As a complement to yesterday’s post offering pointers to those who have been rejected and are gearing up to reapply, we wanted to share some feedback from clients who’ve received more favorable news. Here are a handful of testimonials recently submitted by clients who applied to several top MBA programs using our services:

“No matter how bright you may be, considering the level of competition among candidates for the top MBA programs, educational consulting is definitely a must-have and among educational consulting firms, CLEAR ADMIT is THE best you can choose from. I have been able to compare with other MBA consulting firms; Clear Admit really makes a difference. For my essays, I was literally stunned by the quality and intelligence of the advice I received and had the feeling my chances had just about increased by 400%. The added-value was much bigger and the work was much more effective. I was impressed by their in-depth knowledge and understanding of the admissions process and the do’s and don’ts. If you want to maximise your chances of getting the program you want, Clear Admit is definitely your best option.” Applicant attending INSEAD next year

“Clear Admit has been the key to my success in applying to business school this year. From my first conversation with my consultant, I was able to recognize Clear Admit’s unique and unparalleled experience in understanding what top business schools are looking for and what applicants can do to effectively position themselves for success in this competitive application process. Clear Admit was able to carefully access my profile and give me adequate advice to succeed in writing essays and resumes, and cracking the ever-so-intimidating interviews. I was admitted to Stanford (the school that best matched my interests, career goals, and profile), Wharton, and Columbia. Clear Admit is highly reliable and the team provides quality assistance. I received personalized advice that allowed me to feel confident during the process and to efficiently finish applications under tight deadlines. I will be eternally grateful for the advice I received from Clear Admit team.” Applicant attending Stanford this fall

“When I began the MBA admissions process, I was very unfamiliar with the do’s and don’ts of business school applications and had an unconventional background that needed explaining. I felt like I didn’t have a chance and almost gave up before I even began. Luckily, I called Clear Admit for a second opinion. In the end, I gained acceptance to five of the seven top ten schools to which I applied, including my target school. In hindsight, there is no doubt in my mind that Clear Admit’s coaching made the difference in my applications and helped me gain acceptance to schools that would otherwise have been out of my reach.” Applicant attending Kellogg this fall

It’s never too early to begin planning for your business school applications. Send your CV to info@clearadmit.com for a free initial assessment of your candidacy.

In an interesting complement to last week’s comments about increased recruiting at MBA programs and improved job prospects in the for-profit arena, an article has recently come out describing increased interest in the nonprofit sector among business school students. Focusing to an extent on students at ESADE, which offers a specialty public sector degree, the article describes not only the reasons behind students’ interest in making a shift, but also the culture shock that could potentially result from moving into a nonprofit organization after years of for-profit experience. The full text of the article is available here.

In other news, The Kellogg School of Management announced this weekend that it has received approval from the state of Florida to launch an Executive MBA program in Miami and will soon begin recruiting for its inaugural class, which will start classes this coming January. While the Chicago GSB newsletter’s recent April Fool’s article about the merits of moving its campus to South Beach focused on the pleasant weather and attractive locals, the Kellogg school is instead positioning itself to take advantage of increased opportunities in Latin America. Executives who are interested in advancing their education with a unique focus on this promising region will definitely want to read about the offerings and structure of Kellogg’s planned program. Detailed information is available at: http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/emba/programs/miami.htm

After much anticipation, the Clear Admit team is pleased to announce the results of our first ever Best of Blogging ranking! For those of you who are tuning in a bit late, the twofold aim of this ranking is to highlight the best MBA applicant blogs from the Class of 2007 and to identify valuable sources of information for the next wave of applicants.

We’ve arrived at these results after careful in-house evaluation of the eligible blogs and consideration of input from the nominated bloggers and celebrity judges Alex Brown, Brad Garrison (a.k.a. Hella) and Mica (Schneider) Bevington. Below is the listing of the top ten blogs overall that we’ve compiled based on this feedback, as well as the winners in a handful of more specific categories.

Top 10 1. PowerYogi – http://poweryogi.blogspot.com/ 2. Brit-Chick – http://brit-chickmba.blogspot.com/ 3. bskewl – http://bskewl.blogspot.com/ 4. WakeChick – http://wakechick.blogspot.com/ 5. Dave – http://daveformba.blogspot.com/ 6. IceMan07 – http://iceman07.blogspot.com/ 7. iwhoElse – http://driftinglife.blogspot.com/ 8. Atta Girl – http://attagirlmusings.blogspot.com/ 9. Aregon23 – http://aregon23.blogspot.com/ 10. Classy – http://classynfun.blogspot.com/

Best Written Power Yogi

Best Links/Layout Dave

Most Informative Brit-Chick

Funniest bskewl

Best GMAT Preparation Advice Bloghorn8

Best School Selection Advice Brit-Chick

Best Essay Advice Brit-Chick

Best Interview Preparation Advice Aregon23 Best Single Post (Tie) MBA Boy – Megami vs. bskewl PowerYogi – Businessweak: The Power Issue

Congratulations to everyone whose blog has been recognized here, and thanks for your valuable contribution to the space! We’d also like to thank everyone who participated in the ranking process – we really could not have done this without the help of our expert guest panelists and the blogging community at large. We plan to make this ranking an annual event, and look forward to great things from the Class of 2008 and beyond.

Just two days until the release of our Best of Blogging 2004-2005 rankings!

At present, we’re busily reviewing the ballots that have come in from the nominated bloggers. We’ll be combining this peer-rankings data with the ballots from the Clear Admit admissions counselors in order to determine the top 10 MBA applicant blogs as well as a handful of winners in several sub-categories. Results will be published Wednesday morning.

For a list of the nominees and ranking categories, click here: http://www.clearadmit.com/2005/05/coming-soon-best-of-blogging-2004-05.html

The latest issue of the Wharton Alumni Magazine has an excellent article on the history of marketing at Wharton, focusing on how the school’s unique approach to the discipline has revolutionized the way many businesses assess their marketing efforts.

For those of you looking at top marketing programs like Kellogg, Wharton and U. Michigan, this is a must read! Here’s an excerpt:

Marketing 100 By Nancy Moffitt

Frito Lay had a slew of popular munchies, from Doritos to Sun Chips, and lots of clever, award-winning television ads to peddle them. But the company had an all-too-common problem: it didn’t really know when or if the ads were working.

“When I would talk about this problem to marketing experts, they would tell me that advertising was an aesthetic kind of a field, that it was like philosophy or religion or art,” said Dwight R. Riskey, senior vice president of marketing at Pepsico, Frito Lay’s parent company. “They would tell me that you couldn’t apply the tools of science to measure the effect of advertising. And that is a really interesting approach to something we were spending hundreds of millions of dollars on. It was massively frustrating to me.”

All that changed in the mid-1990s, when Riskey met and began working with Wharton marketing professor Leonard Lodish. In a landmark study called “How TV Advertising Works,” Lodish led a consortium of major consumer packaged goods manufacturers, leading advertising agencies, and the major TV networks in the first comprehensive analysis of long-term advertising effects – research that forever changed the way companies like Frito Lay manage their advertising.

Not only did the research reveal that nearly half of Frito Lay’s ads were ineffective, it also debunked long-held nostrums about television advertising, giving Frito Lay the tools to create guiding principles for managing TV advertising and setting priorities for ad campaigns.

“It was really significant for our company because the most common question any person in the field of consumer insights/market research gets is how advertising works,” said Riskey. “And literally up until this time period, I don’t think we had anything close to adequate answers. Let’s say a company like Frito Lay might spend $100 million on advertising a year. If you follow the principles of Len’s work and my work here, theoretically you could reduce waste by 75 percent, 90 percent, at least 50 percent. Even at 50 percent, that’s huge money. That’s pretty exciting.”

The American Marketing Association agreed. In 1996, Lodish’s research, published in the Journal of Marketing Research, won the AMA’s Paul E. Green award for the article most likely to affect marketing practice. In 2000, the same article was awarded the Odell award for the journal article with the most impact after five years, and was also judged the best article after five years by the American Marketing Association’s Advertising Special Interest Group.

For the full text of the article: http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/alum_mag/issues/spring2005/feature_2.html