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, July 21, 2006

Fridays from the Frontline

With another week comes another installment of FFF! Fittingly enough for this time of year, things are heating up in the MBA blogosphere as admitted students get closer to the start of school and the new crop of applicants gears up for the task ahead. Let’s take a look at the latest developments and goings on in the lives of our blogger friends:

Though several applicants are still focused on conquering the GMAT - Kent Torokvei will be giving the test another go today (good luck!) and Suser McLoser is still in the early preparatory stages - essays have become a more popular topic among the candidate crowd. This is hardly suprising, given the number of schools that have released their questions over the past weeks in a move that some view as more benevolent than others, as ScareCrow equates it with the weather while Forrest Gump treats it more as a declaration of war (not too hard to tell who’s the reapp here). While UniQpath ponders the best frame of mind from which to approach her essays, Juggler is thinking about the ways her story might fit the questions asked by each of her target schools, MaelstromX is still hashing out his school selection, and GuyMBA is nearly finished with his Columbia essays and seems more focused on the issue of recommendations. Similarly, Median2K9 learned a valuable lesson about managing recommenders and StressTensor finally shared his b-school plans asked his boss for a letter (and, just to bring things full circle, hopes to get his input on his essays).

Fortunately for those diligently working on their application materials, a number of current and admitted students have shared their essay-related insights this week. Brit-Chick notes a change in this year’s Wharton essays and Benny tracks adjustment’s to Tuck’s questions, while Angel Angie shares her secrets of success in getting into LBS and MBAXploit publishes what must have been an effective Darden essay. In other tips, InvisibleInk has pledged to share the lessons he learned in the process of getting into INSEAD (beginning with the GMAT), FooBarMe offers some thoughts on how to get the most out of info sessions, and DomoDomo weighs in on additional ways to get a feel for INSEAD.

Those admits who aren’t offering advice are looking ahead to the start of school. Some are mired in specifics - MJ is buried under a mound of pre-Fuqua reading, FM is selling furniture and filing paperwork before heading to London, Rahul is thinking about Kellogg classes and Marina is getting ready to ship (things) off to Columbia - while others are facing broader concerns. DomoDomo shares his four step plan for getting settled in Fontainebleau, MGalBlue has mixed emotions about leaving work for Michigan, and Paxti is formulating a plan to hit the ground running at INSEAD and meeting some fellow admits while he’s at it.

Just as one blogger is getting ready to arrive on campus, another is saying goodbye forever, as Auris has just finished P3 at INSEAD and will be spending his last two semesters in Singapore. Jeff is also thinking about relocating to Japan on exchange from Brandeis. While we’re sorry to hear from Jerry Blank that Yale second-years are feeling a bit neglected as a result of the curriculum changes, we home that he’s having as good a time with his internship as some of his fellow MBA students. In particular, Stanford student Mbwana is getting exposure to a new Microsoft product, MarketWizWannabe is getting some great finance experience, and Natasja seems to be enjoying her marketing consulting internship.

That’s about all for this week. We hope that everyone continues to keep cool, and that the weekend ahead is a good one!

# posted by Clear Admit @ 9:07 am 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