Posted by Clear Admit on September 30, 2005, at 12:19 pm
Posted in:  Fridays from the Frontline 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 highlights, we’ll direct your attention to RusGirl in Moscow, who gives a great summary of her INSEAD essay-writing process and Mave, who checks in with an amusing MIT/Sloan anecdote and R2 plans.
Moving over to the MBA student blogger community, there seems to be a great deal of blogging going on (which makes one wonder whether applying to b-school is perhaps more demanding than b-school itself)…
In any event, this week, there are posts on bidding for classes at the ISB, increased blogging presence at IESE, the impact of the Economist rankings at LBS, life at UCD Smurfit (Dublin) and the second week of classes at the Rotman School of business.
Checking in with students on the domestic front, we find MBAwana describing the end of pre-term and Marquis commenting on the begining of classes at Stanford. Over at Chicago, PowerYogi prepares for a tough day of classes and Mandar unmasks (or un-blogs) fellow classmate bloggers! Meanwhile, Lisa Martin describes the first few weeks at Babson, Vish reports on orientation at UC Davis and MarketWiz offers some interesting thoughts on life at Wisconsin and career planning.
Closing out week, it seems that the latest news about Chicago’s discussion forums has prompted a fair amount of commentary in the blogosphere. Read what Dave, Sghama and Forrest Gump have to say… Have a great weekend!
Posted by Clear Admit on September 29, 2005, at 3:22 pm
Posted in: General 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 2. Wharton’s Official Statement 3. Harvard’s Statement, ths Saga Continues 4. Why Wharton and Harvard Are Wrong
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 we get lost in the history of this situation, here are the Economist’s 2005 MBA rankings: 1. IESE (University of Navarre, Spain) 2. Northwestern University (Kellogg) 3. Dartmouth College (Tuck) 4. Stanford University 5. IMD (Switzerland) 6. University of Chicago 7. NYU (Stern) 8. University of Michigan (Ross) 9. Columbia 10. University of California, Berkeley (Haas)
Note, Harvard and Wharton were previously ranked 4th and 8th respectively. Of course, lost in the shuffle of HBS and Wharton’s absence is the fact that NYU has surpassed Columbia and IESE has jumped from 9th to 1st place. For an article that explains the methods and offers some analysis, check out this week’s Economist online.
Posted by Clear Admit on September 28, 2005, at 8:21 am
Posted in: General 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 well as the potential confusion resulting in the development of a common education system for Europe. Another issue raised is the notion of the 1 vs. 2 year master’s degree, which is clearly a popular debate in MBA circles and seems to be up in the air as the European schools normalize their systems.
Tune in to their site to learn more about these issues…
Posted by Clear Admit on September 27, 2005, at 12:14 pm
Posted in: School: Chicago 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 —– From: Admissions To: Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 3:18 PM Subject: Chicago GSB Discussion Forums – Join One Now!
Dear X,
We are excited to announce the new Chicago GSB Discussion Forum! This message board provides you contact with current students, staff, alumni and other prospective students. From your first questions about why Chicago GSB may be the right fit for you through submitting your application, this is a great resource for learning about the Chicago MBA and hearing from members of our community.
Click on http://chicagogsb.edu/fulltime/forums/ to see discussions in progress. To post your own questions you will want to complete the Login form. It’s a quick and simple process that is not linked to the application system.
The GSB Discussion Forum is divided into four main areas:
- Getting to Know Chicago GSB – Applying to Chicago GSB – Attending Chicago GSB – Anything but Applications
We look forward to hearing from you on the Chicago GSB Discussion Forum!
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business Office of Admissions & Financial Aid 5807 South Woodlawn Avenue Chicago, IL 60637
Posted by Clear Admit on September 26, 2005, at 11:39 am
Posted in: Admissions Tips , School: Harvard 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 1) Harvard offers interviews by invitation only 2) All applicants admitted to the school have been interviewed 3) Interviews are application-based (your interviewer has read your application) 4) Interviews are typically conducted by a member of the adcom
By the Numbers Number of applicants to HBS last season: 6,552 Number of applicants offered interviews: 1500 (approx.) Number of interviewed applicants admitted: 1,048 Number of admitted students who matriculated: 914
Percentages Percentage of HBS applicants offered an interview: 23% Percentage of interviewed applicants offered admission: 69% Percentage of admitted applicants who matriculate (yield): 89%
As you can see, the key with HBS is to make the interview cut, since they accept a very high percentage of applicants they interview. In contrast, a school like Wharton uses the interview in a very different way – interviewing 45-50% of applicants but admitting only 30-40% of those applicants interviewed.
Stay tuned for more MBA interviewing tips as the admissions season progresses…
Posted by Clear Admit on September 23, 2005, at 10:12 am
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline 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 that is filled with solid analysis. Although worried about being a bit behind schedule with his recommenders, Vatsa outlines his week-by-week plan to wrap things up for Wharton, Tuck and Chicago – including a week spent on the road visiting programs.
Speaking of getting on the road and learning about the schools, it seems that several bloggers have been attending events like the World MBA Tour and individual school receptions. Forrest Gump recently attended a Wharton reception and gives the school high marks for the snacks provided – but also describes his feelings about the caliber of prospective applicants in attendance. LaserLikeFocus offers an in-depth posting about an MIT reception he attended, sharing a great deal of information about the school’s interview process and alumni spirit while speculating on the number of Indian male engineers the school admits.
Checking in with the blogger class of 2007, the last week is notable for a number of great postings. Let’s look at them briefly, by school… Chicago Wakechick on Book Buying Sticker Shock (read this for help). PowerYogi on his class schedule. Bloghorn8 and Le Voyageur on class bidding and results.
London Business School Futureguru on ethics coursework. The DivineMissN comments on LBS’ interview and networking preparation (how to sell yourself). MBAEurope offers an extensive run-down of the last two weeks in LBS pre-term.
CEIBS (China) Anders checks in with a great summary of coursework and culture from Week II at CEIBS.
ISB (India) Bharanidharan describes a recent Resume Workshop at ISB, sharing many tips for crafting a resume.
Other Programs Majolo on pre-term at Kellogg, JDiddy on math camp at UCLA, MBAWana on pre-term at Stanford, Britchick on opportunities at Wharton, Jewellsnake on the intensity of b-school in NYC (Stern) and INSEAD06 with a run-down on courses at INSEAD.
That’s the blog-news from here. Have a great weekend everyone!
Posted by Clear Admit on September 22, 2005, at 10:55 am
Posted in: General 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 our Washington DC area readers that the World MBA Tour will be in town this evening. Top schools attending include: Kellogg, Wharton, Chicago, Columbia, Duke, Tuck, Darden, NYU, Georgetown and more. Clear Admit’s Alex Brown will be appearing as a special guest panelist at the event, so be sure to stop by.
Here are the details: World MBA Tour Thursday, September 22nd Washington DC National Building Museum 6 PM – 9 PM Register
Posted by Clear Admit on September 21, 2005, at 9:20 am
Posted in: General 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 1. Dartmouth (Tuck) 2. University of Michigan (Ross) 3. Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) 4. Northwestern (Kellogg) 5. Yale University 6. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 7. UC Berkeley (Haas) 8. Columbia University 9. University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) 10. University of Southern California 11. University of Virginia (Darden) 12. MIT (Sloan) 13. University of Chicago 14. Harvard University 15. Stanford University
Regional Ranking 1. Purdue University (Krannert) 2. Michigan State University(Broad) 3. Ohio State University (Fisher) 4. Thunderbird (Garvin) 5. IPADE
International Ranking 1. IMD 2. ESADE 3. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) 4. IPADE 5. London Business School
While the rankings are always fun to debate, we’d like to call your attention to a very interesting article that accompanies this year’s WSJ report. The article is titled The Full Time Advantage. Written by the Ron Alsop, this piece examines recruiters preference for full-time MBA students and argues that despite the increasing popularity of part-time and executive MBA options, the full-time degree still reigns supreme.
Also of note alongside the rankings and the various articles is a podcast from Ron Alsop, where he discusses the recent declines in application volume, positive outlook on the recruiter/employment front and how schools have been juggling these trends.
Posted by Clear Admit on September 20, 2005, at 9:18 am
Posted in: Admissions Tips 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 saying that you are 20% more interesting than everyone else who applied. Although there are certainly times where this may be true, it is rarely the case.
Caveat #1: If a school gives you a range (e.g. 250-750 words), you should stay within that range. Caveat #2: If a school gives you a page limit (e.g. 2 pages), you should stay within that limit – without excessive margin manipulation. Caveat #3: It is likely a bad idea to consistently fall 10% below the word limits, since this means that you are depriving yourself of additional space in which to communicate elements of your candidacy.
Scheduling Change Clear Admit’s Alex Brown will be appearing as a panelist at the World MBA Tour in Washington DC this Thursday night (September 22nd) instead of in Philadelphia tonight. The MBA discussion panel, which was originally scheduled as a part of the Philadelphia World MBA Tour, has been moved to the Washington DC event. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience due to this scheduling change.
Posted by Clear Admit on September 19, 2005, at 9:41 am
Posted in: School: Yale 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 2) Reassessing the core curriculum and pushing the theme of social responsibility 3) Using the move to a new campus to increase enrollment from 215 to 300 students
Additional plans seem to be in the works as well, so we’d recommend that Yale SOM applicants read over the article and continue to learn more about the program.
In other news, we’d like to remind our readers that the World MBA Tour hits Philadelphia tomorrow night. Schools like Wharton, Columbia, Chicago, NYU, Tuck and more will be on hand to speak with prospective applicants. Clear Admit’s Alex Brown will be participating as a special guest panelist at the event to discuss the MBA degree, career options, admissions strategies and more!
Philadelphia World MBA Tour Tuesday, September 20th 6 PM – 9 PM Convention Center 1101 Arch Street register online
Posted by Clear Admit on September 16, 2005, at 9:38 am
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline 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 tasks associated with each school’s application, it’s always better to plan accordingly than to be hit with unknowns at the last minute. Along similar lines, we’d like to return to Vatsa‘s blog, this time for a solid entry about researching career goals and program fit.
Checking in with members of the MBA class of 2007, we find a great deal of 1st year orientation news from the Chicago GSB – likely due to their somewhat later start to the academic year. Bloghorn8 offers some insight on the LOE (Leadership Outdoor Experience), while Wakechick and Alator offer nice summaries of their first week in the program.
Elsewhere in first-year MBA-land, we have a report from Brit-chick on classes at Wharton, thoughts on coursework and email overload at Columbia (courtesy of Maragitaluvr) and an update on outward-bound team/leadership exercises at LBS from the DivineMissN. Finally, Majlo checks in during a much needed break from orientation at Kellogg and Risitos offers a summary of pre-term at NYU/Stern (part-time).
In more general blogging news, we’d like send our kudos to Chicago for investigating the use of blogs in their marketing strategy. It’s only a matter of time before other programs join Wharton and Chicago in the blogosphere. Finally, we’d like to ask any new Class of 2008 bloggers to email us if we haven’t been covering your blog in Fridays from the Frontline (we try to stay on top of new blogs, but sometimes fall behind).
Have a great weekend!
Posted by Clear Admit on September 15, 2005, at 10:20 am
Posted in: Admissions Tips 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 applicants who will soon be approaching the application forms:
1) Follow instructions. If the schools asks you to list activities in chronological order, then do not list them in order of importance to you (as you may have done for another school). If the school asks for a contact person, title or the number of hours/week, do not leave these fields blank.
2) Make things clear. The last thing you want is for your admissions reader to have to play detective in determining your career progression (gaps in employment) or undergraduate career. Admissions officers are busy people and they don’t have time to connect the dots on your background. If your listings are not clear, the reader may assume you are hiding something. Once they make this assumption, your chances will evaporate. Given the level of competition in the applicant pool, the admissions office can afford to avoid files that seem a bit confusing.
3) Don’t be lazy. Since it’s likely that you’ll be ‘burned out’ from your essays, the temptation will be to zip through the application forms. In many cases, the forms are a great opportunity for you to list outside activities in depth, offer a quick explanation for a bad grade, etc. In fact, your application forms will often be the starting point for the admissions officer’s review of your file. Put your best foot forward.
4) Avoid going overboard. Admissions officers typically review several files in a sitting – devoting much less time than you might imagine to each file. As such, try to avoid listing 18 activities, 22 awards and 17 publications – especially if some of those items date back to high school (or are more than 10 years old). Stay focused on the elements of your background that are most relevant. Also, when asked for a short-answer, do not draft an essay. If your admissions file is twice as thick as the rest of the files, it will not necessarily be twice as good. How do you think the admissions officer will feel when they go to pick up a thick file for a ‘quick’ review?
As always, best of luck to those of you who are applying!
Posted by Clear Admit on September 14, 2005, at 11:12 am
Posted in: General 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…. Following up on Monday’s posting about the World MBA Tour’s stops in NYC and Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Business Journal has published an article to highlight the Tour’s arrival in town.
Here is a bit more information about each event: New York City Saturday, September 17th 2 PM – 6 PM Hilton Hotel 1335 Avenue of the Americas
Philadelphia Tuesday, September 20th 5 PM – 9 PM Convention Center 1101 Arch Street
Please remember that Clear Admit’s Alex Brown will be on hand at both events as a special guest for the MBA panel discussions!
Posted by Clear Admit on September 13, 2005, at 12:46 pm
Posted in: General 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: The Brains Business (How to organize education as it becomes a global commodity.) Secrets of Success (America’s system as a model?) Head in the Clouds (Is Europe dreaming of a brighter future?) A World of Opportunity (How are developing countries are approaching higher education?) Wandering Scholars (Education without borders?) How Europe Fails Its Young (State of education in Europe)
One of the interesting features of the survey is the reference to a global university ranking that is produced annually by Jiao Tong University in Shanghai. The ranking devises a pecking order for universities by measuring the level of faculty publications, alumni and faculty Nobel prize winners, alumni and faculty field medals, etc. Essentially, the ranking looks at the amount of knowledge that’s being produced by universities across the globe.
The top 20 universities, according to this ranking are as follows: 1) Havard 2) Cambridge 3) Stanford 4) Berkeley 5) MIT 6) Cal-Tech 7) Columbia Princeton 9) U. Chicago 10) Oxford 11) Yale 12) Cornell 13) UC San Diego 14) UCLA 15) U. Penn 16) U. Wisconsin 17) U. Washington 18) UC San Francisco 19) Johns Hopkins 20) Tokyo University
Needless to say, there are many intriguing stats in the survey, so we encourage our readers to have a look.
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