Posted by Clear Admit on March 14, 2006, at 9:02 am
Posted in:  General Today we’d like to highlight a few news items covering new developments in the MBA world.
The changes in business school leadership that we covered last week are continuing; Douglas Breeden, dean of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, plans to step down in order to resume full-time teaching and research in finance at the program. Of course, this won’t be effective until June of 2007, so Fuqua is at least spared the scramble for a successor that’s happening with the Harvard presidency and position of dean at USC Marshall.
The Associated Press put out an article commenting on the ways that business school offerings have evolved to best address the needs of the market and cater to a larger number of potential students since Wharton, the first institution of its kind, was established 125 years ago. This involves the introduction of part-time programs, partnership with European and Asian business schools, and the offering of non-degree earning courses for executives. Issues such as return on investment and the value of school brand are also touched upon – could be an interesting read for those just beginning to consider business education options.
On this note, there are some additional news items about schools reaching out to some particular demographics. NYU Stern’s Langone part-time program will be opening a campus in Westchester to make completing an MBA more convenient for professionals living or working in that area. Applications for the inaugural class at this location are due on May 15th for September 2006 enrollment. More information about this option is available on Stern’s website.
While NYU Stern is reaching out to individuals in the immediate area, Oxford’s Said School of Business is making an effort to foster its relation with Indian institutions and attract students from Southeast Asia. Oxford Chancellor Lord Chris Patton had this to say in a recent interview:
“What I have been saying is that the real purpose we have is to focus more attention on India, and I am particularly keen to establish in our business school a centre for the study of Indian business. Secondly, we do want to promote more collaboration with Indian institutions. We do a huge amount at the moment in the field of health — on cancer, infectious diseases, chemistry — but there’s much more we could and want to do.
I also want us to attract more Indian students.
I have said before, that it is counterintuitive that we have 540 Chinese students and 200 Indian students. When you think that it is more difficult for Chinese students to come to Oxford because they have to learn the language first, we have to ask ourselves why we have been doing much less well with Indians.”
The full text of the interview is available at:
http://us.rediff.com/getahead/2006/mar/13ga-inter.htm?q=tp&file=.htm
Posted by Clear Admit on March 13, 2006, at 8:56 am
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis , School: IMD To round out our list of essay tips for the top European MBA programs, we wanted to offer some advice on the IMD application. With the round 2 deadline coming up on the first of April (the subsequent ones falling on June 1st, August 1st and September 1st), this program could be a great fit for individuals looking for a very international experience and just beginning to think about an MBA.
The school asks a whopping nine essay questions and limits applicants to a mere 1230 characters per response – a bit more than a fourth of a page single spaced – so brevity will be very important. While topics such as the applicant’s plans for financing his or her education and disabilities that might affect one’s studies are fairly straightforward, we’d like to offer some advice on those that involve an element of strategy:
1. Please describe two situations, business or otherwise, in which you were involved and which were of importance to you. Explain why you view them as such.
Of all of IMD’s essays, you have the most room to work in this one; applicants are allowed 1230 characters per situation. The term “of importance” provides a good deal of flexibility, though our sense is that applicants might be best served by a discussion of their most significant accomplishments or personal/professional turning points. In order to arrive at the examples to discuss here, we recommend a balance of content across different jobs, or drawing one example from work and another from an outside activity. A unifying theme between the two would also be a very nice touch.
2. Please comment on a situation where you failed to reach an objective and what you learned from it.
This essay is very similar to a question on the Wharton application, but with a bit more range (as Wharton focuses on a team experience while IMD’s question is much more open). See that page for more detailed tips, and remember that it’s best to pick an example that’s relevant to your candidacy, and from which you learned a valuable lesson.
3. Describe a situation where you had to demonstrate strong leadership skills. Explain how effective you were and what did you learned?
Topic selection will be critical here, as the answer to this question can be drawn from the professional or personal realms. Keep in mind that you’ll need to summarize the situation in full and provide a clear account of your thoughts and actions, commenting at the end on the outcome of your efforts and lessons learned – a tall order for 1230 characters.
4. How do you imagine your superior would describe your strengths and weaknesses to someone who does not know you?
Designed to gauge both the applicant’s personality and awareness or how he or she is perceived by others, this question is fairly straightforward. One thing to keep in mind is that because this hints at the opinion of a direct supervisor – from whom the applicant will presumably have a recommendation – it would be ideal for the answer to this essay to mirror the qualities named in the letter.
5. What is motivating you to seek an MBA education at IMD?
6. What will you be able to contribute that would make you a unique and valuable addition to the IMD MBA class?
Combined, these present the typical career goals essay. Given IMD’s very restrictive character limits, brevity will be key.
7. If you are not admitted, what alternatives will you consider?
This is a difficult question to navigate. Whatever your response, keep in mind that the adcom wants to hear that you’ll spend the year taking steps toward your goals or addressing some weakness in your candidacy in preparation for reapplying.
8. Please explain how you intend to finance your studies at IMD. What would be your budget?
9. Do you have a disability or illness that could affect your performance at IMD? If so, please explain.
10. Is there any additional information that is critical for the Admissions Committee to know which has not been covered elsewhere in this application?
Judging from the use of the word “critical,” our sense is that this essay would be best used to address a weakness in your file or mitigate some concern that the adcom might have.
Posted by Clear Admit on March 10, 2006, at 8:50 am
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline Welcome to this week’s installment of FFF! After something of a dry spell for round two applicants, there’s been a deluge of admissions decisions this week. MBA Jackass received a call from Kellogg, George heard some positive news from Anderson, Nixie received an INSEAD admit and C’est La Vie is in at Yale (and could hear from Ross any day now). If other bloggers’ experiences are any indication, this is likely to be just the beginning of the celebration; MGalBlue has been getting a good deal of post-admit attention from Michigan, and AynRand2008 had a good time at an Emory admit reception in DC. Of course, not all the news has been good. We were sorry to read that MBA Spanky received a Kellogg ding (but were glad that he at least received a Fuqua admit to ease the pain), that Anand’s Duke application was not quite so fortunate and that Ty Coon suffered a similar fate at Northwestern. ChillPill documented Stern’s rebuff and B-School Diva considers applying to a few more programs after some bad news from Durham. From the sound of her experience last weekend, our guess is that MBA Cutie would certainly attest to the merits of lining up several options.
While the uncertainty ended for some, others remain in suspense. SgHama’s waiting for Wharton (though it’s unclear for how much longer, given a possible glitch reported by Mave), and round two schools keep both I_Will_Make_It and her mother on edge. Resolute has found that Kellogg’s process of releasing decisions twice weekly has made the wait easier, while other bloggers coping mechanisms range from keeping a routine to embracing sudoku overload. We were very happy to hear that Haas broke its silence with an interview invite for Pupstar78.
Speaking of interviewers, applicant bloggers have been documenting their experiences at a number of programs. Though it didn’t go as smoothly as it might have, Ash provides a clear account of his Stanford interview, Nixie recounts her INSEAD experience, and both WheresMyDessert and I_Will_Make_It shared some information about their Sloan interviews (while SharkB8 offers a more comprehensive overview of the MIT admission process). It sounds as though things went well at HBS for MBA Jackass, while Forrest’s phone interview with Kellogg is a bit harder to judge.
In addition to admits recounting their welcome weekend experience, current students are sharing their experiences on the other side of the table; Mark kept a low profile at the HBS admit event, while Le Voyaguer shares an insight he gained while participating in a panel at Chicago. While some students welcomed the new class, Marquis spent some very productive time with his classmates at Stanford’s Touchy Feely retreat and Olivier and fellow INSEAD students let loose at the Singapore campus end of term party. Looking toward the other end of the MBA experience, Vijay reflects on the nature of ISB and business school in general, Keven condenses his education at Wisconsin into a 10 second recap, and Death Spiral ponders the effects of INSEAD’s diversity objectives.
For other student bloggers, it was MBA business as usual. Noelle reports that things have been a bit boring at IESE (though George’s lost phone fiasco certainly sounds entertaining), while Tom sounds very busy at MIT and Auris is in the midst of exams at INSEAD. On that note, we’re glad that JB is finished with finals at Yale, looking forward to spring break and set with a summer internship. L’Optimiste at INSEAD is still dealing with finals but has at least secured an i-banking position for the summer. Finally, even with her head spinning from acronym abuse at LBS (but they’re so convenient!), Divine Miss N learned some great lessons in marketing that we hope will translate to similar job search success.
That about wraps up this week’s look of the MBA blogging scene. Best of luck to everyone waiting for decisions, muddling through finals, and gearing up for admissions or job interviews, and a good weekend to all!
Posted by Clear Admit on March 9, 2006, at 9:05 am
Posted in: General Since we know that many in the MBA blogging community are curious (taking our cue from some comments in Marina’s blog a few weeks ago), we wanted to take this opportunity to officially announce the details of this year’s Best of Blogging awards (or the BoBs, for short). The aim of this exercise is twofold: to recognize the best blogs covering the 2005-06 admissions/academic cycle, and to identify valuable sources of information for the next round of applicants. While last year’s ranking focused on applicant bloggers, this year we’ll be broadening our focus to include a list of the cream of this year’s crop of current student bloggers as well.
Here’s what the timeline for this year’s awards will look like:
Nominees Announced – Friday, April 7th
We’ll begin by considering all blogs listed in the Clear Admit Wiki and featured in Fridays from the Frontline (bloggers are encouraged to email wiki@clearadmit.com about adding a link if their sites are not currently included). Using the criteria of relevance and frequency of posts, as well as overall quality of posting and contribution to the space, we’ll pare the list of nominees down to 25 applicants and 25 current students. Once we’ve determined the blogs for consideration, we’ll be sending out BoB ballots to each of the nominated bloggers.
Ballots Due – Friday, April 21st
Using the nominees’ input and that of a handful of celebrity judges, we’ll compile the list of this year’s very best applicant and student blogs, giving 50% weighting to bloggers’ votes, 25% to Clear Admit staff and 25% to our guest judges. In addition to an overall ranking, we’ll ask voters for thoughts on the funniest blog and best single post, and to point us to the blogs that they feel feature the best advice in categories such as GMAT preparation, school selection, application essays, admissions and recruiting interviews, as well as the best representation of academics and student life in business school.
Awards Unveiled – Tuesday, April 25th
Once the votes have been tallied, we’ll publish the category winners as well as the top ten listings in the applicant and student categories. To reward the best of the best for their effort and contribution to the community, we’ll be handing out six prizes this year. The second and third place bloggers in the student-blogger top 10 and applicant-blogger top 10 rankings will receive a one year subscription to Business Week or The Economist (their choice), and the two top-ranked bloggers (one student, one applicant) will be given the option of an iPod Nano or a $250 Amazon.com gift certificate.
That’s all for now – check back on Friday, April 7th for an announcement about the BoB nominees! In the meantime, happy blogging…
Posted by Clear Admit on March 8, 2006, at 8:39 am
Posted in: Wiki Wednesdays Perhaps not surprising given that we’re in the height of round two interview season, it’s been another solid week for the Clear Admit Wiki, with over twenty new pieces of content since last week. We were especially pleased to see some additions to the new School Choices page, an area of the site designed to give applicants a forum to discuss their decisions and stimulate the thoughts of others. One applicant shared his process from deciding which schools to apply to all the way to determining which admission offer to accept:
“I didn’t want to go to a school with a huge student body, but I also wanted at least 200 people in my class. I wanted a structured first year schedule of core classes in order to be “forced” to learn subjects I might otherwise opt out of. Having zero interest in consulting and ibanking I made sure some of the companies I want to work for recruited at the schools I was considering. I also looked for a Bay Area connection, knowing that I want to come back to San Francisco after school. In the end I was split between Haas and Columbia for my number one choice. Finding out that CBS has full resources/use of Haas’ job placement center was the ultimate deal maker. Deep down I was craving to move away from the Bay and living in New York has always been a dream.”
For applicants gearing up for interviews, the wiki received new content from candidates at LBS, Kellogg, Michigan, Cornell and Stanford, just to name a few (the list of the latest updates is always available here). Wharton applicants are especially fortunate, as there were five new interview reports from this season added in the past seven days! Unfortunately, the latest addition to this page demonstrates that this luck isn’t universal; while we’re sorry to hear that this applicant had such a tough time, we certainly appreciate his detailed interview report and balanced perspective on his experience:
“The interviewer asked me if there’s anything which we had missed. Sensing that the interview was approaching an end, I quickly ran through the entire conversation in my mind. Instead of talking about the points I’d missed to make, I decided to talk about an activity which I have been pursuing since high school and am very passionate about. I was asked how I intended to continue pursuing the activity at Wharton to which I valiantly said ‘I’d like to found a club at Wharton by collaborating with **** organization.’. Fair enough, only that the **** organization I mentioned happened to be in Chicago and not in Philly!”
Although the bulk of the new content this week was interview-related, we also received some great campus visit reports from applicants who spent time at Sloan and Wharton. This excerpt in particular highlights the value of making the trip and attending classes to get a feel for the similarities and differences among various programs:
“The marketing class I attended focussed on Segmentation. Incidentally, the same topic was discussed during my visit to Kellogg. The difference in the approach was evident. MIT-Sloan was heavily quant focussed while the Kellogg professor talked about segmentation using an anecdotal real-life example approach. As the professor got into Eigen Values and Eigen vectors, I couldn’t help but recollect my undergrad Computer Science days.
I got cold-called to make a 3-4 minute speech, in the Advanced Negotiations class. It was kinda fun standing in front of the brilliant MIT student community and make my little faltering speech. The students were very supportive and I was pleasantly surprised. I was realized that Sloan would push me and help me grow.”
That just about wraps things up for this week’s installment of Wiki Wednesdays. Thanks for tuning in, and keep the great content coming!
Posted by Clear Admit on March 7, 2006, at 9:07 am
Posted in: General Clear Admit has been featured in an article from the Economist on admissions consultants. While the article follows up on last month’s Boston Globe piece, it offers a more balanced view of the admissions consulting space, citing the fact that many schools are accepting of the role that consultants play and have acknowledged them as part of the process. Here’s a quote from the article that demonstrates this viewpoint:
“At Harvard Business School, a recent poll indicated that 11% of students used consultants during the admissions process. And a number of schools, seeing this as an irreversible trend, have decided to reach out to the industry. Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, for example, coordinates an event each year for consultants to visit and learn about the school, in hopes they will steer more of the best candidates Tuck’s way.
Admissions consulting firms are also trying to make their business seem more respectable. A number of firms are taking part in the Graduate Management Admissions Council meeting this summer in San Francisco. Mr Brown of Clear Admit hopes that, over time, firms like his will come to be seen in the same light as GMAT prep courses.”
For the full text of the article:
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=5591531
As all of the recent press clearly indicates, this is an exciting time for the admissions consulting industry. We’re looking forward to the GMAC conference this summer, where Clear Admit’s Graham Richmond will join with Linda Abraham (Accepted.com), Max Duffy (Maxx and Associates) and Ricardo Betti (MBA Empresarial) to present to MBA programs from around the world.
Posted by Clear Admit on March 6, 2006, at 2:20 pm
Posted in: General As nervous applicants sweat it out over R2 interviews and pending application decisions, there’s been no shortage of interesting news from the schools. Over at Harvard, word of President Larry Summers’ departure has prompted some to speculate that the search for a new dean of the MBA program could drag on longer than anticipated. According to the Harvard Crimson, Summers’ insists that both HBS and the Graduate School of Education will have deans (or acting deans) by July 1st – yet some professors have their doubts.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports on several changes afoot in MBA administration. Georgia Tech has brought Steven Salbu (formerly of UT Austin/McCombs) on board as dean. In addition, SDA Bocconi has replaced both its dean and chairman (both positions are to be filled by Bocconi professors). Finally, USC Marshall remains dean-less, but has reportedly received a $2.25M donation from Fred Keenan.
BusinessWeek Online has reported on two interesting topics in recent days. The first, by Jeffrey Gangemi, covered school selection and the abundance of financial aid being dangled by leading programs (Chicago, HBS, Wharton, et al). The second article is a nice follow-up to our posting from last Monday covering the European vs. American MBA debate. According to BW Online, more and more students are pursuing their MBA abroad.
For those of you who are interested in school selection and branding, GMAC (the Graduate Management Admissions Council) has an interesting PDF report on what determines the branding of various MBA programs and how applicants typically draw conclusions. In fact, there is even a ranking of communcation sources in terms of influence they have on candidates:
1) Published Rankings
2) School Web Sites
3) Interaction with admissions/MBA program personnel
4) Personal school correspondence
5) Friends/relatives
6) MBA-related web sites
Overall, this report is an interesting read for those of you who are curious about how the schools market themselves and how the applicant pool makes choices.
Finally, for those of you who never got around to downloading the MBAPodcast on admissions consultants (featuring Clear Admit as well as Wharton’s Judith Silverman), here is a transcript of the podcast. Happy reading!
Posted by Clear Admit on March 3, 2006, at 9:18 am
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline Another week, another exciting edition of FFF! Let’s take a look at the lastest in the MBA blogosphere:
Uncertainty has been a prominent theme among applicant bloggers this week, as many eagerly await word from their target programs. C’est La Vie stews in the calm before the storm of decisions, MBA Jackass awaits a call from Kellogg (and curses a false alarm) while Spanky thinks an email will be more likely, LaserLikeFocus fills the time by coming up with a backup plan to business school, and ChillPill spends it offering up some school research and GMAT advice. Sometimes no news is, in fact good news; while we were sorry to read that Brownoski’s Columbia waitlist situation ended in a negative fashion, we’re glad that he seems happy with the certainty and content with his Yale acceptance.
As some applicants are on the edges of their figurative seats, others are out and about visiting and interviewing at various schools. While it sounds like Vatsa made it through unscathed, Forrest Gump mulls over what sounds like a very challenging Chicago interview, and SharkB8 recounts a similarly harrowing GSB interview experience (but at least had a better time with Kellogg). Also in the challenging category, I_Will_Make_It received some positive feedback after a tough Cornell interview, and Nick found his Sloan experience to be impressive but not as friendly as it could have been. In light of these daunting experiences, we were relieved to learn that MBA Jackass established a solid rapport with his Columbia interviewer, Nagendra is confident about his chances of a Cambridge admit, and KTyler feels good about his HBS interview performance. Also on a lighter note, SgHama recaps his generally positive Wharton interview, Pupstar78 goes into a bit more detail about preparation and the Philadelphia experience, and 106.42 shares some photos from the trip to Huntsman Hall.
The action doesn’t stop with an admissions decision, either; accepted Fall 2007 entry bloggers have been keeping busy as well. MBA Cutie attended a Michigan admit function that reinforced her positive impression, and Angel Angie’s encounter last weekend with LBS students made her decision to attend over INSEAD a bit easier. Meanwhile, Marina’s suspense (and revoked acceptance nightmares) ended when her Columbia background check came through, while her future classmate Axechick recapped the Columbia Women in Business conference she attended recently. Finally, congratulations to Redwolf, whose Kellogg admit has placed him in the difficult but enviable position of choosing between programs.
If the majority of applicants seem rather busy, this week found the crop of student bloggers a bit more relaxed than they had been over the past month. Auris found time to contemplate the pros and cons of INSEAD’s two campus system and Mark waxes philosophical about the actual impact of his decision to attend HBS over Stanford. On an equally relaxed but perhaps less reflective note, George cut loose at an IESE multicultural fair, Francis Lewis aspires to tuba-dom and contemplates his school’s chances at the MBA Olympics, LBS student KV ponders his spring break options while Stanford second-year Marquis is Morocco-bound, and Bharani gets ready for a special guest visitor to the ISB.
In other current student news, Noelle struggles through a long day at IESE – though things might become harder for others, as JB gears up for quarterly finals at Yale and Dirty Martini keeps her calm in the face of the impending workload at Columbia. Recruiting remains an ongoing concern as well. Vijay offers some great advice based on his experiences with case interviews at ISB for consulting firms, and Divine Miss N plans a relaxing weekend to rest up for what could be a long but hopefully fruitful job search at LSB. Speaking of which, we’re very happy that Chicago student Wakechick scored an internship that’s a perfect fit with her interests (and name), and that Futureguru found a great management consulting internship in London.
We hope that all our MBA blogger friends will keep that great content coming (whether they know we’re reading it or not), and that everyone has a great weekend!
Posted by Clear Admit on March 2, 2006, at 9:06 am
Posted in: Deadlines , Essay Topic Analysis , School: IESE Following up on Monday’s promise of essay tips and information on additional European MBA programs (we’ve already offered some pointers on INSEAD and LBS), we wanted to take some time today to comment on IESE’s upcoming deadlines and events, and provide some guidance on tackling the program’s essays.
This program has a staggering seven rounds of admission. While the fourth deadline passed today, there are still three remaining, making this program a viable option for applicants just starting the process now and eager to attend business school next year.
Here are the school’s remaining deadlines and decision dates:
Round Five
Application Deadline: April 26, 2006
Admissions Decision: June 7, 206
Round Six
Application Deadline: May 17, 2006
Admissions Decision: June 28, 2006
Round Seven
Application Deadline: June 28, 2006
Admissions Decision: July 14, 2006
Let’s take a look at the program’s essay questions and consider some methods of tackling them:
1. Please describe your short term professional goals (post MBA). (200 word limit)
2. Please describe your long term professional goals (post MBA). (200 word limit)
The clear line between short and long term goals in these two questions makes this a bit different from the standard career goals inquiry, but the strategy remains similar. In response to the first question, you’ll want to comment on the position you would seek immediately upon completion of an MBA, saying something about the skills this would impart and perhaps alluding to the long-term goal for which it would prepare you. The second question should follow somewhat seamlessly from the first, explaining how your short-term position would be a logical intermediary step. You’ll also want to discuss the reason you are interested in the long-term goal you specify, explaining what impact you hope to make and perhaps sharing your vision for the field.
3. Describe two substantial accomplishments and one failure in a professional or private endeavour. (600 word limit)
The question gives applicants quite a bit of breadth in selecting subject matter for this essay; be sure to exercise judgment in selecting stories that provide a rounded picture of your candidacy and are appropriate for a business school application. In the first two anecdotes, it will be important to explain your thoughts and actions in addition to the result or accomplishment itself. Meanwhile, as with any failure essay, the best way to tackle this is to select a failure from which you learned a lesson, ideally one that you have implemented successfully since the original instance.
4. Describe a recent situation (within last two years) in which you used a contact from your network to achieve a personal or professional objective. (200 word limit)
This is a unique question that is designed to gauge your ability to forge strong relationships and think creatively and strategically when moving toward a goal. Rather than providing an example in which you attained personal gain (such as getting a job you wanted), a nice touch could be to focus on a time you helped someone else in your network (for example, by reaching out to a friend who would be a good fit for a job opening at your organization).
5. Describe the most difficult project (personal or professional) that you have faced recently (within last two years). (200 word limit)
While it’s important that you address the question and describe a challenge you’ve faced at work or in an activity, you would ideally pick a situation in which you ultimately succeeded and brought about a positive result.
6. Describe a recent situation (within last two years) in which it was difficult to convince others. (200 word limit)
This question is intended to test your communication skills and ability to persuade others to agree with your point of view. While it will be important to explain the relevant background information and make it clear that it was in the best interest of the group to follow your approach, you should also devote a good amount of attention to describing the persuasive approach you took and the thought process behind it.
7. I wish that the application had asked me… (200 word limit)
In deciding what to highlight in this essay, keep in mind the importance of presenting a balanced and well-rounded picture of your activities and interests. While IESE’s questions provide a fair amount of room to discuss personal experiences alongside the professional, you might take this chance to introduce a unique hobby. Another great way to use this response would be to discuss your interest in IESE and potential contribution to the community.
For those looking to visit the school and gain some familiarity with the program before applying, IESE has two upcoming open house dates: March 13th and May 6th.
Posted by Clear Admit on March 1, 2006, at 8:37 am
Posted in: Wiki Wednesdays Welcome to another installment of Wiki Wednesdays! We’re happy to report that the site is going strong and growing steadily, now with over 150 pieces of content since launch. Over the past week, we received our first INSEAD interview report, as well as new content for the Chicago, Tuck, Kellogg, Wharton, Stanford and Columbia interview pages. There have also been some interesting and informative additions to the school visit sections. For instance, this Cornell applicant has some great things to say about Johnson’s students:
“I found my way over to campus, parked, and walked to Sage Hall. Not 30 feet into the building, the school’s character was illustrated: I stood before a map of the building, looking for the admissions office. A student who was walking by immediately approached me and asked if she could help me find my way. She kindly pointed me in the right direction. The school is super-easy to get around, as it’s a square building with a square atrium in the middle.”
The poster’s feelings about the facilities, meanwhile, were a bit more mixed:
“I only saw one classroom, but my first impression was simple: ‘Blackboards?!? In this day and age?’ The classroom was only mediocre compared to the other B-school classrooms I’ve seen, and this was surprising considering [that] everything else in Sage Hall was new and modern.”
Now that MIT has finally begun to release interview invitations, we also wanted to highlight some additions that have been made to the Sloan interview page over the past few weeks. Many applicants are reporting that the topic of something impressive or exciting that has happened over the past year is a popular question with interviewers this season (this was actually one of the school’s required essay questions last year, so it makes sense that the adcom would still be interested in this). In the course of providing some personal commentary on each of the questions asked, one applicant offers a great piece of advice about the merits of anticipating questions in preparation while remaining flexible in the interview:
“Tell me about a time you worked with someone you didn’t want to work with. (simple rephrase of a difficult interaction question. Something you should note while preparing is you shouldn’t be too rigid with your preparation such that if you receive a slight variation or reworded question you have a difficult time relating it to a more common or broader question.)”
Finally, we’d like to introduce a new page we’ve just added to the Wiki this week. The new School Choices section is intended as a forum for applicants to express the reasoning behind their decisions regarding which schools to apply to and/or attend. Our hope is that reading about others’ rationale will help applicants learn from the experiences of people who have been in their position, and perhaps lead them to consider elements they had not yet taken into account. We’re looking forward to reading some great content on this page as the admissions season progresses.
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