APPLICANT RESOURCES

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.

Clear Admit School Guides
Seventeen 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.

Essay Topic Analysis
Below are links to our comments on some of the top programs' essay topics for the 2007-2008 admissions season.
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
UT Austin / McCombs *
UVA / Darden
Yale SOM
* denotes last year's commentary

• Admissions Tips
• Campus Chronicles
• Deadlines
• Essay Topic Analysis
• Essay Topics
• Events
• Fridays from the Frontline
• General
• GMAT News
• GMAT Tips
• Interview Guides
• Interview Tips
• MBA News
• Part-Time MBA
• Part-Time/Executive MBA
• Pre-Matriculation Tips
• Rankings
• School Guides
• School: Berkeley / Haas
• School: Cambridge
• School: Chicago
• School: CMU / Tepper
• School: Columbia
• School: Cornell / Johnson
• School: Dartmouth / Tuck
• School: Duke / Fuqua
• School: Emory / Goizueta
• School: ESADE
• School: Georgetown
• School: Harvard
• School: IE
• School: IESE
• School: IMD
• School: INSEAD
• School: ISB
• School: London Business School
• School: Michigan / Ross
• School: MIT / Sloan
• School: Northwestern / Kellogg
• School: NYU Stern
• School: Oxford
• School: Penn / Wharton
• School: Stanford
• School: UCLA / Anderson
• School: UNC / Kenan Flagler
• School: UT Austin / McCombs
• School: Virginia / Darden
• School: Yale
• Trivia Tuesday
• Uncategorized
• Waitlist Advice
• Which School Wednesdays
• Wiki Wednesdays
• Workbook Wednesdays

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

• knowledge@wharton
• INSEAD Knowledge
• Harvard Working Knowledge
• Knowledge @ Emory
• Columbia Ideas @ Work
• knowledge@ W. P. Carey

Blog Archive

• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• December 2007
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007
• July 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006
• November 2006
• October 2006
• September 2006
• August 2006
• July 2006
• June 2006
• May 2006
• April 2006
• March 2006
• February 2006
• January 2006
• December 2005
• November 2005
• October 2005
• September 2005
• August 2005
• July 2005
• June 2005
• May 2005
• April 2005
• March 2005
• February 2005
• January 2005
• December 2004
• November 2004
• October 2004
• September 2004
• August 2004
• July 2004
• June 2004
• May 2004
• April 2004
• March 2004
• February 2004
• January 2004
• December 2003
• November 2003
• October 2003
• September 2003
• August 2003
• July 2003
• June 2003

Submit a report to the Clear Admit Wiki, win $10 to iTunes!

ARCHIVE FOR SEPTEMBER 2006

Friday, September 29, 2006

Fridays from the Frontline

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 visit. We were glad to read that Reveur, on the other hand, seems to have found all of the HBS info he needs in one place. Speaking of that program, Juggler made a timely discovery with respect to Harvard’s data forms and plans to revisit her essays for that school. She’s also taken the time to offer her take on this year’s Chicago (”ultra cool,” eh?) and Kellogg essays.

Though it was a quiet week for the applicants (all hard at work on their applications, no doubt), the student bloggers found quite a bit to talk about. Newly published rankings and statistics provided some fodder: Jacek celebrated ESADE’s #1 ranking in the 2006 WSJ list of international MBAs, DingProof celebrated UNC’s #8 status in the list of U.S. schools, and Keven explores the positive implications of Wisconsin’s latest recruiting results. On that subject, Angel Angie offers some great advice for job seekers based on her own experience interacting with prospective consulting hires, and also comments about taking advantage of the many extracurricular opportunities at LBS (with potentially disastrous consequences). Most of the London bloggers seem to agree that it’s been a low key week, as KV did some surfing in Cornwall, Stephen describes an end-of-orientation volunteer day, and Martha describes her experience in her first few LBS classes. Sean notes that this is likely the calm before the storm, and Karlitos echoes this sentiment and considers how he’ll manage his assignments and outside involvements.

While Creative-nits already has 16.66ect.% of his IIM MBA behind him, most first-year students are still getting settled and adjusting. InvisibleInk is still squaring away his finances at INSEAD, UCLADawg relates some entertaining elements of Week 1 at Anderson, Ashwyn is finding remembering how to be a student somewhat trying at IESE pre-term, LL is finding the Wharton workload to be a shock to the system, and Sam is still straightening out his volleyball serve at Sloan. Also speaking of adjustments, Kilgore Trout is getting ready to spend some time on the other side of the application process as an Admissions Officer at McCombs. Hallonman, meanwhile, is getting acclimated and offers his take on the faculty and student experience at INSEAD, and his classmate DomoDomo weighs in on the school’s academics, social scene and setting. BeenThereDoneThat makes note of some interesting cultural differences between those in India and his NUS classmates, and Paxti revels in the overall LBS student culture.

Second-year students are undergoing some adjustments of their own. With a job offer in hand, j$ had to work hard to find the resolve to excel at Haas this semester. Similarly, IESE student George seems to be having such a great time on exchange in NY that he’s having trouble focusing on his Columbia coursework. Finally, the Divine Miss N seems to be settling in to life in New York, and recounts her experiences this past week - complete with a chance meeting with our own Alex Brown!

That does it for this week. Best of luck to everyone working on their applications and settling into school; have a good weekend!

Thursday, September 28, 2006

CMU / Tepper Essay Topic Analysis 2006-2007

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 directed discussion that speaks to the question, making judicious mention of one’s career to date where appropriate in explaining one’s motivation and preparedness for his or her goals.

B. How will your academic and professional background, personal characteristics and life experiences contribute to the diversity of the Tepper community? (2 pages, double spaced)
This is another classic second question in terms of MBA essays; after learning about what you feel Tepper can do for you, the adcom turns its focus to what you might bring to the CMU community. See our comments on Darden’s very similar essay for some suggestions as to how you might approach the topic selection process for this response.

C. Please answer three of the following five questions or statements (2 pages total, double-spaced).

1. Describe an ethical dilemma that you have faced in your professional life, how you dealt with the situation, and what the outcome was.
2. Describe a failure or setback in your professional or academic life. How did you overcome this setback? What, if anything, would you do differently if confronted with this situation again?
Issues of ethics and the ability to accept and learn from one’s mistakes are understandably popular topics among business schools, and applicants should keep in mind that the adcom will be using their account of their past thoughts and experiences as a barometer to measure their current attitudes and future approaches. Two similar questions appear in this year’s Wharton essays - see our thoughts on those inquiries for some advice that will be applicable here.

3. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement and why?
This question gives applicants a wide berth in selecting a topic, as this achievement could come from the professional, academic or personal realm. Remember that the “why” in this essay will be just as important as the “what,” and that it will also be important to fully explore the reasons that this achievement is significant (overcoming impossible odds, making a positive impact, etc.). While it’s important to be candid and reflective, it will also be important to select an accomplishment that is in some way material to your business school candidacy.

4. Describe your most challenging experience while working in a group?
This question could be interpreted in a number of ways: a story about a time you worked together with others to complete a very difficult task could be just as appropriate about an anecdote discussion a personality clash or communication breakdown in a collaborative context. In choosing an example, keep in mind that the adcom wants to hear about your ability to navigate group dynamics, and that the interpersonal element of this experience should likely be at the fore.

5. Of what skill or talent are you especially proud?
This is a great opportunity to showcase an interesting characteristic to stand out from other applicants and help the adcom get to know you better. Keep in mind that the adcom will also be curious as to the reason for your pride; whether you are delight in your Latin dance skills because you have worked hard at your lessons for years or value the ability to entertain others through your musical talent, an explanation of why you mention your chosen topic will lend equal insight into your character and candidacy.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Admissions Tip: Profess - and Explain - Your Love

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 it. Many applicants are well-researched, but present their findings in the form of objective facts. The adcom will already know whether their program features a flexible curriculum, is very strong in marketing, or offers an international focus. What they don’t know - and what you should be explaining in your essays - is what you find exciting and appealing, and why. Stating and accounting for your interest in a school by connecting its offerings to your goals and activities is a great way to help the adcom understand (and ideally get them to agree with) your opinion that you would be a good fit with the program.

2. Cite your sources. In addition to hearing about your impressions of the program, the adcom will also wonder how you arrived at your conviction that their program is right for you. Did you attend an information session or MBA tour? Visit the campus? Sit in on a class? Contact the heads of student clubs? Speak with alumni in your current or target field? Sharing the steps you’ve taken to familiarize yourself with the school will showcase the effort you have put into learning about the program and make your comments about your commitment seem a bit more credible.

3. Keep it tailored. While it makes sense to mention aspects of the curriculum or community that make a school’s program unique with respect to others, it’s also essential that you let your own reasons for seeking an MBA guide your discussion of school-specific elements. This approach will not only have the benefit of showing off the research you’ve done on the program in question, but will also help you to stand out from other applicants by virtue of your unique goals and interests. Sure, it’s reasonable to mention the core curriculum, as this is an important aspect of the business education - but because this consideration will apply to everyone applying to a given program (and is probably not a feature that is unique to the target school given that most MBA curricula include cores of some kind), you will in most cases be better served by focusing on those classes that are most relevant to your particular educational needs.

Of course, arriving at in-depth knowledge is the first step in this process, and those just beginning to do their homework might want to use the Clear Admit School Guides as a starting point. Good luck to everyone hard at work on this element of the process!

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

What’s in a Name?

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 Kellogg essays!

Feedback on the Clear Admit School Guides

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 to Wharton, and in one word, it is fantastic. I was surprised that I found some new info when I had thought I had the Wharton website covered end-to-end.”

“Even as a second-year student at HBS, I learned something about the school by reading the Clear Admit guide! I am amazed that the Clear Admit team was able to put together such a comprehensive guide to my program.”

“I remember all too well the leg work involved in rounding up school-specific info prior to making my application decisions — I wish these guides were available when I was applying! This should prove to be an invaluable resource. Very impressive!”

“I found your description of the Wharton guide to be spot-on: it does a good job of consolidating and contextualizing all the relevant info about Wharton in one succinct document. I also thought that the guide did a better job of covering the specifics of the academic program than Wharton does in its own materials! I liked the geographic and industry job placement comparisons between schools too.”

“Reading through one of them I found myself with information that I didn’t know about (that’s bad considering I am thinking of reapplying to that school, but probably it shows the depth of CA’s research).”

Clear Admit School Guides are now available for Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, Tuck and Wharton. To learn more, visit our School Guides webpage.  Thanks again to all of our contributors!

Monday, September 25, 2006

MBA News: B-School Buzz

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 is the head of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the GSB and led the school’s curriculum redesign. Topics from the wide-ranging interview include commentary on the new curriculum, a discussion of the value of an MBA to aspiring entrepreneurs, and Joss’s and Saloner’s answers to Stanford’s notorious essay question “what matter most to you and why.” To listen to the podcast, click here.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Fridays from the Frontlines

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 in downtown NYC. Dharu shares the take-away lessons from his Columbia application, and ScareCrow reports that with resumes, transcripts, and application forms complete, all that’s left is to upload essays, pay money, and click submit! For those applicants still pondering which schools to choose, or looking for answers to a few final questions, The Divine Miss N shares some great tips for getting the most out of an MBA fair, learned through her experiences representing LBS.

Classes are off to a fast start for first-year MBA students! Brownoski reports that Yale’s courses have accelerated to a “ludicrous” speed in the last week, while Marina writes a quick post to report on mid-terms at Columbia (already!) and her election as the social chair of her cluster. RupinThomas checks in from the first week at Chicago and reports on experiences in the LEAD course, while WillIMakeIt says farewell to blogging in order to focus on the work ahead at the GSB. Karlitos talks about Leadership and Teamwork courses at LBS, UCLADawg has started meeting classmates at UCLA-Anderson and reports on his “Strength Deployment Inventory” results, while AngelAngie takes some time to ponder dream jobs at LBS. The first-year bloggers at INSEAD have been particularly busy this week. Hallonman writes of his surprise at Myers-Brigg results that say he’s an extrovert, while DomoDomo makes up for lost time with a series of posts detailing the first weeks of classes, including meeting INSEAD classmates, wrapping up the first week of classes at INSEAD, and coming to realize that it may be time to skip a party! Finally, JDMBAPrincess contributes some choice quotes from first-year classes at IU-Kelley.

Our second-year MBA bloggers are starting to settle back into the school year, and many are focused on the start of the recruiting season. CyberSam discusses the recruiting process at MIT-Sloan, while J$ writes a series of posts from Haas on his recent second-round interview and job offer. Le Voyageur had to sit out the start of Chicago’s 2^nd year, after coming down with a nasty bug, but Mandar is off to a busy start, updating us on new grading policies at Chicago and summarizing the first-year classes on a 1-10 scale. KV started classes at LBS a few lectures late, after wrapping up a two-week vacation in Ireland and Egypt, and hopes his professor won’t be too angry with him for missing two more lectures this Friday. The New York City exchange student contingency has had a busy week. George reports on his initial impressions of Columbia, RSR.PT considers the New York and London club scenes and gushes over Columbia’s Strategic Management of Media course, while The Divine Miss N celebrated her birthday in style and gives thanks for finding a great subject for LBS’s shadowing project.

That’s all for this edition! Have a great weekend!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Admissions Tip: Know Your Audience

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 is unlikely that the person reading your file will have an intimate level of familiarity with your specific industry or job function. This being the case, if you use industry-specific jargon or assume prior knowledge of your field on the part of the admissions officer, you undoubtedly will lose the reader. It’s also important to keep the big picture in mind; many applicants become so mired in the details of their own work and role that they fail to provide sufficient context for a company outsider to understand the importance of one’s efforts to the department or organization as a whole.

The solution to this potential issue is to make a point of writing about your experiences in a way that the average person will understand. While this is easier said than done, it underlines the importance of sharing your materials with an unbiased advisor (ideally not a work colleague or mom and dad) to make sure that you aren’t off-base with some of your assumptions.

To learn more about who will actually read your essays at the various schools or to inquire about our application editing services, simply contact Clear Admit with your CV/resume and sign up for a free initial assessment.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Clear Admit at World MBA Tour

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 you there!

Wall Street Journal MBA Rankings 2006

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 addition, a GMAC survey showed that the WSJ rankings were viewed as “most credible” by MBA applicants (although we’d like to suggest that the reputation of the newspaper itself may help this perception along). 

While the ’recruiters only’ focus of the WSJ rankings will always provoke criticism, the rankings appear to be here to stay.  Without further ado, let’s take a look at the top national programs for this year:

1. U. Michigan (Ross), 2. Dartmouth (Tuck), 3. CMU (Tepper), 4. Columbia (CBS), 5. UC Berkeley (Haas), 6. Northwestern (Kellogg), 7. U. Penn (Wharton), 8. UNC (Kenan-Flagler), 9. Yale (SOM), 10. MIT (Sloan), 11. U. Chicago (GSB), 12. Duke (Fuqua), 13. UVA (Darden), 14. Harvard (HBS), 15. USC (Marshall), 16. Cornell (Johnson), 17. NYU (Stern), 18. Stanford, 19. UCLA (Anderson)

What’s interesting to note is that both Kellogg and Wharton have slipped down a bit in the ‘top 10′ this year, largely to make room for new ‘top 5′ entrants Haas and CBS.  The triumvirate of Ross, Tuck and Tepper have held solid at the top for another year, with Tuck and Ross merely swapping first place honors.  Harvard and Stanford continue to miss out on ‘top 10′ status in this ranking, with HBS holding steady in the #14 slot and Stanford slipping to #18 from #15 last year.

Beyond the US national ranking, the Journal also published an international ranking - using a slightly different methodology this time out (to more closely measure non-US-based employment upon graduation).  Here are this year’s top ‘international’ business schools:

1. ESADE, 2. IMD, 3. IPADE, 4. London Business School, 5. Thunderbird, 6. Columbia (CBS), 7. EGADE, 8. MIT (Sloan), 9. U. Western Ontario (Ivey), 10. INCAE, 11. UC Berkeley (Haas), 12. Instituto de Empresa, 13. York (Schulich), 14. U. Chicago (GSB), 15. IESE, 16. HEC Paris, 17. U. Penn (Wharton), 18. INSEAD, 19. Erasmus (Rotterdam), 20. Harvard (HBS), 21. Bocconi, 22. U. Toronto (Rotman), 23. NYU (Stern), 24. Stanford

Finally, top honors in a few academic disciplines:

• Accounting: Chicago GSB
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Yale
• Entrepreneurship: Stanford
• Finance: Wharton
• General Management: Harvard
• IT: MIT Sloan
• Marketing: Kellogg
• Operations: CMU Tepper
• Strategy: Harvard

We encourage our readers to review the WSJ Career Journal site for further details about the rankings methodologies.  As always, please remember that rankings are one of many resources for information regarding MBA programs.         

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

UCLA / Anderson Essay Topic Analysis 2006-2007

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 and family background. Include information about your parents and siblings, where you grew up, and perhaps a highlight or special memory of your youth (2 page limit).
While we generally caution applicants against writing at length about their families and upbringing when they could cover other topics in their essays (lest they sound immature or create the impression that they haven’t done anything of note more recently), Anderson makes the unusual move of explicitly requesting information on this subject. The school is likely asking this to get at information that might not otherwise come up in an applicant’s file - such as a childhood spent abroad or difficult socio-economic cirmcumstances overcome - to get a more complete sense of the person as a whole and what an applicant might bring to the community in terms of background and perspective. Another possible motivation might be to identify reflective and self-aware applicants who are able to identify the ways their early experiences have influenced who they are today. No matter what approach you choose to take in framing your comments, remember that in spite of the somewhat unconventional subject, it’s important to speak directly to the question and cover all of the requested points.

Essay 2: Discuss a situation, preferably work related, where you have taken a significant leadership role. How does this event demonstrate your managerial potential? (Limit to 1 page.)
This is a great opportunity to share a professional success story (taking the adcom’s hint that they would prefer a work-related example), ideally one in which you made a positive impact on your company or a group. The rather broad request to discuss a “leadership role” leaves the applicant with a wide array of options in terms of potential subject matter, so candidates are open to explore varying modes and avenues of influence and directing the work of others.  They key will be to explicitly tie the comments about this previous experience to potential for the future in response to  the final component of Anderson’s question.  A final thing to keep in mind is that the relatively short length of this essay will require that the anecdote be fairly focused and concise.
 

Essay 3: Discuss your career goals. Why are you seeking an MBA degree at this particular point in your career? Specifically, why are you applying to UCLA Anderson? (Limit to 2 pages.)
This is a fairly standard career goals/why MBA essay, though it is a bit unusual that this inquiry closes rather than opens the full set of essays in the application.  While it’s important to provide a candid account of your professional objectives and interest in Anderson’s program, remember that a truly artful set of essays will introduce common themes that run throughout all three responses.  Ideally, then, the topic of this essay will not come as a complete surprise to an adcom member who has read the previous essays.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Clear Admit School Guides!

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 it can be to conduct in-depth research on even one program in addition to writing application essays, studying for the GMAT and holding down a full-time job. In light of exactly this concern, we’re pleased to announce the release of the first round of the Clear Admit School Guides.

The Clear Admit School Guides cut through the marketing materials and stereotypes to give you the hard facts about a program, and then put these school-specific details in context so you can see how programs compare. In the guides, you’ll find detailed, comparative information on vital topics such as:

–The core curriculum and first-year experience
–Leading professors in key fields
–Student clubs and conferences
–Full-time job placement - by industry and location
–Student demographics
–International and experiential learning programs
–Tuition, financial aid and scholarships

We’re confident that applicants in all stages of the admissions process will find the Clear Admit School Guides, with their reliable, centralized information, to be a valuable and time-saving resource, and are pleased to announce that our Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, Tuck and Wharton Guides are ready and available for your reading pleasure. For more information about the overall project and contents of each guide, simply visit the School Guides section of our website at www.clearadmit.com/guides.html.

# posted by Clear Admit @ 12:17 pm in Uncategorized, Admissions Tips, MBA News, General, School Guides


Friday, September 15, 2006

New Blog Feature

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 a favorite topic? Get all the new posts by subscribing to the category’s RSS feed! Simply add /feed to any of the category web addresses and you will have the address for its feed.

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:17 pm in General


Fridays from the Frontline

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 comment after finishing her first draft for HBS. Meanwhile, TJ has finished the essays for Kellogg and is wondering where to focus his attention next, while ScareCrow just submitted Part One of that school’s application and is currently focusing on recommendations.

While some first-year students are already very much in the swing of things (BeenThereDoneThat has already completed a month of classes at NUS), most are still easing into the business school experience. For instance, Jacek is still getting used to being back in the classroom during pre-term at ESADE and Benny shares a number of things that surprised him about his first week of class at Tuck. NoKeating reports that he is tremendously impressed with an accounting prof at Kelley after just four class sessions, and Princess echoes his positive sentiment and breaks the news that this beloved Indiana faculty member will be taking time off for health reasons. Outside of the classroom, Angel Angie finds herself with a good deal of free time in London thanks to passing out of statistics, while her LBS classmates Martha and Sean have checked in with some comments about preparing CVs for recruiting and a unique personal development program (respectively). London students aren’t the only ones who are already thinking about career concerns: Hallonman received the results of a job interest survey during career day at INSEAD, Kilgore Trout sounds a bit disoriented by the prevalence of career fairs so early in the term at Austin but has reached an important conclusion about the sort of environment he is seeking, while Brownoski also learned a fair amount about jobs that do and don’t interest him during a career immersion event at Yale. DomoDomo has also been very busy summarizing his first week at INSEAD, describing the school’s social scene and the international makeup of his class, among other topics. Finally, UCLADawg won’t even begin orientation until next week, but has nonetheless been hard at work preparing for the start of his academic career at Anderson.

Second-year students are also finding their stride now that they’re back in school, and Sam has reached a new level of focus on his studies at MIT. Others are still thinking back to the summer, as Mbwana has written a nice summary of what he took away from his Microsoft internship and Jerry Blank relates the exciting (and entertaining!) news that he’ll be returning to Yale with a job offer in hand.

That does it for this week. Have a great weekend!

# posted by Clear Admit @ 11:33 am in Fridays from the Frontline


Thursday, September 14, 2006

World MBA Tour Making the North American Rounds

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 MBA Tour. Here’s a partial listing of several leading schools that are involved: Wharton, Columbia, NYU (Stern), Chicago GSB, Cornell (Johnson), UVA (Darden), Dartmouth (Tuck), Duke (Fuqua), Berkeley (Haas), Georgetown (McDonough), Emory (Goizueta), IESE, INSEAD, London Business School, UCLA, Michigan (Ross), UNC (Kenan Flagler) and more.

MBA Panel Discussions
The panels include MBA alumni, admissions officers and experts in the field. Clear Admit’s Alex Brown will be offering his expertise on a panel at the Washington DC event. Topics of discussion will include MBA Admissions tips, the role of the MBA degree in one’s career, the recruiting process and more.

Here’s the North American Itinerary for the Tour:

Atlanta (click to register)
Omni Hotel at CNN Center
Thursday, September 14, 2006

New York (click to register)
Hilton New York
Sunday, September 17, 2006

Boston (click to register)
Sheraton Boston Hotel
Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Washington DC (click to register)
National Building Museum
Thursday, September 21, 2006

Toronto (click to register)
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Chicago (click to register)
Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza
Thursday, September 28, 2006

Los Angeles (click to register)
Wilshire Grand Los Angeles
Saturday, September 30, 2006

San Francisco (click to register)
Hyatt Regency San Francisco
Tuesday, October 3, 2006

Houston (click to register)
Hilton Houston Post Oak
Thursday, October 5, 2006

The World MBA Tour is only $5 if you register in advance, or $10 if you buy a ticket at the door. At either price, the benefits far outweigh the cost!

# posted by Clear Admit @ 7:00 am in General


Wednesday, September 13, 2006

MBA News: Getting In, and the Inside Scoop

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 before writing an essay on what she hoped to gain from an M.B.A. program. ‘I asked what skills I’d need to do this kind of work, what they do on a daily basis, what they like and don’t like about their jobs,’ says Ms. Pardo, now a first-year student at Stanford Graduate School of Business.”

In addition to including four great do’s, the articule also highlights four all-too-common mistakes and offers suggestions for avoiding them. The full text is available here.

Meanwhile, the second article is a look at the fun side of the MBA, detailing the initiatives that some schools have put in place to promote creativity and encourage students to apply the skills they’re developing in school in an unusual context. Here’s an interesting and entertaining insight into Chicago’s approach:

“As part of its leadership development program, M.B.A. students produce short movies about their experiences at the school and compete for a Golden Gargoyle award. ‘They show their creativity in the script writing and acting,’ says Deputy Dean Stacey Kole, ‘and they practice leadership and project management skills in getting the film completed.’

Last fall’s winning film gave ‘The Wizard of Oz’ tale an M.B.A. twist, depicting the lion as a confused career changer, the tin man as an investment banker looking for a heart, and the scarecrow as a marketer trying to become more quantitative. The wicked witch used statistics to trip them up, and the wizard turned out to be the dean of the school.”

The full text of the article, which reassures readers that business school is indeed much work but also some play, is available here.

# posted by Clear Admit @ 5:25 am in MBA News


Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Trivia Tuesday: Breaking Down Harvard’s 900

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 of one of the most popular programs around:

No matter what the base size of a school’s student body, virtually every MBA program breaks each class into smaller units to facilitate collaboration and socialization and give students a more manageable number of names and races to remember. Harvard Business School divides its student body into 10 smaller groups called sections, who take all of their first-year classes together. In addition to larger cohorts, clusters or sections, many programs also assign students to learning teams, 5-8 person units of varied backgrounds and experience who will work together on projects and class assignments throughout the first year. This is where it gets interesting; while learning team members at most schools belong to the same larger unit (for instance, members of Wharton’s learning teams all belong to the same cohort and cluster), Harvard’s learning teams - just introduced to the program last year - are cross-sectional. This is possible because of the unique structure of Harvard’s first-year curriculum, necessary because of the importance of contributing original ideas to classes comprised of one’s sectionmates, and beneficial because it gives students the opportunity to meet and work with classmates outside of their section.

There are many ways to glean this level of information; scouring a school’s website is a good start, and speaking with current and former students is another great way to get an insider’s perspective on a program. Alongside the hundreds of applicants who’ve been looking into schools and drafting essays, we’ve been engaged in a research and writing-related undertaking of our own over the past few months, and are looking forward to sharing more information with you later this week. Stay tuned!

# posted by Clear Admit @ 5:39 am in School: Harvard, Trivia Tuesday


Monday, September 11, 2006

MBA News: Podcasts, Online Apps, etc.

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 show from our friends at MBA Podcaster tackled the ever-popular question concerning school selection and how candidates should go about choosing the schools to which they ultimately apply. Special guests include Daphne Atkinson from GMAC, John Fernandez from AACSB (the accreditation body for b-schools) and James Strachan, author of “How to Get into the Right Business School“. Listen to this podcast