2007 December » Clear Admit: MBA Admissions Consultants Blog

APPLICANT RESOURCES

Admissions Director Q&A Below are links to Clear Admit's exclusive admissions director Q&A sessions.
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)

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 Strategy Series
Craft a winning application with the Clear Admit Strategy Series! Detailed guidance and illustrative examples to help you understand what schools are looking for and present your candidacy as well as possible.

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.
Jul 1: HBS 2+2
Jul 22: INSEAD Jan Intake R3
Oct 1: Harvard Business School R1
Oct 1: Penn / Wharton R1
Oct 1: Duke / Fuqua EA
Oct 7: CBS J-Term
Oct 7: CBS ED
Oct 7: Stanford GSB R1
Oct 8: Yale SOM R1
Oct 10: Michigan / Ross R1
Oct 14: Chicago Booth R1
Oct 15: Northwestern / Kellogg R1
Oct 20: Berkeley / Haas R1
Oct 27: MIT / Sloan R1
Nov 15: NYU / Stern R1

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 '09-'10 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
MBA.com
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
Boston College / Carroll
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
Syracuse / Whitman
Texas / McCombs
Thunderbird
Toronto
USC / Marshall
UCLA / Anderson
Vanderbilt / Owen
Virginia / Darden
Washington University in St. Louis / Olin
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
Hult (UK) 1
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
International Student Loans
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

ARCHIVE FOR DECEMBER 2007

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Wiki Wednesdays: Chicago GSB

Welcome to this week’s edition of Wiki Wednesdays, where we highlight new entries in the Clear Admit Wiki, a repository of MBA applicant experiences and observations. In honor of Chicago’s Round 1 acceptance calls going out today – ahead of their initially published January 3rd decision notification date – we’re taking a closer look at Chicago GSB interviews to pass on some preparation pointers to Round 2 applicants!

Chicago grants interviews on an invitation-only basis after evaluation of a submitted application. All interview invitations are released by Chicago’s “mid-decision” deadlines, which tend to fall four to six weeks after the relative round’s deadline date. Interviews are conducted either on campus or at an alternate, more convenient location for the interviewee by admissions staff, students or alumni.

Further, all Chicago interviews are blind and, though the interviewer will have the applicant’s resume, how much he or she uses it to direct the discussion can vary considerably. According to some recent Chicago interview reports, there has been some variability among alumni-conducted interviews. For instance, one alumni-interviewed applicant in Bangalore recounts, “[the interviewer] had taken a print out [of] my resume and had thoroughly [dissected] it. I could see his notes on my resume.”

Meanwhile, in stark contrast, according to another recent Chicago interviewee in Delhi,

“[The alumni interviewer] didn’t write anything or [refer] to my resume once. He kept looking into my eyes while I was answering without any expression. He was straight faced with limited expressions which couldn’t communicate to me whether he was convinced or not with my answers.”

Despite the interviewer’s potential preference for an applicant’s resume as a guide, it’s always best to be prepared by knowing what Chicago tends to ask. For instance, Chicago frequently tends to ask where one has applied. One such applicant who did his homework recounts, “[the interviewer] asked why not some other school. I was prepared for this and answered.” This also drives home the necessity of school-specific knowledge for Chicago’s interview – especially as seen in most Wiki interview reports that conclude with the question, “Why Chicago?”

In regards to potential interviewer reactions per the report in Delhi above, though one may not be able to read any signals from the interviewer, it’s important to remain confident and clear. Thorough preparation and research (as could be carried out with the Clear Admit Interview Guides) would best support this attitude.

Thanks to all those who have added their experiences to the Clear Admit Wiki! As you can see in a recent entry about a visit to Cornell, it’s not just a place for applicants to post their interviews, but also their general application experiences as well as campus visits. If you have an experience you would like to share for the benefit of other applicants, you can add it to the Wiki either by creating an account or sending your reports to wiki@clearadmit.com. Happy researching and best of luck to those still preparing for upcoming MBA interviews!