Fridays From the Frontline » Clear Admit: MBA Admissions Consultants Blog

APPLICANT RESOURCES

Admissions Director Q&A (New!) Below are links to Clear Admit's exclusive admissions director Q&A sessions.
Dawna Clarke (Tuck)
Rose Martinelli (Chicago)
Judith Hodara (Wharton)
Sarah Neher (Darden)
Soojin Kwon Koh (Michigan)
Randall Sawyer (Cornell)
Beth Flye (Kellogg)
David Simpson (LBS)

Clear Admit School Guides
Eighteen titles available! Understand how the leading programs compare and learn more about the MBA experience in and beyond the classroom through Clear Admit School Guides. As featured in the Economist.

Clear Admit Interview Guides
Be as prepared as possible for your MBA interviews this season with the Clear Admit Interview Guides! School-specific sample questions and in-depth strategy, campus visit details and places to stay.

Application Deadlines
Below are the upcoming deadlines for admission to top-tier schools.
Nov. 17: Cornell / Johnson R2
Nov. 26: INSEAD R2
Dec. 5: UNC Kenan-Flagler R2
Dec. 9: Berkeley / Haas R2
Jan. 2: Michigan / Ross R2
Jan. 6: HBS R2
Jan. 6: LBS R2
Jan. 7: Chicago GSB R2
Jan. 7: UVA / Darden R2
Jan. 7: Dartmouth / Tuck R2
Jan. 7: Duke / Fuqua R2
Jan. 7: Stanford GSB R2
Jan. 7: Yale SOM R2
Jan. 8: UCLA / Anderson R2
Jan. 8: Wharton R2
Jan. 9: UNC Kenan-Flagler R3
Jan. 12: Cornell / Johnson R3
Jan. 12: Kellogg R2
Jan. 13: MIT Sloan R2

Essay Topic Analysis
Below are links to our comments on some of the top programs' essay topics.
The Career Goals Essay*
Berkeley / Haas*
Chicago GSB*
CMU / Tepper*
Columbia*
Cornell / Johnson*
Dartmouth / Tuck*
Duke / Fuqua*
Harvard*
IESE*
INSEAD*
London Business School*
MIT / Sloan*
Michigan / Ross*
Northwestern / Kellogg*
NYU / Stern*
Oxford / Said*
Penn / Wharton*
Stanford GSB*
UCLA / Anderson*
UNC / Kenan-Flagler*
USC / Marshall*
UT Austin / McCombs*
UVA / Darden*
Yale SOM*
* denotes '08-'09 commentary

Categories
Use categories to access all that has been written on each of the topics. We have categorized by school and by subject matter.

Interview Reports
A selection of interview field reports from fellow applicants posted to the MBA Admissions Wiki. Add your reports when you are finished with your interviews.
Chicago
Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
Kellogg
Michigan / Ross
MIT / Sloan
Stanford
UNC / Chapel Hill
Virginia / Darden
Wharton
London Business School

GMAT Resources
GMAC
Manhattan GMAT
GMAT Club
Princeton Review
Test Prep New York
Kaplan
Beat The GMAT

Writing Resources
Guide to Grammar and Writing
The Internet Grammar of English
English Usage, Style and Composition
The Economist Style Guide
Paradigm Online Writing Assistant

School Rankings
Rankings are a good way to start your research on various MBA Programs. Keep in mind each uses a different methodology.
Business Week
Economist
Financial Times
Forbes
USNews
Wall Street Journal

Career Guides
The following resources should be useful to those who want to research the careers open to them after (or before) earning an MBA.
Vault.com
Wetfeet

Business School Resources
The following are business resources offered by a variety of leading Business Schools. It's useful to subscribe to these resources, especially for the schools to which you are applying.

MBA Programs: North America
If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
Berkeley / Haas
Carnegie Mellon / Tepper
Chicago
Columbia
Concordia
Cornell / Johnson
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Emory / Goizueta
Harvard
HEC Montreal
Indiana / Kelley
Michigan
MIT / Sloan
Northwestern / Kellogg
New York / Stern
North Carolina / Kenan Flagler
Notre Dame / Mendoza
Pennsylvania / Wharton
Queens
Stanford
Texas / McCombs
Thunderbird
Toronto
UCLA / Anderson
Virginia / Darden
Western Ontario / Ivey
Yale

MBA Programs: Rest of the World
As there is some variety in the length of international MBA programs, we have denoted the length of the program next to its name (1 = one year; 2 = 2 years). If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
AGSM (Australia) 2
Cambridge / Judge (UK) 1
CIEBS (China) 2
Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (China) 1
Cranfield School of Mgmt (UK) 1
ESADE (Spain) 1 or 2
HEC (France) 2
IESE (Spain) 2
IMD (Switzerland) 1
INCAE (Costa Rica) 2
INSEAD (France) 1
IPADE (Mexico)
ISB (India) 1
London Business School (UK) 2
Manchester Bus. School (UK) 2
Melbourne (Australia) 2
Oxford / Said (UK) 1
Rotterdam (Netherlands) 1
Tsinghua IMBA (China) 2
University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) 1

Additional Resources
Here we link a host of additional resources available across the web. E-mail info@clearadmit.com to have resources added to this list.
AACSB International
Association of MBAs
Beyond Grey Pinstripes
EFMD
gradschools.com (worldwide)
Infozee
mba.com (GMAT Scores)
MBAInfo
mbaleague.blogspot.com
MBAzone
MBA Jungle
TOEFL
Top MBA

MBA Tipline
We encourage admissions officers, students and applicants to alert us of interesting news and developments, please send an email to news@clearadmit.com so we can blog it.

Blog Archive

Friday, August 10, 2007

Fridays From the Frontline

Thanks for joining us for this week’s edition of Fridays From the Frontline, our jaunt through the MBA blogging community. From ceremonial beginnings to combustible endings, featuring b-school bloggers from TV stars to hunks, there have certainly been some highlights this week. Let’s see what all the commotion’s about…

As the cycle begins again this year, Wannabe waxes eloquent on the MBA application lifestyle he is already coming to know, most strikingly evidenced by the fact that he regularly looks forward to nightly revisions of his Columbia essay drafts! Immersed in a different stage of application process, BlueTulip laments a less than ideal GMAT testing environment, but still manages a pretty noteworthy score. Speaking of which, earning a stupendous 750 on his birthday, Achilles’ heel certainly isn’t the GMAT! Also celebrating another notch on her belt, Mbabound comes to the amusing realization that after her birthday last weekend, she’s now slightly above the average applicant in a number of critical ways – GPA, GMAT and age!

On the soon-to-be-student front, M@ chronicles his literally explosive last day of work and gets psyched to leave Seattle for Ross this fall. Meanwhile, Iday’s getting all geared up for Chicago with a Lenovo Thinkpad – perhaps heeding the previous advice of satisfied user Necromonger, who this week voices his satisfaction with having secured a nice place to live just off INSEAD’s Singapore campus. Ipoel pays it forward this week, so to speak, offering some solid guidance on goals, failures and leadership roles to one of this year’s applicants.

Living out many an applicant’s dream, Asiangal enjoyed formal provocation at Wharton’s official convocation last week, where she was urged to reflect on what kind of leader she hopes to become. Juggler’s also been making the most of her entrée into Wharton and surrounding Philadelphia, soaking up the city’s personality and history via a trolley tour. On a slightly different page as usual, Reveur’s spending those precious final pre-MBA days speculating about financial developments and analyzing the market.

Checking in with our second-years, Tim K. certainly has some noteworthy news this week, proudly linking us to an article featuring his McCombs team’s prime time stardom on the Fast Money MBA Challenge, CNBC’s new game show. While his name may not be up in lights (at least yet!), Mbagladiator also has a shining development to report, finishing off a fantastic summer internship with United Way, marked by a successful presentation to the organization’s senior management team. Ashwyn similarly reflects on what’s been a very satisfying internship experience so far, despite the weekly 600-mile commute! And also doing his fair share of traveling lately, MJ returns from a blogging hiatus to fill us in on his ‘rollicking’ China trip, followed by equivocation on his readiness to embark upon year two at Fuqua.

For his part, Patxi certainly sounds eager for another year of intensive management training, gleefully reporting that he’s landed all his chosen second-year electives at LBS, creating a delightful “cocktail of Entrepreneurship, OB-soft skills, Finance and Marketing” to look forward to. On the other hand, Angel Angie has been more into the other type of cocktails lately; she writes to recount a dynamite weekend in London, filled with dining, partying, fraternizing and salsa dancing, capped off by rollerblading on a picturesque day through Hyde Park.

While we’re on the LBS track - in her post this week, Divine Miss N assures the ladies that there are indeed some very attractive men at London Business School (perhaps even one of our regular bloggers!). Evidently in an amorous mood, she proceeds with advice on making the most of one’s b-school visits using the analogy of taking a girl on a date. Meanwhile, still in the thick of her vacation, Noellie Bellie shares surprising facts and palpable pictures depicting her (slow) travels through Peru.

It looks like that just about wraps up this week’s round up! We look forward to seeing you back here next week for the latest installment of FFF. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:52 am in Fridays from the Frontline

DISCUSSIONS / BLOGS / WIKI

Clear Admit's Most Recent Entries

Wiki

MBA Admissions Wiki
The Clear Admit Wiki is designed to allow b-school applicants to share their experiences through the application process. You can learn from others' experiences and contribute your own reports to the community. Below are the five most popular pages in the wiki:
Wharton Interview Field Reports
HBS Interview Field Reports
Kellogg Interview Field Reports
Chicago Interview Field Reports
Columbia Interview Field Reports

Discussion Boards

BusinessWeek Forums
The BusinessWeek Discussion Boards are another way to learn about the issues applicants face. Clear Admit hosts the Ask Clear Admit thread, which should help answer your questions. Here is a link to the original interface (for those of you who didn't like the recent upgrade). Also, here are the five most recent discussions taking place in the forum:

Beat The GMAT Forums
Clear Admit is a featured expert in the BeatTheGMAT forums, answering questions from applicants across the globe. Feel free to ask us your questions in this forum! Here are the most recent posts:

StudyLink Forums
Clear Admit manages the Applying section of the StudyLink MBA discussion boards.

student 2 student
The student-2-student Discussion Boards are managed by Wharton. Here are the five most recent discussions.

Chicago Discussion Forums
The Chicago Discussion Boards are managed by the University of Chicago. Here are the five most recent discussions.

School-Hosted Blogs

Straight from the source: aggregated posts from students and administration. Below are the seven most recent posts in school-hosted blogs.

Individuals' Blogs

A selection of the latest updates to MBA blogs compiled by Hella.
MBA Applicants

MBA Students

Bloggers by School

The following are links to bloggers at each of the schools listed.
Chicago
Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
Kellogg
Michigan
MIT / Sloan
New York / Stern
North Carolina / Chapel Hill
Stanford
Virginia / Darden
Wharton
Yale
ESADE
IESE
INSEAD
London Business School

Community Blogs

Bshoolers.com
Community blog with MBA student and alum contributors.

Forté Foundation MBA Diaries
Video blog entries posted by women MBA students.

Owen Bloggers
Independent blog with content by Vanderbilt MBA students.

Best of Blogging

2007-2008 Top Ten:

2006-2007 Top Ten:

2005-2006 Top Ten:

2004-2005 Top Ten:

Blog Information Profile for clearadmit