2004 December » Clear Admit: MBA Admissions Consultants Blog

APPLICANT RESOURCES

Have an iPhone or iPod Touch? Research schools on the go and keep your applications organized with Clear Admit's new MBA Planner App!

Admissions Director Q&A
Below are links to Clear Admit's exclusive interviews with MBA admissions directors at leading programs.
Dawna Clarke (Tuck)
Rose Martinelli (Chicago)
Judith Hodara (Wharton)
Sara Neher (Darden)
Soojin Kwon Koh (Michigan)
Randall Sawyer (Cornell)
Beth Flye (Kellogg)
David Simpson (LBS)
Liz Riley Hargrove (Duke)
Linda Meehan (Columbia)
Bruce DelMonico (Yale)
Peter Johnson (Berkeley)
Isser Gallogly (NYU)
Mae Jennifer Shores (UCLA)
J.J. Cutler (Wharton)
Jake Cohen (INSEAD)
Rod Garcia (MIT Sloan)
Mary Miller (Columbia)

Clear Admit School Guides
Become an expert on your target schools overnight! Get the program-specific details you need to craft essays that stand out. See how schools compare head-to-head in key areas like recruiting, curricular structure, elective offerings and more. Available for immediate download. As featured in the Economist.

Clear Admit Career Guides
Understand career-specific offerings at leading MBA programs and identify the schools that will best support your career goals with the Clear Admit Career Guides! Available for Consulting, Investment Banking, Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Healthcare.

Clear Admit Strategy Series
Craft a winning application with the Clear Admit Strategy Series! Step-by-Step guidance through the application process. Titles include a Resume Guide, Recommendations Guide, Waitlist Guide and more!

Clear Admit Interview Guides
Be as prepared as possible for your MBA interviews this season with the Clear Admit Interview Guides! School-specific sample questions and in-depth strategy, campus visit details and places to stay.

Application Deadlines
Below are the upcoming deadlines for admission to top-tier schools.
Feb 10: INSEAD R3
Mar 1: Michigan / Ross R3
Mar 3: CBS
Mar 3: LBS R3
Mar 4: Kellogg R3
Mar 8: Cambridge / Judge R4
Mar 8: CMU / Tepper R3
Mar 9: Duke / Fuqua R3
Mar 9: Penn / Wharton R3
Mar 10: Berkeley / Hass R4
Mar 10: Chicago Booth R3
Mar 10: Yale SOM R3
Mar 15: NYU / Stern R3
Mar 17: UCLA / Anderson R3
Mar 19: UNC / Kenan-Flagler R4
Mar 30: Cornell / Johnson R4
Mar 31: UVA / Darden R3
Mar 31: INSEAD R4
Apr 1: UT-Austin / McCombs
Apr 2: Dartmouth / Tuck R3
Apr 2: Oxford / Saїd R3
Apr 7: Stanford GSB R4
Apr 8: Harvard R3
Apr 14: CBS

Essay Topic Analysis
Below are links to our comments on some of the top programs' essay topics.
The Career Goals Essay
Berkeley / Haas*
Chicago Booth*
CMU / Tepper*
Columbia*
Cornell / Johnson*
Dartmouth / Tuck*
Duke / Fuqua*
Harvard*
Indian School of Business*
INSEAD*
London Business School*
MIT / Sloan*
Michigan / Ross*
Northwestern / Kellogg*
NYU / Stern*
Oxford / Said*
Penn / Wharton*
Stanford GSB*
UCLA / Anderson*
UNC / Kenan-Flagler*
USC / Marshall*
UT Austin / McCombs*
UVA / Darden*
Yale SOM*
* denotes '09-'10 commentary

Categories
Use categories to access all that has been written on each of the topics. We have categorized by school and by subject matter.

Interview Reports
A selection of interview field reports from fellow applicants posted to the MBA Admissions Wiki. Add your reports when you are finished with your interviews.
Chicago
Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
Kellogg
Michigan / Ross
MIT / Sloan
Stanford
UNC / Chapel Hill
Virginia / Darden
Wharton
London Business School

GMAT Resources
MBA.com
Manhattan GMAT
GMAT Club
Princeton Review
Test Prep New York
Kaplan
Beat The GMAT
Knewton

Writing Resources
Guide to Grammar and Writing
The Internet Grammar of English
English Usage, Style and Composition
The Economist Style Guide
Paradigm Online Writing Assistant

School Rankings
Rankings are a good way to start your research on various MBA Programs. Keep in mind each uses a different methodology.
Business Week
Economist
Financial Times
Forbes
USNews
Wall Street Journal

Career Guides
The following resources should be useful to those who want to research the careers open to them after (or before) earning an MBA.
Vault.com
Wetfeet

Business School Resources
The following are business resources offered by a variety of leading Business Schools. It's useful to subscribe to these resources, especially for the schools to which you are applying.

MBA Programs: North America
If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
Berkeley / Haas
Boston College / Carroll
Carnegie Mellon / Tepper
Chicago
Columbia
Concordia
Cornell / Johnson
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Emory / Goizueta
Harvard
HEC Montreal
Indiana / Kelley
Michigan
MIT / Sloan
Northwestern / Kellogg
New York / Stern
North Carolina / Kenan Flagler
Notre Dame / Mendoza
Pennsylvania / Wharton
Queens
Stanford
Syracuse / Whitman
Texas / McCombs
Thunderbird
Toronto
USC / Marshall
UCLA / Anderson
Vanderbilt / Owen
Virginia / Darden
Washington University in St. Louis / Olin
Western Ontario / Ivey
Yale

MBA Programs: 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.
AGSM (Australia) 2
Cambridge / Judge (UK) 1
CIEBS (China) 2
Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (China) 1
Cranfield School of Mgmt (UK) 1
ESADE (Spain) 1 or 2
HEC (France) 2
Hult (UK) 1
IESE (Spain) 2
IMD (Switzerland) 1
INCAE (Costa Rica) 2
INSEAD (France) 1
IPADE (Mexico)
ISB (India) 1
London Business School (UK) 2
Manchester Bus. School (UK) 2
Melbourne (Australia) 2
Oxford / Said (UK) 1
Rotterdam (Netherlands) 1
Tsinghua IMBA (China) 2
University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) 1

Additional Resources
Here we link a host of additional resources available across the web. E-mail info@clearadmit.com to have resources added to this list.
AACSB International
Association of MBAs
Beyond Grey Pinstripes
EFMD
gradschools.com (worldwide)
Infozee
International Student Loans
mba.com (GMAT Scores)
MBAInfo
mbaleague.blogspot.com
MBAzone
MBA Jungle
TOEFL
Top MBA

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.

Blog Archive

Get a $10 Amazon.com Gift Card! Contribute your MBA interview reports to the Clear Admit Wiki.

Interviewing with b-schools in R2? Download our school by school Interview Guides or send us your CV to learn more about our mock interview services.

ARCHIVE FOR DECEMBER 2004

Friday, December 31, 2004

Article: Recruiting Conflict?

Business Week has published a very interesting article about recruiting conflicts between part-time and full-time MBA students at the top programs. The article covers the variety of systems that are in place at some of the top schools offering both full and part-time options (Kellogg, NYU/Stern, Chicago and Babson).

http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/dec2004/bs20041230_3924_PG2_bs001.htm

There are several things to consider here:

1) What percentage of part-time MBA students are actively looking for a new employer post-MBA? This is a key point, since many part-timers are employer-sponsored and intend to stay with their companies post-MBA.

2) Are admissions standards the same for part-time students vs. their full-time counterparts at schools like NYU, Chicago, etc?

3) Which schools are having greater success with their efforts? For example, it might be interesting to compare Stern’s policy of “separate but equal” placement services and Chicago’s policy of unified recruiting.

See the article for details (and a reference to Clear Admit!). Overall, a great read for part and full-time MBA applicants alike.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 9:41 am in MBA News

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Article: Recruiting Students With Online Tools

There is an interesting article in today’s New York Times about the use of technology in the admissions recruiting process.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/technology/circuits/30coll.html

While the article focuses on the undergraduate market, there are clearly parallels in the MBA admissions world. In fact, some would argue that MBA programs like MIT/Sloan (the first to introduce a paper-less application) and Wharton (the first to feature a blog, discussion forum and live chats) have actually paved the way for many of the schools mentioned in the article.

Overall, an interesting read for those who are taking a quick break from their R2 application preparations!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:55 am in MBA News

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Admissions Tip: Deadlines

As we approach the numerous admissions deadlines in the coming weeks, we thought we might offer a handful of tips to help you manage your time:

1) Do not overlook the application forms. This aspect of the process takes much longer than most applicants expect and is not simply a matter of pasting your mailing address and resume into an online form. Keep in mind that beyond your GMAT scores, GPAs and essays, admissions officers are also evaluating your ability to coherently and concisely present information while following directions.

2) Check on the progress of your recommendation letters. It would be a shame to submit your application in the nick of time only to learn that one of your recommenders failed to do their part. A gentle reminder this week (perhaps hidden within a holiday greeting) can go a long way…

3) Know your deadlines and develop a plan. This may sound a bit absurd, but it pays to double-check the published deadlines and rules. Are applications due by 5 PM on the date published? 12 AM? Use this information to ensure that you are working on applications in the proper order, etc.

4) Consider submitting your files slightly in advance of the deadline. While you may not have the luxury of being early, getting your file in before the last minute rush can make for a much smoother experience. For example, it is worth noting that working with the online applications during the final hours can be painfully slow if the servers are overloaded. Another side benefit of submitting a bit early is that your file may be processed in advance of the bottleneck.

As a reminder, here are the deadlines that are on deck:

1/3/05: Duke
1/5/05: Harvard, UCLA
1/6/05: Stanford, Wharton
1/7/05: Chicago, Michigan, Kellogg, LBS, Oxford
1/10/05: CMU
1/12/05: Yale, UVA
1/13/05: UNC
1/15/05: NYU, Cornell, USC
1/17/05: Dartmouth
1/19/05: MIT, Insead (R3)
1/21/05: Berkeley (R3)

Best of luck!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 11:12 am in Admissions Tips, Deadlines

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Admissions Tip: HBS Interview Report

Since many of you will be having your R1 HBS interviews during the first week of January, we thought we’d offer you some excerpts from a ‘field report’ we recently received. These notes came to us from a client who had their HBS interview earlier this season.

- HBS INTERVIEW NOTES -
Duration of Interview:
Precisely 30 minutes. Interview started perfectly on time.

Questions:
1. Intro, “How was your trip here?”, etc…
2. Have you visited HBS before? Have you visited a class?

Moving into the interview, my interviewer said, “Since we only have 30 minutes, please don’t be offended if I stop your line of conversation. I will take notes occasionally during our conversation. These notes will go in your file and your complete application will be reviewed again by the committee.”

3. What groups do you want to join at HBS?

I was a little surprised because she had only a blank legal pad of paper in the room and a pen. My application, essays, etc. were nowhere in sight! However, she did greet me by name and seemed to know my candidacy at the outset.

4. Tell me more about what you do at [current employer].
5. Tell me about [current extracurricular activity].
6. So I see that you are interested in a career in [candidate's target industry]?
7. What is that you like so much about the [blank] industry?
8. Tell me about a time when you were entrepreneurial? What were your challenges in this project? How did you overcome these challenges?
9. What would others say about your leadership style?
10. Tell me about a time when you faced an obstacle/challenge at work? What did you do?
11. Explain a time when you have enabled someone to do their job.
12. Is there a question that I haven’t asked?
13. “Well, that concludes our time…you could ask me a question if you have one…”

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:53 am in Admissions Tips, Interview Tips, School: Harvard

Monday, December 27, 2004

Article: Rankings Shakeup?

Two prominent publishers of MBA rankings (Business Week and the Wall Street Journal), have undergone some changes at the top:

The Associated Press has reported that Stephen J. Adler, deputy managing director of the Wall Street Journal has taken the editor’s job at Business Week magazine. He’ll be moving over to Business Week in January for a transitional phase before taking the helm on April 1st.

Adler said the following when the announcement was made:
“I’m enormously honored and hugely excited to have [the] opportunity. I’ve always admired BusinessWeek’s clarity, reliability and insight, and I look forward to helping to build on those traditions while working creatively to meet the opportunities of the digital age.” Article: click here

Over at the Wall Street Journal, where Adler oversaw the MBA rankings (amongst other things), a memo was issued last Monday outlining new plans: “Jim Pensiero will take on responsibility for Journal books, the business-school rankings, and related activities that were part of Adler’s work. Pensiero will continue to oversee the global copy desk, the pagination and prepress operation, and the market-data team.”
Article: click here

Although this movement will likely result in changes for both publications, we expect the rankings to proceed as usual.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 1:26 pm in MBA News

Friday, December 24, 2004

Happy Holidays!

The entire Clear Admit team wishes everyone a safe and happy holiday!

(Clear Admit blog-addicts, fear not – we’ll be back on Monday with more MBA gossip, tips and information. Just like Santa, we tend to work overtime at this point of year!)

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:27 am in General

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Admissions Tip: Kellogg Essay #3

Here’s a bit of advice on a rather non-traditional essay question that Kellogg poses in their MBA application. (Consider it an early holiday gift to our readers who will be spending their vacation days writing Kellogg essays for R2…)

3. You have been selected as a member of the Kellogg Admissions Committee. Please provide a brief evaluative assessment of your file. (one to two pages double-spaced)

Although this seems like a very broad question, your response can actually be pretty straightforward. We find that the essay works best when applicants pick a few very concrete categories and evaluate themselves in these areas. If you are struggling as far as which categories to select, it can be helpful to have a careful look at Kellogg’s explanation of their admissions criteria: http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/admissions/apply/criteria.htm.

How you handle this essay will reveal how aware you are of your qualifications and areas of weakness, but it also gives you the opportunity to highlight explicitly the elements of your candidacy that you think will help your case. Ideally, this essay should not be a simple restating of the facts behind your application, but rather should carefully analyze how those facts make you appealing to Kellogg. Don’t waste too much time on weaknesses – address them candidly and then point to possible mitigating factors or strengths that compensate for them.

Again, we want to emphasize that you should not just recycle what you have said in your other essays in the third person, but remember that you are a committee member assessing your existing file. As such, you should focus mostly on things that he/she would read in your other essays, or see in your transcript, application forms, etc. You should not focus on items that are not mentioned anywhere else or on personal traits only you (as an applicant) really know about. Point to your most significant accomplishments and personal strengths, and make sure to be specific when you talk about contributions to Kellogg.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:27 am in Admissions Tips, Essay Topic Analysis, School: Northwestern / Kellogg

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Admissions Tip: Wharton R1 Results

First off, we’d like to offer our congratulations to everyone who gained admission to Wharton yesterday! We really enjoyed receiving all the emails and phone calls from our clients as well as reading the latest blog and discussion forum postings from everyone in the MBA applicant community.

Since we’re aware that not every applicant received an admit, we thought we would offer some tips with regards to handling rejection or waitlist situations. In both cases, it’s important to remember that there are several silver linings here:

1) Timing is everything. The fact that Wharton releases R1 decisions well before most of the R2 deadlines provides applicants with an early signal of where they might fall in the applicant pool. This feedback can be tremendously important when crafting a backup plan. If you didn’t get the news you were hoping for, it may make sense to consider adding a few schools in R2 (there are dozens of deadlines in January).

2) R1 waitlisters often get admitted in R2. If you were waitlisted, fear not! Historically, we’ve seen a very high percentage of R1 waitlisters gain acceptance to Wharton before the season is over. As such, it is critical to maintain a positive attitude. Of course, it also may make sense to explore other options (see #1 above), but there is no reason not to remain hopeful about your chances at Wharton.

3) Wharton is reapplicant friendly. If your heart is still set on Wharton despite a denial of admission, it may make sense to consider reapplication next year. If this is your plan, you should get started immediately on your strategy by thinking about the areas you could improve. Also, keep in mind that Wharton is one of the few MBA programs that offers applicants a feedback session to explain where the application fell short. These sessions typically take place in the summer months. Check the Wharton web site to learn more about signing up for a feedback session (sign-ups usually take place in April or May).

4) One result does not determine your MBA fate. Although getting a decision from Wharton can serve as a great measure of your chances with other top schools, it is also important to remember that one data point does not define your fate. This is why it is so critical to target several top schools. Even the most impressive candidates rarely get into every school they consider.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:55 am in Admissions Tips, School: Penn / Wharton

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Article: US Slips In Attracting World’s Best Students

The New York Times has published an interesting article about the declining number of international applicants to universities in the United States. While it’s clearly difficult to draw long-range conclusions at this point in time, the Times suggests that European and Asian universities are catching up to the US – offering more options for today’s students seeking undergraduate and graduate degrees. There are also suggestions that post-9/11 visa difficulties have discouraged some applicants from looking at US options.

This concept is certainly reflected in the declining GMAT volume for countries like China and India. Of course, before jumping to conclusions, it is worth noting that the article indicates that 17 of the worlds top 20 universities are located in the United States, and that 170 of the top 500 universities in the world are located in the US.

For the full text: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/21/national/21global.html

Congratulations to all of our clients who have been hearing positive news from Yale SOM! Best of luck to everyone waiting on Wharton!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 2:11 pm in MBA News

Monday, December 20, 2004

Wharton Eve

Our best wishes to those of you who are anxiously awaiting R1 results from Wharton. Decisions will be released tomorrow morning at 9 AM (EST). If you are feeling especially impatient for the news, you can log into the Wharton online application tomorrow morning at 8:59 AM and begin clicking ‘refresh’ until the news goes live. If you have taken more of a zen approach, you might opt to wait for the automated email which will alert you to a change in status at around the same time.

For the record, here is how Wharton goes about posting their decisions:
By this point, your file has been reviewed at least three times (two pre-interview reads and one post-interview read). In some cases, you file has gone to committee, where the admissions staff and a handful of second-year students have further debated your case and called a vote (thumbs up for admit, thumbs down for deny, thumbs sideways for waitlist). Of course, all admits are given a final stamp of approval by Rose Martinelli, the director of admissions. Once a decision has been reached, the operations staff begins entering results into the admissions system. In other words, most of the decisions are currently sitting in the Wharton online application system, it’s just that you cannot yet see them. The decisions are inputted up with a time-stamp, which will allow the news to go live at 9 AM tomorrow.

On other fronts, the Wall Street Journal published some very good news for MBA students on Friday. It looks like starting salaries are on the rise again, matching the levels that have not been seen since 2001. Both starting salaries and bonuses have seen significant increases, particularly in the banking and consulting fields. For more information, read the full text of the article: http://www.collegejournal.com/mbacenter/newstrends/20041216-kim.html

Finally, there have been some wonderful changes made to the MBA League of Bloggers site, thanks to the hard work of Hella and Alex Brown at Wharton! This site not only contains a master list of all MBA-related blogs, but it now includes aggregated content and recent postings from key message boards.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:03 am in School: Penn / Wharton

Friday, December 17, 2004

Article: Unbiased Rankings?

There is a fascinating article on university rankings in the latest edition of Knowledge @ Wharton. The article discusses a research study led by Wharton finance professor Andrew Metrick. Using a model similar to those used to rank professional chess players, Metrick and several colleagues from Harvard and Boston University have developed a new ranking for undergraduate programs.

Although this article focuses on college rankings, there are some interesting parallels to the MBA rankings world. For example, one of the central critiques that Metrick and company have for current college rankings revolves around the fact that schools can manipulate them. According to Metrick, this is typically done via early decision options (to artificially boost yield) and by encouraging unqualified applicants to apply (to boost selectivity numbers). Some have argued that these practices are taking place in the MBA admissions world…

For the full text of the article and the resulting undergraduate rankings, follow this link:
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=1104

Also, for those of you who are hungry for stats, a Clear Admit blog reader brought the following site to our attention: http://www.investigatio.com/mba/. Although somewhat out of date, this site includes a wealth of data as well as admissions decision information for hundreds of MBA applicants.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 11:57 am in MBA News

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Admissions Info: GMAT hike?

Several items to report today:

1) The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) will be raising the price of the GMAT exam from $225 to $250 as of January 1st, 2005. The reasons that were cited for the price increase are as follows: a) test security, b) rising demands for offering the test in more locations, c) ongoing improvements to customer service, and d) costs of litigation to protect the GMAT copyrights and trademarks. GMAC has also indicated that they feel that the cost of the exam is negligible in contrast to the cost of an MBA education.
Full text of the article: click here

2) Harvard Business School sent out a helpful ‘email reminder’ yesterday alerting all applicants to the upcoming R2 deadline (Jan. 5th). Although logistical in nature, there were a couple of key points stressed in the email that applicants should take note of (our comments are in black):
-Please be brief in describing your employment, extracurricular, and community activities and abide by the word limits provided. Going overboard on your descriptions is not a good idea with HBS. They receive thousands of applications and need not make exceptions for those who can’t follow simple instructions.
-All recommendation forms MUST be completed using the online recommendation form and electronically submitted to the MBA Admissions Office. In other words, paper recommendations are not allowed.
-Please make sure your recommenders have submitted by the deadline as well. It is your responsibility to track the status of each recommendation. This is self-explanatory. Your recs must arrive on time – and HBS will not track down your authors to ensure that this happens.
-We encourage you to submit your online application as early as possible to avoid heavy server traffic and potential delays. There have been a few incidents in prior years (limited or slow access to the site during the final hours, crashes, etc.). Don’t wait until the last minute.
-Harvard Business School will be closed for Winter Break beginning at noon on Thursday, December 23rd, 2004 through Sunday, January 2nd, 2005. Don’t expect to have your emailed questions or phone calls answered during this time period.

3) UCLA’s Anderson School has just issued a press release with the following news:
“The Entertainment and Media Management Institute at UCLA Anderson School of Management has named Walter Zifkin, CEO Emeritus of the William Morris Agency, as the Institute’s first Industry Fellow. Zifkin, a UCLA alumnus who has been very involved with entertainment efforts at UCLA Anderson for much of the past year, will share his expertise with students in UCLA Anderson’s full-time, part-time and executive MBA programs.”
This is wonderful news for UCLA’s already strong M&E program…
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=77819

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:24 am in General

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Admissions Tip: Elated, Nervous or Stressed Out

At this point in the MBA admissions season, the majority of applicants fall into one of three categories: 1) elated, 2) nervous or 3) stressed out.

Before we get much further, let’s define these three groups in more detail:

1) Elated. These are the applicants who have applied very early to their dream school, gained admission sometime in the last few weeks and feel as if they might walk on air. They spend their time procrastinating at work, thinking about when they should give their notice and where they would like to travel in the months leading up to their MBA program’s ‘pre-term’. Ample time is also spent reading discussion forums with a pleasantly detached point of view.

2) Nervous. The nervous applicants are the ones who have applied to several schools in the first or ‘early’ rounds and still anxiously awaiting word from top choices. This group is looking forward to hearing from schools like Duke (this week), Wharton (next Tuesday), Kellogg, Stanford, Harvard, MIT, etc. Candidates in the ‘nervous’ category typically spend their time reading discussion forums and blogs, feeling generally unproductive at work and coming up with complex theories about the admissions process. We’ve heard some of the best theories from this group over the years. Our personal favorite is the “All the great applicants apply in round 1, my chances would have been better if I had waited to apply in rounds 2 or 3″ theory. [For the record, this theory is not accurate, since it ignores the 'waitlist factor'. More on that in another blog entry.]

3) Stressed Out. This group has not yet applied to business school. They are looking at the early/mid-January MBA application deadlines and realizing that their work schedule and upcoming holiday commitments are going to make for a very intense four-week period. They spend time reading discussion forums and blogs, but feel guilty for not using that time to work on rough drafts of their application essays instead. They are slowly coming to the realization that the only way to move forward is to eliminate all evening and weekend social activities. Our advice to this group: Make the short-term sacrifices that are needed. Your social life will still be there when you finish. Focus intensely on the task at hand for the next 4 weeks and your efforts will pay dividends.

Best of luck to everyone making their way through the admissions process! Please continue to share your news with the Clear Admit team!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:37 am in Admissions Tips

Monday, December 13, 2004

Admissions Info: Wharton R1 Decisions

This just in from the Wharton Admissions Blog:

Wharton R1 Decisions date moved to Tuesday, December 21, 9 AM
We have decided to move the decision-release date for Round 1 applicants, who were interviewed, to Tuesday, December 21. Decisions will be released at the usual time, 9 AM. At that time, an applicant will receive an e-mail notifying the status update, but the important thing to note is the online status will be updated at that time. We will be sending out an e-mail today, to all those who interviewed in R1, notifying them of this change.
http://adcomblog.wharton.upenn.edu/admissions/2004/12/r1_decesions_da.html

As predicted in this blog last Thursday, Wharton has bumped their date to notify R1 applicants a bit sooner. That should make the wait a bit less painful for everyone…

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 6:40 pm in School: Penn / Wharton

Article: Berkeley Admissions Demystified

Following the theme of transparency in MBA admissions (see last week’s blog entries), we’d like to draw your attention to the most recent edition of Berkeley’s MBA E-News. The December edition of this newsletter has an informative explanation of the admissions process at Berkeley, describing the reading process. Here are a few key of the key points:

1) Applications are reviewed in random order.
2) All applications get a minimum of two reviews.
3) If the first two reviews both get a ‘thumbs down’, the applicant is rejected.
4) Applicants who make it past a third read are invited to interview.
5) Interviews are conducted on campus by students or off campus by alumni interviewers.
6) Following the interview, a file is reviewed again at an admissions committee meeting.

For the full text of the article: http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/MBA/enews/dec04/story1.html

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:08 am in School: Berkeley / Haas

Friday, December 10, 2004

Article: Good News For Indian Applicants?

The India Daily has published an interesting article covering GMAT trends amongst Indian test takers. Citing a study conducted by the Graduate Management Admissions Council, the article notes that the number of students taking the test in India has dropped off dramatically in the last two years (by 16% last season and as much as 25% this year). The author explains this trend as follows:

1) More Indian students are taking the CAT (Common Admissions Test) instead of the GMAT. This test enables them to apply to several top business programs offered in India – but is not valid for US and European MBA programs.

2) Programs offered in India are inexpensive when compared to options in Europe and America.

3) MBA options in India are improving – along with the types of jobs that come with the degree.

This is potentially good news for those Indians who are looking to go to the US or Europe for their MBA, since the applicant pool at top MBA programs has been virtually saturated with Indian engineers in recent years (especially those in the field of IT). Of course, despite the lower GMAT volume reported in the article, the Clear Admit team has seen no evidence of fewer Indian applicants in the admissions pool just yet…

For the full text of the article:
http://www.indiadaily.com/breaking_news/15449.asp

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:56 am in MBA News

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Admissions Info: decisions, volume and more…

Last week was an exciting week with numerous admits going out for Darden (EA) and Columbia (ED). We also saw interview invitations mailed to Stanford and MIT R1 applicants and continued to receive ‘field reports’ from applicants completing their Wharton and HBS interviews.

Despite all of the activity last week, this week looks to be even more charged with news. As usual, our clients have been updating us with their results. The BusinessWeek discussion forums have also been flooded with noteworthy developments. Yesterday, Tuck (EA) began calling applicants with good news (admit calls will continue to go out through the end of the week). Kellogg also began notifying a handful of R1 applicants who have made the cut. Meanwhile, Stanford interviews continued to trickle out and UNC sent an email to all ‘early action’ applicants reminding them that decisions will be released on December 13th.

On other fronts, several applicants offered their predictions with regards to applicant volume. From our standpoint, despite a slight up-tick in application volume for Wharton’s first round (+2%), we’re betting on declining numbers at several top schools before the season is over. With GMAT test-taker volume lagging last year’s figures, this seems inevitable.

Speaking of Wharton, for those of you anxiously awaiting the December 23rd R1 notification date, there is a slight chance that you won’t have to wait that long. In prior years, the school has often pushed up the notification date (sometimes by as much as one week). If this happens, the adcom will typically notify everyone of the change via the student2student discussion forums. If we had to guess on an ‘early release’ date, we’d go with the 16th or the 21st of December…

Hang in there everyone! More news to come…

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:05 am in MBA News

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Article: The State of Writing in Corporate America

The New York Times has published an interesting piece on the lack of writing skills in corporate America and the amount of money that firms are spending on remedial training for their employees. This article should give MBA applicants a sense for what admissions officers often have to put up with when they read applications. It should also explain why admissions officers really appreciate coherent essays that respond to the questions and demonstrate a healthy amount of introspection.

For the full text of the article:
What Corporate America Can’t Build: A Sentence

In other news, one of our favorite bloggers has published a ‘Wharton R1 Countdown’ on his site. For those of you who enjoy watching the minutes tick off the clock, check out the site: http://hella.opencoder.org/. You will also want to note the links to the ‘blogs of blogs’ (nifty content aggregators) – one for current MBA applicants and one for current MBA students.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:07 am in General

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Admissions Info: Top Schools Reaching Out?

This is certainly an exciting time of the year for admissions officers and applicants alike. Over the course of this young admissions season, we’ve seen more and more evidence of schools reaching out to applicants. Before we examine some of the new marketing developments at top MBA programs, let’s look at the data that appears to be driving these initiatives:

-HBS had 10,382 applications in 2001-2002, vs. 7,139 last season (a 31% drop)
-Wharton had 8,371 applications in 2001-2002, vs. 5,622 last season (a 32% drop)
-Stanford had 5,864 in 2001-2002, vs. 4,697 last season (a 20% decline)

It’s clear that the last two years have been a bit lean, although the volume reported last season is not terribly far from data in the late 90’s (suggesting a return to pre-bubble footing). Needless to say, evidence is mounting that the schools are back on the marketing offensive as they compete for a smaller group of elite applicants:

Harvard
Traditionally, the Harvard admissions process has been described as a ‘black box’, where only a small team of admissions officers call the shots ‘behind closed doors’. This year, in somewhat of a break with tradition, HBS organized a “Round 1 Conference Call” for applicants. The conference call featured admissions officers and HBS students, sharing data about interview invitations and answering questions about the program. During the conference call, the admissions team offered the following statistics: 250 R1 interviews have been conducted thus far, 700 R1 interviews will be offered in total. The school will interview roughly 1500 applicants across all three rounds, resulting in roughly 1000 offers of admission (i.e. 66% of those interviewed will get in). This sort of marketing activity is great news for applicants, since it allows everyone to get a better sense of the process (and takes some of the mystery/anxiety out of the waiting game).

Wharton
The Wharton school is the clear leader when it comes to using creative marketing techniques in the admissions office. The school’s policy of ‘admissions transparency’, coupled with lightning fast decision notification has sent somewhat of a shock through the system of MBA admissions at the top schools. Wharton applicants discuss the school via moderated discussion forums and read online diaries from current students. The fact that R1 Wharton applicants get their decisions before Christmas (but aren’t forced to decide until the spring) is another unique feature that helps Wharton stand out from other top schools. Of course, all of these initiatives have been on offer for the past two admissions seasons, so the school has been forced to innovate again this season in hopes of maintaining admissions volume. This year, applicants can get the latest tips and information from the Wharton admissions blog.

Stanford
Although Stanford has seen less of a decline in application volume than HBS or Wharton, the school has also made some interesting changes over the past few seasons. These changes include the introduction and expansion of an interviewing initiative (the school had previously skipped the interview process entirely). In addition, the program has introduced the Stanford Admissions Newsletter, offering admissions tips and addressing common questions that many applicants have. The highlight of this monthly newsletter is the Director’s Corner, where Derrick Bolton, Assistant Dean and Director of MBA Admissions, offers his take on subjects like essays and the interview process along with a healthy dose of admissions philosophy.

These kinds of changes are not limited to the schools mentioned above. In fact, Columbia’s ED round is viewed by some as a direct response to competition from peer schools (and a desire to manage yield). Of course, the binding nature of this early decision is always the source of controversy. Stay tuned to this blog for more content on this subject.

0 Comments »
# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:24 am in MBA News

Monday, December 06, 2004

Admissions Info: Columbia ED

The past week has been incredibly busy with interviews and interview invites (Stanford, HBS, Wharton, Columbia, etc.). We’ve also heard from many clients who received positive admissions news from programs like Columbia and Darden last week.

Here are a few of the emails that came in from our Columbia ED applicants:

—– Original Message —–
From: xxxxxxxxxx
To: Graham Richmond
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 4:20 PM
Subject: Good news from 116th and Broadway

Hi Graham,

I just got a note from Columbia — I got in! Tried calling you a few mins ago but couldn’t stop my hand from shaking! Very, very, very excited…just wanted to say thanks for your help. Thanks again!

-xxxxxx

—–Original Message—–
From: xxxxx
Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 11:45 AM
To: Eliot Ingram
Subject: Re: Columbia?

Hi Eliot,

I was accepted at Columbia on Tuesday!!!

I can’t say enough about how helpful I found your advice during the entire process – from the essays to the interview. I plan to recommend your services to anyone that is serious about getting their MBA. The best part is I got into my top choice and don’t have to spend the holiday season writing more applications!

Best wishes and thanks again!

xxxxxx

—– Original Message —–
From: xxxxxx
To: Graham Richmond
Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 11:22 PM
Subject: Re: CBS Interview

GRAHAM!

I got admitted to COLUMBIA!! I’m so happy! Thank you so much for all your help.

xxxxxx

Congratulations to everyone who made the cut in Columbia’s ED round! Keep in mind that you have three weeks to accept the offer and put down your 5K deposit.

Finally, congratulations are also in order for blogger DirtyMartini, on her acceptance to Columbia as well! The Clear Admit team has enjoyed following your blog and we couldn’t be happier for you!

0 Comments »
# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:05 am in School: Columbia

Next Page »

ACTIVE CONTENT

Clear Admit's Recent Posts

Facebook

Become a fan of Clear Admit on Facebook and join a vibrant MBA applicant community to engage in discussion, stay on top of deadlines, follow MBA news and win prizes!

Twitter

Follow Clear Admit on Twitter for breaking MBA news before it's blogged, just-posted interview reports in the Wiki and more!

MBA Twitter Index!

We've created the MBA Admissions Twitter Index, a directory of applicants, current MBA students and b-schools on Twitter.

Wiki

MBA Admissions Wiki
The Clear Admit Wiki is designed to allow b-school applicants to share their experiences through the application process. You can learn from others' experiences and contribute your own reports to the community. Below are the five most popular pages in the wiki:
Wharton Interview Field Reports
HBS Interview Field Reports
Kellogg Interview Field Reports
Chicago Interview Field Reports
Columbia Interview Field Reports

Discussion Boards

BusinessWeek Forums
The 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 is a link to the original interface (for those of you who didn't like the recent upgrade). Also, here are the five most recent discussions taking place in the forum:

Beat The GMAT Forums
Clear Admit is a featured expert in the BeatTheGMAT forums, answering questions from applicants across the globe. Feel free to ask us your questions in this forum! Here are the most recent posts:

StudyLink Forums
Clear Admit manages the Applying section of the StudyLink MBA discussion boards.

GMAT Club Forums
Below are the five most recent posts to the GMAT Club message boards.

student 2 student
The student-2-student Discussion Boards are managed by Wharton. Here are the five most recent discussions.

School-Hosted Blogs

Straight from the source: aggregated posts from students and administration. Below are the seven most recent posts in school-hosted blogs.

Individuals' Blogs

A selection of the latest updates to MBA blogs compiled by Hella.
MBA Applicants

MBA Students

Bloggers by School

The following are links to bloggers at each of the schools listed.
Chicago
Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
Kellogg
Michigan
MIT / Sloan
New York / Stern
North Carolina / Chapel Hill
Stanford
Virginia / Darden
Wharton
Yale
ESADE
IESE
INSEAD
London Business School

Community Blogs

Bshoolers.com
Community blog with MBA student and alum contributors.

Forté Foundation MBA Diaries
Video blog entries posted by women MBA students.

Owen Bloggers
Independent blog with content by Vanderbilt MBA students.

Best of Blogging

2008-2009 Top Ten: