We’ll kick off this week’s edition of FFF with a selection of posts from current MBA applicants in the blogosphere. While Redwolf points out that most of the Class of 2008 bloggers are MIA (due to upcoming application deadlines), we’ve managed to find a few items worth highlighting. We’ll start with Franky A who grapples with the matter of hiding one’s b-school aspirations from various bosses while balancing the importance of relationships and not letting team members down. Meanwhile, Axechick is back with an extensive posting about her visit to Columbia (a great read for Columbia applicants) and Vatsa offers a thorough rundown of a recent Wharton information session in San Diego. Closing out this week’s applicant . . . → Continue Reading
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The Economist Intelligence Unit has published their 2005 MBA rankings this week. Typically viewed alongside Forbes and the WSJ as somewhat non-traditional rankings, this year’s listing is noted for the absence of Harvard Business School and Wharton – programs that no longer give journalists access to student records and extensive data. The history of Wharton and Harvard’s withdrawl from the rankings game has been well-documented in this blog: 1. Harvard and Wharton Alter Policy It is also the subject of a recent BW Online article (“Wharton and Harvard Are Missing“) by Francesca Di Meglio, who wonders if other schools may soon follow suit. Of course, before . . . → Continue Reading For those of you who aren’t already familiar with the Deans Talk blog, we’d like to call your attention to some of the recent postings on the Bologna Process and the unification/normalization of education in Europe. As a means of background, the Dean’s Talk blog is a blog run by Dean Paul Danos of the Tuck School (Dartmouth) and Dean Santiago Iniguez of the Instituto de Empresa (a leading b-school in Spain). These two gentlemen offer their comments on b-school issues covering both sides of the Atlantic. The discussion is moderated/punctuated by Della Bradshaw (the FT‘s Business Education editor). This week’s posts from Della Bradshaw and Dean Iniguez have highlighted the excitement as . . . → Continue Reading Chicago has launched their own discussion forums using the same software as Wharton’s Student-2-Student boards and the BW Forums. While the interface seems a bit different, the level of activity already suggests that this will be a great resource for Chicago applicants. With the introduction of these forums, we can once again see that Chicago seems to be borrowing heavily from Rose Martinelli’s exposure to technology initiatives at Wharton. Here is the email that went out to prospective students to announce the addition of the discussion forums: —– Original Message —– Dear X, We are excited to announce the new Chicago GSB Discussion Forum! This message . . . → Continue Reading Over the course of the last few weeks, many of our readers have emailed or posted discussion board questions about the HBS interview process. Here is a brief run-down of the process at Harvard: Ground Rules By the Numbers Percentages As you can see, the key . . . → Continue Reading This week’s edition of FFF shows once again how valuable the MBA blogger community can be for applicants who are navigating the admissions process and gathering information on various MBA programs. We’ll start with Axechick, who has returned from a long hiatus to report on her progress in the application process. After a posting about dealing with writer’s block, she offers her thoughts on the status of her essays while expressing frustration with some posters in the BW discussion forums. Meanwhile, reapplicant and veteran blogger RedWolf has returned from vacation and is tackling his Stanford, Wharton and Chicago essays, while battling a bit of writer’s block himself. Elsewhere in the MBA applicant blogosphere, we find Vatsa offering yet another post . . . → Continue Reading Lost in the shuffle of the Wall Street Journal rankings this week is an article published on the Journal’s Career Journal site (a free publication). The article covers a court-ruling that pertains to an MBA student’s ability to deduct tuition expenses from their taxes. While this subject has presented an on-going debate (with tax-court decisions often ruling against MBA students), a recent court case seems to indicate a favorable change is in the works. In other news, the Chicgao Tribune has a great piece on the value of the MBA – offering snapshots of a handful of MBA graduates and examining the path that their career has followed and how the MBA has played a role. Finally, a reminder to . . . → Continue Reading The 2005 Wall Street Journal MBA rankings are now available. This survey is always viewed with a bit of skepticism by readers due to its somewhat unusual focus. Where other surveys incorporate feedback from students, recruiters and the academic community – coupled with admissions statistics (GPA, GMAT, yield, etc) – the WSJ focuses purely on what recruiters have to say. This results in a ranking that is indeed very different from the likes of BusinessWeek, the Financial Times, US News, etc. Without further ado, here is a partial listing of the rankings (see the Journal’s site for all the details): National Ranking How Important Are Essay Word Limits? This is a very popular topic in the discussion boards we moderate, so here’s the official Clear Admit stance on MBA essay lengths: As a rule, candidates should try to stay within +/- 10% of the suggested word limits for their essays. It is important to keep in mind that the admissions person reading your file may also have 10-15 other files to get through in a sitting, so if you consistently extend your answers beyond the suggested limits you are asking them to give you more time than they are devoting to the other applicants. In other words, if you were to ignore the word limits and overshoot by 20% throughout, you are essentially . . . → Continue Reading The new dean at the Yale School of Management (SOM) has extensive plans to push the program into the top tier of elite business schools. The Yale Daily News published an article/interview with dean Joel Podolny, who has his roots at Harvard (as a former professor and student), but seems to be settling in nicely with Yale. According to the article, Podolny’s plans for the school include the following: 1) Building a new, centralized campus for the program Additional plans seem to be in the works as well, so we’d recommend that Yale SOM applicants read . . . → Continue Reading We kick off this week’s edition of FFF with some words from bloggers looking to join the MBA class of 2008. Reporting back from his trip to the World MBA Tour in Los Angeles, Vatsa describes his interactions with admissions officers and alumni while offering some insights on Duke, Yale, Tuck, IMD and the ISB. As a reminder to our readers, the World Tour hits New York City this Saturday and Philadelphia on Tuesday (see our prior posting for details). Turning to another blogging MBA applicant, we find Anand Rao, who used a recent entry to outline a check list for his Kellogg R1 application. While it may be daunting for applicants to see the sheer number of . . . → Continue Reading Don’t rush the application forms! Many MBA applicants will be burning the midnight oil over the coming weeks in order to polish their essays and increase their chances of admission. After all, in the world of MBA admissions counseling, nearly everyone focuses on the essays as the key area to focus one’s efforts (once the GMAT is out of the way). One often overlooked aspect in the process, however, is the application form itself. Most candidates leave the forms for the last minute or rush to fill out online applications from work on D-day, but the truth is that a weak effort on these forms can do all kinds of harm to your candidacy. As such, here are a few tips for . . . → Continue Reading Following up on our China-related posting from last week, we’d like to call our readers attention to an article about the rise of another sizeable market for the MBA. BusinessWeek’s Francesca Di Meglio reports on India’s MBA Gold Rush, citing an increasing need for skilled managers in the Indian market and the subsequent premium that is placed on the MBA degree. We need only look at the latest numbers from the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) to support the case for growth in the Indian market. According to GMAC, international test taker volume has gone up more than 5% this year – with countries like India and Korea leading the way. World MBA Tour Update…. This week’s edition of The Economist features an extensive survey of higher education. The survey is an interesting read for anyone contemplating an MBA. It’s also food for thought in the Europe vs. US education debate (an issue that is currently being raised in the BW Forums). The key articles from the education survey are as follows: One of the interesting features of the survey is the reference to a . . . → Continue Reading The World MBA Tour is presently making the rounds in the USA. As the main event of its kind, the Tour assembles dozens of leading MBA programs in one convenient place, allowing applicants to gather brochures, chat with admissions officers, meet alumni, participate in panel discussions, sample MBA classes and more. We are pleased to report that Clear Admit’s Alex Brown will be on hand at the New York and Philadelphia World MBA Tour events, where he has been invited as a guest member of the MBA Panel discussions. We strongly recommend attending the Tour, since it provides an unparalleled opportunity to gather information on the schools you may be considering. Visit with schools This week’s installment of Fridays from the Frontline starts with an update from several first-year MBA students in the blogosphere. The Chicago GSB got orientation underway this past week. Reporting on life in the Windy City, are Bloghorn8 and PowerYogi, the former detailing the first day of school and the latter celebrating the attributes of the incoming class. With Stanford’s orientation in full swing, Lady Rattler offers an excellent account of her struggles getting back into good study habits (“Studying is not like riding a bike. You forget how to do it.”). MBAwana offers some additional news from the first week at Stanford, citing immigration concerns and discussing exemption exams. Looking up bloggers from other leading programs, we . . . → Continue Reading Following several years of declining application volume, Chinese students seem to have rekindled their interest in the masters in business administration degree. Today’s edition of China View (an online publication) includes an article about increasing GMAT test taker volume in China and greater interest in the MBA among those in the Chinese business world. Here’s a short quote from the article: “With the new round of business expansion in China, investment banks, consulting firms and multinationals are eager for professionals with an MBA education from a top business school.” Promising employment prospects also are behind the rise in MBA applicants. There’s also a great article about Rose Martinelli (former Director of Admissions at Wharton and current Dean of Admissions at Chicago GSB) . . . → Continue Reading Back on July 7th, we posted the Chicago GSB essay topics for 2005-06, along with some analysis for the benefit of our readers. These questions were taken directly from the Chicago web site. This week, it came to our attention that the essay questions currently on the school’s site had been altered somewhat. The core questions remained the same, but appeared in a more abbreviated format. Here’s an example: Question from the Chicago web site on July 7th: Many applicants to business school need to address a weakness in their candidacy. In some cases it’s a lower than average GPA or GMAT, in others it’s a lack of international experience, limited outside activities or a circuitous career path and ambiguous goals. Luckily, one’s MBA application is really a multi-variable equation, where weakness in one area can often be balanced by strength in another and so on. While balancing weaknesses with strengths is crucial, one should also keep in mind the fact that many weaknesses must be addressed directly. In other words, it’s often not enough to simply push your strengths and hope that they distract from your weaknesses. Let’s use an example to make this point clear. Assume there exists a . . . → Continue Reading BusinessWeek’s Geoff Gloeckler has penned an interesting article on the use of grade nondisclosure (GND) at leading MBA programs. For the uninitiated, GND is a policy that forbids b-school students from sharing their grades with recruiters. This policy is designed to relieve pressure and reduce competition among students, while promoting a more collaborative academic environment. The following top schools have GND programs in place: The BW article offers an interesting take on this contentious topic, citing pros and cons and highlighting the perspectives of students, recruiters, faculty and administration. The author of the article has also created a discussion thread . . . → Continue Reading This week’s edition of Fridays from the Frontline begins with applicants pondering the timelines of their applications and prioritizing tasks, a natural preoccupation at the point in the season. Ty Coon has been making good progress with his materials for his first choice schools, but realized that pacing and financial considerations will require him to further narrow his list of target programs. Meanwhile, franky4mba ponders the order of his many planned applications, taking recommendations into account, while Vatsa considers actually adding a school and discusses the issues surrounding reapplication. Veteran blogger and reapplicant Redwolf has decided what to say but feels a bit overwhelmed by the writing element of the task ahead, while SgHama . . . → Continue Reading Over the years, the Clear Admit admissions team has reviewed thousands of MBA applications. In doing so, we have a great deal of familiarity with many of the classic mistakes that are made by applicants. Although we could fill pages and pages with these ‘red flags’, we thought we’d share one in particular today: Money |
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