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.

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

• Admissions Director Q&A
• Admissions Tips
• Campus Chronicles
• Deadlines
• Essay Topic Analysis
• Essay Topics
• Events
• Fridays from the Frontline
• General
• GMAT News
• GMAT Tips
• Interview Guides
• Interview Tips
• MBA News
• Part-Time MBA
• Part-Time/Executive MBA
• Poll
• Pre-Matriculation Tips
• Rankings
• School Guides
• School: Berkeley / Haas
• School: Cambridge
• School: Chicago
• School: CMU / Tepper
• School: Columbia
• School: Cornell / Johnson
• School: Dartmouth / Tuck
• School: Duke / Fuqua
• School: Emory / Goizueta
• School: ESADE
• School: Georgetown
• School: Harvard
• School: IE
• School: IESE
• School: IMD
• School: Indiana / Kelley
• School: INSEAD
• School: ISB
• School: London Business School
• School: Michigan / Ross
• School: MIT / Sloan
• School: Northwestern / Kellogg
• School: NYU Stern
• School: Oxford
• School: Penn / Wharton
• School: Stanford
• School: UCLA / Anderson
• School: UNC / Kenan Flagler
• School: USC / Marshall
• School: UT Austin / McCombs
• School: Virginia / Darden
• School: Yale
• Strategy Series
• Trivia Tuesday
• Uncategorized
• Waitlist Advice
• Which School Wednesdays
• Wiki Wednesdays
• Workbook Wednesdays

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

• knowledge@wharton
• INSEAD Knowledge
• Harvard Working Knowledge
• Knowledge @ Emory
• Columbia Ideas @ Work
• knowledge@ W. P. Carey
• Stanford Knowledgebase

Blog Archive

• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• December 2007
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007
• July 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006
• November 2006
• October 2006
• September 2006
• August 2006
• July 2006
• June 2006
• May 2006
• April 2006
• March 2006
• February 2006
• January 2006
• December 2005
• November 2005
• October 2005
• September 2005
• August 2005
• July 2005
• June 2005
• May 2005
• April 2005
• March 2005
• February 2005
• January 2005
• December 2004
• November 2004
• October 2004
• September 2004
• August 2004
• July 2004
• June 2004
• May 2004
• April 2004
• March 2004
• February 2004
• January 2004
• December 2003
• November 2003
• October 2003
• September 2003
• August 2003
• July 2003
• June 2003

ARCHIVE FOR OCTOBER 2008

Friday, October 31, 2008

Fed Chair Bernanke to Speak at Haas School of Business Symposium Today

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will speak today as part of a two-day symposium at the Haas School of Business focused on the economy, the mortgage crisis and the government’s rescue plan.

The event, entitled “The Mortgage Meltdown, the Economy, and Public Policy,” is being co-hosted by UC Berkeley and UCLA. Bernanke, who will appear via satellite, will be joined by Janet Yellen, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; California State Senator Darrell Steinberg; and best-selling economist Robert Shiller, author of the Subprime Solution and Irrational Exuberance.

The symposium also will feature several panel discussions moderated by faculty from Haas, UCLA and Stanford. Panel discussion topics include the crisis in finance markets, the demography and geography of foreclosures and the future of the housing finance system.

Haas is investigating options for making the program available via the Internet. For details, click here.

Fridays From the Frontline (Halloween Edition!)

Another exciting week has flown by since we last checked in with b-school bloggers. Fridays From the Frontline, Clear Admit’s regular study of the trials and tribulations of MBA applicants and students, is back yet again. While tonight may find many American youngsters going around neighborhoods asking for treats and threatening tricks, many b-school applicants have been putting on their own ‘costumes’ for a few weeks now. The goal of these meetings, of course, is not a pillowcase stuffed with candy nor a tree covered in toilet paper. No, these interviews’ stakes are much higher- acceptance or zaps- and the blog entries of aspirants reflects this truth. Currently enrolled students are not without their pressures, from cold calls to recruiting, life certainly doesn’t slow down once one learns their b-school fate.

Interviews were the most talked about topic of this week’s aspiring b-schoolers. Ahembeea celebrated Diwali and received interview invitations from ISB and Ross. Samantha felt drained after her Kellogg interview and went on a trip to somewhere warm. D.G. was more upbeat about his Kellogg interview, though embarrassed when his questioner asked if he was wearing a ‘Harvard red’ tie. Soni received word of his interview from Chicago promptly on the 29th. Charu scheduled his Owen interview and shared his full day’s itinerary for visiting the Vanderbilt campus. V2B-School managed to submit his Sloan application in time and was pleased to be contacted for an interview by Tepper. There was a continued flurry of application submissions throughout the aspirant pool. MBADreamer submitted his Stanford application with an exact essay word count of 1,800. MissionMBA completed his Duke and Darden submissions, while Omne gathered materials for McDonough and struggled with his UCLA recommender. In proper Halloween spirit, Earlybird planned to dress as Rick James and compared Lauder to the ‘ultra hot girl in the corner‘.

It was a quiet week for first year MBA bloggers, only Darden ‘10 JulyDream checked in to discuss the benefits of peer encouragement. ‘09ers had a little more to say. Darden ‘09 Anand considered materialism and Chuck Palahnuik, while fellow classmate Mandy went to a show alone and was perfectly comfortable. Another Darden blogger, SquareMethod, shared his recruiting experience of 11 interviews in one week. Ross ‘09 M@ was bound and determined not to spend his spring break on a beach. Chicago ‘09 MaybeMBA saw a relative bright spot in the slower recruiting season.

And that’s the news for this week. We can’t wait to see photographs of the creative costumes many b-schoolers most probably have put together for tonight’s revelries. Be safe, and stay warm!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Campus Chronicles: Michigan’s Monroe Street Journal

This week in our edition of Campus Chronicles we turn our attention to The Monroe Street Journal at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

The Monroe Street Journal reports the creation of two new electives within Ross’s MBA curriculum.  Designed to give students exposure to global business, these courses offer students another lens through which to consider current issues related to globalization.  The first course, Bridging in the Globalized World – Turkey and the European Union, allows students to consider a country separate from East Asia and India – regions normally considered in the context of globalization.  An array of issues will be considered, ranging from “cross-cultural management, global leadership, brand management in emerging economies, the effect of potential radical shifts in monetary and regulatory policy on local markets and foreign investments, and the diffusion of green technologies.”

The second elective course, Legal Strategies for Intellectual Property Rights Protection in China, considers the intellectual property rights challenges that firms confront in foreign areas.  Teaching students how to “plan their firms’ business activities so as to maximize the protection of their firms’ intellectual property (IP) assets in China,” the course will enable students to examine strategy surrounding a country with an increasing global business presence and legal systems significantly different from those found in Western countries.

On the Admissions side of things, Ross is prepping for the “Discover Ross” Prospective Student Weekend, which will run from October 30th to November 1st.  This recruitment event is the “first event of its kind for students interested in improving the representation of women in business school” and is open to any applicant committed to the advancement of women in management.  Over 60 prospective students will participate in the events, which include panels, workshops, and social events designed to provide information regarding the paths that Ross women have taken in the business world.  The Office of Admissions looks to make this an annual event, and students Ginny Lee and Sarah Klainer state, “We are thrilled to have this opportunity to provide a more intimate window into the programs, collaborative culture and community that make Ross such a special place to be.”

Workbook Wednesdays: Where-4 Art Thou Divisible? Answer

Dost thou seek the answer to yesterday’s Challenge Problem?  As promised, find it below!

Question
If p, x, and y are positive integers, y is odd, and p = x2 + y2, is x divisible by 4?

(1) When p is divided by 8, the remainder is 5.

(2) x – y = 3

(A) Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (2) alone is not.
(B) Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (1) alone is not.
(C) Statements (1) and (2) TAKEN TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
(D) EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) TAKEN TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Solution
Statement (1): SUFFICIENT. We know that p is odd. We know from the problem stem that y is odd, which means that y² is odd. Therefore, x² must be even (because O = E + O), so x must be even.

However from all of this, we can infer something else—specifically, that x is NOT a multiple of 4. Here’s why:

y² = (y² — 1) + 1, which using the quadratic property, yields: y = (y+1)(y—1) +1. Because y is odd, then (y+1)(y—1) is even times even, which is a multiple of 4. However we ALSO know that either y+1 or y—1 is a multiple of 4, because they are consecutive multiples of 2. Therefore, y² is 1 greater than a multiple of 8. (You can confirm this by thinking about all squared odd numbers: 1² = 1, 3² = 9, 5² = 25, 7² = 49, etc.)

Since y² divided by 8 yields a remainder of 1, from statement (1) we need x² divided by 8 to yield a remainder of 4. This means that x must be even, but NOT be a multiple of 4, because if it were a multiple of 4, then x² would be a multiple of 16, and therefore a multiple of 8.

Statement (2): INSUFFICIENT. We know that x is even. However, we can come up with two different examples which lead to different answers. For example, if x = 8 and y = 5, then x is a multiple of 4, but if x = 6 and y = 3, then x is not a multiple of 4.

The answer is A: Statement (1) is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (2) is insufficient.

Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman Kicks Off Kellogg Lecture Series

On Monday, Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman addressed a full house at the Kellogg School of Management, discussing the current economic crisis and the factors that contributed to it. The event, which launched the Kellogg Distinguished Lecture Series, also marked Krugman’s first public appearance since winning the Nobel Prize on October 13th.

Krugman, an international trade expert, offered a gloomy economic forecast to the more than 1,000 people who gathered to listen to him, noting the spread of the U.S. currency crisis to the rest of the world. The $700 billion rescue plan recently passed by Congress, Krugman said, “still looks weak, and it looks small.”

Calling the current situation “one hell of a mess,” Krugman rattled off a lengthy list of what he considers to have been the chief contributing factors.

The first was the unraveling of a theory espoused by many economists, himself included, that developing countries were “decoupled” from economies like the U.S. and Europe and therefore immune to implosions there. That “turns out to be entirely wrong,” Krugman said, noting the rapid-fire worldwide spread of the crisis.

He also blamed former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s decision to reduce interest rates and keep them low following the dotcom crash earlier this decade for setting the stage for the market bubble in the housing sector.

Calling the housing market bubble “pretty predictable,” he cited its rupture as a key part of the present crisis and predicted that house values, which have already plummeted 25 percent, likely still face an additional 15 percent drop.

Krugman participated in a question-and-answer period with Kellogg students after his address, during which time he offered up his view on how the United States might begin to get itself out of the current mess.

Public work projects, including infrastructure repairs on bridges, roads and railways, could be beneficial, he said. Calling himself a “big New Deal romantic,” he said he also sees a role for commissioned artists.

An agenda like the one he describes would be more probable under a Democratic president, he said, pointing out that the financial crisis has made it more likely that voters will choose Barack Obama over John McCain. But no matter who wins next week, he said, “This is no time for a lame-duck administration and a lack of authority.”

Krugman has written more than 20 books, including a recent examination of the rise and fall of the middle class entitled The Conscience of a Liberal. Through his work, he helped establish “new trade theory,” which provides rationale for why only a few countries, similar to one another, dominate international trade. He won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences earlier this month for his research in this field.

Krugman’s appearance, which was open to the entire Kellogg community and telecast to alternate locations to meet high demand, was the first in the newly launched Kellogg Distinguished Lecture Series, an initiative by the school to bring real-world insights into academic discourse. Future speakers in this series will include preeminent thinkers from the worlds of academia, journalism and business.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Admissions Director Shares HBS Policy on Late Recommendation Letters

In a recent post to her blog, Harvard Business School (HBS) Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold addressed a question she hears often from prospective applicants:

“What if my recommender can’t meet the application deadline? Will my application be held over into the next decision round?”

In answer, Leopold explains her team’s protocol with regard to recommendation letters:

Applications with only one submitted recommendation letter by the deadline date are held up for the next round to provide time for the additional letters to come in, she says.

Applications with two submitted recommendations, Leopold explains, are sent out to review by the Admissions Board in the round in which the application was received. The Admissions Board will make every attempt to add the third recommendation letter to the applicant’s file when it comes in, she continues.

But there are no guarantees, she warns. “Since the file can be in any number of places and we can’t stop the reading flow, we can’t promise that the recommendation will be added before review is complete,” she writes. 

Here at Clear Admit, we try to always encourage applicants to engage recommenders early and inform them about the process and your timeline.

For round one applicants, we encourage sitting down with each recommender as early as August, even if actual application forms aren’t yet posted, to present them with a rough sketch of the deadlines and the process. This leaves plenty of time to meet again once the forms are available, at which time you’ll be able to share background materials (a resume, career goals essay, etc.) to help your recommenders understand and support your message.

For round two applicants, now is a great time to begin the process. And if round three is your goal, it’s a good idea to begin thinking about who you might want to ask to write your recommendation letters. For Clear Admit’s tips on how to select recommenders, click here.

Workbook Wednesdays: Where-4 Art Thou Divisible?

Welcome to this week’s edition of Workbook Wednesdays, featuring the type of problem one would see if scoring above a 700 on the GMAT. As always, thanks to ManhattanGMAT for providing this week’s challenge problem! Be sure to check back tomorrow for the answer!

Question
If p, x, and y are positive integers, y is odd, and p = x² + y², is x divisible by 4?

(1) When p is divided by 8, the remainder is 5.

(2) x – y = 3

(A) Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (2) alone is not.
(B) Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (1) alone is not.
(C) Statements (1) and (2) TAKEN TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
(D) EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) TAKEN TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Interview Strategy, How Do You Prepare For the Big Day?

 Loading ...

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Advisers to McCain, Obama Square off at Stanford GSB

The winner of next week’s presidential election stands to inherit responsibility for one of the greatest economic crises the United States has faced. Is it any wonder, then, that both candidates have turned to experts at the nation’s top business schools to serve as their advisers?

Late last month, two such advisers came together in a debate hosted by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Peter Henry, a Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) professor and Obama adviser, faced off against Kevin Hassett, an American Enterprise Institute director who is advising McCain.

But for all the hard-hitting jabs exchanged by the candidates themselves as election day draws near, the advisers keep things fairly friendly.

“Those of you coming to see red meat will be disappointed,” Henry warned the audience at the outset of the discussion. Indeed, both advisers repeatedly stressed that a bipartisan approach will be critical to fixing the current crisis.

That said, each adviser did take the opportunity to draw distinctions between the candidates – and their proposed economic policies.

McCain’s economic proposals, argued Henry, are an extension of the Bush administration’s policies that ran up deficits by cutting takes for big business and the wealthy. “After eight years, it’s not been a great success,” he said, adding that Obama’s plan would cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans while also reducing the federal deficit. 

Hassett was quick to strike back, arguing that McCain’s proposal would deliver a balanced budget by 2013 and that, by cutting the corporate tax rate, it promised to stimulate job growth. He also defended his candidate against assertions that he had been against regulation that might have circumvented the financial crisis.

“The key regulatory moment in the last eight years was that Fannie and Freddie bill that was opposed by the Democrats and never got to the floor because of it,” Hassett said. “And one of the sponsors was John McCain. So don’t you tell me that he doesn’t regulate.”

To read more about the Stanford debate between Henry and Hassett, click here. We’ll have continuing coverage of election politics as they play out on business school campuses in upcoming posts, so check back!

Trivia Tuesday: Supporting Entrepreneurship at Stanford

Welcome to another edition of Trivia Tuesday, our weekly examination of the distinguishing details of MBA programs. This week we turn our attention to the campus support - both formal and informal - for Stanford MBA students interested in creating their own ventures.

Stanford devotes considerable resources to the examination of entrepreneurship and support of students and graduates seeking to launch their own companies. The GSB’s Center for Entrepreneurial Studies (CES) was founded in 1996 and today supports ten associated faculty members in publishing articles in scholarly journals, composing cases for use in instruction, and designing courses to introduce students to entrepreneurial issues.

The Center also provides students with opportunities for practical experience. Through the Entrepreneurial Summer Program, students who are interested in spending the summer working in an entrepreneurial environment are matched with small companies seeking summer interns. These organizations can post their available jobs to the CES or Career Management Center, and students may also initiate contact with a company that meets the program’s criteria. Because fledgling companies are often unable to offer competitive internship salaries, the Center provides funding so that participants are able to earn close to the median for first-year interns across industries.

As part of the summer internship program, mentoring relationships are arranged between the student and an employee – or even the founder – of the sponsoring company, and this mentor and intern work together to understand the issues and challenges specific to a small organization. In addition to their basic summer responsibilities, the interns also complete a report on their experience, attend one or more CES-organized gatherings and events at various points in the summer, provide CES with feedback on the program, and participate in a conference during the first quarter of their second year.

No matter what their long-term goal or short-term destination, a high percentage of students attending Stanford GSB are interested in issues of entrepreneurship and take advantage of the MBA program’s resources and opportunities. With over 300 members – well over one-third of the student body – the student-run Entrepreneur Club is known for attracting top-notch speakers and organizes one of the most popular annual conferences on campus.

One element of Stanford’s program that students describe as remarkable is the extent to which classmates support and inspire one another. Because of the school’s noted strength in entrepreneurship, it is common for incoming students to matriculate with a business plan or idea for a company already in mind. Due to the program’s small size, students tend to become aware of each other’s plans and aspirations, and report that someone’s enthusiasm for and focus on a business idea can be infectious. This applies to their time on campus, when students might become so excited about a business plan formulated for a class exercise that they commit to pursuing it after graduation, as well as to the alumni years, when graduates keep track of, promote, celebrate and even invest in their peers’ endeavors.

For more on Stanford’s support for entrepreneurship, be sure to check out the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies website or the Clear Admit School Guide to Stanford!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Yale SOM Unveils New Pre-MBA Leadership to Promote Diversity in Business

Beginning next summer, the Yale School of Management (SOM) will welcome promising college students of color, other undergraduates who actively support diversity and inclusion in business and recent college graduates to a two-week summer leadership development program. Applications for the first session will open on November 3rd.

Interested applicants must submit two essays, two letters of recommendation, college transcripts and test scores. Yale SOM will accept up to 50 applicants and cover the cost of their tuition, room and board, program materials and application fees. A nominal enrollment fee will be charged but refunded upon successful completion of the program. Ultimately, participants will be responsible only for their travel to and from the Yale SOM New Haven, Connecticut, campus. 

The first session of the Pre-MBA Leadership Program will take place from June 14-19, 2009. The program will follow Yale SOM’s distinct leadership model, which emphasizes developing individual leadership skills that can be applied toward solving challenging problems in both business and society. Students with liberal arts backgrounds as well as those from a more traditional MBA track are strongly encouraged to apply.

“Our goal is for students to walk away from the program feeling confident in their leadership abilities and inspired about how they can make a positive difference in the world,” said Shelley Clifford, Yale SOM’s deputy director of admissions and coordinator of the Pre-MBA Leadership Program, in a statement.

In addition to developing valuable leadership skills, participants also will learn business fundamentals through sessions devoted to data analysis, economics, accounting, finance, marketing and strategy. Field trips to corporations and business institutions such as the New York Stock Exchange will further round out the program’s offerings, as will meetings with prominent Yale SOM alumni, networking receptions and career services counseling. For students who decide to pursue an MBA, the program also will include advice on applying to business school and GMAT test preparation.

To learn more about the new Pre-MBA Leadership Program, visit http://som.yale.edu/premba. An application to the program will be available there beginning November 3rd.

Admissions Tip: Interview Etiquette

With interview invites beginning to trickle out to Round One applicants, we wanted to turn our attention to this important step in the admissions process and share a few very basic pointers on interview etiquette. Though the content of your application materials and comments during the interview are of paramount importance, it’s also crucial to put one’s best foot forward and make a positive initial impression. Here are a few guidelines for interviewing applicants to keep in mind:

1) Dress the part. Unless meeting with an alum who explicitly specifies a more casual dress code, assume that business attire is appropriate. We recommend that applicants dress conservatively, opting for a dark suit (pants or skirt are both fine for women) and a blue or white shirt. Steer clear of flashy brand gear and loud ties, and go easy on makeup and fragrances; you want to be remembered for what you say and who you are, not what you wore.

2) Be pleasant. This likely goes without saying, but we wanted to state for the record that in addition to fostering a friendly discussion with your interviewer, it’s also important to be polite to administrative staff and anyone else you might encounter while on campus or in your alumni interviewer’s office. Flippant comments to the administrative assistant at the front desk often find their way up the chain of command.

3) Be aware of body language. In addition to your comments about your experiences, interests and reasons for seeking an MBA, your interviewer will also be taking note of the way you present yourself. You’ll also want to avoid taking notes or reading from your resume; it can be fine to have the latter in front of you as a reference, but remember that you should be familiar enough with its content to focus on maintaining eye contact and establishing a rapport.

4) Follow up. Make sure that you get your interviewer’s card and take his or her contact information in order to send a “thank you” email within 24 hours of the interview. This is not only common courtesy, but could also serve as the first step in forging a lasting correspondence.

While these steps should help readers in one element of their interview presentation, we’ll offer some more content and strategy focused advice next week. Meanwhile, applicants who are curious about what to expect might want to check out the Clear Admit Wiki, which features first-hand accounts of interviews at all of the top programs.

Good luck to everyone hoping for an interview invite! For personalized interview coaching and school-specific advice, feel free to contact Clear Admit at info@clearadmit.com.

Friday, October 24, 2008

UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School Creates New Leadership Center

Cementing its commitment to instilling leadership skills in its graduates, the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this month announced that it will create a new center to support leadership education.

Named in honor of the late North Carolina governor, the Luther H. Hodges Leadership Center will support and expand on the activities and programming associated with the Kenan-Flagler Leadership Initiative, an experience-based program launched in 2005 to foster leadership skills development among business school students.

“Luther Hodges is widely recognized as a North Carolina statesman and ethical leader whose life had global impact,” said James W. Dean Jr., UNC Kenan-Flagler dean, in a statement announcing the new center’s creation.

Hodges, a UNC alumnus, served as governor of North Carolina from 1952 to 1960 and as U.S. Secretary of Commerce in the Kennedy Administration. He also helped create Research Triangle Park, which has become a model of economic development and scientific advancement worldwide. The Hodges family has supported leadership education at Kenan-Flagler since the mid-1970s.

As part of the new Hodges Leadership Center, the Leadership Initiative will continue to pursue the mission set for it when it was established, namely, “developing MBA students as exceptional leaders who positively impact the organizations they lead and the communities they serve.”

The program introduces students to leadership principles both inside and outside the classroom and then gives them the opportunity to practice the principles in real-world situations and simulations – with feedback, reflection and replay.

According to Mindy Storrie, Kenan-Flagler director of leadership, the new center and the Hodges’ continuing support will bring enhanced leadership education to the entire UNC community.

“We will expand our leadership activities in the undergraduate BSBA, Master of Accounting and MBA for Executives Programs so that we can further develop the leadership capabilities of all UNC Kenan-Flagler graduates,” she said.

Fridays From The Frontline

Another week has gone by and some dreams have come to pass (Phillies in the World Series, for example) while others may have been at least partially zapped (sorry Red Sox). In the Northeast of the United States autumn is certainly upon us; trees’ leaves haven’t just changed color, they’ve started falling off the branches altogether. Just think, in a short time a whole new round of applications will be due…and no leaves will remain, except in our memories.

Clear Admit was not alone in noticing the fall foliage. Darden ‘09 Mandy took a number of beautiful shots in the Virginia wilderness. ‘11aspirant, Omne, also enjoyed the arrival of the season.

Others, of course, were far more interested in the round 1 season, which is not quite over. The.Grey.One submitted his Chicago essay and took a tour of Tuck. Ahembeea prepared for his Kellogg essay and tried to decide whether to have a phone interview or take a three hour flight for a face-to-face interview. Samantha also submitted her Kellogg application, had an “inflated sense of self-worth” as a result of some of the school’s essay prompts, and considered applying to Duke. Ameya focused on Darden and wondered if, as a reapplicant, he could ask the same people to write his recommendation letters. Soni linked to a video about the Chicago GSB admissions process. V2B-School checked in after a lengthy silence with one application submitted and at least two more on their way. Leonidas also checked in and shared an update on his application process. D.G. attended an event and had a conversation with someone with very strong opinions about Harvard. TienyChesney had his own opinions after being applauded by an entire classroom of Harvard students. MissionMBA became interested by the Ratan Tata Scholarships at Cornell while MBAMonk started to ‘tweet’. And we’re sure that everyone missed HappyBunny’s presence in the blogosphere.

Current b-schoolers were full of thoughts and feelings over the past week. LBS ‘10 N.A.S. had enough of found art. Darden ‘10 JulyDream enjoyed the 100 case party but was a little disappointed to ge back to the real thing. Ross ‘09 M@ respected the recent loss that the Stanford GSB community has experienced. MaybeMBA pointed out how lost the financial community may very well be. McDonough ‘09 Hairtwirler wished that studies focused a little more on philanthropists. And HBS ‘09 CS provided translations of ‘HBSpeak’.

And that sums up this week’s meandering through the b-school blogosphere’s halls. As round one wraps up, we hope that all aspirants are properly geared up for the waiting game that follows. For those of you comfortably ensconced in an MBA community, we hope that the cooler months lead to more time snuggled up with a good case study and mug of hot chocolate.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Workbook Wednesdays: X to the Nth Power Answer

Check out the answer to yesterday’s Challenge Problem!

Question
If n is a positive integer and x does not equal zero, is x^n > x^(n+1)?

1) x < 1

2) n is even.

(A) Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (2) alone is not.
(B) Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (1) alone is not.
(C) Statements (1) and (2) TAKEN TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
(D) EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) TAKEN TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Solution
The answer to the question depends on the values of both x and n. Specifically, we care about the value of x^n, since this will determine how we can rephrase the question.

If n is even, then x^n > 0, no matter what the value of x is (remember that x is nonzero).
Likewise, if x > 0, then x^n > 0, no matter what the value of n is.

The reason that we care about the value of x^n is that we can simplify the question by dividing by x^n:

After we divide both sides of the inequality by x^n, the question “Is x^n > x^(n+1)?” becomes “Is 1 > x?” ONLY IF x^n > 0, which is true if x > 0 OR if n is even. (Recall that x is nonzero; thus, we are allowed to divide by x^n.) On the other hand, if x^n < 0, then the question rephrases to “Is 1 < x?”

Statement 1: INSUFFICIENT. We know that x < 1, but x could be positive or negative. Moreover, we do not know whether n is even or odd. As a result, we do not know the sign of x^n, and thus we do not know the answer to either the rephrased question or to the original question.

Alternatively, you can choose positive and negative values of x and an odd n, in order to test the question. If n = 1 and x is positive (but less than 1), then x^n > x^(n+1). But if n = 1 and x is negative, then x^n > x^(n+1).

Statement 2: INSUFFICIENT. We know that n is even, so we know that x^n > 0, and therefore we can rephrase the question as “Is 1 > x?” However, we do not know the answer to that question.

Statements 1 & 2 TOGETHER: SUFFICIENT. Using Statement (2), we can rephrase the question as “Is 1 > x?”, to which Statement (1) gives us a definitive answer.

The answer is C: BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but neither statement alone is sufficient.

Business@Cornell Live Webcast Series Debuts Today

The Johnson School of Business, in partnership with the School of Hotel Administration and the Applied Economics and Management Program at Cornell University, today will launch Business@Cornell, a new discussion series to be webcast live, drawing together faculty experts and Johnson alumni to discuss pressing issues impacting the business world.

The series debut, “Market Crisis Unraveled: From Wall Street to Main Street,” will feature three experts discussing the issues of real estate finance, the market’s reaction to the bailout and the effect on the economy. The discussion will take place at 3 p.m. (EST) on Thursday, October 23rd, and will be available through streaming video at the following link: http://tinyurl.com/BusinessAtCornell

Panelists will include Daniel Quan, professor of real estate at the School of Hotel Administration; Bob Andolina, visiting senior lecturer of finance at the Johnson School; and Ori Heffetz, associate professor of economics at the Johnson School.

Quan, an expert in real estate and real estate finance who specializes in securitization and structured finance, was chief mortgage economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in Washington, DC, before joining the Cornell community. Andolina, a Johnson alumnus, recently retired from Lehman Brothers after 19 years in the equities business. And Heffetz examines the cultural aspects of economic behavior, such as conspicuous consumption, where consumers buy visible goods in an effort to advertise their wealth and climb the social ladder.

In addition to offering a unique set of perspectives on the unfolding financial crisis, the new Business@Cornell series also provides an opportunity for prospective applicants to get a feel for the Johnson School community and the kinds of events available to students. So tune in!

Campus Chronicles: Chicago’s Chibus and MIT’s Fifteen

Welcome back to Campus Chronicles, our regular review of student newspapers from the leading MBA programs.  This week we turn our attention to Chicago’s Chibus and MIT’s Fifteen to check what is happening on campus as reported in the schools’ newspapers.

Chibus reports the creation of a student investment fund by two GSB students, Jody Goehring and Wyatt Cavalier (’09).  The investment fund, managed under Lakeshore East Partners LLP (LSE), has exceeded initial expectations through seeking “absolute returns via a relative value strategy through a top-down approach that recognizes and exploits systematic trends, inefficiencies, and market conditions,” and initial investments are “identified via a bottom-up, fundamental approach which will identify issues that are trading at a discount of 30 percent or more of their market value.”  Goehring declared that his team wishes to take advantage of the latest market turmoil as well as of some certain secular trends, and so far the fund has met with a great degree of success.  First years will have the opportunity to participate in the fund as well: LSE intends to create one or two internship positions for first-year students.

Chicago GSB’s Random Walks, adventure trips that give incoming students the opportunity to bond with classmates, also got off to a great start.  The latest edition of Chibus explores the adventures of students to Guatemala, Peru, Thailand and Alaska.  Led by second-year students, the trips provide a relaxing and fun way to ease into life at the GSB.

MIT’s Fifteen discusses a recent talk titled “Niche is the New Nation” by Susan Akkad, Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing, Diversity, for the Estée Lauder Companies.  The Retail and Consumer Goods Club, the Marketing Club, and the Minority Business Club co-hosted the popular event, which gave Sloan students insights into the changes in industry over the past several years.  Susan discussed how participating in the US make-up market means “being a player in a multi-ethnic and multicultural market,” and she shed light on how Estée Lauder “believes that catering to a diverse clientele is essential to the continued growth of the company.”

Fifteen also heralds the creation of the first ever International MBA Sales Competition, hosted by the MIT Sloan Sales Club on October 18th and attended by students from many of the top business schools.  Students competed for various prizes, including monetary awards, recognition and on-the-sport recruiting opportunities from sponsors including Microsoft, HP, Google, American Express, and Novell.  In the final round, students needed to tackle two cases.  The first case involved a one-on-one sales pitch on a case provided by American Express while the second case entailed a group sales presentation.

Stay tuned for next week’s edition of Campus Chronicles!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Admissions Director Q&A: London Business School’s David Simpson

Were you working feverishly to complete your application to the London Business School (LBS) in time for last week’s round one deadline? If so, you’re probably wondering just what happened after you hit the submit button. In the interview that follows, David Simpson, LBS associate director for marketing and admissions, takes the mystery out of the process, walking us through each and every step.

As the most recent participant in our continuing Admissions Director Q&A Series, Simpson shares information about a new one-year management masters program at LBS geared toward people without work experience in the business world. In discussing the school’s full-time MBA program, he highlights the remarkable diversity of the LBS class. And in closing, he provides some concrete pointers on how to write strong application essays, as well as how to prepare for the admissions interview.

So whether your application is already in or you’re preparing to submit in a later round, you won’t want to miss what Simpson has to say.

Clear Admit: What’s the single most exciting development, change, or event happening at LBS this coming year?

David Simpson: In August 2009, London Business School will be launching a new Masters in Management program. The new 11-month, full-time program is designed for people without work experience who want to lay the foundations for a successful career in business.

This launch is an exciting move for the school. It builds upon our reputation as a dynamic and entrepreneurial organization, adept at taking advantage of emerging opportunities. (Click here to read more about the launch.)

We will continue to focus on recruiting talented experienced individuals for our full-time MBA program. We want people from all walks of life, who can bring a wealth of personal and professional experience to the class. Work experience is necessary for our full-time MBA, as we expect high levels of contributions and collaboration from individuals during this life-changing program. In the class of MBA 2010, the average length of work experience is 5.6 years, with the range being between two and 12 years.

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

DS: We strive to highlight exactly how much the international and professional diversity of our MBA class adds to our participants’ learning experience. It is easy for any business school to talk about ‘being global,’ but making diversity work and maximizing value for students is less straightforward. At London Business School, an MBA class can represent over 60 nationalities with students bringing diverse professional backgrounds. We create a collaborative learning environment that includes study groups, classroom discussion and practical projects and provides a unique and challenging experience. The first-year study groups, for example, offer a challenging and yet supportive learning environment due to the outstanding caliber of each participant and the depth of personal and professional and experience each brings (an average of 5.5 years work experience).

For example, one of our current study groups includes the following members, who will work together on every core course for the first year of the MBA, before each of the students personalize their second year MBA studies through the flexible nature of our 15-21 MBA curriculum:

A management consultant from the United States; a Canadian project manager in the construction sector; a Polish financial analyst with the World Bank; an Indian strategic research manager in the confectionary industry; an Israeli entrepreneur with experience in the healthcare/tech sectors and a German professional with private equity and banking experience.

Many student groups go one step further to include individuals from even more diverse backgrounds. This year we have a concert pianist and a plastic surgeon. As with every year, we also have many other doctors, lawyers, military personnel and people from other ‘non-business backgrounds.’ Often our many incoming students from corporate business backgrounds will underestimate how much they will learn from their more ‘non-traditional’ peers…and then the MBA starts and they find out exactly why each individual was recruited.

We work hard to ensure that every single student will have something special to offer to his or her classmates. Our thorough and competitive admissions process helps us to recruit such talented individuals.

CA: Walk us through the life of an application in your office from an operational standpoint. What happens