Which School Wednesdays » 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

Get a $10 Amazon.com Gift Card! Contribute your MBA interview reports to the Clear Admit Wiki.

Taking the GMAT? Download our free, independent guide to the leading test prep companies - includes coupons test prep savings!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Which School Wednesdays

Hello and welcome to the very first edition of “Which School Wednesdays,” a new weekly column in which we’ll be highlighting new and noteworthy web content relating to applicants’ thinking and decisions about which MBA programs they’ll apply to or attend. Closely related to the School Choices section of the Clear Admit Wiki, this new feature is being introduced with the hope 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 as they determine which schools to target and which admissions offer to accept.

A few weeks ago, blogger Nick Carraway posted an excellent entry about the factors that led him to choose to attend Fuqua over Sloan. While the allure of the MIT brand and network are undeniable, it’s also true that more immediate elements like geography and family ties are legitimate concerns as well. This post does an excellent job of explaining the way some “intangible” and relatively minor considerations that one might argue should not form the basis of such a major decision actually amount to a very significant advantage for Duke:

“Little factors, like North Carolina’s amazing weather, make a big difference on your overall quality of life. Also, my family is within driving distance of Durham, so my child might actually know her grandparents. Plus, Fuqua has amazing facilities and the most supportive partners program at any top B-school.

They say ‘Don’t make your decision based on the facilities… Or the weather… Or the housing… Or the location.’ Sage advice indeed, but at what point do all of those things add up to one very important factor? Duke just seems to have them all.”

Similarly, blogger AynRand2008 goes beyond the “normal” considerations to get to the heart of the quality of life question in choosing between Emory and Texas. Geography was less of an issue for MJ in making the call concerning Duke and Darden, as this blogger focused more closely on more basic issues of teaching method and preparedness for his goals. This excerpt is a great example of one person’s ability to assess his fit with a program based on self-knowledge and practical considerations:

“While I absolutely loved the case method class at Darden, I have to bear in mind that I was a silent participant which is very different from being in that class. Having never had any form of education based solely on the case method, I can’t be sure how I would react to it (Darden is 100% case based). Will I be able to put my inhibitions (such as thinking something is too silly to bring up or thinking something is too obvious or becoming self conscious) behind me and be able to be an active participant in class every single day? Class participation is a major part of the grades at Darden. One of the things I hope to gain from B school is to be able to go out of my comfort zone. To be able to challenge myself. I do not think questioning whether this teaching method is best from me, qualifies under shirking a challenge.”

Meanwhile, other applicants are still grappling with this decision, and turning to others for advice through the Business Week Forum and other channels, often creating a positive and productive discussion. In a thread started by an applicant deciding between Chicago and Columbia, the impressions of fellow applicants to and current students at the programs in question resulted in the original poster arriving at a much clearer articulation of the pros and cons of each school and the essence of the matter at hand:

“The most important criteria to me is how well the school will prepare me and position me to make a career transition to the buy side, and I know that there are several factors that drive this. I also know that I must be proactive, take initiative, and network in order to get that great IM/HF job I’m looking for, but certainly the school helps open the doors to those opportunities. The dilemma I face is that in the area of prestige/brand/reputation, particularly for finance and jobs on the buy side, Chicago appears to have a slight edge; however, Columbia wins for location, because the majority of HFs are in NY and CT, thus facilitating networking opportunities. I’ve also heard similar comments with regard to selecting Chicago if I am interested in quant asset mgmt.

So, the question becomes: do you choose the school with a slightly better brand (which, in turn, may open a few more doors for you) or the school where you can network with more firms more easily?”

That concludes this week’s edition of Which School Wednesdays. Those applicants looking for personal advice on where to apply or enroll based on their priorities and goals are welcome to contact us directly or post an inquiry in our Business Week thread or the Studylink forum. If you have made your mind up about where you are going, it would be great if you could contribute your insights to School Choices section of the wiki.

# posted by Clear Admit @ 9:09 am in Which School Wednesdays

ACTIVE CONTENT

Clear Admit's Recent Posts

Facebook

Become a fan of Clear Admit on Facebook and join a vibrant MBA applicant community to engage in discussion, stay on top of deadlines, follow MBA news and win prizes!

Twitter

Follow Clear Admit on Twitter for breaking MBA news before it's blogged, just-posted interview reports in the Wiki and more!

MBA Twitter Index!

We've created the MBA Admissions Twitter Index, a directory of applicants, current MBA students and b-schools on Twitter.

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: