Posted by Clear Admit on June 19, 2006, at 11:30 am
Posted in:  General The Clear Admit Admissions Blog turned three years old this past Saturday! In celebration of this milestone, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the highlights from the past few years.
Breaking News
One of the biggest news items in the MBA admissions space was the Apply Yourself fiasco of 2005, and Clear Admit was there with running commentary. This incident, in which 119 HBS applicants modified the URL in the browser window while logged in to their online applications and were able to see their admissions decisions early, raised a number of issues about ethics and the application process. To learn more and form your own opinion on the actions of the individuals in question and HBS’ response, check out our coverage of the scandal:
HBS Admissions Glitch, March 2, 2005
HBS R2, Part II, March 3, 2005
HBS/Apply Yourself, Part III, March 3, 2005
Apply Yourself Article Aggregation, March 4, 2005
Harvard to Reject Applicants Who Peeked, March 8, 2005
Apply Yourself to Sue Hackers?, March 10, 2005
Another interesting and controversial topic that occurred a bit further back down the road was Wharton and Harvard’s decision to deny ranking publications access to their students and alumni bases. This change in policy, ostensibly made to protect the privacy of individuals associated with the school, resulted in some outcry from journalists and even resulted in the two MBA programs being excluded altogether from the Economist’s 2005 ranking. Those new to the MBA admissions space can catch up on the saga by reading along with the following blog entries:
Harvard and Wharton Alter Policy, April 7, 2004
Wharton’s Official Statement, April 7, 2004
Harvard’s Statement, the Saga Continues, April 8, 2004
Why Wharton and Harvard Are Wrong, April 12, 2004
Best of Blogging
For the past two years, we’ve been conducting a survey of the blogosphere to identify some of the best community-generated advice and information for prospective MBA students. For those just embarking on the application process, the blogs listed in these rankings could be a great starting point in understanding what to expect over the next several months:
2004-2005 Best of Blogging Results
2005-2006 Best of Blogging Results
April Fools
Though this blog is generally focused on admissions trends and MBA news, each year we’ve tried to lighten things up on the first of April by poking some fun at the schools or the formality of the application process:
2004 – Admissions Tip: Get Their Attention
2005 – In the News: HBS to Abandon Case Method, Kellogg Sick of Being so Team-Oriented, et al.
2006 – In the News: HBS to Further Alter Grading Policy, Columbia Introduces New Admissions Policy, et al.
Admissions Tips
In addition to covering the latest goings on in the admissions space and blogosphere, this blog is also committed to providing valuable advice to those who are applying to and deciding between MBA programs. While the tips we’ve offered over the years are too many to count, here are a few recent nuggets of wisdom that are particularly relevant to applicants at this point in the season:
GMAT Timing, March 30, 2006
Addressing Academics, April 4, 2006
Considering the Campus, May 2, 2006
Thanks to everyone for reading! Knowing that this blog is a valued source of information and advice makes our work all the more rewarding. It’s been a pleasure being part of the MBA blogging community over the past three years, and we look forward to many more!
Posted by Clear Admit on June 16, 2006, at 12:45 pm
Posted in: 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 on June 15, 2006, at 9:15 am
Posted in: Admissions Tips With several of the top schools having already released their essay questions for this admissions season, we’re sure that quite a number of early birds are eager to get a jump on the process in order to complete as many applications as possible by round one. At this time of year when applicants find themselves brainstorming for essay topics, we wanted to offer up a few tips on presenting yourself and your experiences as advantageously as possible.
1) Take time to reflect. Before diving in and beginning work on a draft of any one essay, it’s often fruitful for an applicant to think carefully about all of the stories and accomplishments that he or she has at his or her disposal. This can include experiences from the professional realm, formal outside activities, college clubs and even more casual hobbies and interests. This sort of comprehensive reflective approach should enable you to arrive at the potential essay topics that are most impressive and in line with your positioning.
2) Establish balance. It’s crucial that your essays work together to present a consistent and compelling picture of who you are, what you’ve done and what you bring to the table – the adcom is looking for students who are interesting, well-rounded, and likely to make a contribution to the school both in and out of the classroom. In selecting topics for your essays after you’ve identified all of the possibilities, remember that it’s ideal to have a balance of stories that cover the span of your career and introduce your interests and involvements outside of work.
3) Keep it relevant. While it’s important that you have a wide range of stories to tell and positive characteristics to convey, there are a few things that you shouldn’t mention in your essays. In terms of chronology, remember that you are applying to graduate school and that the adcom is primarily interested in your experiences since the time you began college. There are of course some exceptions to this (such as questions that ask you to recap your life story or discuss what matters most to you), but as a general rule it’s best to avoid writing at length about your high school or your upbringing, as this can make an applicant sound immature or stuck in the past. Other topics of which you should steer clear are those that are potentially sensitive or emotionally charged, such as politics and religion.
4) Show, don’t tell. Keep in mind that a given adcom member spends only ten or fifteen minutes on each application. This being the case, it’s imperative that you make an impression and give the reader a clear sense of who you are and what you’ve done. Specific anecdotes and vivid details make a much greater impact on a reader than general claims and broad summaries. Be sure to quantify your impact, fully explain your actions, and provide illustrative examples to produce a set of engaging essays.
Happy writing! Stay tuned to this blog throughout the summer for additional essay-specific tips and guidelines.
Posted by Clear Admit on June 14, 2006, at 8:52 am
Posted in: Deadlines , School: UNC / Kenan Flagler UNC Kenan-Flagler has released its deadlines for the coming admissions season, with essay questions and full application due out in the coming months:
Early Action/Round 1
Application Submitted: October 27, 2006
Decision Mailed: December 11, 2006
Round 2
Application Submitted: December 1, 2006
Decision Mailed: February 5, 2007
Round 3
Application Submitted: January 5, 2007
Decision Mailed: March 12, 2007
Round 4
Application Submitted: March 2, 2007
Decision Mailed: April 27, 2007
The school’s dates line up very closely with last year’s timeline, with each of the deadline dates being just one day before those from the previous season. As you’ll note, UNC is the second school whose deadlines we’ve posted this week that has an “early action” round. While this term generally means that applicants will receive their admissions decision relatively shortly after their materials are due (just a bit over 6 weeks in the case of UNC), the post-decision implications for students can vary on a school by school basis. Check back in the coming days for a discussion of the differences between Early Action and Early Decision, and a comment on the benefits and drawbacks of each.
Posted by Clear Admit on June 13, 2006, at 11:58 am
Posted in: MBA News Time came out with an interesting article yesterday covering the controversial case of Blake Gottesman, the aide to President Bush who was admitted to Harvard Business School even though he does not hold a college degree. The press has tended to focus on the 26 year-old’s less glamorous responsibilities such as hand sanitizer toting, and it’s good to see that this latest article provides a more balanced view of his skills and role in the White House. It also reveals another very interesting detail: Gottesman was admitted to the Stanford GSB as well.
The text of the article is available at:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1202932,00.html
Posted by Clear Admit on June 13, 2006, at 9:09 am
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis , School: Berkeley / Haas Though most schools won’t be releasing their essay questions until later this summer, we wanted to begin posting our essay analyses for those schools that have in order to assist diligent applicants who are already working on this element of the application. Today we’ll be taking a look at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business application.
This program’s format doubles as an opportunity and a challenge, as the various short answer inquiries allow applicants to discuss a variety of topics, but all within a tight word limit. Because the career goals essay – the real centerpiece of your application – comes last here (as opposed to first as with many schools), it will be important to provide a good deal of context about your role, company and the chronology of your story in your shorter essays.
Short Answers
1. What is your favorite quote, and why is it meaningful to you? (250 word maximum)
This question gives you a chance to reveal some words – and a concept behind them – that have had a significant and positive influence on your outlook and decisions. The adcom wants to get to know you a bit better though your answer to this question, so take some time to reflect on a quote that really resonates with you and ties into your overall message and candidacy. While we encourage you to be thoughtful and sincere, it’s also crucial that you think strategically; as with all essays, you want to avoid potentially controversial or sensitive subjects such as politics or religion. It would also be wise to avoid those that are intensely personal (such as a quote above love or death), as this could prohibit you from introducing important information about your candidacy in your response. Finally, try to be original when choosing a quote. You won’t win any points for picking something that has been used by hundreds of other applicants over the years.
2. Tell us about your most significant accomplishment. (250 word maximum)
This is a very tall order for a 250 word essay, so brevity will be key here. You’ll clearly want to select an impressive achievement to discuss here – ideally one in which you had a positive impact on a group or organization (as it would reflect well on you to say that you consider it significant that you improved something for others). It will be important to comment not only on the results, but also on the actions and thought process by which you brought them about. Note that the question does not limit you to the professional realm, so feel free to think of examples from your outside activities in selecting a topic for this short response.
3. At Haas, we value innovation and creativity. How have you demonstrated these qualities in your professional or personal life? (250 word maximum)
This is the only question that is new for this season, replacing one asking about something that makes the applicant unique other than race or nationality. This year’s inquiry is certainly more focused on action rather than personal qualities, but is driving at something similar – going beyond the ordinary and expected, ideally in a way that would translate into an ability to make an interesting and valuable contribution to the class. Remember that detailed anecdotes will make a greater impact on a reader than general commentary; while it’s possible that an applicant could provide a list of ten instances of using creativity to a positive and constructive end, limiting the discussion to just one or two will be the best way to provide a clear picture of your ability to win support for a plan and translate an idea into action.
4. If you have visited Haas, please let us know what about your visit made the most lasting impression on you. If you have not visited Haas, what steps have you taken to familiarize yourself with our MBA program? (250 word maximum)
This is a rather transparent test to determine whether you’ve done your homework and are making an informed decision in applying to Haas’ program. Because some applicants treat this school as a backup for Stanford and other programs, it will be to your advantage to convince the adcom that you are sincere in your interest by explaining the appealing elements that are unique to the Berkeley MBA. Obviously, the more specific knowledge you are able to demonstrate, the better; the adcom would love to hear that an applicant has been in touch with students, is familiar with the campus and understands the Haas culture and program.
Required Essays
1. Give us an example of a time when you displayed leadership. (500 word maximum)
It would be ideal to provide a solid professional example here, but an example from an extracurricular activity would suffice as well if you have made a more significant impact on an outside organization than you have in the workplace. To an extent, your topic choice may depend on how you’ve answered the earlier questions (since you’ll want to achieve balance across the essays). Another thing to note about this question is that it does not specify that you be in a formal leadership role – any time you exhibited the characteristics of a leader to affect positive change is fair game here. Essentially, you should aim to use this essay to highlight your interpersonal skills and ability to direct the efforts of others toward a constructive end.
2. What are your short-term and long-term career goals? How do your professional experiences relate to these goals? Why do you want an MBA from Berkeley at this point in your career? (1000 word maximum)
This is a fairly standard career goals essay as asked by virtually all MBA programs, requiring applicants to provide an overview of their career to date, describe their short and long-term objectives and explain their reasons for seeking an MBA from Haas in particular. As a general rule, specificity of career goals is of the utmost importance. Given the wording of Berkeley’s question, it will also be beneficial to draw explicit links between your previous experiences and future objectives in addition to touching upon the skills you’ve gained and lessons you’ve learned over the course of your career.
Interestingly, Haas chooses to end its essay section with the typical career goals essay, whereas most schools lead off with this topic. Rather than providing an overview of and introduction to your candidacy, as is the case with the career goals essay for most schools, this essay will instead be the culmination of your message to the adcom. Make sure to tie together the themes that you’ve introduced in your other responses, and end on a note of enthusiasm about the program and the timing of your application.
Happy writing! Stay tuned to this blog for detailed analysis of the top programs’ essay questions as they become available. Applicants should also feel free to contact Clear Admit to learn more about our counseling services for Haas and other schools. You can set up a free initial chat with one of our admissions consultants by emailing your CV/resume to info@clearadmit.com.
Posted by Clear Admit on June 12, 2006, at 3:57 pm
Posted in: Deadlines , School: Dartmouth / Tuck Though we reported the program’s early action deadline a few weeks ago in a posting about upcoming fall deadlines, we want to report that Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business has just officially released its complete list of admissions deadlines for the coming application season:
Early Action Round
Application Materials Submitted: October 12, 2006
Applicant-Initiated Interview Complete: October 12, 2006
Admissions Decision Released: December 15, 2006
November Round
Application Materials Submitted: November 30 , 2006
Applicant-Initiated Interview Complete: November 30, 2006
Admissions Decision Released: February 2, 2007
January Round
Application Materials Submitted: January 11, 2007
Applicant-Initiated Interview Complete: January 11, 2007
Admissions Decision Released: March 23, 2007
April Round
Application Materials Submitted: April 5, 2007
Applicant-Initiated Interview Complete: April 5, 2007
Admissions Decision Released: May 14, 2007
Stay tuned to this blog for in-depth essay tips once the application for this school is released.
Posted by Clear Admit on June 12, 2006, at 8:29 am
Posted in: General We wanted to take a moment today to announce an exciting addition to the Clear Admit team and extend a warm welcome to Deena Maerowitz!
Deena was formerly an Associate Director of Admissions at Columbia University. In addition to reviewing applications, conducting interviews and participating in admissions decisions, she played an important role in fostering alumni relations and facilitating applicant outreach. She started the “Ask Columbia Business School Admissions” thread on the BW forum, through which hundreds of MBA applicants have obtained answers to their questions about the school’s offerings and application process. Deena also oversaw the website of Hermes, the admissions office’s student arm. Both of these channels for outreach to applicants provide information to individuals interested in the program and help them to foster relationships with current students.
We’re excited not only about adding a new dynamic personality to our roster of admissions counselors, but also about the ways that Deena’s expertise on Columbia will benefit the Clear Admit team at large.
Posted by Clear Admit on June 9, 2006, at 9:12 am
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline Welcome to this week’s edition of FFF! It’s been a quiet week in the MBA blogosphere, but there’s still a bit of news to report. On the applicant front, it’s the time of year that accepted students entering school in the fall are giving notice (Paxti has mixed feelings about leaving Google for LBS and Jacek seems a bit happier to be on his way to ESADE), thinking creatively about upcoming classes, getting their finances in order and looking back on the application process with a reflective eye. Along the latter lines, FoobarMe has offered some great tips on essay writing, stressing the importance of quantifying achievements and including illustrative detail. Meanwhile, Class of 2009 aspirants are expressing their appreciation for this kind of advice from seasoned veterans and for the blogging community in general. In other application preparation news, UniQpath is putting together a timeline and plan of attack, while ScareCrow ponders the one versus two year MBA issue.
As is generally the case this time of year, the student bloggers are winding down as the applicants focus on beginnings. Wonderchild wrote of being finished up with Tuck and GSB Mennonite tackled his final final at Chicago, and KV is getting ready to take on his last exam at LBS. As the semester concludes, the Divine Miss N summarizes a list of interesting visitors to London and comments more broadly on her classes and activities as the semester winds down, while classmate rsr.pt paints a slightly more perilous picture of the final few weeks at school. Indeed, outside of academics, students are enjoying themselves – L’Optimiste completed a 10k charity walk at INSEAD and classmate Olivier provides a detailed breakdown on the Fontainebleau social scene, while Noelle recounts an informal IESE film festival and is looking forward to a quiet weekend in Barcelona. An exception to all this talk of endings on the student front is Brit-Chick, who has just started a summer internship and vowed to revive her blog while at Wharton.
That does it for this week. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
Posted by Clear Admit on June 8, 2006, at 5:24 pm
Posted in: General We wanted to announce today that Clear Admit’s own Alex Brown has just published a white paper discussing the way that online channels and forums have enabled prospective business school students to play an increasingly active and influential role in shaping the dialogue about and perception of MBA programs. Titled “Engagement Marketing,” the paper aims to educate admissions and marketing staff about the ways that applicant word of mouth serves as a credible and readily available supplement to the message schools transmit though traditional marketing materials. Further, it offers tips on engaging the online community and adjusting to this new development. Given the extent to which Clear Admit has participated in this powerful and dynamic forum through our own blog, wiki and participation on various discussion boards, he is clearly in a position to speak with authority on this topic; this is one of two papers Alex has written on the subject of customer-2-customer communication tools.
The ideas in this paper will form the basis of his presentation at the annual GMAC conference this month. Alex will be addressing representatives from the top MBA programs in a talk called “The Impact of Blogs on the MBA Admissions Process”, covering the potential benefits and liabilities of attempting to tap the MBA blogging phenomenon. In addition to sharing his insight with experienced admissions officers attending this event, he’ll also be speaking as part of the training of about 60 new business school admissions staff members at GMAC’s Professional Development Program later this summer, during which he’ll draw more broadly on these ideas about engaging applicants and formulating new marketing strategies in light of new developments in technology and the evolution of the online community.
Posted by Clear Admit on June 7, 2006, at 9:05 am
Posted in: General , School: Stanford Although the majority of MBA programs will not release their essay questions for the coming admissions season until late summer or even early fall, many applicants are making their summers as productive as possible by researching various schools in order to learn more about the programs, narrow down their list of target schools and gather fodder for their ‘why School X’ discussions in their essays. For this reason, we wanted to point MBA aspirants who are considering Stanford to a news item that the school released yesterday introducing a major restructuring of the program’s curriculum, which will be implemented in the fall of 2007.
The new program will be focused on fostering the development of each individual through pairing students with a faculty advisor who will help them to design a curriculum tailored to their needs and level of knowledge:
“After a common program in the first quarter, students will face no specific required courses, but rather a set of distribution requirements that will give them the breadth of knowledge a general manager requires. The suite of requirements will vary by pace, depth, and assumed knowledge in order to challenge every student regardless of past experience. Further, in some cases ‘flavors’ of a given topic will be offered, so that students can tailor their curriculum to their career goals.”
The full story about the school’s plans – which involve not only the course offerings but new facilities to accomodate the changes these measures will require – is available on Stanford’s website at: http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/headlines/new_mba_curriculum.shtml. This is a must read for those who are definitely applying to the program, as it will be important to demonstrate knowledge of and enthusiasm about this very drastic development throughout the application process.
Posted by Clear Admit on June 6, 2006, at 8:28 am
Posted in: MBA News Each year, we receive a number of inquiries from college students who have their sights set on an MBA and are wondering what post-undergraduate career path with be most conducive to gaining admission to a top business school. With this audience in mind, we wanted to point readers to an article from yesterday’s edition of Business Week Online covering the favorite employers of undergraduate business majors. While the article lists the ten most popular organizations, what we found most interesting was the account of the decisions of specific employees and coverage of the elements of each company that recent graduates found the most appealing or beneficial. For instance, Disney’s internal mobility is a major part of the draw that makes it the top ranked employer for college graduates:
“Potential hires frequently get to choose a position, but the choices don’t stop there. Once they start as full-time employees, they’re challenged by training in their chosen unit but have the chance to check out other departments and positions later. Disney just launched an internal recruitment site similar to the search profiles used for outsiders applying for a job with the company. Employees can fill out a profile and name other positions within Disney’s units that they find appealing. This kind of fluidity eliminates the kind of corporate-ladder structure than can be a turnoff for young, creative hires.”
In addition to explaining the allure of the featured employers and perhaps sparking interest in the select ten, we think that this article is a worthwhile read simply because it highlights some important factors for recent graduates to consider when deciding where they would like to work. Because an applicant’s work experience prior to seeking an MBA is an important element of his or her candidacy, it essential that MBA aspirants identify an environment in which they will be able to explore their professional interests and gain the sort of experience they desire.
Readers might also want to take a peek at Fortune’s list of the top employers of MBA students, as this provides an interesting glimpse into the shift in interests and priorities that can take place with a bit of age and experience.
Posted by Clear Admit on June 5, 2006, at 4:05 pm
Posted in: Deadlines , School: MIT / Sloan MIT Sloan has released their official deadlines for the 2006-07 admissions cycle. As usual, the school offers only two main deadlines (R1 in November and R2 in January). According to MIT, the essay topics for this application cycle will be posted after July 1st, 2006 (stay tuned to this blog for details). For those of you looking to get a headstart on your Sloan essays, follow this link to last year’s questions, along with our strategic advice. Without further ado, here are the deadlines for 2006-07:
MBA Round I : 11/1/2006 (decisions released: 1/29/2007)
MBA Round II: 1/10/2007 (decisions released: 4/2/2007)
LFM Program deadline: 12/15/2006 (decisions released: 3/12/2007)
Due to the limited number of rounds (most leading schools offer 3-4 rounds) and the program’s small size (roughly 370 students per intake), we strongly recommend that MIT/Sloan enthusiasts apply in the first round. Keep in mind that even if you are admitted in the first round, the school will give you until April 2nd, 2007 to reply with a decision about matriculation. In other words, a first-round application will not force you into an early decision about where to attend.
Please note that reapplicants are required to apply in R1. Also, one other quirk to the MIT Sloan deadlines is that all applications must be received by 12 PM (Pacific) on the deadline day.
Posted by Clear Admit on June 2, 2006, at 3:47 pm
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline Welcome to another edition of FFF, where your friendly Clear Admit team members chronicle all the latest news from the MBA blogosphere! As the New York Times says “all the news that’s fit to print”, our FFF authors like to say “all the blogs that are fit for news” (or something like that).
We kick this week’s post with a rash of MBA student postings from Europe, where the MBA Tournament/Olympics has been prominently covered. Bloggers from the winning program were very happy to report from the games: rsr.pt does a run down of the highlights from the MBA-T weekend, KV reports the results (and promises gossip and pics) and Guillaume posts a victory photo while promising a more complete run-down of the results in the forthcoming Official LBS Blog (yes, you heard right, a school-sanctioned blog)! Beyond the LBS bloggers checking in about their victory, George offered his take on the weekend from the IESE viewpoint and Cambridge MBA admit Amit delves into the finer points of the MBA-T rules for cricket.
Moving beyond the fun and games of MBA-T, we find a number of b-school students (and admits) offering commentary on various aspects of their programs. Angel Angie and Hobbes alert readers to an interesting “day in the life” video about LBS, Auris checks in with an update about P3 at INSEAD (and a decision to spend P4+5 in Singapore), IESE MBA2007 highlights the academic craziness of the next two weeks while Noelle chimes in with her thoughts on the end of the hectic third term at IESE. Finally, FutureGuru offers a couple of great posts on the LBS marketing conference and electives selection while Olivier closes the book on his job search from INSEAD and alerts readers of his decision to join BCG.
In other b-school blogging news, Grik checks in with some comments on finance coursework from the University of Melbourne‘s MBA program, Buckyhoo has an internship update from UNC and Yale student Jerry Blank discusses summer internship life in NYC (including amusing anecdotes about the HR department at his firm and the art of losing belts at nightclubs). Heading to the West Coast, we find UCLA student H.Caulfield checking in with an explanation about just how hard Anderson students typically work. Rounding out our student bloggers section for the week, we’d like to highlight an informative post from Rahul, who’s just finished up his first year in Kellogg/Northwestern’s JD/MBA program.
Turning to the admitted applicant bloggers, we find numerous posts with helpful comments on matriculation. Curious George offers an update on the Kroll background check process at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Jacek summarizes his pre-ESADE summer plans (with plenty of World Cup commentary), Ashwyn discusses the loans/financing process at IESE and Karlitos, who was recently admitted to LBS, talks about the scholarship application process. Finally, Yale-admit Brownowski contemplates a one-year deferral but ultimately decides to attend the SOM this fall.
We’ll wind down this action-packed edition of FFF with some news from the newest crop of applicants: the Class of 2009. As would be expected at this time of year, GMAT prep is on everyone’s mind. Kooljaek talks about the final countdown to the exam, a disappointing result and offers some interesting ‘why MBA’ thoughts in between. Stress Tensor reports to have finished all the problems in the Official Guide to the GMAT, taken a practice exam and performed well on the actual test day while offering some pertinent thoughts on the rest of the application process. Beyond the GMAT applicants are also thinking about the big issues: median2K9 ponders his career goals, need for the MBA and more while Juggler has just left the starting gate in the race for her admission to a top MBA program and ScareCrow makes the move from blog reader to blog-er.
That’s the latest news from the MBA blogosphere. Congrats to Marquis (who may win yet another award to put on the shelf with his BoB). Also, we’re not sure what to make of this (an MBA professor enters the blogosphere or a hoax?) so please stay tuned. Have a great weekend everyone!
|
