Posted by Clear Admit on October 11, 2004, at 2:02 pm
Posted in:  Deadlines , School: Columbia Today is the deadline for Columbia’s ED round. This binding admissions round is the only one of its kind amongst the top MBA programs.
The next step in the Columbia ED admissions process is typically an interview invitation (if your file passes the first hurdle). As many of you know, Columbia uses alumni to conduct their interviews. The admissions committee views the interview process as part ‘assessment of the applicant’ and part ‘sales pitch for the school’. Here is an excerpt from a memo sent to Columbia alumni interviewers by the adcom:
The purposes of an alumni interview are four-fold:
1. Promoting Columbia Business School by establishing a direct contact between an applicant and an enthusiastic alumnus/a.
2. Informing the applicant, giving him or her an opportunity to ask detailed questions about the CBS program.
3. Providing the Admissions Committee with a valuable evaluation of the candidate.
4. Recruiting admitted students by periodic contact from an alumni interviewer.
For those of you still gathering information on Columbia (either for upcoming interviews or applications in the standard admissions round), there is an excellent summary of a Columbia information session available on the ‘Journey to my MBA’ blog site:
http://daveformba.blogspot.com/2004/10/columbia-info-session.html
Best of luck to everyone submitting applications to Columbia!
Posted by Clear Admit on October 8, 2004, at 1:00 pm
Posted in: MBA News BusinessWeek published their 2004 MBA rankings yesterday evening. Despite the flurry of MBA rankings out there, BusinessWeek is generally perceived as the ‘gold standard’ in the space (having offered MBA rankings since 1988 – before any other publication).
Here are the top 10 MBA programs for 2004: 1. Kellogg/Northwestern, 2. Chicago GSB, 3. Wharton/UPENN, 4. Stanford, 5. Harvard, 6. U. Michigan, 7. Cornell, 8. Columbia, 9. MIT, 10. Tuck/Dartmouth. For the full listing, click here.
A couple of interesting changes to note since the last BW rankings (2002):
1. The Chicago-area schools continue to hold the top two slots.
2. Harvard fell two spots from #3 to #5, trading places with Wharton, which climbed back up to #3 (thanks to an extremely successful overhaul of their career placement office).
3. Cornell has rocketed into the top 10, placing 7th on the list and pushing down Columbia (#8) and MIT (#9) in the process.
4. Berkeley tumbled from #13 to #17 and perhaps more surprisingly, Yale slipped from #14 to #22.
For the full text of the cover story (must be an MBA Insider or BW subscriber):
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/toc/04_42/B39040442bschools.htm
Posted by Clear Admit on October 7, 2004, at 10:06 am
Posted in: MBA News The Economist has published their 2004 MBA rankings. Here are the top 10 schools: 1. Kellogg/Northwestern, 2. Stanford, 3. Tuck/Dartmouth, 4. Harvard, 5. IMD, 6. Chicago GSB, 7. Columbia, 8. Wharton/UPENN, 9. IESE, 10. NYU/Stern.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about these rankings is the following statement included on the ‘methodology’ page:
This year some schools, most notably Harvard and Wharton, made a policy decision to refuse all ranking organisations, including the Economist Intelligence Unit, access to their students and alumni. For a student-centric ranking such as ours, the views of students and alumni are central to our methodology and thus the co-operation of schools in circulating questionnaires is essential. In order to include these schools in the ranking, we have drawn on our extensive database of past responses and included the opinions of students where they would still meet our criteria of having graduated within the last three years.
In other words, it sounds like the survey doesn’t necessarily have very current data from HBS and Wharton. This also suggests that the Economist did not use the same methods as Business Week to gain access to current students (see yesterday’s blog posting). On that note, stay tuned for Business Week’s rankings, which should go live today at around 6 PM (EST).
Posted by Clear Admit on October 6, 2004, at 10:33 am
Posted in: School: Harvard , School: Penn / Wharton According to a recent article published by the Daily Pennsylvanian (U.Penn’s newspaper), over 90% of Wharton and Harvard MBA students were surveyed by BusinessWeek for the 2004 rankings – despite both schools’ official decision to withhold student contact information from the magazine.
In the article, Jennifer Merritt, BW Department Editor, claimed that the magazine had gathered just as much information as they had in the past from both programs, citing that the ranking process was not affected.
Click here to read the article: http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/09/28/41590eef031a9
Click here to read a GMAC interview with Jennifer Merritt about the role of rankings:
http://www.gmac.com/selections/merritt/
Posted by Clear Admit on October 5, 2004, at 10:59 am
Posted in: School: Chicago BusinessWeek has posted the transcripts from the Chicago GSB live chat. Stacy Cole, Deputy Dean of the full-time program, and Heather Briggs, a second year student, were on hand to take questions. Part of the interview is posted for free at the following link: http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/oct2004/bs2004104_4336_bs037.htm
For the full article, you’ll need access to the MBA Insider, which is not a bad investment (given that the MBA rankings are due out this Thursday).
A couple of interesting items of note from the Chicago chat:
1. The school’s current students are upbeat on the recruiting front. Job postings are up 45% this year and the number of on campus recruiters has also increased (by more than a third).
2. If an applicant has a lower undergraduate GPA, it’s a good idea to pursue outside coursework (and do well) in order to compensate. The admissions committee thinks of this as a “great signal”.
3. Aside from navigating rather non-traditional essays, applicants are encouraged to avoid grammatical and spelling mistakes. This sounds like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised how many people are careless in the application process.
All in all, the interview is a ‘must read’ for those of you considering Chicago’s upcoming deadline (November 12th).
Posted by Clear Admit on October 4, 2004, at 9:58 am
Posted in: Admissions Tips , Deadlines We are now heading into the most critical weeks of ’round 1′ application activity. Here are the key deadlines on the horizon:
1. October 11th (Columbia) (early decision)
2. October 13th (Harvard)
3. October 14th (Wharton)
4. October 15th (Cornell/Johnson)(early action)
5. October 18th (Dartmouth/Tuck) (early action)
6. October 22nd (Northwestern/Kellogg)
(Yale, Stanford, UNC and Berkeley follow during the week of October 25th.)
As you plan out the coming weeks, be sure not to overlook the following items:
1. Application Forms: Do not leave the online application forms for the last minute. These forms require a fair amount of data (as well as the occasional short essay). Filling the application forms out in a clear and concise matter is more important than many applicants imagine.
2. Recommendations: While most candidates understand that the essays and application forms are under their control, many forget to double check with their recommenders to ensure that letters are coming in on time. Now is the time to touch base with your recommenders and make sure progress is being made.
3. Official Transcripts, GMAT Scores: While most schools now allow for self-reporting of GMAT scores and transcripts, they still require official records at some point in the process. Be sure that you’ve put in requests for official transcripts as needed and that you have notified ETS of the schools on your list.
4. Essays: While this is typically the area that most people focus on, there are many applicants who have yet to draft essays for schools with deadlines that are just around the corner. Assembling a strong set of essays that support your candidacy does not happen over night. If you are struggling to get down to work on the essays, it can often be a good idea to take a few days off from work and dedicate some serious time to the process. While your job may seem all-consuming at present, it will seem a lot less important if you gain admission to a top school down the road…
There numerous other factors to consider (interviews, campus visits, balancing applications strategically across rounds), but the items above are most critical. Best of luck to everyone who is hard at work on their applications!
Posted by Clear Admit on October 1, 2004, at 11:15 am
Posted in: Admissions Tips Since most of you are spending your evenings and weekends drafting MBA application essays, we wanted to provide a list of quick links to helpful English Grammar and Style web resources.
It is crucial that applicants keep in mind the fact that their audience (admissions officers) know a thing or two about writing. Using the tools below will help you to avoid some of the common errors.
English Grammar and Style
Guide to Grammar and Writing
The Internet Grammar of English
The English Style Book
English Usage, Style and Composition
The Economist Style Guide
|
