Posted by Clear Admit on April 6, 2005, at 1:34 pm
Posted in:  General Before you can successfully prepare for the GMAT, it is important to understand the exam’s role in the overall MBA admissions process. Many of our readers send us questions along the following lines:
1. If an applicant’s GMAT score is significantly lower than a school’s average, is there anything else he or she can do to prove his or her quant or verbal skills?
2. Can excellent work experience compensate for a weak GMAT score?
3. Do schools have “internal” GMAT cutoffs?
4. Could an applicant who scored poorly on the GMAT submit a high score from another exam (e.g., GRE, LSAT) to bolster an application?
5. Why do business schools give so much weight to the GMAT? What do they think the GMAT tests?
6. How many times can I take the exam? Do the schools look down on applicants who take it more than 2 or 3 times?
Given the importance of these questions, we’d like to alert our readers to a free online workshop which will outline the role of the GMAT in MBA admissions and offer answers to the questions posed above – as well as answer general questions about strategies for the exam. The workshop will take place on Sunday, April 17th from 3 PM – 4 PM (EST) and will be led by Zeke Vanderhoek (founder of Manhattan GMAT). Graham Richmond, co-founder of Clear Admit and a former Wharton admissions counselor, will also be on hand to answer your questions.
Sign up for this online event now:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/EventShow.cfm?EID=3&eventID=357
(Advance sign-up is required – and these events usually fill up quickly – so don’t delay…)
Early bird applicants should be sure to take advantage of this free event and learn more about the role of the test as they approach the admissions process!
Posted by Clear Admit on April 5, 2005, at 11:12 am
Posted in: Admissions Tips Since many of our readers are just beginning the long journey through the business school application process, we wanted to offer a few introductory thoughts on the role of one’s academic record in the admissions process. [This will be the first in a series of spring postings that are designed to help early bird applicants understand the MBA admissions process.]
Academics
Although many applicants set out to obtain admission to business school with thoughts of the credentials they will hold and the network to which they will gain access upon graduation, it’s important to keep in mind the learning experience in which you will partake in the process of earning an MBA. Because a business school is, after all, an academic institution, it makes sense to begin your consideration of your profile by thinking about your academic aptitude and track record to date.
Why it matters
Your performance in your educational endeavors to date will, naturally, be treated as a predictor of your success in business school. While the importance of your academic history to a graduate school admissions committee might seem obvious, it is vital to consider all of the reasons that an applicant’s academic track record will be important to the adcom. Beyond issues of aptitude or previous achievement, there are a number of other things that your academic profile might say about you. If you have pursued extensive coursework in an area beyond the more traditional disciplines of economics, business administration or engineering, this could indicate some unique interest or perspective that you would bring to the classroom. Further, if you held a part time job or were involved in a number of extracurricular activities, high grades might be taken as a sign of a solid work ethic and strong organizational or time management skills. Finally, because many college students don’t take their studies seriously for some or all of their time at college, consistently strong grades could be taken as a sign of maturity and responsibility at an early age.
As you can see, there are a number of things that the adcom could conclude about an applicant’s general qualities and characteristics simply by looking at his or her transcript. This should encourage you to think about the more abstract ways that your academic record reflects your positive qualities and consider ways that you could convey this information in your application.
A second and perhaps less obvious consideration is the impact that the statistics regarding the average undergraduate GPA and GMAT score of enrolled students have on the school. Because this information is taken into account by various publications that produce annual rankings of MBA programs, and because prospective students take the rank and reputation of a school into account when deciding whether or not to apply, the admissions committee at each school has an incentive to maintain a relatively high standard in terms of numerical measures of academic performance in order to maintain its standing and attract the most qualified applicants possible.
Relevant factors
Before thinking about how you stand relative to the average applicant at the top schools, it’s important to understand all of the factors that will enter into the adcom’s consideration of your academic profile. While it’s true that you can get a rough sense of your competitiveness at a given program by looking at the average GPA and GMAT of enrolled students, the evaluation of a candidate’s academic profile is actually far more nuanced.
We’ll take a look at these factors in future blog postings….
Posted by Clear Admit on April 4, 2005, at 8:45 am
Posted in: General GMAC (the Graduate Management Admissions Council) has just published the latest edition of their Corporate Recruiters Survey (a survey of MBA recruiters). This year’s report, which should be available on the GMAC website shortly, looks very promising for MBA graduates.
Here are some excerpts from the press release issued by GMAC:
“The improved job market for MBAs is largely a result of greater confidence in the economy. Over the past few years, the percentage of survey respondents who said the economy is weak has been steadily declining, from a high of 99 percent in 2001-02 (the first year of the survey) to 82 percent in 2003-04. But this year’s survey represents a significant turnaround in the perception of recruiters, with only 55 percent perceiving the economy as weak.”
“All the signals are there for the best recruiting year since the irrational exuberance of the dot-com era. MBAs are back,” said David A. Wilson, president and CEO of GMAC. “Recruiter optimism about the economy is translating into more openings, with larger numbers of companies coming back to more campuses than last year.”
“The survey also suggests that internships continue to have a major impact on the hiring of MBAs. Overall, almost a third (31 percent) of the MBA graduates hired in 2004 served as interns at the companies where they landed permanent jobs. This trend was particularly strong in the healthcare, manufacturing, and finance industries.”
The news in the Recruiter Survey shouldn’t be too surprising, given the trends we’ve been seeing on the MBA campus (former Clear Admit clients at the top schools are reporting multiple offers, heavy on-campus recruiting, etc). In addition, it would seem that MBA applicants are beginning to pick up on the improved conditions for b-school graduates, since GMAT test-taker volume is picking up slightly and application volume has begun to stabilize at top programs like Wharton and HBS.
Posted by Clear Admit on April 1, 2005, at 8:41 am
Posted in: MBA News HBS to Abandon Case Method?
Cambridge, Massachusetts (AP) — In an unexpected announcement, Dean Kim B. Clark of Harvard Business School (HBS) indicated that the use of case method would be slowly phased out at HBS over the next 2 years. “We realized that the anxiety levels created by the prospect of cold-calls was not creating the sort of laid back, zen atmosphere that our students need as future leaders.” Dean Clark also mentioned that professors were “getting tired of listening to the ridiculous theories that students typically come up with when called on” – citing threats from several professors to leave the university in hopes of finding an environment where they could “get a word in edgewise”.
ApplyYourself Software Vendor Wins National Security Contract
Washington DC (Reuters) — Educational software vendor ApplyYourself is expanding into another domain. The Fairfax, Virginia based firm has been selected by the United States government to build a system that limits identity theft and protects the vital personal records of American citizens. ApplyYourself CEO, Len Metheny, issued the following statement: “Winning this contract has launched an entirely new chapter in our firm.” While many critics have questioned the firm’s ability to move from the education realm to national security while providing the necessary safeguarding of data, Metheny spoke with confidence: “I view this as a logical leap for our firm – sort of a cut and paste from one industry to another.”
Tuck Switches from Admission Rounds to “Survivor-style” Process
Hanover, New Hampshire (AP) — Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck School of Business has announced a change in their admissions process for the 2005-2006 application season. Teaming up with CBS Television and the popular “Survivor” program, the admissions office has eliminated their traditional policy of staged admissions and is opting for a methodology that has never before been employed in the MBA admissions world. Kristine Laca, Director of Admissions, explained the new policy in depth: “The concept is to gather all interested applicants and bring them to Hanover in January for a class visit and campus tour. We’ll then provide the group with 1 month’s worth of rations before dropping them off in the wilderness of the nearby Franconia mountain range. The applicants who make it back to campus before March 15th will be offered spots in the class of 2008.” The entire process will be filmed and aired in weekly installments on CBS. When asked is she had any advice for applicants, Laca offered only the following tip: “Dress warmly!”
Kellogg Sick of Being So Team Oriented
Chicago (Knight Ridder) — Citing a recent study entitled “Nice Guys do Finish Last“, the Kellogg School of Business has officially shifted away from its philosophy of teamwork-oriented education. Dean Dipak Jain issued a statement that announced a new, mandatory course for all first year MBA students: “I am very pleased to unveil a new approach in leadership training and would like to introduce our new leadership module, MGMT-468-1: Me and Machiavelli.” Explaining the schools new philosophy in depth, Dean Jain pointed out how terms like “togetherness, collaboration and cooperation” (former buzzwords on the Kellogg campus) would be replaced with terms like “ruthlessness, deception and cruelty”. Dean Jain also pointed out that he hopes this shift will allow the school to “maintain their stranglehold” on the #1 MBA ranking in Business Week.
Business Week to Alter MBA Rankings
New York, NY (AP) — Citing increased pressure from the leading business schools, Business Week magazine has altered the methodology used for their MBA rankings. The publication will now judge the schools exclusively based on an entirely new system – dubbed internally as the ‘ALPHA system’. Business Week’s Jennifer Merritt explained: “We’ll be taking each school and carefully assessing the first letter of the institution’s name, enabling us to come up with an exciting new ranking.” When it was mentioned that this sort of ranking seemed unlikely to change from year to year, Merritt replied: “We reserve the right to make adjustments to our process – using full names, such as the ‘Amos Tuck School of Business Administration’, or more common appellations, such as ‘Tuck’. In addition, my team might opt to refer to a school in Virginia as the University of Virginia or Darden – depending on how we’re feeling at the time of the rankings. Arizona State University and the newly renamed AMIT/Sloan school said they were pleased with Business Week’s decision. The Wharton school could not be reached for comment on the matter.
Happy April Fool’s,
Clear Admit
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