Fridays from the Frontline » Clear Admit: MBA Admissions Consultants Blog

APPLICANT RESOURCES

Have an iPhone or iPod Touch? Research schools on the go and keep your applications organized with Clear Admit's new MBA Planner App!

Admissions Director Q&A
Below are links to Clear Admit's exclusive interviews with MBA admissions directors at leading programs.
Dawna Clarke (Tuck)
Rose Martinelli (Chicago)
Judith Hodara (Wharton)
Sara Neher (Darden)
Soojin Kwon Koh (Michigan)
Randall Sawyer (Cornell)
Beth Flye (Kellogg)
David Simpson (LBS)
Liz Riley Hargrove (Duke)
Linda Meehan (Columbia)
Bruce DelMonico (Yale)
Peter Johnson (Berkeley)
Isser Gallogly (NYU)
Mae Jennifer Shores (UCLA)
J.J. Cutler (Wharton)
Jake Cohen (INSEAD)
Rod Garcia (MIT Sloan)
Mary Miller (Columbia)

Clear Admit School Guides
Become an expert on your target schools overnight! Get the program-specific details you need to craft essays that stand out. See how schools compare head-to-head in key areas like recruiting, curricular structure, elective offerings and more. Available for immediate download. As featured in the Economist.

Clear Admit Career Guides
Understand career-specific offerings at leading MBA programs and identify the schools that will best support your career goals with the Clear Admit Career Guides! Available for Consulting, Investment Banking, Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Healthcare.

Clear Admit Strategy Series
Craft a winning application with the Clear Admit Strategy Series! Step-by-Step guidance through the application process. Titles include a Resume Guide, Recommendations Guide, Waitlist Guide and more!

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.

Application Deadlines
Below are the upcoming deadlines for admission to top-tier schools.
Feb 10: INSEAD R3
Mar 1: Michigan / Ross R3
Mar 3: CBS
Mar 3: LBS R3
Mar 4: Kellogg R3
Mar 8: Cambridge / Judge R4
Mar 8: CMU / Tepper R3
Mar 9: Duke / Fuqua R3
Mar 9: Penn / Wharton R3
Mar 10: Berkeley / Hass R4
Mar 10: Chicago Booth R3
Mar 10: Yale SOM R3
Mar 15: NYU / Stern R3
Mar 17: UCLA / Anderson R3
Mar 19: UNC / Kenan-Flagler R4
Mar 30: Cornell / Johnson R4
Mar 31: UVA / Darden R3
Mar 31: INSEAD R4
Apr 1: UT-Austin / McCombs
Apr 2: Dartmouth / Tuck R3
Apr 2: Oxford / Saїd R3
Apr 7: Stanford GSB R4
Apr 8: Harvard R3
Apr 14: CBS

Essay Topic Analysis
Below are links to our comments on some of the top programs' essay topics.
The Career Goals Essay
Berkeley / Haas*
Chicago Booth*
CMU / Tepper*
Columbia*
Cornell / Johnson*
Dartmouth / Tuck*
Duke / Fuqua*
Harvard*
Indian School of Business*
INSEAD*
London Business School*
MIT / Sloan*
Michigan / Ross*
Northwestern / Kellogg*
NYU / Stern*
Oxford / Said*
Penn / Wharton*
Stanford GSB*
UCLA / Anderson*
UNC / Kenan-Flagler*
USC / Marshall*
UT Austin / McCombs*
UVA / Darden*
Yale SOM*
* denotes '09-'10 commentary

Categories
Use categories to access all that has been written on each of the topics. We have categorized by school and by subject matter.

Interview Reports
A selection of interview field reports from fellow applicants posted to the MBA Admissions Wiki. Add your reports when you are finished with your interviews.
Chicago
Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
Kellogg
Michigan / Ross
MIT / Sloan
Stanford
UNC / Chapel Hill
Virginia / Darden
Wharton
London Business School

GMAT Resources
MBA.com
Manhattan GMAT
GMAT Club
Princeton Review
Test Prep New York
Kaplan
Beat The GMAT
Knewton

Writing Resources
Guide to Grammar and Writing
The Internet Grammar of English
English Usage, Style and Composition
The Economist Style Guide
Paradigm Online Writing Assistant

School Rankings
Rankings are a good way to start your research on various MBA Programs. Keep in mind each uses a different methodology.
Business Week
Economist
Financial Times
Forbes
USNews
Wall Street Journal

Career Guides
The following resources should be useful to those who want to research the careers open to them after (or before) earning an MBA.
Vault.com
Wetfeet

Business School Resources
The following are business resources offered by a variety of leading Business Schools. It's useful to subscribe to these resources, especially for the schools to which you are applying.

MBA Programs: North America
If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
Berkeley / Haas
Boston College / Carroll
Carnegie Mellon / Tepper
Chicago
Columbia
Concordia
Cornell / Johnson
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Emory / Goizueta
Harvard
HEC Montreal
Indiana / Kelley
Michigan
MIT / Sloan
Northwestern / Kellogg
New York / Stern
North Carolina / Kenan Flagler
Notre Dame / Mendoza
Pennsylvania / Wharton
Queens
Stanford
Syracuse / Whitman
Texas / McCombs
Thunderbird
Toronto
USC / Marshall
UCLA / Anderson
Vanderbilt / Owen
Virginia / Darden
Washington University in St. Louis / Olin
Western Ontario / Ivey
Yale

MBA Programs: Rest of the World
As there is some variety in the length of international MBA programs, we have denoted the length of the program next to its name (1 = one year; 2 = 2 years). If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
AGSM (Australia) 2
Cambridge / Judge (UK) 1
CIEBS (China) 2
Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (China) 1
Cranfield School of Mgmt (UK) 1
ESADE (Spain) 1 or 2
HEC (France) 2
Hult (UK) 1
IESE (Spain) 2
IMD (Switzerland) 1
INCAE (Costa Rica) 2
INSEAD (France) 1
IPADE (Mexico)
ISB (India) 1
London Business School (UK) 2
Manchester Bus. School (UK) 2
Melbourne (Australia) 2
Oxford / Said (UK) 1
Rotterdam (Netherlands) 1
Tsinghua IMBA (China) 2
University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) 1

Additional Resources
Here we link a host of additional resources available across the web. E-mail info@clearadmit.com to have resources added to this list.
AACSB International
Association of MBAs
Beyond Grey Pinstripes
EFMD
gradschools.com (worldwide)
Infozee
International Student Loans
mba.com (GMAT Scores)
MBAInfo
mbaleague.blogspot.com
MBAzone
MBA Jungle
TOEFL
Top MBA

MBA Tipline
We encourage admissions officers, students and applicants to alert us of interesting news and developments, please send an email to news@clearadmit.com so we can blog it.

Blog Archive

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Friday, April 07, 2006

Fridays from the Frontline

Welcome to another edition of FFF! Now that we’ve gotten your attention by announcing the Best of Blogging nominees, which cover the thoughts and actions of bloggers over the past year, let’s take a closer look at the past week in the MBA world.

Now that the dust of round two decisions has settled, many applicants are in a contemplative mood. Some are thinking about their school selection with a broad eye to the ‘why MBA‘ issue, and others consider the difficulty of maintaining objectivity in making such an important and personal choice. MJ ponders the “what ifs” of life, while C’est La Vie wonders if her decision to attend Yale would have stood had her other applications worked out differently. Indeed, it varies with the applicant; dings from Harvard and Stanford made Anderson-bound Julius Seizure’s decision an easy one and a waitlisting by Sloan is sending WheresMyDessert off to Stern, whereas MBAJ (as the kids are calling him these days) was heading to Kellogg regardless of Columbia’s decision. Swayed by the school’s team-oriented atmosphere, Redwolf056 has also decided to attend Kellogg after a long Chicago showdown. Meanwhile, climate and cost played a large role in Nick Carraway’s choice of Duke over MIT.

For applicants who are still in the process of deciding where to spend the next two years, visits to campus are playing a big role. Although MBA Spanky wasn’t swayed one way or the other by his time at Duke, both AynRand2008 and Ty Coon were wowed by Emory, mbaformein08 found her fit at Kellogg, and FooBarMe’s deposit check is in the mail after his trip to a Haas EWMBA reception. We hope that MBA Cutie’s weekend leaves her feeling as positive about Ross as this crowd seems to be about their respective school decisions. On that note, we were glad to hear that declining tuition at LBS has Angel Angie even more excited, and that Resolute is feeling good about his destination due to the latest ISB salary and placement stats.

While dings are leaving several applicants with one option and an easy matriculation decision, others are sadly sent back to the drawing boards. We were sorry to read that a Columbia WL ding has left MBA Pundit with little choice but to join Forrest in the realm of the reapps, and that some bad news from Stanford has sent Mave back to the drawing board. Joining them are some first time applicants who are already thinking about their essays and planning for the GMAT. Speaking of which, Eric will be announcing the essay topic for his Beat the GMAT scholarship next week; this constitutes a great chance for the DIY test prep crowd to win some great study materials.

Some student bloggers are similarly settled on their plans for the immediate future (Mark is getting his post-HBS life in Chicago lined up, Sloan student Tom is set with a Google internship and Mbwana will be spending his summer with Microsoft), but many others are still in the midst of the recruiting process. Death Spiral reports that interviews are in full swing at INSEAD, Al Martine likens interviewing to courtship and relates a great first date with a company at LBS while Buckyhoo has a hot prospect at UNC but wonders about the ever-troublesome question of interests vs. goals.

Turning to academics, Noelle offers a great illustrated Wednesday in the life of an IESE student, while Olivier’s week was probably a less typical example of what things are like in INSEAD (seeing as he’s on exchange at Wharton this semester). Meanwhile, Futureguru discusses an interesting class at LBS, Nate braces himself for a rough patch in his MAP project at Ross, and KV gets ready to shadow a Bay Area exec for an LBS project. Thinking more broadly than specific classes and projects, the Divine Miss N offers her general take on LBS academics as well as some great advice for prospective students. Finally, three veteran bloggers (and BoB ‘06 nominees) marveled at how close they are to the end of the road; Future MBA Girl resolves to make the most of her last three weeks at Wharton, while Marquis and Mark (hehe) have a bit more time to go but have begun the countdown – 10 more weeks at Stanford and 34 classes at HBS, respectively – nonetheless.

That’s it for this late-breaking edition of FFF. Have a great weekend!

# posted by Clear Admit @ 2:22 pm in Fridays from the Frontline

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Wiki

MBA Admissions Wiki
The Clear Admit Wiki is designed to allow b-school applicants to share their experiences through the application process. You can learn from others' experiences and contribute your own reports to the community. Below are the five most popular pages in the wiki:
Wharton Interview Field Reports
HBS Interview Field Reports
Kellogg Interview Field Reports
Chicago Interview Field Reports
Columbia Interview Field Reports

Discussion Boards

BusinessWeek Forums
The BusinessWeek Discussion Boards are another way to learn about the issues applicants face. Clear Admit hosts the Ask Clear Admit thread, which should help answer your questions. Here is a link to the original interface (for those of you who didn't like the recent upgrade). Also, here are the five most recent discussions taking place in the forum:

Beat The GMAT Forums
Clear Admit is a featured expert in the BeatTheGMAT forums, answering questions from applicants across the globe. Feel free to ask us your questions in this forum! Here are the most recent posts:

StudyLink Forums
Clear Admit manages the Applying section of the StudyLink MBA discussion boards.

GMAT Club Forums
Below are the five most recent posts to the GMAT Club message boards.

student 2 student
The student-2-student Discussion Boards are managed by Wharton. Here are the five most recent discussions.

School-Hosted Blogs

Straight from the source: aggregated posts from students and administration. Below are the seven most recent posts in school-hosted blogs.

Individuals' Blogs

A selection of the latest updates to MBA blogs compiled by Hella.
MBA Applicants

MBA Students

Bloggers by School

The following are links to bloggers at each of the schools listed.
Chicago
Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
Kellogg
Michigan
MIT / Sloan
New York / Stern
North Carolina / Chapel Hill
Stanford
Virginia / Darden
Wharton
Yale
ESADE
IESE
INSEAD
London Business School

Community Blogs

Bshoolers.com
Community blog with MBA student and alum contributors.

Forté Foundation MBA Diaries
Video blog entries posted by women MBA students.

Owen Bloggers
Independent blog with content by Vanderbilt MBA students.

Best of Blogging

2008-2009 Top Ten: