times in a six-month period. In the past two years, however, they visited less frequently because they had fewer jobs to offer.

But things have loosened up this year. Marcus said Goldman Sachs has hired 30 percent more students than in 2003 and increased its summer internships by 25 percent.

“The competitive landscape on our business school campuses has increased significantly as we and other firms like us have increased our appetite for MBAs,” he said.

Monday, August 23, 2004

Article: Application Volume

There’s an interesting article in the Indianapolis Star on how recent declines in admissions volume have hit second-tier MBA programs. Essentially, the late 90’s popularity of the MBA brought new players to the MBA market (with many universities introducing new programs, part-time options, etc.). Now that admissions volume has fallen from those all-time highs, many of the second-tier options are faced with a serious challenge.

http://www.indystar.com/articles/8/172246-2898-223.html

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Friday, August 20, 2004

Article: MBA Programs Switch to Big-Picture Approach

The Wall Street Journal’s ‘Career Journal’ web site has published an interesting article on the latest shifts in management education, citing an increasing use of cross-functional coursework. More and more MBA programs seem to be ‘merging’ their core electives to ensure that graduates can handle complex problems combining several disciplines at once.

A must read: MBA Programs Switch to Big-Picture Approach

Thursday, August 19, 2004

UCLA Deadlines Published

Here’s the latest information on UCLA’s deadlines….

We have a rolling admissions schedule with four application rounds. The 1st round deadline is November 3rd, the 2nd round deadline is January 5th, the 3rd round deadline is February 2nd, and the 4th round deadline is April 18th. The 2005 application is only available online, and will be up on the website within the next 2-3 weeks.

If you are serious about UCLA, it makes sense to apply early. It also makes sense to ‘do your homework’ and get to know the program in detail so that your application essays reflect a high level of interest. Although the essay topics are not yet available, UCLA has typically used fairly standard essays, with one exception:

1. Please provide us with a summary of your personal and family background. Include information about your parents and siblings, where you grew up, and perhaps a highlight or special memory of your youth.

We’ll have to wait and see if this essay is used this season, but it is certainly worth pointing out, given it’s unique focus. This question reveals a lot about the way that MBA admissions officers assess candidates in general.

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Tuck Essays now available…

Tuck/Dartmouth has released their essay topics for the 2005 application. They are as follows:

Essay 1 (1000 words): You are head of sales at a medium-sized manufacturing company. A little over one year ago, you recruited John to join the company as a sales manager. Since that time, he has been one of your star producers, and his performance has earned rave reviews from senior management and customers. He has generated an enormous amount of business for the company, landing accounts with the four largest retailers in the region. Last year, John was responsible for bringing in an additional $10 million in sales revenue. In that same year, full-year revenues increased 15 percent to $62 million, significantly outpacing all competitors. Gross margins for the year were 42.9 percent, compared with 38.0 percent last year, and the selling and administrative expenses were 30.2 percent of full year-revenues, compared with 29.5 percent last year.

The CEO credits John with turning around the business and is one of his biggest supporters. Furthermore, the CEO praises you for bringing John to the company. John is viewed by his co-workers and subordinates as intelligent, hard-working, and creative, but they also find him to be arrogant, confrontational, short-tempered, intolerant, and self-promoting. Morale is not good within his group, and earlier this week, two people on John’s team complained to you about how he has been treating them.

Essay #2 (250-750 words): Why is an MBA a critical next step towards your short and long-term career goals? Why is Tuck the best MBA program for you? (If you are applying for a joint or dual degree, please explain how the additional degree will contribute to those goals.)

Essay #3 (250-750 words): Describe a situation in which you led a team to reach a specific goal. Looking back, what characteristics helped you to be effective as a leader? What areas do you feel you need to develop in order to be a better leader?

Essay #4 (250-750 words): Describe a situation in which you stood up for something you believed in, even though others did not agree with you. In what ways were you pleased with how you handled the situation? What do you wish you had done differently?

Essay #5 (Optional) (250-750 words): Please provide any additional insight or information that you have not addressed elsewhere that may be helpful in reviewing your application. Complete this section only if you feel your candidacy is not fully represented by this application.

Once again, the admissions committee offers a unique ‘case’ essay, followed by three shorter essay questions that cover more standard topics. The 1000-word case essay requires a special approach that is quite different from most MBA essays. Contact Clear Admit for details on how to handle this question.

Monday, August 16, 2004

Admissions Tip: School Visits

It always makes sense to visit the MBA programs that you are considering. Here are a few basic tips on how to approach this process:

1) Before you go, be sure to look into the sorts of organized activities that the admissions office has on offer for prospective students. These may include any of the following:

-campus tour
-attending a class
-attending an admissions information session
-lunch with current students
-social events (MBA pub, happy hour, etc.)

In some cases you will need to sign up in advance for these offerings. It also makes sense to verify that your timing is ok, since some schools do not encourage visitors during the first few weeks of the semester, etc.

2) View your visits as a unique opportunity to gather data on the MBA program. You can use this fact-finding mission to ultimately make decisions about where you apply. You can also use the information you gather to add school-specific detail to your essays. For example, if you meet a current student who is following a course of study that interests you, try to exchange emails and keep in touch. Students can be a wonderful resource when it comes to up-to-date information about a given program. The more you know about the latest happenings on campus, the more likely your essays will reflect a genuine interest in the school.

3) Do not assume that your visits to the schools are exclusively designed to get “face time” with admissions officers, professors or other ‘influencers’ in the admissions process. Applicants that aggressively push for face time are generally viewed as a menace by the adcom. Of course, if a chance for discussion with a member of the adcom presents itself, great - just be sure you know what you want to talk about (since it’s a waste of time to ask questions that are easily answered on the programs web site).

4) Read up on the program before your visit. You’ll get more out of your visit if you have already developed a basic knowledge of the school in advance. You should also think of specific questions you’d like to be answered so as to focus your visit.

5) Know your ‘positioning strategy’ for the MBA admissions process before you start setting foot on campus and engaging others in discussion. You never know when an informal discussion with an admissions officer or student might veer into a sort of impromptu interview.

Friday, August 13, 2004

Wharton School Publishing

Wharton School Publishing’s first releases are due to hit bookstores on August 15th. For those of you who don’t know, Wharton School Publishing is a joint venture between Wharton and Pearson Education (publishers of the Financial Times, Prentice Hall, etc.).

The first titles to come out look to be quite interesting, and according to Amazon’s sales rankings they seem to be selling rapidly too. Check out the following link for a 40% discount.

Wharton Publishing 40% discount

Thursday, August 12, 2004

Kellogg releases deadlines…

Kellogg’s deadlines for the coming admissions season are as follows:

Round 1: Oct. 22, 2004

Round 2: Jan. 7, 2005

Round 3: March 11, 2005

What’s most interesting about this year’s deadlines is the fact that Kellogg has broken with their tradition of an early to mid-November R1 deadline. In prior years, the ‘Chicago schools’ (Kellogg and U. Chicago) have carved out their own niche in early November, providing some distance between themselves and the earlier R1 dates of Harvard, Wharton and Stanford. This year, Kellogg has opted to place their deadline right in the middle of the pack (between Wharton/HBS in mid-October and Stanford/MIT in late October). This will require more planning on the part of applicants who are scrambling to apply to several top schools in R1.

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Chicago Essays Now Available!

Chicago has released their new application. The essays are as follows (500 words each):

a. Why are you seeking an MBA from Chicago GSB? What are your plans and goals after you receive your degree?
b. Chicago GSB is seeking a mascot to represent our new facility, The Hyde Park Center. What would your choice be and how will it represent the attributes of the GSB?
c. If you could step into any celebrity’s shoes for a day, who would it be and why?
d. Who was your childhood hero and why? Is this person still your hero? Why or why not?
e. If there is further information that you believe would be helpful to the admissions committee, please feel free to provide it.

As usual, Chicago seems to be following their own path when it comes to the essays. Essays a and e are fairly straightforward, but the other questions will require more reflection. Here are some very basic tips to get you started on these non-traditional questions:

Essay B: Be sure to think carefully about the reasons for your selection of the mascot. In other words, it’s not a question of picking something that the admissions committee will love and consider using - it’s more a question of backing up your choice and linking it to the attributes of the GSB (i.e. showing that you know quite a bit about the program). [This question is also a nice way for the school to promote the opening of their new facilities to applicants.]

Essay C: Again, focus more on the reasons for your choice than on the choice itself. At the same time, it can never hurt to be somewhat creative with your selection (the admissions office will certainly read their fair share of Michael Jordan/Eleanor Roosevelt/Mahatma Gandhi essays). Also, keep in mind that the person you choose should ideally relate to your profile in some way (your goals, your outside interests/passions, your personal background, etc.). Finally, keep in mind that this is a 24-hour arrangement, since that may impact your choice somewhat.

Essay D: While this question may sound a bit redundant in light of essay c, it’s actually covering a different topic entirely. Ideally, you should use this essay to focus on your personal development over time. How has your choice of a hero changed over time? What’s prompted this change? Try to convey the key elements of your background that have shaped your growth, rather than focus exclusively on the ‘hero’.

Contact Clear Admit to learn more about the best approaches to these essays and our MBA admissions strategy services.

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

UNC Deadlines

UNC’s deadlines are now available. Here’s the info from their online application:

Thank you for your interest in UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Our application for 2004-2005 will be ready in mid-August. Please check back at that time. For your information, here are the application deadlines for the coming year:

Deadline 1 - October 28th
Deadline 2 - December 2nd
Deadline 3 - January 13th
Deadline 4 - March 5th

From the Clear Admit Mailbag

We recently received the following email from a former client who worked with us on several applications last season:

—– Original Message —–
From: XXXXXXX
To: graham @ clearadmit . com
Sent: Friday, August 6th, 2004 5:52 PM
Subject: Re: results

Thanks for the thoughtful email, Graham. I’m really excited. When I started the process, I really wanted to get into HBS and now I have achieved that goal. Thanks for all of your insightful advice along the way!

I have included a testimonial below for use on your site:

Rather than providing me with advice on one aspect of b-school admissions, Clear Admit guided me through the entire application process. To begin with, they added tremendous value in helping me determine how I could position myself in order to positively stand out from other candidates. Once this strategy was formulated, Clear Admit helped ensure that my entire application - resume, essays, recommendations, etc. - fit together in a coherent fashion, painting a complete picture of my candidacy. They also helped in interview preparation, which was vital. I went into my interviews confident, and was prepared for every question.

Ultimately, I gained acceptance at a number of top schools, but was waitlisted at my number one program. Clear Admit helped me develop a waitlist strategy, enabling me to take a proactive approach, rather than just hoping for the best. By using Clear Admit’s waitlist techniques, I gained acceptance off of the waitlist at my top school. Unquestionably, Clear Admit added tremendous value throughout the entire application process. I would highly recommend their services to anyone who is looking to maximize their chances of acceptance at the best business schools in the world.

- Applicant attending HBS this fall

# posted by Clear Admit @ 11:18 am in General

Monday, August 09, 2004

Admissions Tip: Deadline Planning

It goes without saying that coordinating recommendations, essays, interviews and school visits during the admissions deadline season can be quite the challenge. Applicants should ideally build a strict schedule in order to juggle the various elements of the application process along with their work and community/personal activities.

Most of the top MBA programs have published their R1 deadlines at this point. Here are the dates, sorted in ‘waves’ to help you with your planning.

School/R1 Deadline
Columbia (CBS)/October 11th, 2004 (ED)
Harvard (HBS)/October 13th, 2004
Wharton (U. Penn)/October 14th, 2004
Cornell (Johnson)/October 15th, 2004 (EA)*
Dartmouth (Tuck)/October 18th, 2004 (EA)*

MIT (Sloan)/October 27th, 2004
UVA (Darden)/October 27th, 2004 (EA)*
Yale (SOM)/October 27th, 2004
Stanford (GSB)/October 28th, 2004
Berkeley (Haas)/October 29th, 2004*
Duke (Fuqua)/November 1st, 2004*
U. Michigan/November 1st, 2004

Chicago (GSB) /November 12th, 2004
Carnegie Melon/November 14th, 2004
NYU (Stern)/December 1st, 2004

International Schools
INSEAD/October 6th, 2004
London Business School/October 22nd, 2004
IESE/November 24th, 2004
IMD/February 1st, 2005

The principal schools that have not yet finalized their deadlines are: Kellogg (Northwestern), UCLA (Anderson), UT-Austin (McCombs) and UNC (Kenan-Flagler).

There are numerous strategies when it comes to round selection - particularly for those programs with EA (early action) or ED (early decision) rounds. There are also strategic issues to consider when schools offer four rounds instead of three. Contact Clear Admit directly to learn more about setting up your application schedule.

* = first of four deadline options.

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:08 am in Admissions Tips, Deadlines

Friday, August 06, 2004

Admissions Tip: ‘Career Changers’

There was an interesting Q&A in our thread on the BusinessWeek Forums yesterday that we thought was worth sharing here. The applicant that posted was curious about how candidates who are looking to use the MBA to change careers should approach the admissions process. In this case, the applicant comes from a non-traditional industry and has a desire to get into finance.

Here are some excerpts:

Applicant: I am still not sure how to attack the [career goals] essay. One [way] is to keep it open, stating I want a career change and want to explore opportunity during [the] MBA. It might sound vague as [if] I have not zeroed in on your post-MBA goals. But then again if I say ‘finance’ then why is it that I would like to go for finance? I have not done any courses or [had] any work experience related to it (apart from personal reading, I haven’t done anything).

Clear Admit: It is never a good idea to give the admissions committee the idea that you may be using the MBA program itself to figure out your career goals and ‘discover your path’. This is a common mistake made by applicants. The admissions officers look for students with well-defined goals. There are several reasons for this:

1) MBA programs are short. By the time the average student has a moment to catch their breath from the demands of foundation courses, the recruiters have already shown up on campus and are looking for summer interns (2-yr programs) or offering full time jobs (1-yr programs). The admissions officers feel that students who show up for business school with a clear plan will typically get the most out of the program.

2) In some ways, business schools are graded on their ability to help graduates find employment. If an applicant cannot define a clear path (that fits with their background and skills in some way), then the admissions office may want to steer clear (for fear of taking on a student who will not succeed in the job hunt).

It is also probably not a good idea to indicate a career goal that is a change in both ‘function’ and ‘industry’ from the professional experiences you have had in the past. For example, the consultant who wants to go into investment banking might point out that they have worked on numerous consulting engagements with financial services/investment banking firms - and that during these engagements they developed a passion for the world of finance, etc. (So they would argue that while their function has been ‘consultant’ for the last few years, they have been serving the finance ‘industry’ - meaning that their new role would only involve a change in function). Similarly, the marketing director for a TV station might express a goal of doing marketing for a healthcare firm (changing industry, but not function).

Of course, the exception would be if the interest in the path you are proposing is evident in your formal outside activities - for example, if you were a computer programmer who spent all of your free time purchasing apartments, fixing them up and renting them out, you might be able to make a case for a move into a real estate career (despite no formal employment in the industry or the function you propose).

# posted by Clear Admit @ 9:31 am in Admissions Tips

Thursday, August 05, 2004

Article: Graduate Management News

The latest edition of Graduate Management News is now available. Published by the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), this newsletter is technically aimed at the MBA admissions officer community. Because of this focus, the articles often share insights as to how MBA admissions officers look at applicants. Other topics typically discussed are GMAT and application volume trends along with recruiting tactics.

In other news, this blog is now publishing both Atom and RSS feeds. Interested parties can now subscribe to our content with Bloglines or track changes in the blog with any RSS/Atom news reader. Click on the ‘Bloglines’ button above for details. It’s free!

# posted by Clear Admit @ 9:22 am in MBA News

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

GMAT Seminar in NYC

For those of you who have yet to tackle the GMAT, we wanted to alert your attention to a free seminar that is taking place in New York City tomorrow night. The founder of Manhattan GMAT, Zeke Vanderhoek, will conduct a two hour seminar on the basics of the test. Zeke is an excellent teacher who knows a thing or two about the GMAT, so this is sure to be an event worth checking out if you are in the NY area tomorrow.

For sign up information, follow the link below:

http://www.manhattangmat.com/EventShow.cfm?EID=3&eventID=197&dlink=1

# posted by Clear Admit @ 4:59 pm in General

GMAT Volume

The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) has published the latest data on this year’s GMAT test-taker volume through June. For the full contents of the report:

http://www.gmac.com/gmac/ResearchandTrends/GMATStatistics/CurrentGMATVolume.htm

Although the numbers continue to show a decrease in volume from last year, it is worth noting that the decrease appears to have slowed when compared to the number published earlier in the year. For example, when test-taker volume was reported in May, a decrease of nearly 9% was cited, whereas in the latest report, volume is off roughly 7%.

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:06 am in MBA News

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