APPLICANT RESOURCES

Have an iPhone or iPod Touch? Research schools on the go and keep your applications organized with Clear Admit's new MBA Planner App!

Admissions Director Q&A
Below are links to Clear Admit's exclusive interviews with MBA admissions directors at leading programs.
Dawna Clarke (Tuck)
Rose Martinelli (Chicago)
Judith Hodara (Wharton)
Sara Neher (Darden)
Soojin Kwon Koh (Michigan)
Randall Sawyer (Cornell)
Beth Flye (Kellogg)
David Simpson (LBS)
Liz Riley Hargrove (Duke)
Linda Meehan (Columbia)
Bruce DelMonico (Yale)
Peter Johnson (Berkeley)
Isser Gallogly (NYU)
Mae Jennifer Shores (UCLA)
J.J. Cutler (Wharton)
Jake Cohen (INSEAD)
Rod Garcia (MIT Sloan)
Mary Miller (Columbia)

Clear Admit School Guides
Become an expert on your target schools overnight! Get the program-specific details you need to craft essays that stand out. See how schools compare head-to-head in key areas like recruiting, curricular structure, elective offerings and more. Available for immediate download. As featured in the Economist.

Clear Admit Career Guides
Understand career-specific offerings at leading MBA programs and identify the schools that will best support your career goals with the Clear Admit Career Guides! Available for Consulting, Investment Banking, Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Healthcare.

Clear Admit Strategy Series
Craft a winning application with the Clear Admit Strategy Series! Step-by-Step guidance through the application process. Titles include a Resume Guide, Recommendations Guide, Waitlist Guide and more!

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.

Essay Topic Analysis
Below are links to our comments on some of the top programs' essay topics.
The Career Goals Essay
Berkeley / Haas*
Chicago Booth*
CMU / Tepper*
Columbia*
Cornell / Johnson*
Dartmouth / Tuck*
Duke / Fuqua*
Harvard*
Indian School of Business*
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 '09-'10 commentary

• Admissions Director Q&A
• Admissions Tips
• Campus Chronicles
• Career Guides
• Deadlines
• EMBA
• Essay Topic Analysis
• Essay Topics
• Events
• Facebook
• Financial Aid
• Fridays from the Frontline
• General
• GMAT – AWA
• GMAT – Quantitative
• GMAT – Verbal
• GMAT News
• GMAT Practice Problem
• GMAT Test Prep Company Series
• GMAT Tips
• Interview Guides
• Interview Tips
• MBA News
• MBA Planner App
• Part-Time MBA
• Part-Time/Executive MBA
• Poll
• Pre-Matriculation Tips
• Rankings
• Reapplicants
• School Guides
• School: Babson
• 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: Indiana / Kelley
• 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: USC / Marshall
• School: UT Austin / McCombs
• School: Virginia / Darden
• School: Yale
• Strategy Series
• Trivia Tuesday
• Twitter
• Twitter Thursdays
• Uncategorized
• Waitlist Advice
• Which School Wednesdays
• Wiki Wednesdays
• Workbook Wednesdays

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

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

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.

• knowledge@wharton
• INSEAD Knowledge
• Harvard Working Knowledge
• Knowledge @ Emory
• Columbia Ideas @ Work
• knowledge@ W. P. Carey
• Stanford Knowledgebase
• Ross Thought in Action

Blog Archive

• March 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• 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

Get a $10 Amazon.com Gift Card! Contribute your MBA interview reports to the Clear Admit Wiki.

Interviewing with b-schools in R2? Download our school by school Interview Guides or send us your CV to learn more about our mock interview services.

ARCHIVE FOR JANUARY 2007

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

MBA News: UNC Chat, Interview Tips from Haas

We wanted to take a moment to offer up links to some interesting news items and informative opportunities at two leading business schools.

First, prospective students interested in real estate might want to check out an online chat being hosted by UNC this afternoon at 12:45pm.  Participants will have a chance to interact with students and faculty members, and pose questions on the topic of Real Estate Finance and Development – a great chance for those who are just beginning to think about the field to learn what they might expect to learn from this concentration.  To join, simply visit the event page during the allocated time.

Meanwhile, with the MBA applicant community abuzz with talk of round two interviews, we wanted to direct readers to some pieces of advice coming directly from a top school.  Jett Pihakis and Peter Johnson, Co-Directors of Admissions for the full-time MBA program at Haas, have offered extensive comments on “how to ace the admissions interview” in this month’s newsletter.  Though obviously addressed to visitors to that particular school’s website, they offer some great general tips that apply to just about everyone who will be interviewing with business schools in the coming months.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 11:35 am in Interview Tips, MBA News, School: Berkeley / Haas, School: UNC / Kenan Flagler, School: Yale

Wiki Wednesdays: The Duke Interview and Demonstrating Fit

Welcome to this week’s edition of Wiki Wednesdays, featuring new additions to the Clear Admit wiki and offering insight into various elements of the application process. We have new reports this week for schools like Haas, Kellogg and Tuck, and hope to see more appear in the coming weeks now that interview invitations are trickling out to round two applicants (you can add content by creating an account or send your info to wiki@clearadmit.com). In the meantime, we wanted to take a quick look at the Fuqua interview process, as applicant-initiated interviewing is currently open for R3 applicants, and because a recent addition to the Duke interview page includes a great point that applies to the MBA interview process at large.

Fuqua’s interviews tend to run about 45 minutes, but can go longer at the discretion of the interviewer, who will most likely be an adcom member or second-year student if interviewing in Durham, or an alum if off-campus. As is also the case at schools like Kellogg and Tuck, candidates can sign up for an interview almost as soon as they decide to apply, needing only to submit some preliminary personal information. While slots are offered on a first-come, first-served basis and it’s important to secure a spot early on, many applicants make the mistake of interviewing before they’ve really solidified their story or done their homework on the school.

To highlight the importance of preparation to a successful interview – whether applicant-initiated or invitation-based – let’s take a look at an excerpt from the report:

“The first question was the standard ‘walk me through your resume.’ Additional questions: 1. If you were going to assemble an ideal team, who would you choose for it and why? 2. What is the difference between a leader and a manager? 3. Describe a time when you led a team. 4. How do you solve conflicts? 5. Why do you want to attend Duke? 6. Q&A.”

With knowledge of Duke’s strong emphasis on the team-oriented culture at Fuqua, it would be easy to anticipate these questions about issues of collaboration, leadership and working with others. The applicant also adds in the report, “I had heard from current students that the interviews at Duke are more of a formality and that the school mostly wants to find out whether you are interested in Fuqua and would be a good fit.” This highlights the lesson of the question list above, stressing the importance of having a basic knowledge of the program when going into an interview – as well as anticipating what the interviewer might want to know about you based on the school’s culture and priorities.

For information on how to get the inside scoop on interview preparation techniques and school specific strategies, send your CV to info@clearadmit.com to learn about our interview guides and mock interview services. Meanwhile, for in-depth information about the leading programs, check out the Clear Admit School Guides.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 8:31 am in Interview Tips, School: Duke / Fuqua, Wiki Wednesdays

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 2007

The Financial Times just released it’s 2007 ranking of global MBA programs. The rankings take into account school data, a survey of recent alumni, and an assessment of research at each school. The rankings are made based on the career progess of alumni, the global focus of the program, and the intellectual capital generated by the school. The full list, which can be found here, includes 100 MBA programs and can be sorted based on a variety of criteria. The top 20 schools in the overall ranking are listed below.

1. University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
2. Columbia Business School
3. Harvard Business School
3. Stanford University GSB
5. London Business School
6. University of Chicago GSB
7. INSEAD
8. New York University: Stern
9. Dartmouth College: Tuck
10. Yale School of Management
11. Ceibs (China)
11. Instituto de Empresa
13. IMD
14. MIT: Sloan
15. University of Cambridge: Judge
16. IESE Business School
17. UCLA: Anderson
18. HEC Paris
19. Northwestern University: Kellogg
19. University of Michigan: Ross
19. University of Oxford: Said

Alongside the rankings, the Financial Times also released a special report on MBA education, including interviews with business school deans, alumni and professors, analysis of recruitment trends, and additional information on the rankings.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 12:26 pm in Rankings, School: Columbia, School: Dartmouth / Tuck, School: Harvard, School: IESE, School: IMD, School: INSEAD, School: London Business School, School: MIT / Sloan, School: NYU Stern, School: Northwestern / Kellogg, School: Oxford, School: Penn / Wharton, School: Stanford, School: UCLA / Anderson, School: Yale

Trivia Tuesday: Pre-Interview Review

Welcome to another edition of Trivia Tuesday!

With Round Two interview invitations going out, we would like to highlight an important component of interview success: an applicant’s ability to convey enthusiasm for and fit with the target school. The best way to convey this fit is through an in-depth understanding of the school’s culture and of the ways in which you could gain from and contribute to the program as a student.

With this in mind, we offer a round-up of previous Trivia Tuesday entries – the distinguishing details presented in these columns are a great starting point for gaining the in-depth knowledge needed to ace the interview!

Structure of the Class: Breaking Down Harvard’s 900, Teamwork at Wharton and Tuck, Kellogg’s Teams

Course Selection: Choosing Electives – The Auction System (features Chicago, Columbia and Kellogg with a focus on MIT and Wharton), Elective Selection at Harvard, Stanford and Tuck, Cross-Checking Cross Registration (Chicago, Harvard, Wharton), MBA Majors and Concentrations (Chicago, Columbia, Wharton)

International and Exchange Programs: Student Exchange Programs (Columbia, Haas, Harvard), Studying Abroad (but not for long) (Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, Tuck, Wharton), Wharton’s International Volunteer Program

Special Academic Programs: Chicago’s Campuses, Pre-Term Programs (Chicago, Tuck and Wharton), Tuck’s First Year Project, MIT Sloan’s Independent Activities Period, Wharton’s Lauder Institute

Other Program Features: Loan Forgiveness Programs (Kellogg, Stanford, Wharton), Tuck’s Honor Code

Together with the detailed, school-specific information available in the Clear Admit School Guides, these columns can help applicants brush up on the distinctive elements of their target programs in preparation for a great interview.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 11:00 am in Interview Tips, School Guides, School: Chicago, School: Columbia, School: Dartmouth / Tuck, School: Harvard, School: MIT / Sloan, School: Northwestern / Kellogg, School: Penn / Wharton, School: Stanford, Trivia Tuesday

Monday, January 29, 2007

Business School 2008: Planning Your Next 6 Months

We are pleased to announce a free event for prospective MBA applicants!

Business School 2008: Planning Your Next 6 Months will take place on February 15, 2007 at ManhattanGMAT’s New York City office. The event will feature a panel discussion with MBA admissions experts, including Clear Admit co-founder Eliot Ingram and representatives from Columbia Business School and NYU’s Stern School of Business.

The event is designed to help next fall’s applicants understand and plan for the MBA admissions process. For more information or to RSVP, visit ManhattanGMAT’s event description. Take advantage of this free expert advice to get a jump start on the application process!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 4:11 pm in Events, School: Columbia, School: NYU Stern

Campus Chronicles: Wharton, Haas, Fuqua

Welcome to another edition of Campus Chronicles! With the semester starting to heat up, let’s check in on events at three of the leading MBA programs.

Grade non-disclosure is the lead story in this week’s Wharton Journal. One year after the administration sparked a controversy by declaring that grade disclosure is “voluntary and permissible” (going against over a decade of Wharton practice), students voted overwhelmingly in support of continuing their tradition of grade non-disclosure. Under this policy, students agree not to disclose their grades during the recruiting process, though they may diclose their grades after accepting an offer of employment. To read more about the recent vote, as well as the history of grade non-disclosure at Wharton, check out the full article. In other Wharton news, a first year student reports on the leadership trip to Antarctica over the winter break and the humor section announces a surprise ending to Wharton’s new dean search, including a one-on-one interview with the supposed candidate.

In Berkeley, the HaasWeek is welcoming the start of second semester with open arms and sarcastic wit. The “I Bet My Break Was Better than Yours” article on page 6 features a round-up of students’ break activities in their own words. Other first-person articles throughout the paper relate students’ break experiences in destinations as diverse as Tel Aviv, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia, and the photos on pages 4-5 showcase the many ways Haas students enjoyed their time off. In addition, be sure to check out Heard@Haas on page 2, which is always a humorous window into Haas student culture.

This week’s Fuqua Times, the first since the break, is appropriately subtitled “Time to Hit the Books Again.” The front page features an article announcing the first annual “Case Bowl,” a section-based competition for first years that will pit teams against each other in analyses of cases, with the winning team bringing home $3000. Farther into the issue (all the way back on page 9) is the latest installment of the first year blogs – always an interesting glimpse into the Fuqua experience. Page 10 brings a round-up of upcoming area concerts, while on page 11 a second-year muses on the subject of “buying three blocks of Xeroxed papers trapped in saran wrap” — otherwise known as course packs.

That’s all the news from campus for this week – check back in the coming weeks for more of the student news, views, and events from the leading MBA programs.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:52 am in Campus Chronicles, School: Berkeley / Haas, School: Duke / Fuqua, School: Penn / Wharton

Friday, January 26, 2007

Fridays from the Frontline

Welcome to another edition of FFF, your weekly window into the latest happenings in the MBA blogging world! After the deluge of deadlines early in the month and last week’s flurry of round one notifications, things have quieted down significantly on the applicant front. Leading off with some excitement, AGirlsMBA received interview invites from Harvard and Michigan this week! While some are still playing the waiting game – Suser is getting anxious about the outcome of this admissions season, while Asiangal has just submitted her apps and is occupying herself with the CFA while expecting interview invitations – most are writing about their school decision process or more advanced stages of planning. Aeroslick is still dealing with some Kellogg waitlist uncertainty, but also has Michigan and Duke as options. Also facing some additional thought and a difficult decision, rungee582 shares a great account of her process of weighing offers from Wharton, LBS and Duke, whereas MBABabe is just wrapping her mind around her Harvard admit and getting ready to choose between HBS and Kellogg. Those who have made up their minds are just as focused on other tasks; Iday endured a bit of red tape to send his deposit to Chicago and Scarecrow is enrolling at Cornell and deciding when to leave his job, and Juggler has just finished up her Wharton scholarship application. Finally, Rusgirl shares the secret of her application success with LBS.

The student bloggers, on the other hand, are back from break in full force. Looking back on the previous term, Jacek happily reports that he passed all of his classes at ESADE, Keven receives an unconventional quant-confidence boost at Wisconsin, and Hallonman thinks back on his P2 Performance, resolving to increase his focus in the coming term at INSEAD. Speaking of the work ahead, Angel Angie runs through her LBS class roster and offers an interview update, Marina shares her term two schedule at Columbia and FromCali describes her perspective three weeks into the new semester at Ross.

There’s some great new content this week for readers looking to learn about the details of the MBA experience. Starting with the details of specific classes, DomoDomo offers his initial thoughts on Negotiations class at INSEAD and Ashwyn features the same topic as handled by IESE, while the Divine Miss N discusses a lesson in branding at LBS and fellow London blogger Sean describes the requirements of what promises to be a challenging entrepreneurship course. Meanwhile, for a broader view, check out Paxti’s London week in review and Nate’s account of the (a)typical week at Ross. Finally, for a look at some more unusual business school possibilities, we recommend MBA Gladiator’s great recap of his trip to Africa with some fellow Yale students and Chicago student Le Voyageur’s ongoing account of his exchange semester in Israel.

Just as academics are gearing up, recruiting is also in full swing at many programs. Based on Tim’s comments, it seems that a whirlwind of interviews and job offers at McCombs happened in a single week, whereas most are facing a more drawn out job search process. Benny braces himself for interviews at Tuck (and shares an interesting news item about the consulting club), Rubeo Boy suffers a recruiting hangover at Stern, and Al Martine struggles to find a positive side of the stress that characterizes London’s second term.

Best of luck to everyone waiting for admissions decisions and interview invitations, as well as those starting new academic terms and going through the recruiting process! Have a great weekend, everyone!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 9:14 am in Fridays from the Frontline

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Admissions Tip: Choosing Between Schools

Now that most schools have released their Round One decisions (stragglers include MIT and Haas, due out next Monday, and Stern with its mid-February notification date), many successful applicants are facing the enviable – but often agonizing – decision of choosing between programs. Though we know that those of you in this position are already juggling an overwhelming amount of information about the schools on your short lists, we wanted to offer a few pointers to consider as you identify and evaluate the most important facts and factors in making this decision.

1) Immerse yourself. If you have not yet visited campus, go to the school and see what you think of the environment. Be sure to attend classes, talk with students, tour the facilities, and so on. Even if you have already made the trip, it’s a good idea to attend the school’s events for admitted students to meet your potential classmates. After all, these are the folks whose thoughts you will be hearing in class for two years, and who will making up your future network.

2) Consider your immediate priorities. Think about the location, size, teaching method, etc. Are you looking for a close-knit, “we’re all in this together” sort of experience, or would you prefer to attend classes and then disappear into a large city with a few classmates or old friends? Do you need the benefits of a large university to pursue coursework in a specific field? Do you crave lengthy discussions with faculty? Do you have family or a significant other who might need to consider location? Are you strong in qualitative areas but looking to refine your skills in quantitative subjects? Is there a teaching method that might better address your weaknesses or best suit your learning style? Reflecting on the relative importance of each of these questions might help you to organize your thoughts about and the information on each program.

3) Look farther forward. In addition to the experience you would have as a student, try to get a sense for the school’s track record in your target field. For example, if you hope to become a strategy consultant after school, take a look at each program’s placement statistics with the firms that are of interest to you. Talk to the career management office and find out which firms came to campus and how many offers were made. You might also try to contact alumni who work in your target field and see what they have to say about their alma mater’s strength in that area. A final option is to approach the HR departments of the firm you are likely to target and ask for their opinion of the programs on your list. This is also a nice excuse to build rapport with a potential future employer.

4) Think big. Beyond the job you hope to secure immediately after school, consider the program’s regional and global brand. For example, if you are looking for work in London, you might investigate whether the school in question has an active alumni club in that city.  Meanwhile, if you dream of working in Los Angeles but are debating between two programs on the East Coast, it might be important to determine which has the greater West Coast presence.

These are just a few general tips to get you thinking about how to make your b-school decision. It goes without saying that this is a once in a lifetime decision, so it certainly makes sense to do your homework and fully understand the strengths and weaknesses of each of your options. Rankings are a good starting point for a school search, but should not be the deciding factor.  Another thing to remember that the shoe is finally on the other foot, and that the schools are now the ones marketing themselves to you.  Be sure to take advantage of their offers to answer any questions you may have.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 9:06 am in Admissions Tips

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Wharton Entrepreneurship Chat Tonight

For readers interested in entrepreneurship and just beginning to consider their business school options, we wanted to call attention to an online event tonight being hosted on Wharton’s student2student forum. Prospective students can log in at 6pm EST this evening for a chat with Emily Cieri, Managing Director of the Wharton Entrepreneurial Program. This is a great chance to get some preliminary information about the school’s offerings in this area, or ask more pointed questions prompted by initial research.

Here are some starting points, as highlighted in the Wharton adcom blog entry announcing the chat:

MBA Entrepreneurship Major
Wharton Business Plan Competition
Venture Initiation Program
Entrepreneur in Residence Program
Start-up Internships
Wharton Small Business Development Center

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 1:42 pm in Events, School: Penn / Wharton

Wiki Wednesdays: The Kellogg Interview

Welcome to another addition of Wiki Wednesdays!  Each week, we take some time to highlight helpful and recent additions to the Clear Admit Wiki, a resource full of applicant-generated information on the MBA admissions process.  There’s some fresh content on the Haas and Michigan interview pages, as well as a great Kellogg interview report that will be the focus of this week’s column.

Unlike schools that operate on an invitation-only process, Kellogg offers an interview to any applicant who requests one (on a first come, first served basis due to limited resources).  Candidates are welcome to travel to campus, or meet with a local alum.  To maintain consistency in the process, the adcom provides detailed instructions to alumni interviewers as to length and the sort of topics to cover.

As is the case with many schools, there is some thematic consistency between Kellogg’s essay questions and those posed to applicants during an interview.  Let’s take a look at the list offered by the latest wiki contributor:

“Most of the questions he asked are already in here. Standard walk me through your resume, tell me about teamwork experiences, leadership experiences in and out of work/school, what have you done recently outside of work, why MBA/Kellogg/now, weakness in application and what will/have you done about it.

There were a couple questions I wasn’t quite prepared for, though it wasn’t because they weren’t listed in here. First was tell me about an obstacle you faced as part of a team and how you helped overcome it. Then was tell me three things that are unique about you. And tell me three things you would want me to tell the admissions committee if they asked about you.”

The emphasis on teamwork is no surprise given the school’s famous focus on this element of the b-school experience.  What’s more interesting to note is the way that the remaining questions in the second paragraph of the account mirror the program’s second and third essay questions, underscoring the adcom’s interest in hearing about what traits an applicant believes to be unique and what information he or she believes would be of interest to the adcom.  Both questions shed light not only on the candidate, but on his or her marketing instincts and self-promotion skills – another tie in with the school’s strengths.

For more school-specific insight into interviewing, feel free to get in touch with us at info@clearadmit.com for information about our mock interview service and preparation guides.  We also hope that our readers will continue to share their own experiences interviewing, visiting campus and completing the application process, either by creating an account themselves or sending their content to wiki@clearadmit.com.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 7:00 am in Interview Tips, School: Northwestern / Kellogg, Wiki Wednesdays

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Small Schools Can Offer Big Rewards

Clear Admit’s Graham Richmond is quoted in today’s BusinessWeek article on the benefits of smaller MBA programs. The article, the full text of which can be found here, focuses on the sometimes overlooked advantages of smaller, more rural business schools. Schools featured in the article include Tuck, Cornell, Darden and UNC Kenan-Flagler, all of which are located outside of major metropolitan areas. The article provides some valuable insights for applicants still finalizing their school selections for this year’s R3 deadlines or for those who are starting to create their school lists for next year’s application cycle.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:31 pm in MBA News, School: Cornell / Johnson, School: Dartmouth / Tuck, School: UNC / Kenan Flagler, School: Virginia / Darden

Trivia Tuesday: Loan Forgiveness Programs

Welcome to another edition of Trivia Tuesday, a weekly column that examines the opportunities and resources available to students at the leading MBA programs.

The high cost of attending a full-time MBA program means that graduates often carry significant educational debt. Although repayment is generally not an issue for students going into high-paying jobs in the private sector, repayment can be difficult for those who choose public or non-profit sector employment.

Recognizing the need for experienced, well-trained managers in the public and non-profit sectors, many business schools have created loan repayment assistance programs for graduates going into these fields. Today we’ll highlight some of the assistance available.

Since 2002, Wharton students who make a commitment to engaging in non-profit or public-sector careers after graduation may apply for the John M. Bendheim Loan Forgiveness for Public Service program. The program provides up to $10,000 a year of loan forgiveness for up to five years after graduation. Recipients must re-apply annually for the grant and provide a biannual update of their activities. At Kellogg, alumni are eligible to receive assistance through the Collins Family Loan Assistance Program for up to ten years, but must reapply for the award each year. Precise award amounts are dependent upon the graduate’s own salary, immediate family resources and loan payment obligations.

Meanwhile, the Stanford GSB offers two separate loan assistance programs. The first is the Non-profit/Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which provides selected alumni with an average of $4000 a year towards their loan payments. Graduates can apply for the program at any point in their careers, as long as they are employed in public service and still making loan payments. Globally, the GSB International Loan Forgiveness Program supports recent graduates who are non-U.S. citizens and are working for organizations in developing countries. Now in its pilot year, the program offers selected students up to $7,500 a year for up to three years following graduation.

For students interested in applying their MBA skills to public service work, loan assistance programs may be a valuable source of financial support post-MBA. Applicants would do well to inquire about the availability of loan assistance prorgrams at their target schools, as well as the regulations governing such awards. More detailed information on the loan programs at these and other MBA programs may be found through the schools’ websites or in the Financial Aid section of the Clear Admit School Guides. Happy researching!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:38 am in School Guides, School: Northwestern / Kellogg, School: Penn / Wharton, School: Stanford, Trivia Tuesday

Monday, January 22, 2007

Wharton begins releasing R2 interview invitations

Wharton has begun to release R2 interview invitations and will continue to do so until the close of business on Thursday, February 15th. Information on the purpose and structure of the interviews, along with general tips on interview preparation can be found through the Wharton Adcom’s blog.

For those applicants fortunate enough to receive an interview invitation, we offer a number of resources for interview prepration. Interviewees may wish to consult our recent interview tips, browse the Clear Admit Wiki, take advantage of our mock interview services, or brush up on the details of Wharton’s program with the Clear Admit School Guide to Wharton.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 5:56 pm in MBA News, School: Penn / Wharton

Campus Chronicles: Ross, Harvard, Columbia

With students trickling back to school after winter break, it’s time once again to check in on campus happenings, as reported by MBA student newspapers.

First up is Ross, where the staff of the Monroe Street Journal are still recovering from the University of Michigan’s loss to USC in this year’s Rose Bowl. However, one MSJ reporter urges fans to shake off the loss and take advantage of one of the benefits of Ross’s Michigan location – easy travel to the North American International Auto Show, the grandaddy of U.S. auto shows and the occasion for unveiling 47 new models of cars. In recruiting news, the Office of Career Development deals with the question of whether a student should decline future interviews once they’ve received a desirable internship offer – a topic on the minds of many first-year MBAs. Finally, it wouldn’t be the MSJ without the Ross Goss column, which this week wraps up the break and pre-break festivity gossip and analyzes the methods by which Ross students choose their study group members.

At HBS, the Harbus reports on several recent performances that left audiences dazzled. First, the third annual Sankofa! performance, presented by the African American Student Union, the African Business Club and the Caribbean Business Club, was a big hit in December, entertaining a packed auditorium with an energetic combination of dance, music, and spoken word. Also in December, Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt came to speak on Harvard’s campus, sharing stories of his 30 years as a high school English teacher. Turning to student perspectives, the regular Clock Watching humor column focuses on balancing dating and academics at HBS – with some pointers on how to combine the two activities!

Finally, Columbia’s Bottom Line kicks of the semester with a bang, welcoming the new J-term students with a big front page article and a photo montage on page 9. On page 11 are two great stories of CBS-sponsored trips over winter break. The first article features the Chazen Institute trip to India, on which 40 CBS students visited three cities and met with a number of representatives from India’s leading companies. Also over winter break, the Media Management Association organized a career trek to Los Angeles to meet with top film and entertainment companies in the region. Both trips sound like amazing networking opportunities and wonderful experiences! Wrapping up the issue is a bit of academic and recruiting humor, with a scorecard for “Core Class Bingo” on page 3 and suggested interview prep questions on page 16 (these are not the kind of prep questions Career Services will be handing out!).

That’s all the news from the campuses for this week. Check back for more b-school news as the spring term gets underway!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:20 am in Campus Chronicles, School: Columbia, School: Harvard, School: Michigan / Ross

Friday, January 19, 2007

Round One Recap

Yale SOM, INSEAD, and UCLA Anderson released their Round One decisions today, following a busy week of decisions from Harvard, Stanford, and Ross. Now that these schools have officially wrapped up Round One admissions, only decisions from MIT Sloan and UC-Berkeley’s Haas School remain outstanding. In light of this, we’d like to offer our congratulations to everyone who received good news from their target schools in Round One, our condolences to applicants whose news was less than they’d hoped for, and our support to those now hanging out on the waitlist at a favorite school.

Regardless of the situation you find yourself in, be sure to make use of our resources by checking out our recent advice on navigating the waitlist, our upcoming post on how to choose between mulitple offers of admission, and the detailed, comparative information on the leading MBA programs available in the Clear Admit School Guides.

Congratulations to everyone for surviving Round One admissions and best of luck as the wait begins on Round Two!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 6:38 pm in General

Fridays from the Frontline

Welcome back to another edition of FFF! Let’s see what our applicant and student bloggers have been up to this week.

It’s been a big week for our Round 1 applicants as both Harvard and Stanford released their decisions. (Necromonger’s cartoon probably summed up the feelings of many nervous applicants.) Although MBA babe was in shock on Wednesday after good news from Harvard, most of our applicant bloggers were dealing with less exciting news. Iday and Juggler wrote to report dings at Harvard and anticipated – though unconfirmed – dings from Stanford. Despite not receiving an interview invitation, Scarecrow still checked on the status of his HBS app at noon, and StressTensor reported a “resounding ding!” from Stanford. In happier news, rungee582 received a WL decision from Harvard, and is in with scholarship money at Michigan. In other applicant happenings, Wanna Be Dictator was waitlisted at Babson this week, while Itobean buckled down to study GMAT sentence corrections and JatWarrior toured the windy city of Chicago.

Our student bloggers are in various stages of their returns to campus – some are still wrapping up winter break fun while others are already in the thick of things back at school. In Barcelona, Jacek hosted a mixed IESE and ESADE shindig on the first weekend back and may get his first quote in a Polish publication after speaking with visiting reporters. To the north, AngelAngie kicked off the summer intern recruiting season with a lot of early morning breakfast meetings at LBS, while Karlitos tried to figure out whether he’ll be doing NPVs or two-by-two matrices next summer. The Divine Miss N is back in London after a semester in NYC and is busy and loving it at LBS as she juggles classes, a housing search, a part-time job and full-time recruiting. LL is in the thick of the summer internship recruitment process at Wharton, completing several rounds of interviews with her top choice company and waiting to hear back from others (by the way, happy belated birthday, LL!).

At INSEAD, Hallonman realized why his favorite INSEAD blogger suddenly disappeared at the start of last year’s P3 classes, and at McCombs, Tim K. can ’see things coming hot and heavy’ in the spring semester. Meanwhile, Nagendra is back with a bang at Oxford, providing an update on the total Oxford experience so far. Rubeo Boy also had a lot to catch readers up on, including a career trek to LA with Stern’s media group and move-in day at his new apartment. Marina made a similar cross-country career trek and is now back in NYC after the 10th Annual Columbia Business School Silicon Valley Trip. Finally, second-year Yale SOM student Jerry Blank declared that this is the semester to reclaim a personal life, after a year and a half devoted to professional development. We wish you luck, Jerry!

That’s all the news for this week! Check back next week for more updates and information from the MBA blogosphere.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:51 am in Fridays from the Frontline

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Hear Clear Admit’s Advice at Economist.com

We thought that readers targeting business schools’ later deadlines for Fall 2007 entrance, as well as those just beginning to think about programs and the admissions process, might be interested in an article recently posted on The Economist’s website featuring a collection of interviews from the site’s Online MBA Fair held this fall.

In addition to remarks on school selection from Bill Ridgers of the Economist Intelligence Unit and comments about getting into a top program from MIT Sloan Director of MBA Admissions Rod Garcia, listeners can hear advice on putting together an effective application from Clear Admit’s own Graham Richmond.

Happy listening!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 12:44 pm in Admissions Tips, General, School: MIT / Sloan

Admissions Tip: Understanding Background Checks

Now that several schools have issued R1 admissions decisions, many of our readers have been asking about the background checks conducted by leading programs. Here are some quick facts to help explain the process:

1) What are background checks? Background checks involve the verification of information that a candidate has provided in his or her MBA applications. Although the process varies from school to school, it usually includes checking that an applicant attended the school that he or she claims to have attended, received the grades indicated and earned the GMAT score reported. It also involves the verification of the candidate’s employment history, job titles, starting and ending dates and salary/bonus information. Finally, some background checks involve contacting recommenders to verify their support and confirming applicant involvement in community activities.

2) Do all schools conduct background checks? When do they do this? How do they have time? Many of leading MBA programs like to verify the information that has been provided by applicants. This is typically done only for those applicants who are admitted, since there is no sense in expending resources to verify information for applicants who do not make the cut. Most background checking occurs in the spring – after decisions for most rounds have been released and students begin sending in their deposits. In many cases, the schools outsource this function to a professional risk consulting firm like Kroll.

3) Why bother with background checks? Don’t the schools trust me? The purpose of background checking is to protect all stakeholders of the MBA program (students, faculty, staff, alumni) from those who would falsify their backgrounds to gain an unfair advantage in the admissions process. Some schools opt to investigate the backgrounds of a relatively small sample of randomly selected admits, hoping that the mere possibility of a check will give applicants incentive to be as honest as possible. In a way, this measure therefore serves to increase the adcom’s trust in its applicants.

4) What about very minor discrepancies? It’s natural for admitted applicants to get anxious at this point in the process, wondering whether their offer of admission might be rescinded if, for instance, the ’start date’ for an old job is one week earlier than the start date that HR reports during the background check. The good news is that most schools report any discrepancies back to the applicant and give them a chance to explain a plausible mistake. Having said that, it of course makes sense to do your best to verify all of your information before applying to school, so that you can be certain that the data you report is accurate. Should any potential issues come to mind after submitting, you might consider preemptively contacting the adcom if the error is serious enough.

5) Won’t the background checking process alert my employer to the fact that I am applying to b-school? Since the process typically takes place long after you’ve been admitted, this ideally won’t be an issue (as most applicants give their employers ample notice and take some time off before school). Having said that, the schools still try to conduct the checks in a discrete fashion, consulting with your HR department to verify your dates of employment and salary – but not necessarily revealing that you are heading to business school.

6) How can I ensure a smooth background check? While the obvious answer is to be honest in your applications, it’s also important that you don’t fudge anything out of laziness (a common occurrence). Dig up those old W-2 forms or check with former employers in order to present the committee with the most accurate information you can.

For a bit more information on the different ways that various schools collect and consider this information, readers might also want to check out “Background Checks are Front and Center,” the Business Week article that came out on the topic a few weeks ago.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 4:00 am in Admissions Tips, MBA News

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

HBS and Stanford D-Days

Today has been hotly anticipated by many; as those candidates who applied to HBS in October know all too well, Harvard released its final decisions to round one applicants at noon. We’d like to offer our congratulations to those who were admitted, and extend our condolences to those whose news was not as positive as they’d hoped.  Hopefully the release of remaining round one decisions and recently submitted round two applications will provide some other options for school this fall.

Speaking of which, tomorrow is a big one as well, with Stanford releasing decisions to the first round of MBA aspirants (though the buzz on the BW forums is that Derrick Bolton has been busy making calls to GSB admits today).  Congrats to those who have already heard favorably, and best of luck to everyone eagerly awaiting the news!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 2:06 pm in General, School: Harvard, School: Stanford

Wiki Wednesdays: The LBS Interview

Welcome to this week’s edition of Wiki Wednesdays, highlighting new and noteworthy contributions to the Clear Admit Wiki.  Having just received a great new addition to our London Business School interview page, we thought we’d discuss that program’s process this week.

Different elements of the LBS interview process bear resemblance to those of several U.S. programs.  As is the case with HBS, for instance, the interviewer will have read through the applicants’ data forms, essays and resume, and may ask pointed questions about certain stories or prompt the interviewee to share examples not already covered in his or her interview materials.  Meanwhile, the LBS process is similar to Stanford’s in that the school relies exclusively on alumni to conduct these discussions.  Finally, London shares with Wharton the practice of inviting a relatively high percentage of the applicant pool to interview – last admissions season, the school interviewed 65% of applicants to the full-time MBA program.  Though an important component of the admissions process, the interview tends to carry about as much weight as other elements of one’s application (work experience, academics, essays, recommendations, etc.).

Of course, there are also aspects of the interview that are unique to London Business School.  It’s common for London Business School interviews to last from 1-2 hours – significantly longer an average than most other MBA programs.  Another unusual component is that, at the discretion of the interviewer, applicants are generally asked to prepare and deliver an extemporaneous presentation of about five minutes on a specific prompt or topic.

As for the more standard questions applicants might expect, let’s take a look at the info from our firsthand account:
- He walked me through his own resume first,then said ,now it is you turn, tell me about yourself. After my answer came the following questions:
- Would you prefer your old job or current? Why? (one is very quant based, the other one a brand management position)
- Tell me your improvement areas.(as many as you like)
- Why LBS? ( I said, general management+international business focus of the programme, student diversity, London advantage and reputation of the school)
- What would you do with and without an MBA in 5 years? (2 different scenarios)
- Why do you wanna join firm X or Y( I had mentioned them in my goals essay as companies I would like to work in upon graduation; it was easy to answer because I had solid reasons)
- How did you gain the respect of your team?( I am 4-5 years younger than my reports)
- Which other schools have you applied to?
- Then he talked about pros and cons (mostly pros) of LBS.

Thanks to this LBS applicant for recounting his experience for others, and to everyone else who has contributed to the wiki to date!  To help build this great applicant-generated resource, we hope that our readers will continue to share their own experiences interviewing, visiting campus and completing the application process, either by creating an account themselves or sending their content to wiki@clearadmit.com.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:25 am in School: London Business School, Wiki Wednesdays

Next Page »

ACTIVE CONTENT

• GMAT Tip: “Layering” in Sentence Correction Questions
• HBS Admissions Director Advises College Seniors to Consider Applying in Round 3
• Fridays From the Frontline
• Twitter Thursdays: News from MBA Programs
• More Europeans Taking GMAT, Having Scores Sent to European Business Schools

Facebook

Become a fan of Clear Admit on Facebook and join a vibrant MBA applicant community to engage in discussion, stay on top of deadlines, follow MBA news and win prizes!

Twitter

Follow Clear Admit on Twitter for breaking MBA news before it's blogged, just-posted interview reports in the Wiki and more!

MBA Twitter Index!

We've created the MBA Admissions Twitter Index, a directory of applicants, current MBA students and b-schools on Twitter.

Clear Admit Newsletter

Join our semi-monthly email newsletter for exclusive admissions advice and information on our latest Publications offerings!

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.

GMAT Club Forums
Below are the five most recent posts to the GMAT Club message boards.

• Stopwatch and CountdownTimer
• divisibility/distance prob
• inequality
• Is it possible to get into an M7 coming from a state school?
• What are my chances

student 2 student
The student-2-student Discussion Boards are managed by Wharton. 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

2008-2009 Top Ten:

• Top 10 Applicants:
• Tieny Chesney
• D.G
• Ahembeea
• Mission MBA
• Soni
• PaloAltoForAwhile
• Choc Heaven
• Helen
• Samantha
• OMGParisHilton

Top 10 Students:

MaybeMBA(Chicago Booth)

JulyDream (Darden)

Paragon2Pieces (McCombs)

HairTwirler (McDonough)

Iday (Chicago Booth)

TinyDancer (Wharton)

CS (Harvard)

Andrew (Marshall)

Mandy (Darden)

M@ (Ross)

Best of Blogging

2007-2008 Top Ten:

• Top 10 Applicants:
• July Dream
• Miss Curly Bee
• VidiViciVeni
• B-School Bound
• Tinydancer
• gltnforpnshmnt
• mbabound08
• Achilles
• Eight Schools
• MBA Runner Girl

• Top 10 Students:
• m@ (Ross)
• MaybeMBA (Chicago)
• Hair Twirler (Georgetown)
• Iday (Chicago)
• J-term Johnny (Columbia)
• La Laudiaria (Wharton)
• MBA Gladiator (Yale)
• Angel Angie (LBS)
• Necromonger (INSEAD)
• Chrisof Meyer (Darden)

2006-2007 Top Ten:

• Top 10 Applicants:
• Rungee582
• Iday
• Juggler
• Asiangal
• Forrest Gump
• RusGirl
• Hair Twirler
• JatWarrior
• MBA Babe
• Anand

• Top 10 Students:
• Angel Angie (LBS)
• The Divine Miss N (LBS)
• From Cali (Ross)
• Tim K. (McCombs)
• Noelle (IESE)
• Jerry Blank (Yale)
• Benny (Tuck)
• La Laudiaria (Wharton)
• Karlitos (LBS)
• MBA Gladiator (Yale)

2005-2006 Top Ten:

• Top 10 Applicants:
• MBA Jackass
• Marina
• Forrest Gump
• Pupstar78
• Axechick
• Sorebrek
• Angel Angie
• I_Will_Make_It
• Redwolf056
• Vatsa

• Top 10 Students:
• Marquis (Stanford)
• Poweryogi (Chicago)
• KV (LBS)
• FutureMBAGirl (Wharton)
• The Divine Miss N (LBS)
• Vijay (ISB)
• Wakechick (Chicago)
• NoelleBellie (IESE)
• Jerry Blank (Yale)
• Olivier (INSEAD)

2004-2005 Top Ten:

• PowerYogi
• Brit-Chick
• bskewl
• WakeChick
• Dave
• Iceman07
• iwhoElse
• Atta Girl
• Aregon23
• Classy

WWW Clear Admit Blog

View blog top tags

 

Enter your email to subscribe:

Powered by FeedBlitz

Blog content copyright 2003-2009 by Clear Admit, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.