Q&A With Chicago GSB Admissions Director Rose Martinelli » Clear Admit: MBA Admissions Consultants Blog

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Admissions Director Q&A
Below are links to Clear Admit's exclusive interviews with MBA admissions directors at leading programs.
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)
Mary Miller (Columbia)

Clear Admit School Guides
Become an expert on your target schools overnight! Get the program-specific details you need to craft essays that stand out. See how schools compare head-to-head in key areas like recruiting, curricular structure, elective offerings and more. Available for immediate download. As featured in the Economist.

Clear Admit Career Guides
Understand career-specific offerings at leading MBA programs and identify the schools that will best support your career goals with the Clear Admit Career Guides! Available for Consulting, Investment Banking, Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Healthcare.

Clear Admit Strategy Series
Craft a winning application with the Clear Admit Strategy Series! Step-by-Step guidance through the application process. Titles include a Resume Guide, Recommendations Guide, Waitlist Guide and more!

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.
Feb 10: INSEAD R3
Mar 1: Michigan / Ross R3
Mar 3: CBS
Mar 3: LBS R3
Mar 4: Kellogg R3
Mar 8: Cambridge / Judge R4
Mar 8: CMU / Tepper R3
Mar 9: Duke / Fuqua R3
Mar 9: Penn / Wharton R3
Mar 10: Berkeley / Hass R4
Mar 10: Chicago Booth R3
Mar 10: Yale SOM R3
Mar 15: NYU / Stern R3
Mar 17: UCLA / Anderson R3
Mar 19: UNC / Kenan-Flagler R4
Mar 30: Cornell / Johnson R4
Mar 31: UVA / Darden R3
Mar 31: INSEAD R4
Apr 1: UT-Austin / McCombs
Apr 2: Dartmouth / Tuck R3
Apr 2: Oxford / Saїd R3
Apr 7: Stanford GSB R4
Apr 8: Harvard R3
Apr 14: CBS

Essay Topic Analysis
Below are links to our comments on some of the top programs' essay topics.
The Career Goals Essay
Berkeley / Haas*
Chicago Booth*
CMU / Tepper*
Columbia*
Cornell / Johnson*
Dartmouth / Tuck*
Duke / Fuqua*
Harvard*
Indian School of Business*
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
Knewton

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

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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Q&A With Chicago GSB Admissions Director Rose Martinelli

~ A CLEAR ADMIT EXCLUSIVE ~

Today marks the debut of a new content series here at Clear Admit – Admissions Director Q&A. In our first installment, Rose Martinelli, director of admissions at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB), shares her thoughts and insights on the upcoming application season.

Read on to learn about some of the features that makes Chicago’s MBA program unique, as well as just what process the school’s admission committee follows when reviewing prospective students’ applications. Our warm thanks to Rose for taking time out of her busy schedule to participate in this Clear Admit exclusive!

Later this week, we’ll feature our next installment in the series, a similar question-and-answer exchange with Dawna Clarke, director of admissions at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. So be sure to check back!

Clear Admit: What is the one area of your program that you wish applicants knew more about?

Rose Martinelli: One of the most common misperceptions about Chicago GSB is that our flexibility and commitment to individual choice has an adverse impact on our community. I think it is important for prospective students to understand that our community is strong, and student commitment to this school and one another is a direct result of the flexibility we provide.

At Chicago GSB you create your own community – you develop and cultivate relationships that mean something to you as a student and future professional. Because of the flexibility in our curriculum your classmates will change regularly, causing your networks to constantly change.

At Chicago GSB you will develop vast networks and meet people from all different walks of life who share the same belief … that each path to an MBA is a personal one and success is predicated on leveraging a strong community, not competing against it. At Chicago, ideas compete, people collaborate and community, like our curriculum, is not dictated but rather facilitated through the classroom, student groups and the vibrant diversity of the city of Chicago.

CA: Walk us through the life of an application in your office from an operational standpoint. What happens between the time an applicant clicks ‘submit’ and the time the committee offers a final decision (e.g. how many “reads” does it get, how long is each “read,” who reads it, does the committee convene to discuss it as a group, etc.).

RM: First it is important to note that Chicago GSB’s full-time program office does not start reading applications until the application deadline, and although we do not encourage you to wait until the last second to submit your application, we do encourage you to take your time to prepare the best application you possibly can.

Once you have submitted your application our operations team makes sure it is complete, prints the entire application and then passes your file to one of our admissions fellows (hired, second-year students) who reads your application. Admissions fellows make a recommendation to the committee to either invite you to an interview or not. The application is then passed on to an admissions director who goes through the exact same process. If decisions match and both members of the committee agree, a mid-decision is released to the applicant. If they do not agree, the dean of admissions reviews the files and makes a tie-breaking decision.

At mid-decision, an applicant is either invited to interview or denied admission. If you are invited to interview you are given an opportunity to sign up for an interview with an alumnus in your area or come to campus to meet with one of our admissions fellows. Interviews are standardized, and all are weighted the same regardless of who you interview with.

Once the interview is complete and the interview feedback is submitted, the complete file is given to an admissions director who has not previously reviewed the application. She or he makes a decision to admit, committee or deny the candidate.

Similar to the first phase of the process, if all decisions match a final decision is made. If there is disagreement, a file goes to committee, where a group of admissions directors debate the file and make a final recommendation to the dean to either admit, waitlist or deny the applicant.

CA: How does your team approach the essay portion of the application specifically? What are you looking for as you read the essays? Are there common mistakes that applicants should try to avoid? One key thing they should keep in mind as they sit down to write them?

RM: One thing many applicants miss in the essay section is that success in this section is dictated more by strategy than creativity. When applying to a top business school it is very hard to find something that can truly differentiate you amidst an elite group of applicants. So spending time thinking about that one creative truly unforgettable detail or topic that is going to move that committee is not realistic. Instead, think about who you are and why your life experiences to date are a good fit for that particular institution.

Realize that each part of the application should reveal something different about your qualifications, and you do not want to use multiple sections revealing the same information. Therefore think strategically. Ask yourself, “What do I want the committee to know about me?” and “How and where do I best communicate that in the application?” If you can map that out on paper, chances are your essays will be meaningful and direct.

For Chicago GSB it is always about substance and analytical thought. How cohesive is your application? How on point and logical is your thought process? And do we understand your goals and how they fit with our culture when we’re done reading your application? If you can feel confident that you addressed these questions through the entire application you will be taking a big step in the right direction.

Essays are not an island in the application. They make up a part of the continent. Do not think of them in isolation, but rather think about how they might provide greater depth about who you are. Finally, creativity is great but to quote one our faculty, it will never trump strategy.

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:20 am in Admissions Director Q&A, Admissions Tips, Essay Topics, School: Chicago

Comments are closed.

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