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Admissions Director Q&A (New!) Below are links to Clear Admit's exclusive admissions director Q&A sessions.
Dawna Clarke (Tuck)
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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.

Essay Topic Analysis
Below are links to our comments on some of the top programs' essay topics.
The Career Goals Essay*
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IESE*
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NYU / Stern*
Oxford / Said*
Penn / Wharton*
Stanford GSB*
UCLA / Anderson*
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UT Austin / McCombs*
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ARCHIVE FOR AUGUST 2008

Friday, August 29, 2008

Forté Foundation’s 2008 Forté Forums

Forté Foundation is coming to cities across the country with their annual Forum series, featuring top women business leaders sharing candid advice drawn from their own career experiences. They will be joined by admissions officers from the top MBA programs, who will answer questions and give advice about the admissions process.  The events provide ample opportunity to mingle with corporate and school representatives for one-on-one networking opportunities.

Forté Foundation is dedicated to encouraging women to pursue careers in business leadership by providing access to information, scholarships and networking opportunities. Forté is backed by 27 leading corporations, 37 top business schools in the U.S. and abroad, and The Graduate Management Admission Council® (GMAC®).

This fall, the Forum events will feature business leaders such as Aruna Singh, Vice President at Merrill Lynch & Co.; Valerie Grubb, Vice President of Operations & Initiatives at NBC Universal; Johanna McChesney, CEO of Isis Maternity; and Dana Dillon-Townes, Assistant Brand Manager at L’Oreal.

The schedule of events is as follows:

Chicago, Sept. 8th (register by Sept. 5th)
Boston, Sept. 9th (register by Sept. 5th)
Washington, DC, Sept. 10th (register by Sept. 5th)
Los Angeles, Sept. 15th (register by Sept. 12th)
San Francisco, Sept. 16th (register by Sept. 12th)
Houston, Sept. 17th (register by Sept. 12th)
Atlanta, Sept. 18th (register by Sept. 12th)
New York, Sept. 23rd (registration closed)
New York, Sept. 24th (register by Sept. 19th)
London, Oct. 7th (register by Oct. 3)

To register for any of these events or for more information, visit the Forum website.

MIT Sloan, Bank of America Partner to Drive Innovation in Financial Services

Bank of America announced this week that it will partner with the MIT Sloan School of Management’s Laboratory for Financial Engineering (LFE) to use cutting-edge financial analysis to drive innovation in financial services.

Funding from Bank of America will support multiple quantitative research efforts at the LFE involving computational finance, quantitative analytics and risk-reward tradeoffs. The collaboration promises Bank of America an early look at game-changing research important to both banking activities and customer experience.

“Bank of America is investing in the future of banking,” Susan Faulkner, Deposits & Student Lending executive at Bank of America, said in a statement announcing the collaboration. “We believe that the results of our collaboration with MIT Sloan will have long-range significance for changing the face of banking as our customers know it.”

MIT Sloan Professor Andrew Lo, a leading figure in financial theory and practice, will direct the new research agenda. With information provided by the Bank, the LFE will be able to develop and analyze theoretical models of the current market environment, including the recent turmoil in credit markets and the hedge-fund industry, Lo said.

“We seek to engage in research that is both rigorous and relevant,” Lo continued. “The best way to do that is by working directly with industry to take on research challenges that have significant implications for both theory and practice.”

The new collaboration between Bank of America and MIT Sloan’s LFE is part of the Center for Future Banking, which was established at the MIT Media Lab in March.

To learn more about the Laboratory for Financial Engineering at MIT Sloan, click here.

Fridays From The Frontline

It’s sometimes hard to believe how fast a season can fly by and yet here we are at the end of August with many b-schools deep into their orientation and only days away from opening their academic year. Last year’s applicants are this year’s incoming students and last year’s first years are suddenly top dogs on campus! Next thing you know the leaves on the trees will be orange, yellow and red, round one will be a memory, and MBA hopefuls will be torn between spending time with their families and friends or knuckling down and getting that last essay just right. But we shouldn’t rush ahead, there are still warm days in front of us and a whole first round to consider.

On the application front, some bloggers shared lessons they learned or tricks they honed while others sought advice. MissionMBA advised that you make sure that you are answering the question. Ahembeea provided three basic tenets when it came to writing essays. Samantha sought opinions on whether an in person interview at Tuck was really necessary. Omne wondered what the best approach to explaining a class failure would be and started planning a whirlwind b-school trip. Samantha and Omne weren’t alone in trying to plan b-school visits, TienyChesney had quite a b-school busy weekend planned for later in September. Ameya completed his GMAT and finally was ready to focus his full attention on his applications. Adekku shared his strict and loose criteria for choosing schools, useful to anyone who also doesn’t want to live in a cold climate. Soni gave Clear Admit props for our school guides and set some ground rules for his readers’ behavior. The waiting begins for Happy Bunny and Maxwriter, both of whom submitted their applications to Columbia, cross your fingers and think good thoughts!

The early weeks of b-school continued relatively well for the class of 2010, though at least one injury was reported and exhaustion certainly was taking a bit of a toll. LBS ‘10 N.A.S. formulated a Carnival plan for himself and his fellow classmates. Kellogg ‘10 Miss Curly Bee arrived safely in Evanston and was pleasantly surprised by the city and excited to embark on her KWEST trip. Darden ‘10 JulyDream struggled with the limitations of an injured ankle and shared her insights on the ways that sections function. McCombs ‘10 Metal was thoroughly exhausted from all the orientation activities.

Rising ’seniors’ of the class of 2009 also had a few things to share with their readers this week. Darden ‘09 Anand summed up his Australian experience, from owning a work stream to seeing koalas for the first time. Chicago ‘09 Iday got ready to complete his internship and shared that he had been able to visit all three of Pablo Neruda’s houses while in Chile. Darden ‘09 Square Method returned to school and shared the at least one recruitment advantage given to MBA bloggers. Darden ‘09 Mandy felt great on a bike and Chicago ‘09 MaybeMBA shared her own research on the ‘MBA mom opt out’ myth.

While it might not be quite time to pull out one’s sweaters or stock up on hot cider, for many MBA bloggers it is time to put those thinking caps back on and to stockpile their supply of ‘brain food’ for the beginning of the semester. We wish new and returning students all the luck in the world and send warm thoughts out to every applicant sending out an application for the first (or second) time!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Kellogg International Students Get Primer in American Life

Last week, incoming international students at the Kellogg School of Management took turns stepping up to the podium to practice mock business presentations. No, the academic year doesn’t begin at Kellogg until September. But the American Culture and English for International Business Students Program (ACE) was already well underway.

ACE, an immersive four-week experience, was designed in conjunction with Northwestern University’s School of Continuing Studies to help students with limited exposure to English as a primary language acclimate themselves to American culture before the rest of their classmates arrive.

This year’s ACE program, which took place from July 28th through August 22nd, featured workshops on business writing, cultural communications and classroom dynamics. Working together as teams, students presented projects to their fellow classmates, completed case studies, and attended lectures by Kellogg faculty.

But that’s not all. They also navigated Chicago’s public transit system, visited local parks and museums and made new friends, all while fine-tuning their English skills.
 
“ACE has been a wonderful addition to our pre-term programming,” said Fran Langewisch, the Kellogg School’s assistant dean for student affairs.

Kellogg is not the only business school to feature international student orientation and English-language programs, but Langewisch believes that ACE offers a unique blend of components from both types of programs. “And because ACE is just for Kellogg students, participants are able to get settled in Evanston, learn their way around campus and begin to build a friendship network before orientation officially begins,” she added. 

To learn more about the ACE program at Kellogg, click here.

Workbook Wednesdays: Boats on the Lake Answer

As promised, here is the answer to yesterday’s Manhattan GMAT Challenge Question!

The key to this problem is to make the common term in both ratios equal. We should set up a table to display both ratios:

Now, we can double any of the ratios. In fact, we can multiply any row by any positive-integer factor (x2, x3, x10, etc.). We are constrained to positive-integer factors, though, because the actual number of any boat must be a positive integer.

The number of canoes in each row should be the same, so that we can merge the ratios. The least common multiple of 7 and 5 is 35, so we multiply the top row by 5 and the bottom row by 7:

This means that the “3-way” ratio of catamarans, canoes, and kayaks is 20:35:63. That is, for every 20 catamarans on the lake, there are 35 canoes and 63 kayaks. This ratio is already reduced to lowest integers, because there are no prime factors in common among all 3 integers.

The smallest number of boats that can be on the lake is 20 + 35 + 63 = 118. Since the total number of boats must be an integer, any possible number of boats must be a multiple of 118. To check which number is a multiple of 118, we factor 118 into its primes: 2 and 59. This allows us to spot 590, which is 59 x 10 and therefore 118 x 5.

The answer is D.

INSEAD Essay Topic Analysis, 2008-2009

Unchanged since last year, INSEAD’s essay questions cover a good deal of ground, giving candidates ample opportunity to discuss a range of topics related to their candidacies and highlight various elements of their interests and experiences. The first two “job essays” ask for a factual account of one’s current position and overall professional progression, while the rest of the set invite short reflections and exposition of the type MBA applicants are accustomed.

INSEAD’s total of seven essays puts the school at the high end of the MBA application spectrum in terms of questions posed. As always, careful forethought and planning before beginning to write will be important in ensuring that one is using each essay to one’s best advantage and presenting a balanced picture of a well-rounded individual. Let’s take a closer look at the questions:

Job Essays

1. Please give a detailed description of your job, including nature of work, major responsibilities; and, where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, number of clients/products and results achieved. (250 words)

While the essays for most programs begin by addressing the overall progression of the applicant’s career up to this point, INSEAD’s first question requests a snapshot of the applicant’s career at this moment. Even if you have held a number of positions within the same organization, it’s best to maintain focus on your current position and responsibilities. Keeping in mind that this will be the adcom’s introduction to your materials, you might also provide the context necessary for the reader to understand your place within the organizational structure and the work that occupies your days. While there is some room to talk about “results achieved,” there’s no need to get bogged down in the specifics of certain projects or engagements – a good essay will be composed of fairly general comments that are focused on the present. It is fine to incorporate some more specific information about your career’s “greatest hits” later in response to other questions.

2. Please give us a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms of position? (250 words)

This is a tall order for a 250 word essay, so brevity and efficient use of language will be key here. The adcom is looking for an applicant who can present her career as a coherent whole, and demonstrate that she has been on an upward trajectory since the outset. While it would be ideal for you to include some comments on lessons learned and skills gained over the course of your career, the primary focus should be touching upon each full-time post you’ve held, explaining the reasons behind each move you’ve made and commenting on increases and changes in responsibility.

Personal Essays

1. Give a candid description of yourself, stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary. (400 words approx.)

It’s important to address the question in full when responding to this sort of essay, but it’s also in one’s best interest to focus as much as possible on the positive. With this in mind, you might lead off with two or three positive qualities and then comment on one or two weaknesses - ideally ones that you’ve already taken steps to address. Whether discussing a strength or a weakness, though, it’s ideal to back up every statement about your character with a brief example as “proof” of the statement. INSEAD’s framework gives applicants free reign to select personal, professional or extracurricular subjects, so try to select your examples with an eye to presenting a balanced picture of your interests and experiences.

2. Describe what you believe to be your two most substantial accomplishments to date, explaining why you view them as such. (400 words approx.)

This is another fairly straightforward question. Though it’s important to reflect and respond candidly with those achievements that have truly been the most meaningful to you, keep in mind that, given the interests and priorities of the adcom in evaluating one’s business school candidacy, it would be beneficial to feature at least one accomplishment from the professional realm. As always, it will be important to ground your comments in specific details and fully explain why these achievements were significant, both in terms of the results you produced and the lessons you learned.

3. Describe a situation taken from school, business, civil or military life, where you did not meet your personal objectives, and discuss briefly the effect. (250 words approx.)

To fully address this question, you’ll need to describe the situation and detail, in very concrete terms, what went wrong and why. This essay has a particularly restrictive word limit, making it all the more important for applicants to summarize and explain the failure as concisely as possible. Keep in mind that the reason a school asks this question is to discern whether a student is able to learn from experience and avoid repeating past mistakes. Toward that end, it would be wise to interpret INSEAD’s request for a discussion of the “effect” of the mistake as a chance to talk about personal growth (as discussing the negative consequences of one’s actions would be a less flattering approach). Ending the essay on a more positive note is always a good idea, especially for those who can point to subsequent successes in the same realm.

4. Discuss your career goals. What skills do you expect to gain from studying at INSEAD and how will they contribute to your professional career. (500 words approx.)

This is the standard career goals essay, with an interesting focus on skills as they relate to INSEAD classes and future goals. The phrasing of this question might indicate that the school is looking for applicants who have really thought through the limitations they face given their current skill sets, and have a clear sense of what they need to learn (and how they will do so through an MBA) in order to be successful in a very specific career path. This underscores the fact that well-defined goals and school-specific detail are essential to a successful application.

5. Please choose one of the following two essay topics:
a) Have you ever experienced culture shock? What did it mean to you? (250 words approx.)
b) What would you say to a foreigner moving to your home country? (250 words approx.)

This sort of question is designed to gauge an applicant’s cultural sensitivity and ability to conduct business in an international setting, and it probably comes as no surprise to applicants who are familiar with INSEAD’s reputation as a highly international program. The first option asks applicants to recount a trying experience in another country or environment, and to explain the resulting personal growth and process of adjustment. Meanwhile, the second asks candidates to reflect on the unique characteristics of his or her own culture and anticipate the issues that a visitor might encounter. In both responses, one has an opportunity to demonstrate cultural flexibility, offering evidence for his or her ability to operate as a global citizen and work in diverse teams. Of course, many of the best essays will manage to incorporate a healthy dose of lessons learned, indicating that cultural adjustment can be fraught with trial and error rather than sugar-coating a response and failing to outline the struggles or periods of adjustment.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

“Explore Wharton: Diversity in Action” Registration Now Open

Each year, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania hosts a two-day event designed to welcome prospective students from diverse backgrounds to visit campus, meet students and learn more about the admissions process. Explore Wharton: Diversity in Action 2008 will take place on September 25th and 26th, and registration is now open.

Co-sponsored by the Wharton African American MBA Association (AAMBAA), the Wharton Hispanic American MBA Association (WHAMBAA), Wharton’s Out for Business (Out4Biz), Wharton Women in Business (WWIB) and the MBA Admissions and Financial Aid Office, the event is open to prospective women, under-represented minority and LGBT students.

A full schedule of events provides participants with opportunities to sit in on Wharton classes, hear from the admissions office staff and meet and network with current students and professors.

“For me, the best part of Explore Wharton was meeting current students because it gave me a feel for Wharton’s truly diverse community, which encompasses countless nations, work experiences and life stories,” said Reena Bajwa, a recent Wharton grad who participated in the program as a prospective student.

To learn more about the event or to register, click here.

Workbook Wednesdays: Boats on the Lake

Welcome back to another edition of Workbook Wednesdays, brought to you by our friends at Manhattan GMAT. Take a look at the problem below, and be sure to check back in with us tomorrow for an explanation of the answer!

Question:

On Lake Coheeries, there are only three kinds of boats: catamarans, canoes, and kayaks. The ratio of catamarans to canoes is 4:7, and the ratio of canoes to kayaks is 5:9. Which of the following could be the total number of boats on the lake?

A) 575
B) 580
C) 585
D) 590
E) 595

Clear Admit Poll: What’s Your Greatest Strength?

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

NYU Stern Student Group Wins Net Impact Green Challenge for Campus Sustainability

Launched just over a year ago, the Stern Campus Greening Initiative (SCGI) at New York University (NYU) is already winning recognition for its efforts to make a positive environmental impact on its urban campus. Earlier this month, SCGI took “green” at the national Net Impact Green Challenge, in which top business schools compete against each other to drive awareness of sustainability issues among members of their schools’ communities.

“We’ve been able to do a lot over the past year, from a more aggressive recycling program to energy and water conservation efforts, to creating and implementing environmental initiatives for the entire Stern community,” Jake Berlin (MBA ‘09), head of SCGI, said in a statement. “It is exciting that we’ve been recognized for our hard work,” he continued.

SCGI and competing teams at other schools were asked to explain the outcomes of their efforts on campus to a group of environmental industry judges. Judges also took into consideration the degree to which teams effectively engaged outside stakeholders, as well as how scalable their solutions might be to other schools.

Among SCGI’s achievements in the past year were a 75 percent reduction in paper consumption at Stern, the creation of a comprehensive recycling program and the implementation of energy efficiency measures in facilities and IT. The team also created a proposal for a 6,500-square-foot extensive green roof with its own renewable energy system above Stern’s main building, the Kaufman Management Center, and the graduating Class of 2008 raised $530,000 as its legacy gift to support the green roof’s creation.  

At the conclusion of the presentations, SCGI emerged victorious, claiming a cash prize of $500, $500 in 2008 Net Impact conference scholarships, a $100 gift certificate for green products from TheGreenOffice.com, and 8,000 pounds in CO2 offset from TerraPass.

“A tour de force,” said David Yarnold, executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund and one of the competition’s judges, of SCGI’s efforts. “Imaginative, far-reaching, highly effective,” he continued.

The success of the team’s project also will be featured on Net Impact’s webpage, at the 2008 North American Net Impact conference and in Net Impact’s newsletter publications.

“The SGCI accomplishments in the past year have been truly impressive and they continue to lead our school-wide sustainability effort,” said Kim Corfman, vice dean for MBA programs at Stern and an SCGI member. SCGI was the first group at NYU to champion sustainability, but its message has reached students and faculty throughout the university’s many divisions. “We are proud of the SCGI for their win and look forward to working with them to achieve the ambitious goals they have set for the next year,” Corfman continued.

Some upcoming green projects spearheaded by SCGI include the creation of , water-bottle refilling stations through the Kaufman Center to encourage students and faculy to reuse bottles, and a range of IT initiatives to reduce energy and paper consumption, such as automatic shutdown on public computers and televisions after a period of inactivity and printing limits and standard double-sided priting policies throughout the school.

For more information about the Stern Campus Greening Initiative, visit www.stern.nyu.edu/green

Kellogg 2008-2009 Essay Spacing Clarification

Earlier this summer Clear Admit posted Kellogg’s 2008-2009 essay topics and provided our own analysis of each prompt. At the time Kellogg’s website made no mention of spacing requirements for their essays (although the school has historically required double spacing). After contacting the school’s admissions office to clarify this point, we posted our findings: that essays were no longer required to be double spaced.

More recently, it has come to our attention that there was a bit of miscommunication from the admissions office in this regard. If you have had conflicting information from the school’s office and website, Clear Admit would like to help straighten this out. Kellogg does, in fact, require its essays to be double spaced.

If, in the future, you find yourself unsure of the requirements for any school it is always helpful to call or email their admissions office. That being said, it is usually a good idea to double space all your essays to increase the ease one’s eyes feel when reading.

Trivia Tuesday: Support for Non-Profit and Public Sector Management at the Yale SOM

It’s time again for our regular Trivia Tuesday column examining the policies, programs, and opportunities available at the leading business schools. Today we’ll take a look at the ways students are involved in the non-profit management programs at the Yale SOM.

According to the biennial survey of MBA programs published by Beyond Grey Pinstripes, Yale is among the top 25 full-time programs for incorporating environmental and social issues into their curricula and research. Yale’s high level of attention to these issues is made possible by a number of school-sponsored programs, and borne out in Yale students’ participation in events promoting social entrepreneurship and sustainable business.

Yale’s reputation in non-profit and public sector management attracts a high number of students interested in entering these fields, and the campus Net Impact chapter is one of the most active student-run organizations at the school. In addition to sending delegates to the national conference each year, Net Impact works with other campus organizations to present events for the benefit of the student body. These include an annual case competition, the Future of Philanthropy Conference, an internship forum in conjunction with the Career Development Office, and a series of panels on corporate and social responsibility.

The SOM community provides further support for students interested in public service careers though the Internship Fund, a student-run organization providing financial support for classmates pursuing careers in government, education or the non-profit sector. Founded in 1979, the fund provides a stipend for students completing summer internships at low-paying public or non-profit organizations; typically about 20% of each class has benefited from this support.

To raise money for these stipends, the Internship Fund coordinates fund-raising activities throughout the year, the most popular of which is the annual Internship Fund Auction. Conducted in three stages – an online auction for remotely-located alumni, a silent auction and a live event – the Internship Fund Auction brings the community together to donate and bid on prizes. In addition to providing bidders with an opportunity to win such prizes as bowling with Dean Podolny or spending a week in Orlando, the auction gives students a chance to share or showcase their talents. One student who is a professionally trained chef auctioned off cooking lessons, while a former competitive skater offered instruction in that activity.

For more information on Yale’s non-profit management program, campus activities, or non-profit career placement figures be sure to check out the school’s website or the Clear Admit School Guide to Yale!

Monday, August 25, 2008

INSEAD Names New MBA Program Dean

Becoming the latest in a rash of business schools to name new deans this year, INSEAD last week announced that Professor Jake Cohen will succeed outgoing Professor Antonio Fatás as the new dean of the school’s MBA program. His term will begin on September 1, 2008.

Cohen, a professor of accounting and control and business law, has been with INSEAD for more than five years, during which time he also has served as the director of the INSEAD-PricewaterhouseCoopers research initiative on high performance organizations, the school’s largest research center. 

‘The ability to position strong, globally minded leaders within an organization is the cornerstone for success,’ J. Frank Brown, dean of INSEAD, said in a statement announcing Cohen’s appointment.

Cohen has taught courses at both INSEAD’s Europe and Asia campuses, including financial and managerial accounting, financial statements analysis, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, and business law. He has won the school’s Outstanding Teacher award for both core and elective courses.

In addition to his teaching roles and his oversight of the INSEAD-PricewaterhouseCoopers research initiative, Cohen also serves as director of INSEAD’s Business Journalists Seminar, which provides reporters with key tools needed to understand and analyze data in the business world. He also founded the Business Foundation program, a pre-term program for incoming MBA students with less background in heavily quantitative subjects such as accounting, finance and statistics.

“As the new dean of the MBA program, I will uphold INSEAD’s long-standing commitment to world-class teaching and research,” Cohen said in a statement. “I look forward to the next four years working with all faculty members in managing the overall MBA curriculum and overseeing the operational aspects of the program from marketing to career services.” 

Prior to joining INSEAD, Cohen served as a senior teaching fellow at Harvard Business School (HBS). He worked in the accounting and management group and was a founding member of HBS’s analytics program.

Clear Admit Guides Provide Critical Competitive Edge amid Brewing “Perfect Storm” for MBA Applicants

PHILADELPHIA (Business Wire/EON) — MBA applications are on track to reach record levels this admissions season due to a collision of demographic and economic factors. As a result, b-school hopefuls are facing a more competitive landscape than ever, especially those seeking admission to the top schools.

To help applicants navigate this “perfect storm” and prepare the strongest applications possible, Clear Admit has just released the Clear Admit Resume Guide. This 17-page document – filled with step-by-step instructions, illustrative examples and two full resume templates – teaches applicants how to create a masterful resume that provides an effective overview of their candidacy, distilling major accomplishments to a single page while providing a full and compelling picture of their strengths and background.

“The resume is a key component of any business school application, yet many applicants fail to tailor this document to the admissions process. Our guide has been forged from Clear Admit’s wealth of experience advising MBA applicants and our team members’ direct experience in admissions roles at programs like Wharton, Tuck and Columbia,” says Graham Richmond, Clear Admit’s Co-founder and CEO.

The Resume Guide is just the latest addition to Clear Admit’s growing arsenal of resources for the well-prepared MBA applicant. Also fresh off the presses are the 2008-09 Clear Admit School Guides. Updated each year, the acclaimed School Guides provide applicants with an in-depth understanding of each school’s culture and offerings, crucial in identifying a good fit and producing polished essays.

Admissions directors at the schools themselves offer praise for the Guides: “Clear Admit does an excellent job in helping prospective applicants learn about individual schools through the School Guides, providing great information about specific programs in the context of how they compare to other schools on similar metrics,” says Rosemaria Martinelli, Associate Dean of Student Recruitment and Admissions at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.

David Simpson, Associate Director of MBA Marketing & Admissions at London Business School adds: “By bringing together student opinion, official statistics and original research, the LBS School Guide offers an authentic snapshot of life in our program. The cross-school analysis presented in the guide is invaluable for candidates who are looking to go beyond rankings and understand the nuances of leading programs.”

Available Clear Admit School Guides include Harvard Business School, Chicago GSB, Stanford GSB, Kellogg, London Business School, Wharton and eleven other leading programs. All titles can be purchased and downloaded from the company’s online shop, at www.clearadmit.com/guides.

View this release at Forbes.com

MBA Admissions Events, August 25-31

Make sure to sign up for the MBA programs’ receptions and admissions panels ahead of time (when necessary), as spaces do fill up quickly.  You don’t want to miss these valuable opportunities to learn more about your target programs.

Here is a schedule of events for the week of August 25-31.  Enjoy!

Monday, August 25
Columbia: Admissions Information Session and Reception; Sao Paulo, Brazil

Harvard: All MBA Admissions Student-led Reception; Los Angeles

MIT: Sloan-on-the-Road; Sao Paulo, Brazil

Tuesday, August 26
Columbia: Admissions Information Session and Reception; Bangalore, India

Columbia: Admissions Information Session and Reception; Mexico City, Mexico

Harvard: HBS Reception; Mexico City, Mexico

Harvard: HBS Reception, San Francisco

Wednesday, August 27
Columbia: Admissions Information Session and Reception; Monterrey, Mexico

Columbia: Admissions Information Session and Reception; Lima, Peru

Thursday, August 28
Columbia: Admissions Information Session and Reception; Mumbai, India

Harvard: HBS Reception; Monterrey, Mexico

Chicago GSB: Student-sponsored Summer Event; Haifa, Israel

Northwestern: Kellogg Information Session; Mexico City, Mexico

Friday, August 29
Columbia: Admissions Information Session and Reception; New Delhi, India

UCLA: Anderson Information Session and Reception; Seoul, South Korea

Saturday, August 30
Babson, Berkeley, Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Harvard, Northwestern, NYU, UCLA, Wharton, Yale: MBA Fair; Monterrey, Mexico

UCLA: Information Session and Reception; Monterrey, Mexico

Friday, August 22, 2008

London Business School Essay Topics 2008-2009

Following the recent announcement of the 2008-2009 application season deadlines, the London Business School essay topics for this year have been released.  The topics are as follows:

Question 1 (600 words)
In what role do you see yourself working immediately after graduation? Why? How will your past and present experiences help you achieve this? How will the London Business School MBA Programme contribute to this goal? Why is this the right time for you to pursue an MBA?

Question 2 (200 words)
Where do you see your career progressing five years after graduation and what is your longer term career vision?

Question 3 (500 words)
Please describe your experience of working in and leading teams, either in your professional or personal life. Include any specific challenges you have faced. Given this experience, what role do you think you will play in your first year study group?

Question 4 (400 words)
Student involvement is an extremely important part of the London Business School MBA experience and this is reflected in the character of students on campus. What type of student club or campus community events will you be involved with and why? How will you contribute?

Question 5 (150 words)
Describe any significant experiences outside of your home country. What did you gain from these?

Interested applicants should visit the school’s admissions site for additional information.

Columbia Business School Class of 2010 Puts Redesigned Core to the Test

First-years students at Columbia Business School (CBS) this fall will take part in a new corporate governance module during orientation, the first of several changes to the school’s core curriculum that will be unveiled over the course of the year. As part of the curriculum redesign, CBS also has streamlined the required components of the core in an effort to give students more flexibility to enroll in electives in their first year.

The introduction of the corporate governance module, a non-credit component that will begin during first-year orientation and conclude with a capstone session in the final term of the MBA program, is designed to shine a spotlight on a topic too often overlooked as a core competency in management education.

“Today, every business leader must understand the potential economic benefit of good governance, as well as the interaction among directors, management, regulatory bodies, investors and other stakeholders,” CBS Dean R. Glenn Hubbard said in a statement about the new core.

Through pre-term readings and class sessions, students will examine the duties and responsibilities they personally will be expected to assume as managers and directors of firms while also considering the larger role corporate governance plays in their careers, the economy and society at laas a whole.

Also part of the curriculum redesign, the CBS core will now be organized into “required” and “flexible” components. Requirements have been pared down to 6.5 core classes deemed to cover essential material that every MBA graduate should study. These core classes include accounting, corporate finance, leadership, marketing, operations, statistics and strategy.

The flexible core, meanwhile, is designed to expand on the required components while complementing their content. As part of the flexible core, students will select one course from each of three broad categories – Organizations, Performance and Markets. These courses will address topics ranging from organizational change and the importance of social networks to risk management to macro- and micro-economics and game theory.

The organization of the new core also allows students to incorporate more electives into their first year, better shaping their study to their personal career objectives. “The innovative transformation of the core curriculum provides students with foundational expertise in preparation for electives, internships and Master Classes.” Dean Hubbard said.

The revised core curriculum is the result of a systematic evaluation of the earlier core by the Foundations Curriculum Committee, a group of tenured faculty from each of the school’s five academic divisions convened by Hubbard in 2006.

Fridays From The Frontline

Hello and welcome to another installment of Fridays From the Frontline. Clear Admit has been vigilant in its perusal of the MBA blogosphere this week and can see that the dwindling summer days have lit a fire under aspirants and current students alike. Though the Olympics continue, many bloggers’ attentions were focused on different matters this week.

The class of ‘09 found themselves at the end of their internships and were already looking back at all they managed to fit into the summer. Some of these summer reflections proved to be more, well, squishy than others, to which McDonough ‘09 Hairtwirler (still in England) could, unfortunately, testify. Chicago ‘09 Iday was particularly introspective, having realized that it had been a year since he arrived in Chicago with big MBA dreams. Ross ‘09 M@ was equally appreciative of the last year and had a great time on his Colorado M-TREK. After more than a month without a post HBS ‘09 CS surfaced with beautiful pictures around Seattle and shared a few ways that being a second year HBS differed from first year status. Darden ‘09 Mandy shared photographs as well, of her throwing a pig skin around with Larry Brown. Fellow Darden classmate Anand provided a serious entry about his thoughts on the west’s reactions to China’s job of hosting the Olympics.

First years continued to arrive and settle into their new digs. INSEAD ‘09 Marc arrived safely in France and represented his homeland by wearing an Obama shirt out on the town while wondering when he might find himself back in the States. LBS ‘10 N.A.S. was happily in London and shared a few pros and cons about the city. Kellogg ‘10 Miss Curly Bee was packed and almost ready to fly halfway across the world to Evanston. Darden ‘10 JulyDream has been at the school for a while but the last week, for her, was all about survival…and crutches. Wharton ‘10 Tiny Dancer called on all bloggers to participate in Blog Action Day and provided a formula to explain why her body was “rejecting” Wharton.

As is often the case, the MBA hopefuls were quite a vocal bunch over this past week. OMGparishilton discussed MBA guidebooks and sent Clear Admit a “howler” with the promise of eyeball doubling. Ahembeea personified all seven of the INSEAD essays. Omne wondered if he was the only one who preferred invite-only interviews while V2Bschool pondered whether future MBA women dressed as nicely when they weren’t attending admissions events. Soni submitted his first application and started his campaign to win Clear Admit’s Best of Blogging Award. Leonidas was advised to change his essay writing style. Samantha and MissionMBA started reaching out to past and present MBA students in order to learn more about their target schools. TienyChesney’s enthusiasm over Columbia reached new ‘heights’. And, finally, Fishee gave their two cents on GMAT guidebooks and online practice exams.

Another week in the blogosphere is complete. As summer fades and fall looms we hope that that all your MBA hopes and plans have time to bloom! Come back next week to learn more about incoming students’ first impressions of their chosen programs and returning students’ efforts to take advantage of every moment of their summers.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

London Business School Deadlines 2008-2009

London Business School has posted its deadlines for the 2008-2009 application cycle.

Round One
Application Due: October 14, 2008
Decision Sent: December 18, 2008

Round Two
Application Due: January 6, 2009
Decision Sent: March 31, 2009

Round Three
Application Due: March 3, 2009
Decision Sent: May 22, 2009

Round Four
Application Due: April 30, 2009
Decision Sent: July 8, 2009

All applications are due by 5:00 pm, London time.