Admissions Director Q&A Below are links to Clear Admit's exclusive interviews with MBA admissions directors at leading programs.
Application Deadlines Below are the upcoming deadlines for admission to the leading MBA programs.
Essay Topic Analysis Below are links to our comments on some of the leading programs' essay topics.
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. MBA Programs: North America If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
MBA Programs: The 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.
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Posted by Clear Admit on September 29, 2006, at 8:53 am
Another Friday has arrived, and with it a new edition of FFF! Let’s take a look at the last seven days’ happenings in the MBA blogosphere.
On the applicant front, many are still focused on the GMAT; Math_Guru is buckling down on verbal section studying (unsurprising, given his name) for a relatively remote exam date, while GuyMBA is just a week away from test day (good luck!). Meanwhile, Kent Torokvei is making progress on a number of application-related tasks and Forrest Gump realizes he’ll have to do some sprinting to make the R1 deadlines. Anand has also been getting around, and offers a great recap of his recent Tuck . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 28, 2006, at 9:14 am
It is beyond a doubt essay writing season for Round 1 applicants. Keeping our essay topic analyses coming for those who are looking for guidance, here are some thoughts on Carnegie Mellon’s essay questions for this admissions season:
A. What are your short-term and long-term goals? How will a Tepper MBA help you to achieve these goals? (2 pages, double spaced)
Tepper has taken the fairly typical approach of leading off with a standard career goals essay and at two double spaced pages they allot a reasonable number of words to this subject, though not quite as many as those schools that give applicants 1000 or even 1500 words to work with. They key will be to formulate a . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 27, 2006, at 7:55 am
With round one deadlines for a number of programs coming up in just a few weeks, it’s the time of year when many applicants are working hard to finish application essays and learning more about their target programs in the process of rounding out their ‘why MBA’ discussions. Keeping this important component of the admissions process in mind, we wanted to take the time today to offer some advice on really polishing this element of one’s file and getting the most mileage out of this aspect of your remarks.
1. Make it personal. Schools look for applicants who seem genuinely excited about their program, and the best way to bring this across in your essays is to come right out and say . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 26, 2006, at 11:44 am
Have you ever wondered about the people behind the names of famous business schools? As part of a story on b-school names, Business Week produced a slide show of the faces, stories – and donations – behind 20 business schools. It’s an interesting diversion from writing those Stern, Haas, Fuqua and . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 26, 2006, at 8:48 am
Last week we released the first round of Clear Admit School Guides, which provide in-depth research and detailed comparative information on the leading MBA programs. Current students and alumni contributed enormously to the guides, and we want to take this opportunity to recognize them for their help. Through long phone conversations and correspondences, they provided wonderful insight into student life at some of the leading MBA programs and helped to enrich the guides. We’ve received a lot of great feedback on the guides from MBA applicants, re-applicants, and even first- and second-year MBA students. We are sharing some of this feedback below as a way of thanking our contributors for their valuable input.
“I just finished reading the Clear Admit School Guide . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 25, 2006, at 9:20 am
There are a couple of interesting updates from MBA programs this week.
First, Yale SOM’s new curriculum is up and running, and we noticed one particularly interesting aspect of the new design: Yale is the first major business school to require all students to study abroad. Beginning with the class of 2008, first-year Yale students will spend two weeks in January on an “International Experience.” During this time, they will immerse themselves in their environment, meet with business and political leaders, and complete a project. The program’s inaugural sites include Argentina, China, India, Japan and Singapore, among others.
In other news, two Stanford students recently released a podcast interview with Stanford GSB Dean Bob Joss and Professor Garth Saloner. Professor Saloner . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 22, 2006, at 9:32 am
Welcome to another addition of FFF, your weekly update on the happenings in the MBA blogosphere.
The applicant bloggers are in all stages of the application process. RusGirl reports on a Chicago GSB reception with current students in Moscow, while Reveur gushes about the HBS information session. Juggler writes to celebrate finishing essays for five schools within her self-imposed deadline, and shares tips for tackling Stanford’s “long, long” essay and Wharton’s “supershrinked” essays. GuyMBA checks up on problems with Columbia’s online recommendation system, and worries about finding the GMAT test center . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 21, 2006, at 9:36 am
As most R1 applicants are coming to understand in these weeks before the October deadlines, applying to business school is an incredibly demanding process. In addition to taking the GMAT, assembling academic transcripts and providing recommendation letters, candidates are required to draft multiple essays, job descriptions, lists of activities and more.
With the obvious incentive to save time where ever possible, it’s understandable that many applicants simply cut and paste content from an existing resume and write about their work in the manner that comes most naturally. Indeed, each year countless candidates assemble their materials without ever asking a fundamental question:
Who will read my application?
While the answer to this question may vary from school to school, one thing is for certain: it . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 20, 2006, at 7:55 pm
Just a quick reminder for Washington D.C. area readers that Clear Admit’s own Alex Brown will be speaking at tomorrow’s World MBA Tour event. In addition to hearing Alex’s insights into the MBA experience and application process, this is a great opportunity to meet with admissions staff and gather information about a number of top business programs.
The event runs from 5pm-9pm and will be held at the National Museum Building. You can register online or just show up at the appointed hour. Hope to see . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 20, 2006, at 4:18 am
As many of our readers know, the Wall Street Journal released their business school rankings online late yesterday. The Journal’s ranking of the national (US) MBA programs relies on feedback from corporate recruiters at key firms in order to rate the b-schools. More specifically, the results are based on the following criteria:
1. Recruiter feedback on each school (for 21 different attributes)
2. Recruiter plans to hire graduates from the schools in the future
3. Recent hiring patterns of corporate recruiters
While traditionally less popular than the Business Week or US News MBA rankings, the Journal has been gaining ground with increased fanfare surrounding their rankings each year. Their related hard-copy publication, WSJ Guide to the Top Business Schools, helps in this effort. In . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 19, 2006, at 5:23 am
After a news-heavy week last week, we wanted to pick up where we left off in terms of essay tips with our thoughts on Anderson’s essay questions for this year. At a relatively slim five pages total, UCLA’s three required essay questions cover quite a bit of ground chronologically, reaching into the distant and recent past and extending into the future. We recommend a fair amount of up-front reflection before tackling these essays, as it seems particularly important to arrive at a broad view when approaching this school’s application. Let’s take a look at each of the required responses and think about how each fits into the complete picture.
Essay 1: Please provide us with a summary of your personal . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 18, 2006, at 12:17 pm
Following up on last week’s hint, we wanted to share the details of an exciting new resource for applicants: Clear Admit School Guides!
We here at Clear Admit have always believed that success in the MBA application process starts with identifying programs that are a good fit with one’s interests and goals. Too many applicants skip this step, underestimating how much they need to know, or assuming that research doesn’t matter because the leading programs are all the same. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Every year, thousands of otherwise qualified candidates are turned down by leading MBA programs because they didn’t do their research and failed to demonstrate an appreciation of the school’s unique merits.
Of course, we realize how difficult . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 15, 2006, at 3:17 pm
Some of our particularly observant readers may have noticed an exciting new addition to our blog page this week. Clear Admit’s blog readers can view the hundreds of posts we’ve written over the years, now grouped into neat, easy to use, school and subject matter categories. Catch up on missed Fridays from the Frontlines, fine tune your application strategy with our admissions tips, or read our essay analysis, trivia, and campus news as you get ready to tackle your Harvard or Wharton applications. The category headings on the left-side of the blog page provide one-click access to years of posts on a range of business school-related topics.
Have . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 15, 2006, at 11:33 am
Welcome to another edition of FFF, your weekly recap of new and noteworthy happenings in the MBA blogosphere. We can only assume that the applicant bloggers are hard at work on their essays and other materials given their relative silence over the past seven days, though a few have checked in to update hangers on of their progress. Suser McLoser reported that her story and message are finally coming together, and shared some excellent strategies for identifying specific anecdotes and general themes in one’s candidacy. Juggler rightly celebrated the completion of five applications by her self-imposed deadlines and also shared her thoughts on Harvard’s essays, whereas UniQpath came up for air with a brief . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 14, 2006, at 7:00 am
The World MBA Tour is currently making the rounds in the USA. As the main event of its kind, the Tour assembles dozens of leading MBA programs in one location, allowing applicants to gather brochures, chat with admissions officers, meet alumni, and participate in panel discussions, sample MBA classes and more.
We are pleased to report that Clear Admit’s Alex Brown will be on hand at the Washington DC World MBA Tour event, where he has been invited as a guest member of the MBA Panel discussions. We strongly recommend attending the Tour, since it provides an unparalleled opportunity to gather information on multiple schools you may be considering.
Visit with schools
Hundreds of MBA programs participate in the World . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 13, 2006, at 5:25 am
For those applicants who are busy wrapping their minds around the business school experience and translating their enthusiasm into written form, The Wall Street Journal‘s College Journal has just put out two great b-school related articles.
The first focuses on the essay writing process, featuring comments from admissions officers at several top programs about the sort of information and level of detail they like to see in an applicant’s materials, as well as advice from current students about the steps they took to put together a successful application. Here’s one great tip from a student at Stanford who went to the source when investigating her consutling career goals:
“Joia Pardo, a 28-year-old seeking a career in management consulting, conducted informal interviews with consultants . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 12, 2006, at 5:39 am
With the round one deadlines for many of the top MBA programs just a month away, this is the time of year when many applicants are narrowing down their lists of target schools and buckling down on their essays, which often leads to an appreciation of how important it is to understand how programs compare and what makes each unique. Toward that end, we’re starting a new column in which we’ll periodically be sharing a school-specific detail or posing a trivia question to educate our readers and get applicants thinking about the many aspects of a program that play a role in the business school experience. To start things off, here’s an interesting piece of information about the student body structure . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 11, 2006, at 10:45 am
The folks at MBA Podcaster have now posted the complete transcripts from a recent podcast on the topic of MBA admissions essays. The podcast featured advice from a host of experts, including Thomas Caleel, Wharton’s Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, as well as Clear Admit’s Co-founder, Graham Richmond. Both gentlemen offered several great tips for those of you who are trying to frame your candidacies in the context of the MBA essay questions. If you aren’t the podcast-listening type, just follow the transcripts link and read over the advice that was offered. Alternatively, to download the show to your iPod or other MP3 player, follow this link.
In other podcast news, the most recent . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 8, 2006, at 8:33 am
Welcome to this week’s exciting edition of FFF! After a quiet summer, we’re pleased to see that things are picking up; though the start of school and impending deadlines means added work for our blogger friends, this translates into more great content for the reading enjoyment of those of us here at Clear Admit HQ, and for the online community at large.
The GMAT is still foremost on the minds of many applicant bloggers; Math_Guru has just begun preparations in earnest, GuyMBA has gotten back on track in this department, and Brian has outlined his planned study schedule, while Cornfed MBA confesses to a retake, reports the happy news of the increased score, and shares the . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 7, 2006, at 2:41 am
September is already a week old, putting the round one deadlines for a number of programs just around the corner. With most applicants targeting multiple schools and many of them still working to narrow down their school selection, we wanted to take some time today to stress the importance of taking a deep breath and a step back, and formulating a timeline for the coming weeks. Establishing a set of incremental goals with regard to essay composition, recommender management and, if applicable, GMAT preparation at this relatively early point in the season will help you to avoid feeling overwhelmed and ensure that your aims are realistic.
One of our most important pointers pertains to the process of writing essays. The urge to . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 6, 2006, at 2:16 pm
New York University’s Stern School of Business recently announced this season’s deadlines and essay topics.
As has been the case in previous years, Stern’s first deadline is late relative to the October deadlines that are popular with many of the top programs; it’s possible that an applicant targeting Stern as his or her top choice and applying in Round 1 would not hear from the school until early March. Applicants should note that the “initial decision” date is the day on which they will receive an interview invitation, spot on the waitlist, or denial of admission. Those who are invited to interview will learn of their admissions decision about 3 weeks after the interview date.
Deadlines
Round 1
Application Due: December 1, 2006
Initial . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on September 6, 2006, at 2:14 pm
In addition to their deadlines, the University of California’s Anderson School of Management has posted their online application for the 2006-2007 admissions season. UCLA begins accepting applications on September 1, 2006.
Deadlines
Round 1
Application Deadline: October 25, 2006
Decision Notification: January 19, 2007
Round 2
Application Deadline: January 3, 2007*
Decision Notification: March 29, 2007
Round 3
Application Deadline: February 21, 2007
Decision Notification: May 18, 2007
Round 4
Application Deadline: April 25, 2007
Decision Notification: June 15th, 2007
Complete application must be submitted online by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time or postmarked (not faxed) by these dates.
*Priority deadline for fellowship consideration.
Essays
The UCLA Admissions Committee considers your responses to the following essay questions extremely important in the selection process. We endeavor to admit an interesting and diverse group of students who will both benefit . . . → Continue Reading
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Clear Admit’s Most Recent Posts
MBA Admissions Wiki In the Clear Admit Wiki, you can share your experiences through the application process and learn from those of others. Below are the five most popular pages in the wiki:
BW Business SchoolsThe 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 are the five most recent discussions taking place in the forum:
Beat the GMATClear 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:
GMAT ClubGMAT Club
Below are the five most recent posts to the GMAT Club message boards.
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The student-2-student Discussion Boards are managed by Wharton. Here are the five most recent discussions.
Studylink ForumsClear Admit manages the Applying section of the StudyLink MBA discussion boards.
School-Hosted BlogsStraight from the source: aggregated posts from students and administration. Below are the seven most recent posts in school-hosted blogs.
Individuals’ BlogsA selection of the latest updates to MBA blogs compiled by Hella.
MBA Applicants
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