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Clear Admit Interview Guides
Be as prepared as possible for your MBA interviews this season with the Clear Admit Interview Guides! School-specific sample questions and in-depth strategy, campus visit details and places to stay.

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Seventeen titles available! Understand how the leading programs compare and learn more about the MBA experience in and beyond the classroom through Clear Admit School Guides. As featured in the Economist.

Essay Topic Analysis
Below are links to our comments on some of the top programs' essay topics for the 2007-2008 admissions season.
The Career Goals Essay
Berkeley / Haas
Chicago GSB
CMU / Tepper *
Columbia
Cornell / Johnson
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
IESE *
INSEAD
London Business School
MIT / Sloan
Michigan / Ross
Northwestern / Kellogg
NYU / Stern
Oxford / Said *
Penn / Wharton
Stanford GSB
UCLA / Anderson
UNC / Kenan-Flagler
UT Austin / McCombs *
UVA / Darden
Yale SOM
* denotes last year's commentary

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ARCHIVE FOR FEBRUARY 2006

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Upcoming Deadlines

While many MBA applicants are presently focused on interviews and eagerly awaiting Round 2 decisions from their target programs, others are focused on the upcoming slew of Round 3 (or 4 or 5) deadlines. Let’s take a look at these dates, spread over the next two months:

March 1: Columbia (international students), Cornell/Johnson (R5), Michigan/Ross (R3), UVA/Darden (R4)
March 2: UPenn/Wharton (R3)
March 3: UNC/Kenan Flagler (R4)
March 7: Harvard Business School (R3)
March 10: Northwestern/Kellogg (R3), Berkeley/Haas (R4)
March 15: Chicago (R3), NYU/Stern (R3), Stanford (R3), Yale (R3)
March 21: Duke/Fuqua (R3)
April 10: Dartmouth/Tuck (R4)
April 20: Columbia (domestic students)
April 28: UCLA/Anderson (R4)

While it’s always best to apply as early as possible, the difference between applying in round one and applying in round two is, for most applicants, a marginal one. However, the later rounds are a very different game. Because most of the seats in the incoming class will have been given away by the time round two decisions are released, the acceptance rate in the third round is dramatically lower than that for the first two deadlines of the season.

To maximize your chances of a later round acceptance, demonstrating your interest in the school and submitting thoughtful and error-free written materials will be crucial. Just as applying in round one is generally taken as a sign of interest in a given program, applicants submitting their materials in a later round need to work extra hard to convince the adcom that they are genuinely interested in the school and are not simply applying as an afterthought because interview invitations didn’t come through in round two. Demonstrating that you would make a valuable contribution to the community and providing evidence that you have taken steps to engage current students and alumni will work to your advantage.

As always, we’d like to refer those applicants who are targeting the later deadlines and just beginning to investigate certain programs to the Clear Admit Wiki for information on these schools, and to encourage those who’ve visited the campus and interviewed to share their experiences. Potential R3 or R4 applicants are also welcome to contact Clear Admit directly to discuss the strength of their later round candidacies and learn more about our one-on-one counseling services.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Article: US vs. European MBA

Yesterday’s edition of The Independent featured some solid advice for those candidates just beginning to consider their MBA options, particularly with regard to the choice between US and European programs. The article’s main focus is how important it is that an applicant take a long-term view when making this decision and select a school with an eye to where he or she ultimately wants to work. It also raises some interesting points about the makeup of the student body - and the way this influences the program’s duration and subject matter - that are also worth a prospective student’s consideration:

“MBA students in Europe tend to be older [than those in the US] (around 29 or 30 years of age compared to 25 to 27 in the US) and this means they have sufficient business experience to grasp concepts quickly.

This older demographic also influences the teaching method. US business schools rely heavily on case studies to illustrate theoretical points, and with great success. European business schools tend to take a slightly different approach.

‘We don’t use case studies in every single class because we can draw on the experiences of our students to put things into context,’ says Caroline Diarte Edwards, director of MBA admissions at Insead, based in Fontainebleau just outside Paris. ‘They can illustrate points with the challenges they have faced and that really enriches the learning experience.’

A more youthful class has its advantages too. ‘Our students usually have three to four years of work experience, which is enough to learn from but not enough to be fixed in their way of thinking,’ says Dawna Clarke, director of MBA admissions at Tuck Business School at Dartmouth, New England.”

The full text of the article is available at:
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/analysis_and_features/article347924.ece

This is a great read for applicants just beginning to consider the “US vs. Europe” question. For those who are a bit farther along in the process and leaning toward non-US programs, we’ll be offering a series of school-specific comments and essay tips for those schools over the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

Admissions Tip: Waitlist Revisited

Last Monday we offered some correspondence tips to those applicants who have been waitlisted by schools that welcome communication from these candidates who are competitive but not quite in at this point in the admissions process. Today, we’d like to provide some advice to those who are in an arguably more difficult position: waitlisted by schools that discourage further contact with the adcom.

This may sound obvious, but if a school indicates that they do not want supplemental materials, then you should respect their guidelines. In other words, do not send along a new recommendation or an essay if the program has clearly indicated that you should not do so. There may be exceptions to this - for example, if a dramatic change has taken place in your candidacy - but in most cases, you should simply follow the rules.

While at first it seems as though this leaves little option for waitlisted applicants other than sitting and waiting for a more definitive decision, one of the best things an individual in this position can do is just the opposite - take action and visit the school. This makes particularly good sense for those who have never been to the campus of their target programs. Very many things can happen when spending time at the school:

1) You never know when you’ll have that chance meeting with an admissions officer who is willing to give you a little feedback (and who through the process of meeting you face to face might get a better sense of your candidacy). In fact, if planning a visit, there’s no harm in letting the admissions office know in advance - especially if you have a ‘waitlist manager’ or someone on the admissions team who you’ve corresponded with in the past. Just send them a polite email indicated that you will be on campus on date X and would love to stop in and introduce yourself, etc. You’d be surprised at how often an admissions officer ends up being available to speak with you for a few minutes. Having said that, it’s critical not to force such a meeting or make unreasonable demands on the adcom, so be sure to use your best judgment.

2) A school may take note of your visit (if you sign in with the admissions office) and view it as a potential sign of your interest. All other things being equal, the adcom is generally more likely to admit an applicant if they believe him or her to be likely to accept an offer of admission.

3) You may interact with students or professors who can better inform you of opportunities at the school and give you a better sense of the campus culture. If you make a particularly strong impression, you might even inspire someone to intercede with the adcom on your behalf.

4) By visiting a school and gaining a feel for the community and setting, you may actually realize that a given program is really not for you. This will enable you to focus your energy and attention elsewhere, and give up your spot on the waitlist to someone who might be a better fit with the program.

Friday, February 24, 2006

Fridays from the Frontline

Welcome to this week’s installment of FFF! Although Presidents’ Day has made it a short week for some, there’s been no lack of action on the blogging front. Let’s start by taking a look at what our applicant friends have been up to over the past seven days:

There’s been much talk of visits and campuses this week. C’est La Vie provides a very detailed account of his Yale visit and positive impression of the program, and AxeChick made what’s become her monthly trip to campus for a conference at Columbia. We’re always glad to hear that applicants and admits are making the effort to visit a school, as this a great way to get a sense of one’s fit with the program; just ask Brownoski, who laments his waitlist status and inability to attend his target programs’ Welcome Weekends, as well as ChillPill, who offers some great thoughts on how to find one’s fit. Those who can’t make the trip can sometimes live vicariously. For instance, second-year Mark posted a thoughtful reflection on his time at HBS this week, while Stanford student Cliff_Clavin compares Harvard and Wharton’s facilities and Michigan student Nate shares some planned improvements to the Ross campus. Along the lines of fit and school selection, H. Caulfield shares his reasons for attending Anderson, while Angel Angie offers some great general tips on the general LBS application process.

Interviews, as is usual this time of year, remain another popular topic and a number of bloggers have provided some great interview reports this week (all of which are also available on the Clear Admit wiki!). Ash has written up a detailed account of his Wharton hub interview in Paris, SgHama reflects at length on his performance with Chicago, No Keating reports that he was well prepared for his Kellogg interview, and Resolute got over a morning Darden ding for his afternoon interview with Kellogg. Others are still preparing. Benny is gearing up for his LBS interview, and GunnerMBA has one down at INSEAD and another to go. Meanwhile, other bloggers are anticipating more general questions; Forrest Gump is unsure of how to tackle the “tell me about yourself” inquiry, and MBA Jackass is readying for HBS and spent time wondering how to navigate the dreaded “where else are you applying?” question for his Columbia interview.

Both MBA Jackass and No Keating reported on some interesting correspondence from Kellogg about unexpectedly high application volume, and considered the implications of this information for round two applicants. Indeed, some additional application volume stats collected by Ty Coon effectively highlight that this trend seems to apply to many of the top programs. While this is certainly good news for schools, it translates into a relatively rough time for applicants. In that vein, we were sorry to learn of Anand’s Wharton DWI, C’est La Vie’s Columbia ding, and Nagendra’s Chicago disappointment.

While Redwolf has made peace with the application process and others, like FooBarMe, look to the BW forums as a source of hope and information, the blogging community is another great source of support and encouragement. We hope that Vatsa, Marina and I_Will_Make_It have a wonderful time at tonight’s Bay Area meetup!

MBA student bloggers have been a bit quieter than applicants this week - not surprising, as it sounds like they’ve got a lot going on! Job placement has been a big concern again, especially at ISB, as Raja reports. Fellow student Vijay reflects on the factors that do and don’t contribute to success in the recruiting process, while we were glad to hear that Bharani found some success of his own after a tough negotiation. In other parts of the world, UNC student Buckyhoo weighs the pros and cons of an internship prospect, MarketWizWannabe reports that competition at Wisconsin is tough for buy-side summer positions, Jeff D carries on with his internship search in spite of a ding at Brandeis, and MargaritaLuvr is without an offer but is keeping her cool at Columbia. Because it sounds like the theme this week has been heavy on the looking and light on finding, we’re very glad that KV has had some job search success at LBS, while DivineMissN is considering alternative options, all appealing.

Much is happening on the academic end as well. Beau is busy at Darden and Wakechick checks in to report on the weather and her hectic schedule at Chicago, while her fellow GSB-student Dirty Canuck finds time for an interesting and informative reflection on the MBA experience. Speaking of reflection, Chiru expresses some mixed emotion over the last class at ISB. Meanwhile, Al Martine misses finance class at LBS - but, unfortunately, only because he’s finding Spanish even more difficult.

That does it for this week. As always, we wish the best of luck to those seeking internships and awaiting admissions decisions, and hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Article: B-School Faculty Supply and Demand

While a central element of the MBA admissions space is the competition between schools for high quality students, an AP article came out this week that highlights another important issue that might affect applicants: competition for faculty. Just as job prospects for MBA applicants have been looking up this year, it also seems that now is an ideal time for individuals with an academic interest in business to capitalize on the demand for PhDs:

“Major accrediting groups and business school officials say the diminishing supply of people with doctorates in business and the rapidly increasing demand for their services globally have pushed doctoral salaries through the roof. It’s also forced business schools to devise ways to effectively compete for doctoral faculty and find alternatives for filling vacant faculty positions.”

In addition to suggesting that continuing with school with an eye to a teaching position might become a more financially attractive option to students who have already made the significant investment in an MBA, this underscores the importance of conducting research on schools - especially relatively young programs - before applying in order to be assured of strength of faculty in one’s area of interest.

The full text is available here:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/02/21/teaching.business.ap/

It’s actually been a big week in terms of MBA-related news. Other recent articles of note:
Interim dean announced at USC Marshall
Darden on tour
George Yip quits LBS for private sector post
Larry Summers to step down from Harvard
Stanford to reshape graduate education
Salaries on the rise for MBAs around the world

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Wiki Wednesdays

It’s been another great week for the Clear Admit wiki, with fourteen new interview reports having come in over the past seven days! We’re rapidly approaching thirty Wharton reports - all from this season - and also have new content covering programs like Chicago, Yale, UNC and UCLA. One new Kellogg interview report points out an important thing to consider when interviewing with an alum, no matter how recently he or she graduated:

“One thing I noticed was that although I interviewed with a fairly recent graduate many of the acronyms for clubs and programs at Kellogg had changed and I had to elaborate on and explain some activities in which I was interested.”

We’d also like to remind visitors that applicants at the interview stage are not the only ones who can contribute to or benefit from the wiki; we’ve also received several great reports of school visits over the past few days. Here’s an excerpt from a Wharton visit report that seems to confirm the school’s reputation for student involvement and autonomy:

“The students were very friendly and well-informed, and made it clear through recounting their experiences that extra-curricular involvement at Wharton is prevalent. Indeed, it seems that much of what the school has to offer would not exist at all were it not for the ongoing participation and guidance of the student body. Many of the clubs that seem most important to helping students achieve their career goals are entirely student-run.”

Also of note, the London Business School adcom paid a visit to the LBS Application section of the wiki yesterday to respond to some feedback applicants had left concerning the navigability of its online application, as well as share some further improvements that are under consideration. They also offered a piece of advice that we’d like to echo:

“Finally, I’m sure you here this all the time but as with any online application, the traffic immediately prior to the deadline (24-48 hours) is extremely heavy, so to alleviate some of the strain on the server (and your own nerves ) we always recommend submitting a few days in advance where possible. (easier said than done ”

We’d like to underscore the fact that schools as well as applicants are welcome to contribute to this resource to ensure that it’s as informative and accurate as possible. Thanks to everyone who’s contributed so far - keep that great content coming!

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Admissions Tip: Interview Etiquette 101

As interview invitations continue to flow out to round two applicants, the importance of making a good in-person impression becomes an increasingly relevant topic. While we’ve dedicated a number of posts in this blog (and an entire wiki!) to covering school-specific tips, we wanted to take a moment today to cover the very basics of interview etiquette.

1) Dress the part. Unless meeting with an alum who explicitly specifies a more casual dress code, assume that business attire is appropriate. We recommend that applicants dress conservatively, opting for a dark suit (pants or skirt are both fine for women) and a blue or white shirt. Steer clear of flashy brand gear and loud ties, and go easy on makeup and fragrances; you want to be remembered for what you say and who you are, not what you wore.

2) Be pleasant. This likely goes without saying, but we wanted to state for the record that in addition to fostering a friendly discussion with your interviewer, it’s also important to be polite to administrative staff and anyone else you might encounter while on campus or in your alumni interviewer’s office. Flippant comments to the administrative assistant at the front desk often find their way back to the source.

3) Be aware of body language. In addition to your comments about your experiences, interests and reasons for seeking an MBA, your interviewer will also be taking note of the way you present yourself. You’ll also want to avoid taking notes or reading from your resume; it can be fine to have the latter in front of you as a reference, but remember that you should be familiar enough with its content to focus on maintaining eye contact and establishing a rapport.

4) Follow up. Make sure that you get your interviewer’s card and take his or her contact information in order to send a “thank you” email within 24 hours of the interview. This is not only common courtesy, but could also serve as the first step in forging a lasting correspondence while underlining the key aspects of your candidacy.

While there are dozens of other tips we could offer, we hope these basic pointers help to steer our readers in the right direction. Good luck to everyone who is interviewing in the coming weeks! For personalized interview coaching and school-specific advice, feel free to contact Clear Admit at info@clearadmit.com.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Admissions Tip: Waitlist Correspondence

In addition to actively evaluating the applications of round two applicants at this time of year, many top programs revisit their round one waitlists and consider the strength of those individuals with respect to the new information about the pool. While schools vary in their receptivity to correspondence from applicants, those programs that do welcome additional materials offer a great chance for waitlisted candidates to reaffirm their interest in the school and keep themselves fresh in the mind of the adcom. With the notification dates for a number of second round schools coming up in a manner of weeks, we wanted to offer some tips to students who have been waitlisted at such programs while there’s still some time to tip the balances in their favor.

It’s clear that you should take advantage of this chance to add to your file, so the first real step is determining what you want - and need - to communicate in your waitlist correspondence. We suggest that you begin by revisiting your application with a critical eye. Being waitlisted is ultimately a positive sign of the strength of your candidacy, so it’s likely you’ve put together a very solid set of materials; you do, however, want to consider what you might have done to make your application even better. For instance, if your comments in your essays focused primarily on your work experience, you might want to convey some information about your outside interests and activities in your waitlist letter.

Another important aim is to cover new developments and recent improvements in your candidacy. For instance, have you made any progress toward your stated career goals? Visited the school? Taken on additional responsibility at work or in an extracurricular? Sharing impressive information about your work will help to underscore the idea that you are on an upward trajectory, while writing about additional steps you’ve taken to familiarize yourself with the program will emphasize your interest in attending.

In addition to considering content, presentation is also important. Rather than jotting off a few quick sentences to the adcom or the waitlist manager, you should treat any written contact as a formal element of your application, much like your essays, resume and data forms. This affords you a great chance to underscore your communication skills and ability to market yourself.

For more information on navigating waitlists, see this posting from the Clear Admit archives. Waitlisted applicants can also contact Clear Admit directly to learn more about our feedback reports and waitlist strategy sessions.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Fridays from the Frontline

Greetings from unseasonably warm Philadelphia (surely a pleasant surprise for anyone interviewing at Wharton today), and welcome to another installment of FFF!

With Wharton and Chicago’s initial decisions going out to round two applicants this week (or sooner, as Bbirds weighs in with some thoughts about Wharton’s IT slip up), there’s been much talk about the cut - making it and otherwise. Pupstar78, for instance, scored a Wharton invite, and Ash hit a high point on the emotional roller coaster that is the MBA application process. Mave’s excitement about his Wharton interview was sadly tempered by a Chicago ding, while Forrest found himself in quite the opposite position (a ding from Wharton and a Chicago invite). Sadly, Benny was not so fortunate and received the dreaded double ding. We were also sorry to read about Meru’s disappointment over the dead end in his road to Wharton. Ty Coon, meanwhile, is taking the bad news very well, MBACutie is Ross-bound in light of yesterday’s ding, and LaserLikeFocus at least sounds appreciative of the school’s more-humane-than-most process.

The new developments were by no means limited to these two programs. Spanky learned of his UCLA admit earlier than expected, while KTyler feels somewhat ambivalent about his upcoming HBS interview. GunnerMBA also learned that his has two INSEAD interviews to look forward to. Congrats go out to everyone who received positive news!

While some applicants are just receiving word of interview invitations, others have provided some more great reports of their experience. FooBarMe recaps his Tepper interview (and documents the ensuing wait for his result), Benny summarizes his interview for Tuck, and Kilgore Trout offers a very detailed account of his Wharton alum interview. Others shared their impressions after visits to campus; MBAyisyen was impressed with Columbia and Spanky recounts his trip to Stanford as well as his time at Haas. Benny also stopped to offer GMAT prep advice to fellow applicants, and Nivi shared some thoughts on when to tackle this step in the process.

For our student blogger friends, it seems that midterm season has arrived. JB’s finished with marketing at Yale (and applies a valuable lesson learned the hard way with respect to target performance), l’optimiste is bogged down at INSEAD, and dailytravails gets a jump on final projects at Chicago in the absence of exams. Over at IESE, George bids farewell to Operations Finance, while Francis Lewis quotes Henry V and braces himself for midterms (Noelle, meanwhile, is 2/3 finished!). Outside of the classroom, we were amused by Beau’s accidental sociological study of med students at UVA, glad to hear that IESE MBA 2007 had a great experience at a hi tech talk, and a bit jealous of Tagad_Tale’s firetruck ride during a volunteer project at Tuck. Finally (and a bit miscellaneously), second-year student FutureMBAGirl has written up a very thorough and thoughtful commentary on grade non-disclosure at Wharton.

Talk of recruiting is cooling down, but it remains a significant concern for many. Bharani reports on his track record with shortlists at ISB, Karibu reports on the end of milkround at LBS and reassures readers that there are still jobs and internships to be had if proactively sought out. His fellow students don’t seem to be too concerned at this point; Futureguru is fortunately keeping his sanity in spite of his internshiplessness, and rsr.pt is busy tackling midterms and preparing for MBAT (an international MBA sports tournament). Divine Miss N shares some advice for those seeking jobs in media, as well as a revelation about taking all circumstances into consideration when dispensing advice to prospective students at LSB, while Mbawana took a breather from the job-hunt to iron out his summer travel plans through Stanford’s GMIX.

And that concludes this week’s recap of the lastest happenings in the MBA blogosphere. Have a great weekend!

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Articles: Application/Recruiting Volume Up; Breaking News

Following up on last week’s post about the rise in GMAT volume over the past calendar year, we wanted to point out an article in the International Herald Tribune that comments on this trend and its implications for demand for the degree and the job market in the near future. Particularly interesting is an excerpt that confirms that Tuck is indeed having a banner year (as adcom members have reported to applicants waitlisted in round one):

“Dawna Clarke, director for admissions at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, says that the school’s admissions rose by 48 percent for the current 2005-2006 academic year compared with 2004-2005.

“The quality is good, too,” Clarke said. “Some of the downturn may have been due to negative publicity about business in general, but the momentum is back.”

The school ranks highly in most surveys, and Clarke said the strong rise in admissions reflected a large increase in overseas applicants, drawn by interest in the international focus of its programs and the quality of its research.”

While not all programs have experienced as dramatic a leap in application volume as Tuck, we do suspect that number of applications is up by about ten percent across all of the top programs. As the GMAC figures suggest and this article reinforces, international applicants account for a significant portion of this.

The full text is available here:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/13/news/rbizedus.php

Another article of note appeared in Tuesday’s edition of USA Today and was titled: Jobs Heat Up for MBA Grads. The piece focuses on how the job market has seen a dramatic recovery from the doldrums of 2002 and 2003:

“The best indicator is seeing the students’ confidence level at getting attractive, interesting jobs,” says Andy Chan, director of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business MBA Career Management Center. “They have good feelings there will be a positive outcome at the end of their job search.”

Julie Morton, associate dean of MBA Career Services at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, affirms, “Students now don’t get antsy when graduation rolls around and the right job offer hasn’t come along.”

The full text is available here:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2006-02-14-mba-usat_x.htm

In further admissions news, we’ve received some client reports of Darden acceptances, so it seems that notifications from that program have begun going out to R2 applicants. Speaking of early releases, some second round Wharton applicants have already learned of their DWI status, but the rest of the pool will be finding out today. Good luck to everyone still waiting on interview invitations!

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Wiki Wednesdays

Welcome to this week’s edition of Wiki Wednesdays. While we kicked things off last week with thanks to everyone who’s contributed to this resource, we wanted to open this time with some proof that contributors are doing a great service to their fellow applicants all over the globe. Pupstar78 had this to say in a recent blog entry:

“Finally, I’ve been meaning to write about my experience with Clear Admit’s wiki. I checked it out in advance of my Kellogg interview a couple of weeks back. I copied and pasted all of the wiki’s Kellogg Interview reports into one document, then had friends run me repeatedly through all of the questions. As a result, there was not a question asked by the interviewer that I wasn’t prepared for. Outside of having a professional consultant prepare you for interviews, this has to be the best resource I’ve found in terms of interview prep.”

A quote from Clear Admit’s Alex Brown that was recently featured in Advisors’ Brain Food Blog sums up our hope for applicants who are finding the wiki helpful now:

“For each school we list there is an interview section [in which an applicant] can share his / her interview experience. This becomes useful to those prepping for an interview at that particular school. Once completed we hope those who benefited return and share their experiences etc.”

Along those lines, our thanks go out to blogger Moe for pitching in an LBS interview report! Let’s see what else has come in over the past week:

Seven new pieces of content were added yesterday alone, as users weighed in with comments about visits to Tuck and Darden, as well as interviews at Wharton. Meanwhile, the latest reports on Darden interviews confirm the tips we offered a few weeks ago and alert applicants to the fact that they should expect a very open-ended discussion:

“The school really seems to want to get to know you as a person. I was asked just one question “Tell me your life story - everything that you consider to be important. Along the way, cover your career so far, why you want to do an MBA, why at Darden and your short and long-term goals”. So it was very open-ended. My interviewer kept interjecting with questions - she was paying close attention to what I was saying and seemed genuinely interested in learning about all the aspects of my life.”

Looking back over the week as a whole, we also received our first interview report for Stern, two additions for Duke, another Kellogg report and a writeup of an interview with a Philadelphia-based Stanford alum. Good luck to everyone presently using the site for interview preparation - we look forward to hearing how they went!

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Admissions Interview Tip: The Finishing Touch

We’ve been focusing a good deal lately on helping applicants in preparing to answer the various questions they’ll be posed during their interviews, but there is one in particular to which we have not paid much attention. Today, we wanted to offer a few tips in navigating the nearly inevitable finisher: “Do you have any questions for me?”

This seems like a harmless inquiry, and indeed poses a great opportunity, but there’s actually a fine line to walk here. You certainly want to take advantage of this opportunity to show the interviewer that you appreciate his or her time, perspective and knowledge. In determining what to ask, however, you need to avoid those questions to which you could easily find an answer on the school’s website (remember that it’s imperative that you show you’ve done your homework), as well as those that are so specific or obscure that they will stump the interviewer. Another sort of question to avoid are those that seem to be critical of the program or too concerned with other applicants; now is not the time to ask about application volume or the strength of the pool this year.

What does that leave? More than you might initially expect. We’ve found that a great approach is to ask your interviewer about his or her own perspective and experience. Current students and alums, who involve themselves in the admissions process are generally those who are having or have had a positive experience in business school. If your interviewer falls into one of these categories, he or she will likely appreciate the chance to talk about a favorite class or professor, or comment on involvement in a certain club. Meanwhile, when engineering questions to pose to full-time admissions staff, remember that these individuals likely have less in-depth information but a longer-term perspective on the program than would someone who is currently attending or has attended.

Armed with these tips, you should be able to foster a positive and productive conversation, learn a bit more about the program in question, and make a positive impression on your interviewer.

If you have further inquiries about the best questions to pose in your interview (or any other aspect of the interview process), contact Clear Admit directly and sign up for our mock interview service (info@clearadmit.com). We offer school-by-school interview guides, strategy sessions and mock interviews to help you perform at your best on interview day. Also, do not forget to use the MBA Admissions Wiki as a resource for interview preparations!

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Wharton Releases Results Early?

As many Wharton applicants know, the weekend was marked by a fair amount of confusion with regards to school’s second round (R2) admissions decisions. The admissions committee’s stated policy was to review R2 applications starting on January 5th and begin issuing interview invites as of January 19th. This process was to continue through February 16th (the mid-release date), at which point all applicants without an invite were to be informed that they had been denied admission. Most applicants who hadn’t yet heard about an invite as of last Friday were clinging to the hope that an interview invitation would materialize before February 16th - not an unreasonable attitude, given how many invites were issued right down to the wire in the first round.

On Friday evening (Feb. 10th), a Wharton applicant posted to the Wharton student-2-student forums that they checked their online application status and discovered a note stating that they had been denied admission without an interview (DWI). Although some readers didn’t believe that this applicant was telling the truth (since Wharton had stated that rejection decisions would not come out before February 16th), it prompted many to check their status - revealing other DWI decisions. Oddly, none of these applicants had been emailed to alert them to a ’status change’ as is customary for Wharton.

Sure enough, by 8:30 AM on Saturday, some of the DWI decisions had been switched back to a status of ‘Complete for Round 2′ - prompting speculation from applicants that the school had prematurely displayed results and attempted to fix the glitch by switching them back. Shortly thereafter, the admissions committee released the following, rather cryptic statement:

“We began releasing decisions yesterday evening and will continue to release decisions up until February 16, 2006. You may have seen your status change back to complete this morning, as a result of work we doing on the back end, however the decisions currently posted are correct.”

At this point, mass confusion had set in with the applicant pool, prompting a discussion thread in the BW Forums to go along with the s-2-s debate. As stated by the adcom, some DWI decisions remained visible, whereas others were seemingly switched back.

Of course, to those familiar with Wharton’s admissions software, this mix-up is perhaps more easily understood. Here’s our best guess at what happened:

As one might expect, the adcom makes rejection decisions throughout the process while reviewing files. To save time, these decisions are typically entering into the admissions system on a rolling basis - rather than at midnight on February 15th (for example). When entering decisions into the admissions system, the admissions staff can set a ‘release date’ (e.g. February 16th, 9:00 AM) so that all decisions ‘go live’ at once. Of course, if one were to enter decisions and fail to include a release date, those decisions would be visible immediately to the applicant pool. While it is hard to know for certain, our suspicion is that this is what initially took place. Once word started to spread in s-2-s, the oversight was ‘corrected’ - but it was too late, and the adcom ultimately decided to leave many of the DWI’s as-is, claiming a ‘rolling release’ of rejection decisions.

On the blogging front, LaserLikeFocus checked in to speculate about the glitch, as did Meru, who called it a bad joke. At this point it is hard to say whether or not Wharton will continue to do a rolling release of DWIs or if they will simply put them into the system with a February 16th release date. Regardless, it’s unfortunate that the school has left the applicant pool somewhat confused. Stay tuned for more on this developing story…

Friday, February 10, 2006

Fridays From the Frontline

Welcome to another exciting edition of FFF! With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we thought it would be appropriate to open our coverage of the past week in the MBA blogosphere with a look at applicants who’ve been shown some love by their target programs. First and foremost, congratulations go out to Ty Coon on his Emory admit, and to KTyler on his Sloan acceptance. Meanwhile, it sounds as though LaserLikeFocus learned during his waitlist feedback session that he showed sufficient love to Tuck in his application. We were also glad to read that Axechick will have a number of lovely friends joining her at Columbia next year, and that Moe is feeling warmly welcomed by LBS.

Other applicants picked up some good vibrations in the form of interview invitations: SgHama heard from Wharton, Nagendra got some positive news from Cambridge, and international applicant Resolute was granted a Kellogg interview (while the school cut Forrest Gump free of this requirement with an interview waiver). Finally, a little TLC from Stanford cured I_Will_Make_It’s case of the jitters.

Speaking of interviews, many bloggers have lent a helping hand to fellow applicants by posting some great comments about their interview and visit experiences and tips on the process. In particular, Nick Carraway offers some very detailed information about his impressions during his Fuqua visit and time at Johnson. Meanwhile, bimetallic and a friend helped each other out by administering Wharton mock interviews for each other, and he kindly posted some written feedback on his performance that doubles as excellent general advice. In preparing for interviews at schools that give a choice of alumni, Kilgore Trout explains the merits of conducting online research to find the best fit (all’s fair in love and Google!). We were happy to hear that I_Will_Make_It had a great time meeting with a Yale alumna, and that FooBarMe is making slow but steady progress in preparing for his Tepper interview. Additionally, we hope that Anand is feeling better after a few turbulent days leading up to his Duke and Tepper interviews.

As many of our readers know, an excellent resource for interview prep is the MBA Admissions Wiki. This site continues to grow with first-hand interview reports from leading MBA programs (Wharton Reports, Harvard Reports, LBS Reports, Stanford Reports). In addition, many applicants who have used the wiki are posting their personal reports once they complete the process!

As for what student bloggers have been up to this week, Buckyhoo extended a nice congrats and hello message to UNC admits, Keven arranges some tough love for incoming students in the form of a math camp at Wisconsin, IESE-blogger Noelle emerged from a blogging haitus to appease her audience, and Andy recapped his first impressions of his classes at St. Thomas.

All told, it’s been a relatively quiet week on the student blogging front. Talk of recruiting, the hot topic of the past month, has quieted down significantly; if Vijay’s observation that it’s raining job postings at ISB is any indication, the reason may well be that everyone is too busy to be blogging! At least JB took a breather to fill us in on his employment search at Yale!

Reports on academics confirm the busy-ness theory. For instance, between taking 6 classes and becoming involved in theater, FutureMBAGirl is looking at a hectic second semester at Wharton. We were glad to read that Olivier survived the workload of what he hopes to be the worst week of the year at INSEAD, and that IESE MBA 2007 has just found some free time to get involved in clubs. CC* seems to be taking it easy at Columbia - but is at least busy having fun!

Finally, while so many bloggers are in the midst of the application process or business school itself, we wanted to welcome Jen, a new blogger who’s just beginning to consider the pros and cons of an MBA, as well as Kent Torokvei, who’s in the process of making the FT/PT call. Good luck to them, and everyone else pondering this decision and taking the first steps in the process!

Thursday, February 09, 2006

GMAT Volume Up Again

GMAC recently came out with the statistics on GMAT volume for the 2005 calendar year, and reported that test volume is up 3.6% since 2004 (to 211,010 from 203,613 the previous year). Taking a closer look at the breakdown between US and international test-takers, it’s interesting to note that American students account for a mere 160 of the increase of several thousand. While volume of exams taken by US students has remained relatively flat, international exam volume leapt up by 7,237 tests. While overall GMAT volume is still not quite what it was this time two years ago (218,037 worldwide in 2003), this past year’s numbers for non-US students has actually surpassed the 2003 figure (72,330 exams taken).

The increase in GMAT volume seems to correspond with the rises in application volume being reported by programs like Chicago, Tuck and Sloan. The implications of this are that demand for the degree seems to be making a comeback (particularly overseas) - and that this seems to be a slightly tougher year from an admissions perspective, with schools waitlisting a number of round one applicants to see what comes in during the later rounds. Best of luck to applicants with their hats in the ring this year, as well as to those gearing up to take the exam and apply in 2006!

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

More on Admissions Consultants

The buzz about Monday’s Boston Globe article “Wrangling over Applications” continues, as the AP picked up the story and a number of others in the industry weigh in with their opinions. In particular, Inside Higher Ed came out yesterday with an article titled “B-Schools Take on Essay Consultants,” which considers the message of the Globe commentary and includes a few quotes from admissions officers at additional schools to provide a more rounded perspective on the topic. For those schools who have voiced vehement disapproval of the industry, the underlying issue truly seems to be that the schools have a misconception about what admissions consultants do. A few additional quotes from Clear Admit’s Alex Brown are featured in the piece, which help to further clarify. Here’s a sample:

“There’s a myth out there that counseling services help students create a fictitious application that will get them into school,” says Brown, who worked in admissions at Wharton for 7 years prior to joining the firm. “The reality is that we guide people into making good choices and give them plenty of feedback.”

Additionally, yesterday’s Accepted.com blog entry features two great letters to the editor of the Boston Globe explaining the author’s reactions to the original article and further elaborating on the process and aim of admissions consulting. There was also an insightful entry in the MBA Game Plan blog saying a bit more about why the anti-consultant measures proposed by the schools (i.e. multiple interviews, different essays for different applicants, timed and supervised essay writting) might thwart organizations selling ready-made responses, but will not lower - and could very well increase - the demand for the services of legitimate admissions consultants.

It’s great to see so many voices becoming involved in this discussion. Hopefully, this is the first step in a dialogue that will alleviate confusion and promote understanding between admissions consultants and business schools.

Wiki Wednesdays

The Clear Admit Wiki hit 100 entries last Friday and continues to grow as a resource - thanks to all our contributors for sharing their experiences and getting it this far! We’d like to highlight some of the timeliest additions in this week’s edition of Wiki Wednesdays to aid those applicants preparing for Round Two interviews.

As you’ll see in the “Current State” section of the wiki front page, Columbia and Stanford are presently releasing interview invitations to round two applicants and this week saw the addition of interview reports covering both programs. Wharton interviews invitations are continuing to be released, there are more than 20 reports in the wiki. Harvard interview invitations have also begun to come out, and we now have 13 HBS interview reports. This new item in particular provides interesting insight into Harvard’s alumni interview process:

The HBS alum met me in an office. He told me that he read everything except the Recs. He said HBS asked him to probe four areas and he told me upfront what they were:

1. An example of a conflict I was in that didn’t get resolved like I wanted it to be resolved.
2. My strengths and weaknesses
3. Typical responsibilities (describe one week at work)
4. A professional setback. How I handled frustration.

We walked through all four. Typically he asked one-two follow ups for each topic.

Our new IESE section also received its first interview report! With several admissions deadlines to go for that program, we hope to see more content in this section soon. Applicants with information to share on schools that we don’t currently cover are encouraged to email wiki@clearadmit.com and request that they be added (and those with something to say about schools that are listed are of course similarly urged to submit material).

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Admissions Consultants in the News

As many in the space have already noted, yesterday’s Boston Globe ran an article on business school admissions consultants and the way they’re perceived by the top MBA programs. The article features commentary from Clear Admit’s Alex Brown, who sought to dispel myths about the industry and practices that consultants employ.

“We’re starting to get some recognition by business school admission committees that we exist, that we’re not going away,” noted Alex L. Brown, senior admissions counselor at Clear Admit LLC in Philadelphia, who worries that a small group trafficking in second-hand essays on the Internet is spoiling the image of the rest of the industry. “There are people out there who say, ‘We’ll write your essay for you, or we’ll sell you an essay for Harvard,’ ” he acknowledged. “They give a bad name to those of us who are providing professional feedback.”

While our goal is really to get applicants to think about their goals, consider which programs would represent the best fit, and tell their story in the most compelling way they are able, the article illustrates that as a result of such unreputable vendors, a number of the top programs are concerned with the integrity and authenticity of applications. Brit Dewey of HBS and Derrick Bolton of Stanford are quoted as suggesting a number of measures that could be taken to remedy the perceived issue, such as requiring that essays be completed under supervision, running applicants through multiple interviews and assigning different essay topics to different candidates. A number of applicant bloggers have already weighed in with their thoughts on this matter; Dave points out that proctored essay writing would not be tenable from a financial or personnel perspective, while Kilgore Trout defends the practice of dispensing advice to applicants who want feedback from a well-informed source but are not acquainted with anyone who is familiar with the admissions process.

From our view, there are a few elements of the argument that don’t seem to hold. For instance, it’s not clear how requiring applicants to sit for multiple interviews or answer different essay questions would decrease demand for essay editing or mock interview services. Also questionable is an assertion in the article that admissions offices can tell whether an applicant has used a consultant’s help. Given the high numbers of applicants who use admissions consultants and the success these firms have getting their clients into top MBA programs, it seems that if the schools can tell, they aren’t necessarily holding it against them. Further, such remarks by admissions officers raise the question of whether schools would be willing to sacrifice a stellar student with a very polished or compelling application due to the possibly unfounded assumption that he or she sought outside help.

Not all top programs are as consultant-phobic as those represented in the article. For example, acknowledging the potential of admissions consultants to offer valuable advice to applicants and have a positive impact on the process, Tuck recently invited a number of admissions consultants to visit campus, attend a class, and learn more about the way that particular program’s admissions office works. Additionally, Clear Admit’s Graham Richmond has been invited to sit on a panel (along with Linda at Accepted.com, Maxx Duffy of Maxx Associated and Ricardo Betti of MBA Empresarial) at the annual GMAC conference, an annual forum for admissions officers of business schools all over the globe. Our hope is that this event will clarify the objectives and role of reputable consultants in the space and help business school admissions staff better understand this growing industry.

Monday, February 06, 2006

Welcome Weekends

With the first of the top programs’ admitted students events fast approaching (Wharton’s Winter Welcome will be held this week from February 8th to the 10th), we wanted to take some time today to offer advice to those applicants who have gained admission to one or more of their target programs. Even if a school is your clear first choice, there is still tremendous value in making the trip to campus, for a number of reasons.

1) The ball is in your court - in the rol