Posted by Clear Admit on October 31, 2005, at 10:51 am
Posted in:  Deadlines , General There are still a handful of round one deadlines on the horizon for this week, most notably the University of Michigan/Ross on November 1st, MIT/Sloan on November 2nd and Berkeley/Haas on November 4th. We’d like to point out that MIT’s deadline is at 12:00 PM (Pacific) on Wednesday. This is unusual, since many programs have 12:00 AM or 5 PM deadlines in their resident time zone, so please take note!
In addition to MIT’s somewhat quirky deadline timing, several of our readers have pointed out a discrepancy in the school’s essay instructions. On the Sloan web site, the questions are listed with the following basic guidelines:
“We are interested in learning more about you and how you work, think and behave. Please answer the four questions below. For each essay, describe the situation, your thoughts and actions, and the outcome.”
In the online application, the instructions are slightly more specific:
“Use the essays to tell us more about you and how you work, think, and behave. For each essay, please provide a brief overview of the situation followed by a detailed description of your response. Include what you thought, felt, said and did. (Please select experiences or events from the past one to two years.)“
Please note the bold text above. This is indeed quite different from the guidelines on the main web site. After checking in with the MIT adcom, we’ve found that they aren’t strictly enforcing this 1-2 year rule. The admissions team has indicated that some older experiences might be worth including. They also seem to recognize that many applicants read the topics on the main site and will only see the online application as they go to upload the work they’ve completed (hence missing this bit of instruction).
In other news today, we strongly recommend that Wharton applicants take a look at Hella‘s latest blog posting on application reading. There are some excellent tips about how to proceed with regards to your ‘Why Wharton’ argument and recommendation coaching, etc.
Posted by Clear Admit on October 28, 2005, at 1:01 pm
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline Welcome to this week’s edition of FFF! As one might expect, things continued to heat up in the world of MBA admissions this week. Applicant-bloggers submitted files, interviewed at schools and did a lot of nervous blogging about ‘post-application blues’. On the other side of the admissions process, current MBA student-bloggers continued to face new challenges from mid-terms and the recruiting process.
Kicking things off with some wonderful news this week, we’d like to offer our congratulations to Axechick, who learned yesterday that she had made the cut for Columbia ED. This is fantastic – and also incredibly prompt on Columbia’s part (since the file was submitted on October 7th and the result was given on the 27th). In other good (and prompt) news, Ty Coon both submitted his Yale application and received an interview invite this week. Meanwhile, Anand Rao submitted his Kellogg application just before the deadline and LaserLikeFocus outlined an application schedule for R2 in hopes that the blog-reading public will help him keep on schedule. Finally, Mave offers some top-notch essay-writing tips, SgHama explains why he’s dropped MIT, GunnerMBA takes solace in sports as he awaits his Wharton invite and Vatsa explores the ethics of writing one’s own MBA recommendation letters.
Checking in with the MBA student population, we’d like to call your attention to an excellent entry from Hella, who describes what it is like to read files as a student-member of the Wharton admissions committee. Heading up to Cambridge, second-year student Mark describes preparations for a rough DIP week at HBS – pointing out that students with full-time offers from their summer jobs are heading off to Vegas while the rest of the class dives into a week of dedicated interviewing. Speaking of recruiting, Marquis (from Stanford) does a great job documenting the recruiting process with both Bain and BCG in his most recent posting (a must read for anyone considering consulting).
Closing out this week’s edition of FFF, we turn to a handful of first-year MBA students who are documenting the ups and downs of the infamous ‘first semester’. Jerry Blank explains why “proficient is sufficent” at Yale, while Wakechick gets ready to experience mid-terms at Chicago. MargaritaLuvr describes her interactions with law students at Columbia and is glad she chose the MBA route. The DivineMissN evaluates her LBS experience to date and Anders follows suit with a report from CEIBS while INSEADmba06 checks in with a report from Singapore.
That’s the news for this week. Congratulations to the Chicago White Sox and best of luck to Borrego in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup. Have a great weekend everyone!
Posted by Clear Admit on October 27, 2005, at 11:03 am
Posted in: Admissions Tips , Interview Tips , School: Northwestern / Kellogg As many applicants prepare for their Kellogg admissions interviews, we thought we’d provide a few sample questions to help you get ready. The questions below have been excerpted from the Clear Admit Guide to Kellogg Interviews (available to Clear Admit clients).
Most Kellogg interviews will have the usual why MBA/why now/why Kellogg, career goals and resume review component. In addition to these basic topics, the list below covers some of the more popular questions. Keep in mind that Kellogg conducts blind, resume-based interviews.
Education/Planning -Describe your undergraduate experience. -How did you choose your first job after college/university?
Work Experience -How do you manage your superiors and subordinates? -What would be the one thing you would change about your work? How have you done something about it?
Team Work Skills -How do your colleagues perceive you? -Give me a precise example to justify why you believe you are a good team player.
Personal Characteristics/Communication Skills -What is the biggest weakness of your candidacy? How have you tried to address it? -How have you developed your qualitative/communciations skills?
Why Kellogg/Fit -What other schools are you applying to and why? -What can you bring to Kellogg that is unique?
Posted by Clear Admit on October 26, 2005, at 12:10 pm
Posted in: School: Dartmouth / Tuck Yesterday’s edition of The Dartmouth, featured an interesting piece on Tuck‘s new Director of Admissions, Dawna Clarke. Ms. Clarke comes to Tuck after having served as the Director of Admissions at Darden/UVA and as an admissions officer for Kenan-Flagler/UNC. She brings over 18 years of experience in MBA admissions.
The most interesting bits of information from the article relate to Clarke’s discussion of a new approach to admissions at Tuck. Clarke has opted to have admissions team members divide up the applicant pool by geographic region, assigning various admissions officers to cover specific regions. This marks a departure from the school’s prior system where all officers read files from all regions. Beyond discussing changes to the internal admissions process, Clarke also offers her take on the various MBA rankings, claiming that they are “a strong source of objective information” and indicating that they impact recruiting efforts.
Overall, the article is an interesting read for applicants considering Tuck. For those of you who are wondering what happened to Kristine Laca (the school’s former Director of Admissions), she has stayed on at Tuck to evaluate and develop strategic initiatives for the program.
Posted by Clear Admit on October 25, 2005, at 10:44 am
Posted in: General Following up yesterday’s posting on application volume, we’d like to call our readers’ attention to the latest edition of Graduate Management News. Graduate Management News is published by GMAC and aimed at the MBA admissions/administrative community (admissions officers, deans, career services officers). The newsletter often has interesting articles and statistics relating to application volume, GMAT changes and more. Here are a few items from the September/October issue:
1) Application Volume Trends Still Send Mixed Signals. This article discusses application trends at both domestic and international MBA programs, looking at the gains made by non-US programs and the differences between part-time, full-time and executive MBA applicant volume. [Note: this report does not include data from the current admissions cycle.]
2) Alumni Stand by the MBA. This article covers a survey that was conducted by GMAC to better understand how MBA alumni value the degree over the long-term. While the survey covers MBA alumni from a broad range of programs (top-tier, part time, regional), it is interesting to see the strong level of support in the b-school alumni community.
3) GMAT Volume Shows Signs of Strength. Based on the latest data through September 2005, this piece discusses the latest trends in test-taker volume in the US and abroad.
As one might expect, there are a number of noteworthy statistics in the articles and supporting GMAC reports. Here are a few to consider:
-Europe’s MBA programs are gaining in popularity among European citizens. In the year 2000, 32% of GMAT test-takers in Western Europe sent their scores to MBA programs in Europe. In the year 2004, 42% of Western European test-takers sent their scores to MBA programs in Europe.
-U.S. citizens still seem to prefer U.S. MBA programs. 98% of GMAT score reports sent by U.S. citizens in 2004 were sent to US schools (vs. 99% in 2000).
-U.S. programs may be losing some market share to their European counterparts when it comes to attracting European students. 60% of European test-takers sent their GMAT scores to US schools in 2000. In 2004, this number was only 42%.
Posted by Clear Admit on October 24, 2005, at 3:52 pm
Posted in: School: Penn / Wharton There is a great deal of Wharton-related debate taking place in various blogs and discussion forums. Candidates are speculating on admissions volume, interview invites, how applications are reviewed and more. In an effort to help you stay on top of life in the Wharton admissions process, we wanted to offer the following facts:
1) R1 application volume at Wharton was up slightly from last year. We checked in with the school late last week and were told that they haven’t done the exact head count yet, but that volume is increased compared to last year’s first round.
2) Wharton R1 interview invites started going out late last week. The school will continue offering invites until November 17th at which point all candidates who have not been invited to interview will be denied admission.
3) Wharton typically invites about 45% of all applicants for an admissions interview.
4) Wharton admissions interviews are blind. This means that the interviewer has not seen your application when they meet with you. They rely only on your resume for the purposes of the interview.
5) There is no pattern to the order in which applications are received and interview invites are offered. Due to the decentralized nature of the application review process at Wharton it is simply impossible to make assumptions about interview invites based on the date of submission, etc. While we’ve heard all kinds of great conspiracy theories in the discussion forums, there really isn’t a pattern. Before you consider doubting us on this point, remember that several members of the Clear Admit team have worked in Wharton’s admissions office.
6) Each application will be reviewed at least twice before the decision about an interview invite is made. This means that a second-year MBA student working in admissions will review the application once, followed by a permanent member of the admissions team. If the two parties disagree on the interview decision, a third review of the file will be conducted as a tie-breaker.
With these points in mind, here are a few links to relevant Wharton discussion and information: -Wharton Adcom Blog -Wharton R1 applicant discussion in BW -Application volume speculation -Wharton interview invite discussion in student2student forum
Posted by Clear Admit on October 21, 2005, at 11:00 am
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline The MBA blogosphere is alive and well! Despite the onslaught of first round application deadlines, b-school applicants continue to trade stories in the blog medium. Similarly, as MBA students are juggling mid-terms, recruiting needs and relationships, they still continue to share their anecdotes with the MBA community.
Current b-school students are really digging into the various on-campus offerings at this point. Death Spiral reports on a guest speaker at INSEAD, while Insead06 describes the all out game theory war between the school’s Singapore and Fonatainbleau locations. Meanwhile on the London Business School campus, KV blogs about student association elections (and his role as the new Incoming Student Rep) while DivineMissN discusses cultural celebration and tattoos…coupled with the stress of week #3 and the upcoming Women In Business Conference. Of course, not everyone is stressed at LBS, since it would seem that rsr.pt has time to blog from class! Heading to Spain, we get a report from IESE MBA 2007 who recounts a difficult week during which he spent an entire afternoon on a single Financial Accounting problem.
Crossing back the other side of the pond, we get a report on mid-terms and cluster bonding at Columbia from MargaritaLuvr. Over at the Chicago GSB, the Dirty Canuck explains that his crazy rockstar lifestyle doesn’t always mesh with pursuing an MBA. Speaking of Canada, blogger Jessica Fung offers a solid report on social outings at Rotman in Toronto. Meanwhile, Tagad_Tale comes back to the blogosphere to report on the second year experience at Tuck as Marquis (a 2nd year) and MBAWana (a 1st year) comment on life at Stanford.
Shifting gears over to the MBA applicant community, there seems to be a lot of speculation and reshuffling of the deck taking place. Schools are being bumped from R1 to R2, applicants are debating the merits/intentions of ED rounds and everyone is wondering about application volume. Another topic that will likely gain in popularity over the coming weeks is the MBA interview invite. Ty Coon checks in with a post about HBS’ interview process (see our tips/description here). Along those lines, Wharton should begin issuing invites this week. Stay tuned for more on that in the coming days.
While applicants who have submitted files are enjoying various debates, many R2 bloggers are still gathering information and outlining their strategies. TakeTwoBskool seems to have settled in on his target schools, while DaveforMBA lists the 13 schools that made his short-list. Meanwhile, LaserLikeFocus offers another excellent posting on a school visit (this time for Tuck).
For those of you who are still looking at the GMAT, several applicant bloggers have stepped up this week to offer solid advice. BeattheGMAT has made flash cards available while Vatsa has summarized his process for preparing.
That’s the news for this week. Thanks to Forrest for the kind words! Have . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on October 20, 2005, at 6:30 am
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis , School: Michigan / Ross With the first wave of round one deadlines having recently passed, many applicants are turning their attention to schools whose round one deadlines are a bit later in the season. With Michigan’s R1 deadline coming up on the first of November, we wanted to offer our thoughts on the essay questions for that program.
Required Questions You must answer all parts of the four questions below. 1. We believe one of the keys to effective leadership is the ability to transform ideas into action through people. Please describe a professional leadership accomplishment in which you transformed an idea into action. How did your leadership impact your organization? (500-word maximum) You’re being asked to discuss a few key things here. The main theme is the transformation of idea into action – and ultimately results (this is where the last part of the question comes in). Be sure to carefully explain the way you arrived at the idea in question, and explain the actions you took to make it a reality, as well as the thought process behind them. The second component here is making your plan an actuality “through people.” With this in mind, it will be important to pick a story that reflects your ability to engage others, win their support for a plan and motivate them to carry it to fruition. Finally, it will also be critical to demonstrate (and perhaps even quantify) the impact that your leadership had on your organization.
2. Describe the initiatives you have taken over the past two years to develop professionally. (500-word maximum) This question is unique in that it maintains a somewhat broad focus (as opposed to asking for an account of a single situation) within a very specific time frame. In approaching this essay, we’d recommend that applicants take some time to reflect on the ways they have proactively sought out opportunities to learn or lead, as this will be the key to crafting a compelling narrative that demonstrates that the author has been thoughtful and deliberate in cultivating his or her career. While it certainly wouldn’t hurt to comment on the success you’ve had in these roles, the emphasis of this essay should really be on the process and growth you’ve undergone over the past two years.
3. What career goals have you set for yourself and how will a Ross MBA support the achievement of these goals? How will you utilize the opportunities at Ross to co-create an MBA experience that is right for you? How will you enhance the experience of other members of the Ross community? (500-word maximum) See the general tips we posted in this blog last summer for guidance in tackling this fairly standard career goal essay. Keep in mind that in this instance, much of your recent ‘career progress’ will have been touched upon in essay #2, leaving you more room here to elaborate on the active role you intend to pursue as a student at Ross.
4. Describe a situation where your . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on October 19, 2005, at 11:25 am
Posted in: Admissions Tips , Interview Tips , School: Dartmouth / Tuck As many of you know, it is currently the busy season for interviews at Dartmouth/Tuck. Tuck encourages applicants to set up their own interviews on campus – a policy that differs from peer schools like Wharton, Chicago, HBS or Stanford (where interviews are by invitation only). Interviews in Hanover are conducted by second-year MBA students or full-time members of the admissions team. Tuck employs a ‘blind’ interview process, using only the resume as a basis for the interview.
Based on feedback from our clients, here are some of the more popular questions that one might find in a Tuck interview:
General 1) Walk me through your resume. 2) What are your career goals? 3) Why are you interested in pursuing an MBA? 4) Why are you applying to Tuck? 5) What would you find most difficult about relocating to Hanover, NH?
Teamwork/Strengths and Weaknesses 1) Tell me about a favorable experience where you led a team using teamwork skills. 2) Discuss a recent failure. 3) How would your peers or subordinates describe you? 4) What are your strengths and weaknesses? 5) What do you hope to get out of your study group with respect to personalities, talents, etc.? 6) What might you do if a team member was being unproductive?
Career Path Details 1) How do you like your job? 2) What did you study in college that led you to be interested in your industry? 3) Why do you think that you need an MBA if you have reached a very good position in your work?
Extras/Interest in Contributing 1) What do you like to do outside of work? 2) What can you contribute to Tuck?
As you prepare for your Tuck interview, be sure to take the time to practice these questions and do the proper research into the program. Do not forget how critical it is to demonstrate your fit with Tuck.
Posted by Clear Admit on October 18, 2005, at 11:54 am
Posted in: Admissions Tips As most R1 applicants have come to understand, applying to business school is an incredibly demanding process. In addition to taking the GMAT, assembling academic transcripts and providing recommendation letters, candidates are required to present multiple essays, job descriptions, activities lists and more.
Many applicants assemble these materials without ever asking a fundamental question:
Who will read my application?
While the answer to this question may vary from school to school, one thing is for certain: it is unlikely that the person reading your files will have an intimate level of familiarity with your specific industry or job function. As such, if you use industry-specific jargon or assume prior knowledge of your field on the part of the admissions officer, you undoubtedly will lose the reader.
The solution to this issue is issue is to write about your experiences in a way that the average person will understand. While this is easier said than done, it underlines the importance of sharing your materials with an unbiased advisor (ideally not a work colleague or mom and dad) to make sure that you aren’t off-base with some of your assumptions.
To learn more about who actually reads your essays at the various schools, contact Clear Admit with your CV/resume and sign up for a free initial assessment.
Posted by Clear Admit on October 17, 2005, at 12:45 pm
Posted in: Deadlines , General In case you were hoping for a breather following last week’s deadlines for Harvard, Columbia (ED) and Wharton, we’re afraid things aren’t letting up. Here’s what’s on deck for this week:
Today: -Tuck (EA)
Wednesday, October 19th: -Stanford GSB -Darden/UVA
Friday, October 21st: -Kellogg/Northwestern -London Business School
With the arrival of application deadlines comes talk of application volume. Our initial expectations are for stable volume this season, but we’ll be back later in the week with a word on admissions volume in R1. Part of the reason that we’re looking for steady application volume relates to the latest news from GMAC which shows that global GMAT test-taker volume has been up slightly through the first nine months of 2005. International volume is actually up nearly 8% – suggesting that the popularity of the MBA continues to grow abroad.
In closing today’s entry, we’d like to offer our congratulations to Le Optimiste, a fellow blogger who has just been admitted to Columbia Business School! This is wonderful news! Optimiste may be the first applicant-blogger from the class of 2008 to gain admission and we hope that he/she continues to provide readers with information about the rest of the process (financing, relocation, leaving work, etc). Perhaps we’ll see Le Optimiste strolling up the red carpet at this year’s Best of Blogging awards?
Posted by Clear Admit on October 14, 2005, at 12:59 pm
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline This week’s edition of FFF kicks off with the dozens of applicants who have spent the last few days battling deadlines at Harvard, Columbia (ED) and Wharton. It was clearly not an easy week for this group, but many candidates are relieved to have submitted their first group of applications. We start with Ty Coon, who submitted HBS just in time on Tuesday and describes the merits of last-minute checking your files. Meanwhile, GunnerMBA seemed cool and calm on the eve of Harvard’s deadline, pointing out that his essays were all wrapped up. Turning towards Columbia, Axechick has a celebratory posting about completing her ED application before expressing some post-application blues (“the waiting is the hardest part…“). Finally, having survived server troubles earlier in the week, Vatsa reached the finish line for Wharton (as did Eshon).
Of course, not all applicants have been focused on the first round. In fact, several candidates have been out visiting the programs or attending information sessions as they gear up for R2. Anand Rao offers a wonderful summary of an HBS info session and LaserLikeFocus describes the dangers of visiting 5 schools in 5 days as well as a bit more detail on his Sloan visit. Meanwhile several applicants have checked in with their tips or progress reports for various application deadlines. RedWolf offers an update on his Chicago essays, while RusGirl tackles the subject of writer’s block and how to get around it. Finally TakeTwoBskool offers his rationale for applying in R2, The M offers thoughts on reengineering the recommendations process and Anders explains that the Chinese government has unbanned Blogspot.
Turning towards current MBA students in the class of 2007, we find the majority of them knee-deep in homework as they battle the toughest part of the first semester. FutureGuru blogs about the juggling act that is required at LBS, while JDiddy offers his take on week one at UCLA. Jerry Blank checks in with a report from Yale which characterizes the last two weeks as “rough” and Le Voyageur rants about how busy things are at Chicago. Finally, Death Spiral talks about flattering professors at INSEAD in advance of exams week.
Of course, while some MBA students are incredibly hard at work, others have used their blogs to document their efforts to play. IESE student gives readers the scoop on a bar-crawl after the first week of classes, Wakechick talks about doing everything but studying as she takes advantage of some weekend downtime in Chicago and Jewellsnake is energized by Stern‘s location in the heart of Greenwich Village.
That’s the news from the front lines of the MBA blogosphere. Have a great weekend everyone! Don’t forget today’s Chicago GSB chat or the MBA World Tour in Paris this weekend….
Posted by Clear Admit on October 13, 2005, at 6:44 pm
Posted in: School: Chicago Here are the details on Friday’s Chicago chat:
On Friday, October 14th, 9:30am (central time), Rose Martinelli, the Associate Dean of Student Recruitment and Admissions at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and the Admissions Team will be conducting an online chat with prospective students who are interested in learning more about Chicago GSB’s new admissions process.
Please join us by visiting: http://www.chicagogsb.edu/fulltime/chat/
Posted by Clear Admit on October 13, 2005, at 10:28 am
Posted in: General Clear Admit will be participating in this Saturday’s World MBA Tour event in Paris, France. For those of you who have never attended one of these events, the Tour is a great opportunity for prospective applicants to pick up materials from leading schools and meet with alumni and admissions officers.
Graham Richmond will be at the Clear Admit stand during the event, so please feel free to stop by and say hello or offer your feedback on this blog. He will also be happy to answer your questions about the MBA admissions process.
Here is a partial list of some of the leading schools who will be present: Babson, CEIBS (China), Columbia, Cornell (Johnson), Cranfield, UVA (Darden), Duke (Fuqua), ESADE, ESCP, ESSEC, Georgetown, Berkeley (Haas), HEC, IESE, IMD, INSEAD, Cambridge (Judge), Kellogg, Manchester, NYU (Stern), Rotterdam, Bocconi, CMU (Tepper), Smurfit, Dartmouth (Tuck), UCLA (Anderson), U. Chicago, U. Michigan (Ross), UNC (Kenan-Flagler), USC (Marshall), Wharton.
Event details: World MBA Tour Paris, France October 15th, 2005 Palais des Congres (16th district, metro: Porte Maillot) 5 EUR (to register in advance) 10 EUR (if paying at the event)
|
