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

APPLICANT RESOURCES

Admissions Director Q&A (New!) Below are links to Clear Admit's exclusive admissions director Q&A sessions.
Dawna Clarke (Tuck)
Rose Martinelli (Chicago)
Judith Hodara (Wharton)
Sarah Neher (Darden)
Soojin Kwon Koh (Michigan)
Randall Sawyer (Cornell)
Beth Flye (Kellogg)
David Simpson (LBS)

Clear Admit School Guides
Eighteen 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.

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.
Nov. 17: Cornell / Johnson R2
Nov. 26: INSEAD R2
Dec. 5: UNC Kenan-Flagler R2
Dec. 9: Berkeley / Haas R2
Jan. 2: Michigan / Ross R2
Jan. 6: HBS R2
Jan. 6: LBS R2
Jan. 7: Chicago GSB R2
Jan. 7: UVA / Darden R2
Jan. 7: Dartmouth / Tuck R2
Jan. 7: Duke / Fuqua R2
Jan. 7: Stanford GSB R2
Jan. 7: Yale SOM R2
Jan. 8: UCLA / Anderson R2
Jan. 8: Wharton R2
Jan. 9: UNC Kenan-Flagler R3
Jan. 12: Cornell / Johnson R3
Jan. 12: Kellogg R2
Jan. 13: MIT Sloan R2

Essay Topic Analysis
Below are links to our comments on some of the top programs' essay topics.
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*
USC / Marshall*
UT Austin / McCombs*
UVA / Darden*
Yale SOM*
* denotes '08-'09 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
GMAC
Manhattan GMAT
GMAT Club
Princeton Review
Test Prep New York
Kaplan
Beat The GMAT

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
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
Texas / McCombs
Thunderbird
Toronto
UCLA / Anderson
Virginia / Darden
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
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
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

Friday, June 16, 2006

Fridays from the Frontline

Welcome to another edition of FFF, our weekly recap of the latest goings on in the MBA blogosphere. Though last week was relatively quiet, we’ve seen a resurgence of activity on all fronts as current students ease into internships or new jobs, admitted students plan their transition to school, and the next crop of applicants get started on their way. Let’s begin by taking a look at what the aspiring Class of 2009 bloggers are up to:

For those just beginning the application process, the GMAT is, somewhat predictably, at the fore of discussion. We were glad to hear that Army Commo Guy earned a very solid score when he took the exam last week and that Kent Torokvei is closing in on test day and feeling good about his performance as predicted by practice tests. KoolJaek, meanwhile, has resolved to retake and is looking into a test prep course - but might also want to take a look at MBAXPloit’s list of recommended materials and Marina’s detailed account of her own test prep approach. Even though the GMAT is more than a month away for Suser McLoser, she’s already finding out that it’s an easy part of the application process in comparison to formulating a career goal story and getting it down on paper, something that Juggler has recently achieved after much revision and restarting, while Stress Tensor seems more hung up on the “why now” question.

To help fellow applicants who are struggling in this regard, UniQpath has posted some potentially helpful essay topic prompts, and Darden-bound MBAXPloit wrote directly to the topic of the “Why MBA” essay. A handful of application and b-school veterans also weighed in with advice for applicants this week. Jacek offers a recap of the ESADE interview that contributed to his admit at that program, MBAyisyen shared his thoughts on the difference between US and European business schools (focusing on class composition and post-MBA job prospects), and UCLA student H. Caulfield answered some more pointed questions about the application process.

On the reapplicant front, having grabbed one of the few remaining Fuqua feedback sessions after calling a mere hour after scheduling opened, B-school Diva attests to the high demand for this service, while Forrest Gump is in the unfortunate position of telling readers what it’s like to miss this opportunity at Wharton. While these folks are gearing up for the year of applications ahead, admitted students are turning their attention toward getting ready for school. Angel Angie is wrapping things up at work and focusing on her pre-LBS travel plans and Curious George is looking forward to living the simple life at Haas. Paxti got together with some of his future LBS classmates located in the Bay Area, and Karlitos and I_Will_Make_It share their summer itineraries as they prepare to begin school in London and Chicago, respectively.

Though things have been winding down for a while, there’s been talk of endings across the board with the student bloggers and, in some cases, corresponding beginnings. First year student Sam writes about the closure of commencement at MIT, Daily Travails reports that finals at Chicago ended with a bang, Marquis revels in the completion of his coursework at Stanford, FutureMBAGirl closes the book on Philadelphia in preparation for her post-Wharton career on the west coast, and Mark brings his blogging career to an official end with the close of his HBS studies. On a less final note, Death Spiral has decided to conduct an informal year-end INSEAD poll to benefit future students (while classmate L’Optimiste plays hooky at the French Open). KV made the observation this week that most of his conversations these days revolve around finals, the World Cup and internships; this holds in the blogging community, as Noelle alone has the first two items covered as she jumps in between roles as an MBA student with soccer spectator at IESE. As for internships, Buckyhoo reflects on the toll his search took on his studies at UNC while Jeff’s own job hunt just came to a close and settled his plans for the summer away from Brandeis. Meanwhile, both Al Martine of LBS and Brit-Chick of Wharton have landed summer positions at charitable foundations, and take a moment to consider what they’ve learned from their first year of school.

That does it for this week’s installment of FFF. While blogs give us a window into the summers of some, we hope that everyone else’s are treating them well, and that you all have wonderful weekends!

# posted by Clear Admit @ 12:45 pm in Fridays from the Frontline

DISCUSSIONS / BLOGS / WIKI

Clear Admit's Most Recent Entries

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.

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

Chicago Discussion Forums
The Chicago Discussion Boards are managed by the University of Chicago. 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

2007-2008 Top Ten:

2006-2007 Top Ten:

2005-2006 Top Ten:

2004-2005 Top Ten:

Blog Information Profile for clearadmit