Posted by Clear Admit on February 19, 2007, at 5:00 am
Posted in:  Campus Chronicles , School: Chicago , School: Columbia , School: Penn / Wharton Welcome to another week in the MBA blogosphere! Since student newspapers are a great way to get a sense of the culture and the issues at a business school, today we’ll check in on the campus news at Chicago, Wharton and Columbia.
The latest issues of the Chibus at the Chicago GSB features an interview with two GSB alumni discussing the impact Chicago has had on their careers. The issue also includes a profile of Professor Howard Haas, retired Sealy CEO and lauded GSB leadership professor. Both articles are interesting reads for applicants looking to learn more about the people of the GSB. On a more social note, readers should check out “Why You Too Should Go To the Winter Formal,” an explanation of the benefits of Chicago’s big winter bash, as well as a follow-up column on first-year engagement and a second year’s humorous perspective on summer internship recruiting.
The lead story in the latest Wharton Journal is the wrap-up of the 31st annual Wharton Follies, a three-hour extravaganza of music, dance, inside jokes and “unedited satire.” A Wharton tradition, it sounds like this year’s Follies was a show to remember. In other Wharton news, the Marketing Club offers a run down of the Super Bowl advertisments, while the Journal itself is the subject of an article concerning a dispute with the WGA Executive Council over club charters and locked doors.
This week’s Bottom Line at Columbia highlights some interesting campus issues. First, in line with recent Campus Chronicles and Trivia Tuesday entries, the cover story features an overview of CBS students’ non-profit summer internships made possible by the CORPS fellowship fund. Last year’s fundraising supported 17 MBA students in their work with both foreign and domestic non-profit organizations. Also featured this week is a summary of the issues students would like to see the GBA, Columbia’s student government, address this school year, as well as an article on page 3 about possible revisions to the core curriculum. These pieces are must-reads for any applicant interested in staying up-to-date on the hot topics at Columbia.
That’s the news for this week! Stay tuned to this space for more on the issues and events making waves on business school campuses!
Posted by Clear Admit on February 16, 2007, at 1:40 pm
Posted in: MBA News , School: MIT / Sloan MIT Sloan recently announced the addition of a regular podcast to its web offerings. The podcast series seeks to illustrate “what it’s really like” at MIT Sloan through features on student activities, guest speakers, and program opportunities. The first three podcasts include a discussion with the student organizers of the Sports Business Conference, a Sloan alumna reflecting on her growth as a leader, and Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser talking about his philosophy of arts management.
To listen to individual episodes or to begin your free subscription to the series, visit MIT Sloan’s podcasting home page or search for “MIT Sloan” in the iTunes music store.
Posted by Clear Admit on February 16, 2007, at 2:05 am
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline Welcome to another edition of FFF, our weekly recap of the recent happenings in the MBA blogosphere. It’s been a relatively quiet week, with applicants and students alike distracted by the winter weather and Valentine’s Day events, but let’s take a look at what the folks who have been blogging have been up to.
On the applicant front, we’ve seen nearly the full range of admissions-related activities and emotions this week, running from inblue‘s Wharton invite anxiety and Suser‘s disheartening transcript snafu to Anand‘s jubilation over his Darden admit and AsianGal‘s excitement over her upcoming Columbia interview. As for stages of the process, mba_salsera is thinking of retaking the GMAT while waiting for word from various schools and AAMBA2009 is planning a trip to New York to visit Stern for an interview, while Rohit has admission and fellowship offers from ISB and Rochester and Juggler has not only her school selection but also her Wharton housing situation settled (and some great things to say about the helpfulness of the school community). Speaking of helpful, a number of applicants are also focused on sharing information and acting as a resource for others. Admitted applicant necromonger shared the story of his second INSEAD interview, Rungee runs through an interesting recap of her Wharton Winter Welcome Weekend experience, and, inspired by an old entry of Marina‘s, Iday has pledged to document each milestone of his path to Chicago for the reference of future applicants.
Similarly, the student population is facing a spectrum of concerns and reactions. Between a calculator malfunction in corporate finance and an up-in-the-air phone interview, it sounds like Jacek had a trying week at ESADE, whereas Chicago student Le Voyageur seems to be adjusting well to the very different semester schedule in Jerusalem and FM checks in to report that he’s had a great few weeks at LBS in terms of both classes and recruiting. A post by Paxti covering a week in the life of a London MBA student demonstrates the range of one person’s experience, while LL‘s account (and photo documentation) of the Wharton Follies show earlier this month and John Galt‘s comments on a different sort of folly demonstrate the potential disparity of the experiences of students at the same program.
As for the typical elements of the MBA experience, there’s naturally been talk of recruiting; MBA Gladiator finds comfort in the fact that job-seekers at Yale SOM still outnumber those with job offers, but is unfortunately frustrated about the mixed signals he’s been getting from nonprofit employers. Meanwhile, Angel Angie has two job offers in hand, and shares some of the more interesting elements of her hedge fund and i-banking interviews. On the academic side, Zanat0s looks toward his P4 classes at INSEAD, Ashwyn looks back at a school ski trip and midterms at IESE and Hallonman takes an inventory of things he is experiencing much of at the moment, both pleasant (diversity in his class groups) and otherwise (a rather heavy courseload). Finally, looking at activities outside of class, both Nate and FromCali report on the annual Ross Follies show and profess a desire to be involved next time around. J-term Johnny offers a great account of his experience at Columbia’s Media and Entertainment Conference, and Angel Angie explains what she took away from a “Building Business Leadership in Africa” event at LBS.
That concludes this week’s installment. We hope that our MBA blogging friends will keep the great content coming, and that everyone has a great weekend!
Posted by Clear Admit on February 15, 2007, at 10:35 am
Posted in: School: Penn / Wharton As the Wharton Adcom reminded readers in their blog yesterday, the last of the school’s Round 2 interview invitations will go out by 5pm today. We’re glad to see that applicants on the Wharton s2s boards and the BW discussion forum are supporting each other and remaining hopeful, as the school has been known to issue a fair number of invites on the last day of each round.
Best of luck to all those hoping to hear today!
Posted by Clear Admit on February 15, 2007, at 2:08 am
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis , School: Oxford Adding to our extensive list of essay topic analyses for the leading MBA programs in the U.S. and abroad, we wanted to take some time today to comment on the two essay questions for this year’s Oxford application. With its next deadline more than a month away (March 23rd), this school could be a great option for those who want to work in London and might have just begun thinking about pursuing an MBA next fall.
With a total of 3000 words between two essay topics, Oxford presents a unique challenge in terms of sharing important and relevant information about one’s candidacy while staying on topic. For this reason, careful reflection and outlining is even more important when approaching this sort of application than one with a long series of shorter answers.
Essay 1: Explain why you chose your current job. How do you hope to see your career developing over the next five years? How will an MBA assist you in the development of these ambitions? (1000 word maximum)
This is a very standard career goals/why MBA essay. Note the explicit five-year goals timeline; while it’s certainly fine to look beyond this is in your essay and cover longer-term objectives, it will be important to develop the five year plan in depth to tailor your response to the question. As is the case with any essay of this sort, you’ll also want to comment on the specific merits of the Said Business School even though the question doesn’t mention this directly.
Essay 2: Which recent development, world event or book has most influenced your thinking and why? (2000 word maximum)
This question, which covers the range of world geography and topics factual and fictional, is about as broad as they come. The rather high word limit makes responding to the question all the more challenging, as many applicants find it difficult to sustain a coherent and relevant discussion over 2000 words. In selecting a topic, think carefully about what your event or book selection will tell the reader about your concerns and priorities, ideally selecting a subject that is in keeping with the positioning established in the first response. In terms of structuring the discussion, it might be helpful to think about ways that this book, development or event has influenced your actions as well as your thinking; this could provide a way to introduce a fair amount of information about your experiences and candidacy while keeping to the topic.
For more guidance on how best to present yourself to Oxford or other programs with upcoming deadlines, feel free to send your CV to info@clearadmit.com for a free initial assessment.
Posted by Clear Admit on February 14, 2007, at 11:00 am
Posted in: Events We wanted to remind our NYC-based readers who are just beginning to think about applying to business school next fall about a free informative event being hosted by Manhattan GMAT tomorrow, February 15th, at 7pm. Join the test prep experts at MGMAT, admissions representatives from NYU’s Stern School of Business and Columbia Business School, and Clear Admit’s own Eliot Ingram for a panel discussion of the steps you can take over the next six months to maximize your chances of admission to a top program.
Register now!
Posted by Clear Admit on February 14, 2007, at 4:00 am
Posted in: School: Berkeley / Haas , Wiki Wednesdays Welcome to another installment of Wiki Wednesdays, highlighting new and noteworthy contributions to the Clear Admit Wiki, our applicant-generated MBA Admissions Resource. Thanks to everyone who responded to last week’s Call for Content, there are a number of great new interview reports for schools like Chicago, Wharton, Cornell, Kellogg and Stanford!
This week, we’d like to focus on a unique element of Haas’s interview process. In addition to conducting alumni interviews for those unable to travel to Berkeley, the school invites a significant portion of the applicant pool to an event called Super Saturday, which is coming up on March 10th for the Round 2 group. The day is designed to bring together candidates for the upcoming intake and give applicants a taste of what their own class might be like in addition to the existing community and campus. A Super Saturday invite is generally a very positive sign of the strength of one’s candidacy; historically, about three fourths of attendees are ultimately admitted.
In addition to the list of questions posed by the interviewer at the R1 event, the latest Haas interview report gives candidates a great sense of what to expect:
“The event lasted from 11:30am to around 5:00pm. There were about 100 applicants in attendance. The admissions committee split the applicants into four cohorts, just like each incoming class. After lunch, the cohorts rotated together through the various activities: Interview, Student Panel, Career Panel, Tour of Facilities. When we registered for the day, we received an agenda, along with a list of every applicant, their undergraduate college, and who they were interviewing with. We were told that most people would be interviewing with 2nd year students, but some people would be paired with alumni or members of the adcom. They said the assignment was random, but they tried to match people with similar backgrounds.”
Best of luck to everyone hoping for an invitation and preparing for an interview at Haas and other programs! As for those who have already completed interviews or campus visits, or are deciding between programs, we’re still looking for new accounts of your experiences and deliberations – and offering a $15 iTunes gift certificate for every 5th contribution emailed to wiki@clearadmit.com. We hope to hear from you soon!
Posted by Clear Admit on February 13, 2007, at 4:22 am
Posted in: School: Northwestern / Kellogg , Trivia Tuesday It’s time again for Trivia Tuesday, our weekly look at the options and opportunities at some of the leading MBA programs. With R2 interviews still going strong at Kellogg, let’s take a look at one of that school’s unique student activities.
KWEST, which stands for Kellogg Worldwide Experiences and Service Trips, is a student-organized addition to the school’s traditional pre-term program. The trips are organized by second-year students and have become an incredibly popular way to begin the Kellogg experience, with over 75% of most incoming classes taking part. While all of the trips include a community service component, they are first and foremost a way to get to know a group of Kellogg students very well, to learn about the school from the second-year trip leaders and to begin experiencing the teamwork that is at the heart of Kellogg’s educational philosophy.
KWEST participants report that the trips are generally very social, with a focus on having fun while learning about fellow participants. Recent trips have partnered with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the U.N. and the World Wildlife Fund to work on projects in Maine, Montana and Yosemite National Park in the U.S., and international destinations such as Bolivia, Iceland, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago.
To learn more about Kellogg’s pre-term program, international opportunities or teamwork philosophy (all topics that make good interview fodder), be sure to check out the school’s website or the Clear Admit School Guide to Kellogg!
Posted by Clear Admit on February 12, 2007, at 4:24 am
Posted in: Campus Chronicles , School: Duke / Fuqua , School: Harvard , School: Michigan / Ross Happy Monday! Let’s start the week off by checking in on the campus news and events at three of the leading MBA programs.
First up, the most recent edition of the Fuqua Times is focused on the ongoing first year internship search. The front page article features a column by a second-year student who is pondering the relevancy of the MBA job interview process in light of the skills employers say they are looking for. Also on the front page is the first in a two part series on evaluating and declining job offers – this week’s entry details a process for choosing between multiple offers. For students (or applicants) considering internships in the non-profit sector, the first-person columns on page 6 may be an interesting read – they detail two students’ experiences in non-profit summer internships – internships which were supported by Fuqua’s Give-A-Day summer internship grants.
The most recent issue of the Harbus offers insight into the decidedly for-profit world of the Young President’s Organization, or YPO. After a night on the town with these young millionaires, one HBS student found a new life goal – becoming a member of the club! In contrast, the article “International Development with an MBA Twist” highlights several new opportunities for HBS students to become involved in building enterprise solutions to poverty, especially in the developing world. Also in the issue, and perhaps of interest to anyone planning a visit to Boston, is an architectural review of Trinity Church, considered one of the city’s jewels.
Finally, the most recent Monroe Street Journal features several articles on Ross students’ journeys off campus. In late January, a group of 40 Ross students worked with over 500 local middle school students to teach them basic economic and financial concepts. It seems as though the middle schoolers kept the MBAs on their toes! Ross students also ventured off campus in search of career development opportunities recently – be sure to check out the in-depth article on the student trip to the Toyota campus in California. Finally, in on-campus career news, one of Ross’s student career counselors explains the unique benefits of this peer support program in helping Ross students prepare for successful job searches – it’s a good overview of an important career resource!
That’s the student news for this week! Be sure to keep an eye on this space for further updates on the events and ideas students are talking about at the leading MBA programs.
Posted by Clear Admit on February 9, 2007, at 3:00 am
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline It’s been another busy week in the MBA blogosphere. Let’s check in on how students and applicants are doing as recruiting gets underway and the wait for R2 decisions continues.
Jacek is keeping busy in Barcelona, putting together an ESADE football team and writing his speech for social VP (be sure to check out his campaign poster). Several first-year bloggers are celebrating internship offers this week. Angie got an offer that will let her make the career change she’s been seeking, and finds that London Business School second years have been an invaluable resource throughout recruiting. Also at LBS, karlitos is lining up interviews and waiting for results, while at IESE, mbayisyen dreams of being in a place where internships are not the main topic of conversation. Across the pond, MJ will be packing his bags and heading to DC for the summer, after completing a relatively painless recruiting season at Fuqua.
In non-internship news, the cold snap hitting much of the United States is the current focus of fromcali‘s life, along with news of student leadership transitions at Ross. The windchill is also a subject of Rubeo Boy‘s blog this week, along with an overview of his new Stern classes. From Singapore, Hallonman reports on a fun final presentation in the Market Driving Strategies course, and on the results of pitting the wit of 400 INSEAD MBA students against new technical limitations on the campus network. Meanwhile, Zanat0s relates his experiences in last weekend’s Art of Communication course at INSEAD.
Several student bloggers offer more interactive reading experiences this week. LL encourages her fellow students to vote for the One Wharton team in the Executive Council elections, Tim K. is soliciting readers’ feedback on the McComb’s website, from Tuck, Benny offers tips on what to do once admitted to b-school, and Paxti offers up a helpful excel link (along with kudos to an LBS prof).
Second year students are also staying busy in their final term of b-school. DivineMissN is helping out with London Business School’s Open House, Nate has officially accepted a full-time gig with Google following graduation from Ross, and thanks to Chicago’s social entrepreneurship course, Wakechick is left wondering whether an idea can change the world.
Applicant bloggers wrote to report on their admissions status this week. There were interview invitations to celebrate, with asiangal getting a highly anticipated email from Wharton, and interviews to recap, including HairTwirler‘s experience interviewing with a Yale SOM second year. In less joyful news, Inblue got word of a ding from Tuck, while Bschool Diva found Ross’s R2 application numbers disheartening. Applicants admitted in earlier rounds continued working their way through the post-admit process this week. Necromonger enjoyed receiving the hard copy of the INSEAD admit letter, Iday‘s status at Chicago was officially changed to “accepted offer,” and Juggler continued her search for a great apartment in preparation for starting at Wharton.
That’s all the news for this week! Good luck to everyone waiting on application, internship and full-time job decisions. We’ll look forward to reading how your searches turn out.
Posted by Clear Admit on February 8, 2007, at 2:24 pm
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis , Essay Topics , School: IESE With the deadline for IESE less than a week away, we wanted to follow up this morning’s post about upcoming deadlines for international programs with some comments on the essay questions for that particular school.
The very focused questions and narrow word limits of IESE’s application present a fairly straightforward but challenging task. Due to the recurring two-year time frame of some questions and the generally pointed inquiries, it seems likely that viable topics will come immediately to the applicant’s mind (without extensive brainstorming and mulling over possibilities). At the same time, applicants will need to think carefully about the big picture their individual responses create, and make sure they share as much relevant information as they can in each short answer.
Essay 1: Please describe your short term professional goals (post MBA). (200 word limit)
Essay 2: Please describe your long term professional goals (post MBA). (200 word limit)
Our general advice about tackling the standard career goals essay applies to these questions, but their unique format should be taken into account as well; though the two responses should come together to form a coherent discussion (with a long-term goal that follows naturally from the short-term objective), it’s also a good idea to limit one’s remarks to the specific topic in question. This probably won’t be difficult given the restrictive word limits. One more thing to consider is that even though the program doesn’t explicitly ask about the reasons the applicant is seeking an MBA, it would be ideal to include a sentence or two about how the IESE education would provide preparation over both the short- and long-term.
Essay 3: Describe two substantial accomplishments and one failure in a professional or private endeavour. (600 word limit)
With its 600-word limit and three-topic prompt, this question is like Harvard’s second essay with a twist: the addition of a failure to the mix. Remember that because this will be the first response about your past experiences that the adcom will read, it will set the tone for the rest of your materials. It might be a good idea, then, to think carefully about what qualities, impact and lessons you would like to convey in this essay before deciding on topics for the remaining ones.
Essay 4: Describe a recent situation (within last two years) in which you used a contact from your network to achieve a personal or professional objective. (200 word limit)
This is an unusual question as far as MBA application essays go. It seems likely that the school is seeking to gauge the applicant’s interpersonal skills and ability to build and maintain connections, as these traits have obvious implications for the ongoing strength of the school’s alumni network. Without explicitly pointing to your value as a future alum (it’s often dangerous to make statements that make it sound like you assume you’ll be admitted), you’ll want to emphasize the qualities the school might be seeking in its graduates in sharing the details of your interaction in this situation.
Essay 5: Describe the most difficult project (personal or professional) that you have faced recently (within last two years). (200 word limit)
Because MBA students will no doubt face difficult tasks and interactions both during and after their time in the program, it makes sense for the adcom to be curious about how applicants respond to adversity. In addition to describing the nature of the challenges you faced on this project, you’ll obviously want to explain the steps you took to overcome them and end with a comment on the positive outcome.
Essay 6: Describe a recent situation (within last two years) in which it was difficult to convince others. (200 word limit)
This question is similar to MIT’s prompt about advocating for a position, and is another instance of the school using a past experience as an indication of current abilities and future behavior. Though you’ll no doubt have much to say in very few words, it would make sense to draw out the interpersonal elements of the situation and highlight the thought process behind the steps you took to convince others of the merits of your ideas.
Essay 7: I wish that the application had asked me… (200 word limit)
For some advice on how to navigate this kind of open ended question, see our thoughts on Kellogg’s Essay 4E.
Best of luck to everyone working to complete this application in the coming days!
Though the majority of MBA applicants are finished with or in advanced stages of the application process, we know that there are a significant number who are still working toward the later deadlines coming up over the next few months. For those thinking about the international elements of a potential post-MBA career, we thought we’d post a quick reminder of the upcoming deadlines for some of the leading European schools:
February 14: IESE Round 4
February 23: LBS Round 3
March 23: Oxford/Said Round 3
March 28: INSEAD Round 4
April 1: IMD Round 2 (January Term)
June 5: Cambridge/Judge (rolling)
June 30: ESADE (rolling)
One thing to note is that while time is running out to apply to London Business School, prospective students interested in completing an MBA in the UK still have a good amount of time to prepare a solid application to Oxford or Cambridge.
Best of luck to those planning on applying! Stay tuned to this blog in the coming days for some tips on handling the essay questions for each of these programs. For an evaluation of your candidacy at these and other leading schools, feel free to send your resume or CV to info@clearadmit.com for a free initial assessment.
Posted by Clear Admit on February 7, 2007, at 3:17 pm
Posted in: Events We wanted to remind our readers of a great (and free!) event taking place next week in New York City.
Business School 2008: Planning Your Next 6 Months will be held on February 15, 2007 at ManhattanGMAT’s New York City office. The event features 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 panel will help next fall’s applicants understand and plan for the MBA admissions process. The event is sure to fill up quickly, so reserve your space today!
Posted by Clear Admit on February 7, 2007, at 5:00 am
Posted in: General , Interview Tips , Wiki Wednesdays Welcome to another installment of Wiki Wednesdays, reporting the latest goings on with the Clear Admit Wiki. Firstly, we’d like to say thanks to all the applicants who’ve been submitting interview reports lately! Recent additions include an account of a surprisingly thorough but very pleasant interview at Stern, advice on making the most of a visit to Kellogg, a phone interview with a successful HBS applicant, and a rundown of Wharton interview questions posed by a second-year student. This is also a time of year when many applicants are engaged in deciding which program to attend, and a new contribution to our School Choices page from someone deciding among 5 great programs sheds light on this process.
As we’ve stressed in this blog, and as anyone who’s used the site to prepare for their interviews will attest, having access to firsthand accounts of the interview process at a given program can be invaluable in understanding what a program is looking for and arriving at a feeling of readiness. To build this resource and encourage applicants who’ve already interviewed this season to post their interview reports, campus visit accounts and school decisions, we’ll be offering an added incentive over the next few weeks.
Between now and March 1st, we’ll be awarding a $15 iTunes gift certificate to every fifth applicant who contributes content to the wiki. For those wondering what sort of details to include in their wiki entries, we find that the most helpful and informative reports include the following information:
- Date/Admissions Round
- Description of visit and/or interview atmosphere
- Type of interview (alum vs. adcom, blind vs. application-based)
- List of interview questions
- Commentary (What did you think of the interview? What surprised you? What didn’t surprise you? What might you conclude about the school based on this experience?)
Beyond interview information, we’d also love to see some more detailed accounts of visits to campus and decisions among programs. To be eligible for the prize, simply send your contribution to wiki@clearadmit.com; we’ll post it to the wiki and notify the winners by email. Thanks in advance for your reports!
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