Wiki Wednesdays: Choosing Between Offers » Clear Admit: MBA Admissions Consultants Blog

APPLICANT RESOURCES

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

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.
Oct. 1: INSEAD R1
Oct. 3: Northwestern / Kellogg R1
Oct. 8: Columbia 2009 J-Term and ED
Oct. 9: Wharton R1
Oct. 10: Michigan / Ross R1
Oct. 15: Chicago GSB R1
Oct. 15: Dartmouth / Tuck EA
Oct. 15: Duke / Fuqua EA
Oct. 15: HBS R1
Oct. 22: Yale SOM R1
Oct. 24: UNC Kenan-Flagler R1 (Early Action)
Oct. 28: UVA / Darden R1
Oct. 28: MIT Sloan R1
Oct. 29: Stanford GSB R1
Nov. 4: Berkeley / Haas 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
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
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
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) 2
ESADE (Spain) 1 or 2
HEC (France) 2
IESE (Spain) 2
IMD (Switzerland) 1
INSEAD (France) 1
IPADE (Mexico)
ISB (India) 1
London Business School (UK) 2
Manchester Bus. School (UK) 2
Oxford / Said (UK) 1
Rotterdam (Netherlands) 2
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

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Wiki Wednesdays: Choosing Between Offers

Welcome back to Wiki Wednesdays, our weekly look at informative contributions to the Clear Admit Wiki. With interview season coming to an end and many applicants sifting through their admissions results, we’re shifting our focus towards the School Choices page in the Wiki. This is a great resource for applicants who are now facing the fortunate, but difficult, task of deciding between offers from multiple schools.

Before diving into some debates, however, let’s take a look at which schools are opening their doors to admitted students over the next few weeks. These ‘admit weekends’ or ‘welcome events’ are a great way to learn more about programs, meet future classmates and blow off a little steam to celebrate favorable results. [Note: For a humorous glimpse into what makes admitted students weekends so enjoyable, see this video]. Without further ado, here is a run-down of the upcoming events:

Columbia GSB: April 11th, 2008
CMU / Tepper: April 11th-12th, 2008
Northwestern / Kellogg: April 18th-20th, 2008
Wharton: April 19th-20th, 2008

HBS: April 24th- 26th, 2008
Chicago GSB: April 25th-26th, 2008
Stanford GSB: April 27th-28th, 2008
MIT / Sloan: May 2nd-3rd, 2008

With all of the festivities at admit weekends, it may be easy to forget that tough choices are on the horizon. This is why we’ve created the School Choices page in the Clear Admit Wiki - to allow candidates to explain their rationale for the choice they ultimately make.

Diving in to some decision making cases, this season, blogger Tinydancer pitted Wharton against Kellogg on the School Choices page. Breaking down her criteria into categories like location, curriculum, cultural fit and school brand, among others, Tinydancer offered the following observations on the schools’ marketing curricula:

“Wharton: Most people I’ve talked to…believe that its marketing program is probably under-rated…Many people also told me the marketing curriculum is probably more quantitative and data-driven than at other schools, but I have no way to really substantiate this. I did sit in on a couple marketing classes and I was impressed.

Kellogg: Kellogg is as well known for marketing as Wharton is for finance. In marketing circles, it is widely regarded as the best. I sat in on a class here too, which was great. “Brand” (as in brand management) is one of the top careers students choose, and many companies recruit there specifically for that reason. Also, while I was there, the marketing club was in the middle of the annual marketing competition…There were advertisements everywhere, and it seemed [to be a] cool environment.”

To find out where Tinydancer decided to attend, you’ll have to read her full report. As always, we encourage our readers to join in the conversation - whether you’re looking for others’ opinions on individual schools or just searching for a good method of breaking down this complicated decision, the School Choices page can be a great help. Further, the process of writing down pros and cons is often much more productive than spinning the wheels in one’s head, so we hope readers will take the time to share their own thoughts! Simply create an account or send your debates to wiki@clearadmit.com.

For those still interviewing or interested in sharing interviews from this season, we will be awarding a $10 iTunes gift certificate to each applicant who submits an interview report for the following schools: Berkeley / Haas, Cornell / Johnson, MIT / Sloan, Stanford GSB, Dartmouth / Tuck, UCLA / Anderson, Yale SOM, INSEAD and LBS between now and April 30th (limit one gift card per applicant). To be eligible for the prize, simply e-mail your interview report to wiki@clearadmit.com.

That wraps up this week’s edition of Wiki Wednesdays! As always, we wish the best of luck to those still interviewing and extend our thanks to those who have contributed to the Clear Admit Wiki!

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:49 am in MBA News, General, School: CMU / Tepper, School: Northwestern / Kellogg, School: Penn / Wharton, School: Columbia, School: Chicago, School: Harvard, Which School Wednesdays, Wiki Wednesdays, Events, Pre-Matriculation Tips

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 a great way to learn about the issues applicants face. Recently BusinessWeek updated their interface, here is a link to the original interface. Also, Clear Admit hosts the Ask Clear Admit thread, which should help answer your questions. Here are the five most recent discussions.

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, but include discussions about all of the top schools. 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