Business Schools Continue to Focus on Financial Crisis » 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)
Liz Riley Hargrove (Duke)
Linda Meehan (Columbia)
Bruce DelMonico (Yale)
Peter Johnson (Berkeley)
Isser Gallogly (NYU)
Mae Jennifer Shores (UCLA)

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.
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

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Business Schools Continue to Focus on Financial Crisis

With the nation squarely focused on the state of the economy and Congressional negotiations toward a bailout plan waging on, business schools, too, have kept the financial crisis at the forefront of their communications.

Harvard Business School’s Admission Director Dee Leopold yesterday posted an entry on her blog directed toward prospective applicants wondering how the current economic situation will impact upcoming admissions volumes and cycles.

According to Leopold, the Admissions Office at HBS has been receiving a new array of questions given the climate of uncertainty in the financial markets. Questions have ranged from whether or not HBS intends to increase the size of next year’s class and/or the number of admits from financial services in light of higher application volume to whether prospective candidates who are unemployed will be at a disadvantage.

The class size next year will not increase, remaining at roughly 900 students, Leopold says. As to increasing the number of admits from financial services, Leopold’s answer was less precise. “Not necessarily,” she said. “Our goal is to compose a class which represents many different kinds of diversity, of which professional experience is only one element.” But there are not strict quotas that govern industry or geographical targets, so the overall class profile could shift some in the coming year.

Applicants who find themselves unemployed will not be at a disadvantage, Leeopold assures. “We realize that these are unusual times and that many strong contributors may find themselves in this situation,” she says.

To view the full list of questions and Leopold’s answers, click here.

Schools Offer Support to Alumni
MIT Sloan and Wharton, meanwhile, have each reached out to their alumni bases via email to remind them that school career services, networks and support are available to those within the alumni community who may need them.

“Whether you are employed by a fledging new venture, a not-for-profit service or one of the firms in the headlines, these services are there for you,” wrote MIT Sloan Dean David Schmittlein in an email address to alumni earlier this week. Schmittlein also encouraged alumni who are in a position to provide support to other alums in need to get in touch with the school.

Dean Tom Robertson of the Wharton School at the University of Pennyslvania issued a similar statement to that school’s alumni on Monday, listing a range of resources available to alumni in need of support and encouraging others who might be in a hiring position to post job opportunities at no cost on the Wharton Job Board.

Roberston also noted that Wharton faculty led a teach-in on campus on September 16th about the unfolding financial situation attended by more than 1,000 students. Videos of that day’s panelists are available for viewing at this link.

The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business also reached out to its alumni, including convening a dinner in New York in the immediate aftermath of the Lehman bankruptcy announcement for members of the 2008 class who had accepted offers with the firm.

“As soon as we heard the news, we reached out to the ‘08s who had just graduated in June,” explained Julie Morton, associate dean of career services at Chicago GSB. According to Morton, 26 members of the 2008 Chicago class had accepted offers with Lehman, some in Chicago and New York and others in London and Asia.

Morton and Stacey Kole, dean of Chicago’s full-time MBA program, flew to New York to have dinner with the Lehman students there on September 19th. “At that point the whole Barclays deal had been announced and they were waiting to see,” Morton explained, most having just completed training a week earlier and not yet started their rotational programs.

“They were in a state of limbo, and we were really just reminding them that we were here from them,” Morton said.

“At this point quite honestly I’m not sure they are going to need a lot of new job support,” Morton said in a phone interview earlier this week. “I think for the most part they will land on their feet with the acquisition,” she said, “but I think it meant a lot to them to know that we are there.”

# posted by Clear Admit @ 1:58 pm in General, MBA News, School: Chicago, School: Harvard, School: MIT / Sloan, School: Penn / Wharton

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HBS Interview Field Reports
Kellogg Interview Field Reports
Chicago Interview Field Reports
Columbia Interview Field Reports

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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.

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